U.S. Treasury now openly 'cooking the books' to fudge debt numbers in desperate move before collapse

Friday, August 02, 2013 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: U.S. Treasury, national debt, creative accounting

(NaturalNews) On the surface, it appears as though the federal government is finally making progress on the national debt. But in reality, when you apply some common sense and a little logic, it becomes obvious that what is really going on is no small amount of creative math.

In case you didn't know it, the "official" national debt has been the same for more than 70 days. How is that possible, considering the national debt climbs about a million dollars a minute?

According to CNSNews.com, which has analyzed the ongoing U.S. Treasury debt data, the federal debt has been stuck at exactly $16,699,396,000,000.00 for more 70 days, as of July 29. That's about $25 million below the congressionally authorized legal limit of $16,699,421,095,673.60:

The portion of the federal debt subject to the legal limit set by Congress first hit $16,699,396,000,000.00 at the close of business on May 17. At the close of every business day since then, it has also been $16,699,396,000,000.00, according to the official accounting published by the Treasury Department.

We should exceed the debt limit in the next 25 minutes, but...

Mind you, if the debt had increased by a penny more at any time during that period, it would have exceeded the statutory limit and would have become a violation of the law. Treasury says that hasn't happened, however - despite the fact that, as of this writing, USDebtClock.org has the nation's debt at well above that statutory limit (in excess of $16.884 trillion).

There's more. "Even though the government's official accounting of the debt has not budged for 70 days, the Treasury has continued to sell bills, notes and bonds at a value that exceeds the value of the bills, notes and bonds it was redeeming," CNS News reported.

Indeed, according to the Daily Treasury Statement for May 17, the department, by then, had redeemed $4,776,995,000,000.00 since the start of the fiscal year, Oct. 1, 2012. As of that date, Treasury had already sold off $5,354,508,000.000.00 in new bills, bonds and notes so far. "That represented a net increase in publicly circulating U.S. government debt instruments of $577,513,000,000.00 for the fiscal year," CNS News said. In addition:

As of July 26, according to the latest Treasury statement, the Treasury had already redeemed approximately $6,128,368,000,000.00 in bills, notes and bonds during this fiscal year. But, at the same time, according to the statement, the Treasury had sold an additional $6,759,148,000,000.00 bills, note and bonds - for a net increase of $630,780,000,000.00 for the year.

That means the value of U.S. Treasury debt instruments in public circulation has risen by $53.267 billion since May 17, though Treasury says the debt had not budged a single penny over the same time.

How is that possible? How can the value of extant U.S. Treasury securities climb by more than $53 billion over 70 days when the government's debt, which is subject to legal limitations, remained the same?

Not a peep from Congress or the White House on Treasury's creative math

"On May 17, the day the debt began its long stay at $16,699,396,000,000.00, Treasury Secretary Lew sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner," CNS News reported. "In the letter, Lew said the Treasury would begin implementing what he called 'the standard set of extraordinary measures' that allows the Treasury to continue to borrow and spend money even after it has hit the legal debt limit."

Meanwhile, the real national debt continues to skyrocket - even as lawmakers pretend to be "gearing up" for "another debt ceiling fight" this fall.

Incredibly, this report from Business Insider said, "Analysts don't expect that the nation's debt limit will need to be raised before mid-October or mid-November, but House Republicans and the White House are already trading familiar words about the process."

Apparently the mainstream media, along with members of Congress and the White House, are fine with permitting this creative use of math at the Treasury Department to artificially hold down the nation's debt until lawmakers are "ready" to discuss it - sometime after the summer recess.

Sources:

http://cnsnews.com

https://fms.treas.gov

http://www.usdebtclock.org

https://www.fms.treas.gov