The chart below shows the operating balance for the U.S. Treasury, i.e. the “cash and debt operations” the federal government has, based on data from the Financial Management Service up until July 25th, and estimates from the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) to August 15th.
As you can see, there is a severe drop-off directly before and after August 2nd, when our national bank account goes into the red, seeming to confirm what Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has been saying for weeks. There has been some back-and-forth on what exactly the August 2nd deadline means, but according to the projections, the government will only have $12 billion in incoming revenue on August 3rd, and $32 billion in commitments.
That’s going to be one expensive overdraft fee.
Take a look.
Hat tip to Chris Wilson at Slate.
Kyle Leighton
Kyle is the Poll Editor at TPM. He graduated from Beloit College (WI) and began working in politics before getting an M.A. in magazine journalism from New York University, where he interned at TPM and the website of The New Yorker.
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