The actual net debt of the US federal government is neither extraordinary nor out of control. It is the subject of public opinion manipulation by certain entities. Analysis…
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The US government publishes the amount of federal debt every day, which as of April 19, 2025, stands at… $36,214 billion (circled in red), which is considerable and frightening to everyone!
Document 1:
However, this document shows that government agencies hold $7,296 billion of this federal debt (circled in black), which means that the federal government has both these debts and these claims on… itself!
To determine an initial real amount for its net debt, the amount of debt it owes to itself, i.e. $7,296 billion, must be deducted from the gross debt, bringing the real net federal debt to $28,917 billion (circled in blue).
[36,214 – 7,296 = 28,917]
Furthermore, our friend Fred from Saint Louis points out that the federal government’s cash reserves stood at $423 billion on April 17!
Document 2:
Every day, the US government has to pay the federal government’s bills and repay maturing loans using resources provided by taxpayers, i.e., their taxes.
However, for two decades, US governments carried out these operations with a cash balance of around $5 billion to $10 billion.
However, everything changed in 2008: the government’s cash reserves first jumped to $100 billion and then fluctuated to $400 billion.
Worse still, in 2020, the government’s cash reserves exploded to $1,817 billion!
Document 3:
Why did the US government want to accumulate cash reserves that were and still are completely unrelated to its spending needs?
No sensible answer has been given by the Treasury Secretaries, which is all the more surprising given that no sensible questions have been asked of them on this subject!
In reality, US leaders have thus fueled an operation consisting of circulating these trillions of dollars in order to lower Treasury yields and supply the rest of the world with dollars to maintain its dominance.
A closer look at the recent period shows that the Treasury has reduced its general cash balance to $423 billion as of April 9, down $522 billion from February 12!
Document 4:
Scott Bessent therefore took vigorous action to reduce this abnormally high cash balance, but $117 billion returned to the Treasury’s coffers during the week ending April 16, likely from taxpayer income tax payments.
The federal government’s cash balance is therefore currently $423 billion as of April 16, the latest figure published to date.
To determine a new figure for the actual net federal debt, the astronomical amount of the federal government’s cash reserves ($423 billion) must therefore be subtracted from the previously determined debt figure of $28,917 billion, resulting in a federal debt of $28,494 billion.
[28,8917 – 423 = 28,494]
In addition, the US government publishes the Fed’s balance sheet every week, which shows… $4,217 billion in public securities consisting of Treasury bills.
Document 5:
However, these $4,217 billion are intended to be repaid by the same federal government to the Fed, and the Fed is supposed to return its resources to the federal government at the end of the fiscal year.
For the same reasons as above, these $4,217 billion must therefore be deducted from the federal government’s debt as previously determined ($28,494 billion) to obtain the actual amount of the federal government’s net debt, which is $24,277 billion.
[28,494 – 4,217 = 24,277]
The actual net debt of the federal government is therefore ultimately $24,277 billion as of April 19, which must be compared to the current annual GDP of $29,724 billion (as of December 31, 2024) according to the latest published figures.
Document 6:
The real net debt of the federal government therefore represents only… 81.67% of the annual GDP of the United States, which is considered normal, and not 120% as wrongly stated by all kinds of charlatans and even by the US authorities!
Document 7:
The federal government’s real net debt is even lower than 81.67% of GDP, as these figures will have to be adjusted for the amount of GDP at the end of the first quarter of 2025, which is expected to be higher than that of the fourth quarter of 2024.
To put it simply, the federal government’s real net debt is 80% of GDP.
The first question that arises is: why does everyone, including all economists, repeat the data published by the US authorities without the slightest analysis?
The second question that arose was: will the new Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent restore some order to the federal government’s cash management?
We now have the beginning of an answer: yes, but federal tax money is coming in faster than government spending, which is obviously temporary!
More seriously, Scott Bessent will implement the policy desired by Donald, and it will have beneficial consequences for America but painful ones for the rest of the world…
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Click here to access the US government website page publishing the federal government’s daily debt.
Click here to access the website page of our friend Fred de Saint Louis publishing the US Treasury’s cash flow figures.
Click here to access the Fed’s website page publishing its latest balance sheet.
Click here to access the website of our friend Fred in St. Louis, which publishes GDP figures.
Click here to read my previous article on this subject.
Click here to read my previous article (in French) on this subject.
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