Homestead mailing list

[Don Bowen <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>]

At 10/26/2005, you wrote:
> >How is what Bush is doing any different from that?  A note is a note, 
> when it comes
> >time to pay it, little odds what it was called.
>
> They are "special bonds."  Special in that they are not counted against the
> debt.  It is done to cook the books and to make the debt appear smaller.

Here is something from the budget site.

"The deficit is the fiscal year difference between what the United States 
Government (Government) takes in from taxes and other revenues, called 
receipts, and the amount of money the Government spends, called outlays. 
The items included in the deficit are considered either on-budget or 
off-budget. (The off-budget items are typically comprised of the two Social 
Security trust funds, old-age and survivors insurance and disability 
insurance, and the Postal-Service fund.) Generally, on-budget outlays tend 
to exceed on-budget receipts, while off-budget receipts tend to exceed 
off-budget outlays.

You can think of the total debt as accumulated deficits plus accumulated 
off-budget surpluses. The on-budget deficits require the Treasury to borrow 
money to raise cash needed to keep the Government operating. We borrow the 
money by selling Treasury securities like T-bills, notes, bonds and savings 
bonds to the public. Additionally, the Government Trust Funds are required 
by law to invest accumulated surpluses in Treasury securities. The Treasury 
securities issued to the public and to the Government Trust Funds 
(Intragovernmental Holdings) then become part of the total debt. For 
information concerning the deficit, visit the 
<http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd//bpd/exit.htm?http://www.fms.treas.gov/>Financial 
Management Service website to view the Monthly Treasury Statement of 
Receipts and Outlays of the United States Government 
<http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd//bpd/exit.htm?http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/index.html>(MTS). 
"

Don Bowen                          Awl Knotted Up

My travel journal
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html

My present location is the star on the map in the link below
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=35.588269&longitude=-82.629132