Federal revenues in November rose $23 billion to $275 billion, a 9% increase from a year earlier.

Outlays jumped $88 billion to $589 billion, 18% higher than a year earlier. Interest payments on U.S. government debt accounted for $25 billion of the increase.

The outlay for interest on the debt in November, at $80 billion, surpassed the $66 billion outlay for national defense, which was up $8 billion from a year earlier. The outlay for the government-run Medicare health insurance program also rose by $8 billion, to $93 billion, while the outlay for the government-run Medicaid program for the poor and disabled climbed $2 billion to $50 billion.

TFW your interest payments approach medicare spending

The weighted average interest rate on the $26 trillion of outstanding Treasury securities rose to 3.10% last month from 2.22% in November of last year.

Seems nice in pflp-octoplushie sense, if fed won't drop interest rates in the next year, libertarian bugbear about deficits will come closer to fruition

  • plinky [he/him]
    hexagon
    ·
    11 months ago

    Yes, but also willingness of overseas banks to buy t-bills. If usa were not empire, internal market for treasuries is huge but not limitless - on par with total stock market and bond market of round 100 trillion.

    If buyers suddenly can't absorb new treasury bills, for lib economics that's a huge problem. Yes, fed can accumulate them on their spreadsheet for a while, until people outside of the usa think its fine. Than, if they change their minds it will suddenly be very not fine

    • davel [he/him]
      ·
      11 months ago

      As a corollary, these rates must make dollar conversion attractive, which inflates the dollar, which makes investment in export goods even less attractive and worsens our trade imbalance.