Horvath wrote:
On Thu, 01 Jul 2004 12:29:24 GMT, "Wolfie" wrote
this crap:


So what do you call it when the government brings in more
than $200M more in taxes than it spends?


It didn't happen. When you owe more than you did the year before, one
of three things happened:

1. You didn't bring in enough.

2. You spent too much.

3. Both

4. You said, "Hey, I have to pay my taxes next year, so I'm going to
put $1,000 under my mattress. When I come back to get it, it will
be $1,500, not $1,000." And, of course, you also looked under
your mattress a couple of days later for the $600 you put there last
year, and -- surprise, surprise -- it's now $1,000, not $600, and
magically multiplied just like you thought it would. Of course, since
you owe *yourself* $500 more than you had, your debt went up.
All while you brought in more than you paid out.

Let's make this simple:
You have a budget for $250 income a week. You spend $100 on
rent, $70 on a car payment, $50 on food, and $20 on gas each
week. The other $10 you put into savings for a vacation. One
week, your car needs an oil change, which costs $9. That
week, you put only $1 into savings -- you don't have any more.
But you owe *yourself* $9. So, for that week, your "debt"
went up -- by $9 -- all while you made $250 and spent $249.
Easy enough, and not an uncommon scenario at all. Same thing
with the government series securities -- they buy a security from
themselves with the promise they'll make it up later when the
security is due at the higher value.