According to US treasury records,In 1999, the Fed borrowed $18 Bil and in 2000 they Borrowed $33 Bil. If Clinton admin had a balanced budget, what did he do with the $ 51 Bil the Fed borrowed those 2 years? Steal it??
“According to US treasury records,In 1999, the Fed borrowed $18 Bil and in 2000 they Borrowed $33 Bil. If Clinton admin had a balanced budget, what did he do with the $ 51 Bil the Fed borrowed those 2 years? Steal it??”
Two potential issues:
1) Even in years when the budget runs a surplus the government rolls over debt. Say there is $100 billion in old debt coming due this year. The government runs a $25 billion surplus. It will still need to borrow $75 billion to refinance the treasury notes, bills, or bonds coming due.
2) The government has on budget and off budget borrowing. For example the Social Security trust funds, post office accounts, the Federal Reserve accounts, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae accounts among others are off budget. These agencies do borrow funds from time to time. It is possible these borrowings show up in total Federal borrowings.