Treasury Issuing Increasing Amount of Bills

Remember Timmy Geithner's announcement a few days ago that his government doesn't need as much money as he thought it would, and so he is reducing the amount to borrow?

Well, sort of. He did decrease the amount for Treasury 3-year note that was auctioned today, from $40 billion to $38 billion. 10-year note that will be auctioned tomorrow will be $24 billion, instead of the normal $25 billion for the original issue.

This week's short-term Treasuries were issued in greater amount to make up for any long-term saving. Timmy's Treasury seems to be borrowing shorter and shorter, not longer.

- 13-week bill: $26 billion, up 2 billion from last week
- 26-week bill: $26 billion, up 1 billion from last week
- 4-week bill: $31 billion, up $8 billion from last week

There's a saying for this in Japanese: 自転車操業. Literally it means pedalling the bicycle. If you stop pedalling, you and your bike will fall down. What Geithner seems to be doing, despite what he says, is to pedal faster and faster as the bicycle gets wobblier. I hope he knows where he's going.

You can track Treasury auctions at my other blog. Tomorrow, the Treasury will auction $25 billion for the Federal Reserve to use, and $24 billion 10-year note. Thursday will be $16 billion 30-year note.

The US Treasury Department auctions slightly over $200 billion in notes and bonds every single month. Greece would be jealous.

Tweet