What Happens to Fixed-Income ETFs With Debt at $18 Trillion?

Imagine for a moment, an uncontrolled spender whose credit limit has just been suspended. That means this self-destructive spendthrift can continue their spending spree without any accountability. Imagine no more, because that out-of-control spender is the U.S. government.

It’s been less than a month since Congress reached a temporary deal to suspend the U.S. government’s debt ceiling, and the Treasury Department has already wasted no time by amassing another $389 billion in new debt.

This time around, suspension of the U.S. debt limit, which was previously fixed at $16.69 trillion, means the Treasury Department can effectively spend whatever amount of money it needs or wants.

How much debt can the U.S. government rack up by the next debt ceiling deadline on Feb. 7? At the current spending pace of $129.6 billion per week, U.S. public debt would top $18.77 trillion by early February.

What about the argument that this $395 billion in new debt was simply a payback from the accounting wizardry (or as Jack Lew called it “extraordinary measures”) the U.S. Treasury used over the past several months to avoid exceeding the previous debt limit?

Factually, these “extraordinary measures” are tantamount to accounting shenanigans and nothing more. Any corporation or corporate executive that attempted to use the U.S. Treasury’s same accounting methods would be charged with fraud.

Lamentably, the U.S. government’s accounting games are no longer a secret.