It's Official: DTS Discloses Total Debt Hit Ceiling Yesterday; Government Draws On $14.3 Billion From Retirement Funds

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/17/2011 16:16 -0400
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While it won't be a surprise to anyone at this point, seeing it in black on white is about as startling as hearing that one's credit card has been denied. Yesterday, following the settlement of all of last week's auctions, total debt held by the public increased by$51.4 billion, just as we had predicted, bringing the total to $9.717694 trillion. And with the total debt subject to the ceiling maxed out legally by $14.294, Tim Geithner reported a total of $14,293,975 MM, $25 million away from the ceiling. What was the plug? Why "Intragovernment Holdings" of course, which declined by $14.3 billion. As Tim Geithner warned yesterday this is now money held in retirement trust funds, which is now being directly sacrificed in order to keep the ceiling from breach: "I will be unable to invest fully the portion of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (“CSRDFâ€