If the Department of Defense owes the Energy Department a Billion dollar debt and pays it does not the Energy Department's current budget increase by that same Billion dollars? (And can they not spend it then? Of course they can.)
Sure the individual department can spend the money, but its not an asset for the government.
If I shift money from my left pocket to my right, and put an IOU in the left, I can spend the money that I shifted. And if later I put money in my right and shift it back, I can take the money out of the left to spend it. But the IOU is worthless.
The Department of Energy and the Department of Defense are parts of the same entity, the US federal government. The budget balance is an issue for the whole federal government, not individual departments. You can shift money between them as you want, and that shifted money can be spent, but all the shifting doesn't create any asset for the government.
slightly over HALF of all Treasury debt is owned by AMERICANS. (Individuals, corporations, agencies, investment houses, etc.)
When those same Treasury bonds pay their coupons, (and also when they mature and principle is returned), is "no income" being paid????????????????????
In this case real interest is being paid, since US citizens are not the government. It isn't a debt from A to A, its a debt from A to B. B's debt to A is an asset for A. A's "debt" to A isn't an asset. |
