Anonymous Donor Gives $2.2 Million to Pay Down National Debt Treasury Says

Interesting news today - the U.S. Treasury says an anonymous donor gave $2.2 million to be put towards the national debt:

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department received a record contribution of $2.2 million toward reducing the national debt in September, even as the government was running out of borrowed money as it approached the debt limit.

In all, donors contributed $2.3 million in the last month of the 2015 fiscal year, boosting the annual contributions for the year to $3.9 million, according to just-released data from the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.

www.wcsh6.com...

You don't hear that happening too often!! Now if only the folks at Capitol Hill would start being more responsible... but we all know that will never happen. No term limits in Congress pshh some of those dirtbags have been in there for 30+ years! What a shame.

Sorry to digress - wanted to share this with ATS since these stories don't happen too often. Good news! I love to talk about GOOD news

I'm guessing what those in congress heard was "2.2M available? Let's fund a bank with fractional reserve lending and get another 22M out in circulation"

New in the news today: A new swimming pool at the whitehouse has currently begun planning. Estimated cost of expenses $2.2 million dollars.

a reply to: FamCore
Wasted money. It won't make a difference. Giving that money straight to the homeless would be way better idea.

a reply to: Trueman

While the homeless aren't typically known for their fiscal responsibility, I definitely agree with the spirit of your post. My first thought was that money could have done a lot of good for a lot of needy people.

a reply to: FamCore

Unfortunately my friends in the USA do not seem to understand (and certainly this anonymous donor) that you are paying over $200 Billiion, that is correct BILLION a year in interest alone.

Interest on U.S. Debt

And then your own accounting office says: CBO: Interest on the federal debt alone will be $880 BILLION in ten years

Is the U.S. going bankrupt? Long term Interest Debt

a reply to: FamCore

So basically nobody here thinks this money will go towards the national debt, like at all? Do you really think they take a 2.2 million dollar check and have ZERO integrity about where it goes? I don't know how the books work at the Treasury but I assume somebody who is shelling out THAT much money has some sort of security or peace of mind to know that it is going where it is supposed to..

ugh

Well that's a waste of money.

What'll that pay? About a minute's interest?

a reply to: Area56

Indeed.

I find it highly amusing when people talk about how something will be "bad for the economy."

Yes, because our current societal model of capitalism has grossed a national deficit of - how much, again?

And we aren't even paying that off - we are paying off the interest!

Absolute insanity how some can look at this and see it as a sign of success in our nation.

a reply to: RomeByFire

Well thanks for letting me down easy... not

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: FamCore

So basically nobody here thinks this money will go towards the national debt, like at all? Do you really think they take a 2.2 million dollar check and have ZERO integrity about where it goes? I don't know how the books work at the Treasury but I assume somebody who is shelling out THAT much money has some sort of security or peace of mind to know that it is going where it is supposed to..

If someone is willing to just give the government that much money with no expects in returns, I don't think they have a mind in the first place.

So let's all give $10,000 cash to drug addicts and expect them to use it to put themselves in rehab. That's about the mentality this is.

a reply to: TheLotLizard

I quit a multiple-year heroin addiction with zero money and zero help from anyone (other than my higher power), going on to help other people improve their lives and helping others on a daily basis.

Now I am a law-abiding citizen who volunteers for people with disabilities on my weekend, and working in job placement services for the unemployed as my full-time job.

Are you saying drug addicts have no potential?

You should think more before you write something GENERALIZING so many people in one fellswoop

Basically what this donor did was give the government 2.2 million dollars worth of more borrowing leeway.

2.3 million in the face of 16 trillion? or whatever the debt clock is at now, havent checked in months. also, i was under the impression that the vast majority of the national debt is owed to our own nation.

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: TheLotLizard

I quit a multiple-year heroin addiction with zero money and zero help from anyone (other than my higher power), going on to help other people improve their lives and helping others on a daily basis.

Now I am a law-abiding citizen who volunteers for people with disabilities on my weekend, and working in job placement services for the unemployed as my full-time job.

Are you saying drug addicts have no potential?

You should think more before you write something GENERALIZING so many people in one fellswoop

THIS.

Back to the topic....I don't understand why anybody, no matter how much money they may have, would just throw away $2.2 million like that. It makes absolutely zero difference to the national debt. A quick, rough calculation puts it as covering the interest on the national debt for a little under 9 minutes.

$2.2 million could have fed and sheltered a lot of people, or provided a lot of medical care, or bought a lot of textbooks, or employed a lot of people. Instead they just threw it away....It's a shame.

a reply to: FamCore
Sorry to say, but I don't even think that pays for Obama's jet fuel over the last week that he has been traveling. Personally, if I had that amount of money to spend, I would give it to the poor, the hungry or a down payment on a refugee camp somewhere in the ME instead of relocating these poor people to new continents, new cultures and new climates. Buy some land in Saudi Arabia or southern Iraq and build a nice safe camp. Just a thought, but to answer your question, no, unfortunately none of that money will go towards the debt IMHO.

a reply to: AdmireTheDistance

people drop that kind of money on houses, toys, resorts, cruises, special dinners and arm candy all the time. the more you have, the more you are expected to show it off. its supposed to support the running (mis)conception that to have lots of money is to have lots of class and aplomb, and whats the point of either if you cant make a show of it? ....or maybe it was just a lonely old guy on his deathbed with no family or friends who decided that he just wanted to do SOMETHING with his money and randomly picked an item off the list. regardless, that money will make its way back into circulation eventually, be it as a lottery ticket or a pro bono check for 2019s NFL season.

a reply to: ~Lucidity

Well, going by this here:

originally posted by: Area56
you are paying over $200 Billiion... a year in interest alone.

That would be about $548 million per day.
Or $23 million per hour.
Or $383333 per minute.

So almost six whole minutes!

(Sorry if my math is off, I've been enjoying libations.)

originally posted by: cmdrkeenkid
a reply to: ~Lucidity

Well, going by this here:

originally posted by: Area56
you are paying over $200 Billiion... a year in interest alone.

That would be about $548 million per day.
Or $23 million per hour.
Or $383333 per minute.

So almost six whole minutes!

(Sorry if my math is off, I've been enjoying libations.)

Whatever your choice of libations, Mate, your calcs are pretty spot on. I'll have what you are having!! Cheers!

BTW: Using your figures, that also translates into about $6.389 a second for interest alone