Interest expense is nearing $1T
This article first appeared on SchiffGold.
The Federal Government publishes the spending and revenue numbers on a monthly basis. The charts and tables below give an in depth review of the Federal Budget, showing where the money is coming from, where it is going to, and the surplus or deficit.
This month saw a $244B deficit, which followed 2 months of large deficits. This brought the three month total to a whopping $662B.
Figure 1: Monthly Federal Budget
This was also the second largest July ever, only behind July 2021 shortly after Biden came into office to bring in new stimulus spending.
Figure 2: Historical Deficit/Surplus for December
On average, July experiences a deficit of -$147B which makes this year almost 65% larger than typical July deficits!
Figure 3: Current vs Historical
The two Sankey diagrams below show the distribution of spending and revenue for the month and the trailing twelve months. As shown, the deficit this month represented 42.5% of total spending!
Figure 4: Monthly Federal Budget Sankey
TTM Deficit was $1.6B which is a massive issue going forward. The government cannot afford to keep printing such massive debt figures.
Figure 5: TTM Federal Budget Sankey
The next two charts show the monthly revenue and costs broken down by expense type.
Figure 6: Monthly Receipts
The chart below shows how expenses are spread across lots of services and have reached a new equilibrium way above sustainable levels.
Figure 7: Monthly Outlays
Interest Expense has ballooned higher to $861B.
Figure 8: TTM Interest Expense
The table below goes deeper into the numbers of each category.
Monthly and Average Monthly Comparison | Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) Comparison | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Category | Dec 2024 | Dec 2023 | TTM Avg Monthly | YoY % Change | TTM % Change | TTM Ending | TTM Ending | TTM Ending | TTM | TTM |
Outlay | ||||||||||
Social Security | -124.3 | -116.9 | -123.7 | 6.3% | 0.5% | -1,484.3 | -1,392.0 | -1,243.7 | 6.6% | 19.3% |
National Defense | -83.0 | -80.8 | -74.8 | 2.7% | 10.9% | -897.8 | -844.3 | -774.6 | 6.3% | 15.9% |
Net Interest | -81.8 | -67.8 | -75.6 | 20.7% | 8.2% | -907.6 | -730.4 | -517.7 | 24.3% | 75.3% |
Health | -81.3 | -77.9 | -77.7 | 4.3% | 4.6% | -932.7 | -889.0 | -909.2 | 4.9% | 2.6% |
Income Security | -54.0 | -60.8 | -57.5 | -11.2% | -6.1% | -690.5 | -741.8 | -813.0 | -6.9% | -15.1% |
Other | -46.3 | -35.0 | -34.5 | 32.3% | 33.9% | -414.5 | -545.4 | -330.4 | -24.0% | 25.5% |
Veterans Benefits and Services | -30.0 | -40.2 | -29.2 | -25.4% | 2.8% | -349.8 | -313.3 | -270.6 | 11.7% | 29.3% |
Medicare | -26.8 | -65.2 | -78.2 | -58.9% | -65.7% | -938.7 | -865.5 | -737.0 | 8.5% | 27.4% |
Education & Social Services | -13.7 | -14.1 | -25.6 | -2.6% | -46.3% | -306.9 | 16.8 | -692.9 | -1,000.0% | -55.7% |
Receipt | ||||||||||
Other | 6.0 | 4.5 | 11.1 | 33.4% | -46.3% | 133.5 | 126.4 | 210.9 | 5.7% | -36.7% |
Taxes - Excise | 6.4 | 7.0 | 8.8 | -8.1% | -27.4% | 106.0 | 76.8 | 88.2 | 38.0% | 20.2% |
Customs Duties | 6.8 | 5.7 | 6.6 | 18.6% | 3.6% | 78.9 | 77.4 | 98.0 | 2.0% | -19.5% |
Corporation Income Taxes | 87.3 | 93.9 | 40.8 | -7.1% | 114.0% | 489.4 | 464.1 | 431.6 | 5.4% | 13.4% |
Social Security Taxes | 136.3 | 140.0 | 138.9 | -2.7% | -1.9% | 1,667.1 | 1,579.7 | 1,439.9 | 5.5% | 15.8% |
Individual Income Taxes | 211.7 | 178.2 | 201.6 | 18.8% | 5.0% | 2,419.2 | 2,196.9 | 2,601.3 | 10.1% | -7.0% |
Total | ||||||||||
Outlay | -541.1 | -558.7 | -576.9 | -3.1% | -6.2% | -6,922.8 | -6,305.0 | -6,289.0 | 9.8% | 10.1% |
Receipt | 454.4 | 429.3 | 407.8 | 5.8% | 11.4% | 4,894.1 | 4,521.3 | 4,870.0 | 8.2% | 0.5% |
Total | -86.7 | -129.4 | -169.1 | -33.0% | -48.7% | -2,028.7 | -1,783.7 | -1,419.1 | 13.7% | 43.0% |
Data as of: Dec 2024. % Changes are capped at 1,000%. | ||||||||||
Zooming out and looking over the history of the budget back to 1980 shows a complete picture. The change since Covid is quite dramatic.
Figure 9: Trailing 12 Months (TTM)
The next two charts zoom in on the recent periods to show the change when compared to pre-Covid. These charts show spending and revenue on a trailing 12 month basis period over period.
Figure 10: Annual Federal Receipts
Figure 11: Annual Federal Expenses
Data Source: Monthly Treasury Statement
Data Updated: Monthly on eighth business day
Last Updated: Period ending Dec 2024
US Debt interactive charts and graphs can always be found on the Exploring Finance dashboard: https://exploringfinance.shinyapps.io/USDebt/