8 ms·

U.S. Treasury Data Lab

145 points by accountinhn 5y ago

Aliabid94 5y ago
Would be great if we could dive in deeper, breaking it down by expense purpose, regions, etc.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- schemescape 5y ago
  Have you seen USA Facts? https://usafacts.org/data/topics/government-finances/spending/ https://usafacts.org/data/topics/government-finances/spendin... Edit: looks like they’re not as up to date, unfortunately.
- accountinhn 5y ago
  I've never tried their APIs, but I believe their API would be the only way to get more granular information you are looking for: * https://github.com/fedspendingtransparency/usaspending-api https://github.com/fedspendingtransparency/usaspending-api * https://api.usaspending.gov/docs/endpoints https://api.usaspending.gov/docs/endpoints * For geography based spending - https://github.com/fedspendingtransparency/usaspending-api/blob/master/usaspending_api/api_contracts/contracts/v2/search/spending_by_geography.md https://github.com/fedspendingtransparency/usaspending-api/b...
aazaa 5y ago
> While the Department of the Treasury prints actual dollars, “printing money” is also a term that is sometimes used to describe a means of monetary policy, which is conducted by the Federal Reserve. Monetary policy involves controlling the supply of money and the cost of borrowing. The Federal Reserve uses monetary policy to promote maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates on the behalf of the Congress. The federal government uses fiscal policy, or the control of taxation and government spending, to promote economic activity. I can't help but think this is confusing as heck to most Americans. I'm not sure all of the quoted statements are true. Private banks create a good chunk of the new money that goes into circulation by issuing loans. The Federal government (through the Treasury) creates still more by issuing bonds to cover deficit spending. The Fed can influence the rate of money creation by setting short term rates. But the Fed can't force banks to loan money, so its power is limited. Especially so with short term rates pegged at zero for most of the last 13 years or so. Although some view the Fed's QE as a form of "money printing," it's not. It's an asset swap in which the Federal reserve buys a Treasury from a bank, issuing a reserve asset as a credit to the bank. Reserve assets thereby become "trapped" inside the banking system. They are not cash and can only be used under very restricted conditions (not unlike a laundry token) at least according to some sources.
- tick_tock_tick 5y ago
  > Private banks create a good chunk of the new money that goes into circulation by issuing loans. Even this is misleading private banks do not "create" money. They add to the supply but do not create. For every loan credit there is an equal loan debit. The total amount of money, the sum of all credits and debits, is the exact same.
  - BobbyJo 5y ago
    > The total amount of money, the sum of all credits and debits, is the exact same. Can't banks lend something like 7X more money than they have in deposits?
    - lumost 5y ago
      That 7x that is lent will be deposited by the people it is spent on. The bank can then lend 7x that and keep fabricating money as long as there are people to profitably lend too. The rate of currency growth is then correlated to velocity for how fast it’s turned over from debt to deposit to debt minus the counter flow of debts being retired.
      - BobbyJo 5y ago
        Yes, but doesn't that strictly invalidate: > The total amount of money, the sum of all credits and debits, is the exact same ?
        manwe150 5y ago
        The sum of all credits and debits is zero (by the double-entry accounting definition), so seems like this is tautologically true, though not very useful. The economic principle at work is you can have $1 in the bank and loan that to 7 people sequentially (who each redeposit it), or have $7 and loan it to those same people simultaneously (who each redeposit it), but in both cases the same transactions happened ($7 out and $7 in).
        5y ago
Gabriel_Martin 5y ago
When it comes to comparing the amounts of US gov spending to US household spending (not that I could propose a better mechanism, meaning I understand the value of framing things in such a way, and fully admit I can't think of a more salient way to do it) I'm just not a fan of comparing state level spending to household or personal finance. It leads to other examples being used that just are not true. Like: "It is similar to a person using his or her credit card for a purchase (rather than cash, check, or a debit card) and not paying the full credit card balance each month". I cannot sell access to my debt to pay for past debts, which is how the government has paid it's debts since 1837 (probably so long ago because that the last time we sought to destroy debt and not pay for things by monetizing debt, it caused the longest depression in American history due to Jackson's monetary policy in 1835). Nor can I create credit out of thin air, by buying treasuries my member banks. Also, I most definitely do not owe 50% of my non-intergovernmental debt to my own central bank and state and local governments and their pensions. Much less, all the while operating with a currency I control. So yeah, I don't love it, but I get it.
- phkahler 5y ago
  The analogies are good to help people see that government debt is bad. When a person is in over their head, they can possibly file for bankruptcy. When a government gets in over their head bad things happen too, up to and including wars. Comparing government debt to personal debt is just a way to make it more comprehensible how bad the situation is.
  - SubiculumCode 5y ago
    Government debt is not bad. Government debt is a net private surplus.
    - jkhdigital 5y ago
      Government debt does not exist in a vacuum: it comes into existence because the government spent more money than it took in. What did it spend that money on? Ask the lobbyists.
ryanmarsh 5y ago
I saw this on the page: >Why can’t the government just print more money? and thought “because the treasury is not the central bank” LOL
TuringNYC 5y ago
Thanks for sharing this! I spent almost an hour going thru the site. I saw all the Debt and Treasury data but didnt see anything on the Fed Balance sheet. Does anyone have good data on what the Fed owns on their balance sheet (e.g., from QE[n] and POMO)?
- accountinhn 5y ago
  You can find info about it here - https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_fedsbalancesheet.htm https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_fedsbalanc... This is their balance sheet released on 9th Sep, 2021 - https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/current/h41.htm https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/current/h41.htm
lvl100 5y ago
Please don’t tell me they spent millions in govt contract money so some recent college grad can practice Plotly/Bokeh.
- tomrod 5y ago
  > Your Guide to America's Finances is a re-invention of the Citizen’s Guide to the Financial Report of the U.S. Government. This site was created in response to the public’s desire to learn more about the financial picture of the United States. Where does the money come from? Where does it go? What are the trends over time, and how does the U.S. compare to other countries? This guide was created to make federal financial information open and accessible to all - reflecting the very principles that our founding fathers set forth when the United States was formed.
  - lvl100 5y ago
    The underlying data has been available. This is just a cosmetic wrapper. And I guarantee you they spent well in excess of $10M to create this website.
ourgovtisinept 5y ago
I know a US Treasury employee that has an active felony arrest warrant in their name in a US State. They told me they only have to tell their boss if they’re arrested, not before. This person continues to wield power over mere mortals like us. The government is a joke.
duck 5y ago
It should be required on a site like this to show how much it cost to make and maintain it.
ekzhu 5y ago
Interesting findings: 1. "Amazon Restaurant & Bar Inc" received 1.3M in FY2021 while apparently empolying only 8 people and taking a revenue of 96k (https://www.manta.com/c/mhx084z/amazon-restaurant-bar-inc https://www.manta.com/c/mhx084z/amazon-restaurant-bar-inc). 2. Google received 11k in the last 12 months, less than a Florida man named Christian Google. 3. Palantir Technologies Inc. 231.3M, versus Microsoft Corporation 357.5M in the last 12 months.
ur-whale 5y ago
TL;DR: >In 2020, the federal government collected $3.42 trillion in revenue. >In 2020, the federal government spent $6.55 trillion. One wonders why they bother with the effort of collecting taxes. They should just borrow the entire budget and let everyone get on with their lives. They'd save money in the long run: no more IRS budget.
- cambrianentropy 5y ago
  Taxes are necessary to curb inflation.
dandare 5y ago
shameless plug: https://us.wikibudgets.org/w/united-states-budget-2016 https://us.wikibudgets.org/w/united-states-budget-2016 Bonus question: can you find the judicial branch and the legislative branch?

145 points by accountinhn 5y ago

Aliabid94 5y ago

Would be great if we could dive in deeper, breaking it down by expense purpose, regions, etc.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
schemescape 5y ago
Have you seen USA Facts? https://usafacts.org/data/topics/government-finances/spending/ https://usafacts.org/data/topics/government-finances/spendin... Edit: looks like they’re not as up to date, unfortunately.
accountinhn 5y ago
I've never tried their APIs, but I believe their API would be the only way to get more granular information you are looking for: * https://github.com/fedspendingtransparency/usaspending-api https://github.com/fedspendingtransparency/usaspending-api * https://api.usaspending.gov/docs/endpoints https://api.usaspending.gov/docs/endpoints * For geography based spending - https://github.com/fedspendingtransparency/usaspending-api/blob/master/usaspending_api/api_contracts/contracts/v2/search/spending_by_geography.md https://github.com/fedspendingtransparency/usaspending-api/b...

aazaa 5y ago

> While the Department of the Treasury prints actual dollars, “printing money” is also a term that is sometimes used to describe a means of monetary policy, which is conducted by the Federal Reserve. Monetary policy involves controlling the supply of money and the cost of borrowing. The Federal Reserve uses monetary policy to promote maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates on the behalf of the Congress. The federal government uses fiscal policy, or the control of taxation and government spending, to promote economic activity. I can't help but think this is confusing as heck to most Americans. I'm not sure all of the quoted statements are true. Private banks create a good chunk of the new money that goes into circulation by issuing loans. The Federal government (through the Treasury) creates still more by issuing bonds to cover deficit spending. The Fed can influence the rate of money creation by setting short term rates. But the Fed can't force banks to loan money, so its power is limited. Especially so with short term rates pegged at zero for most of the last 13 years or so. Although some view the Fed's QE as a form of "money printing," it's not. It's an asset swap in which the Federal reserve buys a Treasury from a bank, issuing a reserve asset as a credit to the bank. Reserve assets thereby become "trapped" inside the banking system. They are not cash and can only be used under very restricted conditions (not unlike a laundry token) at least according to some sources.

tick_tock_tick 5y ago
> Private banks create a good chunk of the new money that goes into circulation by issuing loans. Even this is misleading private banks do not "create" money. They add to the supply but do not create. For every loan credit there is an equal loan debit. The total amount of money, the sum of all credits and debits, is the exact same.
- BobbyJo 5y ago
  > The total amount of money, the sum of all credits and debits, is the exact same. Can't banks lend something like 7X more money than they have in deposits?
  - lumost 5y ago
    That 7x that is lent will be deposited by the people it is spent on. The bank can then lend 7x that and keep fabricating money as long as there are people to profitably lend too. The rate of currency growth is then correlated to velocity for how fast it’s turned over from debt to deposit to debt minus the counter flow of debts being retired.
    - BobbyJo 5y ago
      Yes, but doesn't that strictly invalidate: > The total amount of money, the sum of all credits and debits, is the exact same ?
      - manwe150 5y ago
        The sum of all credits and debits is zero (by the double-entry accounting definition), so seems like this is tautologically true, though not very useful. The economic principle at work is you can have $1 in the bank and loan that to 7 people sequentially (who each redeposit it), or have $7 and loan it to those same people simultaneously (who each redeposit it), but in both cases the same transactions happened ($7 out and $7 in).
      - 5y ago

Gabriel_Martin 5y ago

When it comes to comparing the amounts of US gov spending to US household spending (not that I could propose a better mechanism, meaning I understand the value of framing things in such a way, and fully admit I can't think of a more salient way to do it) I'm just not a fan of comparing state level spending to household or personal finance. It leads to other examples being used that just are not true. Like: "It is similar to a person using his or her credit card for a purchase (rather than cash, check, or a debit card) and not paying the full credit card balance each month". I cannot sell access to my debt to pay for past debts, which is how the government has paid it's debts since 1837 (probably so long ago because that the last time we sought to destroy debt and not pay for things by monetizing debt, it caused the longest depression in American history due to Jackson's monetary policy in 1835). Nor can I create credit out of thin air, by buying treasuries my member banks. Also, I most definitely do not owe 50% of my non-intergovernmental debt to my own central bank and state and local governments and their pensions. Much less, all the while operating with a currency I control. So yeah, I don't love it, but I get it.

phkahler 5y ago
The analogies are good to help people see that government debt is bad. When a person is in over their head, they can possibly file for bankruptcy. When a government gets in over their head bad things happen too, up to and including wars. Comparing government debt to personal debt is just a way to make it more comprehensible how bad the situation is.
- SubiculumCode 5y ago
  Government debt is not bad. Government debt is a net private surplus.
  - jkhdigital 5y ago
    Government debt does not exist in a vacuum: it comes into existence because the government spent more money than it took in. What did it spend that money on? Ask the lobbyists.

ryanmarsh 5y ago

I saw this on the page: >Why can’t the government just print more money? and thought “because the treasury is not the central bank” LOL

TuringNYC 5y ago

Thanks for sharing this! I spent almost an hour going thru the site. I saw all the Debt and Treasury data but didnt see anything on the Fed Balance sheet. Does anyone have good data on what the Fed owns on their balance sheet (e.g., from QE[n] and POMO)?

accountinhn 5y ago
You can find info about it here - https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_fedsbalancesheet.htm https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_fedsbalanc... This is their balance sheet released on 9th Sep, 2021 - https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/current/h41.htm https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/current/h41.htm

lvl100 5y ago

Please don’t tell me they spent millions in govt contract money so some recent college grad can practice Plotly/Bokeh.

tomrod 5y ago
> Your Guide to America's Finances is a re-invention of the Citizen’s Guide to the Financial Report of the U.S. Government. This site was created in response to the public’s desire to learn more about the financial picture of the United States. Where does the money come from? Where does it go? What are the trends over time, and how does the U.S. compare to other countries? This guide was created to make federal financial information open and accessible to all - reflecting the very principles that our founding fathers set forth when the United States was formed.
- lvl100 5y ago
  The underlying data has been available. This is just a cosmetic wrapper. And I guarantee you they spent well in excess of $10M to create this website.

ourgovtisinept 5y ago

I know a US Treasury employee that has an active felony arrest warrant in their name in a US State. They told me they only have to tell their boss if they’re arrested, not before. This person continues to wield power over mere mortals like us. The government is a joke.

duck 5y ago

It should be required on a site like this to show how much it cost to make and maintain it.

ekzhu 5y ago

Interesting findings: 1. "Amazon Restaurant & Bar Inc" received 1.3M in FY2021 while apparently empolying only 8 people and taking a revenue of 96k (https://www.manta.com/c/mhx084z/amazon-restaurant-bar-inc https://www.manta.com/c/mhx084z/amazon-restaurant-bar-inc). 2. Google received 11k in the last 12 months, less than a Florida man named Christian Google. 3. Palantir Technologies Inc. 231.3M, versus Microsoft Corporation 357.5M in the last 12 months.

ur-whale 5y ago

TL;DR: >In 2020, the federal government collected $3.42 trillion in revenue. >In 2020, the federal government spent $6.55 trillion. One wonders why they bother with the effort of collecting taxes. They should just borrow the entire budget and let everyone get on with their lives. They'd save money in the long run: no more IRS budget.

cambrianentropy 5y ago
Taxes are necessary to curb inflation.

dandare 5y ago

shameless plug: https://us.wikibudgets.org/w/united-states-budget-2016 https://us.wikibudgets.org/w/united-states-budget-2016 Bonus question: can you find the judicial branch and the legislative branch?