Jon S. Corzine: “I rise to discuss a recent report by the Treasury Department that has received very little attention in Washington, but…”

“I rise to discuss a recent report by the Treasury Department that has received very little attention in Washington, but it is sending a very significant signal, message, about the recently approved tax bill to the financial analysts around the world and market participants around the globe. On July 30, the Treasury Department announced that it expects to borrow from the public $51 billion during the quarter ending in September. This was a whopping reversal from an estimate in a similar Treasury report issued just 3 months earlier. Back in April, Treasury said that it expected to pay down a total of $57 billion in debt in this very quarter--a negative cashflow swing of an incredible $108 billion. Let me repeat that. For this quarter, we have gone from an estimate showing that we would reduce our debt by $57 billion, to an estimate that we will increase our debt by $51 billion--again, a $108 billion swing in just 3 months. I used to serve on the Treasury Department's Debt Advisory Committee as a private citizen, so perhaps this report by the Treasury struck me as a little more troubling than it did many of my colleagues. It is a serious reversal and worthy of a few minutes to discuss its implications because it is a precursor of things to come.”