The Wall Street Journal-20080114-Calendar Quirk Gives Federal Surplus a Boost
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Calendar Quirk Gives Federal Surplus a Boost
WASHINGTON -- The federal government ran a monthly budget surplus of $48.26 billion last month, a bonus created by a quirk in the calendar and a one-time sale of wireless licenses.
The Treasury Department said its monthly surplus was up 15% from a year earlier and was a record for the month of December. In November, the federal government had a $98.24 billion deficit, revised slightly from the previously reported $98.23 billion. Outlays were $229 billion last month, up 5% from December 2006. Government receipts in December were $276.98 billion, up 7% from a year earlier.
The surplus would have been much smaller if not for the incidence of Dec. 1 being on a weekend, which caused $17 billion in benefit payments to be delivered at the end of November. Also, there was a Federal Communications Commission auction of $12.7 billion in advanced wireless-services licenses, the Treasury said.
