BY THE NUMBERS

By The Numbers, a look at what’s in the news . . . by the numbers. These are just numbers, not suggestions that they mean more or less than what they are. We do not suggest that one number is connected to another. These are simply facts with no extraneous details, bias or slanted reporting. To borrow (and perhaps mangle a bit) a quote from legendary fictional detective Joe Friday, it’s just the numbers, ma’am!

The Department of Government Efficiency – or DOGE – has certainly been in the news of late. Supporters and critics alike are paying attention to the department that President Donald Trump tasked businessman and billionaire Elon Musk to run. Love it, hate it or somewhere in the middle – there’s no denying that the new department is all about the numbers.

$840 Billion

Do we need DOGE? The debate continues. But the reality is that the U.S. Treasury Department reports that so far the federal government’s fiscal year 2025 spending exceeds its revenues by $840 billion.

$4.92 Trillion vs. $6.75 Trillion

The Treasury folks report that in fiscal year 2024 our government collected $4.9 trillion and spent $6.7 trillion, creating a deficit of $1.8 trillion.

2001

In the last half century, the U.S. has experienced a fiscal year-end budget surplus four times. The last one was in 2001. The president then was George W. Bush.

0

When spending and money collected are the same, the budget is considered balance. But also remember that there is a difference between our national debt and our national deficit. The Treasury Department explains it like this: To pay for a deficit, the federal government borrows money by selling Treasury bonds, bills, and other securities. The national debt is the accumulation of this borrowing along with associated interest owed to the investors who purchased these securities. As the federal government experiences reoccurring deficits, which are common, the national debt grows. 

2009

That’s the year our federal deficit topped $1 trillion for the first time, finishing at $1.42 trillion. Since then, it has bounced around with 2020 being the biggest year at $3.1 trillion.

12

How many zeroes are in a trillion.

1,000 to 1,000,000,000,000

To put numbers that can be hard to understand in perspective, people often use time. If we look at it in seconds instead of dollars, here’s how long a thousand seconds are compared to others.

One thousand seconds was 16 minutes and 40 seconds ago. You know, about the time you were having a cup of coffee.

One million seconds is 11 days, 13 hours 46 minutes and 40 seconds. Brrrr. It was cold that day!

One billion seconds is 31.5 years. Ah, youth! We remember what that felt like!

One trillion seconds is 31,688 years. We were in an ice age (and boy was it cold THAT day!) and Neanderthals well may have been wandering around.