The government also expects to borrow $368 billion in the first quarter of next year. Let’s hope the government is getting better at these estimates. If it’s as bad at estimating future borrowings as it was in July, we’re looking at a government that might need to borrow more than $2.5 trillion over the next two quarters, which would mean that the Treasury would be borrowing more than one-third of total Gross Domestic Product.

That’s obviously unrealistic, and we’re sure the new numbers reflect a better perception of the costs and risks faced by our environment. Because by now these guys who are cooking up these numbers must have learned something about risk, right?