January Surplus: Reading Lessons for Glenn Reynolds

Glenn Reynolds and Don Surber likely did not get past the first sentence of this:

The U.S. federal budget surplus widened by 82% in January to $38.2 billion from $21 billion a year earlier, the Treasury Department reported Monday. The surplus is slightly below the Congressional Budget Office estimate of about $40 billion. January usually as a surplus month because many individuals must make estimated tax payments, analysts said.

So we typically have January cash inflows and this one fell below expectations. Hat tip to Mark Kleiman who is having a grand old time with the rightwing’s inability to understand even basic concepts like reading. Mark is even offering bets up to The Skeptical Optimist. You would think an optimist would unconditionally take such a bet – assuming he really believes that the Federal government is about to run a surplus.