by Calculated Risk on 10/02/2006 12:40:00 PM

The Treasury Department reported today that the National Debt increased $574.3 Billion in Fiscal 2006, compared to $553.7 Billion in Fiscal 2005. The record annual increase was $595.8 Billion in Fiscal 2004.

Click on graph for larger image.
The Bush Administration pulled out all the tricks in Fiscal 2006 to make the deficit look better.

Also they suspended Medicare payments for the last nine days of the fiscal year:

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been instructed by the United States Congress in the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005, to place a brief hold on Medicare payments for ALL claims (e.g., initial claims, adjustment claims, and Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) claims) for the last 9 days of the Federal fiscal year, i.e., September 22, 2006 through September 30, 2006.

Not paying your bills and relying on accounting tricks doesn't make the fiscal situation better; it just makes it look better in the short term.