WASHINGTON — The government, raising cash to pay for the array of financial-rescue packages, said Monday it plans to borrow $550 billion in the last three months of this year — and that’s just a down payment.
Treasury Department officials also projected the government would need to borrow $368 billion more in the first three months of 2009, meaning the next president will confront an ocean of red ink.
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Budget estimates all the government economic and rescue initiatives, starting with the $168 billion in stimulus checks issued earlier this year, total even more — $2.6 trillion.
In addition to the borrowing numbers, Treasury released estimates by major Wall Street bond firms projecting that total government borrowing for this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, will total $1.4 trillion, nearly double the previous record.
