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James Pethokoukis of Reuters published a chart Tuesday demonstrating exactly why all the hysteria about a debt default or missing Social Security check payments is a bunch of nonsense. If America's news outlets were actually interested in disseminating the truth rather than fear-mongering, this chart or something like it would be part of every report involving the debt ceiling: What this chart created by the securities firm Goldman Sachs perfectly demonstrates is that there are ample tax receipts coming to the Treasury in August to pay the interest on our debt, Social Security, Medicare, and “essential” defense costs. The Goldman report this chart came from also claimed: Using August 2010 spending and receipts as a proxy, the Treasury will probably take in $5-$10 bn in revenue on August 3, leaving insufficient revenues to make Social Security payments partly unfunded even if all other spending is deferred. Since the Treasury has carried a minimum cash balance of about $20 bn since 2009, and currently carries a balance of $74 bn, Social Security payments might still be made by drawing down the Treasury’s cash balance. So, the Treasury currently has a cash balance of $74 billion. If it takes in an additional $5-$10 billion, it has ample funds to make the August 3rd Social Security payments quite contrary to what the President said or implied in his interview with CBS's Scott Pelley Tuesday.