Last week, we discovered that Apple has more money than the federal government. While that could be a tad embarrassing, today’s revelation is a lot more disconcerting. At least Apple is a company.  It’s worse when a man has more money than the U.S. Treasury. Who is that man? Bill Gates of course, who is believed to have $56 billion. After paying off some debts (at a rate of $10 billion a day), the United States has less than that.

Next up will be Warren Buffett, whose net worth is believed to be $45 billion. That will be more than the treasury by some time tomorrow. It will take till the end of the week before a third American, Larry Ellison, has more money than the Treasury, all depending on how Congress votes today about the debt ceiling.