Bureau Of Public Debt

Atanacio Garcia isn't waiting for Washington to reduce the national debt. The 84-year-old retired postal worker from San Antonio, a man of simple means and a simple credo, donates $50 a month from his pension, plus whatever he makes from collecting aluminum cans in his neighborhood, to reduce Uncle Sam's IOU. "I'm a believer in our country," said Garcia, an Army veteran who has promised that he will contribute "until the debt is paid off...

Atanacio Garcia isn't waiting for Washington to reduce the national debt. The 84-year-old retired postal worker from San Antonio, a man of simple means and a simple credo, donates $50 a month from his pension, plus whatever he makes from collecting aluminum cans in his neighborhood, to reduce Uncle Sam's IOU. "I'm a believer in our country," said Garcia, an Army veteran who has promised that he will contribute "until the debt is paid off...

When it comes to big government, the biggest numbers are laden with bad news. Take the $3.9-trillion national debt. Or its poor cousin, the $400-billion budget deficit. Please. Yet for those Americans who want to make a personal stand against the country's vast and debilitating monetary obligations, there is a way.

When it comes to big government, the biggest numbers are laden with bad news. Take the $3.9-trillion national debt. Or its poor cousin, the $400-billion budget deficit. Please. Yet for those Americans who want to make a personal stand against the country's vast and debilitating monetary obligations, there is a way.

The Treasury Department is scrapping plans to hire a cartoonist to lighten the mood of employees who manage the nation's $1.2-trillion debt, after a senator questioned its merits. The Bureau of Public Debt had announced it was looking for a contractor to conduct presentations for its employees on the benefits of humor in the workplace and the connection between humor and stress relief. But the effort was canceled because it had become "more of a distraction than an opportunity," said bureau spokesman Kim Treat.

A 14-year-old Fargo, N.D., boy who sent President Clinton $1,000 to help balance the federal deficit got his check back. Clinton returned the contribution along with a letter to Larry Villella, explaining that federal law bars him from accepting such donations. But Larry said he still plans to give the money to the government. "I'm planning . . . to send a check to the Bureau of Public Debt," he said. In his letter, Clinton suggested that option to Larry.

Bestowed at christenings, tucked into birthday cards and doled out at graduations, the U.S. Savings Bond has been one of the most popular gift items in America throughout the years. It's also one of the most misplaced. Right now, a whopping $6.5 billion in Savings Bonds is languishing out there, past maturity and no longer earning interest, simply because the owners have lost track of them.

Can't remember whether your U.S. savings bond has matured? Can't find it? Missing an interest payment? The Treasury Department announced Monday a new link on its savings bond Web site, dubbed "Treasury Hunt," to help people find missing bonds and interest payments and learn whether their bonds have matured. Rather than writing the government to find out, investors canconduct a database search at http://www.savingsbonds.

An Austrian emigrant has left $5.6 million to the U.S. government as a thank you to the country that took them in. Stanley S. Newberg, who died in 1986 at age 81 without any surviving blood relatives, left most of his $8.4-million estate to the government. The Justice Department received its $5.6 million earlier this week, U.S. Atty. Donald K. Stern said Friday.

Uncle Sam wants you to check your attic, basement and closets for forgotten savings bonds. The Treasury Department's Bureau of Public Debt is launching a radio and print advertising campaign aimed at encouraging savings bond owners to cash in the matured bonds they hold. More than $7 billion worth of savings bonds have matured but haven't been redeemed, the government says. Ads are expected to begin surfacing next week.

The national debt on Monday totaled more than $3 trillion for the first time in history, the Treasury Department reported Tuesday. That's $3,000,000,000,000. When the national debt reached $3 trillion, it meant that it would cost every man, woman and child in the nation $12,000 to pay it off. "The debt subject to limit did go over $3 trillion on Monday," said Peter Hollenbach, public affairs officer for the Treasury's Bureau of Public Debt.