Does Apple have more cash reserves than the U.S. government?

Question

There are stories like this floating in the internet.

Apple is now more liquid than the United States government, the Financial Post reports.

As the government struggles to resolve the debt ceiling debate, the operating balance in Washington is at US$73.768 billion and falling.

Meanwhile, Apple has US$75.876 billion – and that number isn’t going anywhere but up as the company continues to break records and make its competitors look bad.

Does Apple really have more money than the U.S. government?

Is the story misleading?

Answer 1

This is just a case of total misunderstanding of terms.

Original claim was that Apple has more cash, than operating balance of US federal government. Operating balance means revenues minus liabilities.

Of course, the numbers aren’t directly comparable; the government’s number represents how much financial headroom it has before bumping up against an arbitrary debt ceiling, while Apple’s cash reserve represents the pile of money the Cupertino

Operating balance is something completely different than reserves. As for reserves, current assets of Federal Reserve are worth $2,907,837 million, which is almost 40 times more than Apple's reserves.