First, the debt limit deadline was in May. Then it slipped to July. Now it is supposedly August 2, after which, the flood, right?

Um...maybe. Then again, maybe not:For months, markets have been girding themselves against the possibility that the U.S. will reach the limits of its borrowing ability on August 2 and default on its debts. But researchers at Barclays Capital think the real deadline may not be until a week later.

In a note published Friday, the Barclays Interest Rates Research team wrote that "the date on which the Treasury will run out of cash to pay its obligations might not be August 2; it might be around August 10 instead."

Why the change? The note explains that previous projections showed the Treasury running out of money on the morning of Wednesday, August 3. On that day, it was predicted, the Treasury would need to spend $32 billion, including $22 billion in Social Security payments -- and it was only projected to have $30 billion at its disposal.

That projection was made on July 13. But since then, the researchers say, the Treasury has taken in about $14 billion more than expected, and paid out about $1 billion less than expected. Hence, the deadline date might actually be August 10, a week later than previously believed.

Will anyone tell Obama? Probably not - he's on a roll. Whipping up panic over the looming August 2 deadline is how he's going to get the GOP to agree to massive tax increases. He's not going to give up that advantage now.