Apple ($AAPL) more liquid than Uncle Sam

On Thursday afternoon, The Tell reported that Apple ($AAPL) was closing in on Exxon Mobil's ($XOM) crown — $364 billion versus $405 billion, respectively — as the biggest U.S. company using a market-cap measure.

Matt Hartley of Canada's Financial Post has gone one further and made the claim that “the world’s largest technology company now has more cash on hand than the most powerful democracy on Earth has spending room.”
Citing U.S. Treasury data, Hartley writes that whereas the U.S. has an operating balance of some $73.77 billion, Apple’s cash reserve is $75.88 billion (per its latest June earnings report).
This might amount to an Apples-and-oranges-type comparison, but it’s a sobering thought