Jobs IRLDecoding DemocracyA Warmer WorldI've Always Wondered ...

Loading...

0:00
0% played

National Debt

What is national debt and how does it affect our economy?

From This Collection

National Debt

Is Washington finally getting serious about the debt ceiling?

by Sabri Ben-Achour , Alex Schroeder and Erika Soderstrom
May 19, 2023
Every day there's a warning about how catastrophic a default on the national debt would be. What's it going to take to avoid that?
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE
Make Me Smart | Episode 926

Everything you wanted to know about the debt ceiling

May 17, 2023
LISTEN
Download
Sponsor Logo
COVID-19

Clawing back unspent COVID funds might contribute to a debt ceiling solution — but not much

by Henry Epp
May 15, 2023
The exact amount left from pandemic spending bills could be as little as $30 billion — a fraction of this year’s federal deficit.
Congress passed six COVID spending bills totaling $4.6 trillion, according to the Government Accountability Office. But most of that money is already gone.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE
National Debt

The markets are taking debt limit uncertainty in stride — for now

by Justin Ho
May 9, 2023
Stock markets aren't upset by the debt limit debate. But that could change as the June 1 default deadline draws closer, analysts say.
The stock market doesn't have a lot to react to because little is happening in terms of raising the debt limit, says Ian Dew-Becker, a finance professor at Northwestern University. Above, a trader at the New York Stock Exchange.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE
Make Me Smart | Episode 914

The U.S. could default sooner than we thought

May 1, 2023
LISTEN
Download