Pod Recommendation: “It’s Debt Ceiling Season” from Today, Explained
Raise your hand if you’ve heard someone bring up the debt ceiling this week, but still don't fully understand what's going on with it.
Same. It’s a hot topic but how much do you really know about the situation?
At my friend Cassidy’s birthday bonfire earlier this week someone brought up the debt ceiling. Now, most of the time I can chit-chat about just about anything, but I quickly realized The Debt CeilingTM was not one of those things. I had been scrolling past alarmist headlines about it on Reddit a lot recently, but I wasn't going to be able to have a conversation about it. Fortunately, no one else could either so the moment passed.
Of course, we all know what the words “approaching the debt ceiling” means: we can only spend so much money and were getting to that amount. But...
What is that amount?
Why is there a limit?
Didn't we almost reach the debt ceiling in 2013?
What did we do to fix it back then?
What are our options to fix it now?
What if we don't fix it?
Lots of questions. Thankfully, Today Explained just released a great episode all about the debt ceiling, why it exists, how we've avoided it up until now, the different paths Biden could take to navigate through this, and the potential downsides and reactions to each option.
I encourage you to take 25 minutes to check it out. It’s up to us to stay informed.
You can find this episode on desktop, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify
Disclaimer: I want to make it as clear as possible that this is an opinion blog. I am not a journalist, researcher, or even a writer as you can probably tell by now. I’m a person with an internet connection and an opinion largely based on other peoples reporting. My goal in these blog posts is to share sources I've found, express my opinion, and encourage you to learn more about the topic.