Why I’m Freaked Out By The Debt Ceiling

The debt ceiling will be the most crucial and yet the most insufferable political debate of the year.

by Bob Cesca

WASHINGTON, DC – I can think of a million things that keep me up at night: the climate crisis, the safety and stability of our democracy and civil rights, the shaky status of the Fourth Estate, and so many other nagging political issues – endlessly tapping me on the shoulder. But frankly, the most terrifying economic issue right now is the debt ceiling. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote a letter to Kevin McCarthy this week informing him that the United States will reach its statutory debt limit on Thursday, January 19. She added that the Treasury will exploit emergency measures to keep up with required payments on the debt through June, when…who the fuck knows what’ll happen.

To be clear, it’s not exclusively the national debt nor the debt ceiling that are making me lose my shpadoinkle right now. It’s the debt ceiling and the bag-of-weasels knowns as the House Republicans along with the vast number of ignoramuses who thought it’d be a great idea to install a collective of insurrectionists, Trump cosplayers, and far-right knuckleheads in charge of the lower chamber of Congress.