When Democrats and Republicans fight, do Americans win?
wildpixel/iStock / Getty Images Plus
The deadline to fund the US government is fast approaching, and it will take a Congress seemingly addicted to brinkmanship to keep the government open.
Will the debt ceiling bill negotiated by President Joe Biden, left, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy be a lasting solution?
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Compromises, no matter how horrible, have long been used to solve seemingly intractable political problems – but at a cost.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has billed the deal as a victory for his party.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Congress passed and the president signed the deal just days before the US was expected to default on its debt.
Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images
African governments have more influence on China-funded projects than mainstream narratives acknowledge.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP/AAP
Biden believes these sorts of compromises help restore trust and optimism about the US government actually being capable of responsible governing.
Many Americans in their early 50s take care of older loved ones.
FredFroese/E+ via Getty Imagres
Republicans are pressing for policy changes based on a misconception that hardly anyone who gets help buying groceries with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits is employed.
Evan Vucci/AP/AAP
The Treasury has been taking extraordinary measures to delay a default, but these measures could fail as early as June 1.
Whether or not the U.S. defaults on its debt may depend on the leadership of Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy.
AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib
Research shows that leaders who can embrace competing demands and focus on the long term are more likely to succeed.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen doesn’t want to look back in anger over a debt deadline missed.
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
If the US fails to increase its debt ceiling by June 1, it could be forced into an embarrassing – and hugely costly – default on its obligations.
These benefits make it easier for millions of Americans to buy groceries.
SDI Productions/E+ via Getty Images
A team of economists looked at what happened after Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program work requirements were reinstated in Virginia in 2013.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy said the House would vote on a debt ceiling bill ‘within weeks.’
AP Photo/Seth Wenig
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to raise the debt ceiling – and avoid an unprecedented US default – but only if Democrats agree to freeze spending and agree to several other demands.
There are fears that Kenya’s debt has been funding mostly government salaries.
Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images
William Ruto is determined to reduce public debt by collecting more taxes to pay for what the country needs.
Putting your money where his mouth is.
DNY59/E+ via Getty Images
The US spent $232 billion paying interest on the national debt in the first quarter of 2023 as the Fed jacked up borrowing costs.
Kevin McCarthy addresses the media during one of his earliest news conferences as speaker of the House of Representatives.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Despite all the limitations his concessions place on his speakership, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy still has a lot of power.
Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images
Njuguna Ndung'u has the experience that suits Ruto’s bottom-up economics but lacks the political gravitas to appease voters.
Walid Kilonzi/Shutterstock
There’s a gap between Kenya’s public spending and its revenue. If the country owes more than it can repay, citizens will suffer.
Would a default mean an end to the dollar’s position as the go-to trading currency?
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
An economist explains why defaulting on the national debt would result in economic crisis.
Keith Lamond/AAP
The US debt ceiling is a form of self-delusion: a limit imposed on a borrower by the borrower itself. Australia had one until the Coalition and the Green us, abolished it.
The sky’s not always the limit.
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Republicans and Democrats have negotiated a draft deal that may avert a financial crisis, but why does the US have a debt ceiling in the first place?
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is taking ‘extraordinary measures’ to avoid busting the debt ceiling.
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
The US hit the debt ceiling in March and is expected to run out of ways to get around the new $22 trillion limit by September. An economist explains why the ceiling is a dysfunctional relic.