What if you could borrow money on the cheap and use it to pay for just about anything? The U.S. government can, and does, with U.S. Treasuries. But the market for Treasuries might be more fragile than we know. In this episode, Yesha Yadav of Vanderbilt Law School explains why. This episode was first published as a bonus episode for our Planet Money+ listeners. Today we're making it available for everyone. To hear more episodes like this, and to hear Planet Money and The Indicator without sponsor messages, support the show by signing up for Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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Okay, so do you remember the big messy fights this year over the us debt limit?
The US has hit its debt ceilings.
Congress and the White House are in a standoff.
The impasse could end in a federal default and economic disaster.
Here is what Yesha Yadav, a professor at Vanderbilt University's law school, told me about it at the time.
We look like idiots to the rest of the world.
I mean, I think there's no other way to put it that we are playing with our own national economy.
Luckily, that will never happen again.