The Financial Markets Are Spooked by Debt, So Why Aren't We?: Podcast
Reason editors debate The Memo, situational libertarianism, Super Bowl highlights, and the political road back to fiscal sanity.
As you slept last night, yields on U.S. Treasury 10-year bond notes hit their highest level (2.885 percent) since January 2014. Coming on the heels of Friday's 666-point plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, this spike in the cost of federal borrowing has the financial markets all herky-jerky today. "Economists and money managers fear that the increase to the $20 trillion U.S. national debt could carry major blowback to markets," Yahoo Finance reported. And for good reason: In a bit of news last week that escaped political attention but hit Wall Street like a sack of wet rats, "The U.S. Treasury expects to borrow $955 billion this fiscal year, according to a documents released Wednesday. It's the highest amount of borrowing in six years, and a big jump from the $519 billion the federal government borrowed last year."
So on today's Reason Podcast, which features Nick Gillespie, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, and Matt Welch discussing news of the week, we start speculating on how to begin the long political road back to a fiscal sanity both major political parties have recklessly abandoned. What, Gillespie asked, will be the symbolic equivalent for debt realists of feminists burning their bras?
Other topics include (of course) The Memo, the hysteria, the weird FBI-love, right-to-try, deregulation, and how Howard the Duck is holding up after all these years.
Audio production by Ian Keyser.
Relevant links from the show:
"Trump's Critics Worry That He's Undermining Trust in the FBI, As If That's a Bad Thing," by Jacob Sullum
"If You Think The Nunes Memo Will 'Discredit' FBI and DOJ, You Haven't Been Paying Attention For the Past 50 Years," by Nick Gillespie
"Right To Try Laws Are a Fine Start. Comprehensive Reform of the FDA's Drug Trials Would Be Better," by Ronald Bailey
"What About the Debt? Trump's SOTU Ignores a $20 Trillion Time Bomb," by Eric Boehm
"Why Libertarians Should Want More Trust in Government," by Nick Gillespie and Todd Krainin
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