What the Threat of U.S. Debt Default is Really About.

It’s nothing more than a game.

Lauren Elizabeth
3 min readMay 26, 2023
Photo by Kostiantyn Li on Unsplash

Perhaps one of the most obvious points one could make about politics is that most of it is theatre, and the United States is certainly no exception. For politicians, particularly those who actively use their positions to make benefit themselves financially, it becomes apparent infuriatingly quickly that it’s little more than a game to them. Unless, of course, it comes down to matters that directly impact their donors.

Obviously, the nation defaulting on its debt — a topic that has dominated news cycles for the past couple of weeks as the theoretical deadline of June 1st looms closer — is one of those issues that the donors are certainly going to dictate.

So where do things supposedly stand?

Nandita Rose, Jarrett Renshaw, and David Morgan with Reuters write:

“U.S. President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy are closing in on a deal that would raise the government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling for two years while capping spending on most items, a U.S. official told Reuters.

The deal, which is not final, would increase funding for discretionary spending on military and veterans while essentially holding non-defense discretionary spending at current year…

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Lauren Elizabeth

Lauren is a writer & leftist with analysis on topics related to politics & policy. She can be reached at LaurenMartinchek@gmail.com or Twitter @xlauren_mx