Kai Risdahl

Jillian, thanks a lot.

This final note on the way out today in which we started with a number, we will end with a number 100.2.

That is the percentage of our total national debt held by the public as compared to the total size of the U.S.

economy.

That is, we owe more than the whole economy is worth.

The data came today from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

There are some technical bits of that that we honestly don't have time for, and there is nothing magic about 100% versus 99%.

But here's a fact.

The more we owe, the more we spend on the interest on what we owe, which means there's less to spend on everything else.

Also, and not for nothing, I always find it curious that when the federal debt and deficit are mentioned, it's only spending cuts that are talked about, not, shall we say, the revenue side of that equation.

Our daily production team includes Livvy Burdett, Andy Corbin, Maria Hollenhorst, Sarah Leeson, Sean McHenry, Michaela San, and Sophia Terenzio.

Will Story is the supervising senior producer.

And I'm Kai Risdell.

We will see you tomorrow, everybody.

This is 8 p.m.

There's so much happening in the world.

And if you have particularly, shall we say, inquisitive kids, it can be hard to answer their questions.

Hi, I'm Ryan.

There's a bunch of new episodes out now, so go listen to Million Bazillion on your favorite podcast app.

Marketplace is brought to you by you.