We will have passed the policy.

I am that, that is the part that whatever the voters want, whatever Congress wants, like,

that suggests to me such hypocrisy that I am just beside myself with anger.

I'm Kimberly Atkins Store, and this is Justice by Design.

So when I talk about the national debt,

when I say that phrase, what does it mean to you? One thing I worry about is that for most Americans,

it doesn't mean enough. People really don't understand what a rising national debt could mean for them, how it impacts them at their kitchen tables, how it impacts their businesses, and how it could lead to

our children and their children being worse off than we are.

And that's not the American dream at all.

So to help explain this, I am very,

very happy to be joined by Wendy Etelberg, who is a senior fellow of Economic Studies at the Brookings

institution. Wendy, welcome to Justice By Design. So happy to be here. So before we get started

in our conversation, briefly introduce yourself to our listeners and let them know who you are and what you do there at Brookings.

Yeah. So I am, as you said, senior fellow in economic studies at Brookings. What that means is that I put out pieces on what I think is happening with inflation, immigration, fiscal policy,

what I think terror policy is doing to the economy.

I'm a macroeconomist, so, you know, I have a broad remit.

Until recently, I ran something called the Hamilton Project, which is a center of Brookings

that focuses on getting concrete policy ideas supported

by academic research, getting those ideas in front of policymakers. And then what's related to

this conversation we're having today, before that, I was chief economist at the Congressional

Budget Office.

All right.

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