I'm Nicole Lapin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand.

It's time for some money we have.

Let's take a poll's check on the financial world.

Today I'll be covering the two biggest stories in financial news you need to know.

First, the debt ceiling.

This is a story that's going to be haunting the markets for much of the year to come.

According to the New York Times, President Biden and Congress could be on track later

this year for the most, quote, perilous debt limit debate since 2011.

Let's double click on the debt ceiling.

Because the way we fund our government is one of those uniquely American things that we

assume was developed from a place of logic or reason or necessity, but actually wasn't

like yellow school buses and spray cheese.

But in line with many American traditions, it's also not quite as old as we think.

The debt ceiling actually grew out of Congress's need to fund the Panama Canal and World

War I.

Before that, any funding was approved at the same time as it was needed.

But since costs of the first war were expected to be so high, government leaders at the time

thought it would be better to just approve the spending in bulk rather than as individual

expenditures.

100 years later, we are still funding our government this way.

The debt ceiling just approves funding for laws and prior commitments that the government

already has.

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