Don’t bank on that trillion-dollar coin
Make Me Smart
Marketplace
4.6 • 5.5K Ratings
🗓️ 24 January 2023
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In case you haven’t heard, we’ve hit the debt limit. That means a whole lot of debate about how to avoid a debt default is likely ahead. One of the more creative solutions involves minting a trillion-dollar platinum coin. We’ll explain why that probably won’t fly. Also, we’ll have an update on the artificial intelligence wars in tech. And guest host Amy Scott makes us smiley and sporty with a story about soccer star Erling Haaland.
Here’s everything we talked about today:
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- “Janet Yellen Dismisses Minting $1 Trillion Coin to Avoid Default” from The Wall Street Journal
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- “Microsoft to Deepen OpenAI Partnership, Invest Billions in ChatGPT Creator” from The Wall Street Journal
Got a question for our hosts? Email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org. Or leave us a voice message at 508 U-B-SMART, or 508-827-6278.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm ready whenever you guys are and I'm just muttering to myself and you know people love it when I'm mother |
| 0:04.0 | So we can put that on the feet. I don't care. So I've an all-mutter show |
| 0:07.3 | That's right |
| 0:09.3 | Oh man and one carless, alright fine. So we need to announce the egg. The egg with me and the egg with you |
| 0:15.5 | Hey, everybody. I'm car Rizadol. Welcome back to make me smart where we make today make sense |
| 0:21.1 | And I made me Scott in for Kimberly Adams. Thanks for joining us |
| 0:25.0 | It's a Monday. So first we're gonna dive into some news of the day also noon as the news fix |
| 0:30.4 | Then we'll talk about a story or two that made us smile. Okay, all right. Let's do it. Shall we? Okay? |
| 0:35.5 | Let's you want to go first? You want to go first? Oh, I'll go first |
| 0:39.2 | We have a little we have a little comics lag here. That's alright. You know, we're doing a little sausage |
| 0:43.5 | We're doing radio and podcasting with with the tin can and strings. I will go first |
| 0:49.3 | And I will say this at the outset of my news. I'm I promise I will not do every twist |
| 0:54.9 | And turn in the debt limit debate. It's going to be with us until June |
| 0:58.9 | Maybe July depending on how much financial shenanigans Janet Yellen can do and so we will not cover every twist and turn |
| 1:05.7 | But it is relevant to point out that over the weekend the secretary of the Treasury who oh by the way also used to be the |
| 1:13.9 | chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors |
| 1:17.2 | Kind of dropped the hammer on one of the proposed solutions to the debt limits. So let me back up for a second |
| 1:21.8 | We have hit as everybody who listens to marketplace knows and any kind of public radio or reads the newspaper |
| 1:27.3 | We have hit the debt limit right? We are no longer allowed to borrow money. It's $31.4 trillion |
| 1:32.4 | That's how indebted we are and by congressional statute |
| 1:35.9 | We are not allowed to bar any more money |
| 1:37.9 | So Janet Yellen is moving literally moving money around in accounts to get us some headroom to find a solution to this |
... |
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