The national debt hit $38 trillion, and yes, you should care
Marketplace
American Public Media
4.6 • 8K Ratings
🗓️ 23 October 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The U.S. national debt hit a new record this week: $38 trillion. As we head toward the fifth week of a government shutdown over a congressional budget disagreement, we explain why the growing national debt matters and how it affects your wallet. Also in this episode: Where does surplus oil go as demand drops? How might a wearable AI device affect your relationships? And, why are credit card companies offering more perks?
Every story has an economic angle. Want some in your inbox? Subscribe to our daily or weekly newsletter.
Marketplace is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | How much debt is too much debt? |
| 0:05.6 | We don't really know yet, but we sure do have a lot of it. |
| 0:10.2 | From American public media. |
| 0:12.5 | This is Marketplace. |
| 0:19.5 | In Los Angeles, I'm Kyle Rdahl. It is Thursday, today, 23 October. It is always to have you along, everybody. |
| 0:29.0 | We begin the show today with where we left off yesterday, and the observation that the total federal debt since the beginning of time has now topped |
| 0:38.6 | $38 trillion. |
| 0:41.1 | It was $37 trillion just two months ago, and the rate of increase in that debt is increasing. |
| 0:48.7 | Now, $38 trillion is an unfathomable amount of money. |
| 0:53.2 | It's so much it's almost make-believe. |
| 0:55.9 | It's not like the United States is going to go bankrupt. We should probably do a separate story on |
| 0:59.8 | why that's the case. But the story we are going to start with today is what being $38 trillion |
| 1:05.2 | in the whole is going to mean for the economy, for you and me, and for the future. |
| 1:12.8 | Marketplace's a Subri Benish War starts us off. |
| 1:18.6 | The pile of money the U.S. government owes to investors here at home and around the world is currently about the size of the entire U.S. economy. |
| 1:24.0 | A large national debt is damaging to the country in so many ways. |
| 1:28.6 | Maya McGinnis is president of the committee for a responsible federal budget. |
| 1:32.4 | The problem is most of it's invisible. You don't really realize it. |
| 1:35.6 | Take, for example, interest rates and mortgages. |
| 1:39.0 | If, in fact, we didn't have this debt outlook, interest rates almost certainly would be at their pre-COVID levels. |
| 1:46.0 | Kent Smetters is director of the Penn Wharton budget model. |
| 1:49.0 | So you remember the good old three, three and a half percent mortgage rates, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from American Public Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of American Public Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.