Straight talk here. Federal funding for public media is at risk of being eliminated. That seriously affects our 800 local public radio stations that broadcast Marketplace, and that in turn impacts our bottom line. Marketplace needs your help to plan for an uncertain future. And to continue bringing you the news, interviews, and stories about the economy

as it changes, every donation right now has a profound impact. Please give what you can at marketplace.org

slash donate and thank you. Borrowing rates are rising. For Marketplace, I'm Novosafo and for David Brancaccio.

Long-term yields on U.S. government bonds are on the upswing this morning. The 30-year is above

5 percent after the last of Wall Street's big three credit ratings agencies downgraded U.S.

sovereign debt. Moody's pointed to persistent federal budget deficits. I'm joined by

Julia Coronado, founder and president of macro policy perspectives. Good morning. Good morning.

So what does the jump in U.S. Treasury yields tell us, particularly that above 5% yield in the 30-year

treasury? It tells us that the United States is bumping up against fiscal limits,

that international and domestic investors are starting to charge the U.S. more interest

for its lack of fiscal discipline and potentially a little bit of the policy volatility that we've been seeing

this year. And when you say policy volatility, you're referring to? The trade wars and sort of

the breakdown in the rule of law that certainly raises risks for investors who are buying

30-year securities where the U.S. is the other side of the

transaction. So when we see long-term U.S. debt yields rising like this, what is the impact to consumers?

It means consumers have to pay more to borrow. So mortgage rates are going to follow the Treasury

yields higher as are rates on car loans and

basically any kind of consumer borrowing.

So consumers will seal the impact.

Money is more expensive.

And right now, does that concern you in terms of the U.S. economic outlook in this year, at least?

Yeah, absolutely.

...