At What Point Does National Debt Matter? US Apparently Will Find Out
From Call It Like I See It by James Keys, Tunde Ogunlana
May 20, 2026 · 27 min · Episode 367
About this episode
James Keys and Tunde Ogunlana discuss the implications of the US national debt exceeding the size of the economy for the first time since 1946.
James Keys and Tunde Ogunlana react to the report that the US national debt now exceeds the size of the US economy, measured as the gross domestic product, for the first time since right after World War II in 1946 and consider whether all the talk about how bad huge national debts were, which happened when the actual debt was tens of trillions of dollars lower than it is now, was just political posturing. The guys then consider whether the US society is equipped to address slow moving problems like runaway debt, or even like climate change or forever chemical contamination. US national debt is now bigger than the economy for first time since World War II (The Independent) The real trouble with the US debt topping 100 percent of GDP (Atlantic Council)
People in this episode
Hosts: James Keys, Tunde Ogunlana
Topics covered
- national debt
- US economy
- political posturing
- societal issues
- climate change
- chemical contamination
Keywords
- national debt
- US economy
- GDP
- political posturing
- climate change
- chemical contamination
Mentioned in this episode
Places: US
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