Our $40,000,000,000,000 debt

2026-08-27 · 26 min · 7 entities

episode page audio

Asserted relationships

→ discusses News concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: News
→ discusses Politics concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Politics
→ discusses Daily News concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Daily News
→ hosted by Vox company

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evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: Vox

Entities found in this episode

concepts 5

mentioned Politics concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Politics
mentioned Daily News concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Daily News
discusses News concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: News
discusses Politics concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Politics
discusses Daily News concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Daily News

companys 2

mentioned Vox company

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evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: Vox
hosted by Vox company

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evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: Vox

Episode description as stored

The US debt keeps breaking records. Should we panic? This episode was produced by Kelli Wessinger, edited by Jolie Myers, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. An electronic display shows the national debt in Washington, DC on August 19, 2026, after the US gross national debt surged past $40 trillion for the first time. Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. New Vox members get $20 off their membership right now. Transcript at ⁠⁠vox.com/today-explained-podcast⁠.⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices