KQ2: How bad is the national debt, anyway?

America's national debt is a problem. How big of a problem? Take the quiz to find out. Nine questions. Go!

If you wanna know more 👇

Downgrades: Moody’s was the last of the three main rating agencies to strip the US government of its AAA rating. All three agencies say the US economy is strong but the US political system basically sucks.

Debt/GDP: The St. Louis Fed’s “FRED” database is an amazing resource for data geeks. Here’s the series on federal debt as a portion of GDP.

What’s with this wonky phrase “federal debt held by the public?” Is that different from the total national debt? Yet it is. Here’s a good explainer.

Effects of a debt crisis: Here’s a good explainer.

Fixing the debt: I love the plan outlined by Jessica Riedl of the Manhattan Institute. Here’s my story on her analysis. Here’s the original analysis.  

Politicians with a serious plan to fix the debt: If you know of any, please let me know.  

KQ1: Tariffs, tariffs everywhere

President Donald Trump is imposing tariffs on billions of dollars of imports. How much do you know about tariffs? Nine questions. Go!

If you wanna know more 👇

The basics about tariffs.

Some history.

Some more history.

Why Trump admires tariff man William McKinley, by my Yahoo Finance buddy Ben Werschkul.

A famous movie clip about the Smoot-Hawley tariffs. 🤣

How washing machine tariffs drove up prices (by me).

 The Yale Budget Lab’s estimate of likely price hikes on leather goods, clothing, textiles, cars, and many other products caused by the Trump tariffs (toward the bottom).

The Tax Foundation expects the Trump tariffs to kill 685,000 jobs.