In just a few weeks, the US may be unable to pay its bills.
A divided Congress has still not reached an agreement on raising the debt ceiling, and time is running out to avoid a default. The treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has warned that the government may be unable to cover its financial obligations as early as 1 June. And economists predict that a federal default would cause unemployment and interest rates to rise as the country’s GDP shrinks, wreaking havoc on Americans’ finances.
