Topic: Debt Ceiling

White analyzes the timing of military strikes in Syria and North Korea as a move to increase demand for long-term US treasuries. He suggests this was a calculated CEO-style move by the Trump administration to improve the US debt position ahead of debt ceiling discussions. The segment also touches on the proposed 2018 budget as the largest reorganization of the federal government in history.

The 114th Congress has utilized a strategy of attaching deregulation "nuggets" to essential legislation to ensure they reach the President's desk. Briney points out that the first act of the new Congress involved reauthorizing a terrorism insurance program that included Wall Street deregulation. With the debt ceiling deadline approaching in the summer, she predicts more corporate-friendly provisions will be forced through using the threat of government default.