Does your household work the same as the national budget? We try to make comparisons for simplicity’s purpose, but no, that’s a different beast. Unless you have the authority to print your own money, there’s little overlap there. But the little that does overlap? That’s hammered on in the media and by any political power.

So what’s the negotiation in the debt ceiling that the republicans want? They want to undo student loan forgiveness, stop advances on climate change, and then it’s “drill, baby, drill.” It’s their own special gift to the energy industry (remember? the same energy industry that lied to the American people about climate change). The Republicans are lying about what energy independence looks like, and the impact of the work that they do.

So if you’re thinking about Earth Day, this is the exact oppposite of Earth Day. The Republican strategy is to bring the world to the brink of economic ruin in order to bring the world to the brink of climate change destruction. Are they saying this? No, not at all. It’s all upside for them anyway. If they manage to tank the world economy while Biden is in charge, then we Americans with our short memories will forget and then elect the very perpetrators of the problem.

That’s only the start of this episode. Then we discuss everyone’s favorite topic: reparations. And what’s that for?