Dylan, German, and Dara discuss the debt ceiling: the current crisis, what the debt ceiling even is, and how the debt ceiling has become a politically polarized issue. They also talk about why the debt ceiling is bad for democracy. Plus, a white paper about Canadian bread cartels.   Resources: The Bipartisan Policy Center’s estimate of when we’ll hit the debt ceiling Congressional Research Service’s history of the debt ceiling Janet Yellen on the costs of breaching the debt ceiling Neil Buchanan and Michael Dorf on why breaching the debt ceiling is the “least illegal” option The trillion dollar coin (and the Obama rejection of it) explained Steven Schwarcz on using special investment tools to evade the debt ceiling Matt Yglesias on the “Honduras scenario” for American democracy failing "Hub and Spoke Cartels: Theory and Evidence from the Grocery Industry" by Robert Clark, Ignatius Horstmann, Jean-François Houde Netflix documentary on the Canadian maple syrup cartel Hosts: Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), Senior Correspondent, Vox German Lopez (@germanrlopez), Senior Correspondent, Vox Dara Lind (@DLind), Immigration Reporter, ProPublica Credits: Sofi LaLonde, Producer & Engineer Libby Nelson, Editor Amber Hall, Deputy Editorial Director of Talk Podcasts Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter  Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices