Too Much Government Debt Could Become a Big Problem for the Stock Market

It’s always fun until the bill comes due—and the bill always comes due. In fact, it’s coming due right about now.

On Friday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Congress that the U.S. would hit its debt ceiling this coming Thursday, earlier than many had expected. That doesn’t mean the government will be forced to stop paying its bills then—Yellen believes that the Treasury has enough cash and other ways to raise money to last it until early June—but it does mean that an issue that was still purely theoretical has become far more pressing as the X date approaches.