When a country faces a debt crisis, it is usually rooted in a deeper loss of confidence. If the investors who lend the U.S. government money every week start to lose faith in our government’s creditworthiness, borrowing costs spike. On a $38 trillion debt, even a modest rate increase sends shockwaves through the economy: higher mortgage rates, slower growth, a government with no room left to move.

The warning signs are already here. All three major credit agencies have downgraded U.S. debt. The dollar's share of global reserves has dropped from 70% to 57%. No Labels spent months with former Treasury and Fed officials mapping out how this could lead to a crisis, which we reveal in Nightmare on Main Street – an oral history of a debt crisis hitting the U.S. in 2028. Experts call it realistic. Washington is acting like it is not.