The US Cannot Outgrow Its Debt; Spirit Airlines Gives Up The Ghost; Musk's $158bn Tesla Salary; Senate Bans Senators From Prediction Market Trading
- Dipo Owolabi
- May 4
- 5 min read
The U.S. has crossed a historic threshold with national debt now larger than its entire economy. At the same time, Spirit Airlines is shutting down operations entirely, marking a rare collapse in the modern aviation industry and leaving thousands stranded. In corporate America, Tesla is back in the spotlight with a staggering $158 billion compensation figure tied to Elon Musk. Meanwhile, lawmakers are moving to regulate themselves, with the U.S. Senate banning trading on prediction platforms. From fiscal pressure to market ethics, all this and more in today’s Read It And Eat! |
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MAJOR HEADLINES
The US Now Owes More Money ($39 Trillion) Than Their Entire Economy is Worth ($31 Trillion)
The U.S. national debt is now larger than the entire American economy and is only set to keep growing, further exacerbating the affordability crisis and risking national security. Out of the $39 trillion total national debt, debt held by the public hit $31.27 trillion on March 31, surpassing the $31.22 trillion in Gross Domestic Product over the past 12 months.
The fact that the national debt has reached 100% of GDP, the highest in history except for the years immediately following World War II, is “deeply troubling,” Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute, told The Center Square. “Following World War II, we actually had a good reason for having such a high debt, and the government was on a path to reduce that debt after the war ended,” Boccia said.
While some U.S. lawmakers have expressed concern over the unprecedented debt increase, there is little to no action on substantially reducing federal spending. In the immediate term, rising debt worsens affordability by spiking interest costs on Americans’ credit card debts, mortgages, car loans, student loans and more. The U.S. currently spends more money on financing debt interest costs than it does on national defense, even as high debt ratios directly endanger national security. Wall Street Journal
Spirit Airlines Canceled All Flights And Is Going Out Of Business
Spirit Airlines, the pioneering discount airline that reshaped the budget travel market, is shutting down its operations after years of financial strain. The company, now in its second bankruptcy, had been facing significant challenges well before rising geopolitical tensions, including the Iran conflict, pushed jet fuel prices higher. Efforts to stabilize the business ultimately failed after the airline was unable to secure a proposed $500 million bailout, sealing its fate.
America’s eighth-largest carrier had attempted to reach an eleventh-hour rescue deal with the Trump administration, but negotiations collapsed after a key group of creditors rejected the proposal. The airline’s closure marks the first time in 25 years that a major U.S. carrier has gone out of business due to financial difficulties. The shutdown has stranded thousands of passengers and disrupted travel plans for millions more who had future bookings. Spirit has canceled all flights, shut down its customer service operations, and advised customers not to proceed to the airport. Affected passengers will receive refunds and are being directed to rebook with other airlines.
Despite its financial struggles, the airline maintained a strong safety record, operating for 35 years without a major crash or passenger fatality. The decision is expected to affect approximately 17,000 workers, including 14,000 direct employees and thousands of contractors whose roles are tied to the airline’s operations. Analysts warn that the removal of Spirit’s low-cost capacity from the market could lead to higher airfares across the United States. CNN
Tesla has reported Elon Musk’s 2025 compensation figure at an unprecedented $158 billion, according to a recent regulatory filing. This staggering total comes roughly six months after shareholders approved a massive, long-term stock award package potentially worth up to $1 trillion over ten years. The $158 billion figure represents the accounting estimate or "grant date fair value", of what Musk's stock options would be worth if Tesla perfectly executes every ambitious performance milestone embedded in the plan.
This development is crucial for investors to dissect because there is a significant disconnect between the reported figure and actual cash in hand. Tesla explicitly noted that Musk’s "realized compensation" for the year was zero, as he has not yet met the aggressive market value and operational targets required to cash in on the equity. The filing also clarified that about $26 billion of the reported total came from an interim award granted in August 2025, which Musk actually forfeited in April 2026 following the legal reinstatement of his original 2018 compensation package.
The broader significance of this filing lies in the sheer scale of modern executive compensation and how companies are structuring incentives to retain visionary leaders. For Tesla, it underscores a strategy to keep Musk intensely focused on the automaker's future, particularly its pivot toward AI and robotics, at a time when his attention is increasingly split across other ventures like SpaceX and xAI. It also sets a controversial new benchmark for corporate governance, sparking debate over how much equity should be leveraged to secure a single executive amidst rising global EV competition. Yahoo.Finance |
US Senators Banned Themselves From Prediction Markets Trading
In a sweeping bipartisan move, the U.S. Senate has officially passed a resolution banning its members and their immediate staff from trading on event-driven prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket. The new ethics rule specifically targets platforms that allow users to place financial wagers on real-world outcomes, including economic data releases, geopolitical conflicts, and legislative decisions. This preemptive measure aims to close a growing loophole in congressional trading rules before it can be widely exploited.
This development is highly significant because it highlights the explosive growth and mainstream financial integration of prediction markets. Platforms like the CFTC-regulated Kalshi have seen record trading volumes as institutional and retail investors use them to hedge against real-world risks. By barring lawmakers from these platforms, the Senate is acknowledging that allowing politicians to bet on the outcome of government policies, elections, or international events they directly influence presents an undeniable and severe conflict of interest.
The broader implication is that federal regulators and lawmakers are finally treating prediction markets with the same regulatory gravity as traditional stock and options trading. While the ban restricts congressional participation, it also inadvertently validates the scale and impact of these platforms in the modern financial ecosystem. For the financial technology sector, this ethics reform is a clear signal that as event-based trading continues to mature into a mainstream asset class, it will face increasingly rigid federal oversight and stricter regulatory boundaries. CNBC
Minor Headlines
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