There is no magical solution to the debt-ceiling crisis

Plus: AI regulation, Hollywood writers and more. Bloomberg This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a masterclass in wooing Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Biden isn’t [all-powerful](. - AI regulation is [no sure thing](. - [Hollywood writers]( can’t live on “love.” - The [black market for oil]( is thriving. The Debt Dilemma While Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff were spinning their hearts out in a [Harry Styles vs. Lizzo-themed SoulCycle class]( this morning, maybe US President Joe Biden was preparing his [remarks to discuss the debt ceiling](. Or perhaps he was packing his bag for his trip to [the G-7 summit]( in Hiroshima, Japan. Or — just spitballing here — maybe he was catching up on a little-known clause within [the 14th Amendment](, which says the “validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law … shall not be questioned.” A group of Senate Democrats has nudged Biden to invoke the amendment, arguing that if Congress fails to raise the debt limit, he could just borrow more money to save the country from a catastrophic default. But, in the words of [Nicolas Cage](: Could it really be that simple?? Unlike “National Treasure,” the answer is no. That’s because Noah Feldman says the amendment “doesn’t allow the president to ignore the law passed by Congress that caps borrowing.” The [fast-growing federal deficit has bumped up the timetable]( for dealing with that borrowing cap, and a default could happen “any day now,” Justin Fox writes. People are grasping at straws to try and avoid the worst-possible scenario. One such straw is the aforementioned amendment, and Noah says it’s not the first time we’ve heard this idea: Whenever there’s a Congress that’s not controlled by the president’s party, the amendment can be dangled in front of the opposing party to enhance the executive branch’s negotiating power. But Noah argues this is a dangerous game that damages the separation of powers, and in effect the Constitution. “The obligation to pay the government’s debts lies with Congress — where the framers put it. If McCarthy decides not to pay the nation’s bills, there’s nothing Biden can do about it,” he writes. Read [the whole thing](. A Kernel of Truth Picture this: You’re the CEO of a microwave popcorn company (exciting, right?!). Everyone loves your products, until one day, [a TikToker]( exposes the entire popcorn industry for what it really is: A confusing mess. How can you know which is the butteriest? People are wasting what feels like years of their lives in the grocery aisle trying to figure out whether “Blast O Butter” is butterier than “Xtreme Butter.” Lawmakers catch wind of the dangers of popcorn labeling and soon enough, they whisk you away to Capitol Hill to testify under oath. They unleash a torrent of questions, to which you respond thoughtfully, making sure to agree with all of their concerns. You tell them: As a butter lover yourself, you want to collaborate with the government to help customers navigate the confusing landscape. This delights the senators, one of whom even asks you whether you’d be interested in becoming America’s TPR (Top Popcorn Regulator). You gracefully decline, saying, “I love my current job.” But you offer a way to fix things: The US should set up an agency, perhaps a universal one, that would control the labels of the most powerful popcorn makers so that everyone can know which is the butteriest at any given time. It’s a great idea, they tell you. But in the back of your mind, you know that the US still suffers from chronic inertia in regulating popcorn. Your three R&D projects — Butter Bomb, Ghee Whiz (a clarified butter experiment) and Garlic Girls Butter Bath (patent pending) — will be safe from regulation. You simply told the lawmakers what they wanted to hear! This, my friends, is exactly how OpenAI CEO Sam Altman charmed the socks off of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law yesterday. Parmy Olson says he gave “[a masterclass in wooing policy makers](,” agreeing with all their points and even offering to collaborate on AI regulation. But the 38-year-old CEO’s actions suggest his Capitol Hill rhetoric is a far cry from reality. OpenAI began as a nonprofit organization with a mission statement about harnessing the powers of AI to benefit humanity. Now, it’s cozied up with Microsoft, a company that is very much for-profit. “That kind of pivoting shows Altman may be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his endgame: building super-intelligent computers that can surpass human capabilities, which might also mean withdrawing his support for regulations that compromise that goal,” Parmy writes. At this point, [61% of Americans]( say that those super-intelligent computers pose a threat to humanity’s future. AI is revolutionizing everything from [sad desk salads]( to [dental imaging](, and many people fear that [their jobs]( are on the line. Hollywood writers on strike have been at the forefront of this battle, advocating for more transparency and stronger guards around AI-generated scripts. Coincidentally, Altman’s rejection of AI regulator-in-chief in the name of [“loving” his current job]( syncs up perfectly with the oblivious rationale of Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who argued that “a love for the business and the love for working” would bring show writers back to their desks. Kim Kelly says [that’s rich coming from a man]( who brought home $246.6 million in compensation and stock options in 2021. “If Zaslav was making the same day rate he is trying to push on screenwriters would he still be extolling the joys of work? Or would he be out there on the picket line?” she asks. “To expect the ‘love’ of work to motivate 11,000 striking writers to come back to their jobs while [being]( [underpaid]( is not only tone-deaf — it's also a bad business strategy.” You can’t pay for rent, health care or buttered popcorn with “love.” And you can’t fix the AI quagmire with “love,” either. Bonus AI Listening: Are chatbots about to devour [money managers’ business and livelihoods](? Tim O’Brien sits down with Nir Kaissar and Aaron Brown to discuss how AI may upend the science and art of successful investing on the [latest episode]( of “Crash Course.” Telltale Charts Listen, I won’t shame you for buying a pink Goyard tote bag in Chinatown. But plenty of people will [see it]( for what it really is: [A fake](! Which I guess is fine: You do you. But what I might judge you for is [buying barrels of oil from the black market](. Javier Blas says there’s a cohort of morally numb individuals purchasing crude from Russia, Venezuela and Iran at a discount. Their willingness to buy sanctioned oil — which is in excess supply — is pushing the price down and feeding into the demand: “Even as the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank increased interest rates, and Wall Street predicted a recession, the outlook for oil demand has only strengthened.” “Argentina has mostly been implementing a set of unorthodox policy tools over the past few decades that not only didn’t tackle inflation but worsened it,” Juan Pablo Spinetto writes. Now that annual inflation has reached a staggering 108.8%, Javier Milei, a libertarian candidate for president, is pitching a radical plan to ditch the peso and replace it with the US dollar. But Juan argues that any attempt at dollarization will fail if the nation can’t cut malpractice out of its policy diet. Read the whole thing [in English]( or [in Spanish](. Further Reading EVs aren’t enough. We need [an economy-wide tax]( on carbon emissions. — Bloomberg’s editorial board [UBS’s deal with Credit Suisse]( is pretty sweet, actually. — Paul J. Davies The world’s “first TikTok war” is [less viral]( than you think. — Leonid Bershidsky The West shouldn’t ignore [Xi’s attempts to smooth things out]( between Russia and Ukraine. — Minxin Pei How much cancer screening is enough? [New guidelines for mammograms]( revive an old debate. — F.D. Flam Democrats can [appoint more judges]( if they ditch the blue slips. — Jonathan Bernstein [Heat pumps]( are the new plastics. The UK needs to get on board. — Chris Bryant ICYMI [Depression]( is at an all-time high. Mercedes gets into the [sexy van business](. [Century 21]( is back. [Prince Harry and Meghan]( were in a car chase. Kickers To be frank, I hate [the name]( of the new Wienermobile. (h/t Andrea Felsted) A Nepali sherpa sets a new [Mount Everest record](. An L.A. chef was accused of killing [his family cats](. TikTok has taken over [restaurant menus](. (h/t Mike Nizza for the last two kickers) Notes: Please send your butteriest snacks and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](