It’s at all times fun until the bill comes due—and the bill at all times comes due. The truth is, 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, sooner than many had expected. That doesn’t mean the federal government will likely be forced to stop paying its bills then—Yellen believes that the Treasury has enough money and other ways to lift money to last it until early June—nevertheless it does mean that a problem that was still purely theoretical has develop into much more pressing because the X date approaches.