We’re on the brink of yet another government shutdown. If Congress fails to pass legislation to keep the federal government fully up and running past Oct. 1, it would be the country’s fourth shutdown in the last decade.

This has us wondering: Why does passing the federal budget often get so messy?

On the show today, Molly Reynolds, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, explains how the federal budget process is supposed to work, why it often breaks down and why other countries don’t seem to have the same problem. Plus, how we can make the process smoother, given the Congress we’ve got.

Then, we’ll get into why the FTC is suing Amazon and how it might shape what “monopoly” means in this day and age. Plus, is President Joe Biden’s footwear really worth a headline?

Later, how one listener is thinking about the kind of change our democracy needs. And, a Jekyll and Hyde-style mix-up involving a popular California university.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

- “What is a government shutdown? And why are we likely to have another one?” from Brookings

- “Biden’s budget kicks off a long and likely painful process on Capitol Hill.” from The New York Times

- “Congress has long struggled to pass spending bills on time” from Pew Research

- “Why Don’t Other Countries Have Government Shutdowns?” from Foreign Policy

- Opinion | “The Democratic Party Has an Old Problem and Won’t Admit It” from The New York Times

- “Biden campaign’s secret mission for reelection: Don’t let him trip” from Axios

- “U.S., 17 states sue Amazon alleging monopolistic practices led to higher prices” from The Washington Post

- “FTC Sues Amazon for Illegally Maintaining Monopoly Power” from The Federal Trade Commission

We want to hear your answer to the Make Me Smart question. You can reach us at makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

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The real problem with passing the federal budget