If he did, he would not be in Donald's cabinet. For the people in Donald's administration, Donald comes first and they signed on to be a sycophant. The people in Donald's administration know that and they knew that going in. Unlike some others, Bessent probably knows enough about economics and finance to really know what is going on -- unlike some in the administration who are ignorant.
bessent, the trump sycophant lives in a $50M house and the elitist bubble so NO, he doesn't give a rats ass about anyone except himself just like his orange king
There are three very troubling things going on here:
1) Scott Bessent is the latest high-level government official to go rogue. Trump clearly does not know what is going on in Argentina. He claimed that if Milei's opponent wins in the upcoming election, the U.S. will back out of its promises. The problem is Milei has no opponent. It is a provincial election, much like our mid-term elections.
While we can all agree that Trump is a threat to society, the prospect of his Keystone Kops of a cabinet running off to pursue its own agendas introduces a new level of chaos. Witness Mario Rubio with Venezuela, RFK Jr. with vaccines and Hegseth with pull-ups and slimmer waistlines at the Pentagon.
2) Bessent is clearly leaning on his currency speculation experience to use the US Treasury as a hedge fund, backed by the extraordinary resources of the federal government. If our administration was filled with reputable people of integrity, you might think "Well, this is an interesting way to salvage a collapsing country." It could be a short cut to something resembling the Brady Plan of the 1980s/90s.
The problem is these people are not reputable nor are they blessed with integrity. They are outrageously and blatantly corrupt. Bessent now has the power to manipulate the value of the Argentinian peso, and thereby spread corruption to allies and friends.
3) The United State can dictate anything they want to Milei who is now powerless to resist the Trump administration's hold on him. The problem is the United States cannot spread that authority to the Argentinian nation who may very well be on the verge of turning against Milei. US intervention of politics in South America has a long and terrible history. South Americans are hyper attuned to it and will not receive it well.
Bessent's actions may very well yield enormous profits for his fellow speculators (and him?), but it also risks re-introducing political turmoil and discontent of the United States.
Scott Bessent has a background in finance, not economics, which says a lot about the quality of his decisions as Treasury Secretary. He holds a BA degree from Yale in political science, but later worked for George Soros, and there made his bones by making a lucky bet on the crash of the British Pound in 1992, which made him and his partners over $1 billion. There's no success like luck.
What I'm saying is that Bessent is a speculator, a money lender, and not an economist, and from my limited point of view one who does not have the background to handle the responsibilities of the US Treasury, and it shows! His interest in providing Argentina with a short term lifeline (and short term it will be, as it surely will only delay economic failure for months at best), is speculative and most probably personal (he's going to make money from it). I'm positive he would have found greater career satisfaction by pursuing a livelihood in Las Vegas rather than Washington. Another ignorant Trump mistake that the rest of us will have to pay for.
Argentina has been a sinkhole forever as are most of the SA countries. We also have idiots in charge of the WH, Bessent (who I thought knew better) Nutlick and Navarro. Also two idiots. There are no adults so this is where we are now.
There is a good example of hyperinflation and a solution to it in Latin America: Brazil on the middle 90’s. Presently the country is facing Trump’s attempt to change a democratic elected government to put a sycophant back in power. The country is resisting, having a memory of American interference in the past, that gave us a terrible dictatorship. It is meddling again, unfortunately. And helping China to gain more influence. How could Americans elect such a con, ignorant man? It is astonishing.
I have friends in Brazil and around the world and, indeed, find it very difficult, not to mention embarrassing, to explain how we got here. When I travel overseas people will ask, Oh you are from America? and I reply, no, I am from California.
What tRump seems to be doing is to set up a stabilized, inverted pendulum. A pencil standing on its tip on a speaker cone can be stabilized if (A) the frequency of the speaker is well above the natural frequency of a pencil pendulum and (B) the amplitude is big enough (average acceleration exceeds about 1/2 the acceleration of gravity. The tariffs are HUGE and changing quickly. What system does that stabilize and what happens when you turn off the noise? Someone makes a killing on bets on trade... right? Who would that be and what form would their bet take?
Whew! When Paul is explaining topics directly to his readers, I think I can follow most of it. But halfway through this article, I felt like I was a golden retriever listening to a quantum physics lecture, head titled to the side..
I have a bachelor's in Economics, I literally studied Mr Krugman's textbook.
Even then, there were more than a couple of moments were I *really* had to stop and think hard about was being discussed so that I could follow up on the conversation.
So don't feel bad! You just have to remember that we're pitching in into a conversation between some of the most brilliant minds in the profession, so there's a lot of knowledge that they know about, that they've been discussing their whole lives, but which is just not explained at all to the audience.
But this is more of a general comment (aimed at everyone who has criticized the Trump administration). How about a piece about how the much-vaunted US system of "checks and balances", that everyone appears to have been relying upon, was based on the assumption in that everyone in the system would do the "right thing". How was it so fragile that Trump and co. could take it apart with virtual impunity?
Kant: Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.
Post cold war, the US oligarchy no longer had a gun pointed at their collective heads, and abandoned any pretext about concern for running a functional democracy. Post Citizens United the government became a cesspool of corruption and influence peddling.
We have a bunch of conspirators called the Republican party that removed the checks and balances formerly known as the Supreme Court and United States Congress.
Old person here… back in the olden days, we understood that our government had to honor agreements in order to be a world leader. That also meant we couldn’t try to screw over other countries (just because we could bully them). With leadership came responsibility for doing some good stuff, too. Feeding starving kids, sending medical professionals and medicine to places that needed the, etc. it is dismaying that we now have a kleptocracy and an elected governing body that doesn’t even feel the need to learn about the past nor understand negative consequences of policy decisions. At least under Biden I was hopeful about the futures of my grandchildren. Now I’m actually encouraging my children to get the hell outa dodge before the county is damaged beyond any reasonable fix. No democracy is perfect but a bunch are so much better than the US now. As the rotting orange demented yam would say, “it’s disgusting”. And sad.
Argentina gets a line of credit while the US takes food and medical care from Veterans and children!! When does Bessette give a shit about the US????
Does Bessent give a shit about the US?
If he did, he would not be in Donald's cabinet. For the people in Donald's administration, Donald comes first and they signed on to be a sycophant. The people in Donald's administration know that and they knew that going in. Unlike some others, Bessent probably knows enough about economics and finance to really know what is going on -- unlike some in the administration who are ignorant.
bessent, the trump sycophant lives in a $50M house and the elitist bubble so NO, he doesn't give a rats ass about anyone except himself just like his orange king
Only "some in the administration who are ignorant" ?
I thought it was a requirement, Bessent being an exception.
He doesn't. Who thought he too would be a trump sycophant? I thought he was smarter than that but evidently not.
As soon as his buddies get their money out of Argentina?
Never
When it concerns a former workmate at Soros' fund Rob Citrone, of Discovery Capital.
He went to the Currency Track and placed bets on Argentine Peso which are now subject to a Steward's Inquiry
You got it
Love the spelling “bessette”. Intentional?
There are three very troubling things going on here:
1) Scott Bessent is the latest high-level government official to go rogue. Trump clearly does not know what is going on in Argentina. He claimed that if Milei's opponent wins in the upcoming election, the U.S. will back out of its promises. The problem is Milei has no opponent. It is a provincial election, much like our mid-term elections.
While we can all agree that Trump is a threat to society, the prospect of his Keystone Kops of a cabinet running off to pursue its own agendas introduces a new level of chaos. Witness Mario Rubio with Venezuela, RFK Jr. with vaccines and Hegseth with pull-ups and slimmer waistlines at the Pentagon.
2) Bessent is clearly leaning on his currency speculation experience to use the US Treasury as a hedge fund, backed by the extraordinary resources of the federal government. If our administration was filled with reputable people of integrity, you might think "Well, this is an interesting way to salvage a collapsing country." It could be a short cut to something resembling the Brady Plan of the 1980s/90s.
The problem is these people are not reputable nor are they blessed with integrity. They are outrageously and blatantly corrupt. Bessent now has the power to manipulate the value of the Argentinian peso, and thereby spread corruption to allies and friends.
3) The United State can dictate anything they want to Milei who is now powerless to resist the Trump administration's hold on him. The problem is the United States cannot spread that authority to the Argentinian nation who may very well be on the verge of turning against Milei. US intervention of politics in South America has a long and terrible history. South Americans are hyper attuned to it and will not receive it well.
Bessent's actions may very well yield enormous profits for his fellow speculators (and him?), but it also risks re-introducing political turmoil and discontent of the United States.
Thank you for this. Happy No Kings Day. Stay safe, stay well, have fun.
Bailing out Argentina is DOGE on the international stage … corrupt to the core and indefensible on its face
...and ineffective
Scott Bessent has a background in finance, not economics, which says a lot about the quality of his decisions as Treasury Secretary. He holds a BA degree from Yale in political science, but later worked for George Soros, and there made his bones by making a lucky bet on the crash of the British Pound in 1992, which made him and his partners over $1 billion. There's no success like luck.
What I'm saying is that Bessent is a speculator, a money lender, and not an economist, and from my limited point of view one who does not have the background to handle the responsibilities of the US Treasury, and it shows! His interest in providing Argentina with a short term lifeline (and short term it will be, as it surely will only delay economic failure for months at best), is speculative and most probably personal (he's going to make money from it). I'm positive he would have found greater career satisfaction by pursuing a livelihood in Las Vegas rather than Washington. Another ignorant Trump mistake that the rest of us will have to pay for.
Argentina has been a sinkhole forever as are most of the SA countries. We also have idiots in charge of the WH, Bessent (who I thought knew better) Nutlick and Navarro. Also two idiots. There are no adults so this is where we are now.
I feel so priviledged listening to Prof Krugman and Prof Obstfeld!
There is a good example of hyperinflation and a solution to it in Latin America: Brazil on the middle 90’s. Presently the country is facing Trump’s attempt to change a democratic elected government to put a sycophant back in power. The country is resisting, having a memory of American interference in the past, that gave us a terrible dictatorship. It is meddling again, unfortunately. And helping China to gain more influence. How could Americans elect such a con, ignorant man? It is astonishing.
Elect such a con.... twice.
I have friends in Brazil and around the world and, indeed, find it very difficult, not to mention embarrassing, to explain how we got here. When I travel overseas people will ask, Oh you are from America? and I reply, no, I am from California.
What tRump seems to be doing is to set up a stabilized, inverted pendulum. A pencil standing on its tip on a speaker cone can be stabilized if (A) the frequency of the speaker is well above the natural frequency of a pencil pendulum and (B) the amplitude is big enough (average acceleration exceeds about 1/2 the acceleration of gravity. The tariffs are HUGE and changing quickly. What system does that stabilize and what happens when you turn off the noise? Someone makes a killing on bets on trade... right? Who would that be and what form would their bet take?
I think I can say with some certainty that neither I nor Trump understands what's going on, and that's a problem.
😱
I checked with Anthropic’s Claude and they suggested Barry Eichengreen, an economist at UC Berkeley may have been the source of the talk about no single currency replacing the dollar. Here is one of the links: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a-world-of-multiple-reserve-currencies
What a great combination of minds.
Whew! When Paul is explaining topics directly to his readers, I think I can follow most of it. But halfway through this article, I felt like I was a golden retriever listening to a quantum physics lecture, head titled to the side..
I have a bachelor's in Economics, I literally studied Mr Krugman's textbook.
Even then, there were more than a couple of moments were I *really* had to stop and think hard about was being discussed so that I could follow up on the conversation.
So don't feel bad! You just have to remember that we're pitching in into a conversation between some of the most brilliant minds in the profession, so there's a lot of knowledge that they know about, that they've been discussing their whole lives, but which is just not explained at all to the audience.
i just go with "glimmers" in this field and psychology.
Still feel like i'm lucid.
Another informative interview, on a subject I know nothing about. I appreciate how you both made the discussion clear for non-specialists.
Interesting and useful as always.
But this is more of a general comment (aimed at everyone who has criticized the Trump administration). How about a piece about how the much-vaunted US system of "checks and balances", that everyone appears to have been relying upon, was based on the assumption in that everyone in the system would do the "right thing". How was it so fragile that Trump and co. could take it apart with virtual impunity?
Kant: Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.
Post cold war, the US oligarchy no longer had a gun pointed at their collective heads, and abandoned any pretext about concern for running a functional democracy. Post Citizens United the government became a cesspool of corruption and influence peddling.
We have a bunch of conspirators called the Republican party that removed the checks and balances formerly known as the Supreme Court and United States Congress.
Old person here… back in the olden days, we understood that our government had to honor agreements in order to be a world leader. That also meant we couldn’t try to screw over other countries (just because we could bully them). With leadership came responsibility for doing some good stuff, too. Feeding starving kids, sending medical professionals and medicine to places that needed the, etc. it is dismaying that we now have a kleptocracy and an elected governing body that doesn’t even feel the need to learn about the past nor understand negative consequences of policy decisions. At least under Biden I was hopeful about the futures of my grandchildren. Now I’m actually encouraging my children to get the hell outa dodge before the county is damaged beyond any reasonable fix. No democracy is perfect but a bunch are so much better than the US now. As the rotting orange demented yam would say, “it’s disgusting”. And sad.