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Nicely, this is, uh, one thing.
President Donald Trump urged that Elon Musk’s authorities effectivity group has discovered irregularities whereas inspecting information on the US Treasury Division, and intimated which will lead the US to ignore some funds.
“There could possibly be an issue, we’ve been studying about that, with Treasuries,” Trump advised reporters Sunday on Air Power One en path to the Tremendous Bowl. It wasn’t instantly clear whether or not he was speaking about US authorities debt, or funds processed by way of the Treasury Division.
“That could possibly be an fascinating drawback as a result of it could possibly be that quite a lot of these issues don’t depend,” he mentioned. “Subsequently perhaps we’ve got much less debt than we considered.”
Trump didn’t elaborate on what issues Musk discovered. Musk’s so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity has sought entry to Treasury Division funds information, however Musk’s statements on social media have largely involved funds to contractors and grant recipients, not bondholders.
The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request to elaborate. The Treasury Division additionally didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Trump’s try and return American creditworthiness to its pre-Alexander Hamilton’s state is . . . fascinating. However that is so wild that we’re inclined to imagine and hope that markets will shrug it off as simply one other brain-fart from an administration that begins and ends commerce wars inside 24 hours.
Not as a result of Treasury secretary Scott Bessent will in all probability be flabbergasted at this, simply days after he mentioned that each he and president Trump have been “focused” on getting the 10-year Treasury yield down. In spite of everything, the roll-call of people that have tried and did not play a restraining position on Trump is longer than a nasty 12 months.
No, this can in all probability get ignored and downplayed just because any actual and sustained suggestion that the US authorities might selectively default on a few of its sovereign bonds — not to mention “lots” — would set off a monetary disaster so swift and extreme that it will make any tariff tantrums appear puny as compared.
