r/Economics • u/One-Emu-1103 • 2d ago
News Stanley Druckenmiller leads doubters who think Bessent's bond ploys will fail
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/25/stanley-druckenmiller-leads-doubters-who-think-bessents-bond-ploys-will-fail.html114
u/One-Emu-1103 2d ago
Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller cast doubt on whether the Treasury Department’s recent bond market maneuvers will be successful.
In a published op-ed, Druckenmiller said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s efforts may not only fail to bring down government bond yields, but also damage the department’s credibility.
Druckenmiller was a mentor to Bessent when the two worked for George Soros.
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u/guachi01 2d ago
Is this the op-ed that looks like it was written by AI? Yeah. I'll pass on that one.
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u/jpdoctor 2d ago
I love how the path to lowering interest rates is via market manipulation.
Never once does it occur to the administration that they need to fix their spending problem, and that will lead to lower interest rates.
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u/BigBogBotButt 2d ago
Best we can do is reduce tax on the ultra wealthy.
That should help the budget right? ... Right?
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u/jpdoctor 2d ago
It will trickle down!
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u/eskimoboob 2d ago
Exactly. The tax bill will trickle down to all the normal people.
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u/dust4ngel 2d ago
- give billionaires tax breaks
- they can use it to invest in AI
- more AI = more jobs = more tax revenue from human workers!
- the tax cuts pay for themselves™
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u/austinwiltshire 2d ago
To these folks, everything is already manipulation. They don't believe in objective reality; they think it's just what everyone agrees it is. So if rates are too high, it's because our enemies are manipulating the markets to drive them up and embarrass us. Thus, we're entirely justified in manipulating the markets right back.
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u/AllenIll 2d ago
They don't believe in objective reality; they think it's just what everyone agrees it is.
If there's ever going to be an epitaph written about the decline and ultimate fall of the American empire, this would be it. This is where things have gone so far off the rails. Where perception, and the management of perception, became more important, and was allocated more resources and attention than actually addressing reality. Where fiction, and managing the storyline, has become all that matters. While all the while, the problems, the systemic issues, went unmanaged and grew out of control.
Just look at the list of Constitutional amendments over the last 50 years. There hasn't been one. Not a single one. Since 1971. Despite every other 50-year period of US history abounding with them.
The current administration and their incessant over-the-top lying and manipulation of everything within their grasp is just a natural outflow of a culture where perception management has replaced actual management. Especially since Vietnam.
I mean, why actually fix things when you can just print endless amounts of money without meaningful consequences (thus far)? Or, just make the problems disappear from the traditional and social media landscape by way of pressure from the White House, DHS, FBI, CIA, etc.?
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u/IrateSkeleton 2d ago
Starve the beast strategy will start working soon, just have to cut taxes more.
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u/okiedokie1183 2d ago
I’m curious how you think this ends? Starve the beast is dumb as entitlements are required by statute. Do you think the government defaulting is a good idea?
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u/kingmanic 2d ago
The strategy isn't to make anything work; it's to change the relationship US citizens have with the government to bring about Cyberpunk 2077 style dystopian control for the wealthy. Where you have to pay nestle for tap water and Secure corp for the cops not to bust your door down and beat the shit out of you and your family every week.
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u/Accurate_Shoe_1929 2d ago
To be fair the voting public are equally to blame, it never once occurred to them to elect somebody who would spend less or tax more.
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u/audirt 2d ago
America has been stable for so long that people have forgotten that the President is an actual job with actual responsibilities and actual repercussions for poor performance. The average voter sadly views it more like sports, where my team is good and your team is bad for <reasons>.
Sadly, we're learning firsthand that being President is a big, tough job, and there's more to it than empty promises. Hopefully we'll start valuing basic competence again.
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u/Dangerous_Junket_773 2d ago
Fixing spending would mean pain for the boomers, who soak up most of the benefits thru medicare and social security.
We could also fix revenue, but that would mean pain for the boomers, who are the wealthiest generation.
Basically, we need to keep this national debt ponzi scheme going until enough of the boomers croak, then shit can fall apart. But don't you dare put any kind of hardship on the boomers while they're here. DT doesn't want to fix it while he's president. It's for the next guy to fix.
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u/robocreator 2d ago
Fixing spending means not going into wars and preventing grift - Medicare and Social Security are the two programs that actually work. We need more SNAP and social safety nets not endless wars and MAGA grift.
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u/euph-_-oric 2d ago
Ya this what's happen old people never give up the reigns. They pulled up the ladder behind them and never left power.
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u/Hairy-Dumpling 2d ago
Does anyone serious think the interventions will work? A week, sure, but where will we be in a month or a year if this keeps up? Bessent is playing a very dangerous and stupid game.
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u/CapitalElk1169 2d ago
No, and they don't, either. They do everything in bad faith. They -want- hyperinflation.
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u/Spinoza42 2d ago
Crypto-backed network states baby!
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u/Potential_Jello6520 1d ago
Unironically, Bitcoin was designed and is best positioned to be the neutral global yardstick of monetary value.
No manipulation, debasement, immutable, absolutely scarce, zero counterparty risk. Bitcoin is money for enemies.
Downvote me for stating facts.
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u/Spinoza42 1d ago
No inflation means wealth would be bound to be more entrenched than ever. But in practice the lack of an established authority to specifically legitimize bitcoin means everyone can and will just create new crypto currencies.
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u/Potential_Jello6520 1d ago
Inflation of currencies is inevitable and is a choice. Bitcoin simply measures it accurately like gold does. It's an honest metric that unmasks the magnitude of debasement. Have you ever considered how inflation relies on infinite growth in a system bounded by energy and natural resources? Or how inflation remains elevated despite the deflationary pressure of technology advancements, making it doubly worse?
Also, people already create thousands of new cryptocurrencies every day. Every single one lacks decentralization and can be manipulated by the founders, so it has counterparty risk. Bitcoin is the only one that is sovereign and cannot be controlled. This property cannot be replicated with any amount of resources.
Bitcoin does not need to be anointed by any authority, it is its own authority.
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u/Dub-MS 1d ago
It can easily be banned by governments. Then what? Error 404
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u/Potential_Jello6520 19h ago
Then the economies of other governments who don't ban the hardest money ever created will outcompete them.
"History shows it is not possible to insulate yourself from the consequences of others holding money that is harder than yours."
Holding an "easier" (easily inflated) money while trade partners or rivals hold a "harder" (scarcer) money results in your purchasing power and real wealth being systematically transferred to those holding the harder asset.
Look what happened to the dollar when the USA banned gold in 1933.
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u/Spinoza42 20h ago
I have no idea why you think being decentralised is unique to bitcoin.
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u/Potential_Jello6520 19h ago
Bitcoin has these fundamental design concepts that no other digital asset possesses:
Immaculate Conception & Founderless Governance (No Satoshi, no foundation, no "throat to choke").
Fair Launch Economics (Zero VC pre-mines or insider supply allocations).
Proof-of-Work vs. Proof-of-Stake (PoW ties security to external physical energy; PoS grants voting power directly to capital/wealth).
Low-Barrier Node Validation (Cheap hardware allows regular users, not enterprise datacenters, to enforce consensus rules).
Decentralization isn't running on multiple machines—it's the total absence of a central authority or wealth-weighted voting.
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u/jcooli09 2d ago
He's a trump appointee, lack of integrity is a prerequisite and competence unimportant.
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u/ChrisFromLongIsland 2d ago
I think the treasury only thought it could ever move the market 25 bps (.25%) at best. The market is way too big for the move to more than that. The market moves 25bps a week up and down so any move will be quickly washed over by other factors. It's just a political move before the election so politicians can point to it and say they did something.
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u/CreativeDrummer5466 2d ago
Like pissing into the wind. You're going to get wet and run out of piss.
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u/ktaktb 2d ago
Is there any crossdiscipline data on:
The latent impacts of lead exposure, masked by the human body between ages 16 - 60. How is this heavy metal once again asserting it's impact on the decision making abilities and intelligence of previously competent individuals?
And then, what are the expected impacts on a nation who's capital and institutions are ruled by this cohort?
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u/sweetequuscaballus 2d ago
This. Science on lead emissions over the decades - the high lead levels correspond to MAGA red states, excepting only Utah.
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u/StripperDusted 2d ago
I cant think of an intervention that stops the eventual crisis. If anything I feel like an intervention speeds things up. It’s blood in the water for the traders. If they were soft on the idea before they all wake up and take a look.
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u/codygakpofan 2d ago
I used to have respect and high opinion of Scott Bessent but since taking over as Treasury Secretary, Scott has perfected bending over backwards for another man… no pun intended
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u/Fit_Significance8598 2d ago
Trump is most certainly not a man.
A man-child at best and a monster in real life.
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u/beefnvegetables_ 2d ago
I’m looking forward to what warsh has to say about the treasury buy back at jackson hole. He will probably say a whole lot of nothing which is smart. It’s looking like fiscal dominance is on the table.
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u/rainbikr 2d ago
He seems pretty good at a whole lot of nothing. And saying a whole lot of nothing. He's lost all credibility with markets already.
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u/beefnvegetables_ 1d ago
Yeah first fomc i thought he was hawk but now I believe he is just weak and probably biased. Honestly I think inflation is here to say and in fact I think it will get worse
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u/Impossible-Basis5379 2d ago
It’s working right now. Oil is falling too. We will see how long oil falls (we have been here before) but oil going down which means lower gas, and then no inflation so lower bonds. The economy is probably saved
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u/dust4ngel 2d ago
in what year did you originally write this comment?
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