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This 'fourth branch of the government' could be what dooms Trump's bill: analysis
President Donald Trump's hopes of passing the bulk of his agenda in one "big, beautiful bill" may be in the hands of not House or Senate Republicans, but a specific group of investors.
That's according to financial journalist and former McKinsey analyst Brett Arends, who wrote in MarketWatch on Monday that there is a "fourth branch of government" Trump hasn't yet considered. Arends opined that the bond market could end up deciding whether the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress will pass the major budget bill currently being negotiated in the House of Representatives, or if it dies on the vine.
Arends said that "bond vigilantes" — or investors that put their money in U.S. Treasury securities – have inordinate power over government policy, given that the Treasury market has inordinate power over U.S. government policy given that it's viewed as a foundational pillar of the economy. He noted that most of Trump's early April tariffs were abruptly called off after bond vigilantes rebelled.
"It hasn’t even been two months since the markets — especially the bond market — effectively vetoed Trump’s “liberation day” tariff bonanza, forcing the president into an effective retreat within just three trading days," Arends wrote.
That's according to financial journalist and former McKinsey analyst Brett Arends, who wrote in MarketWatch on Monday that there is a "fourth branch of government" Trump hasn't yet considered. Arends opined that the bond market could end up deciding whether the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress will pass the major budget bill currently being negotiated in the House of Representatives, or if it dies on the vine.
Arends said that "bond vigilantes" — or investors that put their money in U.S. Treasury securities – have inordinate power over government policy, given that the Treasury market has inordinate power over U.S. government policy given that it's viewed as a foundational pillar of the economy. He noted that most of Trump's early April tariffs were abruptly called off after bond vigilantes rebelled.
"It hasn’t even been two months since the markets — especially the bond market — effectively vetoed Trump’s “liberation day” tariff bonanza, forcing the president into an effective retreat within just three trading days," Arends wrote.
https://www.alternet.org/trump-bill-doomed/