Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent picked a fight with Senator Elizabeth Warren over yen intervention details. Warren wanted to know how much yen Treasury bought, at what rate, and what the position's worth now. Bessent responded by offering her a lesson called "Foreign Exchange for Dummies."
Nothing says "transparent government" like refusing to disclose basic transaction data while simultaneously insulting the person asking for it. The Treasury Department, which tracks every dollar you make at your sh*tty day job and will audit you for claiming too many business lunches, can't seem to find the paperwork on a multi-billion dollar currency intervention. Must've left it in their other pants.
Bessent's diplomatic strategy involves condescension instead of disclosure. Bold move. Warren asks three specific questions about public funds. Bessent answers with a children's book title. This is the financial equivalent of your doctor refusing to explain your test results and handing you a pamphlet called "Blood for Morons."
The Treasury intervened in currency markets using your money. They will not tell you how much they spent. They will not tell you the price they paid. They will not tell you if the trade is profitable. But they will mock you for asking. Perfect system. No notes.
Retail traders get margin called for being $47 short on a Tuesday. The U.S. Treasury won't even confirm the size of a sovereign currency position. Different rules for different players. Always have been.
Bessent thinks Warren needs a primer on foreign exchange. Warren thinks Bessent needs to answer basic oversight questions about how he's spending taxpayer money on forex speculation. One of them is confused about whose job is whose.
The irony is Warren probably understands FX markets better than half the dipsh*ts trading EUR/USD with 50x leverage at 2 AM because they saw a TikTok. She just wants the receipts.
Photo by Kanchanara on Unsplash
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