Trump Says Some Treasury Notes May Not Be Real

[sop]

"I suspect this will just end up being something Old Man Trump said on a plane and we won’t hear about it again. But after recents, who are we kidding? Anything is possible. On Air Force One today en route to the Super Bowl, Trump told reporters that DOGE analysts (whatever that means) had found 'irregularities' in U.S. treasuries and that the U.S. may not be obligated to pay some of them. 'Maybe we have less debt than we thought,' he said."

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-says-some-treasury-notes-may-not-be-real

[C_U_L8R]

1. How to Crash a Market 101.

Is that what he learned at Wharton for Freshman?

[Lovie777]

2. OMG.................

shithole musk republicans are now going after bonds......................

They really hate the USA. Crash is becoming more of a reality and the blame will be on them.

[C0RI0LANUS]

3. Does Felon Musk and Dotard Trumpf believe in the "Great Reset"? Musk may, but Trumpf believes in cash.

Link:

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-57532368

[claudette]

4. That means

I’m cashing in my bonds immediately

[Midnight Writer]

5. Trump has found "irregularities" in every debt that he has refused to pay.

This is his life story. Borrowing vast amounts of money, contracting for labor or materials, pledging investments or donations, and then deciding the debt is illegitimate and refusing to pay it.

[AnnaLee]

6. I bet that will turn out to be the trust funds

The trust funds (like Social Security and federal pensions) belong to and have been paid for by US citizens. Face it, only the working class will be targeted. I wish the red dummies could see that an exchange of working class money for tax breaks and largess for the rich is at hand. Someone has to pick up the slack for the missing revenue. And, no, Musk's cover is a ruse to make people believe they will not pay but fraudsters will pay.

[Baitball Blogger]

7. Dear God, it's going to be a switch and bait.

The reverse of the bait and switch. He's going to switch good dollars for bad, and then tell the world the DOGE walked in the vault and found the bad dollars.

It's going to go down like that, isn't it?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. White House scrambles to walk back Trump's bizarre line on U.S. treasuries

The president's comments about Treasury notes were, for all intents and purposes, gibberish. But more importantly, they were also potentially dangerous.
https://bsky.app/profile/comprichard.fellas.social/post/3lhttf4rhik2c

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-house-scrambles-walk-back-trumps-bizarre-line-us-treasuries-rcna191481

It was against this backdrop that Trump broke new ground over the weekend, telling reporters that the nation’s $36 trillion debt might actually be inflated by possibly fraudulent debt payments. Reuters reported:

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said administration officials who have been combing through payment records in an effort to identify wasteful spending have turned their attention to the debt payments that play a central role in the global financial system.

“We’re even looking at Treasuries,” the Republican said. “There could be a problem — you’ve been reading about that, with Treasuries and that could be an interesting problem.”,,,,,

But let’s not brush past the story too quickly. An incident like this one reinforced some key fears about Trump’s understanding of details he really ought to know.

After all, if there’s one thing he should have some basic understanding of, it’s U.S. debt and treasuries — not just because he’s already served a full term as the nation’s chief executive, and not just because he was responsible for adding nearly $8 trillion to the debt (most of it before Covid), but also because Trump, whose businesses have repeatedly filed for bankruptcy, has repeatedly claimed to have some expertise in this area.

The incumbent president is the self-described “King of Debt,” relying on banks and borrowing to finance his business operation for many years.

If Trump thinks he can pretend the nation’s debt load is smaller by pointing to “fraudulent” treasury notes that don’t exist, the political world needs to appreciate the fact that he’s playing with fire that will burn everyone.

[sop]

9. Trump was talking about this back in 2016.

(Fiscal Times, May, 2016) "Trump Would Risk 'Full Faith and Credit of the US’"

"Trump proposed that the US could reduce its national debt by pressuring creditors to accept less than full payment on Treasury securities."

"To clarify, Trump is suggesting that the US Treasury threaten to renege on its promise to pay investors the full amount they are owed on the bills, notes and bonds the government sells when it issues or rolls over its debts."

"This is an inexpressibly awful idea, and the fact that it came out of the mouth of a man who looks to be a major party presidential candidate is really amazing in at least two major ways."

"First is the ignorance it implies about how the debt markets work. US Treasury securities are the closest thing in the world to a risk-free asset. The assumption that the Treasury Department will pay its obligations on time and in full is precisely why the United States can borrow at extremely low rates, and is why they make up part of investment portfolios around the globe."

https://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2016/05/06/Trump-Would-Risk-Full-Faith-and-Credit-US

[Aristus]

10. Reminds me of when George W. Bush said the federal debt was just "pieces of paper".

IIRC, someone had to remind him that it is against the law for a public official to repudiate the national debt.