> Trump’s assault on free-market capitalism is anything but conservative
As long as we have the heavy-handed Federal Reserve - tilting the game to pick winners and losers - we don’t have free-market capitalism.
Funny enough, I heard an interview with Robert Reich early today about his new book. I didn’t hear the full interview but in the time I listening he didn’t get close to naming the Fed. I was dumbfounded.
The truth is, the socioeconomic system and the sociopolitical system sits on a foundation. That foundation is the financial system. The Fed sits at the head of the table of the financial system. The Fed pulls the levers. The Fed shakes the snow globe.
toomuchtodo•5mo ago
Sound comment, but a couple of points. There is no such thing as an absolute free market capitalistic system in existence today. Each system has thumbs on the scale in different ways to encourage different outcomes ("picking winners and losers") in some capacity. And while the Fed pulls the levers, trust is the foundation. Trust in consistency, the rule of law, and property rights. This is why US treasuries were considered the safest financial asset in the world. Once you begin to lose trust, the entire foundation shakes.
Also, I'd argue the bond market is far more powerful than the Fed. The Fed can set short term target rates, but the bond market sets longer term rates. The bond market is what kept this admin in check earlier in the year. One might say they are the Fifth Estate, after journalism and the three branches of US government. "Whoever holds the gold makes the rules."
> Have bond vigilantes influenced government decision-making before?
> Yes. In fact, they’ve already influenced Trump’s decision-making. In the hours after Trump’s long-awaited tariffs on most imports to the US went into effect on April 9, the bond market tanked. Many investors, concerned that the duties would accelerate inflation and reduce foreign demand for US assets, started dumping their holdings in order to pressure the administration to reverse course.
> It worked: Just 13 hours after the tariffs had gone into effect, Trump announced that he would pause them, and yields came down. “The bond market is very tricky,” he conceded. “I was watching it.”
chiefalchemist•5mo ago
That’s a solid point about the bond market. I’ll have to work it into my paradigm.
We’re on the general same page (i.e., conventional wisdom is wrong) but I have a counter-point.
Yes, trust is important. Those who have been favored and enriched by the Fed trusts that it will continue to do so (for them). Sum that up over time and we have what we have:
- wider and wider financial inequality
- more money and assets in fewer hands
- excessive federal gov debt
- more frequent bubbles of some sort
- etc.
I’m not so sure the bond market is at fault.
bediger4000•5mo ago
I think it's good that we as a nation found Trump to make these decisions, to decide winners and losers in the market, to set interest rates and so forth. Trump makes the decision, and it's done and good, no media frenzy, no court cases, no endless congressional hearings. Just a very few dispassionate, factual articles. The voting populace is happy, the Supreme Court is happy, job creating billionaires are happy. It would have been such a mess if Obama or Biden or even G.W. Bush made these decisions. They'd have made wrong decisions, and we'd be unhappy.
quantified•5mo ago
You missed the </sarcasm> tag at the end there.
pjmlp•5mo ago
Are there already audiences in place where the plebeian are allowed to expose their problems to the monarch in expectation to get a solution for what troubles their souls?
WalterBright•5mo ago
The Democrat method of a command economy is heavy regulation of every detail.
general1726•5mo ago
It is deeply ironic, but again proves that horseshoe theory is real.
chiefalchemist•5mo ago
As long as we have the heavy-handed Federal Reserve - tilting the game to pick winners and losers - we don’t have free-market capitalism.
Funny enough, I heard an interview with Robert Reich early today about his new book. I didn’t hear the full interview but in the time I listening he didn’t get close to naming the Fed. I was dumbfounded.
The truth is, the socioeconomic system and the sociopolitical system sits on a foundation. That foundation is the financial system. The Fed sits at the head of the table of the financial system. The Fed pulls the levers. The Fed shakes the snow globe.
toomuchtodo•5mo ago
Also, I'd argue the bond market is far more powerful than the Fed. The Fed can set short term target rates, but the bond market sets longer term rates. The bond market is what kept this admin in check earlier in the year. One might say they are the Fifth Estate, after journalism and the three branches of US government. "Whoever holds the gold makes the rules."
https://tisegroup.com/news/2025/the-power-of-the-bond-market...
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/08/12/what-to-k...
https://www.bloomberg.com/explainers/bond-vigilantes | https://archive.today/XcRIq
> Have bond vigilantes influenced government decision-making before?
> Yes. In fact, they’ve already influenced Trump’s decision-making. In the hours after Trump’s long-awaited tariffs on most imports to the US went into effect on April 9, the bond market tanked. Many investors, concerned that the duties would accelerate inflation and reduce foreign demand for US assets, started dumping their holdings in order to pressure the administration to reverse course.
> It worked: Just 13 hours after the tariffs had gone into effect, Trump announced that he would pause them, and yields came down. “The bond market is very tricky,” he conceded. “I was watching it.”
chiefalchemist•5mo ago
We’re on the general same page (i.e., conventional wisdom is wrong) but I have a counter-point.
Yes, trust is important. Those who have been favored and enriched by the Fed trusts that it will continue to do so (for them). Sum that up over time and we have what we have:
- wider and wider financial inequality
- more money and assets in fewer hands
- excessive federal gov debt
- more frequent bubbles of some sort
- etc.
I’m not so sure the bond market is at fault.