Latest news with #U.S.Treasury
The Onion
4 hours ago
- Politics
- The Onion
Congress Passes Blank Bill For Trump To Write Whatever Law He Wants
WASHINGTON—After weeks of eliminating what many lawmakers called 'frivolous' and 'unnecessary' provisions, Congress reportedly passed a blank bill Thursday in which President Donald Trump can simply write whatever law he wants. 'Today we are sending to the president's desk 200 completely clean sheets of paper that are hereby codified such that anything he chooses to fill those pages with will have the full force of law,' House Speaker Mike Johnson said as he ushered the bill through his chamber, overcoming minor pushback to ultimately win bipartisan support for the measure, which gives Trump the power to enact federal statutes, declare war, or spend the entirety of the U.S. Treasury without a single check or balance. 'With this bill, the president will finally be able to take any thought that crosses his mind, write it down, and have it instantly become an enforceable part of the U.S. Code,' Johnson added. 'Americans have spoken, and they want Donald Trump to have carte blanche to do whatever he wants. It's our job as members of Congress to simply get out of the way.' Just hours after the bill's passage, President Trump took to Truth Social and sharply criticized Congress for making him write down anything at all.
Straits Times
7 hours ago
- Business
- Straits Times
US sanctions target those providing Iran with defense machinery, Houthi oil trading
FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the U.S. Treasury building in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/ File Photo WASHINGTON - The Trump administration said on Friday it had issued fresh Iran-related sanctions targeting eight entities, one vessel and one person for their alleged role in providing sensitive machinery for Tehran's defense industry. "The United States remains resolved to disrupt any effort by Iran to procure the sensitive, dual-use technology, components, and machinery that underpin the regime's ballistic missile, unmanned aerial vehicle, and asymmetric weapons programs," U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. "Treasury will continue to degrade Iran's ability to produce and proliferate these deadly weapons, which threaten regional stability and global security," he added in a statement announcing the action. Two of the entities include shipping companies based in Hong Kong: Unico Shipping Co Ltd and Athena Shipping Co Ltd, the statement said. The Treasury Department on Friday also issued counterterrorism-related sanctions targeting Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis over alleged illicit oil trading and shipping, it said in a separate statement. Those sanctions target four individuals, 12 entities, and two vessels over imported oil and other illicit goods to support the Houthis, the department said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
An inflation surge could swamp Trump's presidency. This one investment will keep your money safe.
America's financial outlook has darkened under President Donald Trump's leadership. All three major credit-rating agencies now rank U.S. federal debt one notch below triple-A, and Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase JPM, has warned of a crack in the U.S. bond market. With the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield BX:TMUBMUSD10Y at 4.4% on Wednesday and the 30-year rate BX:TMUBMUSD30Y at 4.9%, holders of nominal U.S. debt should be prepared for significant real losses. The principal risk is not U.S. sovereign default, but rather unexpected increases in medium- and long-term interest rates, owing to market expectations of higher inflation. Fiscal policy under Trump is unsustainable, as it was under former President Joe Biden — but even more so if the Trump administration's 'big, beautiful' budget passes in anything like its current form. 'I'm at my wit's end': My niece paid off her husband's credit card but fell behind on her taxes. How can I help her? Why the biggest-ever 'triple witching' options expiration could deliver a jolt to Friday's trading Israel-Iran clash delivers a fresh shock to investors. History suggests this is the move to make. 'I prepaid our mom's rent for a year': My sister is a millionaire and never helps our mother. How do I cut her out of her will? I'm 75 and have a reverse mortgage. Should I pay it off with my $200K savings — and live off Social Security instead? The January 2025 Financial Report of the United States Government makes this clear. The U.S. ratio of federal debt held by the public to GDP at the end of the 2024 fiscal year was around 98%, although $4.7 trillion of the $28.3 trillion in federal debt was held by the Federal Reserve — meaning it is erroneously categorized as held by the 'public,' when really the central bank's accounts should be consolidated with those of the federal government. Under current policy and based on the report's assumptions, federal debt held by the public would reach 535% of GDP by 2099. Stabilizing the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio requires that the annual primary federal deficit (excluding interest payments) fall by an average of 4.3% of GDP over the next 75 years. And yet, the federal deficit and primary deficit were 6.4% and 3.3% of GDP, respectively, in fiscal-year 2024 — far above what can be justified with the economy near full employment. Read: America's debt is at a breaking point — Trump's tax bill might just push it over the edge With the U.S. Congress so dysfunctional, no one has any faith that it will deliver the required deficit reduction. Democrats do not do permanent spending cuts, and Republicans do not do permanent tax increases. The federal government does own about 28% of U.S. land (roughly 640 million acres), as well as other real commercial assets that could yield significant additional nontax revenues if properly managed. But neither party — nor even the misnamed Department of Government Efficiency — appears to have considered this option, so the federal deficit as a share of GDP is likely to rise over the next few years. With no foreseeable improvement in fiscal policy, there are two possible outcomes. First, the U.S. government could default. There has long been a small, but recurrent, risk of a technical, short-lived default if Congress fails to raise, suspend, extend, revise or abolish the federal debt ceiling on time. Fortunately, it has averted this scenario 78 times since 1960, and we expect it to continue doing so. As matters stand, the debt ceiling (including debt held by federal agencies) is set at $36.1 trillion, and debt subject to the limit is also $36.1 trillion. If needed, the Treasury has a highly liquid asset (the Treasury General Account held with the Fed) worth $332.9 billion that it can use to meet its obligations, and it may temporarily use 'extraordinary measures to continue to borrow additional amounts for a limited time.' The second, more likely possibility is that the Fed will monetize enough federal debt to prevent default. Since U.S. federal debt is serviced in dollars, 'printing money' is always an option. But, as the Fed well knows, a large-scale monetization of federal debt would result in significantly above-target inflation. We believe the Fed will do this without its operational independence being revoked by Trump. To get the Federal Open Market Committee to do something it does not want to do, the president would need to control the majority of its 12 voting members. These include the seven members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and five (out of 12) regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents who vote at any given FOMC meeting. Neither the president nor Congress can appoint or fire Federal Reserve Bank presidents. The Board of Governors must approve them, and only the board can remove them. The president nominates board members, but the Senate must confirm them. Board members' current term limits imply that, assuming none are fired, Trump will have the opportunity to nominate only two new members. True, with the power to fire board members 'for cause' — meaning 'inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance' — Trump could try to replace a majority of the members with loyalists. But this seems unlikely. Whether the 'for cause' criterion has been met will be contested in the courts, and the Senate would have to confirm Trump's appointees. Read: Trump's pick to replace Fed Chair Powell could rock your mortgage and retirement. Buckle up. Similarly, Congress could revise the Federal Reserve Act to replace the Fed's monetary-policy objectives with a mandate to buy or sell sovereign debt according to the wishes of the Treasury. But this, too, is unlikely. And the same goes for a scenario in which the Treasury sets a rapidly depreciating exchange-rate target for the dollar DXY that can be achieved only through large-scale Fed purchases of U.S. public debt that generate high inflation. However, fiscal dominance — indeed, fiscal capture — is very likely, because the need to avoid a domestic and global financial crisis will force the FOMC's hand. It will do whatever is necessary to prevent a U.S. government default, because the Fed's financial-stability mandate (the Financial Stability Act of 2010 mentions the Fed 179 times) undoubtedly trumps its monetary-policy mandate of maintaining maximum employment, stable prices and moderate long-term interest rates. The Fed cannot credibly threaten to refuse to monetize debt and deficits to compel fiscal retrenchment by the Treasury, let alone Congress. Thus, the Fed will have no choice but to engage in sovereign-debt purchases that it knows to be incompatible with its monetary-policy objectives. With nominal interest rates for medium- and long-term U.S. sovereign debt far below the levels consistent with realistic expectations of future inflation, serious capital losses on nominal debt instruments (public and private) are likely. The inflation surge could be no more than three years away. As the prospect of fiscal capture comes into view, investing in Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS) and other indexed public and private debt instruments will become increasingly attractive. Willem H. Buiter, a former chief economist at Citibank and former member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, is an independent economic adviser. Anne C. Sibert is professor emerita of economics at Birkbeck, University of London. This commentary — 'U.S. Debt Holders Should Brace for Impact' — is published with the permission of Project Syndicate. Read: 'You are going to panic,' Jamie Dimon tells regulators about what will happen when the bond market cracks More: What's at stake if world's most powerful market finally buckles after decades-long U.S. debt splurge 20 companies in the S&P 500 whose investors have gained the greatest rewards from stock buybacks Israel-Iran conflict poses three challenges for stocks that could slam market by up to 20%, warns RBC I'm 51, earn $129K and have $165K in my 401(k). Can I afford to retire when my husband, 59, draws Social Security at 62? 'It might be another Apple or Microsoft': My wife invested $100K in one stock and it exploded 1,500%. Do we sell? Why the stock market will be performing a high-wire act over the summer, according to UBS
CNBC
14 hours ago
- Business
- CNBC
U.S. Treasury yields little changed as Trump considers strike on Iran
U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on Friday morning, as markets continued to monitor the conflict between Israel and Iran in which President Donald Trump is considering ordering direct U.S. intervention. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was last seen trading marginally higher, with yields on Treasurys across the board seeing little movement by 4:30 a.m. ET. One basis point is equivalent to 0.01%. Yields and prices move in opposite directions. As Israel and Iran continued trading fire on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read a statement from Trump at a news briefing. "Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks," the message from the president said. That came a day after Trump said he had issued Tehran with an "ultimate ultimatum," telling reporters at the White House that he "may do it, may not do it," with regard to ordering a U.S. strike on Iran. Later on Friday, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia will publish its June Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey.
Mint
2 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Bitcoin price slips. Watch the dollar for clues on where cryptos go next.
Bitcoin was edging lower on Thursday, the latest sign that the cryptocurrency isn't getting much of a boost from the Israel-Iran war. The world's largest crypto was down 0.1% over the past 24 hours to $104,894, according to CoinDesk data. It's now trading about 7% below the record high it hit last month. Other cryptos were also sliding. Ethereum fell 0.7%, XRP slid 0.4%, and Solana dropped 1.7% over the past 24 hours, per data from Kraken. Digital-asset bulls often argue Bitcoin acts as a safe haven like gold or U.S. Treasury bonds, but it's not been living up to that reputation since the conflict between Israel and Iran began last week. Bitcoin has 'failed to capitalize on the latest rise in risk appetite in financial markets," Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst for the foreign exchange brokerage FxPro, said in a note earlier this week. However, he added that the crypto could still serve as a hedge in times of macroeconomic uncertainty, particularly if sweeping tariffs carry on weighing on the dollar. 'If the U.S. Dollar Index continues to fall due to the White House's tariff policy, Bitcoin will grow," he wrote. The U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the strength of the greenback against a weighted basket of other currencies, is on pace for one of its worst first halves on record, with investors pivoting away from the buck due to worries that tariffs could slow down growth.
