US Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent blew off Moody’s recent downgrade of the US credit rating and instead promoted the fairy tale that their tax cuts will pay for themselves while CNN’s Jake Tapper nodded along without questioning it.
When asked about the “big beautiful bill” Republicans are trying to pass which will explode the debt, and the fact that Trump’s tax cuts exploded the debt during his last term, Bessent blamed COVID and got very little pushback from Tapper who just moved onto the next topic:
TAPPER: So let’s just talk about Moody’s downgrading America’s AAA credit, citing out-of-control debt, citing growing interest payments on that debt. How concerned are you that this is going to drive interest rates in the U.S. even higher and maybe even drive investment in the U.S. away?
BESSENT: Well, Jake, first of all, that the history of rating agencies by the time, they get to a downgrade everything’s already in the market. Larry Summers and I don’t agree on everything, but, in 2011, the last time or two times ago when he had a downgrade, he pooh-poohed it.
What I think is important is that President Trump has just come back from this historic Mideast trip, and there’s trillions of dollars coming into the U.S. So we are seeing competence from investors, so I don’t put much credence in the Moody’s…
