I think the market is doing well because, generally, inflation is seen as under control and you can attribute that to the reasoned steps the Federal Reserve has implemented. Also, Joe Biden is seen as not having taken any outlandish steps. Donald Trump? I trust nothing under him. Whatever he does if he wins will be structured to benefit himself and cronies. It’s basically a disaster waiting to happen.
A point that nobody seems to pay much attention to is the creditworthiness of the U.S. The U.S. is seen as the most creditworthy nation in the world, hands down. It’s how the U.S. finances all of its debt. Most people don’t understand that. Treasury bonds, the instruments the U.S. issues to finance debt (How do you think we pay all those military, Medicare, Social Security, etc., costs?): They are without question the safest investment in the world because everyone trusts that the U.S. can and will repay those obligations; that’s why the rest of the world buys treasury bonds and holds them.
Who do you think buys those bonds? Governments in most of Asia, like China, Japan and India, and Europe.
Along comes Trump, a man who has a long history of stiffing lenders and creditors of all types. I can easily see him threatening countries he does not like that the U.S. will not pay them back. Utter chaos. It will make the Great Depression look like a picnic.
I hope someone pays attention. Consider that even the threat of using the treasuries as a weapon would cause chaos. So, when you consider how loose and irresponsible Trump is with words, you could easily imagine many terrible scenarios. Your average person thinks life is mostly safe and OK in the U.S., but we live on a foundation of debt, a lot of it held by the rest of the world. If the rest of the world loses confidence in the U.S., you can maybe start to imagine the consequences.
Robert Smith, Salt Lake City
