Who is Scott Bessent? Meet Trump's New US Treasury Secretary

Today’s guest is the new US Treasury Secretary, serving under Donald Trump. The role gives him immense responsibility for managing US obligations and finances, including circa. $7 trillion of annual US federal spending, the $35+ trillion fiscal debt pile and continued inflationary pressures on both US businesses and consumers (so, no pressure!). Prior to this, Scott was a globally respected and market-moving hedge fund investor. He was key player on the George Soros's team, who in 1992 helped the Quantum Fund make $1bn, shorting sterling ahead of the UK’s withdrawal from the ERM. Then, as Soros’s CIO, he was also dubbed ‘The Man Who Broke the Bank of Japan’ by the Wall Street Journal, making approximately $3.5bn on the Abenomics trade from 2012-2015! Scott is widely acknowledged to be one of the world’s most highly respected macro hedge fund managers, and is the Founder of Key Square Capital Management. He has also taught financial history at Yale and is a prominent philanthropist. In this episode, Scott explains the key ingredients in being a macro manager. He charts his journey, working with legendary investors such as Stan Druckenmiller and George Soros. He opines on a range of key investment themes, including his thoughts on de-dollarisation, debt, commodities, the Ukraine rebuild, and AI. He also shares his analysis of the fast-evolving markets in both China and Japan. Scott goes on to discuss risk, when and how he sizes positions, signposts that influence conviction, and dealing with information overload. A tour de force! Interview originally recorded in September 2023. Keen to learn more about investing in the resurgent Japanese equity market? Check out our interview with the Founders of Arcus, a $2bn AUM Japan-focused asset manager who've been investing in TOPIX for 25+ years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhmIrOTtVOI TOPICS: 00:00 - Intro 00:59 - Scott's Background 04:22 - Early Career 06:46 - Intro to Global Macro 08:28 - The Creation of Key Square Capital Management 10:24 - Navigating Information Overload 11:25 - Micro & Macro Knowledge 13:42 - The Sequencing of Macro Events 15:44 - De-Dollarisation & Economic Disruption 20:36 - Analysing the Japanese Economy 32:46 - Chinese Economy 37:18 - Macro Investment & Geopolitical Risk 39:09 - Thoughts on Ukraine / Russia Future 42:24 - Potential Impact of AI on Productivity and Regulation 47:10 - The Global Shift from Capital to Labour 51:20 - Closing Questions 58:45 - Outro SPONSORS: - Schroders is a global investment and wealth manager, with a purpose to provide excellent investment performance to clients, through active investment management. Find out more: https://www.schroders.com/en/global/individual/ - LiveTrade, from Bordeaux Index, is an innovative new platform which allows you to instantly buy and sell - or place bids and offers on - key wines from around the world. Find out more: https://bordeauxindex.com/livetrade - Bremont is an award winning British company that produces beautifully engineered chronometers, designed to appeal to those who share the passion and appreciation of the innovation and mastery behind a beautiful mechanical wristwatch. Find out more: https://www.bremont.com/ - IFM Investors are a global institutional asset manager whose purpose is to invest, protect and grow the long term retirement savings of working people. They manage investments across infrastructure, debt, listed equities and private equity assets. Find out more: https://ifminvestors.com/en-gb/ STAY UP TO DATE ✅ Newsletter: https://www.moneymazepodcast.com/subscribe ✅ LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/company/the-money-maze-podcast ✅ X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcast_maze LISTEN: 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-money-maze-podcast/id1504477769 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0uT0iw8BkDIvFH12Z3GJKR DISCLAIMER All content on the Money Maze Podcast is for your general information and use only and is not intended to address your particular requirements. In particular, the content does not constitute any form of advice, recommendation, representation, endorsement or arrangement and is not intended to be relied upon by users in making (or refraining from making) any specific investment or other decisions. Guests and presenters may have positions in any of the investments discussed. Statistics quoted as of December 2024.