161: Who is Scott Bessent? Meet Trump's Incoming Treasury Secretary

Money Maze Podcast

Business, Investing, Management, News, Business News

4.8 • 216 Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2024

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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.

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.

The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders, IFM Investors, World Gold Council and LSEG.

Sign up to our Newsletter | Follow us on LinkedIn | Watch on YouTube

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to the Wall Street of all, in the money wrestle.
0:16.0	Welcome to the MoneyMays podcast. I'm Simon Brewer and along with my co-founder, Will Camper.
0:22.3	We created this show in 2020 to explore and unravel some of the mysteries surrounding the investment and business worlds. episodes are available on audio via most podcasts and on video via our podcast platforms and on video
0:44.7	via our YouTube channel and we're active on all major social media platforms to stay up to date
0:50.9	with every episode please do sign up to our newsletter at moneymasepodcast.com.
0:56.0	And we'd like to thank you for listening. If we could ask one favour, we'd love you to tell a friend or colleague about us.
1:02.8	Thank you.
1:05.3	Following the US elections, our former guest and founder of Key Square Capital, Scott Besant,
1:10.6	has been named President Trump's new Treasury Secretary.
1:14.0	To mark this milestone, we're re-sharing our interview with Scott for those who missed it,
1:18.6	and would like to get to know the man who will be helping shape economic policy with the Trump administration.
1:24.9	Scott is a highly respected macro hedge fund manager who has taught financial history
1:29.4	as an adjunct professor at Yale and is a recognized philanthropist. He worked with Stan Druckenmiller
1:35.6	and George Soros and ended up as George Soros's CIO. His firm Key Square Capital has as his firm's
1:42.3	mantra, we study history, we observe the present and try
1:46.2	to imagine the future. And that's what we hope this conversation does. So Scott, you're over
1:51.7	from the US. We're recording here in London. And I have a list of macro market topics I'm itching
1:57.1	to ask and our listeners will be reaching to hear. So welcome to the Money Mears podcast.
2:02.1	Thanks, Simon, and I think our compliance department wants to say this is all my opinion,
2:06.6	not investment advice for your viewing, listening audience, so I'm looking forward to this.
2:12.8	There's been a lot of press around Elon Musk's father's influence on his career,
2:17.2	and you told me that your father
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -113 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Money Maze Podcast, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Money Maze Podcast and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.