Bessent has repeatedly warned investors they would be wiped out if they bet
against him, saying whether they were driving up oil, pushing down the yen or
lifting U.S. Treasury yields they were mistaken because he sits on the other
side with access to government policy information — a point he frames as
information asymmetry. Since he began publicly targeting Treasury and oil
markets, prices have moved contrary to his warnings. Mark Spindel, founder and
CIO of Potomac River Capital, said markets have seen through the bluff, and
large federal deficits plus skepticism about the Fed’s ability to tame inflation
are undermining Bessent’s interventions.
