Scott Bessent made his fortune betting against policies like these

Published September 14, 2026 2:00pm ET | Updated September 14, 2026 2:16pm ET



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Rufus Miles, an American government administrator, famously said that where you stand on an issue depends on where you sit. This aphorism seems all too true of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. As a young man, Bessent made his reputation and fortune as one of George Soros’s traders by taking advantage of governments’ economic policy mistakes. Today, as treasury secretary, he is committing the same sort of economic policy mistakes that other economic policymakers have made. That is creating the trading opportunities for today’s hedge fund traders that he was once so ready to exploit.

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