We have rediscovered at great cost what America’s first Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton taught us: the nation that depends on its adversaries for critical inputs is neither truly sovereign nor truly prosperous. As we approach 250 years of American independence, we would do well to remember that our founders left us more than a Republic—they bequeathed a roadmap powerful enough to sustain it for two and a half centuries and beyond.  -Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent,

PLEASE NOTE: Next week we will not publish as we will be celebrating the US July 4th and 250th Anniversary holiday.  We will return to our normal publishing schedule the following week.  

Hope you are well.  At the link below is this week’s edition of FFTT, which is a slide deck summary of talking points we were asked to discuss as part of a panel at an international conference this week discussing the topic “Are we moving toward de-dollarization of the international monetary order?” This week’s slide deck is 19 pages long and can be read in 7-8 minutes. Thank you for reading this edition of FFTT.  LG

Fiscal authorities should resist the temptation to increase government expenditures continually in order to compensate for shortfalls of private consumption and investment. A strict economic diet of fiscal austerity has greater appeal, a kind of penance owed for the excesses of the past. But root-canal economics also does not constitute optimal economic policy.  The U.S. would be better off with a third way: pro-growth economic policy. The U.S. and world economies urgently need stronger growth,