Elon Musk, the optimists and the pessimists – Commerzbank

The future US president will appoint Elon Musk (together with Vivek Ramaswamy) to head a new office for government efficiency (independent of the Office of Management and Budget). Mr. Musk had announced during the election campaign that he would cut the US federal government’s spending by $2 trillion (i.e. by almost a third). It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that this would have catastrophic economic consequences for the US economy, Commerzbank’s Head of FX and Commodity Research Ulrich Leuchtmann notes.

USD consequences of an expansive monetary policy reaction to prevail

“Just recently, Mr. Musk celebrated the takeover of a media company very publicly, demonstrating that he does not believe in a gradual, cautious approach. The optimist might argue that Musk should behave more cautiously in view of the fact that it is now a serious matter for a country of 335 million people. But I don’t trust him to take that intellectual step. Perhaps it is precisely this point that distinguishes the Westphalian pessimist from the currently optimistic currency market.”

“Furthermore, one could argue that the proposals that Musk and Ramaswamy will develop will only be proposals. The US President and the US Congress stand before implementation in actual policy. But one might wonder why such an agency is being set up at all if its proposals (which Musk and Ramaswamy will certainly not keep to themselves) will not be implemented. In this case, the president would appear to be indecisive and establishment-like – exactly what he does not want to be.”

“Incidentally, it would be quite clever to use such a radical austerity program to create a USD-positive argument. After all, this would significantly reduce the capital requirements of the US Treasury and thus of the US economy as a whole. US T-Notes would become scarce again and thus expensive. However, I think that the USD consequences of an inevitable expansive monetary policy reaction would likely prevail, at least initially.”