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Scott Bessent

46 statements across 9 episodes · 18 bullish · 13 bearish · 3 people on the record · first statement Feb 7, 2025 by David Friedberg · said 127 times in 39 episodes since 2024 · across every show →

On the record as a speaker too: Scott Bessent's record, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.

Mentions by year

brought up most by Jason Calacanis (49), David Friedberg (17), David Sacks (13), Chamath Palihapitiya (11), Andrew Ross Sorkin (10), Howard Lutnick (6), Keith Rabois (5), Senator Ron Johnson (4)

tap a year for its mentions
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2026 22 mentions in 10 episodes 2 per episode
2025 99 mentions in 27 episodes 4 per episode
2024 6 mentions in 2 episodes 3 per episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about Scott Bessent, oldest first

Feb 7, 2025 neutral
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Friedberg: Reducing government deficit below 3% of GDP will drop interest rates
“Elon and Besant and others in the administration have echoed trying to get government deficit below three percent of GDP. That seems to be the economic magical number. And if you can do that, rates drop.”
David Friedberg Feb 7, 2025 ▶ 2:02 DOGE vs USAID, Crypto Framework, Google's $75B AI Spend, US Sovereign Wealth Fund, GLP-1s
Mar 8, 2025 neutral
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Friedberg: 60% chance Trump 2.0 is less influenced by market drops
“I'd say 60%, he's probably different than Trump one point oh, and he's probably less Influenced by the short-term rumblings about the market. And he's probably listening to Besant on this one”
David Friedberg Mar 8, 2025 ▶ 1:13:21 Tariffs, Trump's Economic Endgame, Market Chaos, Bitcoin Reserve, CoreWeave IPO
Mar 19, 2025
Assertion Contradicted
Bessent: Ivy League degree counts have barely changed since the 1950s
“The number of degrees awarded, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, probably hasn't changed very much since the 19 fifties.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 19:20 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025 negative
Assertion Supported
Bessent: CBO budget scoring rules drive government spending growth
“It's very gameable, and one of the most gameable parts of it In normal CBO scoring, that, so we, we're calling, we're saying that we want to renew the tax cuts. We're actually just renewing the current tax regime. That, that somehow, after they expire, Then th…”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 30:59 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025
Assertion Supported
Bessent: Cutting $300 billion in government spending reduces GDP by 1%
“Every three hundred billion we cut is about a percent of GDP”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 25:38 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025 positive
Disclosure
Bessent: 100% support for Federal Reserve autonomy in monetary policy
“I a hundred percent support the Fed's autonomy in monetary policy.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 36:25 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025 positive
Disclosure
Bessent: Treasury brought in Hunter Biden whistleblowers to reform IRS audits
“We had a big announcement on Tuesday, and we brought in the two Hunter Biden whistleblowers, who, they have a lot to say about who gets audited, who doesn't. They're gonna be sitting in this building, working on IRS matters, and understanding exactly how these…”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 49:51 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025
Assertion Supported
Bessent: American intergenerational income mobility dropped from 90% to 50%
“After World War II, I think 90% of American families The children made more than the parents. Now, now I think it's fifty-fifty.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 16:45 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025 neutral
Disclosure
Bessent considers federal backstop for California insurance tied to safety mandates
“So is there something we could do where you put another layer of private money in there, and then the federal government is the fifth risk. Traunch. But if the federal government comes in, can we mandate down here proper hygiene?”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 1:07:41 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025 negative
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bessent: US economy did not need rescue in March 2021
“And I would say in March of 21, the economy didn't need rescue, it was already in recovery.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 15:38 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025 negative
Opinion
Bessent: Zelensky's Oval Office meeting was biggest diplomatic own goal in history
“Watching President Zelensky do what I thought was the biggest Diplomatic own goal in history.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 1:02:44 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025
Disclosure
Bessent: Trump administration to announce affordability czar in about 10 days
“So we're actually we should probably be announcing it in about 10 days. We're going to have an affordability czar. But it's going to be someone with a lot of experience in supply chains figuring out what are a lot of the quick fixes we can do.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 1:08:40 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025 negative
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Scott Bessent: House building technology has not changed in 50 to 60 years
“There's been no technological change in house building in 50 years, maybe 60.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 1:04:27 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025
Disclosure
Bessent: National security tasks consume 40% to 50% of Treasury Secretary schedule
“That I would say, 40, 50% of my day Treasury does a lot of national security work.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 1:00:12 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025 neutral
Disclosure
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says department is re-examining all bank regulations
“We are re-examining All the bank regulations”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 33:04 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025 positive
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Bessent: Government services will not be cut by DOGE efficiency efforts
“Everyone's hearing cuts, and they think their government services are going to get cut. Super important. They're not.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 44:56 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025 negative
Assertion Supported
Scott Bessent: Some building codes date back to the Chicago Fire
“Some of the building codes go all the way back to the Chicago Fire.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 1:04:33 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bessent: 25% of US GDP flows within 10 miles of Washington, DC
“Within a 10 mile radius of here, 25% of the GDP of the U.S. Pulsates through here.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 43:33 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025 negative
Disclosure
Bessent states the US government will not revalue its gold reserves
“I can say today, we're not revaluing the gold.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 54:31 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025 positive
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Bessent: Displaced federal workers will be absorbed by the private sector
“Folks who lost their government jobs will be picked up by the private sector.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 26:45 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025 negative
Assertion Contradicted
IRS maintains same help desk staffing on Christmas Eve as April 14
“There's one very large department that everybody deals with on April 15th, that their help desk is fully staffed 24 seven, 365 days a year. They have the same number of people on Christmas Eve as they have on April 14th.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 48:20 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025 positive
Insight
Bessent: US must lower energy prices to compete without suppressing labor
“Yeah, I mean, we're not going to crush labor like China and some other countries have done, so we gotta crush the energy price.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 1:11:14 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 19, 2025 neutral
Assertion Contradicted
Bessent: Connecticut requires towns to allocate 10% vacant land to multifamily
“The state of Connecticut has put in a, I guess it's a law, that every municipality has to allocate 10% of vacant land to multifamily”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 1:06:29 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Mar 22, 2025 negative
Assertion Supported
Bessent: Yellen's Treasury shortened debt duration to suppress interest rates
“Yeah, look, I thought that it, that when rates were low, you're supposed to turn out rates. Exactly. And instead, the Treasury for the past few years has pulled rates in, and I think part of that was to keep rates lower, that they changed the issuance schedule…”
Scott Bessent Mar 22, 2025 ▶ 1:01:47 White House BTS, Google buys Wiz, Treasury vs Fed, Space Rescue
Apr 4, 2025 neutral
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Scott Bessent foresees global economic reordering within next few years
“I could see in the next few years that we are going to have to have some kind of a grand global economic reordering. There's something on the equivalent of a new Bretton Woods, or if you want to go back, like a treat, something back to the steel agreements or …”
Scott Bessent Apr 4, 2025 ▶ 1:07:40 DOGE updates + Liberation Day Tariff Reactions with Ben Shapiro and Antonio Gracias
May 3, 2025 positive
Assertion Partly supported
Chamath: Bessent says tax bill allows full factory expense deductions
“This past week, Besant said that the tax bill will allow you to fully deduct all the PPE and all of the incidental costs of building a factory.”
Chamath Palihapitiya May 3, 2025 ▶ 42:32 Trump's First 100 Days, Tariffs Impact Trade, AI Agents, Amazon Backs Down
Jul 23, 2025 bullish
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Bessent: AI CapEx boom could shift into productivity boom by 2026
“And in my perfect world, which never happens, we would go through this big capex boom, and then sometime in 26, the capex boom would hand off to a productivity boom.”
Scott Bessent Jul 23, 2025 ▶ 3:52 Winning the AI Race Part 4: Scott Bessent, Howard Lutnick, Chris Wright, and Doug Burgum
Jul 23, 2025 bullish
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Bessent: GENIUS legislation could drive trillions in U.S. T-bill demand
“We expect that the Chinese will slowly divest, but the, with the passage of the genius legislation last week, I think that we could see several trillion dollars of demand for T-bills, because the way the legislation works, it, it's under 90 days.”
Scott Bessent Jul 23, 2025 ▶ 7:42 Winning the AI Race Part 4: Scott Bessent, Howard Lutnick, Chris Wright, and Doug Burgum
Jul 23, 2025 bullish
Prediction Open · timeframe Jul 2026
Bessent predicts US will collect at least $300B in tariff revenue over 12 months
“Minimum on a forward 12 month basis, we're going to take in at least three hundred billion dollars in tariff income.”
Scott Bessent Jul 23, 2025 ▶ 13:16 Winning the AI Race Part 4: Scott Bessent, Howard Lutnick, Chris Wright, and Doug Burgum
Jul 23, 2025 bullish
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Bessent: Tariffs and tax incentives could spark U.S. construction boom
“I think we could have this massive construction boom And then the factories get populated, and part of President Trump's one big beautiful bill, the most powerful part of that is the hundred percent immediate expensing of equipment, and we also did it for fact…”
Scott Bessent Jul 23, 2025 ▶ 11:00 Winning the AI Race Part 4: Scott Bessent, Howard Lutnick, Chris Wright, and Doug Burgum
Jul 23, 2025 neutral
Assertion Supported
Bessent: AI CapEx spending is roughly 1% of US GDP or $300B yearly
“We estimate that that is approximately one percent of GDP a year. So, three hundred billion dollars. That's being spent on AI.”
Scott Bessent Jul 23, 2025 ▶ 3:41 Winning the AI Race Part 4: Scott Bessent, Howard Lutnick, Chris Wright, and Doug Burgum
Dec 22, 2025 positive
Prediction Partly held up
Bessent forecasts $200B to $300B U.S. fiscal contraction for the calendar year
“I forecast that we will have approximately a 200 to three hundred billion fiscal contraction for the calendar year, which is between .71% of GDP.”
Scott Bessent Dec 22, 2025 ▶ 2:22 Scott Bessent: Fixing the Fed, Tariffs for National Security, Solving Affordability in 2026
Dec 22, 2025 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bessent asserts the executive branch has absolute authority to raise trade revenues
“The president has absolute ability or the executive branch has absolute ability through three of ones, two 32 and something called one 22 to raise revenue on trade.”
Scott Bessent Dec 22, 2025 ▶ 15:01 Scott Bessent: Fixing the Fed, Tariffs for National Security, Solving Affordability in 2026
Dec 22, 2025 neutral
Assertion Supported
Bessent: 38% of Americans do not own equities directly or indirectly
“Right now, about 38% of Americans Do not own equities, either directly or through some kind of a four or one K or something.”
Scott Bessent Dec 22, 2025 ▶ 53:32 Scott Bessent: Fixing the Fed, Tariffs for National Security, Solving Affordability in 2026
Dec 22, 2025 negative
Assertion Contradicted
Bessent claims 40% of 2024 federal spending happened in Q4
“So last year, 20, 24, 40% of the government spending occurred in the fourth quarter as they had the unsuccessful Or their unsuccessful attempt to convince voters that they weren't in a world of hurt.”
Scott Bessent Dec 22, 2025 ▶ 2:02 Scott Bessent: Fixing the Fed, Tariffs for National Security, Solving Affordability in 2026
Dec 22, 2025 negative
Opinion
Bessent calls Taiwan's 97% advanced chip concentration the top economic threat
“I believe that the greatest economic threat to the world economy, to the US economy, more than the Arab oil embargo that I lived through in the seventies when I was lined up with my parents to the, at the pump to do odd even days because of the oil embargo, th…”
Scott Bessent Dec 22, 2025 ▶ 49:08 Scott Bessent: Fixing the Fed, Tariffs for National Security, Solving Affordability in 2026
Dec 22, 2025 neutral
Assertion Supported
Bessent notes 80% to 90% of U.S. pharmaceutical precursors originate overseas
“80, 90% of the precursor chemicals that go into U.S. Pharmaceuticals are made overseas. Majority in China or India.”
Scott Bessent Dec 22, 2025 ▶ 48:52 Scott Bessent: Fixing the Fed, Tariffs for National Security, Solving Affordability in 2026
Dec 22, 2025 positive
Prediction Held up
Bessent predicts U.S. households will receive $1,000 to $2,000 Q1 tax refunds
“And I can see that we're going to have a gigantic refund year in the first quarter because no one chains their working Americans did not change their withholding. So I think households could see depending on the number of workers, 1002 thousand dollar refunds,…”
Scott Bessent Dec 22, 2025 ▶ 52:21 Scott Bessent: Fixing the Fed, Tariffs for National Security, Solving Affordability in 2026
Dec 22, 2025 positive
Prediction Partly held up
Bessent predicts declining rental prices will continue to drop
“We are now seeing rents are down about five percent. I think that trend will continue.”
Scott Bessent Dec 22, 2025 ▶ 19:00 Scott Bessent: Fixing the Fed, Tariffs for National Security, Solving Affordability in 2026
Dec 22, 2025 negative
Opinion
Bessent describes Bureau of Labor Statistics economic data as problematic
“Look, the BLS is problematic. We've seen that the whole time.”
Scott Bessent Dec 22, 2025 ▶ 21:25 Scott Bessent: Fixing the Fed, Tariffs for National Security, Solving Affordability in 2026
Dec 22, 2025 positive
Prediction Open · timeframe Jan 2029
Bessent aims to reduce U.S. deficit-to-GDP ratio to 3% by 2028
“And I've said that I would, by the time President Trump leaves office, that we would like to have something with a three in front of it, which will stabilize the deficit to GDP, which is an important number, and enable us to start paying down debt.”
Scott Bessent Dec 22, 2025 ▶ 2:45 Scott Bessent: Fixing the Fed, Tariffs for National Security, Solving Affordability in 2026
Dec 22, 2025 positive
Prediction Partly held up
Bessent projects U.S. deficit-to-GDP ratio will drop to mid-5% range
“We're gonna end the year with a nominal growth close to six percent. So we will be bringing down the Deficit to GDP. I believe it peaked 6.8% for the calendar year, previous year, and we're going to be in the mid fives”
Scott Bessent Dec 22, 2025 ▶ 2:35 Scott Bessent: Fixing the Fed, Tariffs for National Security, Solving Affordability in 2026
Dec 22, 2025 bullish
Assertion Partly supported
Bessent states real incomes are up 1.8% under Trump administration
“Real incomes are about, up about 1.8% since President Trump took office, and that's back to the Main Street question.”
Scott Bessent Dec 22, 2025 ▶ 19:10 Scott Bessent: Fixing the Fed, Tariffs for National Security, Solving Affordability in 2026
Dec 22, 2025 positive
Disclosure
Bessent reveals U.S. government is taking equity stakes in strategic industries
“If you look at the industries where we are taking stakes and moving forward, we've identified five to eight strategic industries where the U S we have to have endogenous production, or at least adjacent to us in North America or this hemisphere.”
Scott Bessent Dec 22, 2025 ▶ 48:09 Scott Bessent: Fixing the Fed, Tariffs for National Security, Solving Affordability in 2026
Dec 22, 2025 negative
Assertion Supported
Bessent states cumulative inflation reached 21% to 22% under the Biden administration
“I think cumulative CPI during the Biden administration was 21, 22%.”
Scott Bessent Dec 22, 2025 ▶ 17:30 Scott Bessent: Fixing the Fed, Tariffs for National Security, Solving Affordability in 2026
Aug 29, 2026 bearish
Opinion
Friedberg: Bessent Cannot Meaningfully Lower Long-End Treasury Yields
“So my theory and my argument on this is there is no action that Besson can take that's actually going to have a meaningful effect on the long end of the curve.”
David Friedberg Aug 29, 2026 ▶ 38:57 Nvidia's Historic Quarter, SaaS Comeback, Bessent vs Druck, America's Debt Crisis, Cancer Vaccine
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