Bailouts as Far as the Eyes Can See: A Critique of the "Money View" in the Age of Trumpism

This paper is forthcoming in the volume Finance and Development: Essays presented to C P Chandrasekhar, edited by Rohit Azad, Surajit Mazumdar and Parthapratim Pal, to be published in 2026 by Tulika Books, Delhi, India

Abstract

Monetary and financial relations are changing rapidly around the globe under the contradictory forces of financial and digital globalization on the one hand, and geo-political disruption, disintegration, and re-ordering on the other. These tectonic forces pose enormous challenges for our economy and society in both the North and the Global South. Trump 2.0, his administration’s radical financial de-regulation agenda and their push for crypto asset mainstreaming are adding significantly to the likelihood of a great financial crash and consequent pressures on the Federal Reserve for financial bailouts. We argue that an increasingly popular set of financial analyses that go under the heading of the “Money View”, while extremely useful for understanding the nature and mechanics of global financial markets, is in danger of providing a “seal of approval” for these “lender of last resort” bail-outs that enable the expansion of this socially inefficient and dangerous monetary and financial system. We contend that Northern countries and especially those of the Global South should insulate themselves from these likely upheavals by resisting the siren calls for greater integration into this unregulated, U.S.- dominated global crypto eco-system.