“I wish the real world
would just stop
hasslin’ me.”
— Matchbox Twenty
July 31, 2023, might have been the most important day of the year for Wall Street. This was the day the Treasury Department announced the funding schedule for the government for the second half of the year. The shock to the bond market was profound. The Treasury would be issuing a significant amount of debt—much more than the market had expected.
This was the day the Real World would start to hassle market participants. It was also the day the bill for the CARES Act, the Build Back Better Act, the Chips Act and the Inflation Reduction Act began to come due. Between fiscal and monetary stimulus, COVID “cost” the U.S. taxpayer $13.4 trillion and Treasury’s announcement made it clear that starting in the second half, the market would start questioning the U.S. fiscal position.
