2025-11-15
29 分钟This is Planet Money from NPR.
The federal government shutdown that just ended went about a month and a half.
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers were put on furlough.
Flights were being canceled because of a shortage of air traffic controllers.
People didn't get their food stamps.
But last month, despite most federal spending being paused,
Treasury Secretary Scott Besant announced that the United States did have $20 billion for Argentina to help that country through an economic rough patch.
We should say he is totally allowed to do this.
No congressional input required.
The reason Besant can just unilaterally make this move is this.
For the last 90 years, the U.S.
Department of the Treasury has had this kind of private slush fund with billions of dollars in it.
It is called the Exchange Stabilization Fund.
And mostly, it just sits there.
But, Besant's announced on social media that he was putting it in action.
In what we used to call a tweet, now I guess a post, Besant explained that the U.S.
Treasury had started using the fund to buy up Argentine pesos,
and that the United States stood ready to swap 20 billion more U.S.
dollars for its equivalent in pesos.
What was your reaction to that?