Three members of the Federal Open Market Committee voted to raise rates in July. However, the Committee held the federal funds target at 3.5%-3.75% by a 9-3 vote. Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and J.P. Morgan all expect a September hike. Across the Atlantic, the European Central Bank raised rates by 25 basis points in June and is expected to raise them again in September.

On August 19, 2026, the U.S. Treasury announced that it would at least double the size of its liquidity-support buyback operations in the 10-to-20-year and 20-to-30-year maturity sectors.

The current maximum of $2 billion per operation will rise to at least $4 billion, effective September 9 through November 4, 2026, the end of the quarterly refunding period. The following day, Scott Bessent added that the figure could exceed $4 billion per issue and that the Treasury would “make a market” in those maturities, according to the Treasury.

It is worth putting the scale in context before talking about monetization. In its August 5 quarterly refunding announcement, the Treasury had already planned to buy back up to $38 billion in off-the-run securities for liquidity support and up to $25 billion in the one-month-to-two-year sector for cash-management purposes during the quarter, according to Treasury Department data. The August expansion adds at least another $14 billion, raising the maximum buybacks for the August 6–November 5 period from $69 billion to $83 billion, according to Reuters.

The US $40 trillion debt has dominated global headlines. However, although the US fiscal challenges are relevant, we must remember an important lesson. Fiscal policy is not about who wins but who loses first.

According to official 2026 estimates, the present value of U.S. Social Security and Medicare financing gaps is about $95 trillion over 75 years, roughly 5% of the cumulative present value of projected GDP over that period, on top of federal debt held by the public, which is already projected at 101% of annual GDP in 2026.

However, the euro area’s hidden fiscal burden is at least as large as its recorded debt. Official European Commission estimates put net accrued public-pension liabilities at around 150% of GDP, after future contributions are considered, while gross pension promises amount to roughly 371% of GDP. Importantly, this excludes much of the future pressure from health and long-term care spending.

Americans are falling into the socialism trap by not realizing that solving big government problems with an even bigger one is dangerous. Many blame capitalism for their affordability problems, when the true cause is statism. Statism is the gradual replacement of civil society, markets, savings, and individual choice by political control, public spending, regulation, taxation, and monetary intervention.

The predatory state that I discuss in my book The New Global Economic Order represents the extreme manifestation of statism. It is a system where the political class extracts wealth and freedom from families and businesses to sustain itself, reward dependent clients, and exert control over society.

Big government, high taxes, constant money printing, and cronyism are not free market capitalism.