The Trial Balance is CFO’s weekly preview of stories, stats and events to help you prepare.
Part 1 — Trump’s new appointments will likely lead to economic change efforts
As the U.S. federal debt continues to climb to unprecedented highs, President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of Paul Atkins as director of the SEC and David Sacks as cryptocurrency and AI czar are moves that could significantly impact the U.S. economic landscape. These moves are an attempt to restructure and reposition the economy and financial system currently driving the U.S. towards a default and create actionable pathways for regulation around artificial intelligence and strategic utilization of bitcoin as a reserve currency.
Paul Atkins’ appointment will likely create a much friendlier regulatory environment for cryptocurrency, particularly the use of bitcoin as a strategic asset. Atkins is a longtime critic of regulators, particularly the PCAOB. Commissioner Erica Williams, whose position is now in question according to The Wall Street Journal, danced around questions from CFO.com earlier this year regarding the agency’s practices in auditor selection and efficiency.
Though he must still go through the approval process, Atkins’ appointment will likely lead to looser enforcement, including the possibility of a dismissal of the case against cryptocurrency platform Ripple, a notable shift compared to outgoing chair Gary Gensler’s tenure.
David Sacks’ role, largely advisory, will likely drive initiatives and restructuring ideas within the current U.S. economic system, especially in response to the growing influence of the BRICS economic bloc.
Sacks spoke extensively in 2022 about bitcoin and digital assets’ potential to help the U.S. government reduce its reliance on debt-backed fiat currency. Although Trump has said he has no intention of removing Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Sacks will likely play a role in the new administration’s attempts to reshape the relationship between the Federal Reserve and the government.
“I think the transformational part of bitcoin is this idea that we could have non-fiat money,” Sacks said. “There is a huge risk of currency debasement when the government is in control, particularly when you have the world’s reserve currency. There’s just such an enormous temptation to print money to finance your budget and to rack up loans that become unpayable. We owe roughly 130% of GDP, so we owe an amount of money greater than the size of our entire economy or our economic output. That sounds really hard to pay back to me.”
Part 2 — This Week
Here’s a list of important market events slated for the week ahead.
Monday, Dec. 9
- Wholesale inventories, Oct.
Tuesday, Dec. 10
- NFIB optimism index, Nov.
- U.S. productivity — Q3 revision
Wednesday, Dec. 11
- Consumer price index, Nov.
- Core CPI, Nov.
- Monthly U.S. federal budget
Thursday, Dec. 12
- Initial jobless claims, week of Dec. 7
- Producer price index, Nov.
- Core PPI, Nov.
Friday, Dec. 13
- Import price index, Nov.
Part 3 — Real estate strategy, Pittsburgh International Airport CFO Q&A, holiday season networking
This week, CFO.com will have a story on the importance of developing a real estate and infrastructure strategy (12/10), a new edition of Perry Wiggins’ Metric of the Month column (12/11), a Q&A with Eric Sprys, CFO of the Pittsburgh International Airport (12/12), a story on the importance of making time for networking during the holiday season (12/12) and more.
