April 18, 2025· 38 min

Mitu Gulati on Whether Trump Could Restructure US Debt

Mitu Gulati

Orality

Model

87%

Highly oral (epic poetry, sermons, hip-hop)

Speaker Breakdown

HostTracy Alloway(1,239 words)

M:29%

HostJoe Weisenthal(1,263 words)

M:29%

GuestMitu Gulati(3,102 words)

M:29%

Oral Indicators

Agonistic30%

literally, obviously, certainly

Engagement65%

you, our, your

Memory Aids100%

listen, now, like

Repetition100%

about (65x), like (50x), debt (34x)

Parallelism81%

And I'm Joe Weisenthal...., But, actually, I like to look ..., And I know we've been talking ...

Sound Patterns76%

49 question(s), alliteration: "markets move", alliteration: "barclays brief"

Formulaic Phrases9%

you know what, i mean, to be honest

Literate Indicators

Hedging11%

perhaps, could, might

Passive Voice10%

is based, be squeezed, be excited

Abstract Nouns25%

investment, perception, exploitation

Subordination11%

because, though, provided

Sentence Length34%

Avg: 13.4 words/sentence

Word Complexity47%

investment, analyze, anticipate

Academic Markers0%

Impersonal Style35%

422 personal pronouns found

Descriptive Style87%

actually, really, quickly

Description

US Treasuries are the most important market in the world. With some $29 trillion outstanding, they create the benchmark that informs basically every other type of borrowing. Any changes to how the bond market works would be a massive deal. But lately, there's been a lot of chatter about how the Trump administration could radically restructure and refinance the US debt under the so-called "Mar-a-Lago Accord." In this episode, we speak with University of Virginia law professor Mitu Gulati about how far the administration could go to legally reform this huge and important market. We also talk about how to buy Greenland and whether Trump could make a few billion by collecting on some old loans from allies. Read more: One Way for Trump to Find a Few Extra Trillion Dollars The Stories We Tell Ourselves About Bonds Only Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox each week, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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