With $29trn in debt and a widening fiscal deficit, America hardly seems like a candidate for a sovereign-wealth fund. Such enormous, independently managed but state-directed pots of cash are, after all, normally established as a means of investing surpluses. That has not stopped President Donald Trump, however. By May 3rd his cabinet will have unveiled a plan for a fund that ought to, in his words, “promote the long-term financial health” of America. Although details are so far sparse, the rough idea, according to Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, is to “monetise the asset side of the balance-sheet” by creating a fund that can invest in stocks, property and private markets.
