Treasury commits twenty billion dollars to Argentina during a domestic shutdown.

Pay attention. Day ten of the shutdown. The Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, walks out and announces that the United States is going to provide twenty billion dollars in support to Argentina, in the form of a currency swap line, drawn from the Exchange Stabilization Fund, which is the special pool of Treasury money that, by law, the Secretary can move without asking Congress.

Twenty billion. With a B. To Argentina. The country whose President is currently friends with our President. Whose finance minister was on a phone call with our President four days ago.

Buddy. I have stories. Pay attention to this one specifically.

The Treasury can move the ESF without Congress because the ESF was set up in 1934 to defend the dollar. Defending the dollar is what the ESF does. The dollar is, this morning, fine. The peso is not fine. The peso has been not fine for thirty years. The Argentine government has now defaulted on its sovereign debt nine times across its history. Nine. They are good at it. They have a technique. The technique is called “we will pay you back, definitely, this time, please send more dollars.”

So now. Day ten of the shutdown. The federal museums are closed. The air traffic controllers are working unpaid. The Office of Management and Budget told furloughed federal workers, on day nine, that they should not expect back pay, a position that will get reversed in court inside two weeks. That is the budget posture for the citizens of the United States.

The budget posture for the President of Argentina is twenty billion dollars in fresh dollars, made available, no congressional vote required, and Bessent went on to say the administration is also working on another twenty billion in private capital, which would bring the total package to forty billion dollars.

I have run a casino floor. The high roller from out of town gets the comp suite. Fine. But you do not comp the suite while the local regulars who pay the rent on your building are sitting in the parking lot wondering if you are going to comp them a sandwich.

The local regulars, in this story, are the United States of America.

I’m arguing with the television. The television is in pesos.