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The John Batchelor Show

• Guest Name: Veronique de Rugy • Affiliation: Mercatus Center • Summary: Veronique de Rugy strongly critiques the proposal for a US sovereign wealth fund, arguing it's a poor idea given the US's high debt-to-GDP ratio and existing budget deficits. She co

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Society & Culture, Arts, News, Books

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 5 September 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

• Guest Name: Veronique de Rugy
• Affiliation: Mercatus Center
• Summary: Veronique de Rugy strongly critiques the proposal for a US sovereign wealth fund, arguing it's a poor idea given the US's high debt-to-GDP ratio and existing budget deficits. She contends that borrowing to invest would be fiscally unsound and would lead to "cronyism on steroids," as government investment decisions are driven by political priorities rather than viable market opportunities, unlike private sector investments.
1910 JUNEAU ALASKA

Transcript

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0:00.0

Building a coffee business?

0:01.9

Serving the best Americano in town is up to you.

0:04.1

But winning back time and growing your business,

0:06.1

leave that to SumUp.

0:07.1

Take orders and payments anywhere with the new SumUp terminal.

0:09.9

Turn occasional customers into regulars with a free loyalty program.

0:13.4

And with the SumUp point of sale system,

0:15.0

you'll always know when you're running low on your best-selling blends.

0:17.9

Visit sumup.co.uk to learn more.

0:30.1

This is CBS Eye on the World. Here's John Batchelor.

0:41.7

A sovereign wealth fund. I've often puzzled about it because it comes up often when we talk about Norway or the Arabian Gulf.

0:50.9

Sovereign wealth fund suggests to me that there's a lot of capital that needs to be invested wisely by the state and that the profits, many, will come to the people of the state. I learned from

0:57.7

Bernic to Rishi of the Mercatus Center, however, that not only is there the possibility that

1:03.5

the Trump administration is going ahead had to build a sovereign wealth fund for the U.S., but that

1:09.5

it is never a good idea.

1:12.5

Veronique, I hold up Norway just because it's in the news all the time, and I laugh every time,

1:18.0

because Norway's sovereign wealth fund is profits from selling oil and natural gas to Europe.

1:23.9

This in a country that is all EVs all the time and doesn't feel that there's any inconsistency

1:30.7

in selling fossil fuel to everybody else while they proudfully display a traffic gem of Tesla's in downtown Oslo.

1:40.3

What is a sovereign wealth fund? What is its ambition? What does it hope to achieve for the U.S.

1:46.2

if there is one a building?

1:47.7

Good evening to you.

...

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