Typically, if you are going to go to war with the Treasury secretary over economics, you should probably know what you are talking about. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday for his annual testimony, formally focused on the international financial system and U.S. participation in the International Monetary Fund. Of course, Congress rarely sticks to the agenda. When Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) got his turn, he used it to attack the president’s proposed cryptocurrency as a Ponzi scheme. 

Whether it is one is a question for another day. Green did not even get that far before Bessent dunked on his argument for questioning the asset’s legitimacy, based solely on the point that it is not a tangible asset. To Green’s apparent surprise, neither are equity, stocks or bonds, as the Treasury Secretary pointed out.

Rep. Green began by questioning the cryptocurrency’s legitimacy on the basis that someone could buy it at one price and later sell it for more, a concept that, apparently, is suspicious only when it involves crypto. After all, in Congress, a basic understanding of economics is clearly optional.

"Every market is dependent, if you want to make money, on someone paying more, whether you sell your house, whether you sell stock," Bessent said.

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"If I may, if it's gold, you have a tangible asset. There are tangible assets. This is an intangible asset," Rep. Green said. "It doesn't exist, except in the minds of people."

"Equities and bonds are an intangible asset," Bessent replied.

"Well, this one is the one that the president has used to take advantage of people. I would hope that our country would see that the president is a corrupt person," the Texas Democrat said. "I yield back."

Of course, Green’s broader point was less an economic argument than a textbook case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. 

Thankfully, voters appear ready for a change: Green lost the Democrat primary in Texas’ redrawn 18th district to fellow Rep. Christian Menefee, a member-on-member contest created by the state’s mid-decade redistricting. Menefee will now face Republican Ronald Whitfield in November, leaving Green’s congressional tenure set to end in January.