Hamilton’s Dream

As we move closer to intentionally jettisoning the full faith and credit of the United States and eyeing the pulse of the bond market, we shouldn’t forget one salient fact. The centrality of debt holders in our constitutional order isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. Indeed, the national debt — created through the federal assumption of state war debts — was created to do precisely this: get the holders of bonds, necessarily wealthy and powerful people, to have a vested interest in the fixity and stability of the federal government.