Cultivating the U.S. Treasury Secretary and the Federal Reserve Chairman? Meet Stanley Druckenmiller, not just "Soros' comrade"

The 71-year-old billionaire and Wall Street legend Stanley Druckenmiller is expanding his influence through his two key disciples—Scott Bessent has become the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and Kevin Warsh is a strong contender for the chair of the Federal Reserve. During his thirty years as the head of his hedge fund and family office, Druckenmiller has never experienced a losing year, and now his economic ideas are gradually permeating the highest levels of economic decision-making in the United States through Bessent and Warsh. For over a decade, Druckenmiller has warned about the U.S. fiscal deficit, calling it a "debt bomb," and has fiercely criticized the government's "excessive spending" on welfare programs such as Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. During the pandemic, he publicly criticized the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates too slowly, which fueled runaway inflation. Investment Legend Druckenmiller is highly regarded on Wall Street and is recognized as a leader in the field of macro investing. The Duquesne Capital Management he founded, along with his previous work at the Soros Fund, has generated remarkable investment performance. Druckenmiller's career began in 1976 when he worked at Pittsburgh National Bank and established the Duquesne Fund with about $800,000. In 1988, he achieved a significant breakthrough in his career when he was hired by George Soros to join his hedge fund, where he worked until 2000, after which he managed Duquesne full-time. In 2011, Druckenmiller transformed Duquesne into a family office, at which point Kevin Warsh joined as a partner after resigning from his position as a Federal Reserve governor. Bessent stated in an interview with the Financial Times: "In the global macro trading space, Stan is an independent entity; others can only follow in his footsteps." Influence on U.S. Economic Policy Today, Druckenmiller's two proud disciples hold important positions in the Trump administration: Scott Bessent: Currently the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, he was hired by Druckenmiller to work at the Soros Fund over 30 years ago. In 1992, he shorted the pound with Soros, creating the historic trade that "broke the Bank of England." Kevin Warsh: A strong contender for the chair of the Federal Reserve, he has been a partner at Duquesne since 2011. In 2017, he competed with Powell for the position of Federal Reserve chair but was unsuccessful. Recently, he also competed with Bessent for the position of Secretary of the Treasury. According to insiders, Druckenmiller maintains close contact with both disciples, even being described as having a "father-son-like relationship." Druckenmiller communicates especially frequently with Warsh, sometimes talking a dozen times a day, and he also keeps in close contact with Bessent, mainly sharing his views on the market Can "Drucker Economics" Lead the Future? In recent years, Druckenmiller has been unabashed about his views on economic policy—especially after he closed his hedge fund and focused on his family office. For over a decade, he has warned about the U.S. fiscal deficit, calling it a "debt bomb," and has fiercely criticized the government's "excessive spending" on welfare programs such as Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. During the pandemic, he publicly criticized the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates too slowly, which fueled runaway inflation. Of course, Druckenmiller has not always been correct in his market judgments; he has predicted a U.S. economic recession multiple times, but it ultimately did not materialize. At a conference in October 2024, Druckenmiller joked: "I have predicted six recessions in the past, and only four have occurred; in other words, I have been predicting recessions all along." It is worth noting that Druckenmiller has some disagreements with the Trump administration on certain viewpoints. For example, the tax cut plan proposed by Trump, which includes lowering taxes on tips, overtime pay, and Social Security contributions, could exacerbate the U.S. national debt issue, which stands at $36 trillion and continues to rise