GFN – WASHINGTON: Judy Shelton has joined the Treasury Department as counselor to Secretary Scott Bessent, bringing an advocate of gold-convertible government bonds into his office as inflation and deficit concerns drive up U.S. borrowing costs.
The New York Times’ DealBook reported her appointment on Sept. 16, alongside rising bond yields despite Treasury’s multibillion-dollar buybacks. Bessent defended those purchases, saying yields would have been higher without them. The Independent Institute also lists Shelton as counselor to the Treasury secretary.
Shelton proposed Treasury Trust Bonds in a 2012 Cato Journal paper: zero-coupon securities repayable in dollars or a specified quantity of gold at the bondholder’s choice. The structure would protect lenders against the dollar losing value relative to gold.
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Her 2024 book, Good as Gold: How to Unleash the Power of Sound Money, develops the case for using gold-convertible Treasury debt to protect long-term bondholders. She has advocated a 50-year bond backed by U.S. gold reserves, with conversion into metal available at maturity.
Shelton argues investors would accept lower yields in exchange for that protection, reducing federal borrowing costs. As she told Kitco last year:
“You would be establishing a link between the U.S. dollar and gold.”
In a 2025 Wall Street Journal essay, she also urged Washington to use gold backing to defend the dollar’s international role and encourage other governments to guarantee some sovereign debt in gold.
Holy shit, it's happening.
Now, if only we can get Congress to cut spending....