The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's recent hint at fiscal tightening has not eased market concerns amid the highest United States borrowing costs in decades, as key drivers of the deficit remain unaddressed. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that the artificial intelligence investment boom, with its uncertain returns, is central to the short-term fiscal squeeze and market unease. Mr. Bessent unintentionally drew attention to U.S. budget deficits with a clumsy attempt to cap rising long-dated Treasury yields through small bond buybacks. Defending the buyback as merely "signalling" to markets, Mr. Bessent said new fiscal moves were afoot to keep a lid on annual deficits running at about 6 per cent of GDP. The focus would be on savings from fraud, waste and other government spending inefficiencies. Few analysts, however, think addressing fraud and waste will significantly reduce the budget shortfall. Even the prospect of what Mr. Bessent called "peak deficit" for this administration convinced few. Falling corporate-tax revenues this year and proposals for a near-50-per-cent rise in total defence spending through 2027 are helping keep the budget gap wide.