>> So let me get this straight-- there is a box in a Treasury building that, if the janitor accidentally unplugs it-- immediate financial apocalypse and a fifth of the US economy "stops."

It is mission-critical finance system. Guaranteed it's multiple redundant boxes in an highly access-controlled data center. No one should have access without serious vetting.

>> Why isn't the very existence of this box the problem?

The money doesn't move around on magic and rainbows. What were you expecting?

That’s the nature of centralized finance, no?

I mean if you simplify things to that extent Trump has a suit case with a red button that can end the world. Real life is a bit more complicated

If Trump's suitcase were broken, the result would not be Armageddon.

Also, apparently there are redundant "red buttons" mirroring the succession plan.[1]

So a more appropriate analogy would be a dead-man trigger in a bureaucrat's hand, programmed in obsolete technology, that if handled other than by expert hands at all times would result in immediate "Armageddon."

[1] https://apnews.com/article/nuclear-football-presidential-sat...