Wall Street is not as enamoured of George Bush as might be supposed and some think a John Kerry presidency would be better for the economy, reports the American financial weekly, Barron’s. “Wall Street…is pretty much divided on the two candidates”, writes Jim McTague.
In essence, as individual investors, the big capitalists favour the Bush income and dividend tax cuts for self-interested reasons, but as a class they worry the reductions have swollen a soaring budget deficit which threatens to collapse the dollar and the economy. Wall Street has traditionally looked to the Republicans as deficit hawks, even though stock returns have historically been better under the freer spending Democrats. McTague says the “centrepiece” of Kerry’s program is to boost income taxes on earnings above $143,500 to protect Social Security and Medicare – programs the corporations and Republicans are determined to cut. Unless there is an unanticipated shock to the economy, you can expect current robust profit growth and Wall Street’s traditional party allegiance to again take precedence over its habitual nagging doubts. Article reproduced on www.supportingfacts.com Sorry for any cross posting.
