While Twitter and the mainstream media may be focused on the plethora of free, new social programs many Democrat candidates are touting, many Wall Street and investment advisors remain seemingly mostly unfazed after the first round of Democrat debates.
To find out what advisors think the impact on their clients might be from any of the benefit expansion platforms being floated by the 20 Democrat candidates who took the stage in back-to-back debates this week, Financial Advisor did an informal survey of advisors.
Not even Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (D-Vt.) sweeping plan to cancel $1.6 billion in student debt for 45 million Americans and eliminate tuition and fees by taxing stock transactions seemed to roil advisors or the markets. The reason? The investment professionals we spoke with don’t believe that such plans have a shot at becoming reality if the economy holds steady.
“I think Bernie is sincere and has had the same positions essentially for decades. But this is America, the bastion of capitalism. You attach the word socialism to anything, and it is dead on arrival,” Kashif Ahmed, president of American Private Wealth in Bedford, Mass., told Financial Advisor.
“Trump has cornered that narrative,” Ahmed predicted. “We have seen socialism end in flames all over the world. It will not help any client.
“At the end of the day, everyone only cares about their pocketbook, which is why even the most ardent Obama haters came to be neutral towards the end of his presidency, because the economy and stock market had done so well,” Ahmed said.
“I think if pocketbooks look healthy, Trump is assured a win. Especially if the Dems still don't have a message,” he added.
One financial message that came through loud and clear both nights was Democratic candidates’ desire to provide universal health care, including undocumented immigrants who have come to the country illegally.
On the second night of the televised debates in Miami, presidential hopefuls including former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, were asked if they would support covering health care for illegal immigrants if elected president.
All 10 candidates on the stage raised their hands in affirmation.