The Day Democrats Return To Wall Street

Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance

If there’s one thing the market has become spectacularly good at, it’s extrapolating today’s political environment out to infinity…and “pricing in” things (like the end of the Iran War, Trump Tax cuts, future rate cuts, etc.) over and over again until one day of bad news turns into a year of “market optimism” about things getting better, prompting the S&P to rally to new all-time highs 17 days in a row despite the fact that nothing has changed on the ground.

And today, the market is acting as though Washington’s current regulatory philosophy, which appears to be pardon everyone who has ever committed obvious white collar fraud and take a “hands off” approach to new enforcement is simply...permanent. But it isn’t.

I think one of the biggest risks investors aren’t even remotely considering is what happens if Democrats take back the House this fall, or even more importantly, win the White House in 2028?

There’s a real chance this could lead to a wholesale repricing of the excesses that have flourished under an administration that has made it abundantly clear it would rather participate in markets than police them.

I still think Trump is a better option than anyone on the left side of the aisle when it comes to the Presidency. But ironically, Trump may have handed Democrats the perfect campaign issue. Forget whatever slogan focus groups come up with next. The message practically writes itself: corruption, self-dealing, insider enrichment, pardons for politically connected allies, regulatory capture, and a government that looked the other way while fortunes have been minted in increasingly questionable ways.

Republicans, including myself, cried wolf over Nancy Pelosi’s trading, Hunter Biden’s take from Burisma and President Biden’s dealings with China. But this administration’s cash grab, flanking all areas of the market from crypto to hi-speed algorithmic trading, puts Biden to shame.

If Democrats regain power, I think there is virtually no chance they don’t campaign on restoring “accountability” to Wall Street, crypto and corporate America. Sadly, they will point to the effects of monetary policy widening the wealth gap that their party also supports as an impetus for change. And unlike every election where politicians promise to lower drug prices by seventeen cents, accountability on Wall Street is actually something they can begin doing on Day One simply by changing who’s running the agencies.

Markets aren’t remotely priced for that. Today’s investors have....(READ THIS FULL COLUMN 100% FREE HERE).