Business on Biden: Not So Bad, Given the Alternatives
Former Vice President Joe Biden is running for president on the sort of platform that usually makes business sweat: higher taxes on corporations and investors, aggressive action to phase out fossil fuels, stronger unions and an expanded government role in health care. Yet many business executives and their allies are greeting the prospect of a Biden presidency with either ambivalence or relief. Credit that not to who Mr. Biden is, but who he isn’t: President Trump, whose administration has been marked by economic-policy unpredictability.
(snip)
Asked how Mr. Biden would deal with business, his allies describe him as pragmatic. “Joe Biden is driven less by the politics of the moment and more by which policies he believes will be most effective in lifting up the middle class,” said Jared Bernstein, an economist who served under Mr. Biden when he was Barack Obama ’s vice president, and still advises him.
(snip)
For Mr. Biden to raise taxes, implement his most ambitious climate policies or add a public health-insurance option to Obamacare, Democrats must both retain control of the House of Representatives and win control of the Senate. That prospect doesn’t seem to have bothered the markets so far. Stocks have remained buoyant, in part on expectations that a unified Democratic government means more fiscal stimulus. Several private forecasters, including Moody’s Analytics and Goldman Sachs, estimate a Democratic White House and Congress would lead to faster economic growth than otherwise, though some see him adding more debt, as well.
In a survey of about 100 CEOs who attended a Yale School of Management conference in September, 77% said they planned to vote for Mr. Biden. Many also are voting with their wallets. Roger Altman, founder of investment bank Evercore Inc. and a top Democratic fundraiser on Wall Street said, “Raising money is never easy. But raising money for Biden by historical standards has been very easy.” The Biden campaign raised nearly $750 million in August and September, a record for any presidential candidate.
More..
https://www.wsj.com/articles/business-on-biden-not-so-bad-given-the-alternatives-11603645608 (subscription)