Ex-NYSE CEO: Markets saying Trump reelection would lead to ‘economic success’ for middle class
The middle class saw an 'incredible leap in their income during the president’s first three years,' Dick Grasso said
Former New York Stock Exchange Chairman Dick Grasso told “Mornings with Maria” on Election Day that 401(k)s and IRAs “have never done better than under Donald Trump.”
He also predicted that Trump would declare victory in the 2020 election, arguing that the markets are saying he will get reelected.
Grasso then explained what he believes the markets are telling Americans.
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“I think what markets are telling you is that Americans sat around the kitchen table and did a very simple analysis: Do we want an economy going forward, similar to the ‘09 to ‘16 economy, which never reached a 3% GDP [gross domestic product], produced these so-called shovel-ready jobs, which never appeared and all we ended up with is [collapsed solar company] Solyndra, a lot of people losing money.”
“Or do we want a continuation of the economy created by Donald Trump in the years ‘17 through ‘19 where GDP was escalating to almost a 6% level and we had the fastest recovery in the history of America in terms of coming out of a recession,” he continued.
The U.S. economy grew at a record-shattering pace in the third quarter as businesses reopened from the coronavirus shutdown.
GDP, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, surged by 33.1% on an annualized basis in the three-month period from July through September, the Commerce Department said in its first reading of the data Thursday. The previous post-World War II record was a 16.7% increase in 1950.
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Grasso told host Maria Bartiromo that he thinks the answer with respect to who is going to win the election is simple.
“I’m telling you that these markets, despite what Wall Street titans are saying, despite what the mega tech billionaires are saying, these markets are saying it’s four more years of Donald Trump, growth and particularly economic success for the middle class who saw an incredible leap in their income during the president’s first three years,” Grasso said.
Bartiromo then pointed to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s plans to reverse President Trump’s tax cuts.
Biden plans to repeal changes made to individual income tax rates for the wealthy (individuals with incomes over $400,000) under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which means the top rate would revert back to 39.6 percent, from 37 percent.
Another big change Biden wants to make is to tax capital gains at the same rate as ordinary income for households earning more than $1 million.
Currently, short-term capital gains are taxed at the same rates as income, but long-term gains are taxed at lower rates. The top long-term rate is 23.8 percent.
Bartiromo asked Grasso on Tuesday, “If you were to see a Biden win and a Senate win and it becomes clear that he can get some of his ideas through including raising capital gains taxes to 44% what kind of impact does that have on markets?”
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“It’s not just an impact on markets because remember when you penalize capital investment when you penalize risk-taking, what you’re doing is what happened over the course of the last 20 years,” Grasso responded, noting that capital and manufacturing “went offshore.”
He then said, “I keep hearing this ‘We’re not going to tax anyone earning less than $400,000,’ well when you kill the oil and gas business, for those in America who are not driving $100,000 dollar electric vehicles, paying $6 at the pump is a terrible tax penalty and that hits exactly that part of America that we want to raise up.”
“You raise them up by incentivizing capital formation, manufacturing jobs here in America and creating wealth at the middle and lower levels, not just for the broad base,” Grasso continued.
He went on to point out what President Trump “has done for the Black and minority communities.”
“He has been their president, he has raised the levels of employment to records never seen before in our country,” Grasso said. “He’s invested in the minority and the inner city communities and he has produced college reform for the Black and Hispanic community, the likes of which they’ve never seen.”
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FOX Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.