Hillary Rodham

I truly believe after she is elected, she will choose to be known as President Rodham. Just a suspicion, but it doesn’t really have anything to do with this discussion. I am only talking about her from an investing point of view. I am interested in a Commander In Chief’s ability to protect this country and she is very weak there. But, fortunately, we get the opportunity every four years to correct a major mistake in that area.

Going back to her writings in undergrad and grad school it is clear she is a socialist who believes in fascist methods to achieve political and economic goals. Before you launch into me about that, make sure you look up both of those words, socialist and fascist. Then we can have a discussion.

A great example of this is her attitude toward “big oil”. She wants to seize the profits of the oil companies because she believes they are “too high”. But, if you actually dig deeper into the profits of the oil companies you will find the actual profit margin is small. In fact, it is one of the smallest components in the price of a gallon of gas. The biggest component is federal and state taxes.

She sees the entire economic output of the US economy as a government asset. She believes it is up to government to decide what you “need” to be able to keep of what you produce. She sees no problem with throwing money at a problem, real or perceived, to buy votes. That is, as long as it is not HER money.

She sees government as the solution to every problem.

She wants to bring socialized medicine to the US. Yes, she calls it “single payer” and “universal” but the when you cross the line and say you will force people to buy insurance whether they want or need it and you will garnish wages if they don’t comply… well, you crossed a very dangerous line for a free republic indeed.

She continually engages in wealth and class envy. She wants to raise taxes on the evil rich because as she claims, “they can afford it.” She really needs to read Atlas Shrugged.

From an investor’s point of view, what would it like with President Rodham?

• Less favorable capital gains treatment
• Unfavorable inheritance treatment
• Higher marginal tax rates
• Higher social security and medicare taxes

An investor would have to be much more aggressive in tax avoidance in their investing decisions. That could mean less affordable housing and higher over-all interest rates. Capital would be harder for startups to raise and small businesses, which employ the majority of US workers, would have a much more difficult time surviving than they do now.

The plus side is, investors who are well positioned with ready access to cash reserves or low cost lines of credit will be able to pick up some really great deals in all equity markets because they will be depressed. No, I am not saying she will cause a Depression. I am saying the equity markets will contract much like they did when the tech bubble burst and the decline was exaggerated by the terrorist attack on 9/11.

However, sadly, I still think she is more of a conservative than John McCain.