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Election 08: Who is better for investors?

Posted May 6, 2008

“Whomever wins the Democratic nomination is pretty likely to be our next President. So, as investors - whether Democrat or Republican - which of the two candidates should we be rooting for?” — Martin Hutchinson

by Martin Hutchinson

Baltimore — (TFN): With contests in both Indiana and North Carolina, today (Tuesday) probably marks the last of the crucial Democratic presidential primary election contests between senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

Unless the cynical premise of Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” is realized, and the Democrat presidential wingding continues to move forward at an increasingly vitriolic level through that party’s national convention in Denver in late August, whomever wins the Democratic nomination is pretty likely to be our next President. So, as investors - whether Democrat or Republican - which of the two candidates should we be rooting for?

Election 08: The case for Clinton

Our initial reaction would probably be that this question looks like a no-brainer. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose from 427 to 1,342 during the eight-year administration of Hillary Clinton’s husband, giving investors an average annual total return of 17.4% - the highest of any presidency since World War II.

That huge market run-up - and the hefty yearly returns - were pretty much justified. President Bill Clinton was committed to a balanced federal budget, raised taxes only once, and that in a moderate fashion, reformed welfare and signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

All of those policies were immensely beneficial to the U.S. economy - and to investors - as, in the short term, were the monetary expansion policies of the Alan Greenspan-led U.S. Federal Reserve (although we may well be paying the long-term price for that now). Read on to learn more.

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Posted by Martin Hutchinson · Filed Under Politics 

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