In the aftermath of the January 6 attack, there were some prominent billionaires who distanced themselves from Donald Trump, but that period has apparently come to an end. As Politico reported this week, many “big-dollar donors at banks, hedge funds and other financial firms” have re-embraced the presumptive Republican nominee, thanks in large part to his plans to cut taxes and weaken safeguards for the financial sector.
The article contained this memorable quote:
Before we consider the second half of that quote, it’s worth taking a moment to consider the oddity of the idea that Democrats represent a “threat to capitalism.”
For those of us vaguely familiar with the reality, capitalism has done exceptionally well lately under democratic governments. In fact, there have been six presidents in the last 35 years: three Democrats and three Republicans. In each of the Republican administrations there was a recession. In each of the Democratic administrations, there were much stronger economies: more robust job growth, higher GDP and healthier stock market returns. It’s a track record that seems highly relevant to those who vote with economic considerations in mind.
But it is also worth reflecting on those who are willing to cast aside “Trump’s threat to democracy.”
I’ve had some disagreements with Anthony Scaramuccia hedge fund executive who briefly served as Trump’s White House communications director in 2017, but his response to Politico this week was spot on.
“You need a democracy to have effective capitalism,” Scaramucci said. “If you don’t do that, you get cronyism. You get oligarchy. You get crony capitalism. You get an arbitrary and capricious administration of the law, which reduces the propensity of people to invest in your country.”
It’s an important point. I realize there will be some — on Wall Street and beyond — who look at the 2024 presidential race and say, in effect, “Democracy is all well and good, but I’m more concerned about my wallet.”
That calculation is misleading, partly because Trump is unlikely to deliver on the economic utopia he promises – he has already failed once – and partly because moving away from democracy is inherently bad for the economy.
Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post had a great column about this last month, explaining: “Those who want to trade democracy for economic gain will get neither.”
“American business giants may feel they are trading democracy for financial gain,” Rampell concluded. “In reality, they’re both gambling.”
Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times came to a similar conclusion in his latest column, adding: “The truth is that regimes of corrupt, personalist rule – in which authoritarians use the state to reward friends, punish enemies and secure their fortunes – much less prosperous than the alternative.”
Even if greed were the only motivating factor for these “high-dollar thieves at banks, hedge funds and other financial firms,” the sooner they downplay the importance of democracy, the more they endanger their own bottom lines.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
