A Bear's Lament

There are two issues still confronting the stock market. The first is the outcome of the U.S. election. More is at stake than just “democracy” if you are an investor. There is no doubt that Kamala Harris has rolled out a big bag of candy for the proletariat — plans to raise tax cred­its substantially for fam­il­ies with chil­dren will surely resonate with lower-­in­come house­holds. So will pro­pos­als to boost hous­ing con­struc­tion, though that is smoke and mirrors because from a public policy perspective, supply is hitched to state and local governments. Besides the fact that a pro­posed $25k in down payment sup­port for first-time homebuy­ers would merely be self-defeating by push­ing up prop­erty prices before any new sup­ply even arrives.