The financial community is beginning to offer views about next year's potential presidential candidates.
"The early voting is in, and Wall Street loves what it sees and hears from its anointed 2016 front-runners — Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Jeb Bush (with Chris Christie as a fallback)," Charles Gasparino, senior correspondent for Fox Business Network, writes in the
New York Post.
"The big-bank honchos feel they're sitting pretty because, as one private-equity exec put it, 'We're in a no-lose situation' if the above are the real field. In fact, to the extent that Wall Street loves these three, they're in trouble with the rest of the country. . . . For all their philosophical differences, both parties' front-runners are tied tight to the Wall Street establishment."
Indeed, this could be bad news for the economy as a whole, Gasparino argues.
"Whenever Wall Street sees a 'no-lose situation,' the rest of America is looking at a no-win one," he says.
This is "a bright red warning sign for voters in both parties who believe much of the economy needs fundamental change — and fast," Gasparino adds.
"I'm told the bank honchos believe neither Clinton nor Bush nor Christie has the stomach for a fundamental restructuring of banks that would make them smaller — and leave more room for banks to lend to small businesses, because they'd have to hold less in capital as a cushion against '08-style losses."
Meanwhile,
Steve Forbes, publisher and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media, predicts on CNBC that a contest between former Secretary of State Clinton and former Florida Gov. Bush would likely produce Bush as a winner.
"I think the country is in a mood" for change, Forbes states. But Bush isn't a sure thing to win the GOP nomination, of course. "There's keen interest in [Wisconsin Gov.] Scott Walker and other candidates," Forbes notes.
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