Pick your poison: Hedge fund billionaire Leon Cooperman says the stock market could plunge 25% under either a Warren or Sanders presidency
- Hedge fund billionaire Leon Cooperman told CNBC on Wednesday that the stock market could tumble as much as 25% if either Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders wins the 2020 presidential election.
- The founder of Omega Advisors cited proposals from both candidates designed to tax wealthy individuals and billionaires.
- "You don't make poor people rich by making rich people poor," Cooperman said.
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Billionaire hedge fund manager Leon Cooperman is worried a presidential-election victory for either Elizabeth Warren or rival Bernie Sanders could send the stock market tumbling into a full-fledged bear market.
"If Elizabeth Warren is elected president, in my opinion, the market drops 25%," Cooperman said on CNBC Wednesday. "Bernie Sanders, same thing."
The famous founder of Omega Advisors singled out Warren and Sanders' proposal for taxing wealth individuals and billionaires. Citing the late Winston Churchill, Cooperman argued that "you don't make poor people rich by making rich people poor."
"I believe in a progressive income tax structure, I believe rich people should pay more, I have no problem with that. This wealth tax is baloney," Cooperman said. "What is their problem with billionaires?"
Both candidates have criticized billionaires in the past and put forth policies plans for a wealth tax to raise funds for a variety of new government programs.
Warren's proposal includes a 2% tax on families with a net worth between $50 million and $1 billion, and a 3% tax on households worth north of $3 billion. Sanders released a plan with a scaling tax reaching as high as 8% for people worth more than $10 billion.
Cooperman also said the decade-long bull market has "one more leg left" and could rise 10% up over the next six months.