Medicare For All Plan Confirms Elizabeth Warren as Wall Street Boogeyman

From the failed Clinton health plan of 1993 to the partial passage of Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act in 2010, universal health care has long been a progressive pipe dream. But now, its latest iteration, commonly called Medicare for All, is quickly gaining traction—pushed most prominently by Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren. A recent funding plan released by the Warren campaign makes one thing crystal clear: for big business, Wall Street, and billionaires—and potentially the upper-middle class, some economists argue—the prospect of Medicare for All is grim.

According to the campaign, Warren’s Medicare for All plan would cost $20.5 trillion—more than twice the cost of all of her other proposed policies combined. The program would be largely paid for by a few different sources including increased taxes on employers and financial firms, but most radical is Warren’s direct targeting of the richest Americans.

Warren’s wealth tax would impose a 2% tax on households with net worths above $50 million and a 6% rate on fortunes over $1 billion annually. The proposed policy has already been met with criticism from Wall Street financiers such as JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and the second-wealthiest man in the world Bill Gates. Warren’s plan “vilifies successful people,” Dimon told CNBC’s Wilfred Frost. American billionaire investor Leon Cooperman has publicly decried the tax, literally coming to tears in a television interview, predicting a 25% decrease in market value should Warren be successful in her bid for the presidency.

The wealth and capital-gains taxes, in conjunction with Warren’s vow to stop some of the “most lucrative” private equity practices and to break up big banks and major tech companies, have made Warren something of a Wall Street boogeyman, a status that Warren has embraced enthusiastically.

However, several economists have spoken out against the proposal for its feasibility—arguing that even if it was implemented, the richest Americans would only invest in alternative assets, or find loopholes around the tax altogether.

Moreover, the political hurdles to a wealth tax seem high. A wealth tax bill put forth by a President Warren would likely face unified Republican opposition, and could even attract defectors from centrist Democrats. And court challenges on the constitutionality of a wealth tax would be all but assured. Perhaps that’s why billionaire Michael Novogratz is not yet in panic mode. “Ninety-seven percent of the people I know in my world are really, really fearful of her,” Novogratz told Bloomberg Magazine. “It’s a little carried away.”

One Surprising Loser From Trump’s Cuba Sanctions: A Canadian Mining Company

By Kyle Castellanos

In line with Donald Trump’s hawkish stance against the regime in Venezuela, the United States has placed more stringent sanctions on Cuba in response to their continued relations with Venezuela. Trump’s travel ban on Cuba, specifically the restrictions on cruise line transport to the island, has significantly impacted the tourism industry’s revenue. Without American tourism, the Cuban economy has taken a hit, with repercussions for firms operating in the country. 

Cuba has been mining in Moa, a municipality in the Holguín province, in a joint venture with Sherritt International, a Canadian company. Together, the two have been working on refining nickel through open-pit mining. In addition to cooperation in the mining venture, Sherritt provides electricity and fossil fuels for the island.

Diminished tourism revenue, paired with heavy oil sanctions from the United States, has put Cuban collaborations with Sherritt at a standstill. As a result of the fuel shortage, Cuba has resorted to sending fewer mining trucks to the Moa mining operation, slowing down production in the process. Additionally, the inability to repay loans has placed leadership at Sherritt International, Cuba’s largest private foreign investor, on alert. Last week David Pathe, Sherritt’s chief executive, said, “There is potential for further sanction increases in the months ahead and that does put further difficulty on our ability to forecast the timing of Cuban receivables, receipt of cash on Cuban receivables from our Cuban partners in the oil and power business.”

After only just recently reporting that the country did not obtain enough oil for normal operations last month, Cuba stands to lose another large energy contributor if they do not figure out a way to successfully pay off the debt to Sherritt International. It is unclear whether the current U.S. sanctions on Cuba will ultimately lead to the fall of the Communist regime, but they have clear fiscal ramifications. Only one thing is certain: failing to balance its accounts with Sherritt International will spell further economic hardships for an already-shaken Cuba.