A Majority of Wall Street Bankers Polled Favor Obama’s Economic Plan

Barack Obama and Wall Street

 

Barack Obama and Wall StreetA hardline stance against any and all tax increases is in vogue with the current crop of GOP politicians in Washington. Many Republicans have signed the infamous No-Tax Pledge, a brainchild of Grover Norquist.

President Obama, meanwhile, has offered proposals which include a balance of spending increases and increased tax rates for the rich. A recent survey, via Fortune, shows that many investors on Wall Street (or ‘job creators’, as they are warmly referred to by the GOP) agree with Obama’s strategy for economic prosperity:

A clear majority of analysts and portfolio managers in a new poll say Washington should get behind a package that mixes tax hikes with spending cuts in order to stem the tide of red ink.

Investors are in even stronger agreement about the need to act. Seven in ten say such a deal would improve the short-term outlook for the U.S., and nine in ten see it goosing both the long-term outlook and global confidence in our economy.

The survey — conducted by the global advisory firm FTI Consulting and released exclusively to Fortune — reveals an investor class at odds with a Republican party that has come to view any tax increases as anathema.

“They tend to be as a population more fiscally conservative than the general public, but they’re not as fiscally conservative as the most conservative elements of the Republican party,” said Brent McGoldrick, who coordinated the poll. “You see the pragmatism of investors coming through here.”

In fact, on this issue at least, the 56% who favor a mixed approach are largely aligned with President Obama. Last spring, he embraced the goals of his deficit commission, which laid out a path to cutting $4 trillion over ten years by cutting three dollars of spending for every dollar in new tax revenue raised. And he tried to negotiate a breakthrough deal over the summer, but talks with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) fell apart over the tax piece.

Will the Republicans in Congress take advice from their beloved job creators? We shall see.