I started writing a blog post about the different market scenarios that could occur after the election and I quickly realized that anything can happen. For example, a Clinton win could result in a relief rally or a drop in the market if the recent selling is due to something other than the election (inflation, higher rates, Brexit effect, Italian referendum, or something unknown to us right now). A Trump win could result in a drop because everyone says it will or a rally because no one expects it. Even worse than all this would be a 2000 Bush/Gore situation where the election is not officially decided on Tuesday night.
After going through all these scenarios, it hit me that it really doesn’t matter. The world is NOT coming to an end and life will go on no matter who becomes President. We will take our kids to school on Wednesday, go to work and get back to stressing about the usual bullshit in our lives. My honest opinion is this election has been one big excuse to complain. In other words, most people are unhappy in some area of their lives and they are just using this election as a reason to take out their frustrations rather than deal with their own problems. Sound too deep? Maybe, but it’s probably somewhat true.
When you really think about it, if the candidate you vote for doesn’t win, is it REALLY going to change your life? We’ve had both great and horrible Presidents throughout history but our country keeps on ticking and moving ahead. If our next President wants to propose something crazy, we have a Checks and Balances system that will most likely prevent it. Politicians haven’t got anything done for the past 10-20 years and people act like major change will happen in two months. If anything does get done, it will take some time to implement.
Like most Americans, I just want this election to be over and hope that any stirred up hatred will be mended quickly. I personally think that we are overstating the importance of this election and the advent of social media hasn’t helped. Remember when we logged into Facebook to look at pictures and we were happy to see if our exes gained weight? Those were fun times. Now we log on and get inundated with political stories and see friends fighting over the dumbest things. Hopefully, this ends soon and people can stop being over-dramatic and over-sensitive about every little comment.
In conclusion, remember that this country is great and just like in sports: No One Is Bigger Than The Game. Baseball went on without Babe Ruth, golf has flourished without Tiger Woods and our country will continue to move forward no matter who gets elected. If you truly don’t believe that, then go ahead and move out of the country. Our beautiful land doesn’t need people who can’t be supportive and be true patriots through thick and thin. Even if my preferred candidate doesn’t win, I will support our new President 100% and pray for their success in moving our country forward. I hope more people can adopt this patriotic stance because at the end of the day, it’s the right thing to do. Thank you for reading and God Bless!
I can be reached at: jfahmy@zorcapital.com