On China and Politics with Dan David
Published July 3, 2018
Global Chief Investment Officer
On last Friday’s podcast we had a conversation with Dan David, Co-founder of GeoInvesting, who was profiled in the documentary China Hustle for his work uncovering Chinese frauds that were listed on U.S. stock exchanges.
David says his research led to 12 companies being kicked off U.S. exchanges, and the frustration that stemmed from his congressman’s lack of response in putting more investor protections in place led to David’s running for Congress in the 4th district of Pennsylvania and Montgomery County.
Professor Siegel has discussed many times on our podcast why 2018 could be a volatile year for equities. This belief stemmed from two primary risks: the Fed’s interest rate hiking cycle and four hikes that he saw as providing a more challenging environment for equities, but also political uncertainty surrounding the midterm elections.
With that political risk for the market in mind, hearing the battleground issues for Montgomery County was a good preview of some of the stories we will be hearing more of during the second half of the year.
David describes Montgomery County as a very “purple” county—a mix of 14% independents but that leans Democratic with a six-point voter advantage. David is clearly attempting to appeal to this large swath of independent voters. Issues we touched on during the podcast included:
- Why David believes more action needs to be taken in both trade negotiations with China and investor protections from Chinese frauds that he believes are still ongoing
- Concerns surrounding the opioid crisis and its impact on the labor force (an issue that was also discussed in last week’s podcast with Jeff Korzenik), but also why David supports the medicinal benefits of cannabis in lieu of opioids for the treatment of pain
- The current state of the economy and global financial markets, and why he thinks politics are becoming more global and not just local issues
This was an interesting discussion on the state of politics and one county’s election. Please listen below to our full conversation with Dan David.
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About the contributor
Global Chief Investment Officer
Jeremy Schwartz has served as Global Chief Investment Officer since November 2021 and leads WisdomTree’s investment strategy team in the construction of WisdomTree’s equity Indexes, quantitative active strategies and multi-asset Model Portfolios. Jeremy joined WisdomTree in May 2005 as a Senior Analyst, adding Deputy Director of Research to his responsibilities in February 2007. He served as Director of Research from October 2008 to October 2018 and as Global Head of Research from November 2018 to November 2021. Before joining WisdomTree, he was a head research assistant for Professor Jeremy Siegel and, in 2022, became his co-author on the sixth edition of the book Stocks for the Long Run. Jeremy is also co-author of the Financial Analysts Journal paper “What Happened to the Original Stocks in the S&P 500?” He received his B.S. in economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and hosts the Behind the Markets podcast. Jeremy is a member of the CFA Society of Philadelphia.