Temporary rule change: "what happens to stocks if [candidate/party] gets elected" posts are no longer allowed, at least until the end of this election cycle.
This one is probably long coming but these posts add absolutely nothing to the investment discussion. They're simply bait for people to express their political views under the veil of markets. Without fail every time we have one of these threads someone gets banned for political attacks and the whole thing gets shut down.
Obviously policy impacts markets, and we have to be appreciative of people's differing (civil and thoughtful)views on policy so topics concerning specific policy initiatives will still be allowed but they must be clearly and obviously tied to investing. The policy must also be flushed out and have a reasonable chance of becoming law. This means "what happens to markets if we get universal Healthcare" or "what would a wealth tax do" isn't acceptable. You would need to have something more specific such as "what is the risk to insurance stocks under proposed law XYZ". Basically all of this comes down to effort: if the question looks like a low effort fishing expedition for a political argument it'll be taken as such. If OP displays a specific understanding of the topic and displays effort to directly relate to investing then that should absolutely be allowed.
Under these guidelines policy proposals from candidates are going to come under extra scrutiny. In the financial world we are concerned with probabilities and within that context proposals that are unlikely to ever make it beyond campaign speeches are going to be pretty heavily restricted. What I mean by that is if Sanders or Warren mention a wealth tax "what happens if we get a wealth tax" isn't a thread that needs to happen here. I think we're all willing to be flexible on topics here but the further away something is from reality the less it needs to be a topic here.
Here's an example: Last month the Secure Act made it's way in to a budget bill. This is the largest change to retirement plan rules since the pension protection act of 06. There were two threads on this topic with aggregate upvotes of less than 10. Any given low effort question concerning a current candidate makes it to the front page in minutes. I'll be honest, I feel like we as mods have not done a good job when real world policy that impacts everyone is not a hot topic here but hypothesizing how legislation that doesn't exist is. So with that context in mind we're going to be taking the aforementioned steps to remove some of the threads that are thinly veiled attempts to talk general politics.
That said, one further clarification: this does not extend to any sort of research, white papers, etc concerning said policy and markets. Goldman publishes their thoughts on how universal health care would impact different sectors? Absolutely post it up. A study of equity performance under new taxation in other countries? Go for it. You want to ask what happens to stocks if the US has a communist revolution? Kindly do so in r/politics.
the rules on the sidebar will be adjusted to reflect this shortly. Feel free to provide feedback on specifics here, we're pretty set on the general direction but always open to subscriber feedback.
Also one last note: we need to expand the mod team, we're all busy and there's a consistently increasing amount of rule breaking behavior. In the past we've done so organically by selecting regulars with good history of contributing to be mods. That will probably hold true going forward as well - IMO appointing mods that aren't longstanding contributors is how you end up with subs like r/economics. So if you're interested throw your name in the hat, I can't promise anything and if we don't recognize your username it's highly unlikely you'd be selected but I'd like to cast a line and see what hits.
Thanks.
Posted Jan 22, 2020, 2:08 PM UTC
Time to start crafting my “What happens to Stocks if X Party has control over the House and Senate” Threads
"What happens to stonks if the majority of people check a specific box on a specific piece of paper on a specific date"
Hard to say since majority of people don't necessarily determine US President. Electoral College does.
Whoa whoa whoa there buddy, I didn't say what happens if a president is elected, I said a specific box on a specific piece of paper on a specific date.
:-D
Could be your kids voting for ice cream flavors by secret ballot
And the Electoral College almost always votes the way their constituents in their states voted.
Sure. But when you add it all up it doesn't necessarily match the popular vote. Isn't Jerrymandering a thing too or is that just for representatives?
I thought it was hard to say because stonks.
There it is 😁. Politics find a way.
A majority of people in Florida
Easy, everyone knows stonks only go up.
[deleted]
Hello guys what happens to stocks if Sans from Undertale takes over America and sets a communist regime😳😳😳
U.S. Steel for President! \m/