Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa Dec/Jan 2016/17 | Page 15

The Trump Factor
Fears & Trump fallacies Impacts World Markets
BY NEALE PETERSEN

D

onald Trump is the new President elect
of the United States against all the
odds. Rodney Johnson senior editor of
Economy and Markets says, ‘According to the
mainstream media, anyone who voted for Donald
Trump is a hate-filled bigot who objectifies
women, can’t stand immigrants, denies global
warming, has no education, and earns less today
than he did in 1999.’
He says, ‘It seems that the vote really wasn’t
for the man. It was for the possibility that his
candidacy represents, and the chance to end
some policies that President Clinton would have
continued.’ In a very real sense, many voted for
Trump in spite of who he is. He was the candidate
who had zero experience, did not really put forth
a policy statement of any kind, says reprehensible
things, and brags about declaring bankruptcy.
Johnson goes onto say, ‘A Clinton administration
would as illustrated by her policies, continued
down the path we’ve been on since her husband’s
Bill time in office. More government intervention,
more spending on programs that are insolvent,
and new programs such, as free tuition that

addresses symptoms, not causes. 
It appears that
her team believed that elected officials knew more,
and knew better, than those who are governed,
hence the reason for such extensive regulation and
greater government programs.’

In the hours after Donald Trump was confirmed
as the next President of the United States, there
was been a sharp increase in the number of
Americans enquiring about alternative residence
and citizenship programs. Recent unsettling
world events such as the attempted Turkish coup,
French terror attacks, Brexit and now the Trump
presidency are having a significant impact on the
interest by wealthy individuals and families in
alternative residence and citizenship.
Also markets started responding. Right
after Trump was declared the winner, Harry
Dent, US economist warned that rising interest
rates are signaling that central bank policies of
Quantitative Easing (QE) and negative rates are
failing. He went on to say that 10-year Treasury
bond rates could spike as high as 3.1% in early
2017 (rates that already surpassed his near-term
target of 2.25%).