Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel appeared on CNBC on Wednesday morning and said that a Biden presidency and split Congress will be beneficial for the U.S. economy.
Speaking with CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla, Siegel predicted that former Vice President and Penn Presidential Professor of Practice Joe Biden will be the winner of the presidential race, which currently hangs in the balance. Siegel added that he believes Biden’s ability to negotiate and his strengths as a bipartisan leader will help lead the U.S. economy out of the COVID-19 recession, he added.
Siegel, the Russell E. Palmer Professor of Finance at the Wharton School, has taught several courses on economics at Penn and frequently appears on network television as an expert on economics and financial systems.
“President-elect Biden will work better with Senator [Mitch] McConnell than McConnell did with Trump,” Siegel said on CNBC.
Siegel said he felt confident that a new COVID-19 stimulus package would be inevitable if Biden is elected president.
“We’re definitely getting a stimulus packet,” he said. “We’re going to get an infrastructure packet. Biden is going to go over and talk to Republicans and they’re going to do it.”
Under a split Congress with a Republican Senate and Democratic House of Representatives and Democratic President Biden, Siegel said that the economy will thrive. The Republican Senate can block “radical tax plans” coming from the House, and Biden would have to work with the opposing party, he said.
Historically, the economy has been healthier when Congress is “gridlocked,” Siegel said. With these conditions, the Democrats will have to compromise, he said.
“Biden is the man to compromise," Siegel added.
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