(Newsweek) Billionaire investor Leon Cooperman is predicting a significant drop in the U.S. financial market should Elizabeth Warren—or Bernie Sanders—win the 2020 presidential election.
Appearing on the CNBC show Squawk Box Wednesday, the Bronx-born chairman and CEO of Omega Advisors offered his thoughts on what a potential victory from the Massachusetts senator would do to the country's economy.
"If Elizabeth Warren is elected president, in my opinion, the market drops 25%," Cooperman said. "Bernie Sanders, same thing."
Last month, the billionaire hedge fund manager shared similar sentiments at a Delivering Alpha conference. "They won't open the stock market if Elizabeth Warren is the next president," he quipped.
Earlier this year, Warren—whose campaign places a high emphasis on economic equality—proposed a tax plan she says will raise roughly $2.75 trillion from thousands of families across America, The Washington Post reported.
Her plan, named "The Ultra-Millionaire Tax," calls for a 2 percent tax on every dollar a household has above $50 million. Households with more than $1 billion will be taxed at 3 percent.
"My question is not why do Bernie and I support a wealth tax. It's why is it does everyone else on this stage think it is more important to protect billionaires than it is to invest in an entire generation of Americans," Warren asked during Tuesday's Democratic debate. She later took heat from two of her opponents, former Vice President Joe Biden and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, for her statement criticizing the other candidates onstage.
The Massachusetts lawmaker now leads Biden by double digits, according to the latest George Washington University polling.
"I believe in a progressive income tax structure. I believe rich people should pay more—I have no problem with that. This wealth tax is baloney," Cooperman said on Squawk Box. He later added: "Education and faster economic growth is the answer. At the end of the day, capitalism is what distinguishes America."
Earlier this month, Forbes reported that Cooperman has a net worth of $3.2 billion. He received an MBA from Columbia University in 1967 and created the Omega Advisors hedge fund in 1991. The fund shut down in 2018.
"You don't make the poor people rich by making rich people poor," he said Wednesday. "The Democratic Party seems to be leaning towards the left on policies, which is very harmful for the economy. I don't like the shift to the left."
