Why Elizabeth Warren Still Calls Herself a Capitalist

(Bloomberg) -- On "What'd You Miss This Week", Joe Weisenthal sat down with Democratic U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren for a wide-ranging interview about her policy plan. The senior Senator from Massachusetts, who is exploring a White House bid, has already attracted criticism for her wealth tax proposal. Howard Schultz, the former Starkbucks CEO, who is openly weighing an independent presidential run, called it "a ridiculous plan" in an interview.

Senator Warren defended her policy, which would levy a 2 percent annual tax on assets over $50 million and a 3 percent tax on those above $1 billion, and argued it would be popular among voters. "I go out and talk about this with people across this country, and boy, they get it," Warren said. "They get how the rules are rigged right now to help the wealthy and the well connected, and they are ready for change." The White House hopeful did not embrace the moniker of socialist though, and said she supports "capitalism with serious rules." "Encouraging companies to build their business models on cheating people — that’s not capitalism," she said.

Henry Fernandez, the MSCI Chairman and CEO, joined Scarlet Fu and Caroline Hyde for an exclusive interview. Fernandez, who has been critical in the past of excessive optimism surrounding the trade negotiations between the U.S. and China, found a bright spot. Global trade tensions "are not yet affecting the flow of capital," Fernandez said. "We're very optimistic that the opening [in China] will continue," the former Morgan Stanley banker, who founded MSCI twenty years ago, said. "That's what we see on the ground."

The MSCI chairman also discussed the ongoing crisis in Venezuela and said the country is probably "decades away" from gaining inclusion in their benchmark emerging market stock index. "As a Latino, I would love to see them come to the EM Index, but they have a long way to go," Fernandez said. "The economy is in an incredibly pitiful state. A huge amount of reconstruction would have to take place."

Eswar Prasad, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution, came on to discuss the outcome of this week's trade talks in Washington. Prasad, who was formerly the head of China Division at the IMF, said there were potential downsides. On issues such as market access and intellectual property rights, "the hardliners in the Trump administration don’t quite buy those promises," from the Chinese, he said. “The statement certainly signals progress, but at best limited progress on the core long-term structural issues that separate the two sides,” said Prasad.

--With assistance from Doni Holloway.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tim Andreacci at tandreacci@bloomberg.net

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