U.S. Presidential Wannabes' War On Business During Their Campaigns

By Joe Nichols | Apr 12, 2016 04:16 AM EDT

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During their run for the U.S. presidency, presidential candidates don't agree much on anything but, surprisingly, they agree on one thing: there are business practices that destroy American jobs and thus adversely affecting the middle class.

The situation was best described by Greg Valliere, Horizon Investments chief strategist. "I think that the anti-business climate is as toxic as I've ever seen," said Valliere. "It's something that has united both parties. How's that for a twist?" he added.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the America Action Forum, an economist and former campaign adviser to John McCain stated that the current presidential candidates, even the incumbent president, are getting sensitive to the cries of an angry electorate.

"People are saying, 'I'm not getting a raise,'" said Holtz-Eakin.

"Sanders is saying the system's rigged, and Trump is saying the same thing. If we were getting healthy wage increases, maybe that message wouldn't stick as well," Holtz-Eakin added.

Here are some of the latest stands of presidential hopefuls regarding large businesses in the country.

Trump on Amazon

Donald Trump has criticized Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO for buying the Washington Post so that his company could avoid paying taxes as well as induce the government to create regulations that would favor the company.

Sanders on General Electric

In an interview with the New York Daily News, Bernie Sanders said GE is "destroying the fabric of America" by transferring jobs to Mexico, effectively shutting down manufacturing facilities and reducing its tax bills.

Clinton on Oreos

Hillary Clinton, together with Trump and Sanders, has criticized Mondelez International for its plan to slash 600 jobs in its Chicago Oreo factory and transfer these positions to its operations in Mexico.

Cruz on TPP

Although Republicans support Trans-Pacific Partnership deals, Ted Cruz does not. He is not backing up the deal that Obama agreed with the 12 Pacific Rim countries. He said this deal will not favor the citizens of the country.

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