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‘Financial suicide… that also has to come into the equation, and that’s where I kind of agree with the president… you cannot kill the economy… we don’t have enough money to fix it.’
That’s Barry Sternlicht, founder of Starwood Capital, in a CNBC interview backing up President Trump’s stated desire to get the U.S. economy back to work soon.
Trump said in a news conference a day earlier that he wants to get back to business as soon as possible, which, to him, means a matter of weeks, not months. He came under fire when he said the cost of shutting down the economy might not be worth it.
“We can’t have the cure be worse than the problem,” Trump said, reportedly echoing a Fox News personality’s words and policy preferences.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick took it up a notch when he followed Trump’s update by implying plenty of seniors would be willing to sacrifice their lives to preserve the economy for their grandchildren.
“No one reached out to me and said, as a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?” said the Texan, who turns 70 next month. “And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in.”
For Sternlicht, who oversees some $60 billion, he said he remains just as bullish as he was during an ill-timed CNBC appearance earlier this month, when he said he was “buying opportunities” in the stock market ahead of what he expected to be a “V-shaped” bounce.
The next trading day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +11.37% dropped by almost 3,000 points in the worst retreat since “Black Monday” more than three decades ago.
To be fair, Sternlicht at the time said it could get worse before getting better. And it sure did.
On Tuesday, however, the market was showing signs of that “V-shaped” bounce, with blue chips up closing up more than 2,100 points amid hopes for a congressional rescue package. The Nasdaq COMP, +8.12% and S&P SPX, +9.38% also ended the day firmly higher.
Watch Sternlicht’s interview:
