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Mark Cuban
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Back in May, with the economy reeling from the coronavirus lockdown, Mark Cuban said it was time for the government to step in with “trickle-up economics” to save small businesses. The Paycheck Protection Program, he said in a tweet at the time, just wasn’t cutting it.
He floated the idea that a stimulus program should be put in place in which 128 million households get a $1,000 check every two weeks for the next two months, along with the rule that it must be spent within 10 days. Stashing it away won’t help, he explained.
His $500-billion plan didn’t happen, of course, but four months later, amid stalled talks for the next stimulus package in Congress, Cuban says it’s not too late to make it right. “We need it as much now as we did back then,” the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks told CNBC this week.
With millions unemployed and thousands of businesses shuttered permanently, he said that there are “two economies” right now: One for those who can stay afloat and one for those who can’t. “Those without [help] are struggling badly,” Cuban added. “We need to get them help.”
He told CNBC that everybody in America should get the $1,000 in his “use it or lose it” plan to revive the economy and get the people back on their feet. “I don’t care what they spend it on,” Cuban explained to KNX 1070 News Radio in May. “It could be candy, it could be rent, it could be their mortgage, it could be anything they deem necessary or that they want.”
Meanwhile, uncertainly continues to hang over Wall Street and the economy as frustration about Congress’ refusal so far to deliver more aid to the struggling economy continues to mount. Stocks came under heavy pressure earlier this week, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.09%, at last check, was managing a triple-digit rebound in Thursday’s session.
