Friday, September 17, 2010

Geithner Needs 'Reality TV Show': Bernie Marcus, Co-founder of The Home Depot



This segment is just too juicy not to post. Marcus hits the ball out of the park in his analysis of the current state of small business, echoing many of my sentiments. Years of foolish government regulations at the federal, state and local levels have all but destroyed the job creation engine of small business. Marcus suggests that the American economy would be better off if Congress would go into recess for the next two years (something I definitely agree with). The small business loan bill will do little to help small business since they do not have problems with loan availability. Their problems are that the cost of regulation and the slow down in consumer spending is forcing them to trim their work forces. Marcus backs up his talk with real world examples from people he knows.

In a scathing criticism of government, Marcus suggested that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner should have a reality-TV show about small business to illustrate how out of touch government policies are with the private sector. Geithner would have to deal first hand with the state, federal and local regulations that stymie business, and then public officials can understand the challenges that small business people face.

He stated that George W. Bush started the spending, but “he’s a novice when it comes to this new guy. They write checks for $10 million the way I write checks for breakfast.” He added that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to hurt the country. “Eventually [Rep.] Barney Frank [D-Mass.] is going to tell people who are on unemployment ‘You can have a house for $250,000, don’t worry about it because we’re going to finance it anyway.’ This is where we’re going. And someone has to say ‘Stop, no more.’ These are two organizations that are basically not run business-like. They aren’t intelligent, they aren’t bright, they brought us to the brink of disaster.”

He also took aim at Republicans—"Some are crazy." —and Goldman Sachs and the rest of Wall Street, whose work in derivatives has also hurt the country.

4 comments:

  1. Very interesting commentary. The title this definitely caught my notice for sure. Perhaps the most interesting are your thoughts that until the government is run like a business, it is easy to be out of touch with small business owners. I think that is very pragmatic and insightful.

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  2. I love the idea of a small-business reality show starring the genius Mr. Geithner. I would let the kids miss school to watch if it was shown during the day!

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  3. It would be poetic justice to make all regulators have a reality show where they have to live with their own regulations. Would make for good viewing watching them squirm at their own stupidity and short-comings.

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  4. I never thought I would see the day where we would have such clueless people running the show. The damage being done won't be easy to undo. The country is in a state of frenzy over these bonehead in DC. Great video, keep them coming.

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