NBA owner says a lesson from COVID-19 pandemic is ‘it’s time for trickle-up economics’
The number of unemployed people has skyrocketed because of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.
The Washington Post reported 22 million people have filed for unemployment benefits and the economy has taken a hit because of COVID-19.
When the NBA shut down last month, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban announced the team would be paying hourly workers during the league’s hiatus. Days later, he said any government bailout should “attack income inequality.”
Cuban, an entrepreneur whose net worth is more than $4 billion, was on “The Daily Show” and talked more about helping hourly workers. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced an advisory group for reopening the U.S. economy that includes Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Apple CEO Tim Cook, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Cuban.
While talking with Trevor Noah on “The Daily Show,” Cuban mentioned the return of the NBA.
“The goal hopefully is, once the science is in place, be able to play where ever we can play because people need sports,” Cuban said. “We want something to cheer for, we want something to get excited about. I think we’ll get out there and play without fans, play to the TV cameras.”
Cuban then talked about the people who work in the sports arenas and how there needs to be a focus on making sure they earn more money.
“In terms of the bigger ecosystem, of course, we’re going to have to keep on taking care of our employees,” Cuban said. “In the past, a lot of people would talk about trickle-down economics. I think one of the lessons we’re gonna learn from all this is that it’s time for trickle-up economics.
“We’re only as strong as the base layer of all our employees, all those people who struggle and get paid hour by hour and don’t know how many hours they’re gonna get. If we don’t take care of them, there is no economy, and we’re learning that very quickly right now.”
Noah asked about how government has helped big businesses and what Cuban would tell President Trump about helping hourly workers.
“The things that I’ve recommended initially is to try to push and reward companies that offer equity in their company to their employees, because the only way that you can get away from living paycheck to paycheck is by having an asset that can appreciate, whether it’s a home, whether it’s stock in your company, whatever it may be,” Cuban said.
“Secondly, we’re going to have to raise the minimum wage, federally. Because right now we’re coming to the realization, again, that we’ve got to have a strong foundation of people and a strong federal minimum wage is one of the first ways that we can do that.”
On Twitter, Cuban said he was in favor of a federal jobs program and used the hashtag #TrickleupEconomics.
Here is Cuban’s appearance on “The Daily Show.”
