Continuing his epic Fox Business streak after sounding off on what DA Alvin Bragg’s case against former President Donald Trump would do to New York City and American business, “Mr. Wonderful,” billionaire investor and entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary sounded off on California Governor Gavin Newson, saying that he has been bad manager of the formerly Golden State.
That came when O’Leary appeared, on Monday, June 17, on Fox Business’s “The Big Money Show” and explained what it is about the business and government environment in California that makes it so hard fo businesses in the state to succeed, pointing to what he called a “triple whammy” of key issues brought about by Gavin Newsom’s bad governance as being to blame.
Beginning, he dropped the term and then explained the first two big issues that are harming the businesses in the state, which is that the COVID-19 pandemic response changed dining preferences and inflation is shredding profit margins. He said, “It’s a triple whammy. You have people’s preferences and how they dine after the pandemic has changed dramatically. They don’t go out as much… Then you have inflation itself.”
Continuing, he got to what Newsom has really done wrong, saying that policy mistakes, particularly raising the minimum wage, are to blame. He said, “But also you’ve got policy mistakes. I’m here in California shooting season 16 of ‘Shark Tank.’ The casual dining sector in this state has been decimated by a policy mistake on minimum wage. They’re shutting down left and right.”
As background, it was nearly three months ago that California passed a law mandating a $20 minimum wage for workers at restaurants in the state that have 60 or more locations. As always, it was framed as a way of helping out the poor, and, similarly typically, it led to problems in the state, with people blaming it for restaurant closures and layoffs.
In any case, Mr. Wonderful then used that to claim that Newsom is using terrible policies to turn California, which used to be the best state in the union, into an American version of Venezuela, a failed socialist state. He said, “Gavin Newsom made a huge mistake. I think he knows that now, he’s turning this state into a sort of version of Venezuela.”
He then ripped into it as not just obliterating business, particularly the restaurant business, but in ushering people and capital out of the state, probably for good, as people get tired of the disaster and leave. He said, “And it’s just killing business, not only in restaurants, but in everything. There’s all kinds of capital leaving here for more competitive states.”
And, speaking directly about Newsom and where his faults lie, Mr. Wonderful argued that Nesom is a bad manager who can’t handle running the state. He said, “Listen, I’ve met him. He’s a nice guy, but I can’t be more critical of his policies. He’s a bad manager. He’s decimated this place. I’ve been coming here for 15 years, this is a shell of what it used to be.”
Watch him here:
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