Mark Cuban made headlines earlier in the pandemic, when he called for aggressive stimulus distribution to offset the economic hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, Kevin O’Leary, chairman of O’Shares ETFs and investor on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” has told CNBC that the goal shouldn’t be a single stimulus check.
“I would like to see a $400 a week support for the next 14 months [for] anybody that’s unemployed,” O’Leary said. “If you’re unemployed because of the pandemic, we’ll support you with a few hundred dollars a week until you can find a job.”
He noted a preference to $400 per week over $600 per week built into the CARES Act. Mainly because he said the $400 will retain an incentive to go find work.
As for the stimulus check that many have been pushing for in the House and Senate: He says it’s not necessary. “We don’t need the $1,200 check to everybody anymore because a lot of those people have now found work again,” he explained.
Here’s the thing, though: While first-time unemployment benefit claims have fallen to 840,000 last week – the numbers are still far worse than original expectation. Altogether, more than 26 million people are currently collecting unemployment benefits, with more than 13 million relying on pandemic-related programs for benefits.
The House and Senate have been deadlocked for weeks on stimulus talks, and last week President Donald Trump called them off — noting that Democrats were unwilling to come down from their ask of more than $2 trillion in additional spending.
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