Geithner Needs 'Reality TV Show': Bernie Marcus
CNBC.com Writer
In a scathing criticism of the Obama administration, Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus told CNBC Friday that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner should have a reality-TV show about small business to illustrate how out of touch Democrats' policies are with the private sector.
“My solution is that you take a guy like Timothy Geithner and put him in a new reality show. It’s called 'Timothy Geithner Does Small Business', something like [the porn movie] 'Debbie Does Dallas', and it ends up the same way,” said Marcus. ”Basically, what they’re doing to small business is very similar in this case [to what ‘Debbie’ did to Dallas.]”
To play out his story, Marcus said Geithner would have to deal with the state, federal and local regulations that he contends stymie business, and then the public official may understand the challenges that small business people face.
Hyperbole aside, Marcus said the administration's poor performance warrants the Democrats being voted out of office. He did not, however, call for Geithner to resign.
Marcus is no longer with Home Depot , and now runs a charity called the Marcus Foundation.
He said 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, that 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.
