Kevin O'Leary: Don't Vilify Capitalism - Fox and Friends
Our truth on men, women, and money: 50 common money mistakes and how to fix them.
He joins us this morning, Kevin. Thanks for joining us; you're a brave man. The look in that woman's face—I think she was a stand-in for many who thought, "Huh, you're defending this?" You know, I think we vilify the creation of wealth. We vilify capitalism. It's become very unpopular to talk about successful people. But you know, what I'm trying to say is it's not fantastic to be poor, and I don't like disparity and wealth or poverty. These are all bad things, but let's celebrate the facts.
All right, if you look back at the last 30 years, 42 percent of the world's population was in desperate poverty. Today, it is 17 percent. Thank you, capitalism! Thank you! That's what made that happen. All right, if you go back to 1900, 70 percent of the world's population was illiterate; today, it's 17 percent. Thank you, capitalism! Thank you! Let's celebrate what's working, and the metrics show us, and the numbers show us, that our system works. So let's not vilify it.
Right? People become consumed with envy, however, when they think they can't become rich. The system works as long as people see a plausible path to success, but if they think that path is blocked, then they get resentful, and your society becomes unstable. Now, it's not blocked; that's not true. The American Dream is alive and well. You can see the evidence of it. Look at the success of Shark Tank—people starting on ideas and businesses, creating wealth. Groove Book, last Friday, they became millionaires in a week as a result of their product getting on the show.
There's every evidence everywhere that what we do and what works in America—capitalism creates wealth, and those people pay taxes. Yes, 30 to 50 percent, depending on where they are, and that goes back into the system to support all kinds of initiatives, including helping people that are in poverty.
It's so funny; you were from Canada, yes, originally. You must be the fifth Canadian I've met in the United States. Reminding America that the market works is just a remarkable turn. There's no place in the world like America. When I started my business, I wanted to come here to create it and grow it. I was in a jurisdiction, Ontario, in the mid-'90s where they had a socialist government. I had to leave. It was an oppressed environment; you couldn't build a business there. Taxes were crazy; nobody wanted to give me money.
I moved to Boston when I wanted to create wealth and hire 10,000 people around the world. I came to America—this is where you create business. This is the heartbeat of creation of wealth and capitalism, and anytime someone tries to change that, they're making a huge mistake. Calling business leaders "fat cats" and saying that this is a bad thing is un-American. This is the place where everybody around the world wants to come to be successful. What's wrong with that?
You think that's changing? Oh, yeah! The tonality today is unhealthy, in my view. You know, when I came to Boston, Bain Capital was not a swear word. They gave me 200 million dollars to help me build my business globally, and hire thousands of people, and pay millions in taxes. Why in the world would we vilify that? I think something's really gone awry, and I think it'll come back at some point. But right now, we should be talking about creating jobs through small business.
There are six million small businesses today in America. We ask ourselves why there's unemployment over seven percent—because we made it so difficult for them through regulations. Last year, 2,800 new federal regulations—who can even comply with that? We're competing with the Chinese now; we're in a football game. We've got to make it easier—it's crazy!
Kevin O'Leary, author of Cold Hard Truth on Men, Women, and Money: 50 Common Money Mistakes and How to Fix Them. Great book! Thank you, really interesting. Thank you; you're a brave man to say that. I appreciate it. Take care.