Shark Tank panelist and tech billionaire Mark Cuban, longtime public opponent of Donald Trump and supporter of Joe Biden in the current election cycle has done the unthinkable:
Publicly defended Donald Trump.
This latest wrinkle in the ongoing political drama was precipitated when Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu commented on Trump’s ongoing legal drama in New York. According to Lieu, Trump’s lawyers, in claiming Trump couldn’t secure funding to pay the $464 million judgment levied against him recently, exposed Trump as lying to the public about his wealth.
The 65-year old Mark Cuban, however, wasn’t impressed. While pointing out Trump’s failings as a boss (such as the fact that so many of his former executives turn on him) and wondering aloud how anyone could cast their vote in favor of such a person, nevertheless declared that Lieu was “wrong on this topic.”
Cuban, longtime owner of the Dallas Maverick’s basketball team, delivered a short education on how one calculates wealth. In an environment of near-zero interest rates, Cuban argued, it’s foolish to keep cash in the bank or in other easily-liquidated assets. Instead, the smart entrepreneur puts his money into other investments that can generate a return, but such assets, such as real estate and start-up firms, are cumbersome to liquidate.
Even in an ideal interest-bearing environment, Cuban argued, almost no one would keep more than 45% of their net worth in fungible assets. Trump, who keeps most of his money in foreign assets and real estate, doesn’t have the kind of collateral that bond companies loan on. The irony of all this, according to Cuban, is that by keeping interest rates artificially low during his presidency, created a situation where Trump had to lie to banks about the nature of his assets, and now faces a steep judgment with apparently no hope of raising the cash to pay it in a timely fashion.
