Speaking during a recent interview on Fox Business, famed investor, entrepreneur, and not-so-cheery Shark Tank personality Kevin O’Leary, jokingly called “Mr. Wonderful” because of his demeanor, absolutely obliterated Minnesota Governor and Kamala 2024 running mate Tim Walz.
Particularly, the investor and entrepreneur said that he doubts that Walz has the financial acumen to even serve as vice president, a view that he came to after seeing that the Minnesota governor has a total lack of investment holdings. Walz holds no stocks, bonds, crypto, funds, or other financial assets.
On one hand, that humble net worth and complete lack of financial assets show that Walz isn’t biased by his assets or focused on stock trading, like some members of Congress. It also, however, shows people like O’Leary that he probably doesn’t really understand markets, or even job creation, in the way someone more familiar with the financial system might.
Beginning his wonderful take down of Tim Walz, the investor and entrepreneur said that his lack of assets and history as governor show he is not a good manager. “I didn’t know anything about the VP candidate, Tim, and so I did some digging last week – I got the data last Friday. He is not a good manager,” said O’Leary.
Continuing, he said, speaking about what Walz’s tenure of governor was like, saying, “If you look at his stewardship of his state, Minnesota, it’s been not good. People may say ‘No, you’re partisan, you’re partisan.’ No, I’m not! I’m looking at the track record of an individual who came into a state and wiped out job creation. He wiped out job creation in professional services, manufacturing, accounting—every subcategory.”
O’Leary then commented on what policies of Walz’s might have destroyed jobs in his state in such a brutal way. He began that part of the rant by noting that Minnesota neighbor South Dakota is doing far better, saying, “You look at those jobs, and they moved to South Dakota, North Dakota. The South Dakota job rate right now is four times that of Minnesota.”
Then, getting to the policies, he said, “Minnesota only creates jobs in services that are funded by the government, such as healthcare and social services; every other sector is in decline. He’s also added a surcharge of one percent (100 basis points) on top of the 9.8% taxes on individuals who are retiring, and of course, they’re leaving the state in droves.”
O’Leary also noted that Republicans ought try to boost the good marks on the economy and economic stewardship that former President Donald Trump gets by tying Walz to his states’s not so great economic situation, namely job creation being so low and high taxes.
Particularly, he said that the Trump campaign should use Walz’s awful record to push down the somewhat good marks Kamala gets on the economy, tying her to his failure. “He’s the best governor for Texas, for Florida, for North and South Dakota, but not for Minnesota,” O’Leary then added.
Featured image credit: Office of Governor Tim Walz & Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, PDM-owner, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Governor_Tim_Walz_at_Bemidji_Steel.jpg