The co-founder of Home Depot slammed ‘woke people,’ said nobody wants to work anymore and called Joe Biden ‘the worst president in history’ for putting obstacles in the way of entrepreneurial success.
Bernie Marcus, 93, believes the success the company he began with Arthur Blank in 1978 couldn’t happen today because of people standing in the way of the business community.
‘We would end up with 15, 16 stores,’ he said in an interview with the Financial Times. ‘I don’t know that we could go further.’
Marcus added that he’s worried about capitalism and said thanks to socialism, ‘Nobody works. Nobody gives a damn. “Just give it to me. Send me money. I don’t want to work – I’m too lazy, I’m too fat, I’m too stupid.”‘
Bernie Marcus, the 91-year-old co-founder of Home Depot slammed ‘woke people,’ said that nobody wants to work anymore and called Joe Biden ‘the worst president in history’ for putting obstacles in the way of entrepreneurial success
Home Depot honchos CEO Bernie Marcus (L) and Arthur Blank (R) started their successful business in 1978
Marcus was unequivocal in calling Joe Biden ‘the worst president in the history of this country’ saying that ‘we used to have free speech here.’
‘We don’t have it,’ he said. ‘The woke people have taken over the world.’
He also listed human resources executives, government bureaucrats, socialists, Harvard graduates, MBAs, Harvard MBAs, lawyers and accountants as the obstacles to entrepreneurial success in 2022.
A vocal Donald Trump supporter and member of the White House reopening task force during COVID, Marcus said he’s given money to both Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump’s potential rival for the 2024 GOP nomination.
He said: ‘It’s going to be very interesting in ‘24 because I think that DeSantis will challenge him. And may the better man win.’
Home Depot is Georgia’s largest public company based on revenue and is having a successful 2022. In November, the home improvement retailer announced sales of $38,9billion for the third quarter of 2022, up 5.6 percent from the same period last year
Home Depot co-founders Bernie Marcus, left, and Ken Langone, pose for photos after their appearance on Fox Business Network
Marcus, seen here with Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank, said: ‘We would end up with 15, 16 stores. I don’t know that we could go further’ if they started in 2022, because of people standing in the way of the business community
Home Depot has 2,300 stores across North America, a market capitalization of $300billion and an annual revenue of more than $150billion, according to Financial Times.
Marcus cites his charity, having joined the Gates’ family and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge promising to donate at least half his fortune to good causes, as how he gives back.
He also backed the construction of the Georgia Aquarium and has given $2billion to over 500 organizations through the Marcus Foundation.
The Marcus Foundation has also donated to autism, stem cells, cancer, stroke and military veterans’ PTSD causes.
In 2019, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ‘I want to live to be 100 because I want to be in a position to give it away to those things that I really believe in.
Home Depot has 2,300 stores across North America, a market capitalization of $300billion and an annual revenue of more than $150billion
The company’s net earnings for the quarter were $4.3billion, up 8.2 percent from $4.1billion. They’ve shown increases in sales in all three quarters of 2021
Home Depot hailed record sales in the first two fiscal quarters of the year, pushing over $80billion in the first half of 2022
Home Depot remains a wildly successful retail chain, with over 2,300 stores across North America
‘I’ve got all the houses I need. I live very well. My kids are taken care of. Everything I live for now is finding the right things to put my money into and that can give me a rate of return in emotion and doing good things for this world.’
On top of this, the philanthropist wants to build veteran care centers across the US and buy into medical treatment and research.
Home Depot is Georgia’s largest public company based on revenue and is having a successful 2022.
In November, the home improvement retailer announced sales of $38,9billion for the third quarter of 2022, up 5.6 percent from the same period last year.
The company’s net earnings for the quarter were $4.3billion, up 8.2 percent from $4.1billion. They’ve shown increases in sales in all three quarters of 2021.
Home Depot hailed record sales in the first two fiscal quarters of the year, pushing over $80billion in the first half of 2022.
The Sandy Springs, Georgia estate of Home Depo co-founder Bernie Marcus
Bernie Marcus and his wife, Billi at Autism Speaks fundraiser
Marcus cites his charity, having joined the Gates’ family and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge promising to donate at least half his fortune to good causes, as how he gives back
However, the Labor Department’s December report on the consumer price index showed inflation still remains uncomfortably high, but has fallen well below its recent peak of 9.1 percent in June.
The latest inflation report came as the Federal Reserve prepared to issue its next interest rate hike, a move that further increased borrowing costs for consumers and businesses.
November’s 7.1 percent annual inflation rate was lower than economists had expected, and marked the lowest 12-month increase since December 2021.
Wall Street cheered the new report, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising more than 550 points, or 1.65 percent, at the open to 34,546.65. The S&P 500 gained 1.98 percent and the Nasdaq Composite rose 3.58 percent.
Markets have struggled this year thanks to high inflation and the interest rate hikes engineered to combat it.
Marcus was unequivocal, however, in calling Joe Biden ‘the worst president in the history of this country’ and said: ‘We used to have free speech here. We don’t have it. The woke people have taken over the world’
Bernie Marcus, 93, cited Biden and many others as reasons that the success the company he began with Arthur Blank in 1978 couldn’t happen today
Inflation in the US continues to moderate, rising at an annual rate of 7.1 percent in November -the fifth-straight month of declines
Higher rates slow business activity by design, but also risk causing a recession if they go too high, all while dragging down stock prices.
However, the central bank is expected to raise its key short-term rate by a smaller half-point, after four straight three-quarter-point increases. That would leave its benchmark rate in a range of 3.75 percent to 4 percent, its highest level in 15 years.
The new report showed that core inflation, excluding volatile food and energy prices, increased at a 6 percent annual rate last month, down from September’s peak of 6.7 percent.
‘Both topline and core CPI inflation slowed in November, showing some measure of progress in the ongoing struggle to tame inflation,’ said Kayla Bruun, economic analyst at decision intelligence company Morning Consult.
Grocery prices remain especially elevated, with food at home rising 12 percent in November from one year ago. Rent also rose uncomfortably fast, jumping 7.9 percent on the year in the new report.
But real-time measures of apartment rents and home prices are starting to drop after soaring at the height of the pandemic, changes that will not appear in the CPI report until next year.
Used car prices, which had skyrocketed 45 percent in June 2021 compared with a year earlier, have fallen for most of this year. In November, their year-over-year prices actually declined 3.3 percent.
Other goods, particularly electronics, showed strong signs of moderating, with television prices down 17 percent from last year, and smartphones dropping 23 percent.
PepsiCo, Walmart, Gap, Zillow, Ford and Stanley Black & Decker have recently cut their white collar workforce.
The industry-wide moves are leading to fears the US is racing towards a ‘white collar recession’.
In normal downturns, blue collar employees tend to lose their jobs first, but now office workers are facing mass culls.
Last month, Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, revealed that it will cut 13 percent of its workforce, while Elon Musk axed half of Twitter’s employees following his successful takeover of the social media site.
US-based tech companies have scrapped over 28,000 jobs so far this year, more than double a year earlier according to a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which tracks such announcements
The U.S. added 263,000 jobs in November, despite a trend of rising layoffs
Experts have warned industries are facing a ‘triple whammy’ of a slowing economy, inflation and an end to pandemic-era stimulus measures.
Overall, US-based tech companies have scrapped over 28,000 jobs so far this year, more than double a year earlier according to a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which tracks such announcements.
In October, layoffs increased by 13 percent – the highest jump since February 2021. US employers also eased their hiring in November, with job creation slowing the most it has since January 2021.
Just 127,000 jobs were created last month, much less than analysts expected and nearly half the 239,000 jobs created in October.
Companies that enjoyed huge growth during the pandemic, particularly those in tech and e-commerce, are starting to pare back on spending ahead of what financial chiefs fear will be trying times.
However, the US unemployment rate in November remained near historic lows at 3.7 percent, according to the US Department of Labor statistics.
