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“ ‘You have to look at the social cost against the human cost, which I know is awful. There’s a financial suicide and a death of small businesses and restaurants and the economy and the global economy that has to be weighed.’ ”
That’s Starwood Capital Group billionaire Barry Sternlicht making his case in a CNBC interview on Tuesday for reopening the U.S. economy sooner rather than later.
“I actually think we have to reopen the economy. We have to do it ZIP code by ZIP code,” he said. “We have to get going. The cost is too great. The government can’t carry a $23 trillion economy.”
In fact, Sternlicht, whose $60 billion investment firm has interests in luxury hotels and malls, explained to CNBC that his industry could end up crafting its next moves.
“We really don’t have to wait for the government. We should actually come up with our best practices sector by sector because we know the nuances of our asset classes,” he said, adding his voice to a growing chorus of Republican governors calling for restrictions to be lifted.
As for the recovery and the fate of the stock market, Sternlicht said he’s still bullish, with hesitation. “What does the slope look like?” he asked. “It depends on how we reopen the economy.”
There’s not much bullishness in Tuesday’s session, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -2.41% off by more than 500 points. The S&P 500 SPX, -2.86% and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP, -3.15% were also firmly lower.
Watch the Sternlicht interview:
