Is casino boss Steve Wynn the new voice of reason amid the noise created by the political mudslinging between U.S. presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton?
The outspoken CEO and chairman of Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts went on a tirade about the presidential elections, telling analysts during his company’s second quarter earnings call that despite their promises and declarations, neither Trump nor Clinton has addressed the country’s $19 trillion problem.
This election is not about Clinton or Trump, Wynn said. It’s about the “self-destructive” monetary and fiscal policy that will soon cripple not just business in Vegas, but the entire United States.
“It’s almost impossible to predict exactly what effect that [election] will have. Without getting into an economics discussion, we have – sooner or later, our political establishment is going to be forced, regardless of party affiliation, to deal with $19 trillion in debt that’s climbing by around $1.6 billion a day,” Wynn said, according to a transcript posted by Seeking Alpha.
He pointed out that the rate that Federal Reserve is printing money—out of thin air—coupled with the growing deficit is “directly impacting the living standard or the buying power of the U.S. dollar,” although this is something that many Americans have yet to understand.
“We have $14 trillion in public debt and $5 trillion in intergovernmental debt. The coupon on that $19-trillion-and-climbing is around 2.3%, and that’s with short-term interest rates at zero virtually. Now, the current Fed, the lady is going to keep interest rates where they are. That, of course, protects all of the credit card debt of $1 trillion that’s out there. And so, we don’t have mass panic on the credit card interest. But I know that the government is in a quandary as to what to do about this,” Wynn said.
The businessman, who dubbed himself “one of the old white guys,” stressed that by “making all kinds of promises and declarations,” both the Republicans and the Democrats are aggravating the “problems that are currently plaguing the country.”
“What is lamentable is that the public discourse today on both sides misses the point entirely. We’re ng the moon,” Wynn said.
This certainly isn’t the first case of a Wynn verbal diarrhea because the outspoken casino mogul is known for speaking without thinking. In April, Wynn talked up the upscale nature of his soon-to-open Wynn Boston Harbor project by declaring that “nobody likes being around poor people.”
But this time, the businessman may be on to something.
