Mark Cuban: 'We're going to need a perfectly timed stimulus program'

Yahoo Finance's Julia La Roche joins The First Trade to share what she discussed with Mark Cuban last night on Yahoo's 'Reset Your Mind' At Work' special.

Video Transcript

- Now, it's not easy to lead or start a business in the middle of a pandemic. That's why Yahoo Finance just hosted "Reset Your Mindset," a virtual event focused on insightful conversations on how to be a strong leader. Joining us now is Julia La Roche, who hosted the special. Julia, I really enjoyed watching this last night. I had my protein shake, was watching on the Yahoo Finance app. Out of all the conversations, I really enjoyed your chat with Mark Cuban.

JULIA LA ROCHE: Thank you so much, Brian. Yeah, I had so much fun with Mark Cuban. He always brings this positive energy to the conversation. He's an innovator, and he's upbeat. And we were talking about some pretty serious topics-- PPP, for example, reopening of businesses that are going to have a really hard time. They're basically in a state of limbo, if you will. And he has an idea for a next round of stimulus, a use-it-or-lose-it debit card. Take a listen.

MARK CUBAN: You've got to make it so people have confidence in their jobs, right? And we're going to have to have a transitional-- not permanent, transitional-- federal jobs program. And so we're going to need to hire people, millions of people, preferably for testing, tracing, tracking, supporting vulnerable populations, long-term care, giving people jobs that they know are stable, because that gives them the impetus to spend money.

Two-- we're going to have to have a perfectly timed stimulus program. So what does that mean? Well, I talked about companies in suspended animation. You've got all these PPP companies that can't fully open, can't bring back the employees because they're making too much already, but that ends on July 31. That's when the CARES program employment stimulus ends.

And so I think we need to do a debit card program where we give money, literally, to each household, and make it use it or lose it, whether it's $1,000, or $1,200, or whatever that number is, every couple of weeks, and say, you have x number of days to use this debit card, or you lose the money that's been deposited on there. Because by doing that and timing it right, that's going to create demand for these companies so they can afford to bring their employees back after they're off of all that unemployment CARES enhancement.

JULIA LA ROCHE: Yeah, guys, a use-it-or-lose-it debit card. Really interesting stuff. And Brian, you wrote an article-- and he brought this up too-- that 68% of folks who are on unemployment right now, because of that $600 weekly extra benefit from the federal government on top of what they get from the state, actually making more than they would working. So we have to kind of rethink the economic incentives when we do start to open up. So I thought this was a really interesting way to kind of spark demand. Keep in mind consumer demand is [? thirds ?] of our economy.

BRIAN SOZZI: And then Julia, I know you also speak with former-- you spoke with former Aetna CEO Mark Berolini. I know you know him pretty well. What did he have to tell you?

JULIA LA ROCHE: Look, I think Mark Bertolini, in a way, kind of stole the show. I think a lot of folks really appreciated what he said. And he's someone who has spoken out on the failing capitalist model. He's actually spoke out on this a long time ago and how we need to rethink, as corporations, the way we invest. And what he means by that-- it used to be you were stewards of financial assets, and you looked at human capital as being dispensable.

But we really need to look at our human capital and invest there, maybe rethink the tax code too. Because you can depreciate machinery, for example, but you can't depreciate investments in people. And we really have to think about people and health care at work, mental wellness at work, these sorts of things that he's always advocated for. That is [INAUDIBLE] business, and it has a payoff.

BRIAN SOZZI: Julia, before I let you go, overall, what was the big Julia La Roche one top takeaway from talking to all these leaders?

JULIA LA ROCHE: I think the word-- I think mental wellness, health in the workplace, mindfulness. That is going to be a business strategy. You're going to hear this across boardrooms. And it's not going to be just lip service, Brian. I think there's going to be real, meaningful action on the other side of this crisis.

BRIAN SOZZI: All right. Well said. Let's leave it there. Julia La Roche, real good stuff here. We'll talk to you later.