Mark Cuban, welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
(chuckles) Thanks for having me on, Trevor.
Um, this has been quite an interesting time in our lives,
in history, in fact, because there's never been a period
in time when the whole world is experiencing
the exact same thing at the same time.
For you personally, you're in an interesting position,
where you're not just a human being
who's experiencing this, but you're also working
on the task force assigned by the president
to figure out when the country reopens.
Help me understand. What is this task force about,
and how are you, as a team,
figuring out when to reopen the country?
I think the first step was just getting some people together
that the president thought could contribute.
You know, all we've had is a basic call so far,
and then we'll go from there.
Um, in terms of specifics,
he gave us some people to contact.
And I put together, like, a five-page note,
saying all these things I think need to happen
-for small businesses, in particular. -Mm-hmm.
And we'll see how they respond.
You were actually one of the first team owners in the NBA
to step up and say that you were gonna pay for all of the people
who weren't getting their salaries right now.
-Yeah. -You know, a lot of people forget
-how many people earn money from a game taking place. -Yeah.
People selling hot dogs, people cleaning the stadium,
-people providing security, transport to the games. -Yup.
When looking at that,
what are you hoping you can do in the wake of coronavirus?
Because, I mean, at some point, we assume
sports will come back, but it may not kick off the way
we think it will, right?
Yeah, I mean, the goal, hopefully, is just, again--
once the science is in place-- be able to play
wherever we can play, because people need sports.
You know, we want something to cheer for.
We want something to get excited about.
You know, I think we'll get out there and play without fans,
play to the TV cameras.
-Mm-hmm. -And then, you know, in terms of the bigger ecosystem,
of course, we're gonna have
to keep on taking care of our employees.
You know, in the past,
a lot of people would talk about trickle-down economics.
I think one of the lessons we're gonna learn from all this is
that it's time for trickle-up economics.
We're only as strong as the base layer of all our employees,
all those people who struggle and get paid hour by hour,
you know, and don't know how many hours they're gonna get.
If we don't take care of them, there is no economy,
and we're learning that very quickly right now.
Well, let's talk a little bit about that then.
From the business side of things,
you're gonna be advising the president.
And, I mean, one of the biggest criticisms
that you can't deny in this country has been
that it seems like a lot of the tax cuts,
or even the relief that's been proposed in this bill
that's now being doled out, has been aimed
at helping big businesses.
And it's going to help people who have a lot of money,
and those on the ground will continue to suffer.
What would you propose to the president?
Or what do you think needs to be done
from the government side to help small businesses
and to help people who don't have large incomes?
Well, I agree with you. I mean, look, when you look
at all the interest rates that have been cut
and all the federal stimulus,
that's effectively UBI for rich people.
You know, the government is coming in and buying
a lot of expensive assets
that everyday people don't have access to,
they're not getting support from.
-Mm-hmm. -And so, the things that I've recommended initially
is to try to push and reward companies
that offer equity in their company to their employees.
Because the only way that you can get away
from living paycheck to paycheck
is by having an asset that can appreciate.
You know, whether it's a home,
whether it's stock in your company, whatever it may be.
The second thing is, we're going to have
to raise the minimum wage, federally.
You know, because right now, we're coming to the realization,
again, that we've got to have a strong foundation of people.
And a strong federal minimum wage is one of the first ways
that we can do that.
Let me ask you this. If you were giving advice
to a small business right now, there's many small businesses
who have had to furlough workers.
There's many small business who have just had to fire workers.
What would you suggest to people who don't want to fire anybody,
but also don't want to lose everything
in trying to sustain their employees?
Is there a balance? Is there something you think they can do?
Yeah, there's things that you can try.
First, you have to apply for all the loans
from the small business.
I mean, the Paycheck Protection Program.
You know, they're probably gonna refund that, so you want
to be in line when there's new money that comes in there.
There's the emergency loans from the SBA.
Those are the basic things
that you have to understand as an entrepreneur.
You know, when we get through this,
you know, let's call it "America 2.0, the Reset," right?
The people that work for you,
the people whose feet are on the ground
talking to your customers, who are out
in the communities, as much as they can be--
they're gonna have better ideas than the bosses will have.
You know, they're gonna be able to come up with ways
to sustain your business.
And so, I'm telling all my little companies,
"Talk to your employees.
Let them talk to your customers,"
because that's where the best sustainable ideas
are going to come from.
Um, I feel like one side of you
that not a lot of people think about often is the fact
-that you're a dad. -Yeah.
And now you are a father who is at home with his family.
What has been the best and worst parts
of being stuck inside
with everyone that you don't always spend all this time with?
So, the best part is, you know,
the forced family fun when it works, right?
A good movie night where we pick a movie that we all watch.
Um, you know, having dinner and sitting down and talking.
The worst is just getting them out of bed, right?
Just getting them to connect,
because they don't want to leave.
But, wait. It just so happens, and this is just by chance.
You see this thing here?
That's a bubble soccer ball, right?
And so, I'm trying to figure out how to get this thing blown up.
Because it's enforced social distancing, right,
because you have these big bubble soccer balls,
and they can just bang into each other,
blow off a lot of steam.
We may be the first professional sport
-on television if we do it right. -That's hilarious.
Mark, thank you so much for your time.
-I really appreciate it. -Thanks, Trevor.
Stay safe out there, and I hope you're right
-about America having a 2.0 after this. -I hope so, too.
Thanks, Trevor. Take care and stay safe.
Will do. Good luck out there. Thank you.