“Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary said Tuesday that a “competition of states” is taking place and that some states are winning based on how they are managed.
O’Leary named major cities in blue states, like San Francisco, New York City and Chicago, that are struggling. The “Shark Tank” star pointed to illegal immigration and management as key factors in terms of which states are coming out on top.
“The competition of states started five years ago, when all of a sudden taxes and inefficiencies and poorly-run jurisdictions started seeing people leave, and you can count San Francisco as one of those places, you can now state the state of California, you can count the 1,200 license plates that are changed into Florida from New York every day,” O’Leary said. “And so that’s happening anyways, before the migrant issue hit.”
Multiple retailers, including Whole Foods, Nordstrom and T-Mobile, shuttered locations in San Francisco, citing increasing crime in the city. O’Leary previously blasted New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, saying the $354 judgement she secured against former President Donald Trump is a reason he will no longer invest in the state.
“The more successful states, like Tennessee — if you look at Nashville, it’s the fastest growing city in America — have figured out a way to deliver goods and services at a very competitive basis,” O’Leary continued. “This is really about management, it’s actually about management. Some cities are well-managed, some states are well-managed and others are not, and now post-pandemic, we have a competition of states, and I frankly think it’s healthy.”
O’Leary told Watters that immigration could be the “number one issue” in blue cities like New York this fall.
“Here we are, nine and a half months, ten months away from the election, realizing the impact of this unresolved 2016 issue now hitting them right in their own jurisdiction, and so I predict this probably becomes the number one and maintains that status as both sides turn this into a huge fight, but now it’s hit home.”
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“I mean, New York’s got lots of other problems these days, but this one’s getting up to the top of the New York charts, and that’s going to make them more unstable and that’s going to be an interesting outcome in terms of a general election,” O’Leary continued.
Harold Hutchison on February 27, 2024
