When it comes to the wisdom of Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS) Chairman and billionaire Sam Zell, there’s never a shortage of fireworks.
“Obama’s $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was a ‘half-ass-d stimulus bill,’” said Zell on CNBC this week, as he promoted his new book, “Am I Being Too Subtle?”
Zell also disagreed with comments from Warren Buffett, who claimed that the Republican bill to replace Obamacare would “cut the hell out of taxes” for the rich if the measure were to make it through the Senate without any changes.
“The GOP approach to health care on taxes is not for the rich or the poor,” said Zell.
“It balances out the system.”
In a similar interview with TheStreet, Zell said President Donald Trump has an extraordinary opportunity to revive an economy that died from eight years of regulatory oppression under Barack Obama.
“I think we’ve had 8 years of kind of an anti-business administration with very little representation from the business community,” said Zell.
And, while Zell wasn’t a fan of the Obama Administration stimulus plan of 2009, he sees a different opportunity for the Trump Administration.
“I think President Trump has a similar stimulus opportunity but without the debt because he can achieve that goal by deregulation,” said Zell.
Zell says that he feels like the Trump Administration could repeal enough regulations to give an estimated $1 trillion boost to the economy, and that he’s even more optimistic than he was before the election.
Speaking on commercial real estate, Zell made no bones about what he sees, in terms of major retailers like Macy’s and J.C. Penny.
“I don’t think landlords will be able to find new tenants that can attract the same amount of traffic as the big-box stores,” Zell told TheStreet.
“There’s a reason why [those stores] paid almost no rent – their goal was to generate traffic.”
Zell and Manufactured Housing
As Daily Business News readers are aware, leaders in business, including Zell, clearly understand the significant business opportunity in manufactured housing.
Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway, which owns Clayton Homes, and independents such as John Bostick with Sunshine Homes are “doubling down” on the industry, with Zell being quoted as saying during this interview “Everyone calls them trailer parks. Pencil head, it’s not a trailer park.“
ELS and Berkshire Hathaway are also two of the manufactured home industry connected stocks tracked every business day by the Daily Business News, with the most recent report, linked here. ##
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Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.
