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International Business Times
International Business Times
Politics
Bruce Golding

Mark Cuban Calls Plans By Trump, Biden To Create US Sovereign Wealth Fund 'Stupid'

Mark Cuban (standing R) reacts during Game 4 of the NBA's Western Conference finals in Dallas on May 28, 2024. (Credit: Tim Heitman/Getty Images)

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban is blasting bipartisan plans floated by former President Donald Trump and White House officials to create an American sovereign wealth fund.

"A Sovereign Wealth Fund, while a country is running a deficit, is stupid. Period, end of story," Cuban wrote on social media Saturday.

The "Shark Tank" star, who last week endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris against Trump in this year's presidential election, also said that "only one of the people considering the wealth fund is running for President."

"If you think @KamalaHarris and Joe Biden think alike about financial strategies for the country, you are wrong," Cuban wrote on X.

The remarks doubled down on a Friday message in which Cuban said: "I hate the idea" of a Sovereign Wealth Fund.

"If the government had a surplus. Maybe. But with a deficit, it makes no sense at all," he wrote.

The federal deficit for fiscal 2024, which ends Sept. 30, is projected to reach $1.9 trillion and push the national debt to $28.2 trillion, the Congressional Budget Office said in June.

Additional deficits are expected through at least 2034, according to the CBO.

Sovereign wealth funds allow governments to use excess revenues, often generated by the sale of natural resources, trade surpluses or other other operations, to make investments for the benefit of their citizens.

The Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute website lists 178 funds around the world, led by Norway, with more than $1.7 trillion in assets.

During a Thursday speech at the New York Economic Club, Trump proposed creating an American sovereign wealth fund to invest in "great national endeavors," including major infrastructure projects such as highways and airports, Reuters reported at the time.

The Republican presidential nominee said the fund would be funded "through tariffs and other intelligent things," but gave no details.

The next day, Bloomberg reported that President Joe Biden's top national security advisers have been quietly working for months on a proposal for the U.S. to invest in emerging technologies, energy and critical links in the supply chain.

Planning documents have been circulated among White House staffers and key agencies but many critical details remain unclear, Bloomberg said.

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