Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary Declares AOC ‘Great at Killing Jobs’ on CNN, Calls New York ‘Uninvestable’
Shark Tank star and entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary labeled multiple blue states as “uninvestable” and called for a debate with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) during a Friday CNN This Morning appearance.
While discussing the economy and the way employees working from home has changed the business landscape, O’Leary cited a larger issue at the moment for businesses being that multiple states are impossible to invest in, sometimes leading to jobs being sent overseas.
“I don’t put companies here in New York anymore or Massachusetts or in New Jersey or in California. Those states are uninvestable. The policy here is insane. The taxes are too high. We put them in Fargo, North Dakota,” he said.
Asked by Poppy Harlow why New York specifically was uninvestable, O’Leary called the “regulatory environment” punitive and recalled moving a data center out of upstate New York over dealings with politicians and navigating red tape policy.
“The regulatory environment is punitive. I had a project in upstate New York behind the grid in Niagara Falls for electricity, a global data center we were building. Eventually it got so bad with the politicians in the local region and the state policy, we moved it to Norway and all the jobs. Norway has it now,” he said. “Thousands of jobs coming out of that. That’s New York. Uninvestable. Sorry. Don’t shoot the messenger.”
Kaitlan Collins noted New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) may disagree, and O’Leary offered to debate her and anyone else on the matter “any time of day.” He specifically called out Ocasio-Cortez.
“And AOC, she’s great at killing jobs. She kills jobs by the thousands,” he said, blaming the Democratic congresswoman calling for higher taxes and stricter regulations for the company leading to Amazon pulling out of a planned New York headquarters in 2019.
“There’s a little more to it, but let’s not re-debate that,” Harlow said of the Amazon debacle.
“Sorry,” O’Leary said. “I’m just telling you the truth.”
Watch above via CNN.
