In an interview set to air on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” on Sunday, left-wing billionaire financier George Soros made a bold prediction: Should the Republican Party win elections in 2012, its leaders will seek another massive government stimulus program.
“If the Republicans win, actually they’ll undergo a miraculous transformation where they discover that actually it wouldn’t be so bad, we can afford to have some stimulus,” Soros proclaimed.
Soros expanded upon that when asked by host Fareed Zakaria, suggesting the current opposition to any stimulus is political:
ZAKARIA: So you think Mitt Romney, if elected, would pursue a stimulus program?
SOROS: I think — I’m pretty sure that would happen.
ZAKARIA: When you —
SOROS: I mean, of course, Obama would like to as well. He may find it more difficult if the Republicans continue to obstruct him.
ZAKARIA: Do you think — so in a sense, you feel that some part of this Republican opposition to an additional stimulus is just cynical? They want the economy to stay weak in an election year?
SOROS: Unfortunately, our political system is now not functioning the way it used to in the sense that the political parties are more determined to destroy each other than to lead to policies that would benefit the country.
Watch:
Soros said he would be in favor of a stimulus that met certain criteria.
“You have to be a little bit more selective,” he said. “Because you really have to spend money in ways that would eventually pay for the interest, repay the investment. So I think we should distinguish between investments that bring a return, whether it is investment in human resources, like education, or infrastructure like broadband or high-speed rail or whatever, which I think would be very beneficial. A third tunnel under the Hudson, this would be the time to build it. Because that would create employment and would eventually repay.”