“Let's use this great DOGE idea”: Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary shares thoughts on paying off the national debt

Kevin O'Leary, the Shark Tank investor, often takes part in geopolitics and shares snippets of his interviews on his personal social media accounts. Recently, he released a segment of him sitting down with CNN for an interview and advocated for even more aggressive DOGE cuts. He wants even more action that could ultimately lead to reduced government waste.

Kevin O'Leary is known for his sharp words and often controversial take on politics and economics. This time, he is insisting that the current approach is insufficient and thus, he wants more decisive reductions. He said that the cuts which are currently being made are not enough.

When he was asked about the proposal from President Trump to distribute 20% of the DOGE savings directly to taxpayers, the Shark Tank investor dismissed the idea. He argued that,

"No, I don't like the idea of printing $5,000 checks to people. What we need to do is reduce the debt, the national debt. That is paying the American people back. Because they're gonna have to pay this debt back whether it's during Trump's administration or the administrations ahead and years ahead.

He added,

We're really in debt. Let's use this great DOGE idea, and let's take it all and pay down the national debt. It's the greatest gift any President can give to any voter."

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Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary says the government needs more cuts

The Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary, drew an example from private equity and corporate turnouts. He explained the strategy that he believes should be applied to government spending.

Kevin says that whenever there is a "broken company," and there is a need for cutting, the one in charge should add 20% more to it. This is a time to analyze if the process works because rehiring can be done later as well.

The host then asked Kevin about laying off so many American citizens which will result in criticism. Shark Tank's Kevin acknowledged the same and said,

"When you're making cuts like this, massive cuts, saving billions of dollars, you can't have surgical precision. It just doesn't work. So you're gonna have as much as 15 to 20% mistakes. So what? You can always hire them back, you can always fix it after the fact. It's been so long since anybody has done this."

He explained that these reductions may affect some people or the programs negatively but that is a risk that should be taken for the benefit of the country as a whole. He said,

"You're never gonna get it a 100% right. There's always going to be an opportunity to criticize, some cut that was too deep, or the wrong person got cut. But my point is, as long as you keep the mandate in place, keep cutting, keep hacking, keep slashing. This is good for government, this is good for the taxpayer, this is good reducing debt, and once in a while you make a mistake, you're gonna criticized."

The Shark Tank investor thinks that the government wasting money is more harmful to the American taxpayers than the DOGE cuttings. He sees this as an over-bloated system and thus, thinks that aggressive cuts are vital.

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Shark Tank Season 16 airs weekly on ABC every Friday at 8 PM Eastern Time, with episodes available later on Hulu.