Mark Cuban lays out his plan to boost post-COVID economy: 'Give people checks that they have to spend'

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Billionaire entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told "Hannity" Thursday that the issuing of pre-loaded, federally funded, "use it or lose it" debit cards is the best way to spur consumer demand and boost the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

"I'm not saying we don't reopen but the question is -- and I will even put the hit on the Democrats -- when the [Paycheck Protection Program] was initiated, [it was a] great plan, but the key to make it work was getting the money in the hands of businesses immediately," Cuban told host Sean Hannity.

Cuban explained that delays in passing and enacting the CARES Act in March that allowed Democrats to secure funding for "museums" and other entities meant that companies who may have needed to "protect paychecks" no longer had a payroll to protect.

"Once small businesses laid people off, that really defeated the purpose of the payroll protection program," Cuban said. "That now leaves small businesses in a state of suspended animation."

The "Shark Tank" star claimed that more than two-thirds of laid-off workers are making more on temporarily expanded unemployment assistance than they would on the job.

"So what we need to do in order to change that is to stimulate demand," Cuban said. "The way to stimulate demand is to give people checks that they have to spend. The only way, whether a state is open or closed, that they can justify and afford to bring employees back -- particularly after July 31st when the enhanced unemployment runs out is by having demand."

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Cuban cited a statstic that Americans are ferreting away 14 percent of their income into savings accounts, which he claimed was a 40-year high.

"That's a problem we need to solve," he said.