The outspoken 93-year-old retired co-founder of the Home Depot has said that he does not want to see the “woke generation” as tomorrow’s business leaders because they would waste time and money on things like “global warming” instead of focusing on a company’s bottom line.
Bernie Marcus — who retired in 2002 and no longer has any involvement in the day-to-operation of Home Depot — said during a Fox News interview, “I certainly don’t want to see the woke generation coming up, especially the leaders.”
Not only does he believe that they would waste time and money on social justice projects, but in the same interview, Marcus called the woke generation “lazy,” adding that “nobody wants to work anymore” because of “laziness” and government benefits.
Marcus told the host of Fox’s “Varney and Co.” that he had been following the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos “and they’re recommending spending more money on climate control when we don’t have it. We’ve already overspent. And if anything, climate control has caused most of the problems we have today.”
Marcus continued, “We need leaders who are basically thinking about the shareholders and their employees. And I think today it’s all about woke diversity, things that don’t hit the bottom line.”
Marcus, who was a major donor to Donald Trump’s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, also spoke about the labor market, saying that people “don’t want to work.”
“You can’t hire people,” he said. “Nobody wants to work anymore, especially office people.”
Marcus said that the reason that people didn’t want to work is that “they’re entitled, they’re given everything,” adding that government unemployment benefits were pushing people to stay at home.
“So you get this laziness … and it’s basically a socialistic society,” he said. Marcus also said that people wanted to work “three days a week,” further emphasizing his belief that the current generation in the workforce is soft and lazy.
Marcus made similar comments in an interview with the Financial Times in December.
“How do you have a recession when you have people that don’t want jobs?” Marcus said during that interview. “There are plenty of jobs out there.”
The Home Depot has distanced itself from Marcus’ comments issuing this brief statement, “Bernie Marcus retired from The Home Depot more than 20 years ago and does not speak on behalf of the company.”