Inflation is killing us: Home Depot co-founder

Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi speaks with Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus on the state of the economy, capitalism in the U.S., and inflation woes.

Video Transcript

BRIAN SOZZI: Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus had some choice words for the Biden administration in my exclusive chat with him on his new book, called "Kick Up Some Dust." He also reflected a bit on starting Home Depot during a period of high inflation.

BERNIE MARCUS: If you don't read history, you don't know history. We're right back where we started. And we opened up during the Jimmy Carter days. And inflation was 20%. Interest rates was 20-some odd percent. And people were struggling. Manufacturers were struggling.

We opened up in the middle of this. And fortunately, because of the capital market, we had cash. So we had to pay our vendors ahead of time. We paid vendors that day they deliver the product, which is uncalled for. I mean, it's just doesn't happen. But we wanted to keep the business.

And I can tell you, there are hundreds of manufacturers who are major manufacturers today that we kept in business those days by paying our bills quickly so that they can have the cash to buy product to keep their people working. And it was not an easy time. But here we are all over again. We don't learn a lesson.

Inflation is killing us. People are struggling. A gallon of gas versus putting food on the table is not a place you want to be. But our customers now have that. It's unfortunate. We just don't learn, just don't learn.

BRIAN SOZZI: Do you feel as though the economy-- does it feel like the same economy that it did back in 1979?

BERNIE MARCUS: Well, it was easier-- it was easier now to fix it than it was then. Carter didn't have the tools. He had all these people kept captive in Iran. He had OPEC really against him. And if you remember, oil and gas rationing was pretty horrible. You had numbers, and you couldn't get gas if you didn't have a certain number.

Well, we have a president that just doesn't believe in that. We're sitting on tons of oil and gas, and he doesn't allow us to drill. It's basically stupid. I can't come up with another word. It's stupid. And we will continue to suffer this inflation, and people will continue to struggle with high prices as long as he maintains this facade of climate control versus allowing us to do the things that we should be doing.

I don't know. People live on a different planet, I think. I feel one day-- I wake up in the morning and say, where the hell are they coming from? I don't understand it. Why are they defending not drilling when, in fact, climate change you could put off over a period of time and do it over the next 30 years, 40 years, and do it intelligently, but not slam down on it, kill everybody today. So it's hurting everybody today. Not good.

BRIAN SOZZI: I know you're a big free-market guy, Bernie. That's how you created or helped create Home Depot. You mentioned capitalism a couple of minutes ago. Do you think capitalism is under attack in this country?

BERNIE MARCUS: Oh, yes, it's under attack in universities. You have professors who are socialists who are teaching it to the young people. And we had a poll at one point that was very frightening because it showed that almost 50% of the young people would vote for socialism over capitalism. They just don't know. They get to their hearts. They don't get to their brains.

And unfortunately, we have a whole group of people growing up today where they think in terms that socialism is good for America whereas, in fact, capitalism is what puts food on the table, which allow people to grow-- allow people to develop economic independence. And they don't get it.

When they get it-- it's like, so many friends of mine say their kids were socialists until they got their first job, and they took all that money out of their paycheck to pay taxes. And all of a sudden, they became capitalists. So that may be the story.