Sam Zell Calls Out Obama Administration on CNBC

Sam Zell, Chairman of Equity Group Investments, said on CNBC Monday that the Obama administration has hampered the economic recovery by sending mixed signals to business interests.

“This administration has gone out of its way to destabilize the business community,” Zell said on CNBC.

He also had a lot to say about inflation. “We're printing money at a staggering rate. Inflation is a real issue around the world. The troubles in the Middle East are as much a function of the rise in the cost of food as they are a fight for democracy,” Zell said.

In terms of helping small nations around the world, Zell remains a supporter of the International Monetary Fund, despite the troubles of current leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Strauss-Kahn is currently in Rikers Island prison in New York after his arrest on allegations of attempted rape of a hotel maid.

“I'm not sure whether the actions of the head of the IMF hav anything to do with what we should or shouldn't be contributing to the IMF,” Zell said. “I think the IMF has a role to play. I don't think the IMF's future will be affected in any way by the events of the weekend.”

Zell sees Colombia as an economy that might offer growth opportunity in the near future. He referenced their stock market merger with a few neighboring countries, creating one of the largest stock markets in the region. Zell also argued that the stock market's size will funnel capital into Colombia, and suggests they are in position to make some gains with that capital.

“The production of oil went from 100,000 to nearly one million a day in Columbia. It has gone up because so many Venezuelan oil executives moved to Columbia to take advantage of things,” Zell said.