Howard Schultz in Interviews during 2017-2019
On Principles & Values:
GOP fiscally irresponsible, Democrats going socialist
Schultz framed the current field as an impossible choice between two hellish extremes. On the right are Trump and the Republicans. Among other sins, like threatening to close the border, the president has disgraced his party by abandoning its claim to
fiscal responsibility, Schultz said: "We're not going to have the money to invest in the children and the grandchildren." Meanwhile, the Democrats are freaking him out with the socialism.
Source: Omaha World-Herald on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Jun 29, 2019
On Abortion:
Pro-choice, but against third trimester abortion
Potential 2020 presidential candidate and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz weighed in on the issue of abortion at a Fox News town hall in Kansas. "I have been a person that is pro-choice," he said. "I recognize that every woman--this is such a
personal issue--and it's between her and her god as to what that decision should be. And in my view, there should be no abortion that is in the last trimester."
Source: Townhall.com on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 5, 2019
On Tax Reform:
Would increase taxes on rich, sketchy on details
Schultz agreed it would be important to raise taxes on the wealthy, but he was unable to say by how much. He acknowledged that economic inequality should be
fixed but provided scant details on how that can be achieved, only characterizing progressive plans to tackle inequality as "socialism."
Source: Mother Jones mag.: 2019 SXSW for 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 1, 2019
On Corporations:
Rich should pay higher taxes, and corporations too
Q: What about taxing the wealthy more? A: I should be paying more taxes. And people who are in the bracket of making millions of dollars, or whatever the number might be, should be paying more taxes. I was very vocally against
President Trump's corporate tax. Corporate tax rate of 21 percent should have never happened.
Q: What's the appropriate top tax rate?
A: I don't know what the number is, but what I'm suggesting is,
I should be paying higher taxes. And I think people across the country are willing to pay higher taxes, but there's a caveat there.
When you ask people to pay more taxes, we have to make sure that there is an agreement that your additional tax dollars are going to be spent wisely by the government.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 12, 2019
On Education:
Hold colleges responsible, but help students handle debt
If students are not graduating from their college, those colleges should not get federal aid from the government. We should look at ways for bringing those kids back into college and figuring out a way to delay the payments so the burden of
responsibility is still there, but they can live a life in which they're not burdened every day by the trillion dollar-plus debt on the backs of students today.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 12, 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Green New Deal is unrealistic at $40 trillion
The topic of the day is the Green New Deal. This would be a top priority. But we have to be sensible about it.
When I read the Green New Deal I don't understand how you're going to give a job for everybody, how you're going to give free college to everybody, how you're going to create clean energy throughout the country in every building of the land,
and then tally this thing up with $32 trillion on Medicare-for-All. That's about $40 trillion, plus we are sitting, ladies and gentlemen, with $22 trillion of debt on the balance sheet of America.
I just don't agree this is the right way to approach things. [We'd have] to spend $20 or $30 or $40 trillion on a Green New Deal that we can't afford.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 12, 2019
On Foreign Policy:
China is not an ally, but we need to work with them
I don't believe China is our ally. But I also do not believe China is our enemy. China is a fierce competitor of the United States. There are areas that are in our national interest to cooperate with China.
We need China's cooperation to help solve the problem of North Korea. We need China's cooperation specifically with lots of other nations, with regard to doing everything we can to solve the climate change issue.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 12, 2019
On Free Trade:
Trump's tariff war is a strategic mistake
The trade and the tariff war that President Trump has started is a strategic mistake. This war has resulted on a tax on U.S. consumers on lots of goods and services. Every farmer, everyone within the agricultural industry,
everyone in the steel industry has lost markets that will not come back for years. Most importantly, we have damaged an important diplomatic relationship with China.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 12, 2019
On Gun Control:
Honor Second Amendment but enact sensible gun laws
I respect and I honor the Second Amendment. But I believe is there should be some sensible approach to removing the kind of weapons that have no place in common society. I have a hard time understanding why people need to carry an
AR-15 around in the streets of where they live. I think anyone who has a criminal record, anyone who has a mental health problem, that there needs to be a lot more jurisdiction on how those people are buying weapons.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 12, 2019
On Health Care:
ObamaCare is ok, but Medicare-for-All goes too far
Q: What about ObamaCare and Medicare-for-All?A: We have a health care crisis in the country on many levels. The Republicans have done everything possible to eradicate the Affordable Care Act without offering any plan -- this is the far right.
The far left is now suggesting Medicare for all. That is a $32 trillion number. Does anyone understand that Medicare-for-all also means that you will lose the choice of your doctor and your private insurance company?
Q: Your alternative?
One, I think everyone in America, every person deserves to have the right for affordable care. Second, there needs to be competition in the system so that the American people can get access to prescription drugs at lower prices, because right now the
government is not allowed under a federal law to negotiate with pharma. Third thing has been tested but not proven yet about interstate commerce among insurance companies.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 12, 2019
On Health Care:
President must take responsibility for V.A.
The U.S. government does some great things but the V.A. isn't one of them. I will fix the V.A. and I will be personally accountable if I run for president and I'm fortunate enough to win. No one in decades has fixed the V.A. with an annual budget of
$200 billion. It is criminal. We have layers and layers and layers of government bureaucracy. No one knows who's in charge. There's no transparency of records. Veterans are waiting weeks and months for prescription drugs. There's all kinds of problems.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 12, 2019
On Immigration:
Border security ok, but don't demonize immigrants
The DREAMers should be allowed a pathway to citizenship. And the 11 million to 12 million unauthorized people who are here should get in line in a fair way, pay their back taxes, pay a fee, and bring them in. We are a country of immigrants.
The US should not be building walls. We should be building bridges and allow people in. It is the foundation of our society. But we also should do everything we can to secure the borders with the best technology available, and not allow bad people in.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 12, 2019
On Civil Rights:
Starbucks did little to stop sexual harassment of employees
Starbucks has been sued many times by employees alleging sexual harassment and violence. While Starbucks is hardly unique among low-wage retailers, Schultz is personally responsible for this widespread problem in his business, as
it could easily be addressed by robust anti-harassment policies, including but not limited to union recognition, higher wages and strong in-store enforcement of existing anti-discrimination laws.
Source: Jacobin magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 1, 2019
On Health Care:
Single-payer health care is a false promise
Schultz earned praise for the benefits he provided Starbucks retail workers, including health-care coverage options for part-time employees. But he also has signaled a willingness to break with Democratic orthodoxy. "We have to go after entitlements,"
he said in the CNBC interview last year. He also dismissed as "false promises" the proposals for single-payer health care and guaranteed federal jobs that have become popular on the left, saying that they were fiscally unworkable.
Source: Washington Post on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jan 18, 2019
On Immigration:
Hire 10,000 refugees from Trump's Muslim-ban countries
As a chief executive, Schultz cast himself as a compassionate leader who wanted to use his company for social good. He earned praise for the benefits he provided Starbucks retail workers, including a stock ownership plan and the opportunity to attend
college free online.When Trump announced a ban on U.S. visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries in January 2017, Schultz announced a company goal of hiring 10,000 refugees in stores around the world.
Source: Washington Post on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jan 18, 2019
On Civil Rights:
Race Together: conversation on race with all Starbucks staff
Howard Schultz is leaving Starbucks at a tumultuous moment in Starbucks' history. The company drew protests in April after two black men were arrested while they were waiting inside a Philadelphia store. Starbucks closed 8,000 stores for an afternoon
last week to teach employees about racial bias."We realize that four hours of training is not going to solve racial inequity in America," Schultz told CNN last week. But he said, "We need to have the conversation. We need to start."
Schultz has addressed race before. After the police shooting death of an unarmed black man in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, Starbucks asked baristas to write "Race Together" on coffee cups in hopes
of starting conversations. "It's not going to solve racism, but I do believe it is the right thing to do at this time," Schultz said at the time.
Source: CBS Boston on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jun 4, 2018
On Corporations:
American Dream can't be accessible only in right zip code
Schultz, one of the most politically outspoken corporate leaders in America, has been rumored before as a potential Democratic candidate.He started at Starbucks in 1982 and served as chief executive from 1987 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2017.
He is leaving at a tumultuous moment in Starbucks' history [where Starbucks has ordered racial sensitivity training for all staff].
In a speech to Starbucks shareholders in 2016, Schultz said he feared that the opportunities that allowed him to achieve his American Dream--he grew up in subsidized housing in
Brooklyn--have escaped the grasp of too many people. "The American Dream can't be only accessible to people of privilege who are white and live in the right zip code," he said.
Source: CBS Boston on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jun 4, 2018
On Gun Control:
2013: Requested customers not bring guns to Starbucks
Schultz released an open letter containing a "respectful request that customers no longer bring firearms into our stores or outdoor seating areas." In the past Starbucks simply "followed local laws." This prompted gun enthusiasts to stage "Starbucks
Appreciation Days" while armed. Schultz said "we do not want these events in our stores. The presence of a weapon in our stores is unsettling and upsetting for many of our customers."
Source: The Economist magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Sep 18, 2013
Page last updated: Nov 01, 2021