• Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban critiqued President Donald Trump's trade plan on Bluesky.
• Cuban said Trump's aggressive tariffs, combined with DOGE cuts, could cause long-term economic harm.
• The combination of policies may lead the country to "a far worse situation than 2008," Cuban warned.

While President Donald Trump has acknowledged his aggressive tariff plan may result in "little pain" in the short term, some business figures, like billionaire "Shark Tank" star Mark Cuban, see a greater risk of long-term economic harm.

In a series of Bluesky posts Saturday, Cuban expanded on his previous critiques of Trump's trade policies. The Cost Plus Drugs cofounder suggested the extensive tariffs announced by the Trump administration on Wednesday, combined with cuts to the federal workforce spearheaded by the White House DOGE office, could result in a worse financial crisis than the Great Recession of 2008.

"If the new tariffs stay in place for multiple years, and are enforced and inflationary, and DOGE continues to cut and fire, we will be in a far worse situation than 2008," Cuban wrote in response to another user's question about the economic impacts of Trump's tariff plan.

The minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks did not expand upon why he sees the sweeping cuts to the federal workforce led by the DOGE office as related to the nation's economic health. However, the reductions have targeted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the tax evasion enforcement wing of the Internal Revenue Service, among other agencies.

Cuban and representatives for the Trump administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

During the 2008 financial crisis and its immediate aftermath, the country's GDP declined by more than 4%, the unemployment rate reached 10%, and the housing market crashed in what economists have recognized as the deepest recession since World War II.

The president, in comments to the press about his trade policy, has acknowledged, "We may have, short-term, some little pain, and people understand that," but in a Saturday post on Truth Social said, "ONLY THE WEAK WILL FAIL!"

The economic uncertainty stemming from Trump's tariff plan has sent the stock market spiraling downward and prompted consumers to stockpile essentials while cutting back on luxury goods. Economists and supply chain experts previously told Business Insider that increased import costs caused by the tariffs are expected to result in higher prices for everything from pantry staples like coffee and sugar to apparel and larger purchases like cars and appliances.

Cuban isn't alone in worrying about the lasting economic impacts of the president's policies. Many commentators in the financial field have questioned the tariffs and highlighted their potential consequences.

JPMorgan's chief global economist, in a research note to clients published on Thursday titled "There Will Be Blood," warned that the risk of the global economy falling into a recession increased from 40% to 60% in response to Wednesday's tariff announcement.

• Kevin Bacon discussed losing money in former financier Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
• Bacon told Esquire that he and his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, were "certainly angry" over the ordeal.
• The FBI called Madoff's operation "history's biggest Ponzi scheme."

Actor Kevin Bacon says he isn't jaded after losing money in former financier Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, but it still stings all these years later.

Bacon discussed the incident during a recent interview with Esquire, nearly two decades after Madoff's criminal operation crumbled.

Madoff, founder of an eponymous Wall Street firm, received a 150-year prison sentence in 2009 for leading "history's largest Ponzi scheme," according to the FBI.

Authorities arrested Madoff in December 2008 for securities fraud amounting to $64 billion. In 2021, Madoff died in federal prison at age 82.

Bacon and his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, were among those Madoff defrauded. It's unclear how much money the couple lost, but Bacon told the "SmartLess" podcast in 2022 that they kept "most" of their money with Madoff.

During his interview with Esquire, Bacon said the memory of Madoff still lingers nearly two decades later.

"I go to this gym. It has a few machines and only a handful of people there at any given time. There's no showers, it's very bare bones. But there's a leg press machine. A leg press can be brutal. You're on your back, and you're going like this," Bacon said. "The machine is right next to a window, and when I look out that window, I'm looking right at the building where Madoff was."

Bacon said the view of Madoff's old building is motivational.

"I'm in excruciating pain, doing the leg press, staring out that window. It's perfect, in a funny way, because I also have to think, 'I can get through this.' And that's how we felt about Madoff," Bacon said. "It sucked, and we were certainly angry and all the things. But then we woke up the next day and said, 'What do we got? We love each other. We love our children. We're healthy. No one took away our ability to make a living.' So we got back to work."

Those affected by the Ponzi scheme have received compensation through the Madoff Victim Fund. In December 2024, the Justice Department said the Madoff Victim Fund had paid $131.4 million, a fraction of what was lost, to about 23,400 victims.

Representatives for Kevin Bacon did not immediately respond to Business Insider.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's tax-cut negotiators say big progress has been made on Capitol Hill, and are optimistic about final passage by summer despite the measure's complexity, Treasury officials tell Axios.

Why it matters: With markets plunging after President Trump's tariffs, top administration officials see the extension of Trump's first-term tax cuts — set to expire at year's end — as a chance to show consumers and businesses that he has a broad growth and affordability agenda to benefit them.

State of play: Bessent on Saturday tweeted praise for the Senate's early-morning adoption of a "mega-MAGA" budget plan — which includes tax cuts and raising the debt ceiling — as "a major step toward pro-growth tax certainty and economic strength."

• "Making ... Trump Tax Cuts permanent will reward work, drive investment, and give families room to grow. Now it's time for the House to finish the job," Bessent added.
• Trump posted on Truth Social Friday night: "Big business is not worried about the Tariffs, because they know they are here to stay, but they are focused on the BIG, BEAUTIFUL DEAL, which will SUPERCHARGE our Economy. Very important. Going on right now!!!"

Behind the scenes: Trump and Bessent have both signaled urgency on the tax cuts. Administration negotiators say they've learned from Trump's 2017 tax-cut fight to get it done as quickly as possible.

• Administration officials are optimistic about final passage before Congress leaves for August recess.

What they're saying: "We're able to deliver on the urgency because of the unity" between the White House and congressional leaders, a Treasury official tells Axios.

• "Locking in tax policy will provide stability and certainty in the economy, and remove uncertainty for families, workers and small businesses," the official said. "Productivity will come from certainty. Growth is a big piece of this."

• Elon Musk on Saturday defended the work of the White House DOGE Office.
• Musk spoke remotely to a meeting of Italy's League Party, saying DOGE is "attacked like crazy."
• "We're only cutting the most obvious terrible expenses that make no sense," he argued.

Elon Musk on Saturday defended the White House DOGE Office, arguing that the task force is "extremely transparent." Musk has faced a growing backlash over his work to reshape the federal government.

"We're very transparent with the Department of Government Efficiency," Musk told Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini virtually at a meeting of Italy's League Party.

"Any action that we make, we post on the doge.gov website, and we post on our X account, so it's extreme transparency," he said.

Musk described the challenges he's faced while implementing President Donald Trump's vision of a leaner government.

"It's very difficult to reduce the size of the bureaucracy and government spending," he said. "It comes with immense opposition, even when the things that we are cutting make no sense at all."

"We're only cutting the most obvious terrible expenses that make no sense," he said. "Nonetheless, we get attacked like crazy."

Since its formation in January, DOGE staffers have upended myriad departments and agencies, from the Departments of Treasury and State to the Social Security Administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and USAID.

A new report from the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that DOGE's actions have led to over 216,000 firings throughout the federal workforce.

Pushback against Musk and DOGE, meanwhile, has swelled among the general public. Nationwide protests — called the "Tesla Takedown" — targeted the company he leads last week. At the nationwide anti-Trump demonstrations this weekend, Musk was again the focus of many protesters.

Musk's influence may be waning amid the growing backlash. On Tuesday, he suffered a major political loss as Susan Crawford, the Democratic-backed candidate in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, easily defeated conservative judge Brad Schimel. Musk's America PAC poured millions into the race to support Schimel.

This week was also a highly consequential one for Trump, as the president on Wednesday rolled out his "reciprocal" tariffs on dozens of trading partners — which has drawn broad criticism and caused one of the worst market sell-offs in recent memory.

Notably, while speaking with Salvini on Saturday, Musk said he wanted to see a "zero-tariff" system between the United States and Europe, a surprising break from the rhetoric coming from the Trump White House.

"I hope it's agreed that both Europe and the United States should move ideally, in my view, to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America," Musk said. "That's what I hope occurs."

• I heard my then 10-month-old baby screaming from the bathroom at the back of the plane.
• I've been cautious about his well-being since he was in the hospital with RSV at 5 months old.
• He had hit his head while changing his diaper, and I obsessed about his health during our trip.

We were somewhere over Greenland when I heard my 10-month-old start screaming from the back of the plane. My husband had taken him to the bathroom to change his diaper while I remained in our seats with our sleepy 7-year-old.

As passengers' heads started to turn toward the bathroom door, I felt embarrassed but not necessarily panicked (yet) — maybe he was just throwing a tantrum about the diaper change.

Then, suddenly, my husband was hurrying down the aisle toward me, toddler in arms. "I'm sorry," he said in a low voice. "I didn't mean to. I hit his head."

My heart sank.

He had been hospitalized before

We already had some PTSD when it came to our baby son Sunny's health and safety. At just 5 months old, he had been hospitalized with a bad case of RSV. One night, his coughs had turned into heaves as his tiny chest struggled to breathe, and we rushed him to the ER. From there, they took him in an ambulance to a pediatric hospital, where they suctioned his lungs.

I'll never forget the look on my 7-year-old's face as he watched his little brother get taken away in the ambulance. He begged for Sunny to come back.

Sunny did come back, but I don't think I realized until I was 30,000 feet above Greenland just how tenuous I felt Sunny's continued presence was. Now 10 months old, he was a strong and cheerful baby — but he was still a baby. Fragile, helpless.

It was an accident but I panicked

As my husband placed him in my lap on that flight, Sunny looked up at me with wide, wet eyes, screaming. "Head, mama! Head!" he cried. I could see the skin of his forehead already starting to change colors, forming a bright bump. I could have murdered my husband right then and there. I kept thinking, how could he be so careless?

Of course, it was an accident that could have happened to anyone: a parent scrambling to change a squirmy toddler's dirty diaper inside a too-tiny airplane bathroom. The parent's spatial reasoning being not his sharpest due to, you know, being exhausted on a long international flight with a baby, he steps with quickness and confidence through the bathroom door without any idea that in doing so, he's whacking that baby's soft forehead sharply on the frame.

It didn't help that I was working as a parenting editor at the time and was immersed daily in an excess of news stories and studies about all things baby. I knew very well how serious a head injury can be in children. I had read story after story about head bumps gone terribly wrong.

And in the moment, as my sweet toddler sobbed in my lap, those stories were all that filled my head.

I obsessively monitored him

As we landed in Iceland, our destination, I tried to watch for any of the telltale signs of distress in Sunny: nonstop crying, vomiting multiple times, noticeable changes in body movements, sleeping more than normal, or having problems waking up. Luckily, Sunny was free from almost all of the above, minus sleep changes, which could easily be chalked up to jet lag.

Still, I continued to obsess over monitoring Sunny through the entirety of our trip — as we explored geysers and waterfalls and ate cardamom buns and fermented shark. I spent sleepless nights at our Airbnb listening to Sunny breathe and annoying him by waking him up to ensure that he did, indeed, wake up. And, perhaps worst of all, I continued to quietly blame and resent my husband for the injury; I could hardly look at him the whole week.

My kids, however, forgot the injury by day two in Reykjavik. Sunny was running around, swimming in thermal pools, and playing with Icelandic tots.

Ultimately, Sunny had a far better time on our trip than I did, and the injury to his head ended up being milder than the injury to my psyche as a mom. Sunny's forehead bump had yellowed into a faded memory by the flight home. As our boys played peek-a-boo in their seats, shouting "halló!" at each other (pretty much the only Icelandic they had picked up), I was finally ready to hold my husband's hand again.