Latest / Balance of Power / Trump Shifts Message to the Economy
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- 0:02Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. You're listening to the
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- 0:25Speaker 2: We're here in Washington, where, of course we're keeping you
- 0:27Speaker 2: updated on what we hear from the administration around the
- 0:30Speaker 2: deal with Iran that is in the process of being negotiated,
- 0:33Speaker 2: and what we're hearing about that deal from those who
- 0:36Speaker 2: are concerned here in DC. That includes Senator Roger Ricker Wicker,
- 0:41Speaker 2: who of course heads up important committee in the Senate
- 0:45Speaker 2: that oversees the US Armed Forces, who just told our
- 0:48Speaker 2: colleagues on Capitol Hill that he doesn't think iron deserves
- 0:52Speaker 2: any sanctions relief, having already made clear that he has
- 0:55Speaker 2: hesitations about what the US is trying to do here diplomatically,
- 0:59Speaker 2: but sank relief is what Iran has already received. We
- 1:02Speaker 2: saw the waivers for Iranian energy exports for sixty days
- 1:06Speaker 2: the period of course of these negotiations, and now there
- 1:09Speaker 2: is discussion on the unfreezing of assets as Iran says
- 1:12Speaker 2: it will be having about twelve billion dollars in assets
- 1:16Speaker 2: and two tranches unfrozen. President Trump says the US will
- 1:20Speaker 2: control that, something that Iran disputes. And here's how the
- 1:23Speaker 2: President answer to that in the Oval Office yesterday.
- 1:26Speaker 3: If the sanctions go out, money is going to be
- 1:29Speaker 3: put into this country. All that money's coming back in
- 1:32Speaker 3: the form of purchases of food, which they desperately needed.
- 1:35Speaker 4: Can you assure that they're ideas won't use profits from
- 1:38Speaker 4: oil sales to three buildings.
- 1:39Speaker 3: Those charity, Well, then that's supposed to be doing that,
- 1:42Speaker 3: so I will say, but they're supposed to use money
- 1:44Speaker 3: to buy.
- 1:45Speaker 5: Food for the people.
- 1:47Speaker 6: Of course, Iran now says twelve billion dollars in frozen
- 1:50Speaker 6: funds set to be released two installments six billion dollars each.
- 1:53Speaker 6: That's coming from Iran, not the administration. Of course, that
- 1:57Speaker 6: money was supposed to be tied to improved behavior, meeting
- 2:01Speaker 6: certain milestones.
- 2:02Speaker 5: And that's where we start with.
- 2:03Speaker 6: Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall, our Washington correspondent on the north lawn
- 2:07Speaker 6: of the White House. Are we hearing anything about this
- 2:09Speaker 6: money today from the administration, Tyler, Iran makes it seem
- 2:14Speaker 6: like the checks are already in the mail.
- 2:16Speaker 4: Well, Joe, at this point, we hadn't gotten confirmation from
- 2:19Speaker 4: this White House, including on the amount of Iranian assets
- 2:23Speaker 4: that will be unfrozen. President Trump didn't have the chance
- 2:26Speaker 4: to talk to press here before he headed out to
- 2:28Speaker 4: Pennsylvania because there's a bad weather call due to the
- 2:31Speaker 4: rain in Washington, d C. So he just headed straight
- 2:34Speaker 4: to Joint Bass Andrews. We didn't get that post though,
- 2:36Speaker 4: as you mentioned on truth Social earlier today, where President
- 2:39Speaker 4: Trump did seem to indicate that an unfreezing of Iranian
- 2:42Speaker 4: assets will be in the pipeline, but that that money
- 2:45Speaker 4: will only be tied towards going towards US agricultural purchases.
- 2:50Speaker 4: This is something that we heard the Iranian Foreign Minister
- 2:52Speaker 4: dispute earlier today, saying that ultimately Iran will be able
- 2:56Speaker 4: to quote freely use these assets as they wish. And
- 3:00Speaker 4: we should point out that in the text of the
- 3:02Speaker 4: memorandum of understanding, it is our understanding that it does
- 3:05Speaker 4: designate that the Iranian Central Bank can specify the beneficiaries
- 3:09Speaker 4: of these unfrozen funds. It's going to be just one
- 3:13Speaker 4: of the threads that we watch moving forward. Here where
- 3:15Speaker 4: there seems to be some discrepancy, at least publicly between
- 3:19Speaker 4: the US and Iran, as you mentioned. Of course, this
- 3:21Speaker 4: White House, though, has maintained that any such financial benefits
- 3:25Speaker 4: will ultimately accrue over time. They will be based on progress.
- 3:29Speaker 4: That includes this temporary sanction waiver that we are seeing
- 3:32Speaker 4: for Iranian crew to hit the market, that is for
- 3:34Speaker 4: that sixty day period for this extension of the ceasefire.
- 3:39Speaker 2: Yeap, and of course President Trump was pointing out nineteen
- 3:42Speaker 2: million barrels of oil flowing out of the straight of
- 3:44Speaker 2: Horror moves, Tyler. But there is a major question as
- 3:47Speaker 2: to what happens after sixty days with the strait specifically,
- 3:51Speaker 2: and whether or not there will be tolls, fees, for
- 3:54Speaker 2: administrative costs, whatever you want to call it. I would
- 3:57Speaker 2: imagine that's something that the Secretary of State Market Rubio
- 4:00Speaker 2: is going to be discussing with other golf states on
- 4:02Speaker 2: his trip this week.
- 4:04Speaker 4: Definitely, Kaye. Also, when you look at analysis that shows
- 4:06Speaker 4: us that if any such tolls were ultimately imposed in
- 4:09Speaker 4: the straight over removes, our golf allies would be the
- 4:11Speaker 4: ones paying the brunt of them. As we start to see,
- 4:14Speaker 4: as you mentioned, these flows tick up. President Trump saying
- 4:17Speaker 4: nineteen million barrels crossed yesterday. That is in line with
- 4:20Speaker 4: pre conflict levels, closer to about twenty million barrels that
- 4:24Speaker 4: used to pass per day before the war began. Secretary
- 4:27Speaker 4: of State Mark Rubio has this regional tour. He's going
- 4:29Speaker 4: to be in Kuwait, the UAE, and Bahrain, of course,
- 4:34Speaker 4: major producers trying to transit through the strait. Just yesterday
- 4:39Speaker 4: we had reporting from Bloomberg News that four empty LNG
- 4:42Speaker 4: tankers were making their way back to Qatar, in the
- 4:45Speaker 4: largest number of such tankers that we've seen transit so
- 4:48Speaker 4: far since the cease fire began. Definitely going to be
- 4:52Speaker 4: something to watch here. I'll also point out that, of
- 4:55Speaker 4: course Kaylee, the Secretary of State, is going to be
- 4:57Speaker 4: trying to reassure our regional allies that the US is
- 5:01Speaker 4: pushing for those curves when it comes to Iran's nuclear
- 5:04Speaker 4: program and the other big headline that we've been tracking
- 5:06Speaker 4: today appears to be a discrepancy when it comes to
- 5:08Speaker 4: the future of what inspections are going to look like,
- 5:11Speaker 4: with Iran disputing that they made the concession that we
- 5:14Speaker 4: could see inspections as soon as this week. According to
- 5:16Speaker 4: President Trump.
- 5:19Speaker 2: All right, Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall live on the rainy north
- 5:22Speaker 2: lawn of the White House on this Tuesday, Thank you
- 5:24Speaker 2: so much. And of course, as we consider energy flowing
- 5:28Speaker 2: out of the Strait of Horror moves where prior to
- 5:30Speaker 2: this conflict a fifth of global energy supplies flowed out
- 5:34Speaker 2: of it, of course is really the crux for the
- 5:37Speaker 2: direction of oil prices. There was twenty million barrels a day, Joe,
- 5:40Speaker 2: as you point out, prior to this conflict, each and
- 5:43Speaker 2: every day that was flowing through the strait. And the
- 5:44Speaker 2: question is whether or not we're going to be able
- 5:46Speaker 2: to sustainably get back to those levels and therefore see
- 5:49Speaker 2: the kind of oil prices we saw prior to the launch.
- 5:52Speaker 6: Of Operation Every Heart nineteen million to your point, as
- 5:55Speaker 6: the President suggested on truth socially, he calls that an
- 5:57Speaker 6: all time record, which clearly it's not. The IEA said
- 6:00Speaker 6: we were at just over twenty million barrels a day
- 6:02Speaker 6: at that point. But I'll tell you what, oil prices
- 6:05Speaker 6: once again today are heading lower. We're at about seventy
- 6:08Speaker 6: three dollars WTI, just shy of seventy seven for Brent
- 6:12Speaker 6: down almost one to little more than one.
- 6:14Speaker 5: Percent for both.
- 6:16Speaker 6: Despite the news, really nothing has actually changed other than
- 6:19Speaker 6: the fact that we can say the Strait is open.
- 6:20Speaker 2: Well, yes, and of course that's something that President Trump
- 6:23Speaker 2: wants to herald as he points to the fact that
- 6:25Speaker 2: oil prices are going lower, as he did in the
- 6:27Speaker 2: Oval Office yesterday.
- 6:29Speaker 3: The way we're doing it, we have the opposite of
- 6:31Speaker 3: a depression. We're doing really well. The numbers are incredible.
- 6:36Speaker 3: The oil is at a level that nobody's ever seen before.
- 6:39Speaker 3: Oil prices are way down, I think, very comparable to
- 6:42Speaker 3: what we're setting records. We have the strongest ecademy we've
- 6:46Speaker 3: ever had.
- 6:48Speaker 2: So for more on those oil prices specifically, we turn
- 6:52Speaker 2: now to the President of the American Petroleum Institute, Mike Summers,
- 6:55Speaker 2: who is here with us in our Washington, d C studio. Mike,
- 6:58Speaker 2: welcome back to Bloomberg TV and Radio.
- 7:00Speaker 5: Great to be with you.
- 7:01Speaker 2: ABI just put out a new energy security framework, American
- 7:05Speaker 2: Energy Security Framework, and part of this you have in
- 7:08Speaker 2: there is working with allies in the Persian Gulf to
- 7:10Speaker 2: accelerate opportunities to reduce reliance on the straight of for moves.
- 7:16Speaker 2: How quickly can that reliance be reduced or are we
- 7:19Speaker 2: already there? Due to the fact that the Strait was
- 7:21Speaker 2: effectively closed for months, it is.
- 7:23Speaker 7: Not too early for us to start thinking about what
- 7:25Speaker 7: we should do after this crisis is over, which is
- 7:29Speaker 7: what our American Energy Security Framework is all about. It's
- 7:32Speaker 7: about providing resilience for the energy system that clearly needs it.
- 7:36Speaker 7: What we've seen over the course of the last three
- 7:37Speaker 7: months with the Straight being closed, of course, has been
- 7:40Speaker 7: a price hike in oil, But at the same time,
- 7:43Speaker 7: it's also shown us that there's a reckoning going on
- 7:46Speaker 7: right now between where we get our energy and where
- 7:49Speaker 7: we should be getting our energy. So the focus of
- 7:52Speaker 7: our framework is really on three things. Increasing supply here
- 7:56Speaker 7: in the United States and throughout the world, building infrastructure
- 7:59Speaker 7: that the world's going to need to move that energy,
- 8:01Speaker 7: and finally, providing resilience to the existing energy structure. So
- 8:05Speaker 7: what we're talking about is how do you build out
- 8:07Speaker 7: infrastructure not just here in the United States, but also
- 8:09Speaker 7: in the Middle East so that we don't have to
- 8:11Speaker 7: traverse the Strait as much as we currently do to
- 8:14Speaker 7: get the products that Americans need every single day.
- 8:16Speaker 6: Okay, Mike, So let's walk through a couple of these,
- 8:18Speaker 6: because your timing here is critical as we have just
- 8:22Speaker 6: lived through this extended closure of the Strait and it
- 8:25Speaker 6: starts here at home. With regard to securing the energy supply,
- 8:30Speaker 6: you've got a couple of ideas, including upgrading the Strategic
- 8:33Speaker 6: Petroleum Reserve.
- 8:34Speaker 5: What do we need to do?
- 8:35Speaker 4: So?
- 8:35Speaker 7: The strategy to Petroleum Reserve was actually developed in the
- 8:38Speaker 7: late nineteen seventies in response to the last Iranian oil crisis.
- 8:42Speaker 7: This was Henry Kissinger's big concept and coming out of
- 8:45Speaker 7: that crisis, we also formed the International Energy Agency at
- 8:48Speaker 7: that time. So the SPR has not been upgraded since
- 8:52Speaker 7: the late nineteen seventies ever damaged. It's been damaged. In fact,
- 8:56Speaker 7: every time you withdraw oil from the SPR, the infrastructure
- 8:59Speaker 7: slowly breaks down. So it is in desperate need of upgrading.
- 9:04Speaker 7: And what we're suggesting is we need to upgrade the SPR.
- 9:07Speaker 7: We need to get the engineering right. Currently it is
- 9:10Speaker 7: supposed to be able to deliver about four and a
- 9:12Speaker 7: half million barrels of oil a day from it. It
- 9:15Speaker 7: hasn't during this crisis. It's only delivered about a million
- 9:18Speaker 7: barrels a day. Because the engineering needs to be upgraded significantly.
- 9:22Speaker 2: Well just one more question on the SPR before we
- 9:25Speaker 2: move on here. It also needs to be refilled infrastructure aside.
- 9:30Speaker 2: It's hit the lowest level in forty three years, and
- 9:33Speaker 2: I just wonder how quickly you really anticipate we can
- 9:36Speaker 2: do that, and how it's going to compete with demand
- 9:37Speaker 2: from other countries who are also trying to rebuild their
- 9:40Speaker 2: own stock biles, and with just the daily needs in
- 9:42Speaker 2: this country and everywhere else.
- 9:43Speaker 3: Well.
- 9:43Speaker 7: I'd also remind you that we entered this crisis at
- 9:47Speaker 7: very low levels of the SPR because it was used
- 9:49Speaker 7: during the previous administration, not because we were in an
- 9:52Speaker 7: energy security dilemma, but really because they wanted to lower
- 9:55Speaker 7: prices going into midterm elections. So we cannot be using
- 9:58Speaker 7: the SPR for political persons. Is it has to be
- 10:01Speaker 7: in times of energy security crises, which is what we've
- 10:04Speaker 7: seen over the course of the last few months. We're
- 10:06Speaker 7: record lows now because of the near nine million barrels
- 10:10Speaker 7: a week that we have been withdrawing from it. So
- 10:13Speaker 7: it is now is the time, particularly when we're dealing
- 10:16Speaker 7: with lower prices, we should start thinking about upgrading reserve
- 10:19Speaker 7: and how we refill it in a timely manner.
- 10:21Speaker 6: Really interesting that includes as well new offshore leasing, expanded
- 10:25Speaker 6: access in the Gulf, and ensuring reliable fuel supply through
- 10:30Speaker 6: what you call a functional renewable fuel standard.
- 10:33Speaker 7: What is that, Well, currently the Renewable Fuel Standard, which
- 10:36Speaker 7: of course is the way we providethol or put ethanol
- 10:39Speaker 7: in gasoline. What we've actually proposed is a system where
- 10:43Speaker 7: we're no longer providing what are called small refiner exemptions
- 10:47Speaker 7: to mid size refiners, which is essentially a bailout to
- 10:51Speaker 7: refiners that aren't able to function with the RFS in place,
- 10:55Speaker 7: and in exchange for a relook at the the RFS,
- 10:59Speaker 7: we're proposing that we actually have E fifteenanol fifteen percent
- 11:03Speaker 7: ethanol within the gasoline fleet. So this is a proposal
- 11:07Speaker 7: that has made its way through the United States House
- 11:09Speaker 7: of Representatives. It's something that the United States Senate should
- 11:11Speaker 7: consider it now as well.
- 11:14Speaker 2: I would just point out that President Trump just touched
- 11:16Speaker 2: down in Pennsylvania, where he'll be speaking later this afternoon.
- 11:19Speaker 2: He's gaggling with reporters right now, and if he brings
- 11:22Speaker 2: any newsworthy comments, we will bring that to our audience.
- 11:25Speaker 2: But of course, this is a president in Pennsylvania, which
- 11:27Speaker 2: obviously is a robust energy state. In many ways, it
- 11:31Speaker 2: is a president who campaigned in part on drill baby
- 11:33Speaker 2: drill and leashing American energy. Cutting regulatory red tape and
- 11:39Speaker 2: permitting reform is part of that. It's also one of
- 11:41Speaker 2: your ideas here. This is a discussion it feels like
- 11:44Speaker 2: we've been having in Washington.
- 11:46Speaker 5: Forever for decades.
- 11:47Speaker 2: Is this time any different?
- 11:49Speaker 7: I certainly hope so. And I give the President a
- 11:51Speaker 7: lot of credit for focusing on American production. We're now
- 11:54Speaker 7: producing more oil and natural gas than we ever have
- 11:57Speaker 7: in the history of this country, and by the way,
- 11:59Speaker 7: the more oil and go in any country has ever
- 12:01Speaker 7: produced in the history of the world. And a lot
- 12:03Speaker 7: of that has to do with the president's policies that
- 12:05Speaker 7: he's advanced. But the one big thing that's missing is
- 12:08Speaker 7: comprehensive permanent reform done by Congress in a bicameral way.
- 12:12Speaker 7: So we're working with both sides of the aisle to
- 12:15Speaker 7: get this accomplished. And I will say President Trump has
- 12:18Speaker 7: done everything that he can do from the executive branch,
- 12:20Speaker 7: and the courts have done everything that they've done with
- 12:22Speaker 7: three major Supreme Court decisions. The only branch that hasn't
- 12:26Speaker 7: acted is Congress, But we're hopeful that in the month
- 12:29Speaker 7: of July, with the negotiators that are at the table now,
- 12:32Speaker 7: including Shelley Moore Capito from West Virginia and Martin Heinri
- 12:35Speaker 7: from New Mexico and Sheldon white House from Rhode Island,
- 12:37Speaker 7: that the Senate can actually finally pass a bill that
- 12:40Speaker 7: gets enacted into law.
- 12:41Speaker 5: Well, to your point out, for all the talk, that
- 12:43Speaker 5: would be quite a moment.
- 12:44Speaker 6: Mike's strengthening resilience in supply chains you point out, and
- 12:48Speaker 6: I think Kaylee already highlighted this, working with allies in
- 12:51Speaker 6: the Gulf to accelerate opportunities that reduce reliance on the
- 12:54Speaker 6: Strait of Horror moves. After everything we just went through,
- 12:57Speaker 6: what do we need more pipe, more storage or just
- 13:00Speaker 6: staying away from that part of the world.
- 13:02Speaker 7: Well, here is the key. If it weren't for the
- 13:05Speaker 7: infrastructure that the Saudis and the Emioradis put into place
- 13:09Speaker 7: in advance of this crisis, we would be in a
- 13:12Speaker 7: much different position.
- 13:13Speaker 5: Prices would be much higher.
- 13:15Speaker 7: Thankfully, they put in a major pipeline, the East West
- 13:19Speaker 7: Pipeline through Saudi, another major pipeline through UAE. Both of
- 13:22Speaker 7: them are talking about expanding those pipelines right now as
- 13:26Speaker 7: lifelines to get around the Strait of Horn moves. I
- 13:29Speaker 7: expect that investment's going to continue. What I'm suggesting and
- 13:32Speaker 7: what API is suggesting in this plan is that to
- 13:35Speaker 7: the extent that they need assistance in building out that infrastructure,
- 13:37Speaker 7: the Export Import Bank and other resources here from the
- 13:40Speaker 7: federal level should be there because we're still very reliant
- 13:45Speaker 7: and the world is reliant on those products that are
- 13:47Speaker 7: coming out of the Arabian golf. So that's one idea
- 13:51Speaker 7: that we've advanced. But in addition to that, I think
- 13:54Speaker 7: we need to really focus on advancing Western Hemisphere energy.
- 13:59Speaker 7: That means, yes, ensuring that we have the resources that
- 14:02Speaker 7: we need here in the United States and places like
- 14:03Speaker 7: Alaska and North Dakota and of course the prolific Permian
- 14:06Speaker 7: Basin and the Gulf of America. But in addition to that,
- 14:10Speaker 7: they're huge oil plays happening right here in the Western
- 14:13Speaker 7: Hemisphere that are very exciting. Exon and Chevron, for example,
- 14:16Speaker 7: are in Guyana. Argentina is increasingly becoming an important play.
- 14:21Speaker 7: Venezuela that where we were only importing about one hundred
- 14:25Speaker 7: thousand barrels a day from Venezuela before we went in
- 14:27Speaker 7: to get Maduro. Now we're importing almost five hundred thousand
- 14:30Speaker 7: barrels a day. That's where we should focus on the
- 14:33Speaker 7: North South alliance, not the East West alliance.
- 14:36Speaker 5: I'm glad you can come talk to us about all
- 14:38Speaker 5: of this, Mike.
- 14:38Speaker 6: This is a critical timing here as we try to
- 14:40Speaker 6: figure out the next chapter in this whole story. He's
- 14:43Speaker 6: the president of the American Patrollingum Institute. Mike Summers, we
- 14:46Speaker 6: thank you as always. With some headlines coming from the
- 14:48Speaker 6: President on the tarmac again, he says we will talk
- 14:51Speaker 6: voter ID Bill with Republican lawmakers tomorrow, knowing that he
- 14:55Speaker 6: is going to be headed to the hill tomorrow on
- 14:56Speaker 6: a busy day for the president, adding there is no
- 14:59Speaker 6: rush to get inspect on the ground in Iran. Much
- 15:02Speaker 6: more to follow here on Bloomberg as we assemble our
- 15:05Speaker 6: political panel. Next, stay with us on Balance of Power.
- 15:08Speaker 6: We'll have much more coming up after this.
- 15:13Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcasts Ketsas
- 15:16Speaker 1: live weekdays at noon and five pm. E's durn on
- 15:19Speaker 1: Apple Cocklay and Android Auto. With the Bloomberg Business app.
- 15:23Speaker 1: You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our
- 15:26Speaker 1: flagship New York station. Does say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
- 15:32Speaker 2: Before we leave the markets? Do you want to note
- 15:34Speaker 2: the red headline that just crossed the Bloomberg terminal. SpaceX
- 15:37Speaker 2: set to raise twenty five billion dollars from its debut
- 15:40Speaker 2: high grade bond sale. This is after we saw eighty
- 15:43Speaker 2: nine billion dollars in demand for this debt offering. Interestingly,
- 15:47Speaker 2: SpaceX is rebounding today after a couple of days of losses.
- 15:50Speaker 2: The stock right now is up about six percent on
- 15:54Speaker 2: the day. But this just underscores, Joe, the massive amount
- 15:57Speaker 2: of capital that is going to be required for SpaceX
- 16:00Speaker 2: to actually deliver on what it promised investors in that
- 16:02Speaker 2: IPO perspectus, this notion of orbital data centers and everything else.
- 16:07Speaker 2: You're going to need a lot of money to do
- 16:08Speaker 2: that and to finance it. In part, they're obviously tapping
- 16:11Speaker 2: the debt market even after raising billions of dollars in
- 16:14Speaker 2: their IPO.
- 16:15Speaker 6: Asteroid mining is still the part that I'm looking forward to.
- 16:18Speaker 6: But yeah, every time we question whether the money is
- 16:21Speaker 6: going to be there, the money shows up, and to
- 16:23Speaker 6: think that the stock is catching a bid right now
- 16:25Speaker 6: is also interesting, up six percent.
- 16:26Speaker 5: We'll keep tabs on SpaceX throughout the day.
- 16:29Speaker 6: Micron is still hurting ahead of earnings tomorrow, down sharply
- 16:31Speaker 6: at ten actually make it eleven percent loss here, which
- 16:35Speaker 6: is the reason, one reason at least why we're seeing
- 16:37Speaker 6: pretty big losses on the Nasdaq.
- 16:39Speaker 5: In Vidia down three percent now too.
- 16:41Speaker 2: Yeah, so maybe today is not a day when President
- 16:44Speaker 2: Trump is going to be touting record stock markets, although
- 16:47Speaker 2: that won't necessarily stop him from doing so. But he
- 16:51Speaker 2: is going to talk about the economy in Pennsylvania, where
- 16:53Speaker 2: he just touched down. It's an event that is going
- 16:56Speaker 2: to be focused in part on affordability and gas prices.
- 16:59Speaker 2: I would imagine visiting a Mac trucks y facility, but
- 17:03Speaker 2: this is part of the affordability tour, right what the
- 17:05Speaker 2: White House promise the President was going to be focused
- 17:08Speaker 2: on at the start of this year, a midterm election.
- 17:10Speaker 6: Year, President leaving the bubble once again. This is his
- 17:12Speaker 6: fifth visit to Pennsylvania, which is remarkable. Mcunjie is the
- 17:17Speaker 6: name of the town, a suburb of Allentown where the
- 17:19Speaker 6: Mack truck plant is. And yeah, diesel prices are a
- 17:22Speaker 6: pretty big deal there, so we'll be curious to hear
- 17:24Speaker 6: how he frames affordability, which he has described as a
- 17:26Speaker 6: Democrat hoax, having said recently in the Oval Office that
- 17:29Speaker 6: he loves the inflation. Of course, he's going to be
- 17:32Speaker 6: joined as well by somebody who could use the help.
- 17:34Speaker 6: Congressman Ryan Mackenzie, Republican and Lehigh Valley was already speaking
- 17:38Speaker 6: at that event.
- 17:38Speaker 5: President should be there shortly, Kayley.
- 17:40Speaker 6: As we assemble our political panel for their thoughts on
- 17:44Speaker 6: the message of affordability today and the impact of everything
- 17:47Speaker 6: that we have been talking about with regard to geopolitics.
- 17:49Speaker 6: Bloomberg Politics contributors Rick Davis and Genie Shanzano join Rick
- 17:53Speaker 6: as our Republican strategist and partner at Stone Court Capital,
- 17:56Speaker 6: Genie our Democratic analyst and democracy visiting fellow at Harvard
- 18:00Speaker 6: Kennedy School's Ash Center. What will be the message from
- 18:03Speaker 6: the President today, Rick, He's been focused on talks with Iran.
- 18:07Speaker 6: He's been focused on the Reflecting Pool and other items here,
- 18:10Speaker 6: including a UFC fight in Washington and the big MAGA
- 18:13Speaker 6: rally this week. He has to come down to the
- 18:15Speaker 6: message of affordability once again.
- 18:17Speaker 5: However, what will it be today.
- 18:20Speaker 8: Well, I would think that the White House would want
- 18:22Speaker 8: him talking about the housing bill that's made its way
- 18:24Speaker 8: in a by Parson fashion through the House and Senate
- 18:27Speaker 8: to land on his desk, should be front and center
- 18:30Speaker 8: as an accomplishment of his administration the Republican Party. To
- 18:34Speaker 8: get that done by partisanship is not a bad thing
- 18:37Speaker 8: to be talking about. In Pennsylvania. It's one of the
- 18:40Speaker 8: rare states that still has a split Senate delegation, just
- 18:45Speaker 8: a couple left in the country that's not either all
- 18:48Speaker 8: red or all blue. And it pretends the kind of
- 18:52Speaker 8: district that the President's going to be in today, as
- 18:54Speaker 8: you mentioned, you know, Ryan McKenzie, in a tough toss
- 18:57Speaker 8: up kind of election, that that could be very very
- 19:02Speaker 8: important to the Republican Caucus and the House of Representatives.
- 19:05Speaker 8: But look, he's probably distracted. He's going to meet with
- 19:10Speaker 8: the Senate leadership and wreck in the caucus tomorrow for
- 19:15Speaker 8: lunch and going to be talking about that crazy Save
- 19:19Speaker 8: America bill that he's holding the Senate hostage over, and
- 19:24Speaker 8: I bet you he makes a case for it today too.
- 19:29Speaker 2: Well, yeah, and he talked about that with reporters when
- 19:31Speaker 2: he landed the airport Genie talking about the fact that
- 19:35Speaker 2: at that luncheon tomorrow with Senate Republicans, he is going
- 19:38Speaker 2: to talk about the Save America Act. When we consider
- 19:42Speaker 2: the audience that he'll find in Pennsylvania today, how much
- 19:46Speaker 2: is that what voters really want to be hearing from
- 19:49Speaker 2: the president about. Is that the right message to be
- 19:52Speaker 2: bringing in one word?
- 19:54Speaker 9: No, And you know, I'm just listening to Rick, and
- 19:57Speaker 9: you can see the White House whole team putting the
- 20:00Speaker 9: President in a position to say and do all the
- 20:02Speaker 9: right things. It's a critical district in a critical state.
- 20:06Speaker 9: The focus has got to be on the economy. And yet, Kaylee,
- 20:09Speaker 9: I look at his truth social and I looked about
- 20:12Speaker 9: fifteen minutes ago, and the last four posts were about
- 20:15Speaker 9: guess what the reflecting pool? And this sort of just
- 20:19Speaker 9: summarizes where the president's head is versus where the pole
- 20:23Speaker 9: teams people like Rick Davis and you know, voters really
- 20:28Speaker 9: want him to be, which is talking about things like
- 20:30Speaker 9: the housing bill that is passing, as Rick mentioned, talking
- 20:34Speaker 9: more importantly even about the economy, about inflation. And I
- 20:38Speaker 9: think we can't forget that this plant he's visiting, same
- 20:41Speaker 9: one that Joe Biden visited, is one in which they
- 20:45Speaker 9: were hit not just as a result of what's happened
- 20:48Speaker 9: in Iran, but also his favorite word, tariffs, and all
- 20:52Speaker 9: of that has cost them jobs, and all of that
- 20:55Speaker 9: has cost him support, especially among white, non college educated voters,
- 21:01Speaker 9: who voted for him by like sixty five percent in
- 21:04Speaker 9: the twenty twenty four election. But the latest polls in
- 21:07Speaker 9: Pennsylvania show they're now down to about thirty nine percent,
- 21:11Speaker 9: which is better than the average American poll, but still
- 21:15Speaker 9: a huge problem for Republicans and a huge problem for
- 21:18Speaker 9: Donald Trump.
- 21:20Speaker 6: Well, so we come back around to the same kind
- 21:22Speaker 6: of questions every time he hits the road. Rick, is
- 21:24Speaker 6: it more important for Donald Trump to be out and
- 21:27Speaker 6: in person, regardless of the message, or would Susie Wiles
- 21:32Speaker 6: rather keep him in the White House if he's not
- 21:34Speaker 6: going to talk about affordability?
- 21:36Speaker 8: Well, I do think Susie Wilds declared at the beginning
- 21:39Speaker 8: of this election cycle that no matter what they do,
- 21:42Speaker 8: this election is going to be about Donald Trump, so
- 21:44Speaker 8: they might as well lean into it and try and
- 21:47Speaker 8: influence it. And at that point in time, they declared
- 21:50Speaker 8: they would be out talking about affordability, about cost of
- 21:53Speaker 8: living every single week, and that was twelve weeks ago
- 21:56Speaker 8: and they've been out five times. So I know there's
- 21:59Speaker 8: been a lot going on, and you know, you got
- 22:01Speaker 8: wars in the Middle East and all kinds of other issues.
- 22:04Speaker 8: But at a time when you know Republicans are really
- 22:07Speaker 8: down and out in the president's images at one of
- 22:10Speaker 8: the lowest levels in history, you would think that they
- 22:14Speaker 8: would try to stick to a schedule that keeps the
- 22:16Speaker 8: President out and about because I don't think it's avoidable.
- 22:19Speaker 8: I think Susie Wilds is right. This is going to
- 22:21Speaker 8: be about Donald Trump no matter what they want. And
- 22:25Speaker 8: if he's going to go out and sell, he's got
- 22:26Speaker 8: to sell. But he can't talk about reflecting pools, and
- 22:29Speaker 8: he can't talk about ballrooms, and he can't talk about arches,
- 22:32Speaker 8: and he can't talk about all this stuff that voters
- 22:35Speaker 8: could not care less about and actually get angry when
- 22:38Speaker 8: to hear him talking about it.
- 22:41Speaker 2: Well, So, if you're Ryan McKenzie rick, a swing district Republican,
- 22:47Speaker 2: is it wise to be aligning yourself with the president
- 22:51Speaker 2: in this way headlining an event together?
- 22:55Speaker 8: Again, He's stuck, right, he doesn't have any choice. He
- 22:58Speaker 8: looks at his numbers and if I don't get the base.
- 23:01Speaker 8: MAGA vote out on toast. Mi Glauler did it with
- 23:04Speaker 8: Trump the other day. I mean, could not have a
- 23:06Speaker 8: more independent Republican in a state that absolutely shouldn't have
- 23:10Speaker 8: Donald Trump around him. But you know, he saw the
- 23:12Speaker 8: base and he realized if I lose the base, I
- 23:15Speaker 8: lose the election. And I think Mackenzie is looking at
- 23:18Speaker 8: the same construction. The reality is you can't you can't
- 23:22Speaker 8: get any kind of swing voters if you lose your base, right,
- 23:25Speaker 8: it doesn't matter. So you got to start with the basics.
- 23:28Speaker 8: And that's where we are the summer before the midterms.
- 23:31Speaker 8: Is worrying about the basics?
- 23:34Speaker 6: Well interesting, I suspect that Ryan mackenzie is also thinking
- 23:38Speaker 6: about these numbers today in the Washington Post, Genie, and
- 23:40Speaker 6: I'm curious how you're looking at this. An analysis by
- 23:44Speaker 6: the Post fines Americans are voting in Democratic primaries and
- 23:48Speaker 6: in special elections this year in far greater numbers than
- 23:51Speaker 6: we've seen before. Twelve point six million ballots cast in
- 23:55Speaker 6: Democratic House primaries versus eight point six million in Republican ones.
- 24:01Speaker 6: We don't want to read too far into this, but
- 24:03Speaker 6: I'm wondering how you see that playing out in the general.
- 24:07Speaker 9: Yeah, I'm so glad you mentioned this, Joe, because this
- 24:09Speaker 9: is a critical critical issue in the midterm, which is
- 24:13Speaker 9: enthusiasm and turn out Esrick was just talking about, and
- 24:17Speaker 9: we are seeing this writ large. The Washington Post story
- 24:20Speaker 9: you just referenced today is a really good example. We
- 24:23Speaker 9: also saw the latest Maris pol and the latest Maris
- 24:26Speaker 9: poll shows that among Republicans, Donald Trump still has large approval,
- 24:32Speaker 9: but the strength and the enthusiasm of approval amongst Republicans
- 24:38Speaker 9: as it pertains to Trump has declined over twelve points
- 24:41Speaker 9: in a year. So it's not that you know, members
- 24:44Speaker 9: of the GOP are saying, oh, we don't like Trump
- 24:47Speaker 9: and you know we're going to go Democratic, not by
- 24:49Speaker 9: any means. It's that you're just not as enthusiastic because
- 24:53Speaker 9: what they're seeing around them and the problem for people
- 24:56Speaker 9: like in this district in Mackenzie is that they won't
- 25:00Speaker 9: be enthusiastic enough to show up. And so that's what
- 25:03Speaker 9: Donald Trump really has to work on out there, and
- 25:07Speaker 9: he's got to work on it by talking about things
- 25:09Speaker 9: that people care about. And you know, I just want
- 25:12Speaker 9: to go back to this manufacturing site. This is a
- 25:15Speaker 9: place that at its height like the late seventies, they
- 25:17Speaker 9: had like nineteen point something million workers in the manufacturing sector.
- 25:22Speaker 9: It's now down to twelve. That has nothing to do
- 25:25Speaker 9: literally with Donald Trump and Iran and tariffs in the
- 25:28Speaker 9: last few years. These are systemic issues, and one thing
- 25:31Speaker 9: the Republicans and Trump and Democrats could do is talk
- 25:35Speaker 9: about how you're going to address this in a concerted
- 25:38Speaker 9: way in the face of AI and the face of
- 25:41Speaker 9: automation and so many other things. We aren't hearing any
- 25:45Speaker 9: of that by either side.
- 25:48Speaker 2: Just quickly, Genie on this notion around strong Democrat Democratic turnout.
- 25:54Speaker 2: If the Save America Act were to pass as the
- 25:57Speaker 2: President wants, with voter id with restrictions on mail and balloting,
- 26:01Speaker 2: what would the net effect of that be on who
- 26:04Speaker 2: gets to turn out or who is driven to turn
- 26:06Speaker 2: out in the midterms.
- 26:09Speaker 9: You know, I think that it may even out because
- 26:12Speaker 9: I think if they pass that, you may see the
- 26:15Speaker 9: Democratic base more upset than they already are in turnout
- 26:18Speaker 9: in larger numbers despite that, and Republicans may see a
- 26:22Speaker 9: drop off because it impacts things like early voting, mail
- 26:25Speaker 9: in balloting. That's why so many Republicans in the House
- 26:29Speaker 9: and the Senate are scratching their head and saying, no,
- 26:31Speaker 9: mister President, please don't this negatively impacts us in an
- 26:35Speaker 9: election that's going to be all about turnout. And of
- 26:38Speaker 9: course in the end, the American public large lose because
- 26:41Speaker 9: this is going to disenfranchise voters and that is a
- 26:45Speaker 9: horrible problem.
- 26:47Speaker 2: Of course, there is very little likelihood that it actually
- 26:51Speaker 2: can pass, as the filibuster in the Senate at this
- 26:53Speaker 2: point remains intact. Genie Cianzino and Rick Davis our political
- 26:57Speaker 2: panel today, thank you so much, and of course we'll
- 26:59Speaker 2: be talking a lot more about that particular push from
- 27:02Speaker 2: the President and the push back from Senate Republicans tomorrow
- 27:05Speaker 2: when he visits the Hill for lunch with Senators Jill.
- 27:09Speaker 6: That should be quite a doozy to be a fly
- 27:11Speaker 6: on the wall, as they say, John Cornyn might be
- 27:15Speaker 6: thinking hard about his message. We're going to turn back
- 27:18Speaker 6: to the markets straight ahead and see how we're faring
- 27:20Speaker 6: in the Tuesday trade alongside Katie Lines, I'm Joe Matthew.
- 27:23Speaker 6: Stay with us on Balance of Power. We'll have much
- 27:25Speaker 6: more coming up after this.
- 27:31Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
- 27:34Speaker 1: us live weekdays at noon and five pm Eastern on Apple,
- 27:38Speaker 1: Cocklay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen
- 27:41Speaker 1: on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us
- 27:44Speaker 1: live on YouTube.
- 27:47Speaker 6: With another check on the markets here, it's not been
- 27:50Speaker 6: a lot of fun if you're in the tech space,
- 27:51Speaker 6: although there have been some areas of light software for
- 27:54Speaker 6: instances getting a bid But to Amy's point, chips are
- 27:57Speaker 6: falling hard, and boy when they go down, they go
- 27:59Speaker 6: down fast. Kron is losing now twelve percent one hundred
- 28:02Speaker 6: and thirty nine dollars, having run up significantly ahead of
- 28:06Speaker 6: earnings tomorrow after the bell. Nvidia also lowered down three percent.
- 28:10Speaker 6: There have been some areas of life, as I mentioned,
- 28:14Speaker 6: Kaylie McDonald's is getting a bid ge. We're seeing healthcare
- 28:17Speaker 6: get some love. But the tech selloff started overnight in
- 28:21Speaker 6: South Korea. That's the real story here. We're not trading
- 28:23Speaker 6: so much on Iran today. The COSTPI that was a
- 28:26Speaker 6: freak out ten percent lower, it's worse to day since
- 28:30Speaker 6: March fourth. Look no further than sk Heinez, Samsung, you
- 28:33Speaker 6: know where we're going. It's these memory stocks, Kaylee, for
- 28:36Speaker 6: better or worse, that seemed to be driving the market.
- 28:38Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly so in the negative direction today. So let's
- 28:41Speaker 2: get more on this as we turn to Bloomberg TV
- 28:44Speaker 2: Markets correspondent Nourra Melinda so Naura. Obviously, we have seen
- 28:48Speaker 2: incredible moves in these names. Yes, we saw them to
- 28:51Speaker 2: the upside. Now we're seeing it to the downside, it seems.
- 28:55Speaker 2: Is this just once again that rotation out of these
- 28:58Speaker 2: stocks into more cyclical areas of the market.
- 29:00Speaker 10: It absolutely that's what I'm hearing from the sources that
- 29:02Speaker 10: I'm speaking with, especially when you think about the performance
- 29:06Speaker 10: of a lot of these big themes, these big megacap companies,
- 29:10Speaker 10: the biggest winners on the year now turning out to
- 29:13Speaker 10: be some of the biggest laggards on the day. Now
- 29:15Speaker 10: a lot of people are really concerned about, of course,
- 29:17Speaker 10: artificial intelligence. That's really been the conversation here. We're seeing
- 29:22Speaker 10: fresh questions really being raised, and you're seeing that sell
- 29:24Speaker 10: off really ricocheting from as you mentioned, Korea over into
- 29:29Speaker 10: the US. So I'm also taking a look at the
- 29:31Speaker 10: Socks Index that tracks a lot of those Philadelphia semiconductor
- 29:34Speaker 10: names down about seven point three percent, so many names
- 29:38Speaker 10: lower as a lot of investors really rush for the
- 29:41Speaker 10: exits outside of this sector.
- 29:44Speaker 6: Interesting to see some of the ancillary stocks too, like
- 29:46Speaker 6: Caterpillar that was getting a lot of love as it
- 29:49Speaker 6: was suddenly considered an AI stock. SpaceX, though, is doing better, Nora,
- 29:53Speaker 6: and I'm wondering what you're seeing and hearing about this.
- 29:55Speaker 6: The stock catches a bit after actually trading below its
- 29:59Speaker 6: debut price. It's now up five percent one hundred and
- 30:02Speaker 6: sixty two dollars, and the company is raising billions now
- 30:04Speaker 6: in the bond market.
- 30:05Speaker 10: Well, we are seeing SpaceX seeking to raise about twenty
- 30:08Speaker 10: five billion dollars in its first investment grade bond sale.
- 30:12Speaker 10: You're seeing some investor appetite here. What's interesting, though, when
- 30:15Speaker 10: we think about the sell off that we were seeing
- 30:17Speaker 10: in SpaceX over the last couple of days. What I'm
- 30:18Speaker 10: hearing from the sources that I'm speaking with is that
- 30:20Speaker 10: there were so many people across the globe. If they
- 30:23Speaker 10: actually were interested in SpaceX, they've already bought SpaceX. So
- 30:26Speaker 10: you are seeing this in a certain way as the
- 30:29Speaker 10: seller's market. So today it's interesting to see this rebound
- 30:32Speaker 10: as a lot of the market is really digesting what
- 30:34Speaker 10: this means, because fears were essentially percolating before about the
- 30:39Speaker 10: fact that you know whether or not this company is
- 30:41Speaker 10: taking on too much debt, especially as we think about
- 30:43Speaker 10: the fact of all these large tech companies just taking
- 30:47Speaker 10: on more and more money, taking on more and more debt,
- 30:50Speaker 10: and investors are really just thinking about whether or not
- 30:52Speaker 10: they're actually going to be able to see some return
- 30:54Speaker 10: on investment a product on the other side of this.
- 30:58Speaker 2: Well, yeah, it's a good point, Nora, this idea that
- 31:01Speaker 2: so many of the hyperscalers of a lot of these
- 31:04Speaker 2: AI oriented companies are having to come raise more money
- 31:08Speaker 2: in debt markets. Specifically, if the demand is there for now,
- 31:12Speaker 2: what sensor are you getting is to how long it
- 31:15Speaker 2: is going to be able to hold up and whether
- 31:18Speaker 2: this transia of debt offerings that we're seeing is going
- 31:21Speaker 2: to be it for a while for that reason.
- 31:23Speaker 10: And that's the question here. I mean, you're talking about appetite.
- 31:26Speaker 10: We've seen about ninety billion dollars of orders already pouring
- 31:30Speaker 10: in as we think about this bond saleforce SpaceX. So
- 31:33Speaker 10: the question is whether or not we're going to continue
- 31:35Speaker 10: to see this appetite, this fervor all these people coming
- 31:38Speaker 10: behind SpaceX, or whether or not we're going to start
- 31:41Speaker 10: to see a little bit of attension going toward other
- 31:44Speaker 10: companies that are also in the tech space. But for
- 31:46Speaker 10: right now, SpaceX certainly has everybody's attention.
- 31:50Speaker 5: Noura, thank you as always. She's live in New York.
- 31:52Speaker 6: Norm Molinda Bloomberg Markets correspondent with us on balance of power.
- 31:57Speaker 6: It's a primary day and everything we're talking about, the
- 32:00Speaker 6: wealth effect or a lack thereof, from the stock market,
- 32:03Speaker 6: the impact of energy prices gas now back below four
- 32:06Speaker 6: dollars a gallon, all playing into decisions that are being
- 32:09Speaker 6: made in several states, including New York. And we're going
- 32:12Speaker 6: to zero in on some of these races, but also
- 32:13Speaker 6: talk about the issues that are driving decisions today with
- 32:17Speaker 6: Daniel Squadron, former New York state senator, a Democrat, co
- 32:21Speaker 6: founder of the States Project as well.
- 32:23Speaker 5: Author of the new book The Fourth Branch.
- 32:26Speaker 6: Daniel, it's great to have you with us as part
- 32:29Speaker 6: of our conversation today on Bloomberg TV and Radio. And
- 32:31Speaker 6: I'd like to start broadly with that issue of affordability
- 32:35Speaker 6: that the President's going to be talking about a short
- 32:36Speaker 6: time from now. Once again in Pennsylvania, not holding primaries today,
- 32:41Speaker 6: but very much important on the map of swing states
- 32:44Speaker 6: as we make our way toward the midterms, and then
- 32:47Speaker 6: of course twenty twenty eight, when it comes to the
- 32:50Speaker 6: impact of gas prices. Energy prices that have been so
- 32:53Speaker 6: important in diesel is key to the mac truck facility
- 32:57Speaker 6: that the President is going to be speaking at, signed
- 33:00Speaker 6: with the wealth effect from the stock market, which is
- 33:03Speaker 6: not enjoyed by all Americans. How do we rationalize these
- 33:06Speaker 6: two as the billionaire president speaks to a roomfull today.
- 33:12Speaker 11: Well, look, I think it's going to be a real
- 33:14Speaker 11: challenge because it's no longer a hot take. In fact,
- 33:17Speaker 11: it's almost a stale one. That people feel like things
- 33:21Speaker 11: cost too much. And the spike and the gas prices
- 33:26Speaker 11: is one for folks who are air travelers, it's a second.
- 33:30Speaker 11: But of course this goes back to groceries and housing,
- 33:34Speaker 11: and the idea that this is a thing where you
- 33:40Speaker 11: can ask people to not trust their lying eyes just
- 33:45Speaker 11: doesn't work. There's no amount of political rhetoric or conversation
- 33:49Speaker 11: that's going to change people's fundamental math, the math that
- 33:53Speaker 11: families across America do every two weeks when the paycheck
- 33:57Speaker 11: comes in and they try to balance that against their checkbook.
- 34:03Speaker 2: Well, so obviously we spend a lot of time talking
- 34:05Speaker 2: about how affordability politics are going to play for one
- 34:10Speaker 2: party relative to another, Republicans who are currently in power
- 34:13Speaker 2: in Washington versus Democrats, And I'm sure that will be
- 34:16Speaker 2: on display in some of the swing year districts in
- 34:19Speaker 2: New York, like Mike Lawlers, who will learn what Democrat
- 34:22Speaker 2: he is up against after today's primary. But for the
- 34:26Speaker 2: city where it's just Democrats against Democrats, how is the
- 34:30Speaker 2: messaging around these kind of issues differing inside of the party?
- 34:36Speaker 11: Well, look in New York City, I'd say gas prices
- 34:39Speaker 11: themselves are probably not as central an issue is in
- 34:43Speaker 11: some other places, but the impacts of gas prices because
- 34:46Speaker 11: people pay extremely high utility bills, it goes into how
- 34:51Speaker 11: well and how affordably the mass transit system runs. And
- 34:55Speaker 11: of course housing, when you talk about a city like
- 34:58Speaker 11: New York where people from around the country want to
- 35:00Speaker 11: live there and try to make a life, how just
- 35:03Speaker 11: about the highest housing costs are close to it in
- 35:05Speaker 11: the country is still a major major issue. I think
- 35:10Speaker 11: what is sometimes missed though, is that in primaries in
- 35:13Speaker 11: a place like New York, it really comes down to
- 35:15Speaker 11: the individual candidate's much more than the national narrative. We
- 35:18Speaker 11: try to put on it who has the personal credibility
- 35:21Speaker 11: and relationship in that Democratic primary district to convince folks
- 35:27Speaker 11: on many of these same issues that are national, but
- 35:30Speaker 11: in a very local way.
- 35:33Speaker 6: Sink your teeth into the twelfth Congressional district. Then for
- 35:37Speaker 6: us Daniel, this is a doozy. It's a big personality contest,
- 35:40Speaker 6: you could argue, and I realized that there are some
- 35:42Speaker 6: other elements, including AI spending, which is a really interesting
- 35:45Speaker 6: factor here. But you've got a Kennedy and Jack Schlossberg,
- 35:49Speaker 6: You've got George Conway, a star from cable news, all
- 35:53Speaker 6: vying to replace Jerry Nadler. Here, Alex Boris is the
- 35:57Speaker 6: one that has drawn that AI money as he's calling
- 35:59Speaker 6: for additional regulations. How much of a personality contest is
- 36:03Speaker 6: this versus a policy one?
- 36:05Speaker 11: And of course you have a SEMMING member Micah Lasher,
- 36:07Speaker 11: who has a career of public service working for the
- 36:10Speaker 11: former mayor Bloomberg, Governor Hockel and others. You know, I
- 36:14Speaker 11: think it is really interesting to see how in part
- 36:18Speaker 11: certainly when you talk about a SEMEN member Boris, it's
- 36:21Speaker 11: become a proxy war for large AI companies you have
- 36:26Speaker 11: some in favor, some opposed. And you know, my hope is,
- 36:31Speaker 11: as a New Yorker and as someone who really believes
- 36:33Speaker 11: in representative democracy in a relationship between elected officials and
- 36:37Speaker 11: the voters, is that that proxy war isn't what defines
- 36:41Speaker 11: the out company. What defines the outcome I would hope
- 36:44Speaker 11: would be how well, in this marquee district in America,
- 36:48Speaker 11: each of these candidates is seen to represent their constituents. Certainly,
- 36:52Speaker 11: the future of AI regulation, ais impact on jobs, the
- 36:56Speaker 11: siting of data centers are all important public policy issues.
- 37:01Speaker 11: But in New York City, as I talked about before, housing,
- 37:04Speaker 11: public transit, safe streets, better schools aren't as well, and
- 37:08Speaker 11: there's no national proxy war on that stuff. But I
- 37:11Speaker 11: do hope that's what the voters end up focusing on.
- 37:15Speaker 10: Well.
- 37:16Speaker 2: And of course it was messaging around those issues to
- 37:20Speaker 2: voters that ultimately got Zaron Mumdani elected as Mayor of
- 37:23Speaker 2: New York as a Democratic socialist. And he is a
- 37:26Speaker 2: player in this game today, having endorsed against incumbents in
- 37:30Speaker 2: the tenth district and the thirteenth district. And I just
- 37:34Speaker 2: wonder how you're viewing this test, Frankly, of his power
- 37:39Speaker 2: in New York as he goes up against the man
- 37:41Speaker 2: who could be the next Speaker of the House in
- 37:43Speaker 2: Hackeen Jeffreys.
- 37:45Speaker 11: Well, look, first of all, you win a big election
- 37:48Speaker 11: like mayor of New York City, I don't think there's
- 37:50Speaker 11: actually anything that surprising about the fact that you would
- 37:54Speaker 11: then go and try to get some more allies in office.
- 37:59Speaker 11: I think what's going to be really interesting here is
- 38:02Speaker 11: if it's a confusing outcome where you know, some of
- 38:07Speaker 11: the incumbents, when some of the folks endorsed by the mayor,
- 38:11Speaker 11: when as I said, in the twelfth district, you know,
- 38:13Speaker 11: I think you could write thirteen different stories about how
- 38:16Speaker 11: it comes out. My fear is that it gets oversimplified
- 38:20Speaker 11: into some national narrative, because that really isn't how we
- 38:23Speaker 11: should be looking at primaries within a party. We should
- 38:26Speaker 11: be looking at it as a temperature check on what's
- 38:28Speaker 11: happening with the base of the party first. But second,
- 38:31Speaker 11: and I think more important, and this.
- 38:32Speaker 5: Is why I focus all of my time on states.
- 38:35Speaker 11: It's really a way to look at how well folks
- 38:38Speaker 11: are representing their communities. General elections are about the large
- 38:43Speaker 11: partisan conversation often, but these primaries are really about these individuals.
- 38:51Speaker 6: Your book, as we mentioned, the Fourth Branch, How State
- 38:54Speaker 6: Government Can Save Our Union, incidentally forward by Sarah Jessica Parker.
- 38:59Speaker 5: Is that true? She the audiobook for you, Yes.
- 39:02Speaker 11: The incredibly paled actor and book Johge.
- 39:07Speaker 5: Yes.
- 39:07Speaker 11: Really honored to have worked with her job Jesus engaged
- 39:11Speaker 11: in this as I think everyone should be.
- 39:14Speaker 6: Well, I'll tell you, Daniel, the thesis in the book
- 39:17Speaker 6: is fascinating. And I wonder what you make of the
- 39:20Speaker 6: current argument here in Washington about AI regulation, because we
- 39:23Speaker 6: have found great passions on both sides of this debate
- 39:26Speaker 6: whether there should be a federal standard or a state
- 39:29Speaker 6: by state sort of patchwork of AI regulations that critics
- 39:33Speaker 6: say would in fact hold the technology at bay and
- 39:37Speaker 6: might cause the US to lose the so called AI race.
- 39:41Speaker 6: Is artificial intelligence the biggest challenge to the fourth branch?
- 39:47Speaker 11: Well, it's certainly not the biggest challenge, and I think
- 39:50Speaker 11: it's actually something that has been anticipated when you talking
- 39:52Speaker 11: about the power of states in a lot of ways.
- 39:55Speaker 11: What's one thing we know about AI You've been talking
- 39:57Speaker 11: about it all morning is people watch them markets? Is
- 40:01Speaker 11: a lot is still unknown? You're going to need a
- 40:03Speaker 11: dynamic policy making framework as this develops. Now, Look, I
- 40:09Speaker 11: am a Democrat, as you said, I think that federal
- 40:12Speaker 11: action is appropriate and warranted. We just don't get a
- 40:16Speaker 11: lot of it. And so if the federal government steps
- 40:18Speaker 11: into this arena and says we've got it, what that's
- 40:22Speaker 11: going to mean is a lot of stagnation as the
- 40:25Speaker 11: world changes faster than maybe we've ever seen before. The
- 40:29Speaker 11: great thing about our federal system we have fifty one different, independent,
- 40:35Speaker 11: powerful jurisdictions, obviously in a fast moving time, knowing that
- 40:43Speaker 11: government catching up to the private sector can sometimes be
- 40:46Speaker 11: a challenge. There's no perfect answer, but I'm really excited
- 40:50Speaker 11: that in this country we have fifty one different chances
- 40:53Speaker 11: to get AI regulation rate.
- 40:55Speaker 5: All right.
- 40:56Speaker 2: The author of the new book, The Fourth Branch and
- 40:58Speaker 2: former state Senator in New York, Daniel Squadron, thanks for
- 41:01Speaker 2: being with us on this early edition of Balance of Power.
- 41:05Speaker 6: Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make
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- 41:18Speaker 6: at Bloomberg dot com