WEBVTT - Coronavirus Impact on Wall St. Workers & Dealmaking 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:02.960 This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carol Masser and I'm 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.480 Jason Kelly. We're here every day bringing you the latest 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:09.800 news from the world's of business and finance, plus technology, politics, economics, 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:13.480 all harnessing the power of Bloomberg Business Week reporters and editors, 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:16.639 not to mention our hundred journalists and analysts more than 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:19.280 a hundred and twenty countries. You can download Bloomberg Business 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:22.200 Week on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot Com. You can 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:24.520 also listen to our radio show weekdays at two pm 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:27.720 Eastern only on Bloomberg Radio. Six new cases of the 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:30.360 virus reported in l A. Ten Americans now have died. 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:34.120 According to Vice President Mike Penn's total coronavirus cases while 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:38.279 globally topping more than I think ninety three thousands. So 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:41.560 our finance team, as we do so well here at Bloomberg, 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:44.480 looking at the virus it's impact on the financial sector, 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:47.120 specifically M and A and on Wall Street traders. Here 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:49.320 with that the Nan new and she is finance reporter 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.760 at Bloomberg News, along with Nabila Ahmed Emin a reporter 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:54.920 at Bloomberg News. So both of them in our Bloomberg 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:57.600 Interactive Broker Studio. So let's start with M and A 0:00:57.640 --> 0:00:59.320 because I feel like, you know, Nabila, M and A 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:00.960 is always import and right to kind of get an 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:04.160 understanding of, you know, stuff happening in the financial sector, 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:06.399 and I feel like when it stops, it's not a 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:09.400 good thing. What are you seeing? What are you hearing? Well, Already, 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:11.720 by the end of February, M and A was down 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:14.959 twenty seven percent this year, and that has more to 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:18.000 do that there are other issues that play here other 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:21.320 than the coronavirus. But the timing was already bad, and 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:24.959 we're seeing that people are pausing, hitting the paws button 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:28.440 on deals. We've got an advisor who has been who 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:32.440 is a confirmed Corona virus victim, so that deals on pause. 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:35.840 We've got people putting the pause button on poles even 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:39.200 as their deal meetings on the plane. Billion dollar plaus 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:43.920 so cultimillion, multibillion dollar deals. Yeah, and so is there 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:46.959 any sense of timing? I mean, did they just say 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:50.000 we'll pick this up in the next quarter. We're going 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:51.720 to try and do what we can buy phone. I mean, 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.480 we were talking about with Lenan yesterday about this notion 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:59.280 of even with recruiting filmaking is a face to face game. 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:01.600 You know, you really are looking the other person in 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:04.160 the eye in many cases to try and figure out 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:06.640 do I want to enter into this transaction? Right? So 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:10.480 how does this play out? Well? Exactly. One of the 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:12.680 ones we know that was that was postponed was that 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:15.000 they wanted to go and do a site visit into China, 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:18.160 and of course, you know with the travel restrictions, that's 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:20.200 not possible at the moment. And I think that we 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:22.840 won't really know how it's going to play out until 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:25.000 we know what's going to happen with the travel restrictions. 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:28.160 We're not talking about putting in stricter restrictions, all right. 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:30.000 So M and A folks stuck at their desk, so 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:32.880 to our traders, and we often hear that because traders 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:34.560 are busy, but it's taken on a whole new meeting. 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:36.600 Lean in that's right, stuck at the desk used to 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:38.360 me and that you're having a good busy day on 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.160 the desk. But these days banks are looking at how 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:43.840 to move traders off the desk in the event of 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:46.640 an illness, and it's really tricky to do that because 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:49.639 Wall Street traders are dealing with super fast internet. I 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:51.600 don't know how faster internet is at home, but it's 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:55.120 certainly never fast enough when I'm trying to exactly. So 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:57.200 if it's not fast enough for homeland, it's not fast 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:59.240 enough for high speed trading. On top of which, they 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.760 have a ton of data all of these internal systems, 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:05.000 and also they have to be recorded and monitored by clients. Right. Well, 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:08.960 there's that whole security element. And and there's also even 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:11.560 with all the machines, there's a human element. Uh, that's 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.079 there as well. We we talked about that yesterday. So 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:17.880 are people sort of creating workarounds? What are they doing? 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:21.120 So it's all happening in progress as we speak. Different 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:22.800 banks are trying to figure out, Okay, first of all, 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:24.919 who are the critical employees. How do we split them 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:27.280 up into different shifts to make sure that not everyone 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:30.560 gets sick all at once? Dust off the disaster recovery sides, 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:32.560 go to their places in New Jersey or wherever, and 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:34.960 dust off those machines, make sure they work. Um. And 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:37.600 but I used to say that that doesn't even become problematic, right, 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:40.440 depending on how severe the virus become. That's true. So 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:42.800 there is a lot of scenario planning. Right now, we 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:44.720 still don't know how it's going to play out, and 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:47.480 so there's a lot of thinking about different types of scenarios, 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:50.400 whether disaster sites are even affected as well. Maybe a 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:51.880 lot you know, come back in on M and A. 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.440 So let's say we see you're already seeing a slowdown. 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:56.560 I mean, I do wonder again, Jason, I talked about 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:58.200 this a lot that once we have a better idea 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:00.040 of how big the virus out break is going to 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.000 be um here in the US, so really globally, until 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:05.120 we start to see less cases and we get our 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.240 hands around it, um you know, until we get to 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.600 that point, it's hard to predict, like do all those 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:13.560 M and A deals that are maybe putting on the 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:15.960 shelf right now or on the side, do they come 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:17.560 back in the next half of the year. It's hard 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:19.640 to know because it depends with the market and the 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:23.159 economic environments are There's a lot of variables out there exactly. 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:25.640 And also the election campaign is a big headway they see, 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:28.000 and nobody wants to go into that campaign the deal 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:31.360 outstanding in front of the regulators. But I will say 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:34.000 but that for some deals it's actually proving to be 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:38.640 good news. For example, Thermo Fisher bought kayajin yesterday ten 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:41.320 billion plus deal and the only reason to see you 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:43.760 told us that they were able to come to an 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:47.880 agreement was the market volatility. Uh sort of jolted the 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:49.920 share price, and he said they've allowed them to come 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:52.520 to a midpoint and do that deal because they'd been 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.040 in talks for months. I did wonder about with some 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:57.120 of some of the share prices being beaten up, where 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.880 somebody might say, especially if it's a stock deal, you know, 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:02.880 to buy something, it could be cheaper at that point. 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.240 I don't know if you're buying with your own and 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:07.360 if he's been wanting to sell your company but you've 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.679 been holding out for that last dollar or two dollars, 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:13.039 you're probably looking at the market and saying, you know what, 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:15.240 I'll just let it go, right, I want to get 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:18.559 this done. All right? What happens next on Wall Street? Linda? 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:20.880 I mean, what do you hear from people in terms 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.520 of either is it a wait and see sort of 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.560 thing or people sort of moving ahead as if not 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:30.200 to be too crazy about it, but like armageddon is 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:31.880 upon it? Like what do you want to know? I 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:34.480 think it's a precautionary mode right now. So they are 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:36.520 dusting off the playbooks trying to figure out where to 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:39.880 put people if the virus should spread, um, looking at 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:41.880 what happened in Asia. But at the same time, Asia 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:43.800 is a different case because they can always kick things 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:47.080 around to London and New York. What happens if this 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:49.760 becomes a bigger global phenomenon, where do people go? So 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:52.120 there's a lot of planning still being done right now, 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:53.680 and it's still very much up in the air. They're 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:57.160 also talking to regulators about this. Could we see a part, 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:00.279 you know, a scenario where there is no trading or 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:04.760 trading volumes are reduced dramatically. I think that's possible, um, 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:07.800 But I wouldn't raise that alarm just yet. I think 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:11.000 people are still trying to plan business as usual as 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.800 possible cases right now. So what can we do to 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:17.320 make sure that continuity, continuity continues And so far people 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.440 are very focused on resilience and continuity rather than that 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:23.160 armageddon scenario. And meanwhile, we're gonna talk about this later 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:26.320 on in the show with Heather Prolberg. Steve Schwartzman giving 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:29.200 an interview over in India, was like, we're in we're 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:33.760 buying here, you know, evaluations down and Carol sent sent 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:36.800 me the story this morning and it just said crisis 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:41.240 playbook totally right. Funding opportunity, especially with beaten you know, 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:44.120 beating up assets. Absolutely, and you know, even if you 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:47.000 look at Clorox, for example, that stock is up. Yeah, 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.720 it's a great story, exactly. Don't touch my Clorox wixact 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.000 they're all gone. I used them all. And Collegi's offering 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:55.400 ten dollars to that half bottle of hands. We're going 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:57.840 to start a bidding war here, all right, Novilla, I'm 0:06:58.040 --> 0:06:59.760 thank you so much. M and a reporter on the 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.520 D team here at Bloomberg and Leninuin finance reporter for Bloomberg, 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:07.160 keeping an eye on Wall Street and its reaction really 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:10.880 in terms of doing its business amid all of this 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:20.640 virus worry. And my god, I loved George Harrison's I 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:23.480 just love it. Um Hey, check this out, everybody, because 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:27.440 life insurance companies are pursuing wealthy private colleges and yeah, 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:29.520 this is what they're doing to loan them money. So 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:31.640 what is this all about. Let's get into the details 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:34.760 with Janet Lawrence. She's Endowment's reporter here at Bloomberg News 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.360 made her way into our interactive brokers studio. What's going 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:40.600 on here, Janet? So if you think about who's borrowing money, 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:43.040 colleges are very likely to do so. They've got to 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:45.480 renovate dorms, they've got to build dorms, they've got to 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:49.520 make improvements to classrooms. So why not when the money 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:52.400 and they've typically go out to the public markets, you know, 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:56.280 tax exempt or taxabow bonds, but life insurance companies, you know, 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:58.480 they need to put their money to work. And you know, 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:00.400 who wouldn't want to loan money to a school like 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:04.760 Princeton And so literally, as you lay out in your story, 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:09.960 they just started calling, like literally tell us about that. Yes, Um, 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.160 a couple of schools said they decided to take this 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:15.320 call and it turned out to be a pretty good 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:18.280 deal for them. Um, the University of Richmond said, yet 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:21.320 it was the result of a cold call and they 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:24.480 liked doing this deal because it was quicker. Um. You know, 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:26.640 the question is am I going to lose out on 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:29.240 the interest rate that I want? And you know with 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:32.000 public deals it typically takes longer. So the question is, 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:33.679 you know, could they have gotten a better deal? In 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:36.040 the public markets if they waited. But they like the 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:39.280 ease of it. There's also a lot less disclosures, potentially 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:42.520 less fees. So you know, they seem to like it. 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.160 So what are the what's the downside to all of this? Well, 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.200 it could be a higher interest rate if you you know, 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:50.760 if you didn't wait. Um, but they you know, they 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:54.600 seem to like it. And are these WhoSay the colleges 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:57.040 and as life insurance companies, they've got to put their 0:08:57.080 --> 0:09:00.000 money to work somewhere. And are these big insurance companies 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.320 that we're talking about. Are these sort of mid tier 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:08.640 life john hand And so why haven't they done this before? Um, 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:12.080 you know, it's interesting. They decided that this could be 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:14.320 a good new market for them and they started pursuing it. 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:17.120 Priston did its first deal in two thousand and twelve. Now, 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:19.479 keep in mind, they're not going to go to every 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.440 college because you know, the schools that we mentioned in 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:24.920 this in the story are some of the richest colleges 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.280 out there. Right, Well, it's risk, right, you want you 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:29.320 don't want to take on too much risk your insurance 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:33.600 company especially absolutely, and they're looking to match their liabilities. Now, 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:37.319 we didn't really find these in in public schools. And 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:39.360 you know, probably the reason is they have a different 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.880 sort of competitive, competitive bidding structure, and you know, the 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.560 private schools could just do these deals. Is this not 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:47.440 you know, Jason, I think about how much time we 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:52.079 spend at least salmoys to show you know, about private markets, right, 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:55.240 and I do money undercover, money money undercover, But I 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:57.200 do think about it. Is this just another example of 0:09:57.360 --> 0:09:59.959 being able to rather than kind of in some way 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.160 tap the public markets go into the private markets. Absolutely 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:06.600 financing need or financial need. Absolutely, And you know, the 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.600 public market deals are all very public and they're all 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:11.920 disclosures and the schools have to put out a lot 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:15.800 more information. But is that good transparency? Well, um, that's 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.320 a very good question. You know, the colleges don't have 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.640 to disclose things um as, but they do have their 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:24.320 public debt, so it is out there what their enrollment 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:27.600 numbers are. But if you're saying a struggling small college, 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:29.840 you know, chances are these life insurance companies wouldn't want 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:32.760 to lend you anyway. But there is less transparency. What 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:34.680 does the student deduce the returns for the for the 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:37.720 insurance companies? Right? Because they're thinking about I mean, they 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:40.520 need a certain amount of return, right absolutely, And again 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:42.840 these are not you know, risky colleges that are going 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:45.479 to go under, the little tiny colleges in the Northeast 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:49.080 that you know are struggling for students. And so how 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:51.400 does this fit in last question, how does this fit 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:54.120 into sort of the broader themes that you're seeing in 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:58.880 terms of how colleges uh rich and poor sort of 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.480 pay for what they need. Well, again, you're seeing a 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:04.840 dichotomy between the very rich and the very poor because 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:08.079 they can they can take advantage of these kinds of deals. Um, 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:12.680 and if you're again you're smaller, you're less wealthy, potentially 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:14.800 a bigger risk you're not going to be given these 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:17.720 types of opportunities. All right, Janet Lauren, thank you so 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:21.360 much and down supporter for Bloomberg are expert on all 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:25.640 things higher education and a really interesting story Princeton Vanderbilt 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:29.040 wooed by life insurance companies literally calling up me like, hey, bro, 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:31.240 you need to borrow some money. It's a twist in 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:33.880 turns though also I feel like of financial companies, insurance 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:36.920 companies totally, like I do wonder about exposure and transparency. 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:39.400 I don't know like the risks, but as Janet mentioned, 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:43.040 you know they're going after certainly well known, well financed 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:47.920 UM and deep endowment UH colleges and universities. So fascinating 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:51.520 to see. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:55.160 and Jason Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. Well, a couple of 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:57.000 stories in the magazine this week that you've really got 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:58.920 to know about, both timely and in the news. Once 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:02.000 about an abortion rights case coming before the Supreme Court. 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.160 We're gonna talk with Bloomberg US healthcare reporters Cynthia Coons 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:07.559 about that. She's on the phone in New York. The 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.080 other story, also in the headlines, is of course about 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.200 the Democratic race for president Super Tuesday, and Josh Green 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:16.360 does national correspondent at Bloomberg Business Week. He's joining us 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:18.400 on the phone from Washington to see both stories. As 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.640 I said in the magazine, hitting newsstands later this week 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:24.000 in at Bloomberg Dot comment on the terminal, Cynthia, we 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:26.319 do want to start with you tell us about this case. 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:30.959 Thanks thanks for having me so. The Supreme Court today 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:34.440 hold an abortions piece that involves the law that's around 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:38.880 requiring hospital admitting from which is for abortion providers. It's 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:42.120 an identical law, nearly identical law to one that day 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:44.480 for about four years ago out of Texas. This time 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:47.160 it's out of Louisiana. But the reason this case is 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:50.079 really critical is that the court has agreed to hear 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.960 in Louisiana's argument that doctors shouldn't be able to bring 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:56.360 challenges to these laws in the first place. Um. If 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.360 Louisiana successful with that argument, not only would this law 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:02.240 Abyan say did, but it would flow the play offs 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:04.599 all the other litigation going on around the country to 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:11.200 challenge laws that are specifically targeted out abortion providers. UM, Cynthia. 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:13.880 One of the things that you know you've been working 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:16.000 on is actually kind of a series of articles are 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:17.480 on this. The first was sort of one that we 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:21.240 did also recently about abortion tax and sort of the 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.880 the business implications that that abortion providers are facing and 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:28.280 that's actually even driving them, um a lot of them 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:31.160 to close. And so this is obviously it looks like 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:36.199 almost like a two pronged attack on on abortion rights. 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:40.720 And so what what is the likelihood that this Louisiana 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:44.840 case becomes I mean, it almost supersedes the abortion tax, 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:50.200 because if the Supreme Court wigs into this, what could happen. Well, 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:52.320 that's an excell one point. These go hand in hand. 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:55.760 So the first attack is the legislative one. The statehouses 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:57.960 around the country have been passing laws that make it 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:01.320 harder for abortion providers to operate. It started since about 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:04.200 two thousand and ten when Republicans took over more and 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:07.160 more state houses throughout the country. But that's also led 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:09.760 to what's known as the abortion tax, and that's where 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:12.880 businesses or vendors that might work with abortion providers become 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:15.720 reluctant to do so, or cancel contracts or back out 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:19.160 or won't shore them, specifically over concerns that they're riskier 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:21.440 than they may actually be in real life. So running 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:24.120 an abortion clinic is particularly hard right now from both 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:27.640 a business and legal perspective. But the one avenue that 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:30.680 abortion providers have had has have been the courts, and 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:32.760 they've been able to challenge these laws that go after 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:36.400 their businesses. Specifically, these are laws that say an abortion 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:39.760 doctor may need hospital many privileges, but wouldn't necessarily assign 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:43.560 a comparable regulation to another provider that provides some sort 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:47.000 of comparable care outpatient care. So these laws are called 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.200 by the abortion movement, they're called abortion rights movement. They're 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:54.160 called trap laws because they're perceived to target these providers 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:56.440 specifically and back them into a corner. And so the 0:14:56.520 --> 0:15:00.200 challenge here is if abortion doctors are not a out 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:03.040 to be the ones to represent their patients in these cases, 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:07.720 then there really isn't any mechanism for these laws to 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:10.320 be knocked down. It would come down to whether or 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:12.440 not you could find a woman seeking an abortion willing 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:15.200 to carry out a case. And that's a really challenging prospect. 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:21.080 So hearings today, when do we have resolution? Likely by June. 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:23.640 We're gonna leave it there. Cynthia Coons, thank you so much. 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:26.920 US healthcare reporter from Bloomberg joining us on the phone 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.280 from New York City. Let's heading down to our ninety 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:32.440 and nine went studio in d C. Josh Green Is 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:36.600 they're recovering from Super Tuesday. All right, we've had a 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:40.800 lot happen over the last I blacked out, Josh, what happens? 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:44.200 Let the heck happen? Where are we now? Where do 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:46.360 we go from here? John? I woke up this morning 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:48.120 and had to pause from me and think if I 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:51.400 dreamed all that right, it actually just happened. Um, but 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.480 but it actually did happen. The race has been completely upended. 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:56.880 We've gone from a world where Bernie Sanders was the 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:00.480 front runner, looked like he would amass a majority, uh, 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:03.720 if not a plurality of delegates going into the Milwaukee 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.920 convention in July, to all of a sudden, Joe Biden 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:10.000 comes storming back, wins ten states, has the delegate lead, 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:12.360 and is now the clear favorite to emerge as the 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:14.840 Democratic nominee to challenge Trump in the fall. Who would 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:16.520 have thought that a couple of weeks ago. All right, 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:21.720 so yeah, I think now it's okay, who potentially will 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:25.520 be the first the individual who goes up against President Trump? 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:27.480 How do you see it between Bernie? I mean, the 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:29.480 race isn't over yet in terms of the race and 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:31.120 over and there's a long way to go. In the 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:33.160 piece I did in Business Week this week points out 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:35.440 that there is an eerie parallel that a lot of 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:39.440 Democrats are worried about with where you have an establishment 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:42.640 favorite who has a delegate lead, uh, and yet isn't 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:44.600 going to wrap this thing up for months and months 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.840 and months, and is running against an insurgent in Bernie Sanders, 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:50.920 whose supporters have already been jilted once. We're very unhappy 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:54.640 about it. In now they face the same thing this 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:57.320 time around. And Joe Biden's job, should he emerge as 0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:59.880 the nominee, is going to be to try and un 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:02.000 by a party that is going to have to stick 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:04.200 together if they're gonna have any chance of defeating Trump 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:05.800 in the fall. Well, the other thing that you point 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:08.879 out so well in the article, Josh, is this existential 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:13.160 moment for the for the Democrats where one candidate sort 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:16.119 of looks like the future and one maybe speaks to 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:19.399 its past. Yeah. I mean the remarkable thing about the 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:22.720 way that the race has narrowed since last night, this 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:25.800 this is functionally a two man affair right now between 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:28.560 Joe Biden, uh in Bernie Sanders. And if you look 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:31.960 at Biden's coalition who supported him last night, it was 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:35.239 essentially a throwback to the Obama coalition where Biden one 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:38.919 senior voters, he won African Americans, and he won white 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:43.200 collar professionals in the suburbs who supported Obama and helped 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:47.360 drive Democrats mid term games two years ago whereas Sanders, 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:50.200 despite the fact that he's seventy eight years old, really 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:54.160 represents the young, rising generation of Democrats, not just young people, 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:57.440 but working class Latino. We saw that coalition in Nevada, 0:17:57.480 --> 0:17:59.359 which is a good proxy for what the future of 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:03.040 America's going to look like. The problem for Biden is 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:05.679 that the one part of the Obama coalition he hasn't 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:08.879 managed to draw is young people. They are still loyal 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:10.359 to Bernie. So what we're gonna have to look for 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:13.439 over the next two three months is can he find 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.600 a way to bring them into his coalition, unify the party, 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:19.000 and have a fighting chance against And he was dismissive. 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:21.000 If I remember one of an interviews where somebody asked 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:22.960 him about the young population. He said something to the 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:26.280 effect that, well, they don't vote anyway, so yeah, yeah, 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:29.080 Well you know that's always the politicians move. Why doesn't 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:31.199 so and so support you? Oh, that's not important. But 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:34.520 inside inside Biden's campaign, I promise you they are acutely 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:37.320 aware of the fact that they have a real challenge 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:41.560 in attracting younger voters and exciting younger voters. Hillary Clinton 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:45.280 was unable to do so in lost the race, so 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:47.399 Biden is well aware that he's going to have to 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:51.000 do better. All right, So Michigan, Uh, that is front 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:53.000 and center. It feels like next Tuesday. What else are 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:55.560 you watching their Josh Well, I think Michigan is your point. 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:58.320 I was gonna be fascinating because four years ago Bernie 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:03.160 Sanders unexpectedly one Chigan. Now uh you have it looks 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:05.160 like Biden has pulled ahead and polls. I think that's 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:08.080 gonna be a good proxy for whether or not Biden 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:10.520 has a chance to walk away with this race if 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:13.320 he wins, or can Bernie MoU to comeback, you know 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:17.440 as delegate as vote totals rolling from California, which can 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:20.919 take weeks, Bernie's delegate totally is going to climb should 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:24.040 he repeat his win in Michigan. I think then we 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.159 go through a whole news cycle of is Bernie coming back? Clearly, 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.680 Bernie is sacrificing nothing. He just came out and gave 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.639 a very peevish press conference in which he attacked the 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:35.280 establishment in the press and everybody else. So there is 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.320 no sign whatsoever of the party coming together. I think 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:40.720 Michigan will be the first real indicator of which way 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:43.080 things are headed. In the post Super Tuesday World. Alright, well, 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:45.920