WEBVTT - Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - November 15th, 2024 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:07.600 Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:12.840 This is Bloomberg business Week inside from the reporters and 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:16.599 editors who bring you America's most trusted business magazine, plus 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:20.799 global business, finance and tech news. The Bloomberg Business Week 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:25.760 Podcast with Carol Messer and Tim Stenebek from Bloomberg Radio. 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:30.680 Hi, everyone, Welcome to the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. Well, 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:33.560 the next Trump administration is taking shape as the President 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:36.200 elect named names for those he would like to hold 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:39.960 top spots in his administration, including a special role for 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:43.560 the world's wealthiest individual. More on that in just a moment. 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.360 Plus, the asset that's soaring to record highs, more than 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:50.360 doubling this year and out performing the stock market could 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:52.280 get a boost in a Trump White House. At least 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:54.639 a lot of people are buying it and they think so. 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:56.600 We're going to talk about that with the CEO of 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:59.280 the cryptomnor Core Scientific. 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:02.640 Also a former administration insider, weighs in on the impact 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:06.240 of Trump's second term for international trade, national security, and 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:11.080 the US's contentious relationship with China. And speaking of trade policies, 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:13.920 the Trump agenda may eat into your Thanksgiving dinner plans. 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:14.759 Next year. 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:17.080 All that to come, we begin with the tech billionaire 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:20.120 with another project to run. In the days after the election, 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:22.880 Donald Trump and Elon Musk seem to be riding the 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:26.560 world's most intense contact high. Musk camped out with Trump's 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:29.520 inner circle at mar Lago, showed up in family photos, 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:33.039 and joined Trump's calls with world leaders. Perhaps that's what 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:34.840 you get when you pour in at least one hundred 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:38.240 and thirty two million dollars and counting into the president 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:39.600 elects campaign. 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:44.120 Perhaps clearly a front row seat at running Donald Trump's government. Musk, 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:49.480 along with former Republican presidential candidate and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswami, 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:52.800 will lead what Trump calls the Department of Government Efficiency 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:56.960 or DOGE in a claim to Elon's favorite cryptocurrency. So 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:59.400 writes Bloomberg Business we correspondent and co host of the 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:02.760 Elon Inc. Podcast, Max Chafkin. Max breaks it down. 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:06.840 Trump announced something that he had teased repeatedly on the 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.680 campaign trail, something that Musk had talked about. This idea 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:14.200 that Musk would be an advisor in the streamlining of government. 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:16.040 And there's even a catching name for this. This is 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:20.240 the Department of government efficiency. It's not a department in 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:22.960 the in the sort of normal sense. And it's also 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:25.760 unclear like how exactly how efficient they're going to be. 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.000 When Elon Musk has a co chair of Vek Ramaswami, 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:30.480 that's say, do. 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:32.240 You know what Tim's been saying, Hey, I'd been saying 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:33.440 that it's like it's supposed to be a fishion. 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:34.280 Why are there two of them? 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:34.560 All? 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:34.760 Right? 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:36.720 This is and this is a joke that that that 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:39.880 Democrats have pointed out and and critics are gonna are 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:42.839 gonna seize on. And I think that the challenge here 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.240 is that many of the things that Elon Musk has 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:51.160 talked about wanting to do, cutting two trillion dollars from 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:54.240 UH from the federal budget, or even if you start 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:57.480 talking about some of these very specific things that he 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:01.079 personally thinks is kind of dumb or useless, all of 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:03.919 that's gonna be politically difficult. When you're talking about gigantic 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:09.400 cuts two trillion dollars, that's gonna mean Congress, it's gonna 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:13.960 mean hard choices about important federal programs like Social Security 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:16.480 that lots and lots of Republicans, you know, that majority 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:18.480 in the House is going to be very, very narrow. 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:21.280 But when you even talk about the sort of smaller 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:24.920 things like you know, some defense thing, you know, a 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:27.000 lot of this stuff is politically charged. 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:27.160 Right. 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.320 You have senators, congress people in various states who care 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.280 about the jobs in those states. And Trump is going 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:37.200 to need to govern and he's gonna need Republicans in 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:39.320 the House and Senate to do that, even though Republicans 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:43.480 control those those branches. But what and you know, selection 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:46.000 of John Thune is as Speaker again, that's kind of 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:48.160 a bit of a rebuke to Elon and kind of 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.480 the hard right part of this coalition. They had wanted 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:54.360 Rick Scott. So there's gonna be a lot of challenges here. 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:56.240 Of course, there are ways that Elon Musk can get 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:57.119 paid even. 0:03:56.920 --> 0:04:00.000 So one thing we should notice, Elon actually a company 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:05.840 need the President elect to Washington. He was with lawmakers too. 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:07.960 They gave him a standing ovation in addition to giving 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:10.960 the president elect a standing ovation, So certainly gives an 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:13.720 idea how he's seen in the Republican Party right now. Max, 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:17.159 the China part of Elon Musk's story I keep coming 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:21.200 back to because he's got this very close relationship that 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:23.320 I wonder if it could be, in the words of 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:27.200 like Jeff Bezos, a complexifier when it comes to Elon 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.479 Musk's relationship with Donald Trump, because he wants to do 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:31.640 business in China, and he wants to do business easily 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:32.400 and ja, it's not. 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:33.880 Just that he wants to do business in China. He 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.240 really needs to do business in China Tesla unless there 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:41.960 is a dramatic change in strategy. Tesla needs it's China business. 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:45.680 There's a massive factory, it's the world's largest market for 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.919 electric vehicles. Tesla is trying really hard to compete there, 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:50.960 and Elon Musk have made that a big part of 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:54.040 his strategy. Now, I think two things are possible. One is, 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.440 if you know, tensions between the US and China were 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:00.520 to heat up further, you know, there are are ways 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:04.640 that Elon Musk could deemphasize his reliance on China. The 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:07.840 biggest one would be, you know, focusing more on robotaxis, 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:10.400 which he's starting to do. The other thing is, you know, 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:15.280 Donald Trump ran as a peacemaker, a negotiator. Yes he 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:18.920 wants to, Yes, he's gonna you know, put tariffs, he says, 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.760 but remember the last time lots of companies got carve outs, 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:26.160 were able to negotiate their own their own you know, 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:29.120 basically ways to to avoid paying those tariffs. So you 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:31.640 could imagine Elon Musk trying to find, you know, get 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:35.760 some exceptions carved out for important industrial companies such as, 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:38.719 you know, Tesla Motors, the company that he uh, you know, 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:41.279 owns a huge stake in UH. And the other thing 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:45.440 is like, compared to Joe Biden, I think Trump is 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:48.839 arguably not as despite the fact that the rhetoric is 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:52.200 very hawkish. Biden was also quite hawkish on China. So 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:57.480 I'm not sure that this represents such a huge complexifier. 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:00.560 But though it is certainly gonna be, you know, it's challenge, 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.800 and it's also of course an opportunity for political opponents 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:06.360 of Donald Trump, on both the right and the left 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:08.800 to seize on because he you can, you can talk 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:10.839 tough on China. But then when one of your partners, 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:14.200 you know, has this enormous Chinese factory as a good 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:17.400 close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party, like, that's gonna 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:18.799 that's gonna lead to criticism. 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:23.279 I keep thinking about conflicts of interest in this administration. 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:27.320 You know, here you have Elon advising Donald Trump in 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:29.520 terms of the efficiency of government. I have a company 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:33.400 that does a lot has business contracts right SpaceX with 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:35.640 the government. You talked about how you know Elon can 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:37.760 get paid. I mean his stock is already up thirty 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:40.200 percent from the election. I mean it just seems kind 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:43.839 of complicated in terms of the connections here. 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:46.479 Absolutely. I mean the thing is, if you were paying, 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.280 if you were watching the campaign, what you understand is 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:52.039 the conflicts of interests are the point. I mean, Trump 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:54.720 talked about that as an advantage. That was sold as 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:56.920 an advantage, and it's going to continue to be sold 0:06:56.920 --> 0:06:59.960 as an advantage. Elon Musk He's not just some egghead. 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:03.040 He really understands business. In fact, he runs a couple 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:05.800 of important businesses. Trump talked about, you know, on the 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:09.680 campaign trail, just essentially like ordering up rockets from Elon Musk. 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:14.600 So I think that they believe Donald Trump his advisors 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:19.000 Elon Musk, that basically voters and the Republican Party are 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:21.920 not going to mind that he's that important. But I 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:24.320 think that really remains to be seen. And you know 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:29.200 what happened during the last Trump presidency is that the 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:32.280 controversy started to bubble up right, and then it became 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:35.280 harder and harder for people who were kind of in 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:38.800 Elon Musk's position to stay in that inner circles. And 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:40.920 that's exactly what happened to Elon Musk, by the way, 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:45.400 in twenty seventeen, amid all this controversy. It was after 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:48.840 the sort of Muslim bands and Trump left the Paris 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:51.680 Climate Accords, Elon Musk backed away. He had been on 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:55.400 another advisory panel. So I think that is one thing 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:57.600 what's different this time around, and I think what's going 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.240 to put pressure on Donald Trump and actually put pressure 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.680 on moderating forces within the Republican Party is that Elon 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:06.160 has all this money that he's going to spend on politics. 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:09.080 He was tweeting that he's going to play in the midterm, 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:11.680 including the primaries, and if you look read between the 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:14.160 lines with that, what he's saying is, if you don't 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:18.400 go along with my agenda, Senate Republicans, congress people, I 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:20.680 am ready to dump a huge quantity of money into 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:23.360 a primary, like are you ready for a primary challenge? 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:26.760 And I think that is going to be his leverage, 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:29.400 and we we'll see if it actually works. And I 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:32.760 think where it works partly depends on what John Donald 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:34.920 Trump decides to do. Does he does he run as 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:37.920 this kind of ultramga guy that he presented, or does 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:39.120 he try to move to the center. 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:41.280 But I also wonder if Elon Musk lodes his interest 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:43.400 in this in a few months or in a few years. 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:46.120 I mean, you know, that is the I think there's 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:48.040 a conventional wisdom that says he's. 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:48.760 Got a lot on his plate. 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:52.920 He's got a tention span that that that drifts easily. 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.400 You know, he's got all these companies, he spends hours 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:58.760 a day playing video games. He's got a lot going on. 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:00.680 So if this started to he's got a lot of kids. 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.600 Yeah, he's got a lot of kids, you know, many interests. 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:07.360 But well, I'll say is though, what I'll say is 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:08.199 though this is. 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:13.520 A really great opportunity for him, as a government contractor, 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:15.960 as somebody who does a lot of things having to 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:17.560 do with the government, to have influence. 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:19.400 So I think he's going to ride. 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:22.240 This train as long as it'll go. And I think 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:25.400 he does have levers that he can pull that will 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:27.800 make it harder for Donald Trump to push him away 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.200 than say it was to be able to push away 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:33.000 these other sort of business leaders who got close to 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:34.679 Trump the last time around. He has a lot more 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:37.680 ways to influence Trump than say Anthony Scaramucci, you know, 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:40.559 who famously lasted ten days as the Press secretary. 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:42.480 Ma's one thing I'm curious about all that spending that 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:46.040 Elon Musk did on this campaign. I mean, it wasn't 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:48.079 just a case of just throwing money. I mean he 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.199 was involved in like creating, you know, hiring companies, getting 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:51.839 people to do it. 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:53.319 It was a whole new different. 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:55.920 Way of campaigning for a candidate. 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:59.720 Yes, super unusual. So you're talking about really big money. 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:01.880 You said one hundred and thirty two million. I think 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:03.319 when all said and done, is going to be closer 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:06.080 to two hundred million. So kind of up there with 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:09.760 the biggest contributions of any donor. And then this approach 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.680 that is really different from any other mega donor. You 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:15.760 know that Sheldon Aedelson was just giving writing big checks 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.080 and staying behind the scenes. That's kind of the model 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.280 Elon Musk, as you said, front and center he's made. 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:24.360 He made Donald Trump and sort of trump Ism, you know, 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.760 the editorial focus of X, his social network. He was 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.680 on the campaign trail. He's tweeting NonStop. He is, he 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:35.200 is some he brings things to this that are unquantifiable 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:37.520 and that are probably worth more than the two hundred 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:38.200 million he put in. 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:39.760 Hey, one thing I want to talk about is the 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.760 platform X. And you know we talked. In the two 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:46.240 years that he's owned it, there have been valuation right 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:50.280 downs by Fidelity for example, how should we be looking 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:52.280 at the valuation of X, or how should we be 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:55.360 looking at X as sort of a platform arm of 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:57.319 the Republican Party or communications arm. 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:00.920 Well, it's both a business and it's a loss leader 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:04.960 media arm for the Elon Ink conglomerate, right, Like, those 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:06.440 are the two things. Those are the two functions it 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:09.240 serves as a business. It hasn't gone super well. As 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:13.360 you said, Fidelity has written down the value massively. Elon 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.439 Musk essentially taking it over, decided he didn't care about advertising. 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:19.079 He decided that, you know, he was going to be 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:23.000 okay with not having a vibrant advertising business. He literally 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:26.280 told advertisers to f off, you know, from the stage 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:30.120 of a major conference. And what he's done is sort 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:32.160 of accepted that this is going to be a less 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:35.800 successful business, but try to maintain its influence and maybe 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:39.000 even intensified. And I'd argue in that way, it's been 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:41.640 a huge success. It's been a huge success of political play, 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:44.760 and even as a community like it may not be 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.600 super vibrant in the way it was before. There are 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:50.160 a lot of journalists who are you know, currently leaving 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:52.959 to go to Blue Sky or Threads or these competing 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:56.000 social networks. They're growing very quickly. But among conservatives, among 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.160 that kind of like base that elected Donald Trump, they 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:01.480 are on x. This is where they are getting their 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:02.240 news right now. 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.080 That was Bloomberg Business Week correspondent and co host of 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:08.200 the Elon Inc. Podcast, Max Chafkin. Check out the Elon Inc. 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:11.200 Podcast on the Bloomberg Terminal and at Bloomberg dot com, 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.800 slash elon Inc. In anywhere you get your podcasts. 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:16.280 Coming up, more on the next Trump administration and how 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:19.839 his mandate may impact future thanksgivings. 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:22.400 And this justice Turkey prices are actually dropping. You're listening 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:24.880 to Bloomberg BusinessWeek. This is Bloomberg. 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:29.520 You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week podcast. Catch us 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:32.839 live weekday afternoons from two to five pm. Easter Listen 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:35.559 on Apple Cardplay and then Broud Auto with a Bloomberg 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.719 business app or watch us live on YouTube. 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:42.160 Well Thanksgiving, yep, right around the corner. And with that, 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:45.120 gathering around the table with family, watching football and of 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:50.040 course eating turkey, though another thing on the menu this year. Politics. 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:52.840 That's because with such a monumental change in the White 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:56.240 House looming, people and businesses alike are wondering what the 0:12:56.240 --> 0:13:00.360 implications of new Trump administration will have on their bottom line. Yes, 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:02.240 that includes the poultry business. 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:04.000 This time of year, we like to check in on 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.160 the cost of a typical Thanksgiving dinner. Jajanren is the 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:11.280 CEO of Butterball, which sells yeah, a lot of turkeys, Jtails, 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:13.440 Tim and Bloomberg's just meant and what a Trump white 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:15.319 house means for Butterball. 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:18.280 Well, certainly it remains to be seen exactly how this 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:20.839 administration will play out. As we you know, from the 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:24.920 last Trump administration, it didn't have any significant direct impact 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:27.440 that we saw as a result of any policy at 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:30.760 that time, and don't expect there will be any significant 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:34.440 changes again with this administration. But that remains we see. 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:36.720 We'll see what kind of position he takes to some 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:40.040 of these issues. But well we'll deal with it as 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:42.280 it comes, but we don't expect any significant issues at 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:42.679 this point. 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:47.480 Does that include deregulation in the poultry industry specifically. 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:50.719 I wouldn't expect so. From a food safety standpoint, that's 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:52.440 one of the main things that we pay attention to. 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:55.240 There is good regulation and there are some things that 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:57.600 are certainly good about that make sure that we have 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:00.839 a safe food supply. Regardless of what comes down with that, 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:02.640 we're going to still make sure that we produce a 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.200 safe product and give the consumers what they need. So 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:07.959 while there may be some modifications, some changes here, and 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:10.360 there are some subtle changes, don't expect anything big and 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:14.839 certainly don't expect any big unwinding of any policies that 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:16.840 we have to work with and work within. 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:20.080 Jay, What about the labor side of this, because this 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:23.040 time the former president and now presidentill Act ran on 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:26.200 this policy of mass deportations, promising to deport millions of 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:28.680 people who are here illegally. No question, that's going to 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:32.520 have profound applications for their workforce if he sees it through, 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:34.480 and he says he will see it through, and it 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.280 will affect companies that don't employ people who are here 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:42.880 illegally poultry processing facilities known to employ migrant workers. How 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:45.000 are you planning for how this could affect your business? 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.400 Well, as it is now and has been, we comply 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:50.200 with all the regulations that we need to to make 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:52.840 sure that we're only hiring documented workers, so it really 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:56.320 shouldn't have any impact on us whatsoever. We've had. Actually, 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:59.960 our labor situation has been very good and continuing to 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:01.840 prove over the last couple of years as we get 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:03.960 out of COVID, which is great news, and I really 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:08.200 attribute that to the work that we've done on our 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:11.200 people efforts, the training that we've done for our folks, 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:13.640 the benefits that we've provide to them, have really put 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:15.640 us in a really great spot. We're now have a 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:18.280 labor situation that's much better than it has been for 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:21.080 at least the last six years. So with regard to 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:23.800 the immigration policy itself, it really won't have any impact 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:25.960 because we're not unable to hire those books as it 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:26.640 is now anyway. 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:29.960 Yeah, Jay, And don't get me wrong, I'm not implying 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:33.760 that Butterball employees people who are undocumented. What I'm saying, though, 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:36.160 is there is this chain reaction in the labor for us, 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:38.400 when you remove a large portion of people who are 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.560 here illegally but also might be working, then there are 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:44.480 other people who need to fill those roles that they 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:47.200 previously worked in. And I'm wondering if that could have 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.560 upward pressure on you on your costs because you'll then 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:53.600 have to find new people to work in your facilities 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:55.680 because the people who were there might have gone somewhere else. 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:57.640 Well, I think the key is to making sure that 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:01.680 we keep our people happy. Some the feedback that we 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:04.440 get from our folks, We've talked to them regularly. We 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:06.320 do a lot of work with surveys and making sure 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.320 that we talk one on one with our people and 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:11.520 really understand that we're meeting the needs of what they're 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:13.680 looking for in an employer. And we feel really good 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:16.360 of our positions. So you know that certainly isn't something 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:18.920 that we're terribly concerned about. We're just going to make 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:20.840 sure that we take care of our folks the ones 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:23.680 that we have, and continue to give them positive opportunities 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:24.680 to grow with in the organization. 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:28.120 You export products to more than thirty countries. How are 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:31.240 you thinking about potential regulatory tariffs? 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:35.160 Well, we don't see anything directly coming within our categories. 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:38.840 We haven't in the past, so that's certainly goodness and 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:41.040 it just really remains to be seen again. You know, 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:44.240 with the previous Trump administration, there's a lot of effort 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:46.520 in those areas and from a tariff standpoint, in different 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:51.160 different categories, we didn't see any retaliatory tariffs as an 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:54.360 example with our products. Hopefully that will not be the 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:57.680 case this year, so you know, we've got an open mind. 0:16:57.680 --> 0:16:59.800 We'll continuing to look in a valued situation, but at 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:02.360 this point, there really is anything that we can do 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:05.680 until we start seeing how those negotiations start to play out. 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:08.240 Jay, I'm just just wondering, like, do you have somebody 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:12.159 at a policy position at the company who can represent 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:14.719 you in Washington? Does it feel like if you do, 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:17.000 you have to sort of beef that presence up a 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:17.480 little bit. 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:21.000 Our trade organization, National Turkey Federation does a great job 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:23.480 with regard to that. We've got folks there in DC 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:26.359 very well connected on the Hill. My company and other 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:28.360 companies in our industry spend quite a bit of time 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:31.000 up there as well talking to our legislators. So we 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:34.080 really make sure that we can take the time to 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:36.720 give them the topics that are important to us, the 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:40.000 positions we're looking to take, and hopefully we can end 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:42.120 up with a positive outcome. But we feel really good 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.480 about a representation there now through the National Turkey Federation. 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:48.000 I want to get a glean just on the inflation 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:49.960 question because we've seen it come down so much from 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:51.520 the rate of change over the last few years. But 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:54.399 unit labor costs, so for listeners, basically what a business 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:57.639 pay to employees to produce one unit of output. How 0:17:57.680 --> 0:17:59.640 are you viewing when it comes to how you're paying 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:02.680 those and are you still feeling a pinch here when 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:05.720 you're thinking about when everyone's discussing about the trajectory of 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:06.720 rates and the Federal Reserve. 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.280 Yeah, we've got to be competitive, obviously, and we've done 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:10.960 a lot over the last couple of years to make 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:14.119 sure that we've got a good balance for our folks 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:18.160 on both their working and their home life relationship and 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:20.520 their income as well. That's a very important piece of 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:22.080 it for us. We want to make sure that those 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:25.800 those folks are happy. Inflation overall has definitely hit us 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:29.080 just like the consumer. You know, we have experienced that 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:32.120 within our company as have others. So when we talk 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:34.240 to consumers now we look at this holiday, we know 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:37.480 that that's a very very important aspect of what they're considering. 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:40.440 Inflation is certainly top of mind. It was certainly a big, 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:44.920 a big issue for this election and the consumers total sets. 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:47.680 So we've been working very, very closely in preparation for 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.359 this holiday to make sure that working with our retailers, 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:53.280 we can give the best value to the consumers that 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:54.960 are out there, and I think they're going to be 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:56.040 pleasantly surprised. 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:58.000 You guys are privately held, so we don't have a 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:01.640 ton of information on your numbers, but can you give 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:04.760 us some ballpark figures about just how much turkey you're 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:06.439 responsible for selling in the US? 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:10.320 Sure? Well, we have within the holidays, you know, certain 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:15.000 leaders we focus on Thanksgiving. About one in three turkeys 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:18.560 that are sold every year are a butter ball is 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:21.560 a butterball turkey. So we're really proud of that position. 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:25.639