WEBVTT - Mike Milken: “Science could not move fast enough.” 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:07.600 You're listening to Math and Magic, a production of iHeart Podcasts. 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:12.440 When I went to Berkeley in sixty four, it was 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.560 rated at one time the number one undergrad and grad 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:18.040 school in the world. And it costs two hundred and 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:22.000 six dollars a year today for an out of states student, 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:26.200 that's thirty or forty thousand. If it moved with inflation, 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:29.000 it would be less than eight hundred dollars today. 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:39.280 Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, and welcome to this episode of 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:41.959 Math and Magic. Today we have a guest who has 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:46.720 fundamentally changed American business. An unlocked capital for entrepreneurs who 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:49.919 could not access the financing they needed to bring their 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:53.400 dreams to life, and he ushered in an explosive era 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:56.720 of innovation starting in the nineteen seventies that changed the 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:59.880 world of business and even the world itself. He's Mike Milkin. 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.760 Originally you probably thought of him as a financier, but 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:05.760 over time he has shown that he has other important 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.480 dimensions which are even more important to the world, and 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:12.520 has made contributions as a philanthropist, public health advocate, and 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.240 medical research innovator. He's also the chairman and founder of 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:21.360 the Milkan Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan economic think tank that 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:25.039 seeks to create a more informed public, more thoughtful policymaking, 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:30.000 and improved economic conditions. And he just opened the Milkan 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:33.080 Center for Advancing the American Dream in Washington, d C. 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:35.600 This is a man who not only believes in the 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.520 American Dream, but is helping get the message of that 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:42.880 opportunity to everyone in America. Michael grew up in southern California, 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:45.200 and as a kid, as true nature began to shine through, 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:48.320 he was a block captain for the United Way, riding 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.440 his bike from house to house collecting dimes and quarters 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.720 to help fund local charities. He was voted friendliest and 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:57.760 most spirited in his high school class, and even received 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:00.600 the Outstanding young Man Award from the Law Local Junior 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:04.080 Chamber of Commerce for the greatest service to the community. 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:07.840 He married his high school sweetheart, who he began dating 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:11.600 in the ninth grade. Wow, lots of good stories here, Mike. 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:15.800 Welcome, Thank you, Bob, and great to hear that voice. 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:16.119 Ah. 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:18.519 Well, listen before we get into the real meat of 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:21.720 everything I want to do. You in sixty seconds? You 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:22.320 ready to go? 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:23.520 I am ready? 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:28.280 Cats are dogs dogs Early Riser or night out early 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:32.480 riser city or country city, East coast or West coast, 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:38.000 West coast, TikTok, Instagram or x none of the three. Okay, 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:43.840 introvert or extrovert. Extrovert, beach or mountains, beach, rock and 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:49.120 roll or country rock and roll, TV or YouTube YouTube, 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:54.160 books or movies, books, cook or eat out, Cook, vegetarian 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:59.000 or carnivore, vegetarian, call or text call It's about to 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:02.720 get a little harder. All time favorite musical artist Frank Sinatra. 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.560 Favorite book to read to the grandkids, The Giving Tree, 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:11.480 favorite sports team Lakers, first job working for my father, 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:15.440 Favorite place to visit home. And here's the last one. 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:18.200 Secret to over fifty five years of marriage. 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:21.040 Seeing the world through someone else's eyes. 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:27.120 That's very nice. Let's jump in. Fifty percent of Americans 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:29.960 now say they don't believe in capitalism, and I don't 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:33.040 care what your political persuasion is. That's probably not healthy 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:36.880 for the country. You spent your life helping people understand 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:40.600 capitalism and help them have an opportunity to participate in 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:44.360 the rewards of capitalism, regardless of the circumstances of their birth. 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:47.280 So how do we get here and what do we 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:48.400 do to turn that around. 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:53.760 I think those percentages you talk about, Bob are age 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:59.600 related heavily, and so the financial crisis of eight to 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:06.560 twenty ten eleven really changed perspective for younger people. And 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:12.680 what occurred was people lost their home or had trouble 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:17.200 keeping their home. The student loans that have compended over 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:22.480 this time, they're now one point seven trillion. After the 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:27.000 financial crisis, we have not fully recovered and the result 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:32.600 was that most young people didn't feel the financial system 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:37.400 was working for them. And today they're in their twenties, thirties, 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:40.719 could even be in their forties. There is no better 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:46.039 system than the free enterprise system, and so our goals 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:52.599 here and something called the EMA Economic Mobility Alliance, are 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:55.880 to change those views in a short period of time. 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.880 On July fourth, the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:04.400 the United States, every child born in America is going 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:09.680 to get one thousand dollars in their investment account, no fees, 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:14.880 no management fees, and will be compounding away. There's a 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:18.719 group of individuals that have been in the Giving Pledge, 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:24.719 myself and many others, led by one individual who's talking 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:29.279 about giving six billion dollars to all children in America 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:34.920 ten and under. Collectively, these invest America accounts would make 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:40.920 everyone feel that they had part of America. They own 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:45.000 a piece of Microsoft for Apple, et cetera. And so 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:48.359 when we look at what country in the world today 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:53.000 has the highest median net worth that has twenty million people, 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:58.880 it is Australia, which has a super annuation funds and 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:02.520 so they they have set aside money. Today it's around 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:07.520 three trillion US for twenty six million people. It would 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.480 be like if we had forty five or fifty trillions 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:14.440 sitting around for all the citizens of our country. And 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:19.520 so the initiation of programs like this is in the forefront, 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:23.080 and so you want people to feel they're part of 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.320 the system. But if you ask me what changed, two 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:31.960 major things changed the financial crisis and the increase in 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:36.039 the cost of going to college. When I went to 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:39.840 Berkeley in sixty four, it was rated at one time 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.680 the number one undergrad and grad school in the world, 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:46.320 and it costs two hundred and six dollars a year. 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.640 Today for an in state student, it's more than sixteen 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:54.560 thousand and four. An out of state student like others, 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:58.560 it's thirty or forty thousand. If it moved with inflation 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:02.839 be less than eight hundred dollars today. So we have 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:08.080 driven up the cost of education dramatically, and that's why 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.400 we not only have one point seven trillion in student 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.680 debt that students feel they can never get rid of, 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:19.280 but we still generate more new student debt every year. 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:21.400 And so one of the things we've been working on 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:25.760 for a number of years is how do we eliminate 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:29.680 this loans to go to college? And there's numerous programs 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:34.920 today that are being considered that will eliminate the need 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:40.600 to generate loans to go to school. That was the seed, 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:45.200 in my opinion, and that is the reason why in 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:49.720 two thousand and seven eight we began the effort to 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:53.480 build the Center for Advancing the American Train because we 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:58.080 felt not only the people of America, but the people 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:01.800 of world needed some place that they could look to 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:05.960 that exists where you can rise up based on your ability. 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:09.520 By the way invest America it correct me on these stats, 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.720 but I think if nobody adds anything more than that 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:16.640 thousand dollars, that that grows to sort of fourteen fifteen 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.800 thousand dollars in thirteen years, and if they never touch it, 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:21.560 I think they have a million dollars by the time 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:22.160 they're fifty. 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:23.520 Those stats right. 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.760 They are, and I think people are going to add 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:31.600 to it. Those numbers are going to grow. And we 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:35.840 have spoken to companies that employ almost thirty million people 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:40.800 who say they're going to give money to the accounts 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:44.800 of all their employees choled. One of the things if 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:48.880 you're a mathematician, you know is the sooner you start 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:53.880 saving money, the more it's going to countpound during your lifetime. 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.840 So let's get started at one, not at forty. 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:01.840 In the nineteen seventies and eighties, you opened access to capital, 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:05.240 enabling a whole new breed of entrepreneurs, and you touched 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:08.600 almost every great entrepreneur of that era. I just want 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:10.679 to sort of put on the record here you change 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:13.720 my life because you were able to take MTV Networks 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:17.240 public in nineteen eighty four. Sover that, thank you. So 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:19.800 many business people of that era were touched by you. 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.680 One question, how did you decide who you should back? 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:28.280 It was the view that the real asset of a 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:32.720 company was its people. People like you Bow and so 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:36.720 where you're right, you're right on the talent and the people. 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:40.640 So when you look at a company, you look at 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:44.920 the major asset of that organization, if it's a company, 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:51.120 if it's a philanthropic organization, whatever it might be, is 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:55.080 the talents of the people working for it, and for 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:59.840 a country, the social capital, rule of law, creditor rights, 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:07.640 universal education, healthcare, etc. So the question is I might 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:10.960 have my view of the future, but you need someone 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:14.160 that can execute that view. And so whether it was 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:18.320 John Malone or Steve Ross or yourself, Bob, you know 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:20.960 you're too honest, but my view, if you had not 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:26.080 joined AOL, AOL would have failed. It's that individual. And 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:30.840 so the decision to back Craig McCall or Bill McGowan 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:35.440 was heavily based on their talent. And Bill McGowan, most 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:38.480 people would think it's crazy today that you were paying 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:42.040 twelve dollars a minute to make a long distance phone 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:47.160 call in the nineteen sixties and seventies. Twelve dollars a 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:51.640 minute today, that's free. And he took on AT and 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:55.520 T at the time the largest company that had ninety 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:59.920 nine percent market share because he believed in fiber optics 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:04.000 and changing how we communicate, and he drove the cost 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:07.960 down eighty or ninety percent but someone had to give 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:11.480 him money, and the decision to give him money it 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:14.199 took three years for me to convince my own firm 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:17.000 to do it. You were about to get black balled 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:21.440 at and t pay the most fees to financial firms. 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:27.120 If you financed them, you would be blackballed. And what 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:31.880 most people didn't realize is that everything people said about 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:36.920 credit was wrong. Companies were the best credit, countries were 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:41.360 the worst credit, and individuals were in the middle. And 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:46.679 ninety nine point nine percent of every single company in 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:51.720 America was not investment great. So you had a situation 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:57.160 where the existing companies maybe five hundred, were allowed to 0:11:57.200 --> 0:12:00.680 borrow or finance their business and everyone else else did 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:02.240 not have access to capital. 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:04.800 We, by the way, could dig in on this. You 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:07.320 could give us the masterclass on this inside and out. 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:10.240 But I want to switch focus a little bit. The 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:14.920 Milkin Institute, along with the Milken Institute's Global Conference, which 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:17.680 is the who's who of everyone in business and finance, 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:21.160 can you talk about the origin story of this and 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:24.240 its mission and where it is today on delivering that mission. 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:28.719 That conference brings the leaders in philanthropy and medical and 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:36.040 education and entrepreneurs and finance together, and so the idea was, 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:40.480 let's bring people that might never meet each other in 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:46.800 their lifetime together. Let's bring those special talented individuals in 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:50.480 education or healthcare or even government leaders, and let them 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:55.840 spend four or five days together. To give you one story, Bob, 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:59.320 that kind of depicts that. Peter Chernan, who at the 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:04.240 time was the president of what was news Court Fox 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:07.280 when they were combined, he was on a panel with 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:12.120 the leaders in the media entertainment industry. But he came 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:16.680 there that day and went to two sessions, one doctors 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:21.319 in Uganda where there's one hundred and twenty five thousand 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:26.840 people for every doctor. In malaria no more, the fact 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:29.960 that one of the largest causes of death on the 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:34.760 planet was malaria, particularly for children. And he walked into 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:38.200 those two sessions, something he might never have done in 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:42.240 his lifetime, nor was prepared to walk in, and it 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:45.520 changed his life forever. I think less than a year 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:49.480 later he told Rupert he wanted to retire, and he 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:54.240 became an active participant with malaria no more when and 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:58.760 visited East Africa. Would he have ever done that if 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.920 he had not walked in the room. The goal is 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:06.720 to get people, get entrepreneurs, get those change makers, bring 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:10.120 that human and social capital together at one place from 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:14.720 every walk of life. If you said when it had started, 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:17.880 it started in the early seventies when I used to 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:22.480 put on these research conference and I wanted to see 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:26.440 how a CEO or a leader at an organization answered 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:30.200 the fifth question or the tenth question. Not the first. 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:33.920 Everybody can get prepared for the first, but what about 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:38.920 the tenth question. And much of the decision on financing 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:43.280 a Bill mcgallan or Steve Ross, or yourself, or a 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:47.040 Craig McCall or a Steve Win or a John Malone 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:52.080 and you name it came from watching their interaction, what 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:57.160 their vision was, the twinkle in their eye. Of the 0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:00.920 thousands and thousands of companies I've had a chance to 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:06.440 finance and be involved with. Bob, you mentioned MTV. I 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:10.680 can't tell you how many times I had someone call 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:14.680 me up complaining in the mid eighties of how bad 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:18.160 MTV was on their kids. How could I do this? 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:22.240 Why did I do this? They're listening in all these songs. 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:28.320 And you might remember, Bob, prior to MTV going public, 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:33.200 in order to protect MTV, it was bundled with HBO, 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:38.080 and it was bundled with ESPN. So if the dad 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:42.400 didn't want to cancel ESPN and the mom didn't want 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:48.200 to cancel HBO, well then they couldn't cancel MTV. And 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:54.200 it took over a whole generation. And it's always the people. 0:15:54.960 --> 0:16:00.400 It is estimated that the social and human camp of 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:05.320 the United States is worth fifteen hundred to two thousand trillion. 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:11.160 Fifteen hundred to two thousand trillion. The financial assets are 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:14.760 two hundred and fifty trillion. So whether it's a nonprofit, 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.920 whether it's a for profit, whether it's a government, whether 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:22.840 it's an agency, they're only as good as the people 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:26.440 that work for them and the vision of them. 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:29.160 Let me ask you about you as it relates to this. 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:33.040 I mean most people would say, Mike Milkin math genius, 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:36.200 knows numbers inside and out. Oh my god, knows everything 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:40.000 about finance. How did you develop and where did this 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:45.120 extraordinary skill for actually evaluating people come from? Because usually 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:47.680 you don't see those two skills going together. 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:52.800 My father, when I was eight years old, told me 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:56.880 my children, his grandchildren would not have a good life 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:02.640 unless every single person had a chance. Not that they 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:06.240 would succeed, but they felt that they had a chance 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:10.440 at this American dream, this dream that was defined in 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:16.160 nineteen thirty one of upward mobility, a chance to succeed 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:19.920 and grow, not based on your religion, where you were born, 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:22.560 what school you went to, your parents, whether you're a 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:26.400 man or a woman, but your ability and your persistence. 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:31.639 So that was drummed into my head as a young kid. 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:37.199 My father's mother died and childbirth, and his father was 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:40.000 killed in an automobile accident when he was eleven. So 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:46.240 his view of community and that's why I started raising 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:50.879 money for local charities on my bike as a young boy. 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:56.959 And as I grew up, I discovered that most people 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:01.400 don't see the world through other people size. They see 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.919 the world only through their own eyes. And as a 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:09.199 parent and a grandparent, you see so much if you 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:13.719 travel or with your grandchildren or children by seeing the 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:19.159 world through their eyes. And so to me, the idea 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:24.200 that people with the best ideas would be denied access 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:28.240 to capital. When I financed the first woman to buy 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.320 a company, she didn't inherit that was in the largest 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:35.040 in America, I got hate mail in nineteen eighty five. 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:40.320 In America, today, women have led the largest automobile companies, 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:45.919 IBM the largest defense contractor. But the emancipation of women 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:49.639 didn't begin to the seventies, and the emancipation of women 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:54.520 financially didn't begin until the mid eighties when I financed 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:59.720 reg Lewis an African American man. My view the Jackie 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:04.439 Rock and cent of business. I got death threats in 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:09.160 America in nineteen eighty six, and so things have changed 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:13.560 tremendously in America, But it wasn't that long ago. And 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:18.679 today young people or financial markets are totally open. And 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:22.879 in the last thirty years of the twentieth century, small 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:26.920 and medium companies created more than sixty million jobs. And 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:31.640 so today that young person has one thousand or ten 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:35.960 thousand people that might give them financial capital to grow. 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.840 When I entered Wall Straight in nineteen sixty eight, maybe 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:44.200 there was ten people that decided whether you could get 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:47.439 capital to grow your business. And so the world is 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:51.719 much different today. But the challenge is the same. We 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:54.880 need to make people feel they're part of that effort. 0:19:56.080 --> 0:20:00.000 And so starting with a private equity firm of KKOI 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:07.200 and Leonard Grain and Apollo, they form something called ownership works, 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:11.320 and when they buy a company today they give equity 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:16.919 to every single employee, whether they're the truck driver or 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:22.240 the night watchmen. And more than ten billion dollars has 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:26.879 now been distributed to the lowest wage workers of these 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:30.840 companies to make them feel they're part of it. But 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:35.880 this is just the beginning, in my opinion, and the 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:41.119 enormous differences in net worth that exist in this country. 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:47.840 America has the highest average net worth of any country 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:51.439 in the world with more than twenty million people. But 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:56.000 you're averaging in the Gates and the Bezos and the 0:20:56.080 --> 0:21:01.280 musk into those equations, et cetera. But we have a 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:08.720 relatively low median net worth, substantially lower than many developed countries. 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:12.760 Now we have a large percentage of our population that 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:16.440 has a net worth less than ten thousand. It's our 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:20.639 dream here that we will dramatically change that in the 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:26.720 next ten years through participation in not just four oh 0:21:26.800 --> 0:21:32.080 one ks, but ownership, and that every child in America 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:37.520 will have an investment account, so that will create opportunities. 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:49.440 More of mathem Magic right after this quick break, Welcome 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:50.760 back to Mathem Magic. 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:53.119 Let's hear more from my conversation with Mike Milkin. 0:21:54.840 --> 0:21:57.399 You know any man who's ever had an inkling of 0:21:57.440 --> 0:22:00.359 any issue at the prostate knows of what you've done 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:05.160 with prostate cancer research. You brought your saying entrepreneurial skills 0:22:05.200 --> 0:22:08.040 to the issue of prostate cancer with the founding of 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:11.440 the Prostate Cancer Foundation in nineteen ninety three. You've set 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:14.440 up other health organizations which have also had a big impact. 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:17.000 You looked at this situation the way you. 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:18.240 Looked at business. 0:22:18.640 --> 0:22:21.280 What was the problem with medical research and how did 0:22:21.320 --> 0:22:21.879 you attack it? 0:22:22.520 --> 0:22:26.320 I lost ten relatives to cancer, and so i'd say 0:22:26.359 --> 0:22:31.640 between seventy two and ninety three, I was a donor 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:36.040 to medical research. But in ninety three I watched my 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:40.040 father die and I concluded that science could not move 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:43.480 fast enough to save his life. You know, I moved 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:47.160 back to California from the East Coast because I wanted 0:22:47.440 --> 0:22:50.760 his two grand children, our two sons who were born 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:55.600 at the time, to know my father before he died. Well, 0:22:56.040 --> 0:23:01.920 fast forward eighteen years later, I'm diagnosed with advanced cancer 0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:07.520 that spread through my body, and there is no solution 0:23:07.840 --> 0:23:11.439 at the moment that would save my life. And so 0:23:12.040 --> 0:23:15.679 I had to accelerate, not just for me, but for 0:23:15.800 --> 0:23:20.280 millions of others. How research was going on. I saw 0:23:20.320 --> 0:23:24.919 a submission to the National Cancer Institute that was nine 0:23:25.080 --> 0:23:29.320 feet of paper. It took eighteen months to prepare. They're 0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:32.600 going to spend eighteen months analyzing it. If they give 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:35.760 it a go, it'll be three years later and what 0:23:36.200 --> 0:23:38.480 they said they're going to do will no longer be 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:43.639 even relevant three years later. So we had to accelerate research. 0:23:44.280 --> 0:23:48.679 So we decided we'd go to a five page piece 0:23:48.720 --> 0:23:51.480 of paper. You could submit anything you want. We only 0:23:51.560 --> 0:23:55.679 promised to read five pages. We'd let you know whether 0:23:55.720 --> 0:23:59.720 you won and fund you within sixty to ninety days. 0:24:00.280 --> 0:24:04.400 And a requirement was you had to share. I had 0:24:04.440 --> 0:24:07.639 people telling me now they can't share their research until 0:24:07.680 --> 0:24:12.200 it's published in Nature or sell in a year, and 0:24:12.240 --> 0:24:16.040 we told them that's okay, your work is so important 0:24:16.040 --> 0:24:19.160 you don't need our money. We will just give our 0:24:19.200 --> 0:24:22.880 money to those willing to share. And so those three 0:24:22.880 --> 0:24:28.399 things changed the face of research. One sharing your data 0:24:28.480 --> 0:24:34.120 with everyone so everyone knew your idea. Number two quick response, 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:37.639 and number three you don't have to work for a 0:24:37.720 --> 0:24:41.280 year if you had a good idea. And the most 0:24:41.359 --> 0:24:45.760 important idea maybe of all, was less fun young people. 0:24:46.320 --> 0:24:49.360 So we concluded when you looked at people that won 0:24:49.480 --> 0:24:53.560 Nobel Prizes, most of those people want a Nobel Prize 0:24:54.240 --> 0:24:57.040 for their ideas. When they were in school or their 0:24:57.080 --> 0:25:00.280 twenties or early thirties. They might not have won they 0:25:00.280 --> 0:25:06.560 were sixty, but the idea Einstein Newton, Madame Curry had 0:25:06.600 --> 0:25:09.600 won two Nobel Prizes by the time she was forty, 0:25:10.520 --> 0:25:15.080 James Watson, you name it. And so the decision to 0:25:15.400 --> 0:25:21.320 fun young scientists in their generally thirty one thirty two. 0:25:22.240 --> 0:25:26.159 They've now spent half their life out of high school, 0:25:26.560 --> 0:25:30.200 going to medical school, getting a PhD in biology or 0:25:30.320 --> 0:25:34.199 computer science or something, and now they're ready for their 0:25:34.240 --> 0:25:38.720 own laboratory, but they weren't getting money. So that decision 0:25:38.920 --> 0:25:42.879 and the sharing Bob. We had one hundred and ninety 0:25:43.000 --> 0:25:49.199 four different disease groups who would share best practices, and 0:25:49.320 --> 0:25:53.520 whether it was the Michael J. Fox Parkinson's or the 0:25:53.800 --> 0:25:59.600 Multiple Mile Long or the lust Garden Pacriantic Foundation, we 0:25:59.640 --> 0:26:04.239 would talk about what does work, what doesn't work, and 0:26:04.280 --> 0:26:07.560 we created something, you know, Partners for cures Today. It's 0:26:07.680 --> 0:26:12.520 called the Future of Health where you can study deploying 0:26:12.680 --> 0:26:19.680 technology today like non evasive surgery, focused ultrasound or what 0:26:19.720 --> 0:26:26.679 we've learned about immuneology and your immune system. We worked 0:26:26.680 --> 0:26:29.760 in prosty cancer for ten years, but then shifted it 0:26:29.800 --> 0:26:34.920 over to a sister organization or Multima Meloma Alliance MRI, 0:26:35.760 --> 0:26:42.280 and the death rate from melanoma dropped fifty percent immediately. 0:26:42.840 --> 0:26:46.600 I'll never forget in nineteen ninety seven listening to Jim 0:26:46.680 --> 0:26:52.200 Allison tell our medical research group that your immune system 0:26:52.359 --> 0:26:56.760 is smarter than all of the world's greatest scientists, and 0:26:57.680 --> 0:27:01.880 the reason you got cancer was one of three. Your 0:27:01.880 --> 0:27:06.000 immune system has been turned off, your immune system has 0:27:06.080 --> 0:27:11.200 been compromised, or your cancer is disguised like a klingon 0:27:11.680 --> 0:27:17.760 worship and it doesn't recognize the disease. Well. Twenty years later, 0:27:17.920 --> 0:27:22.480 Jim won a Nobel Prize. I met three young men 0:27:22.600 --> 0:27:27.800 one night who had melanoma in their brain, in their lungs, 0:27:27.880 --> 0:27:32.399 and in their liver. Normal life expectancy less than one month. 0:27:33.280 --> 0:27:38.040 All three are live today decade later, all in total 0:27:38.080 --> 0:27:43.080 remission because of these checkpoint inhibitors. And what Jim's breakthrough 0:27:43.320 --> 0:27:47.800 was he turned off the switch in the cancer that 0:27:47.960 --> 0:27:51.639 turned off your immune system, so your immune system was 0:27:51.720 --> 0:27:55.679 turned back on. And that was also the technique of 0:27:55.880 --> 0:28:00.159 energizing your immune system that we found during cod of 0:28:00.160 --> 0:28:02.520 it in the RNA vaccines. 0:28:03.240 --> 0:28:06.960 I'd like to get some of your views on AI. 0:28:08.040 --> 0:28:12.560 Seventy percent of Americans use AI, two thirds fear it 0:28:12.680 --> 0:28:15.480 might cost them their jobs. Can you give us some 0:28:15.560 --> 0:28:17.800 of your perspective on AI. What's good about it? 0:28:18.119 --> 0:28:18.800