WEBVTT - Inflation, ESG, Video Games, And Streaming (Podcast) 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:04.040 Welcome to the Bloomberg Markets Podcast. I'm Paul Sweeney, alongside 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:06.920 my co host Matt Miller. Every business day we bring 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:11.520 you interviews from CEOs, market pros, and Bloomberg experts, along 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:15.560 with essential market moving news on the Bloomberg Markets Podcast, 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:18.439 on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts, and 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.960 at Bloomberg dot com slash podcast. So let's talk to 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:25.040 somebody who does this stuff for a living. Chance see 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:29.920 I own partner, Oxbow Advisers. Chance you know the last 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:33.720 I don't know four or five weeks have suggested that 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:37.000 the market might be thinking maybe this FED can go 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:40.879 slower rather than faster in terms of raising rates. How 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.960 do you think about it? Yeah, Hi, Paul and Matt, 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:46.600 I think yeah. It's been interesting to see this rally 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:50.519 here July and into August. It seems like investors are 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:52.760 getting more excited that the FED may be able to 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:55.920 pull off this soft landing. We don't think, though, that 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:58.800 the lower than expected inflation number yesterday really changes the 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:00.880 Fed's plans. We think they're still going to hike in 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:04.600 September and November. You wouldn't really see them hit a 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:07.160 point that you might think they'd be about done hiking 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.560 until you see the federal funds rate above the two 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:12.360 year rate. That's usually when you'd start to see maybe 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:15.039 they would start to pivot in terms of their activity. 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:18.040 But we would expect the inflation rate to still only 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:21.160 come down slowly, and we're still seeing an economic slowdown. 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:23.480 So for us, our positions unchanged that we continue to 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:25.760 be pretty cautious in this environment. We did see the 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:29.680 two year come down drastically UM after the CPI number. 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:33.640 Now it's at three spot one seven three per cent, 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:36.520 so it looks like we need to go another sixty 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:39.120 seven point three basis points. Do you think they're gonna 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:43.600 go seventy five chance? I don't know. It seems like 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.600 maybe they just go with fifty um. Although when you 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:49.320 have the equity market rising like this, they kind of 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:53.240 given them permission to raise however much they want. Uh. Really, 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:55.240 only when the equity market starts to go down into 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:58.040 a significant extent that you think maybe that might really 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:00.400 pressed whether they want to push through as many hikes 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:02.400 as they'd intend to, especially with three and a half 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:05.080 percent unemployment. I know it's a backwards looking data point, 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:08.920 but still, uh, they seem to be really interested in 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:12.600 front loading. I think that's the case. And I think 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:14.760 the other thing to keep in mind is, even though 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:17.920 the month over month number on inflation was lower than 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.440 expected and you're starting to see, Okay, maybe we peaked 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:22.400 at nine percent last month and now it's going to 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.519 start trending down, you're still looking at an above eight 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.760 percent annual inflation number and how many months in a 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:34.280 row of real wages being negative for workers around the country. 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:36.280 And that's really where their top of mind is. And 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:38.239 like you said, if the unemployment rate is this low, 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:40.480 they're gonna want to keep pushing on that to try 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:42.800 and get back to an inflation number that at least 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.000 allows wage growth to be at least even, I know, 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:48.799 rather than losing versus inflation. Yeah, but this you look 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:51.120 at this equity markets chance and he really gets your 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:53.040 attention here. I mean, we get the SMP up, you know, 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:58.280 sixt offense low, the NaSTA on offense low. I mean, 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.280 you can't it's nothing to sneeze at. But is it 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:05.120 now suggests that maybe there's some risk greater risk in 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:06.720 the equity markets right here? Or do you think there's 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:10.160 more upside to go? We certainly think there's greater risk 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:13.840 at these prices. Just some numbers that we've been looking at. First, 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:16.680 the forward price to earnings ratio is back to nearly 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:20.560 eighteen times, which that's above the historic average, and that's 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:23.600 with earnings growth decelerating. We just went through a quarter 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:27.040 of earnings reports where it really was the energy, materials, 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:30.120 and industrial sectors that carried the earnings growth, and we 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:32.320 would expect their contribution to fade a bit and the 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:35.680 quarters that come considering the commodities prices are now starting 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:38.160 to come down. And then just looking at our own 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.200 portfolio are long term growth strategy that we managed for 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.640 our equity clients. We try to hold positions for the 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:47.119 long term, but we look at all of the positions 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:48.800 in there, there isn't a single one in that list 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:51.480 that we would consider to be undervalued versus their UH 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.760 on their current valuation versus their historic average. So it 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:57.520 just tells you how much markets have rallied back and 0:03:57.560 --> 0:03:59.960 we don't see much opportunity at these prices. We've had 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:03.720 actually been reducing our exposure to cyclical sectors that typically 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.320 do well late cycle but then start to underperform in 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:10.240 a recession, So like financials, energy, and materials. We've been 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:12.800 cutting back in those areas. How do you assess earning 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:16.040 season so far? I mean what, um, you know, what 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:20.160 kind of forward e from the forward price earnings ratio 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:24.120 can you gauge from what we've seen. Yeah, it seems 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:28.040 like this current quarter that just we got done reporting, Uh, 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:30.760 everyone has seemed to already expect there's going to be 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:33.400 some disappointment. So it was actually the first quarter you 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.760 had in quite a while where companies that reported mrs 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:39.279 actually were up one percent the day after they reported, 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:41.680 which that rarely ever happened. So that tells you how 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:44.560 low expectations were. But it is notable to us that 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:49.680 companies with very long track records of outperforming expectations reported mrs, 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:53.160 like Microsoft or Alphabet and uh, and that just tells 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:54.880 you that it's going to be a more difficult environment 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:57.360 in the quarters to come. And you're still seeing some 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.840 news coming out like we're seeing with a Nvidia or 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:03.800 icon that there's some weakness on the horizon. And uh, frankly, 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:06.599 it's almost a quarter early for some of those semiconductor businesses. 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:08.159 I think it was gonna be more the third quarter 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:11.240 that people were expecting to see that weakness and it 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:16.040 arrived even sooner than that. So monitoring this closely. Alright, Chance, 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:19.159 question of the morning. Here, You've got your undergraduate degree 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:22.680 and your NBA Indiana. What the heck is a Hoosier? 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.680 I actually I don't even have a great explanation for that. 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:34.240 Nobody does. No, I don't know, um and I'm probably 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:36.920 failing for everybody who who grew up and I went 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:38.640 to school at that there. But I wouldn't be able 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:40.320 to agree with you a great definition. I mean, my 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.919 mild definition. It's somebody from Indiana. I think that might be. 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:47.080 It actually is basically it not based off an animal 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:49.240 or anything like That's like, it wasn't the state bird? 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:51.679 Is it a state? I got nothing, and I've asked 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:55.680 every Indiana grad I know, I got nothing. But anyway, Chance, 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:58.760 thanks for chipping in there. We appreciate it. Chance Fukan 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:06.520 c I O partner Oxbow Advisors. Danielle Bragg, a founder 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:11.080 and CEO of Defined dot AI, joins US fashionating area 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:14.560 of technology artificial intelligence. Danielle, thank you so much for 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:17.640 joining us, just for my own sake. How do you 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:25.240 define artificial intelligence? Hi? Medh and everybody? Well, artificial intelligence 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:29.560 is the simulation of a of a human brain. And 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:33.040 just like a name says artisticially, so it is it 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:38.520 counts with unlight and unlike UH software, it is trained, 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:42.239 it is not coded. So it's just like a human brain. 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:47.719 The more we learn, the more we can resolve daily situation. 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:50.280 And you know, I think I heard a lot about 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.599 this a couple of days ago as President Biden signed 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:58.480 the Chips Act. Is the federal government subsidizing AI research? 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:01.120 You think enough that we can keep up in the 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:06.280 kind of race to win technology. Well, the the US 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:11.280 government has been has been growing AI investment across all 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:15.720 their uh, all the departments that that has been on 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:20.240 the rise in the last five years. We have now 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:25.800 this Unair Task Force for the for the Investment of 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:30.280 AI in the Nation, which I'm part of alongside with 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:37.720 my colleagues twelve called well independent people. So yeah, the 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:40.480 West CONN continues to pour. But the interesting thing is 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:44.600 that the US on itself, the United States with the 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:48.800 private sector part as well, has been has invested fifty 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:54.200 two point nine billion last year, UH, followed by China 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:57.640 very far out with seventeen point two billions. So we 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:00.120 are putting in the public and the private sector are 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:03.880 a lot of investment. So where where where do you 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:08.840 think the most I guess appealing or attractive applications for 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:12.440 artificial intelligence are because you know, I listen to conference calls, 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:16.240 quarterly earnings conference calls, and I've got companies from you know, 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:21.120 like cookie makers, to technology companies, to entertainment companies, to 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:26.000 people who make shoes whatever, everybody's carmakers. Everybody talks about 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.480 artificial intelligence in their business. So I'm just wondering, where 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:32.320 do you think some of the most you know, tragic 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:36.680 actuations are. Yeah, well, the thing is a lot of 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:40.080 people talk about it and they're not doing AI. They 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:43.240 are still doing rule based systems and they just INSERTA 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:46.400 to where they A because it looks more fancy. But 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:50.040 where the thing is exciting right now, And you can 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.720 see in the rise, including in our business, which is 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:57.439 what we see our clients do is conversationally everywhere, which 0:08:57.480 --> 0:08:59.920 is this part of the I where you can talk 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:03.720 two machine as you are talking to people. And this 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:08.439 is happening across everywhere. So in fitness steak in of course, 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:12.280 now we we are I mean in education and healthcare 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:18.720 with tele medazine, with and the classic ones on virtual 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.360 systems and in the car and in the house. And 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.320 if you combine conversationally I with robots, that will help 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:27.640 you whether you're in a work setting on or you 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:31.840 environ in a in a homesteading with daily tasks around 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:34.959 the house. This is becoming really exciting. How long until 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:38.559 it actually works? I mean I've been using the newest 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:42.200 and best car in fontainment systems. You know, I test 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.040 out new cars every every couple of weeks, and it 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:48.199 never really works. I'll say, you know, like play the 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:51.880 grateful Dead channel for me and it'll call my mom 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:56.679 that That is a great point. The investment done so 0:09:56.720 --> 0:10:00.720 far is still not up to the results the we 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:04.640 should be at already. Uh And and on top of that, 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:08.600 while language model language models are more capable than ever 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:14.240 and you probably all know the latest on the the 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:17.280 suspicion that Google has created as C D N A I, 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:20.079 which is not We're so far from resolving the basics. 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:24.040 We can't get into the emotion emotionally I yet. But 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:26.640 the problem with that is the as you as you 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:31.079 grow more larger models, the models are more biased too, 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:35.720 and the rise of the ethical AI is everywhere, which 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:41.200 also translates into regulations, and we've seen from twenty sixteen 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:46.600 to twenty twenty one bills in twenty twenty five countries 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:49.720 going from one to eighteen. And now you see all 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:52.960 the data privacy all around. So now you're right, we're 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:55.360 very far. I'm glad you brought up the sentient AI 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:58.880 at Google because that's one of my favorite stories, really 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:00.600 non market stories of the here. But are we in 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:03.480 a race to our own enslavement or death? I mean, 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.120 isn't this AI going to eventually take us over or 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:09.079 kill us? I mean a movie about that. I think 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:11.320 Ellen must Bill Gates. All these people are worried about 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:15.840 that the terminator, Well they yeah, they are really being 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:19.000 in the space for twenty two years and understanding how 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:24.079 slow technology moves in these fields. We are still resolving barely, 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:28.600 like you guys said, the narrow AI problem, which is 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:32.239 resolving one task at the time. Lets let alone a contextual, 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:37.600 contextual information interaction between systems. We're very sharp on that. 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:40.440 We are in towards the world and more and more 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:44.200 this ethically I is uh an every big company and 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:49.800 small company has this UH this charter. Now starting data, 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:54.280 if you starting the data side but everybody is on 0:11:53.920 --> 0:12:01.119 the same path to work along machine and not replace humans. 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:07.600 Humans activity will continue to be right for generations her 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:10.560 years from now, I hope so. Daniel Le Bragga, founder 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:16.040 and CEO of to Find dot Ai. Our next guest 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:18.880 is from the Great State of Ohio. And remember Mary, 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:21.440 yesterday we were talking about Cedar Point. They had the Gemini, 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:25.880 they have the Demon draw but they but they never 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.400 to me. I never thought it was as good as 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:30.960 King's Island, probably because King's I was a little bit 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:33.000 further away. I couldn't get there as easily, and King's 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:35.480 Island had the Beast, which was the largest wooden roller 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:39.679 coaster in the whole world. Yeah. So the Beck Ramaswamy 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:42.439 is in the studio with us right now. He has 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:46.640 started um an asset management company called Strive Asset Management. 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.120 He's written a couple of books as well, um the 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:53.000 most well, the first one being Woke Incorporated Inside Corporate 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.880 America's Social Justice Scam, and the second book, I'm Gonna 0:12:57.160 --> 0:12:59.840 Guess is not yet published next month, next next month. 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:02.160 So Beck is here with us in studio. I'm really 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.040 excited because yesterday he launched his first E T F 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:08.319 strive Asset Management's first e t f UM which is 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:10.240 d r l L that's the ticker in the New 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:14.120 York Stock Exchange, and uh, it was extremely successful. Tell 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:15.760 us about it. Yeah, we're happy to have seen this 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.360 taken off. Hopefully that that, you know, trend continues, because 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:20.160 I think it's really important what we hope to deliver 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.319 to the U S energy sector the man It actually 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.000 is really simple, dr LLL drill. It's a new what 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:27.680 I call post E s G mandate to the U 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:31.079 S energy sector, telling these companies that you should focus 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:34.280 exclusively on what allows you to be most successful, most 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:40.200 profitable over the long run, without regard to any other environmental, social, 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:44.000 or political agenda. As important as those agendas, maybe we 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:46.520 should sort them out through the political process, but in 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:49.800 the boardroom, we're focused exclusively on the success of companies 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:52.560 and that's a really different message then you get from 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:54.480 other large asset managers, and we think we need to 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:56.800 have that debate well in the boardrooms. It was described 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.640 to me yesterday when we were talking about your launch, 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:01.599 because is we're gonna have you on Bloomberg's e t 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:04.280 f i Q on Monday UM. It was described to 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:06.160 me as an anti woke e t F. And my 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:08.400 first thought was, why would you want to do an 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.240 anti woke or awoke e t F because you wanted 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:13.200 the goal of investing is to make the most money 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.120 you can. And then so it's not, actually it's anti 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:18.200 woke e t F. It's not. I have I have 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:22.120 literally no idea why the well, Actually, my best guess 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:24.840 is in fairness, my book was called woking. I wrote 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:27.440 that in a personal capacity. So maybe people want to 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:31.720 push this narrative together for a headline, but for Stripes purposes, 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:35.040 our goal is to focus companies on excellence. There's nothing 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:37.600 woke or anti woke about it. And you know what, 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:39.760 I think that the E s G movement may have 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:43.800 offered some useful lessons for energy companies in the last decade, 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:45.920 maybe not the ones that they offered as their headlines, 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:49.560 but energy companies did overspend and over lever in the 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:52.640 early twenty teens, saying they're investing for growth. The shale 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.560 revolution was assigned shiny object. Interest rates were low, there 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:57.960 were some mistakes made for profitability in this sector. So 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:00.320 I think there are good lessons learned, but I think 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:02.560 the time has come to move past that e s 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:05.400 G investment consensus to say, you know what, fossil fuels 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.960 are not going anywhere after and if American energy companies 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:13.080 can actually invest to fill a massive looming supply, demand 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:16.080 and balance for global energy, that can lead these companies 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:18.880 to be more successful to trade at higher multiples. They 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:21.680 traded a lower multiple than the SMP five hundred, certainly 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.400 than US Tech today. They traded a lower multiple than 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:26.480 they've traded over their last thirty year average. I think 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:29.240 a b SG movement is in large part responsible for that. 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:33.720 We can unlock value by causing these companies to behave 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:37.320 in a way that actually takes exclusively their own financial 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:40.040 interests over the long run into account, rather than these 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.400 environmental and social agendas that have been imposed on them 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.680 top down by their shareholders. And it's interesting because when 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:49.520 I went to business school many moons ago, I learned 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:53.360 that the responsibility of the corporation was to maximize profits 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.360 for shareholders. Uh that has changed, I guess over the 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:58.560 last six, seven, eight years. I think the Business Roundtable 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:01.880 even came out with something saying kind of replacing shareholders 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:06.040 with stakeholders, introducing this whole against certain elements of the 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:08.560 E s G concept. Um, that's what I learned, and 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:11.040 I went to the most leftist college in the entire country, 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:14.680 exactly in Antioch. So what's the response been to your 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:17.400 your book, this E T F. Maybe I know you've 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:21.000 had discussions probably with investors, boards, things like that. What's 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:24.480 the feedback. So the feedback, certainly behind closed doors, is 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:27.240 almost universally positive. And then I think even in the 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:29.960 open what I've been pleased about is we're starting conversations 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:31.680 that people were not having, and I want to see 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:34.920 those conversations happen in the boardrooms of U S energy companies. 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:37.200 I think we're gonna catalyze. It actually spoke to the 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:39.080 one of the largest that might be the largest energy 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:41.560 conference in the country. It was the Intercom conference in 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:44.080 Denver earlier this week. It was a room full of 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.960 oil and gas ceo s. I don't think it's because 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:48.720 of the quality of my speech, but I got a 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.320 standing ovation at the end of the speech, which actually mystified. 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:52.960 There was a reporter in the room who tweeted about this, 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:55.200 who said, wait a minute, why are the same oil 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:57.000 executives who told me that they believe in their E 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:00.000 S G principles giving a standing ovation to Vec ramist 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.480 Amy speech because she, I think misunderstood it to be 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:04.680 anti E s G. I think the things she missed 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:08.000 is we're talking about moving forward past the E s 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:11.679 G investment consensus to meet an important human need. We 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:16.320 have a massive energy shortage, a supply demand imbalance that 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:20.040 isn't just short term. This isn't going away because systematic 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:25.000 underinvestment in production is a multi year peycle, not being 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.600 an energy When I see these energy prices going higher 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:29.399 and higher and higher, that yes, come back a little bit. 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:31.879 I see what's going on in Ukraine and Germany and 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:34.560 the and the energy crisis they're having in Europe, which 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:36.880 is going to get even worse this winter. Mike's dumb 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:39.560 question is like, just go build some more refineries on 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.120 the Gulf coast and we'll crank all this stuff out. 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:44.959 It would you really do that? In this regulatory environment 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:47.920 that my own president goes to Saudi Arabia before he 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:50.160 goes to Texas, Well, you know what it's it's it's 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:52.600 really interesting. So I think that there's there's two shackles 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:55.400 on the U s energy industry. One is imposed by policymakers. 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:58.440 The second is imposed by lowercase p policymakers through the 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:01.280 E s G movement in the boardroom. I'm actually optimistic 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:03.280 on the first of those. So here's something that I 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:05.880 think most market participants have not caught up to yet. 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:08.119 But it was a big deal West Virginia versus e 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:10.000 p A. I personally think it was the most important 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:13.040 Supreme Court case on this year's docket, which found that 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:15.399 one of the regulations imposed by the e p A 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:19.800 on the coal industry was actually unconstitutional because it caused 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:23.480 the EPA basically exceeded the scope of the statutory authority 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:26.640 granted to it by Congress. If that was unconstitutional, then 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:29.520 most of the regulations on the U. S energy industry 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:32.480 are also unconstitutional. And guess what the one way to 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:34.440 fix that is for Congress. In the spring Court basically 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:36.760 implies this Congress could pass the law and make it 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:38.520 part of the law. That's not gonna happen after what's 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:41.240 coming this November, after the changing political wins in this country. 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:44.000 So on the political and regulatory side, I think what 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:46.560 people see as a headwind amongst investors could actually be 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:48.880 a tail wind for the sector that leaves the real 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.080 remaining obstacle to be in the boardrooms imposed by e 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:54.560 SG linked asset managers. That's what we're hoping to fix 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:56.040 it strip. By the way, a lot of people on 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:58.639 the left also think that was the most important ruling, 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:02.920 but they're very much ended it right. Well, Congress is 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:06.480 going to have to make laws for every single regulation 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:10.919 rather than uh, you know, giving that power to a 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:13.200 board like the body like the e p A exactly. 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:15.440 Let let me ask quickly, how difficult is it to 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:17.040 go up against the goliath in the E t F 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:19.359 industry like black Rock, which does have some pretty strong 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:21.680 E s G and sustainability principle. But we'll find out. 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:24.800 It's it's it's we announced it yesterday. I will say 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:26.400 that the folks of the New York Stock Exchange told 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:28.160 me it was one of the strongest, if not strongest 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:30.280 launch of its kind in years that they had seen. 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:32.439 And I think that again, I don't take credit for that. 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:34.800 I think that this is this is a demand that 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:38.159 already exists amongst capital owners in this country, amongst everyday 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:41.800 citizens whose money is today being invested by large asset 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:45.360 managers who are delivering messages to the energy company's boardrooms 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:47.960 that most of those everyday citizens disagree with. So that's 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:49.080 what we have going for us is I think the 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:51.840 majority of capital owners, the majority of capital does not 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:54.280 want the black Rock message delivered to the boardrooms. They 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:56.760 want the Strive message, I believe, delivered to the boardrooms. Now. 0:19:56.840 --> 0:19:58.159 The question is there's a lot of plumbing to do 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:00.960 to make sure that capital can actually flow through vehicles 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:03.240 like ours that actually speak on their behalf. It's up 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:04.479 to us to see if we can do it. All right, 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:07.399 Thanks so much for joining us here in our studios. 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:11.359 Here the fact. Ramiswanny, co founder and executive chairman of 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:18.240 Strive Asset Management. I'm not a gamer, Matt, you probably 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:21.359 know that. But our next guest is going to give 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:22.720 us a kind of lay of the land. What's going 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:24.200 on in the world. I used to be a big 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:27.240 gamer back in the day. I have. I've bought every 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:32.680 single Call of Duty release and spent hundreds of dollars 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:35.439 in the game up until what age, up until I 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:40.240 had a baby, which was October. That's when I stopped 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:43.760 putting in three to four hours the world. You're forty 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:47.000 eight years of age, and but I will play until 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:50.680 the end of my life. I love playing called. Mark Alfinbain, 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:54.240 CEO of X one e Sports, joins us. Mark, give 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:56.439 us a sense of kind of where we are in 0:20:56.480 --> 0:21:00.520 the gaming market trends, you know, kind of prependemic, going 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:04.000 into the pandemic and now coming out of the pandemic. Yeah, 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:06.160 thanks for having me here today and just going back, 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:08.360 if you held onto some of those video games you're 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:11.800 talking about, they may actually be worth some money right now. 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:15.480 A lot of these video games self for like thousands 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:17.120 of dollars on eBay, so you might want to hold 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:21.639 onto the I've still got Duke Newcomb um for the 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:24.600