Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. All the conversations we've
Speaker 1: had lead up to this, whether we talked about energy,
Speaker 1: higher costs, inflation, supply, Chaine, geopolitics, politics in Washington. Susanne
Speaker 1: Clark is with us. She's President CEO of the US
Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce, a great voice when it comes to
Speaker 1: what's going on in the business community. What is top
Speaker 1: of mind because the laundry list of things that is
Speaker 1: coming at American businesses right now is a lot.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2: I was saying a minute ago that we were just
Speaker 2: with the LA Chamber yesterday and it's such an opportunity
Speaker 2: to get out and talk to local businesses big and
Speaker 2: small about what's happening in their community. And what we
Speaker 2: see is businesses really trying to deal with all of
Speaker 2: this uncertainty. What should they be doing about finding workers,
Speaker 2: what should they be doing about their supply chains, What
Speaker 2: will happen with the economy, What does AI mean? So
Speaker 2: all the things that you've been tackling all morning, business
Speaker 2: leaders are live trying to figure out themselves.
Speaker 3: What conversations are you having when it comes to affordability.
Speaker 3: I know you were on a panel today with Nearer Tangent.
Speaker 3: It was our broadcast a little bit earlier, both of you,
Speaker 3: I'm sure coming from different perspectives when you're trying to
Speaker 3: keep American business in mind, knowing price pressures from the
Speaker 3: gas pump to the grocery store are very real, you
Speaker 3: reached for the word uncertainty first, How do you speak
Speaker 3: with your members about this? So the challenges they're facing
Speaker 3: and about.
Speaker 2: To face, well, you know, let me say first that
Speaker 2: Nira and I had violent agreement about the need for
Speaker 2: permitting reform, right, that we really need to build things faster,
Speaker 2: all of it. Right, it's housing, it's electricity, it's utility costs.
Speaker 2: So what could we do as a country to build
Speaker 2: things faster, more efficiently and cheaper. So that comes up
Speaker 2: with affordability. The US Chamber, we really believe a lot
Speaker 2: of the root of the affordability problem is a supply constraint. Right,
Speaker 2: we don't have enough housing, we don have enough access
Speaker 2: to healthcare. We the labor shortages and key sectors. We
Speaker 2: don't have a resilient supply chain. So the question is
Speaker 2: if we want long term economic growth, three percent growth
Speaker 2: that lifts up families and communities in the country and
Speaker 2: helps pay off debt. If we want all of that,
Speaker 2: we have to take some of these structural issues really seriously.
Speaker 1: Like which one if we could tackle one right now,
Speaker 1: in this given moment, what would it be that you
Speaker 1: think the American businesses could really get behind and say
Speaker 1: this is a game change.
Speaker 2: I really think it would be permitting reform. Think about
Speaker 2: the fact that it takes five to seven years to
Speaker 2: get a permit. In that time, you'll have to change
Speaker 2: you administrations most likely, right, So, if you have one
Speaker 2: administration that prefers one type of energy and you have
Speaker 2: a different administration that prefers a different type of energy,
Speaker 2: how do you decide where to invest in, what to build?
Speaker 2: And yet, at the same time, as you've reported, we
Speaker 2: need all of the above.
Speaker 1: Susan, how do we get there? Though? Because I think
Speaker 1: about you know, the American business community, they have a
Speaker 1: great line often to the White House into lawmakers. So
Speaker 1: how do they say, hey, folks, it's not just about
Speaker 1: four years, four years, four years, it's about a ten
Speaker 1: year plan. Chin it does it? It's a whole different country.
Speaker 1: And I know that, But how do we do that
Speaker 1: so that we really commit longer term to build some
Speaker 1: of these things that need that perspective.
Speaker 2: Such a good point, Carol, because we certainly do not
Speaker 2: want a government plan and economy, right, none of us
Speaker 2: are for that, but you're right that we do need
Speaker 2: government to set the conditions so that we can grow,
Speaker 2: so business can solve these problems at scale that society
Speaker 2: really needs answers to. And I think maybe we have
Speaker 2: to do two things a little differently. One is talk
Speaker 2: to more people at the local level, local businesses, local chambers,
Speaker 2: and get them to drive community support for politicians who
Speaker 2: are willing to do some hard things. And two, I
Speaker 2: think businesses are going to have to get more involved
Speaker 2: earlier in the process, in the primary process and really
Speaker 2: thinking about candidates who don't want to just admire the
Speaker 2: problems and say expedient things, but are willing to do
Speaker 2: hard work and take hard votes.
Speaker 3: You know, I think about you sitting in your headquarters
Speaker 3: right right across from Lafia Square, looking out the window
Speaker 3: at that White House. You've been there a lot longer
Speaker 3: than this administration, and to your point, you're going to
Speaker 3: be there for administrations in the future. But this Trump
Speaker 3: administration has embraced crypto in a way that we have
Speaker 3: not seen in a White House before. And of course
Speaker 3: the timing has a lot to do with this, with
Speaker 3: this suddenly kind of going mainstream, and there's clarity act
Speaker 3: that Republicans and some Democrats are hoping to see past
Speaker 3: this this year. In fact, it could be sooner than later.
Speaker 3: Are we managing the rules of the road when it
Speaker 3: comes to crypto in a way that the Chamber can
Speaker 3: support this approach?
Speaker 2: I really like the question, and I really even more
Speaker 2: like the preamble, right, which is we just had our
Speaker 2: one hundred and fourteenth birthday that I know, I don't
Speaker 2: look at day of one hundred and twelve, I really
Speaker 2: feel look amazing, thank you. I really feel the weight
Speaker 2: of the fact that you know, who was the guy
Speaker 2: in my office and the depression or in World War two?
Speaker 2: You know? And how did they think about emerging technologies,
Speaker 2: emerging financial instruments, how did they think about the impact
Speaker 2: on working families and communities and American security and competitiveness,
Speaker 2: and how do we do the long term right things
Speaker 2: while being empathetic to the real short term pain. So
Speaker 2: I think you're preamble was just so important. We actually
Speaker 2: do need institutions with historical memory and reach, and I
Speaker 2: think it's really import.
Speaker 3: Sound like an institutionalist, but the Chamber not taking a
Speaker 3: position on cryptos.
Speaker 2: Look, I think what we want to do is be
Speaker 2: supportive of new technologies at the same time that we
Speaker 2: don't lose sight of what really works in this country
Speaker 2: and the traditional capital markets and traditional financial services.
Speaker 1: We want to be careful watching this so closely. And
Speaker 1: they've gone from pushing back completely not interested to embracing slowly,
Speaker 1: but I think moving carefully. But there is this concern
Speaker 1: we talk about disruption and innovation that how could something
Speaker 1: like the digital world or cryptocurrencies replace so much of
Speaker 1: what the banks do? So a is there a lot
Speaker 1: of perspective that you guys are getting in the banks.
Speaker 2: But what point is that innovation good? And is what
Speaker 2: point is that disruption dangerous? Right? And it's what you're
Speaker 2: always balancing with a new technology. And so I applaud
Speaker 2: these industries, in these companies that are educating Congress and
Speaker 2: getting to a point where we can do something that
Speaker 2: makes sense, it makes sense for business.
Speaker 3: It's of course not just crypto when we think of
Speaker 3: emerging technologies, there's another industrial revolution happening, right, now it
Speaker 3: take the words from Gens and Wong, that's what he
Speaker 3: calls it. How concerned is the chamber about? To your point,
Speaker 3: there are wonderful things that AI is bringing to us,
Speaker 3: but there could also be a negative disruption when it
Speaker 3: comes to the job market. Is that a worry of yours?
Speaker 2: Do you want to hear something cool? The fastest the
Speaker 2: people having the fastest uptake of AI small business? Okay,
Speaker 2: the first technology in the United States that small business
Speaker 2: embraced first, which is really a leveling out right, a
Speaker 2: great equalizer. Last year, the United States had five point
Speaker 2: six million new business starts. That's optimism for you. Some
Speaker 2: of that is that they can do more with AI,
Speaker 2: which is really fascinating. So the answer to questions, of course,
Speaker 2: everyone can see there's a disruption coming. We don't have
Speaker 2: revolutions without some kind of disruption. So how do we
Speaker 2: help people through that? Because we're long term optimistic about
Speaker 2: job growth, about health impact, about the innovation, about what
Speaker 2: it does for our country, we want to compete with
Speaker 2: our adversaries, right, So I think this is a really
Speaker 2: important topic and we're going to have to do reskilling
Speaker 2: and education. But the short term disruption, I think is
Speaker 2: going to lead to a nice hockey stick.
Speaker 1: You know, we need a little bit of optimism. I
Speaker 1: feel like there's a lot of serious stuff we've talked
Speaker 1: about today.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you for the optimism.
Speaker 1: What a pleasure. Thank you so much, Thanks so much
Speaker 1: for having me Zan Clark, President cy of the US
Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce,