WEBVTT - Setting a New Benchmark With Our 100th Episode 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.240 It might be hard to imagine, but two years ago 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:07.240 Bloomberg was not really in the podcast business, and when 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:11.039 we recorded that first Benchmark, we really didn't know what 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:14.280 we were doing. We just wanted to produce an intelligent, 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:18.600 fun show about the global economy, and frankly, we were 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.479 just happy to make a second episode. And now here 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:25.560 we are nine nine shows later, and boy, what a 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:28.840 ride it's been. We've talked about all kinds of things 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:32.200 that affect billions of people around the world. We've interviewed 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:35.920 everyone from a Nobel Prize winner to a best selling author, 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:40.080 a senator, a hip hop legend, and even some members 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:43.240 of our own families. We've journeyed all over the world 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:49.000 to discuss economic issues, from Europe, the Middle East, to China, Japan, 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:53.600 and of course Dan's native Australia. And today we're going 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.400 to share with you some of our favorite moments from 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:59.720 those shows, and we have a couple of special guests too. 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:16.640 The one hundredth episode of Benchmark starts now. I'm Daniel Moss, 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.399 I cover global economics for Bloomberg View in New York, 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:25.680 and I'm Scott Landman, an economics editor with Bloomberg in Washington. So, Dan, 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:28.319 how does it feel to hit the big one hundred. 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:31.319 It feels good. And one of the things that feels 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:35.800 particularly good about it is the breadth of people and 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.960 issues we've looked at on the show. And you didn't 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:43.679 even mention the chap who developed the surfing algorithm to 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:49.280 determine which coastal communities were benefiting the most from the 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:52.120 surf industry. You didn't even mention that one. We set 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:54.320 out to make a show. I think we said right 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:58.480 at the start, this was not a program about statistics. 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:02.560 Who wants to listen to fifteen minutes of statistics bor ring? 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:06.800 And economy is a living, breathing thing, with people and 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:10.200 companies making decisions every day when to spend, when to 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:13.600 say And I honestly think we've covered such a range 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.400 of issues that are so far beyond the day to 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:18.920 day of what people think of as economics, like the 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:23.000 GDP numbers or the jobs report. We even said that 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:25.640 GDP numbers were rubbish at one point, did we not. 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:28.800 We did have an episode all about that, and I 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.320 think that you know, for me, this has definitely provided 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:35.200 a way too to present people with a different side 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:38.480 and a more real world side of things that are 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:42.680 actually happening in the world that have a some connection 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:47.079 or that we connect in some way to economics. Well, 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:49.920 a few minutes ago we promised you some special guests. 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:53.720 Let's bring in someone who was also there at the beginning, 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:58.520 aki Eto. She left the Benchmark podcast halfway through our 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.480 run to join the Knowledge News team here at Bloomberg 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:06.640 and his co host of our tech podcast Decrypted Back 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:11.760 should we call it disrupted? That's certainly one after I'm 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:14.560 good to be back. Guys. Thanks for coming on, Archie. 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.280 Why don't you tell us a little more about your show. Yeah, 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:20.639 so we we cover all kinds of different stories from 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:24.240 the global technology industry, usually something that's a little bit controversial, 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:28.919 you know, kind of unintended consequences, uncomfortable truths, that kind 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.120 of thing. Um. Yeah, we've been going for almost a 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:36.080 year now and I've been looking on with pride. Thank you. 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:40.600 But you know, there is one other person present at 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:45.560 the creation Tory stillwell, she joins us on the line 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:48.760 where she's just finished an internship in the office of 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:53.240 the North Carolina Attorney General. She's heading back to do 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:59.040 her second year at Yale Law School. Tory. Hey, guys, Hey, Tori, 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:02.000 it's so right to hear your voice. It's good to 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:06.760 be bad. How's life after Bloomberg and after the Benchmark podcast? 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:12.280 Can it even be called life after Bloomberg? I'm not sure. Well, 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:15.040 we're still waiting for that episode you promised us on 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:19.520 the best Pizza in New Haven. We'll have to give 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:22.280 the crowd the whole crew over with the New Haven 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:26.160 and you can see for yourself. So that brings me 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:28.960 to one of our favorite moments. And Tori, you were 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:32.920 instrumental in this. It's the three am wake up call. 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:35.320 What's it like to get a call in the middle 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:40.159 of the night saying you've won the Nobel Prize. Angesteton, 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:43.680 who had just been told he'd won the prize, shared 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:48.000 that moment with you. That's right. So you didn't think 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:50.039 it was a prank at least No, well I didn't 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:53.320 think it was a prank until my friend Torston person 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.359 this is not a prank. I never thought it was 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:00.520 a prank. Why is he telling me that basting with 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:06.120 my head? He's right trying to psych you out. It 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:10.839 is a very funny, very playful guy. Let me turn 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.680 to one that is one of my favorite clips and 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:17.000 personally for me was it was a proud moment when 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:21.400 we had ed Duke Booty Fletcher on the show. And 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:26.680 for the uninitiated, Duke Booty was the principal author of 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.719 the seminal hip hop song The Message, you know, that 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:39.919 one that goes what most people do not know is 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:42.680 that he is actually a scholar. He teaches at a 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:47.000 university in Savannah, Georgia, and he has a lot of 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:52.599 insight into uh, into the economy, into markets that really 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:56.360 came through in that song if you listen carefully, and 0:05:56.680 --> 0:06:00.200 is something that we tapped him to talk about on 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:04.599 our show because I was really piqued in specific by 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:08.920 the line in that song referring to double digit inflation. 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:12.080 So clearly his is somebody who knows what he's talking about. 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:15.440 You who lived during the Clinton era, when home buying 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:19.000 in America was at its highest, there was a certain 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.480 element people who still couldn't get a mortgages, who still 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:24.000 didn't have enough money for a down payment, and who 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.880 never got a home. So now those same people, you know, 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:31.400 even though the mortgage rate was low and you could 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:33.679 get the morgue, they didn't have the money for morgans. 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:38.240 So you know, that same destination still there. Well, we 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:40.640 said right at the get go, this would not be 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:45.159 a show about statistics, so sure enough when it came 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:50.840 to discuss manufacturing, who knew it better than Tories? Mom? 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:56.440 What was that conversation? Like? Right now? I think manufacturing 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.440 is still a part of our lives and and and 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:03.600 it will for a while. But I think further on 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.960 down the road, stay like by the time maybe Tories 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:11.400 forty or so, Oh god, maybe when is that exactly 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:22.400 twenty years or twenty years down the road? I could 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:26.920 I could see it baton out well, Mom, Yes, thank 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.040 you Tory. How's your mom doing? And what did she 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:34.320 think of that episode? Deads doing great? I just got 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:38.880 back from Hickory last weekend. Actually, she loved the episode, 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:41.360 so I think it was really fantastic for her to 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:43.720 get to be a part of that with me. I 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:46.000 have to say that was one of my favorites too. 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:49.480 And when I began on the show as a co host, 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:53.040 I also came up with a similar idea for an 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:56.800 episode about truck drivers and what's happening to them in 0:07:56.800 --> 0:07:58.880 the labor market? Where are they so hard to find? 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:02.240 What's happening there? And I went very close to home. 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:06.640 Also for a guest, my uncle Kenny Hahn has been 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:10.520 a truck driver for over thirty years and he shared 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.600 some of his own thoughts on the business. Let's listen 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:17.720 to that. Well, the teams have been decimated by by 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:22.120 the regulation from UM. When I first started driving, there 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:24.520 was a hundred and sixty two trucking companies teams to 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.280 trucking companies, and we're down to two now. One of 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:29.720 them is a company I worked for, a BF and 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:32.120 the other one is Yellow Roadway, which is a combination 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:34.560 of two major companies that had to combine because they 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:38.880 weren't making any money. And uh, you know, they can't 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.280 find drivers any more to be teams. Is because the 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:44.600 pension plans are going into the toilet. And uh, you know, 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:48.520 my pension in particular has been cut by nineteen hundred 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:52.720 dollars because they because the pension is going broke. So 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:56.600 even those were the best jobs in trucking, and those 0:08:56.720 --> 0:09:00.280 jobs stink. So you can only imagine, you know, working 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:02.640 for companies like J Beyond that want to work you 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:04.600 like a dog and not pay you anything for for 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:06.920 your for your efforts, how hard it is for them 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:10.600 to find drivers you know, I think it's great that 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:14.359 the Landman family in the Stillwell family were able to contribute. 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.520 I'm pretty sure the Moss family back in Australia has 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:21.760 no clue. What I do. You know, Dan, speaking of 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:25.240 your family, I do remember a certain moment when you 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:28.400 told us all about the origins of your accent. Let's 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:31.920 take a listen to that clip. So, Dan, I was 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:36.559 scouring the internet one day when I see this great 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:40.840 article about how the Australian accent is a result of 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:46.480 like you guys drinking too much when you first settled Australia, 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:50.199 and that you guys speak with just two thirds capacity, 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:55.160 with one third of your like mouth muscles sedentary. There's 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:58.120 a couple of versions of that. One is that this 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.559 is the kind of English that convicts spoke in the 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:05.720 late eighteenth century. The other version is when the first 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.000 male convict ship arrived a few days before the first 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:13.440 female convict ship, they were all going crazy. Then when 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:18.080 the first female convict ship arrived to join the first 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:22.160 male convict ship, there was this massive, massive night with 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:26.040 rum and nothing was ever the same. Again. It's fair 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:29.079 to say that some of the first European Australians were 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:34.760 conceived that night. But that's an incredible story. Well, it 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:38.160 just goes to show you that we sometimes went into 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.720 other topics outside of economics on this show, although you 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:45.280 can argue that just about anything has a tangential connection 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:48.199 to that subject. But anyway, I thought it would be 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:50.680 a good time to bring in a couple of people 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:55.560 who are usually behind the studio window but are extremely 0:10:55.679 --> 0:11:00.360 integral to getting this program out. Alec McKee is the 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:04.080 head of podcast for Bloomberg and Sarah Patterson is the 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:07.160 producer of this podcast. We usually mentioned their names at 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:09.120 the end, but we thought it would be a good 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.320 idea too if they got to pick a couple of 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:14.560 their favorite clips on the show. Alec and Sarah, do 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.600 you want to do? You want to share that with us? Hi, everybody, 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:19.679 it's Alec. It's a privilege to be in the studio 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.640 with you guys instead of behind the glass wall. And 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:26.240 congratulations everybody. On the one episode, I did want to 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:29.079 just introduce a clip from a show we just did 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.640 about two months ago, less than two months ago, about 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:36.520 how we were poised in Asia at the time to 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:38.680 cover the biggest story of the year, which of course 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.360 is going to be the handover of Hong Kong to China. 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.400 That story that you turned out to be something completely different. 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:49.599 Let's listen in and and Lee. You were in Bangkok 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:52.200 a day was it a day or two days after 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:56.440 the handover? It was the next day, Actually it was July. 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:03.120 So you know, we were all caught a little bit unprepared. 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:08.120 We had seen things kind of melting down rather quickly 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:13.479 in Thailand, but the way when the devaluation was announced 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:16.640 and they used some up tooth phrasing. But when we 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.400 realized what it was and we sent the first headline, 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.000 you know, we were just like, wow, this is not 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:27.080 the handover of Hong Kong. This is something big. And 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:31.760 Sarah Pattison, our long suffering producer, also has a favorite. 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:37.400 It's when we interviewed a survivor of a Bosnian concentration 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:43.200 camp and asked him not only about his resettlement in St. Louis, 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:47.240 but what the election and some of the anti immigration 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:52.440 further meant to him. I hope I will not get 0:12:52.640 --> 0:13:03.200 misunderstood up that is a hat and mistreating and things 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:06.840 like that. But a lot of people forget, not just 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:12.199 in Missouri, United States of America, where is their heritage? 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:18.079 Coming from Maybe maybe they were not refugee, but they 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:24.480 are emigrants like youre. And color of the skin or 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:31.200 heavily accent like mine is doesn't mean anything. Ah, people 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:37.960 try to hurt you. Maybe they don't even think why. Fortunately, 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:42.640 here in the city of St. Louis, picture is not bad. 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:49.040 Picture is pretty good and uh, neighbors try to stick 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:55.600 together and most of them appreciate what we did here 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:59.120 in the past years. Having said all of that, is 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:06.600 there a count you would have rather been resettled in? No? No, 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:14.160 I didn't know anything about United States, and United States 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:22.600 definitely look different now and when I come here. But 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:30.000 if I have to choose, people don't understand what we 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:36.480 have here. People we this is as country in the world. 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:41.240 It's tough to top a moment like that. Scott, Where 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:44.080 should we go for future episodes? Yeah? I agree with 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:46.360 you it is. It was a very poignant moment. Good 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:49.680 to leave it there. I mean, as far as the future, 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.520 where can't we go there? There are so many topics 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:55.360 that we still haven't covered, even even though we we've 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:59.200 done a hundred episodes. As you know, one topic that 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:02.680 I often reason for our meetings is looking at German 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:07.000 manufacturing and how that compares with the efforts to poost 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:09.480 manufacturing in the United States. And I always get voted 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:12.000 down at our meetings to pursue that one. So I'm 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:15.200 really hoping that sometime in the next one episodes we 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.880 can look at that one. I think we should spend 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:21.760 more time in Asia. The idea that a labor shortage 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:27.040 in Japan is hurting service at restaurants in Tokyo. That's 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:32.760 something our listeners would be interested in. Thanks to everyone 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:36.920 who's worked on the episodes or contributed in some way 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:40.520 that we didn't get to mention, so we'll mention them now. 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:47.560 Magnus Henrikson, Liz Smith, Kate Smith, Michael Shane, Jed Sandberg, 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:51.960 our colleagues around the world who have been on all 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:56.880 our guests, the staff of Bloomberg Radio one Washington for 0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:00.400 letting us use their booths. Everyone who's can should read 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:04.960 at the time. Now, family, everybody's who's reviewed the show, 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:08.000 and especially those who have given us five stars. And 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:10.960 if you have any ideas for the show, or if 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.200 you want to talk to us or send us an email, 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:16.320 please get in touch with us. Uh We give our 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:18.520 Twitter handles at the end of every show. You can 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:22.000 probably look us up on other websites. We're not really 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:24.720 that hard to find. Please, we love hearing from you. 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:27.160 We love getting comments, and keep it coming.