WEBVTT - The White House’s Brian Deese on Supply Chains and Biden’s Economic Agenda 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:15.160 Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots Podcast. 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:19.880 I'm Joe Wisn't Thal and I'm Tracy Alloway. Tracy, Obviously, 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:23.279 as we talked about all the time, one of the 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:26.720 most extraordinary moments in the economy that I think we've 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:31.440 ever seen so many different debates. Obviously, inflation is elevated, 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:36.519 the labor market is booming, growth is booming. The dispersion 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:39.880 of views about how good things are, how bad things are, 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:42.720 what to be done policy wise, I don't think I've 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:45.680 ever seen it as wide as it is right now. No, 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:48.000 it's funny. We talked about how you should never call 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:51.280 a turning point um in the broader economy, or at 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:53.760 least we used to, but it does actually feel like 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:56.360 we entered a new environment over the past year or so. 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:59.720 And of course the big questions here are to what 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:05.400 agree our supply chain constraints coinciding with booming demand and 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:10.319 and creating the inflationary pressures that we've seen recently. Well, 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:13.160 we have a great guest to talk about what's going on, 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:15.480 and of course the policy responds, and I want to 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:18.679 jump right into it. We're gonna be speaking with Brian Deese. 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:21.840 He is the director of the National Economic Council serving 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:26.319 President Joe Biden is a top advisor on policy on 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:29.560 getting things done. So, Briandes, thank you so much for 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:32.399 coming on odd lots. Thank you for having me. So 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:35.600 let me just start with like the simple first question, 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:39.279 which is do you and or in the White House 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:44.440 have a you on what's driving this elevated inflation. Well, 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:46.760 I think in order to answer that question, we have 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:50.200 to step back and look at their trajectory of the 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:54.360 economic recovery to date, and as you noted, we are 0:01:54.400 --> 0:02:00.440 seeing a lot of historical first first in many years decade. 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:04.280 Start of the macro side, we're seeing strongest growth in 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:08.120 forty years. On the labor market side, we're seeing we 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:14.280 saw in labor market outcomes that are the strongest on record, 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:17.840 and in that context we're seeing it's in it's in 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:20.880 that context that I think we have to understand the 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.960 elevated price pressures that we have seen. So to to 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:28.280 get to your question, I think that if you look 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:32.000 at where we are in the economy, by most measures, 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:36.960 the U. S economy is not running beyond its potential 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:40.320 or capacity. If you look at you know, sort of 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.720 the projection from pre pandemic levels. We're getting close to 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.240 potential in a number of places, and we have moved 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:52.639 back to that trajectory faster than most folks participated. What 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:55.760 you have seen that particularly, I think breaking down the 0:02:55.800 --> 0:03:00.400 price story is a historic compositional impact on the demand side. 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:05.639 So you know the shift the composition impact of significantly 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:09.680 elevated demand for good, A lot of that shifted from services, 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:13.240 and then a supply shock on the supply side, both 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:17.240 to labor supply and also to the broader supply chain 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:20.200 as well. And so you know, when we think about 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:24.000 the drivers and the inputs into where elevated prices are, 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:27.440 those are the two places we principally focus on, which 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:30.840 is the compositional side on demand, and so that leads 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:32.920 us to spend a lot of time thinking about looking 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:35.920 at is as as everybody is these days, the questions 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:39.600 of that, how that normalizes across time, and whether it's 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:42.640 normalizing and trying to assess that um and then on 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:45.880 the supply side, what we can be doing sector by 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.440 sector and also in the in the aggregate to try 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:52.600 to address those supply side issues, some of which operate 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.360 very immediate, short term, near term and you guys spent 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.600 a lot of time focused on issues like that, some 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:00.320 of which are more medium and long term, but sooner 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:04.120 we start to address them, like building semiconductor capacity in 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:07.720 the US, the better positions we will be. So that's 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:11.400 how we understand the dynamic. But in a more capstone way, 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:14.360 we find ourselves in a place where what's unique about 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:17.559 the United States right now is unlike almost any other 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:22.480 G seven country, any other industrialized country, we are facing 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:26.320 the challenges of elevated prices from a position of historic 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:30.120 economic strength. So whether it's in GDP, or it's in 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:34.640 labor market outcomes, or it's in real income outcomes for 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:38.080 the economy, we are stronger. We're in a stronger position 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:43.679 than almost ever any industrialized country to address elevated price 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:47.600 issues that every country is addressed. So you mentioned going 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:50.840 sector bi sector there, and of course one of the 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:54.920 biggest components of inflation has to be higher energy costs, 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:58.480 and we've seen oil prices shoot up recently. At the 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:02.160 same time, despite those price increases, we haven't really seen 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:05.480 much of a reaction from US shale in terms of 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:09.800 boosting capacity. What's the White House's impression of what's going 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:12.840 on in the energy space right now, Why won't producers 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:16.560 actually increase production? And is there anything you can do 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.280 to encourage them? And I guess also, how would you 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:24.120 square that with the administration's clean energy goals? Well, I 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:26.560 think in terms of the in terms of energy markets 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:29.760 and impacts on consumers in the US, one piece of 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.839 that is is obviously natural gas and home heating and 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:36.000 otherwise where we've actually seen a bit of moderation and 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:39.200 a reduction and projected cost impacts over the course of 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:40.960 this winter. Some of that has to do with the 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:42.600 market development, Some of that has to do with the 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.800 weather um and being a bit moremer than other I expected. 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:48.040 On the oil market side, I think this is where 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:50.560 you are you're going. I guess I'd say a couple 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:53.400 of things. Number One, we are now seeing and if 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:58.520 you're following recounts, you're seeing significant uptick over the course 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.560 of even the last couple of weeks, and most forward 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:05.120 projections suggests a significant ramp up over the course of 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:09.320 the first half of two in terms of US domestic production. 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:13.480 I will leave to oil market analysts to really unpack that, 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.240 but certainly from what we hear and what we see 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:21.680 that reflects a market reaction from a market that pulled 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:25.320 back in the face of getting historically chopped down during 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:29.160 the pandemic, and a lot of pressure on capital discipline 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:32.760 in that sector, and also a reflection of current prices 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:36.000 leading to bring production back online. So there's a question 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:38.479 of this sort of timing of that, but I think 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.000 that the ramps certainly over the course of the last 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:44.479 several weeks here is you're seeing that come online. But 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:49.240 what's driving the price of oil is global developments, a 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:52.440 commodity set on a global market. You know, we we 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:56.480 have we have a market that doesn't clear competitively to 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:59.960 have supply reflect demand. And one thing we've seen over 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:04.320 of course of this the last half of is that 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:08.000 the supply of oil on the global market was not 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:13.440 being allowed to meet the strong recovery in demand globally, 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:16.880 including in the United States. UM. And you know that 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:19.360 the reason for that is because supply of oil globally 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:23.320 is controlled and modulated by by OPEC. And so that's 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:25.960 why the President has invested the time and the energy 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:30.040 and our our entire administration and working diplomatically with oil 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:33.760 producing and oil consuming countries to try to address those issues. 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:36.840 And we obviously have you know, really pressing challenges that 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:41.480 are affecting risk sentiment and the risk premium and global 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:45.480 oil markets now around Russia, and it's provocative actions with 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.440 respect to Ukraine. So all of those things are weighing. 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:50.640 I think in terms of your final point, I think 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:52.800 that what's going on in the US market right now 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:56.880 is is the market responding to demand. And I bet 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:02.600 the President's vision for a long term clean energy future 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.760 is really the long term answer to this, to this 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:09.840 issue that that gas prices are higher now than they 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:11.920 than they should be, We're gonna work to try to 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.080 do everything we can to try to bring them down. 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:18.440 We recognize that, you know, in practice, that hits typical families, 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:21.240 It hits their budgets, It makes people uncertain and uncomfortable 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:24.120 about the economic environment. We're gonna do what we can 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:26.240 in the very immediate term to try to address that. 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:29.000 Over the long term, the right strategy is to put 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:32.800 the United States in the leadership position of driving towards 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:37.439 zero carbon, clean energy technologies and be the global innovation 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.640 hub for innovation and exports of those technologies and of 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.000 those capabilities. And whether that's on the the you know, 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:48.120 the transportation side, which is driving most of oil consumption, 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:53.040 around electric vehicles and the infanture to facilitate the transition 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:55.160 to electric vehicles, or whether it's on the power sector 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:59.320 side and driving the innovation around not only wind and solar, 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:03.760 but carbon cap true sequestration, hydrogen other answers. In this context, 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:07.000 the President's clean energy strategy is grounded in the idea 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:11.160 that we can and must have a an industrial strategy 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.360 that positions the United States as the locust of innovation 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:16.440 on that front. And I think that that is a 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:19.400 long term strategy where we need long term incentives to 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:22.840 drive that transition. And it's absolutely the right thing to 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:25.760 do and and and not inconsistent with an approach that 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:28.400 also is looking at how we can take immediate measures 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.760 to make sure supply and demand are aligning in the 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:52.000 market today. Let's talk about supply chains. Is basically a 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:56.720 year ago that the White House issued Executive Order on 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:00.760 America's supply chains. Ay, are there speci civic things you 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:02.880 can point to that have been done in the last 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:06.000 year where you could say, yes, this is working better 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:10.000 than it was prior to the EO, and be what 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:13.720 can still meaningfully move the dial as people think about 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:16.720 the economy, I guess at the shortened medium term. Yeah, 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:20.440 So we are releasing, on the occasion of the one 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:23.760 year anniversary of the President's executive order, a raft of 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:28.480 longer term supply chain strategies across the federal government. This 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:31.000 effort and the reason why, if we step back, the 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:35.000 reason why the President prioritized signing an executive order on 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:39.240 supply chain resilience a year ago was a recognition that 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:44.280 the issues that the pandemic had exposed and highlighted were 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:48.880 fundamental to national and economic security. And we're not going 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:51.240 to be solved overnight, and and we're going to be 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:54.760 through a different approach at the executive branch in federal 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:58.600 level to this over time. So a year later, I 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:01.640 would note a couple of things. This year has been 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:06.000 has been a story of progression and adaptation. First in 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:12.760 responding to real time, evolving supply chain challenges that reflect 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:16.160 the unique and historic nature of this pandemic affected recovery. 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:18.559 That's a lot about the work that we have done 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:23.320 working with the logistics and transportation logistics supply chain to 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:26.400 try to unstick bottlenecks at ports and freights and others. 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.520 You guys have covered all of those issues. But that's 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.200 one big piece of where we have learned a lot. 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:34.440 We have made a lot of progress to your point 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:36.679 about you know, we have, we can we can see 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:39.520 that progress tangibly. There's a lot of different ways to 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:41.280 think about that, but the way that I most think 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:44.640 about that is how far have we been able to 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:48.640 bring that dwell time down? Which your listeners are familiar with, 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.400 but to those who aren't, what share of containers are 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:55.760 sitting on ports on the dock for more than one days? 0:11:56.160 --> 0:12:00.120 That dwell time since we launched the port actually and 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:03.920 efforts about five months ago that that twal times come down. 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:09.800 So that's a sort of concrete manifestation significant increase in 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:12.560 fluidity through the ports. But the second thing that we 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.240 have been doing in the supply chain context is trying 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:21.360 to demonstrate that we can actually build greater resilience in 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:25.280 our industrial base here in the United States. And that 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:27.760 is a longer term project, but I think if you 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:31.760 look over the last year, we have really made historic 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:34.240 progress on that front. You know, you can see that 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:38.760 in the macro three sixty seven thousand manufacturing jobs created 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:41.760 last year in the US. That's the highest in decades. 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:46.640 But we can also see it in companies making decisions 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:51.679 to build and expand domestically in sectors and at a 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:55.600 scale that we haven't seen for some significant period of time, 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:58.960 which reflects I think both you know, the policy environment, 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:03.280 but also their wreck ignition that supply chain resilience takes 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:05.880 on an increase importance. So you know, we've seen that 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:10.120 in semiconductors, electric vehicles, aircraft batteries, We've seen that across 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:14.360 the board. And third, we have a national national security 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:17.600 strategy that now says we have long term things that 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.600 we need to do as a country to protect core 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:26.160 national security areas like pharmaceuticals and critical minerals, and now 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:29.000 the the US government actually has a viable long term 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:32.360 strategy to address those. Last point on your question, though, 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:35.079 is where can we where can we continue to really 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:38.120 make progress and move the dial. Absolutely, we have some 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.600 very practical things we need in the short term. Semiconductors 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:45.079 is a front end center. We've seen historic investments by 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:48.720 the semiconductor and manufacturers to come to the United States. 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:51.720 But what they're all saying is unless we move to 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:55.079 have a long term public investment strategy to bist sector 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:57.720 that is all going to be short lived. So we 0:13:57.800 --> 0:13:59.880 have we got to pass there's a bill that has 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.319 asked the House and pass the Senate. We've got to 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:05.000 get a version of that to the President's desk. That 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:08.280 would give us a historic fifty two billion dollars in 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:11.560 public and capital to invest to build that sector and 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:15.000 build supply chain resilience in that sector across time. I 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:17.880 belabor that on semiconductors because if you want to think 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:21.600 about supply chains, you know they are component in everything, 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:24.760 but they're also relevant to every supply chain. We've made 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:26.720 a lot of progress on that front. We know what 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:28.520 we need to do. We just have to get that done. 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:33.120 So one big component of some of these supply chain 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:38.000 strains has to be infrastructure, especially places like the ports. 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.840 How is the administration actually regrouping when it comes to 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:47.560 infrastructure spend and the build back better plan? Is there 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:51.000 going to be another push and what might that actually 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:55.640 look like? Your questions is absolutely on key because if 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:59.920 we think about the areas where we can most affect 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:03.400 ofaly operate on the supply side of this economy to 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:07.640 actually increase capacity and give us the ability to actually 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:12.400 move produce more goods and services with more fluidity and 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:17.360 actually expand our productive capacity outside of the labor supply issues. 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:24.400 Our investing in improving our physical infrastructure is right there 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:26.680 at the top of the list. And the good news 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:31.600 is that because of the infrastructure law that the President 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:35.120 shurput through and we passed, you know, bipartisan why last fall, 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:38.480 we now have a historic set of tools to actually 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:42.600 make these infrastructure investments in the right way. This was 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.560 a bill, and we have a strategy that is not 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.720 about short term stimulus. It's not about shove already at 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:53.080 the expense of other objectives. This is about how can 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:59.960 we actually build a modern supply chain, physical transportation supplied 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.640 chain across the economy, and how can we do that 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:05.600 in a way that's comprehensive. So, you know, if you 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:07.600 fix the ports, but you don't fix the roads and 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:10.680 the bridges. If you you know, fix the airports, but 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:14.440 you don't fix the uh, the interchanges, you don't actually 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.880 create a new environment where there's it's more attractive to 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:20.880 invest and build here. You don't create an environment where 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:24.720 you actually get those benefits of reducing cost in terms 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:27.200 of the whole supply chain. But we now have those 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:31.800 tools right, So historic investment imports historic investment in in airports, 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:35.040 in roads, in bridges, and also in areas where we 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:39.120 know we are behind the game, like high speed internet. 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:43.240 You know, getting high speed internet operating across the entire 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:47.120 economy and bringing all segments of the country into the 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:51.800 twenty one century economy of you know, strong internet able 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:56.560 to economic activity is a huge potential way to expand 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.680 our capacity to bring more people in to contributing to 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.800 our economic capacity, and we now have the tools. So 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:07.400 on that front are big focus is implementation, implementation, implementation. 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:10.600 We need to demonstrate that we can do things well, 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:12.679 and the President has been very clear and given us 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:16.800 clear direction. We brought in Mitch Landrew as our partner 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:20.399 in all of these efforts to try to demonstrate that 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:23.960 we can do this effectively effective use of money. We 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:26.720 can build things in the United States, again where we 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:28.960 have to demonstrate that we can do things on time 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.320 and under budget, and we also need to demonstrate that 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:33.280 we can do these things in a way that actually 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:37.360 brings all parts of the country and more people who 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:41.320 have been left out of prior big public investment campaigns 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:44.639 into that into that process. So we're bullish about the 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:47.400 ability to do that. We often get the question of, well, 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:49.720 you know, those investments are not going to happen overnight. 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:51.879 You know, how does that affect people who are worried 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:54.760 about you know, the cost of good for shipping right now? 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:57.040 I think you guys know, But what we're seeing in 0:17:57.080 --> 0:17:59.280 real time is some of these things can actually have 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:01.600 our real impact act really quickly. But some of these 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:04.440 things are five or eight year undertakings that we want 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:05.919 to do right. So we want to you know, we 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:08.880 want to rebuild all the major bridges in America that 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:12.280 are those bottlenecks for commerce and have a huge economic 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:14.840 impact across time. But we want to do that right. 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:18.040 This is a once in a generation opportunity to get 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:22.360 that done and build back better. Yeah. So I think 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.440 if you think about you think about the intersection between 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:29.800 the theory of what we can get done that big 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:34.840 public investment strategy around physical infrastructure, and we think about 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:39.200 the economic challenge of the current moment. The other thing 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:42.720 that we want to do, in addition to operating on 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:46.280 the supply side to make our infrastructure ready made for 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:49.439 the twenty century, is we also want to make things 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:54.640 more affordable for typical families who are you know, on 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:56.800 the one hand, benefiting from an economy that has a 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:58.880 historically strong job market, but on the other hand are 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:02.080 really having to deal with higher prices and the impact 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:04.359 that that has of the grocery store or the gas pump. 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:07.200 And so if you think about what are the best 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:11.080 ways go right at making things more affordable for families, 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:14.320 it is look at the bulk of what a family's 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:18.119 typical budget is. So typical family in a month spends 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:23.919 about six of their disposable income on healthcare, prescription drugs, childcare, 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:28.200 and housing. We now have proposals that would go right 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:31.920 at reducing costs for those for those families, reduce the 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:34.399 cost of prescription drugs and cop out of pocket costs, 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:37.679 reduced the cost of childcare, which will have a positive 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:41.000 labor supply impact by helping more parents more women get 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:44.960 back to work, and also reduce the cost of energy. 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:47.120 Because to the question you were raising before, Tracy about 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:51.000 our energy strategy, the clean energy tax credit provisions that 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:54.280 we have been pushing for the principal impact that they 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:59.080 would have would be to actually lower utility bills for consumers. 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:02.280 We have of the CEOs of the largest utilities in 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:04.600 recently to have a conversation about this, and to a 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:07.919 single to a person, what they said was, if you 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:10.320 pass these long term in centers, we will accelerate the 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:13.879 transition to zero carbon energy. But the way we'll do it, 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:16.480 both practically and legally, is will pass on those benefits 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:19.200 to consumers, because those tax credits flow right through to 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:24.600 consumers bottom line. So we view those core investments, which 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:27.680 are the core components of the Build Back Better bill 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:32.159 that passed the House, as meeting the current economic moment 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:35.160 of making things more affordable for people. And we can 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:37.600 do that in a way that won't add to inflationary 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:40.040 pressure because it won't add to aggregate demand because it 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:43.400 will be paid for and actually would reduce the deficit 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:46.280 across time. So that's you know, we think there's a 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:50.040 compelling economic logic. We think that for anyone who is 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:53.320 of the view that high price now are the top 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:56.240 priority and we need to focus on making things more affordable. 0:20:56.280 --> 0:21:01.600 We have these practical answers right now, healthcare, prescript and drugs, childcare, energy, 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:03.280 We can we can we can act on that, and 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:05.480 so we're gonna give a State of the Union here 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:08.240 in a couple of days, we're gonna get through getting 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:12.280 a funding bill hopefully done so we can fund its operations, 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:14.440 and then we'renna try to make real progress on those 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:17.280 policies and try to deliver on that other piece of 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:21.600 making these more affordable for families. Bryan, Obviously, so much 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:24.439 of the discussion and just this moment really is all 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:27.240 about things going on on the supply side, in particular 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:30.000 physical infrastructure, which we've been talking about, and when is 0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:32.159 this going to ease? There are a lot of people 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:34.760 and even some of the market, and Tracy has written 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:39.360 about this, pointing to corporate behavior and increased margins, and 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:42.600 people probably within the White House who believe that it's 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:45.600 greed and that we don't necessarily need to have the 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:48.440 price increases we have right now, even with the disruptions, 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:51.480 because a lot of it can be explained via corporate greed. 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:55.360 Is that a factor in your mind, simply changing corporate behavior? 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:58.560 And are their policies that theoretically could be put in 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:03.960 place to discour ridge companies from trying to opportunistically expand margins. 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:07.600 I'll tell you where our focus has been on that front, 0:22:07.760 --> 0:22:11.640 which is it's interesting the President has for some time, 0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:15.159 including before he, before he ran UM and before he 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:18.280 before he won the presidency, has been focused on the 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:25.960 question of the intersection between corporate consolidation and our economic 0:22:26.000 --> 0:22:30.160 potential UM and it's been concerned and compelled by the 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:35.119 growing body of evidence that actually demonstrates that in many 0:22:35.320 --> 0:22:41.800 industries the trend of consolidation has actually had negative attended 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:46.400 impacts for the economy that manifest in higher prices and 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:51.520 less and fewer options for consumers, and also for negative 0:22:51.520 --> 0:22:56.320 outcomes in the labor market as well. And so that's technical, 0:22:56.440 --> 0:22:59.320 there's a there's a there's a study by an expert 0:22:59.320 --> 0:23:01.080 at n y U that tried to put that in 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:04.520 dollar terms and basically said that consolidation over the course 0:23:04.560 --> 0:23:08.680 of the last couple of decades has basically reduced by 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:13.800 about five thousand dollars a typical families economic outcomes. That 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:17.520 takes into account both the impact on the price side 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:20.640 and also the impact on the wage side as well. 0:23:20.960 --> 0:23:23.600 So that has been a persistent concern of the President 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:27.679 and a persistent priority of the administration. That is separable 0:23:27.760 --> 0:23:33.120 from the question of whether consolidation and or corporate behavior 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:37.159 is responsible for the current inflation. There you know. I 0:23:37.160 --> 0:23:40.000 think our view is that those issues of consolidation have 0:23:40.040 --> 0:23:43.199 been operating over the course of years and decades, and 0:23:43.280 --> 0:23:46.600 so they're not the principle of primary driver of current 0:23:46.760 --> 0:23:50.320 pricing trends. But we do believe that that by addressing 0:23:50.359 --> 0:23:54.560 those issues we can have a really positive impact on 0:23:54.600 --> 0:23:58.280 the supply side of the economy and actually produce better 0:23:58.280 --> 0:24:00.680 outcomes across time. So there's a nuance there, but I 0:24:00.680 --> 0:24:03.000 think it's an important one, which is no, are we're 0:24:03.040 --> 0:24:06.399