WEBVTT - Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - December 7th, 2019 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:06.240 This is Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. Hi, I'm 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:09.120 Jason Kelly, I'm Carol Masser. Welcome to the weekend edition 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:11.799 of Bloomberg Business Week. Over the next couple of hours, 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.080 we'll bring you news of the week, insights from the magazine, 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:16.439 and so much more. And so much of course, is 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:19.480 about the Bloomberg fifty that time of year again, from 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:23.320 finance to politics, tech and entertainment. These are the folks, Carol, 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:27.600 who really shaped twenty nineteen, maybe in some unexpected ways. 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:30.080 And because we're Bloomberg, you've got to be able to 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:32.199 measure it. Where else can you talk about Rihanna and 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:34.800 the black hole I'm just saying, and a chicken sandwich 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:37.760 and a chicken sandwich. It's all here. Plus we've got 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:40.840 a growing pushback on stock by backs and a different 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.880 kind of housing crisis that asked the question, is homelessness 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:47.560 a crime? It's an important story. That one really caught 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:50.280 my attention. I loved our conversation with Noah bu Higher 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:53.159 in part because you know, this is the story of 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:56.000 our time in many ways, because it touches on so 0:00:56.040 --> 0:01:00.560 many things that are going on in America right now, political, economic, social, 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:02.920 and more. But first up, let's talk about our top 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:07.840 story this week. NATO. It turned seventy and they were 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:10.520 meant to celebrate in London, but turned out to be 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:13.240 less of a birthday party, more like a Thanksgiving dinner 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:16.479 Carol for a large dysfunctional family. I have to say 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:18.680 it was interesting just to watch all the photo ops 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:21.560 uh and watch the body language between all of the 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:25.520 world leaders. Definitely something worth covering this week. Not all 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:28.000 of them got along. There was a few snide remarks made, 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:30.360 but in the end everyone well, they seem to accept 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:32.320 that they're kind of stuck with each other. At least 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:35.000 that's according to Mark Champion, who covered the summit outside London. 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:37.759 He joins US now, So Mark, what's the latest on NATO? 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:40.280 A lot happened this week? It was I mean, the 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:44.600 build up was pretty extraordinary. Um, this was supposed to 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.400 be just a celebration. It wasn't a real summit. It 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:50.040 wasn't a full summit. They do that every two, you know, 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:52.680 two to three years, but this one they felt they 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.320 had to do because it was the seventie uh, and 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:58.880 they kept it really short because they specifically didn't want 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:04.120 to create a big you know, target for unscripted problems 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:08.360 with President Trump, which they've had before, um so, and 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:10.920 then all of a sudden in the weeks before, you 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:15.200 had the French President mcclan coming out and talking about 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.480 how he wasn't so sure whether you know the rest 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.480 of the NATO allies would go to the defense of 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:24.840 Turkey under the Article five Collective Defense clause, which is 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:28.320 absolutely at the core of NATO. It caused a huge 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.400 blow up. And then of course you had Turkey itself, 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:36.240 which had begun a military operation in Syria against the 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:39.440 will of most of the other allies. So you know, 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:42.600 people were very apprehensive going in about you know this, 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:44.760 this thing could just blow up, and instead of being 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:49.359 a celebration and demonstration of the union of this uh 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:52.280 the unity really of of this alliance, it would be 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:54.160 the opposite. Hey, I do want to ask you about 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:56.920 Boris Johnson. He was at the summit. He's also the 0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:59.680 subject of remarks in the magazine this week and more 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:03.679 spec typically his character and his temperament, his anger. Who 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:06.240 knew um tell us a little bit about that and 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:09.320 how that might impact his campaign and possibly his election. 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:12.639 So this has been a really extraordinary campaign. They're very 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:14.800 short in the UK. One has to remember that, especially 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:16.959 if you're familiar with American ones will go on for 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:19.840 more than a year. They're basically a month long, a 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:22.800 month or six weeks, you know, in effect, so they're 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:26.800 extremely short. Stuff is really packed in in all the 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:30.520 debates and everything. It happens very very fast. We're already 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:34.040 towards the last week. But this particular campaign is is 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:38.280 really quite extraordinary because you have both parties you know, 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:42.160 making big plays in terms of you know, changes in 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:45.440 public spending and budgeting and fiscal policy, all these sorts 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:48.760 of things. Um And in the end though, it really 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:53.160 comes down to trust in the two main candidates, one 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:55.960 of them is Boris Johnson UM and he has always 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:59.800 had a big issue with trust and the anger, uh 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:03.240 is you know a piece of that um And we 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:05.760 had this article to that, you know, in this this 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:09.960 issue in Business Week, which is really runs through it 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:15.080 very carefully, reminds you of the times when he's really 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.719 sort of flown off the handle and people already don't 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:20.120 quite trust him because he has a record. You know, 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:22.839 he was fired once for not telling the truth, you know, 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.360 while he was a cabinet minister. He was fired as 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:27.600 a journalist for not telling the truth. And then if 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:30.159 you add on top of that the possibility of a 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:33.800 blow up because you know he doesn't keep his temper, 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:37.960 which has happened before, then you know that that is 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.080 one of the things that the people who are running campaign, 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:42.839 his campaign, are very concerned about, and they've kept they 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:45.720 kept campaign on a very tight leash and kept him 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:49.760 on a very tight leash, and they've kept his exposure, um, 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:52.400 you know, quite limited. All right, Mark Champion, we're gonna 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:55.599 leave it there. Thank you so much, joining us from London. 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:59.360 A very busy time between posting NATO and then obviously 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:02.640 this a election. Well for more on this week's magazine. 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:07.400 Here he is Business Week's editor Joel Weber. The Bloomberg fifty. 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:09.640 It's the most wonderful time of the year. Yeah, exactly. 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:11.040 This is like one of our favorite issues of the 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:13.799 year where we recognized the fifty people who really defined 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:17.200 twenty nineteen and we and we look specifically for things 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.120 that are measurable because you know, this is Boomberg all industries, 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:23.919 I feel like, entertainment, finance, fashion, entertainment, sports. We we 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.680 really try to look across everything and that's what makes 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:28.320 this one special. You know, like you could have a 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:31.400 list of people that are you know, expected names like 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:33.920 Warren Buffett could basically be on that list every year. 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:38.160 But we're looking for measurable contributions in the year of 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:40.440 twenty nineteen. So we go back to January and all 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.760 the way up through now to find out who really sparkled. 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:46.719 And even a chicken sandwich, even a chicken sandwich the 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:48.680 you know, this is the Popeye' chicken sandwich. It broke 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.760 the interest data. Three month supplies sell out in a 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:54.720 matter of days. People even got stabbed over it, which 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:56.359 was like, you know the downside of this story, but 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:59.400 really it speaks to like the ability for brands to 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:02.520 like these things, and a chicken sandwich of all things, 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:05.120 you know, with some extra pickles can really break the internet. So, 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:08.120 you know, we reach out, you know, around the Bloomberg organization. 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.280 Everybody pitches ideas and so on and so forth. Is 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.159 their name that surprised you or that you found was 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:14.560 really this is a big team sport. We pulled from 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:16.960 all the bureaus around the world and we're looking for 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:20.960 leaders and business people and CEOs. One of my favorite 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:23.559 ones was remember the black hole. It's easy to forget 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:25.839 all the things that have happened this year, but in science, 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:27.960 this is a huge deal. The team that discovered a 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.640 black hole, so that was one of my favorite ones 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:34.840 because you know that's it's a photo of nothingness, is 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:36.960 effectively what we all looked at for the first time, 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:41.000 and it really just marked incredible scientific achievements. So I'm 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:43.040 honored to have them on the list. And that's editor 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.279 Joel Weber. I love the enthusiasm that Joel has about 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:49.200 this issue. It's a labor of love, for sure, but 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:51.360 what a fun exercise to be able to tap into 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:55.680 the entire global newsroom of Bloomberg. And a lot of 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:57.440 that falls to Brett Began. We're going to hear from 0:06:57.480 --> 0:06:59.080 him a little bit later on. And a lot of 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:01.840 social momentum around this issue as well. You're listening to 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:05.279 Bloomberg Business Week coming up. Older Women Are the Beauty 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:08.919 Industry's Next gold Mine is a fascinating story. This is work. 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:10.760 So there's a few stories in the Business section that 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.400 we did want to highlight this week, and the editor 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:15.720 of the section, Jamalysis here, well, any excuse to talk 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:19.120 to gem LSC. It's always on the leading edge. And 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:21.800 what's interesting is I want to start with Chanelle because 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.960 obviously an incredibly well known brand, and you actually start 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:28.760 this story with sort of this portrait of Paris. Uh. 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:33.160 And they're going after a market where Marty has failed, right, 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:35.840 I mean basically, um, And we start out the story 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:40.640 looking at Chanelle's boutique on the Plasta van Dam and Paris, 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.640 and it's facing all these other sort of well known 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:47.400 names and watches like Rolex and Pouget and um. And 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:49.880 we're and and there's Chanelle, which is normally thought of 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:54.480 as a female centered brand that's big in real fashion 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:58.520 and also in fragrance and um. You think of the 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:00.920 blazers and the purses, but you don't really think about 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:03.320 watches as much, even though they've been in the watch business. 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.320 Well now they've decided to make a really big push 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:09.000 into it. Now that's tricky simply because the brand is 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:13.600 really associated with a very feminine, um sort of fashion orientation, 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:16.760 and that's not where the biggest watch companies are. The 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:19.240 biggest watch companies are things that you know, men buy, 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:22.640 and it's a male focused in the business and um, 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:24.800 you know, this is a tough way for these Uh. 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:27.760 You know, you know, people to sort of we shoulder 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:29.600 their way in. So is it all about going after 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:31.960 men specifically or men and women? Are they all in 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:35.000 on watching? It's it's all in. I mean they short 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:37.719 it out with a watch it's been successful called the 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:41.800 J twelve and it's a unisex watch and means so 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:45.120 it's sized and styled in a way that it looks 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:48.520 good on both men and women, and um, well it 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.720 has done well. However, you know, it's just the beginning, 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.200 because the thing is that other companies have had, you know, 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:57.000 a hundred years or a couple of hundred years and watches, 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:00.760 and this is definitely a hundred year, hundred year old brand, 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.600 but it's one that's been associated with fashion, and among 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:07.959 true watch aficionados, the notion of a fashion watch is 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:10.600 sort of a that's not a compliment. Yeah, I mean, 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.520 watches are such a funny little corner of the market. 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:15.920 I mean, we've talked a lot about the watch trade, 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.800 as it were, with Chris Rouser, who runs the Pursuit section, 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:22.640 who I imagine was somehow consulted in all of this. 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:26.520 But you know, I do wonder why, you know, not 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:28.960 to be too Centcalo about Chanelle, but like what makes 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:34.360 them so special? You know that they can figure scial Okay, 0:09:33.960 --> 0:09:36.720 they have been um. You know, that's something that they've 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:39.559 had to, you know, sort of contend with among the 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.760 the inside watch crowd, and they've been um, not just 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:44.880 people who wanted to sell watches, but they wanted to 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:48.559 make better watches, and so they have invested in UM 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:52.000 making their own movements, which is the real hard part 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:55.600 of watchmaking, not just putting a quartz movement on something, 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:58.480 but instead saying, you know, they're going to have a 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:02.520 mechanical you know, sort of specialists in Switzerland who are 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:06.000 actually making their watches. They also own uh you know, 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:10.080 minority ownership and very expensive Swiss watch companies, and so 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:13.760 they actually know how to make watches. And it's been um, 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:16.920 you know, it has been shown. They won the UM 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.720 uh what sort of the oscars of watches UM in 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:24.240 Geneva the last two years for best Women's Watch and 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.600 UM and so one of them was extremely technical. So there, 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:30.360 you know, they have the product. The issue is can 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.520 you break into something where people have typically thought of 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.040 as being sort of controlled by a few other companies, 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:40.680 particularly at a price point that a luxury company needs 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:42.520 to charge. Well. I do think there's a lot of 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:45.719 stuff going on, like LVMH buying Tiffany and they were 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:48.280 doing that to really get into the jewelry space and 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:50.200 so on. So for though, I do think that there's 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.320 a re emphasis whether it's on jewelry or watches, and 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:55.679 I think that's a market that can be continued to 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:59.040 be tapped. I think upscale brands and upscale burns are 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:02.559 continually looking a new ways to get growth. And if 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:05.040 you're not in some segment that you know, sort of 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:07.320 ties into the high priced world, you try to get 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:10.920 into it. So Chanel okay, so going after watches big time. 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:13.200 They already have a cosmetics line. I don't know if 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:16.840 they have been looking into tapping the elderly consumer market, 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:19.440 but if you go to Japan, apparently cosmetics for the 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:22.200 elderly that's a that's a thing. This was a weight 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:24.439 what story for me? I have to say, I did 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:26.920 not see this one coming. Tell us what's going on? Well, 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:30.000 it's um, you know, we all know that Japan is 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:33.200 the oldest, you know, has the oldest populist of any 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:38.000 country right now, and so it wasn't a big stretch 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:41.320 for consumer product companies to say, oh, the elderly, there 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:43.839 may be a good market. But normally when you think 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:46.880 about cosmetics, it's aimed at the young, sort of use 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.720 young people as in all your advertising, and you sort 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:52.880 of target everything about looking like your twenty with skin 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:56.280 of twenty year olds. And instead, in Japan, we're almost 0:11:56.320 --> 0:12:02.280 half the women now are over fifty, and by elderly, 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:07.839 I'm just but okay, in another fifteen twenty years, more 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:09.960 than half of the over sixty. I mean, this is 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:13.480 a really really aging population. And so all of a 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:16.880 sudden people have said they shouldn't be ignored that we 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:20.400 there's money here. There's an affluent population too, and so 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:23.520 therefore if we pump products aimed at that market, we 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:26.760 can sell a lot more. And so companies are sort 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:29.160 of coming out with lines that look at that. So 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:34.319 shadoh um, polar orbis ks um, you know, they're doing that, 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:38.079 and they're also using older influencers as well. Well. That 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:39.680 was one of the things that really jumped out at 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:41.800 me is, you know, in the same issue where we 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:46.040 are celebrating rightly in the Bloomberg fifty, Kylie Jenner at 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.880 the right buled age of twenty two with her line 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.120 that she now does a deal with Cody. Here we 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:54.920 have throwback to you know, my era, Kate Moss Kate 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:59.440 five years old years old as the spokesperson for cose 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:02.680 and um you know, and that is, you know, forty five, 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.880 while it seems young to me, is not young in 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:08.800 that world. And so therefore what they're saying is that, 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.800 you know, we are talking about your skin more mature skin. 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:14.800 And one of the really interesting things in the story 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:17.360 is that UM polar Orbits, which is one of the 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:21.400 biggest cussing companies in Japan, is using one of its 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:25.360 UM influencers is a woman who is the world's oldest 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:29.960 beauty consultant. She's years old. She works for polar Orbits, 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:32.199 and she's been sort of helping women with their skin 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:36.000 for well forever, and UM, it was really interesting to 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:38.959 see that. Um, you know, there are all sorts of tricks. 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:42.600 That tricks are strategies that people use when they're dealing 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:45.920 with older customers. It means that the bottles have to 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:48.720 have larger text so that they can um you know 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:50.880 sort of it doesn't strain your eyes as much. It 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.320 also means that use wax on some of the eye 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:58.400 products because it then doesn't hurt the thinning skin. And 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:01.840 um Soseto is even selling comb special combs that have 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:05.240 little dots of black dye on the end of the teeth. 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:08.320 Go for your for the roots of the hair that's 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:10.600 turning gray. I mean, there's all sorts of things that 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:13.720 people are using now to say, Okay, I understand that 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:17.120 you're aging, but you can still be your best person. 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:19.360 You look your best way, and we're going to help 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:22.680 you with that and thank you, spend money with my company. 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.240 That's Jamli is the editor of the business section. Two 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:29.920 great stories about companies and industries looking to really kind of, 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.600 you know, create more revenue lines. For Chanelle, of course 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:36.240 it's about high end watches, but for cosmetics. Uh, that 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:40.880 industry going after an older population, right, and the demographics 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:44.960 underneath this whole trend fascinating. Obviously, Japan is something of 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:48.080 a test case, giving how they have that aging population, 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:50.640 but you have to thank Europe is next, and then 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:52.760 we're getting older here in the United States as well. 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:55.400 You're listening to Bloomberg business Week coming up an experiment 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:58.560 in Tennessee to offer free tuition while it boosted enrollment, 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:02.600 but dropout rates still remain high. Yeah, no one size 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:04.760 fits all going on here when it comes to solving 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:08.720 that conundrum of higher education. This is bloomberg. Several presidential 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:11.680 candidates have proposals to defray the cost of higher education. 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:14.200 But Jason, I think it's safe to say one size 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:16.400 is not fit all. Well, I think it's also fair 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:18.560 to say you and I both have teenagers. This is 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:22.600 front of mind for so many parents across the country 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:25.720 and for so many would be students. The affordability of 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:28.880 higher education. Uh, it is. I think the technical term 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:31.920 is bananas the cost of higher education. Read pickartt joins 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:35.200 us from Washington, d C. With the story take us 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:38.200 to Tennessee. The thing about Tennessee, so they were the 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:43.760 first state to implement a statewide free tuition program for 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:46.880 every high school graduating senior, and they could go to 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:50.640 community college or technical college completely for free. That started 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:54.280 in but it started as an economic program. So the 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:57.800 idea was that Tennessee took a look around its workforce 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:03.200 and realized within an increasingly skilled economy and an advancing economy, 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:06.680 but they weren't going to have enough skilled workers. So 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:09.440 as a result, they came up with Tennessee Promise and 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:14.200 a complementary program for adults called Tennessee Reconnect that works 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:17.600 towards getting Tennessee AND's to have a post secondary education, 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:22.320 so whether that's a technical certificate or a community college degree, 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.680 or whatever it may be. And the results have been 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:30.000 really promising. You've seen college going rates increase, You've seen 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:34.360 enrollment and community colleges increase. You've seen graduation rates at 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:39.280 community colleges improve. But at the same time, the dropout rates, 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:43.640 while improving, still could use a little bit of improvement. 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:49.040 It's almost of students are dropping out after three years 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:51.520 using the program. We talked to us because you actually 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:54.280 introduced us to one student in particular, and I do 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.120 feel like, based on your reporting that if you're a 0:16:57.120 --> 0:16:59.440 low income students, this is a tougher truck for you. 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.040 It's a tougher track, and being a low income student 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:05.440 and Tennessee or any other state in America is is 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:08.200 a tougher track. But the thing about this program is 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.240 that it's a last dollar scholarship, so it means that 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:15.119 it covers the cost of tuition that federal pell grants 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:19.320 don't cover, or other state aid doesn't cover. So for 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:23.280 students who are low income and perhaps would already have 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:27.360 the majority of their college paid for UM from through 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.360 federal pell grants, you know, they're getting a smaller proportion 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:33.640 of their tuition paid for by this program versus UM 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:36.560 students who earn our come from families with a bit 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:39.480 of a higher income. So the idea is that, you know, 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:41.960 you look at these dropout rates and tuition is not 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:45.640 a factor, but the other cost of college that this 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.920 that a financial aid program doesn't address, like transportation or 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:53.560 housing or the cost of books, are really weighing on 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:56.920 these low income students. What has been learned in Tennessee 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:01.320 that can and cannot be applicable to other states. So 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:04.240 so for Tennessee, it has its own program. It was 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:07.880 the first to offer to all students of that we're 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:10.720 graduating from high school. But other states have their own 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:14.800 versions of programs. Some have residency requirements, like New York 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:17.879 requires you to live in the state after you receive 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:21.960 the aid UM. Other states offer it for for your education, 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.440 while some offer it for two or for specific areas 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:29.199 or income brackets. But I guess what the lesson that 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:33.359 I have heard from UM experts in this area, is 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:38.280 that one size fits all approach is really challenging, especially 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:41.800 in something like higher education, where each state is different 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:44.520 and each state has come up with their own program 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:48.000 to serve to serve them. UM. So looking at it 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:51.280 from a one size fits all approaches is really challenging. UM. 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:53.720 But that that is different than having a federal framework 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:56.720 and then giving states a little more wiggle room to 0:18:56.760 --> 0:19:00.320 decide what's best for themselves. Well and read, as Carol pointed, doubt, 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:04.240 I mean it becomes sort of complicated and difficult economically 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:07.000 for a lot of the students, especially in the lower 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:10.920 income brackets, because they may need to work to support themselves, 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:15.200 to support their family for all hosts of reasons. And 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:17.040 part of it is the money, but part of it 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:20.600 is the way that even the classes are structured and 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:24.280 the and the educational offerings are structured. Is there any 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:28.520 sort of creativity being applied to that part of the equation. Oh, 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:31.600 absolutely so. Community colleges are going out of their way 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:35.959 to make themselves available to students. They're holding office hours 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:39.480 outside of with professors, outside of normal hours. They're offering 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.480 night classes, they're offering weekend classes, They're doing everything that 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:48.280 they can. The problem is that the Promise program requires 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:50.680 students to go to school full time. It requires them 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.639 to take a full class load. And in the case 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:57.000 of a student who's working forty hours a week, that 0:19:57.080 --> 0:19:59.880 can seem like a lot, but but it makes sense 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:03.280 a lot of ways because you know, in general, dropout 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:06.760 rates tend to be better when students are going to 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.240 school full time than when they're going part time. Well, 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:11.639 and what's interesting, and I think states are dealing with 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:14.360 this a lot, and employers within states is that they 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:18.360 need workers, and they need workers with the right skills. So, um, 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:21.840 that's at play here as well. Correct, correct, And you're 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:24.399 seeing it. You're seeing it work. I mean, since the 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:28.720 programs was announcing and then implemented for the first group 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:34.240 in and looking at the unemployment rate, since it's half 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:37.600 of what it was, the media and household income has 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:40.960 reached nearly thirty percent of what it was. And that's 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:43.960 read Picker, such a smart story, a look inside what's 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:47.760 going on in Tennessee. And you know, it reminds me 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:49.840 of something we talked about with people like Peter Coy 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:52.600 all the time, that the data can tell you one thing, 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:54.879 but real life tends to intervene when you're trying to 0:20:54.920 --> 0:20:58.240 solve what seemed to be intractable problems. You're listening to 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:02.680 Bloomberg Business Week coming up the people who defined that's right, 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:05.520 we're talking about the Bloomberg fifty. We're going to take 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:08.719 you inside that list. This is Bloomberg. So the magazine 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:12.720 this week is about the Bloomberg fifty. The people in business, entertainment, finance, politics, 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:17.679 and science and technology. Who's accomplishments, merit, recognition, applause, so 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:19.840 much more. Jason, this is a cool list. We love 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:22.119 this every year we get to be a part of it. 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:24.720 The big event that's happening in New York City next week. 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:28.160 But the man who's behind it all, who's really at 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:32.159