Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carol Masser and I'm
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Speaker 1: so I've got to say it's the most wonderful time
Speaker 1: of the year for many many many reasons, including it's
Speaker 1: when Bloomberg Business Week comes out with the Bloomberg fifty,
Speaker 1: a list of those who define business in too. It's
Speaker 1: a list we're both the real and the reality world
Speaker 1: can co exist, so that puts both the President of
Speaker 1: Ukraine and Kim Kardashian on the list. It's one. We're
Speaker 1: a Bad Bunny and the James Webb Space Telescope make
Speaker 1: the cut, as do Tom Cruise and John Ray the
Speaker 1: third both in storing roles this year. So let's get
Speaker 1: into it. It is really a list I love to
Speaker 1: go over. We got with us Bloomberg business Week Senior
Speaker 1: editor Brett Vegan and Bloomberg Business Week Editor Joel Webber,
Speaker 1: both joining us this afternoon from Brooklyn. Joel, I want
Speaker 1: to start with you and give us the overarching theme
Speaker 1: for for for the year that was two if we
Speaker 1: can say this, two weeks before the end of the year,
Speaker 1: when you look back on the year and put in
Speaker 1: together this list, what was top of mind for you?
Speaker 1: Oh geez, that's a big question. Um hard hard not
Speaker 1: to talk about Crypto right now, I think you know.
Speaker 1: And and uh, we have a certain someone on the
Speaker 1: list who, um has really emerged as the dominant figure
Speaker 1: in sort of the f X, and that's the new
Speaker 1: CEO of the X. But of course, like the beauty
Speaker 1: of this list is that you have to kind of
Speaker 1: like rewind the clock and start from the beginning of
Speaker 1: the year. And I don't think that there's any more
Speaker 1: dominant theme across this list than Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Speaker 1: And again and again and again people emerged from that situation.
Speaker 1: One Dames the Lynskey and how could you not talk
Speaker 1: about when you talk about two? But there are many,
Speaker 1: many more, And Brett Vegan is pass lift on the
Speaker 1: Business Week team is canvassing the newsroom to help put
Speaker 1: spotlights on important people, some of which you probably know.
Speaker 1: And then a lot of people the special part of
Speaker 1: this list, like Carol said, it's like this little cross
Speaker 1: section that happens when you bring together a lot of
Speaker 1: various people in themes, and there's just there's these gyms
Speaker 1: that sort of emerge that are not household names. And
Speaker 1: that's what I love is like you take a Lynskey
Speaker 1: and you put them next to bread. Take your pick.
Speaker 1: Who's who's an unheralded name that people will surprise people.
Speaker 1: Let's see, someone like Pinky Cole is probably someone that
Speaker 1: a lot of listeners haven't heard of. So Pinky Um
Speaker 1: is the founder of a vegan fast food restaurant chain
Speaker 1: called I think I'm allowed to say this on the air,
Speaker 1: Slutty Vegan. She started the year with four restaurants and
Speaker 1: by the end the next year, we'll have more than twenty.
Speaker 1: These are vegan fast food burger chains. Um and she's
Speaker 1: just a great story. Basically raised million dollars this year
Speaker 1: with the help of Danny Meyer. UM, famous of course
Speaker 1: for many reasons, including shake shack and valuing the company
Speaker 1: now at about a hundred million dollars. She's undergoing a
Speaker 1: massive expansion. I don't know. And then another name is
Speaker 1: someone like Tom Oxley, who founded synchron Uh. Tom is
Speaker 1: both an entrepreneur but also someone with a deep medical background,
Speaker 1: and they did something kind of crazy this year where
Speaker 1: they were able to implant something in someone's brain that
Speaker 1: allowed them essentially to communicate via bluetooth and share their thoughts.
Speaker 1: This is a patient who was suffering from Luke Garrig's disease. Hey, Brett, UH,
Speaker 1: you know, I want to know about how you put
Speaker 1: the list together. And I know a lot goes into this,
Speaker 1: and I know you reach across the newsroom. My experience
Speaker 1: with sending you names over the last few months is like, thanks,
Speaker 1: but no thanks because and there's always a great reason why.
Speaker 1: You know, somebody I spent hours thinking about and I
Speaker 1: write you up this little bio and you know, and
Speaker 1: I get this email back that's, you know, a gentle
Speaker 1: sort of let down. UM. It's pretty incredible though, to
Speaker 1: see this list and how it comes together. Um, how
Speaker 1: many people do you think you consider before you're coming
Speaker 1: up with getting it down to fifty? Well, I just
Speaker 1: want to say thank you, of course for your country.
Speaker 1: I'll try again next year. Okay. We are always always
Speaker 1: looking for uh people next year. So, um, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I would say that probably we wind up giving about
Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty or so people will look. And
Speaker 1: the thing it really separates those who wind up on
Speaker 1: the list from those who don't is data. We look
Speaker 1: for a hard data point, We look for a metric.
Speaker 1: We look for something that underpins the nomination, something that
Speaker 1: we can point to and say in this is a
Speaker 1: fact that really deserves recognition. And um merritt. There are
Speaker 1: a lot of people that we consider who had good
Speaker 1: years maybe last year, or expected to have good years
Speaker 1: next year. But we don't have that sort of hard metric,
Speaker 1: and without that it is really hard to sort of
Speaker 1: get on the list. But now you know, right, so
Speaker 1: we know for for next year. Thank you. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: and sometimes it's Popeye's chicken sandwich or something that makes
Speaker 1: the list. You always have something that's not quite human
Speaker 1: and thank you, Joel Weber, I kind of always loved
Speaker 1: Joel that you can include these kind of things on
Speaker 1: the list. I think it makes it charming. But Brett,
Speaker 1: how did how did we approached the inanimate object in
Speaker 1: the wake of Meme Stock last year? You know, you
Speaker 1: would think that this would be the hardest one to
Speaker 1: find every year, and for some reason, it's always one
Speaker 1: of the first things that I think of every year
Speaker 1: and get very excited once I figured it out. So,
Speaker 1: as Joel said, we did the Meme Stock last year,
Speaker 1: we did SPACs H two years ago, we did the
Speaker 1: Popeye's Chicken Sandwich year before that. Um, this year, it
Speaker 1: was kind of a no brainer to put the James
Speaker 1: Webb Telescope on the list in July. I think we
Speaker 1: can all think back and remember just how loud we
Speaker 1: were by some of these, uh, some of the first
Speaker 1: pictures that we saw, which were some of the deepest
Speaker 1: and sharpest ever taken of the universe, and um, we
Speaker 1: are I actually was when I was in the office
Speaker 1: the other day. I'm noticing now that and some of
Speaker 1: the TVs and computers were using some of these photos
Speaker 1: as screensavers. So if you can imagine, that's the impact
Speaker 1: that this has had so that to me was kind
Speaker 1: of kind of our no brainer inanimate object. Although I
Speaker 1: guess technically it is moving right because it's in space. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's not alive. It is not a line that's correct. Correct. Okay,
Speaker 1: So I think we can't really talk about two without
Speaker 1: a certain blockbuster that it was actually kind of decades
Speaker 1: in the making. Uh, you want to bring us up
Speaker 1: to speed on why a certain Maverick filmmaker ended up
Speaker 1: on the list. Yeah, I mean this is a great
Speaker 1: example of I think someone who everybody knows. Everybody knows
Speaker 1: Tom Cruise, and everybody knows the movie Top Gun. What
Speaker 1: you may not know is that Top Gun Maverick is
Speaker 1: actually the biggest movie of his career. And if you
Speaker 1: think back to all of the huge movies he's been in,
Speaker 1: the Mission Impossible, Risky Business, the original Top Gun, this
Speaker 1: is actually number one and it's the biggest movie all year.
Speaker 1: And the thing that I think is kind of cool
Speaker 1: about including someone like Tom Cruise for this is that
Speaker 1: you know, this is actually a story about COVID in
Speaker 1: many ways a story about the pandemic, because many streaming
Speaker 1: services attempted to buy this movie during the early days
Speaker 1: of the pandemic. When there wasn't. Uh, we're a ton
Speaker 1: of blockbusters coming out, obviously, people weren't going to theaters,
Speaker 1: and Tom Cruise, because of his power in Hollywood, basically
Speaker 1: said no, I make movies for the big screen and
Speaker 1: this is gonna be in movie theaters when the time
Speaker 1: is right. And he got his wish. And that's kind
Speaker 1: of a story that I like, where you have a celebrity,
Speaker 1: but it actually touches on a much sort of larger story. Well,
Speaker 1: and we just got about thirty seconds left, just quickly.
Speaker 1: We know you guys are down in the last second
Speaker 1: when you put this list together, because on it is
Speaker 1: John Red the Third. Yeah, I don't I know, Joel
Speaker 1: and I did not expect that John Read the Third
Speaker 1: would wind up on this list about a little more
Speaker 1: than a month ago. Um, somebody. We might have been
Speaker 1: considering somebody else for the list at that point. Um,
Speaker 1: but yeah, you know, we have to be reactive to
Speaker 1: the news. And he deserved the spot and wound up
Speaker 1: being just about the last one on. It is such
Speaker 1: a fun list and always fun to go through. Okay,
Speaker 1: one more Brett, who who's one to watch? In ten seconds?
Speaker 1: Who's one to watch? Keep an eye on these people
Speaker 1: because they could be on next year's Bloomberg fifty. Oh
Speaker 1: you know, I love Jimmy O'Brien from John Boy Media.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys ever follow them, but
Speaker 1: they do these meticulous reconstructions of sports plays that are
Speaker 1: so fun to watch on one. Alright, great stuff as always, guys,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Brett Began, Senior Editor Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week via zoom in New York City, Joe Weber. He's
Speaker 1: the editor of Bloomberg Business Week on the Access Line
Speaker 1: in Brooklyn. The Bloomberg Fifty is featured on The Big
Speaker 1: Take podcast at Bloomberg dot com or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts, and do not miss The Big Take on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio weeknights at eleven pm Wall Street Time. This
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg Business Week, Carol Master, Jimsdanovich. This is Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Quick Takes Tim Stenovic on Bloomberg Radio. Earlier this year,
Speaker 1: as the world began to reopen, Bloomberg Live hosted its
Speaker 1: first in person event in New York City. Since that
Speaker 1: was back in March, we're kind of reminded that at
Speaker 1: a media town hall today. Uh, the event was called
Speaker 1: work Shifting two point a Redefining Normal. And at that event, Tim,
Speaker 1: you talked with our next guest, Rob Thousand, vice chair
Speaker 1: Prudential Financial. We talked about the state of the American workforce.
Speaker 1: And I remember that one, Carol, because back in March
Speaker 1: of one, when was it, I think it was probably
Speaker 1: March of I did I did an event with Rob
Speaker 1: that was virtual, so this was actually the first time
Speaker 1: I got to meet him in person, and to us,
Speaker 1: it really represented, you know, a reopening and look how
Speaker 1: far we've come since then. This discussion though, about reopening,
Speaker 1: it's ongoing, it's debated, it's in terms of how we
Speaker 1: work post pandemic. Rob Thousand is Prudential as a vice chairman,
Speaker 1: and he joins us once again with an update on
Speaker 1: the latest Prudential Pulse survey. He joins us via zoom
Speaker 1: from New Jersey. Rob, How are you, um well, Tim,
Speaker 1: how are you doing that? We're doing really pol Thanks
Speaker 1: some for joining us. It's good to talk with you
Speaker 1: again as well. So take us into the high level
Speaker 1: stuff when it comes to the new poll survey here,
Speaker 1: because you guys get a great view on the American
Speaker 1: workforce and the American worker. What did you find this year? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, we've been doing it for a long time,
Speaker 1: as you know, it goes back to two thousand seven
Speaker 1: team when we started doing this, and we've been trying
Speaker 1: to get insights around you know, two themes around how
Speaker 1: people are thinking about career and career development and trajectory,
Speaker 1: and then around financial security. And so in this particular survey,
Speaker 1: what we did is we actually doubled the population size
Speaker 1: that we were you know, sample population size that we're
Speaker 1: looking at, and wanted to get better insights on what
Speaker 1: was happening from a demographic slicing standpoint, and particularly focused
Speaker 1: on sort of the younger generations millennials UH and Gen
Speaker 1: gen zers UM there the you know, they're the largest
Speaker 1: cohort in our workforce today, UH, and so understanding what's
Speaker 1: going through their minds and UH and how they're faring
Speaker 1: and sort of we thought was an important set of
Speaker 1: observations to be able to get UH And and what
Speaker 1: we found, uh sort of interestingly is um they are
Speaker 1: their their experiencing some pretty notable shifts in their attitudes
Speaker 1: towards work UM less loyal, more mobile um than prior generations.
Speaker 1: Uh and uh, and they're also quite financially insecure, and
Speaker 1: it's it's leading to sort of behavior um that Uh.
Speaker 1: You know that that is also challenging from from a
Speaker 1: risk standpoint as well, and trying to make up some
Speaker 1: of the ground that they that they've lost by virtue
Speaker 1: of sort of when they came into the workforce and
Speaker 1: the experience that they've had since they've been in the workforce. So,
Speaker 1: you know, one of the things we love, Rob, Rob
Speaker 1: is that you have kind of been a gut check
Speaker 1: for us in terms of how we think about work
Speaker 1: and what it means post pandemic. What are the trends
Speaker 1: that you think are going to stay with us based
Speaker 1: on some of the survey results. Well, it's it's really clear, Carol,
Speaker 1: as I've talked about before, We've talked about before that
Speaker 1: the most must a trend going forward is going to
Speaker 1: be this hybrid work environment. As I've lost and reflected
Speaker 1: on before. In two thousand and nineteen, we all knew
Speaker 1: how to work in the office and that worked okay, Uh,
Speaker 1: and then in two thousand and twenties through through you
Speaker 1: know earlier this year, Um, we learned how to work remotely.
Speaker 1: It started pretty rough, but but by the end of
Speaker 1: that period of time, not only learn to do it,
Speaker 1: people learn to enjoy doing it that way. And so
Speaker 1: the challenge we have going forward is how do we
Speaker 1: create an environment, a work environment going forward where we
Speaker 1: get the best of what we did have in two
Speaker 1: thousand nineteen combined with the best of what we've learned
Speaker 1: during the pandemic and people have have developed remote skills
Speaker 1: and have enjoyed the flexibility that's associated with being able
Speaker 1: to work remotely, in order to come up with a
Speaker 1: new model going forward so that we get the best
Speaker 1: of all that. I believe that we believe that that
Speaker 1: is h an absolute critical component to sort of the
Speaker 1: future of the workplace going forward and success at doing that.
Speaker 1: It's going to help you to attract talent and retain it.
Speaker 1: And if you're not successful in doing it, you're gonna
Speaker 1: lose talent. Well, and when you say best, is it
Speaker 1: best from the employee's perspective or from the employer's perspective,
Speaker 1: or a little bit about I don't, I don't, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think it's a it's an either
Speaker 1: or I think it can be both. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: it's interesting. I was just having a talk with a
Speaker 1: number of our employees in the town hall earlier this week. Uh,
Speaker 1: and I was I was calling. I was saying, you know, listen,
Speaker 1: what we learned is that the remote does work. You
Speaker 1: guys were very productive remotely productive. Productivity went up. Productivity
Speaker 1: went up across the country, but productivity and our company
Speaker 1: went up. We saw it. I mean, is that because
Speaker 1: people are commuting and they're spending that extra time working
Speaker 1: what is absolutely Jim absolutely, and and they're more focused
Speaker 1: when they're home once they got through that initial period
Speaker 1: of the distraction to the kids and all that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. When instructions, I don't know who these people are,
Speaker 1: these once who are more focused when they're at home.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, I guess I gotta put the laundry
Speaker 1: in the dryer. I guess I gotta make myself some lunch.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there are actually they're absolutely aspects of that.
Speaker 1: But the reality is there are a lot of distractions
Speaker 1: during their workplace if you're trying to be at the
Speaker 1: computer getting things done. And what we saw is productivity
Speaker 1: held up despite concerns that we would dramatically lose productivity.
Speaker 1: Some of its sustainable because it came about tim because
Speaker 1: we enhanced technology to enable people to work remotely. That's sustainable.
Speaker 1: Some of it's by the longer work day they reinvested
Speaker 1: their commute, plus some in many instances not all that sustainable. Right,
Speaker 1: people need to realty regain balance. But but the point
Speaker 1: being at the end of day they were increase their productivity.
Speaker 1: The challenges that short term productivity. Um, what we're concerned
Speaker 1: about is not only productivity in the short term, but
Speaker 1: productivity in the long term. We need to ensure that
Speaker 1: we're having the sort of creativity, ideation, strategic planning that
Speaker 1: that that was going to make us competitive and successful
Speaker 1: in the future. That doesn't happen as well remotely. Learning
Speaker 1: for junior employees is stifled on a fully remote basis.
Speaker 1: They learned better in person when they get the benefit
Speaker 1: of apprenticeships and mentorships and can see and talk to people.
Speaker 1: And so we've got to find the right balance between
Speaker 1: the two. They're not mutually exclusive. We can get great
Speaker 1: enhancements and productivity by giving people flexibility. We can develop
Speaker 1: loyalty and one of the statistics that came through which
Speaker 1: I found really quite interesting. Loyalty scoring UM hybrid workers
Speaker 1: have the highest loyalty to their employers. It was like
Speaker 1: UM the fully remote workers UM so at ten point
Speaker 1: differential between the two, and full time workers were in
Speaker 1: between the two. So you can create loyalty by adopting
Speaker 1: that hybrid model that will be to the benefit of
Speaker 1: the company in terms of retaining your talent. You're gonna
Speaker 1: get They're gonna they're gonna enjoy that flexibility, they'll have loyalty,
Speaker 1: they'll stay with you. They have high productivity when they're remote,
Speaker 1: but bringing them in can also be a win for
Speaker 1: the company and a win for them because it gives
Speaker 1: them that socialization, that culture that they need, helps with
Speaker 1: retention and that will help with the long term productivity
Speaker 1: of the company. Hey, I want to go back to
Speaker 1: something that you said Rob at the beginning of our conversation,
Speaker 1: and it's about the decisions that the youngest people you survey,
Speaker 1: the gen z and millennials, are making when it comes
Speaker 1: to UH their finances. It got me a little concerned
Speaker 1: about the way that that gen zers are thinking about
Speaker 1: their finances and where they are in terms of how
Speaker 1: stable they are, what are they doing so. UM, so
Speaker 1: they're not very stable. Um. Less than half have any
Speaker 1: sort of emergency savings. Um, you don't listen. We have
Speaker 1: a lack of emergency saving savings across the entire population.
Speaker 1: But it's it's it's more acute in the younger generations. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's the bank of mom and dad when it comes
Speaker 1: to those emergency savings. Is what the surveys? Could you
Speaker 1: have said the same thing though about millennials, you know,
Speaker 1: fifteen years ago and then you know, jen X twenty
Speaker 1: five years ago. I didn't do the survey then, but
Speaker 1: could you have said the same We didn't know those
Speaker 1: service you don't know. I'm sure there was some aspect
Speaker 1: of that. It seems to be more acute now and
Speaker 1: that uh that you know, there's a because that's kind
Speaker 1: of more horrible. They're more vulnerable. It's a little scary.
Speaker 1: We think it is scary. And what's more scary is
Speaker 1: that there's this risky behavior that's occurring. That the only
Speaker 1: way I'm able to rationalize it is it's sort of
Speaker 1: like it's a gambling phenomena. When you've got nothing to lose,
Speaker 1: there's not really risk associated with gambling, you know, they're
Speaker 1: in such a state of being behind on their own
Speaker 1: career development because you know, they came out of school
Speaker 1: either right at or right after the the the the
Speaker 1: the the Great Financial crisis. UM. So they were dislocated
Speaker 1: in the starts of their careers just as they're getting
Speaker 1: to what you're supposed to be their highest earning years.
Speaker 1: You know, we hit a recession, we hit a pandemic
Speaker 1: where we could be hitting another recession, and so they've
Speaker 1: been they've been disenfranchised from what has otherwise been a
Speaker 1: social contract of you know, work hard, go to a
Speaker 1: good school, get good grades, you'll get a good job,
Speaker 1: and you'll get financial security or like, you know, none
Speaker 1: of that's happening for us. Uh. And so what you know,
Speaker 1: we're gonna try something different. Uh. And something different is
Speaker 1: they're not using traditional financial advice um. Uh. Prior to
Speaker 1: what we've seen in the last several weeks, UM, they
Speaker 1: owned more bitcoin than they did make neutral funds. UM.
Speaker 1: That's probably been um, you know, rebalanced quite materially from markets. UM.
Speaker 1: So it's it's it's a little bit of kind of
Speaker 1: risky behavior and how they're managing their finances because they're
Speaker 1: so far behind Hey, Rob, just thirty seconds left here. Um.
Speaker 1: Tim and I are like, wow, this is really rough. Um.
Speaker 1: If we get we just came off the FED meeting
Speaker 1: J Powell. You know, possibility of a recession couldn't get
Speaker 1: worse next year? And just again really quickly if you could. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think there's a there's a risk of recession is
Speaker 1: going to take that financial security that's already on the
Speaker 1: edge and push it over the edge for many. Uh.
Speaker 1: And the combination of recession with ongoing high inflation would
Speaker 1: be particularly disastrous because you know, to date, well wages
Speaker 1: have been increasing, they've not kept up with inflation. So
Speaker 1: I think that's a really bad outcome for you know,
Speaker 1: for for workers across the country. Fifteen seconds you guys,
Speaker 1: do you guys are you expecting a recession next year? Uh.
Speaker 1: We have a variety of views on that. It's gonna be.
Speaker 1: It's a high wire act for the Fed to avoid one.
Speaker 1: I'll say that all right, Rob. Always good to get
Speaker 1: some time with you. Tim and I both appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Happy holidays, be well, Happy New Year. Rob thousand. He's
Speaker 1: vice here at Prudential Financial, joining s v A Zoom
Speaker 1: from New Jersey. Some sobering comments though right, yeah, I
Speaker 1: really are. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol
Speaker 1: Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Earlier.
Speaker 1: You know, we talked with Brett Began and Jill Weber
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week about the Bloomberg Fifty, the sixth annual
Speaker 1: look at those in business, politics, science and technology, finance,
Speaker 1: and entertainment whose accomplishments deserve recognition. Our next guest is
Speaker 1: on that list. We're talking about Michelle Eisen, a lead
Speaker 1: organizer of Starbucks Workers United. She joins us this afternoon
Speaker 1: via zoom from Buffalo. Michelle, it's good to have you
Speaker 1: on the program. How are you. I'm great, It's great
Speaker 1: to be here. Thank you so much. Welcome. Well, let's
Speaker 1: talk about what the past year has has been like
Speaker 1: for you, uh, and and and your efforts and in
Speaker 1: the union's efforts Starbucks Workers United to to get workers
Speaker 1: at Starbucks across the country unionized. How's it been. Well,
Speaker 1: it's been a crazy here, certainly. Uh, not every year
Speaker 1: I anticipated. Um. A little over a year ago, there
Speaker 1: were zero unionited Starbucks locations in the United States, and
Speaker 1: as of today we're over two seventy UM. So it's
Speaker 1: just been fast and furious and and hard, probably the
Speaker 1: hardest here of my life so far. So when we
Speaker 1: talk about two undred and seventy locations, first of all,
Speaker 1: do you expect it to continue? And then how many
Speaker 1: workers are we talking about? Michelle, So we're up over
Speaker 1: seven thousand. That encompasses seven thousand new unionized Starbucks workers
Speaker 1: in just over a year, which is a big number.
Speaker 1: I mean when you look at it in terms of
Speaker 1: the overall scope, that's that's massive, um And I do
Speaker 1: expect it to continue because the momentum really hasn't slowed
Speaker 1: what we've seen as increased interests from Starbucks workers to
Speaker 1: unionize their stores, because you know, things are hard, things
Speaker 1: are even harder now than they were, you know, a
Speaker 1: few years ago, to be a service worker, to be
Speaker 1: anyone of the working class, And the reality of the
Speaker 1: situation is that you know, the billionaires are not looking
Speaker 1: out for the for the working man, and so we
Speaker 1: need to join together and um raise our voices and
Speaker 1: and fight for what we believe is fair in our workplaces. Starbucks,
Speaker 1: i think, to a certain extent, has always predate itself
Speaker 1: on providing a at least publicly a good a good
Speaker 1: place for people to work. So I'm curious, you know
Speaker 1: what your experience has been and and also what specifically
Speaker 1: you and other union organizers and people who join the
Speaker 1: union are looking for from the company right now. I
Speaker 1: think that you're correct, I think, and that's what has
Speaker 1: become so apparently disappointing to me in the last year
Speaker 1: is that I came to this company back in two
Speaker 1: thousand and ten because of who they prided themselves to be,
Speaker 1: because they were this progressive company that you know, claimed
Speaker 1: to care about the environment and the community and most
Speaker 1: of all their workers. And I think that that was
Speaker 1: true when I started. But we've seen a very clear
Speaker 1: decline in how workers are treated within the company in
Speaker 1: the last few years, and the pandemic really shined a
Speaker 1: spotlight on just how how they actually feel about us.
Speaker 1: You know, we were we were called essential. Starbucks stayed
Speaker 1: open through the entirety of the pandemic. Um these are
Speaker 1: not remote jobs. We have to go in in person
Speaker 1: and customer phasing positions to perform these job duties. And
Speaker 1: they kept saying, you know, you're essential, You're essential to
Speaker 1: keep the world running. But we were continually treated like
Speaker 1: we were disposable, and we'd had enough. It was time to,
Speaker 1: you know, hold the company accountable. These are billion dollar corporations.
Speaker 1: Billions of dollars are made off of the backs of
Speaker 1: the labor that is in the floor of these cafes
Speaker 1: every single day, and yet you've got workers who can't
Speaker 1: pay their rent and put groceries in their fridge. There's
Speaker 1: just there's an imbalance there and something needs to be
Speaker 1: done about it. And Michelle, I'm gonna play devil's advocate
Speaker 1: a little bit here, but I do wonder publicly held
Speaker 1: companies right there held to these standards that if they
Speaker 1: don't meet their numbers, they're going to get beaten down
Speaker 1: by Wall Street and investors, and potentially that could lead
Speaker 1: to more job cuts. It's a fair argument. I see
Speaker 1: it happen, you know, over and over and over again.
Speaker 1: So is it always going to be problematic that you
Speaker 1: will have these wide gaps in terms of what workers
Speaker 1: are paid if it's a publicly held company. Is that
Speaker 1: part of the problem in your view? You know, I don't,
Speaker 1: I personally don't believe that it should be part of
Speaker 1: the problem. Because we're talking about billions upon billions of
Speaker 1: dollars um, the company could afford to pay the entirety
Speaker 1: of the health care for all of their employees and
Speaker 1: still be far from in the red. So I think
Speaker 1: it's just more of looking at, you know, what is
Speaker 1: a fair discrepancy between what the workers who bring in
Speaker 1: these billions of dollars are making and what the people
Speaker 1: at the absolute top are making. There's got to be
Speaker 1: some sort of middle ground we can reach where everybody
Speaker 1: feels like they're being taken care of. What do you
Speaker 1: make of the wider unionization drive that's taking place across
Speaker 1: the United States right now? And I should note it
Speaker 1: is a far cry from what we saw, you know,
Speaker 1: at the peak of labor using unions decades ago, but
Speaker 1: today we are seeing drives at places like Apple ri
Speaker 1: E I and more. What do you make of that? Well,
Speaker 1: I think you're seeing I mean, the the wealth gap
Speaker 1: is significantly higher than it was even at the peak
Speaker 1: of the labor movement decades ago. So I think that's
Speaker 1: part of the catalyst. Certainly, the pandemic and the fact
Speaker 1: that the working class was put in a position where
Speaker 1: their health and their family's health was at risk daily.
Speaker 1: If you were a service worker, if you were a
Speaker 1: worker and you know one of these shops that continue
Speaker 1: to stay open and provide what they were calling these
Speaker 1: essential services, and you had, you know, CEOs on these
Speaker 1: financial shows boasting not only about profits but record breaking
Speaker 1: profits in the middle of this pandemic, and workers are
Speaker 1: starting to question what they're worth actually is. And there's
Speaker 1: a realization that you know, we are We are the
Speaker 1: people who bring in these billions of dollars. If the
Speaker 1: working class just walked out of all of these businesses
Speaker 1: right now, these businesses would essentially cease to exist. And
Speaker 1: so I think you're starting to see people stand up
Speaker 1: and demand you know, fair wages and at the very
Speaker 1: least safe working conditions, because these companies don't exist without us. Michelle,
Speaker 1: in terms of in general, this is the momentum to unionize,
Speaker 1: above and beyond Starbucks. I'm curious if other companies or
Speaker 1: people at other companies have been reaching out to you
Speaker 1: more and more about how to kind of unionize at
Speaker 1: their own places. They are I mean, certainly the first
Speaker 1: to reach out to us after we won last December
Speaker 1: were other Starbucks workers at other stores across the country.
Speaker 1: And then you sat workers at a similar service industry jobs,
Speaker 1: different restaurants and different coffee chains. But you're also seeing people,
Speaker 1: you know, Chris is doing some amazing work with with
Speaker 1: Amazon and the workers and factories, and people are just
Speaker 1: wanting to know. I guess kind of the same questions
Speaker 1: that you're asking, why now and what's different? And I
Speaker 1: think what's different is that we were your world was
Speaker 1: just put through the ringer, and we're all trying to recover,
Speaker 1: and while we're doing that, we're questioning a lot about
Speaker 1: how we devote and spend most of our time. Now.
Speaker 1: It's a really good point. It's certainly conversation we've had
Speaker 1: many many times here at Bloomberg throughout the pandemic, but
Speaker 1: continue in this post pandemic world, not post pandemic, because
Speaker 1: it's still out there on pandemic world. Michelle Eisen, thank
Speaker 1: you so much. Congratulations, I mean part of the Bloomberg fifty.
Speaker 1: She mentioned Chris Chris Smalls, who has also been very
Speaker 1: active in labor unionization efforts. Check out the Bloomberg fifty.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. I'm roam a journal now, but you
Speaker 1: let me drive no no, no home all night. Please.
Speaker 1: I'll do the Ridings. I want to drive. It's a
Speaker 1: good question. This is the Drive to the Clothes on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. All right, everybody, just about eleven minutes left
Speaker 1: in today's trading session, wrapping up our simulcast coverage of
Speaker 1: the fed's latest decision, the last FED decision of two
Speaker 1: as expected fifty basis points after four consecutive hikes of
Speaker 1: seventy five bases points. Markets gyrating moving a bit around today, Tim, Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's get into it with Alan. Alan Lands. It's time
Speaker 1: for our Drive to the close. He's research director at
Speaker 1: Lands Global dot com, president of Allan B. Lanson Associates.
Speaker 1: He joins us this afternoon from Toledo, Ohio. Alan, Good
Speaker 1: to have you back with us. How are you doing well?
Speaker 1: Thanks Jim, Well, thanks for joining us. I was just
Speaker 1: talking to Carol a little earlier and I said to her,
Speaker 1: I don't quite get this market gyration that we're seeing
Speaker 1: as a result of what we've heard from FED chair
Speaker 1: j Powell. Today we are seeing the S and P
Speaker 1: five hundred down about six tents of one percent right now.
Speaker 1: But it did move into the green a little earlier
Speaker 1: in the day after during the press conference, and then
Speaker 1: moved into the red just in the last half hour.
Speaker 1: What do you make of it. I think there's a
Speaker 1: little bit of information for everybody, and a very similar
Speaker 1: to yesterday's you know, as as far as report, we're
Speaker 1: you know, initially the headlines look like, oh, inflation is
Speaker 1: is you know peaked, and and and and we don't
Speaker 1: you know, it's much less of a concern. And when
Speaker 1: you started looking at the numbers and he saw the
Speaker 1: consumer inflation rate actually was you know, uh flat, and
Speaker 1: if you take out uh certain items, it was even up.
Speaker 1: And and this is the same way I mean Fitcher
Speaker 1: Paul was talking about, you know, being more in restrictive territory,
Speaker 1: and you even mentioned a twenty five basis points on
Speaker 1: the table for for you know, February, so that was
Speaker 1: you know, positive, you know, for for stocks. Yet you know, uh,
Speaker 1: there are also comments on you know that the inflation
Speaker 1: is going to be sticky and and uh you know,
Speaker 1: especially on the wage front and like on on the
Speaker 1: consumer inflation side that you know that if they're gonna air,
Speaker 1: they're gonna air on the side of caution. So so
Speaker 1: I think you had a little parts for both, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the the bulls and the bears. That's why
Speaker 1: you have that that kind of volatility. I know, I
Speaker 1: feel like nitnet. You know. It's interesting. He said, we're
Speaker 1: getting close to that level we think of sufficiently restrictive,
Speaker 1: which kind of says to me, Alan, all right, maybe
Speaker 1: we're getting there to at least the FED stopping in
Speaker 1: terms of raising rates. But he also said the FED
Speaker 1: still has quote ways to go, which what does that mean?
Speaker 1: Higher for longer? Like how do we read between the
Speaker 1: lines when I feel like you, like you said, you've
Speaker 1: got a little bit of it's a little bit of
Speaker 1: a Fed J. Powell buffet. Yeah, it is definitely a carol.
Speaker 1: You know, I think the best thing is is just
Speaker 1: to um. You know, you know you're getting closer to
Speaker 1: the end, but you still have that um idea that
Speaker 1: you know they're gonna err on the side of caution
Speaker 1: and and you know inflation and higher rates are gonna
Speaker 1: be with us a little bit longer than um. You know,
Speaker 1: people expect or or you know, when you have the
Speaker 1: nine point preopening, you know yesterday you know it's just
Speaker 1: out or if those are the times you want to
Speaker 1: take some profits or light and exposure or risk uh,
Speaker 1: and then you know if you get the market slammed, um,
Speaker 1: you know, take a take advantage of the opportunity. It
Speaker 1: really hasn't been as bad of a year if if
Speaker 1: you've been really selective, you know, if you look at
Speaker 1: the what we've talked about buying murk, you know this
Speaker 1: summer and deer when when they were low in Goldman
Speaker 1: sacks under three hundred and and um necessarily right, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think anything sixty fort allocation or owning, you know,
Speaker 1: and I still think it is going to be difficult
Speaker 1: as far as for passive investing. But if if you're
Speaker 1: selective and disciplined, it really hasn't been you know, that
Speaker 1: that bad a year. You've had some income opportunities with
Speaker 1: energy and and now I think, you know, the interesting
Speaker 1: thing we've always talked interest in dividends and and you know,
Speaker 1: high quality. I think with some of these good quality
Speaker 1: companies that don't pay dividends that have just been totally
Speaker 1: slam se, I think there's some good opportunities there that investors,
Speaker 1: if there's tax less selling or or further pressure, uh
Speaker 1: you know, pressure can if they have a two three
Speaker 1: year time frame, can can really make a lot of money.
Speaker 1: So so it's contrary to what most people are saying.
Speaker 1: But again, I think that's where investors will make more
Speaker 1: the most money in three and the risk reward isn't
Speaker 1: that bad because these some of those companies have been
Speaker 1: slammed so much and and have opportunity, not all of
Speaker 1: them just by across the board because they're down. So
Speaker 1: what did you make make of the update of the
Speaker 1: Summary of Economic Projections that showed a revision of the
Speaker 1: terminal rate to five point one percent reached last year.
Speaker 1: Is that still optimistic in your in your head given
Speaker 1: that we're still seeing inflation and generational highs right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, but it's it's it's reachable. I mean, if
Speaker 1: you if you looked him at a quarter point in February,
Speaker 1: then then we're very you know, very close. So I
Speaker 1: think it's a situation where you know that that is
Speaker 1: one of the areas where investors can take a little
Speaker 1: for um and um, you know, might be feeling that
Speaker 1: we're close to the end, but but I really think
Speaker 1: you know, as we get into three that um, you
Speaker 1: know that that this euphoria that you know it's behind
Speaker 1: and you've got peak inflation, you know, behind us et cetera.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be pockets of of inflation and the you
Speaker 1: look at the weight in the consumer areas, Um, you
Speaker 1: know they're gonna uh as far as you know, and
Speaker 1: even today he mentioned that, you know, we're you know,
Speaker 1: it's very difficult, you know, if we loosen too soon. Um.
Speaker 1: So to the to me, that just tells you that,
Speaker 1: you know, even if if we're where we're supposed to be, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, there might be a pause and we'll keep
Speaker 1: it higher for longer. And you know from the talk,
Speaker 1: was that going to lower it? And I really don't
Speaker 1: see that, you know, as as far as the foreseeable future.
Speaker 1: Do you think um J. Powell and the f O
Speaker 1: m C are wrong to continue on their path for
Speaker 1: that two percent inflation target? Is that not real considering
Speaker 1: maybe that the global macroeconomic environment has changed. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think if he's stubborn on on that, Um, that's where
Speaker 1: you get that, you know, higher for longer, and and
Speaker 1: and and a real difficult environment where you could even
Speaker 1: you know, not be talking you know, a slight recession,
Speaker 1: but something worse. And I think that's in the back
Speaker 1: of the mind minds of investors. So so so that
Speaker 1: you know, I think we'll always you know, and we
Speaker 1: started the year saying there's a ceiling and on valuations
Speaker 1: and and and to be cautious and and that's why,
Speaker 1: even with the market down so much, I still think
Speaker 1: there's a ceiling on valuations because of that, Carol, what's
Speaker 1: that ceiling? You know, the trading range that you've seen, um,
Speaker 1: you know of late you know, like we're testing and
Speaker 1: it looked like if if the market you know, held
Speaker 1: their free market games yesterday, uh, you know, we could
Speaker 1: could finally be breaking through you know, some some twouter
Speaker 1: day moving averages and and and and look, you know,
Speaker 1: more positive on the longer term front. And every time
Speaker 1: we get close to those type of areas the market,
Speaker 1: you know, faith's back, and and you know it's one
Speaker 1: reason or another, whether it's such your fall or or
Speaker 1: as far as something going on geo politically. But I think, uh,
Speaker 1: you know that that says a lot, you know, just
Speaker 1: even from a technical standpoint. All right, So well, you know,
Speaker 1: we're halfway through December, we're getting ready to wrap up
Speaker 1: the new year. It's funny we've been talking with our
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week team for some of our year end
Speaker 1: wrap up shows and how many of the stories that
Speaker 1: are going to stay with us, whether it's business stories,
Speaker 1: individuals and Elon Musk, a Twitter crypto, or global inflation
Speaker 1: that just stays with us into does the conversation around
Speaker 1: global monetary policy change significantly? Do you think ultimately in
Speaker 1: which would then mean something different for valuations and just
Speaker 1: kind about a minute left here, Yeah, I think you know,
Speaker 1: it definitely could. And that's why you want to be
Speaker 1: selective and you want to be a passive investor, you know.
Speaker 1: So so I think you know, take advantage of it.
Speaker 1: You know, you're buying a couple of like you know,
Speaker 1: genera at that you know down you know last week
Speaker 1: traded in the high eighties and you know you still
Speaker 1: got a fifteen multiple. It's growing and and uh again
Speaker 1: very unusual for us. It doesn't have a dividend. But
Speaker 1: I think you know, those are are the opportunities, just
Speaker 1: like you know deer in Golden Sax and and uh
Speaker 1: you know Mark were the good opportunities you know, four
Speaker 1: or five months ago. So so I think that's gonna
Speaker 1: be the most important thing for for your listeners, um,
Speaker 1: rather than the mackerel. Well, Allen have a good New
Speaker 1: Year and happy holidays. Allen Lancer at lants Global dot
Speaker 1: com joining us on the phone from Toledo, Ohio. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to Bloomberg Business Week down the the podcast
Speaker 1: on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot com. You can also
Speaker 1: listen to our radio show at two pm Eastern on
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