1 00:00:00,960 --> 00:00:03,520 Speaker 1: I hope this is on the podcast you guys do outtakes. 2 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:05,200 Speaker 1: I just want you to know this is a dream 3 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: for me because the last time we were sitting across 4 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:10,360 Speaker 1: the way like this was literally on the Today Show. 5 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:13,000 Speaker 1: I can't even think about when that was. I want 6 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: to say, maybe during the Martha Stewart trial, maybe back 7 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: then or even earlier, and you were there and it 8 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: was like the Queen was there. I couldn't even understand 9 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: what was happening. I was just beyond myself. 10 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 2: And look at you. Now, you're such a huge star. 11 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 1: No, nor you are. 12 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 2: And I'm so proud of everything that you've accomplished. I've 13 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 2: always felt that Andrew should be co anchoring the Today 14 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 2: Show personally, but you've done pretty damn well on CNBC 15 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:48,920 Speaker 2: and The New York Times. So thank you for being here, 16 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:50,839 Speaker 2: thank you for having me. Let me go ahead and 17 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 2: do the intro. So what really happened in nineteen twenty 18 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 2: nine and why does it still matter? Nearly a century 19 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:00,880 Speaker 2: after the most devastating crash in a mayor and history 20 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 2: deal book founder, New York Times reporter and CNBC host 21 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 2: Andrew Ross Sorkin has unearthed the human story behind at 22 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:13,040 Speaker 2: the ambition, the greed, the blind faith that the boom 23 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 2: would never end. In his new book nineteen twenty nine, 24 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 2: Sorkin shows how that era's delusion still echoes today in 25 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 2: our markets, our tech obsessions, even our politics. We're going 26 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:30,399 Speaker 2: to be talking about what history can teach us about capitalism, risk, 27 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:35,040 Speaker 2: and our endless belief that this time it will be different. Andrew, 28 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 2: I'm so happy to see you. 29 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to do 30 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: this with you. 31 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 2: First of all, you know when I saw this book, 32 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:43,960 Speaker 2: I heard about this book, and then I actually put 33 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,199 Speaker 2: the book on my scale. I thought, how the hell 34 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:49,280 Speaker 2: did you find time to write this. You are the 35 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 2: busiest human being on the planet. You do squawk Box 36 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 2: on CNBC every morning. You write fantastic articles for the 37 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 2: New York Times. You do deal Book, a newsletter, the 38 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:01,560 Speaker 2: deal Book Live event. 39 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:06,480 Speaker 1: What the hell it took me eight years, that's the answer. 40 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:09,560 Speaker 1: I don't play golf, I don't do other things. I 41 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:13,520 Speaker 1: do have three children I do who are so happy 42 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: that this book is over. By the way, but I 43 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 1: would do this on airplanes on weekends, at nights. I 44 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: would be sneaking little time in at any moment I 45 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: possibly could. 46 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 2: So what was it about nineteen twenty nine? Andrew? I mean, 47 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 2: you have a choice to write about so many different 48 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 2: interesting moments in history and what's happening today too, because 49 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 2: the world is just exploding. So how did you decide? Gosh, 50 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 2: I really want to write about this one specific year. 51 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:46,079 Speaker 1: So I'm always chasing interesting, which oftentimes means chasing failure 52 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,840 Speaker 1: and no, because I oftentimes think that's where the most 53 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:53,919 Speaker 1: drama is. It's where the most interesting characters are. It's 54 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:56,920 Speaker 1: where we can try to understand things that we do 55 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: well and things where we may need to do better. 56 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: I had written this book To Big to Fail in 57 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: two thousand and eight about the financial crisis then, and 58 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 1: people used to ask me about nineteen twenty nine and say, 59 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 1: how does two thousand and eight compared to nineteen twenty nine, 60 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: And I'd always be like, I don't know. I think, 61 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 1: like most Americans, we knew something very terrible happened in 62 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty nine. We all sort of have a vague 63 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: notion that the Great Depression happened. Then the stock market fell, 64 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:25,919 Speaker 1: But I didn't know who the people were, what they 65 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: were saying to each other, what their motivations were, what 66 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: their incentives were, Who's sleeping with who, what's going on here? 67 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: I mean, I really wanted to know these things. And 68 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: so I went on a vacation actually with my wife, 69 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: like a real nerd, and I brought all these books 70 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: with me about different characters in nineteen twenty nine and 71 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:43,880 Speaker 1: La Da Dah, and they were all written in the 72 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: sort of the nineteen thirties forties, when most famous books 73 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: was written in the fifties. Most of my economists sort 74 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: of talking about them in sort of economic terms and 75 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: structures and charts and all of these things, and I 76 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: sort of walked away saying, there's got to be more 77 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: to this, more human drama, human drive. Look. The books 78 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 1: that I always loved were things like, you know, Den 79 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 1: of Thieves or Barbarians at the Gate. These were sort 80 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: of these great dramas about business where you felt like 81 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: you were watching a movie. And I thought, I wonder 82 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: if I could do that. And I happened to be 83 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: at Harvard University giving a speech and I got there early, 84 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:22,599 Speaker 1: which you know me well enough to know I am 85 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:25,919 Speaker 1: never anywhere early, and I had this extra time. I 86 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: walk into the library there, Baker Library, and I say 87 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 1: the archivist, Kai, look at these boxes you have from 88 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,600 Speaker 1: the late twenties, early thirties, and there was a guy 89 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:38,280 Speaker 1: named Thomas Lamont who was running JP Morgan then, and 90 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:42,080 Speaker 1: his family had donated all of his papers as letters, 91 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:44,800 Speaker 1: his diaries and all the things. And I open up 92 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:48,120 Speaker 1: this box and there are these transcripts in the box 93 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,919 Speaker 1: of his conversations. As secretary would keep these transcripts of 94 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:57,160 Speaker 1: him conversing with Roosevelt and Hoover. It was a transcript, 95 00:04:57,200 --> 00:04:59,479 Speaker 1: so it would say what he said and what the 96 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 1: president said. And I thought, wow, I hadn't read this 97 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:05,680 Speaker 1: in any of the books. And they're talking about all 98 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 1: the things that are actually happening. And by the way, 99 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 1: not to bring this to today, these conversations are like 100 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:13,040 Speaker 1: the conversations that like all these CEOs are now having 101 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: with Trump. 102 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:15,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, all the time, and we're going to talk about 103 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:16,040 Speaker 2: the parallel. 104 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: But I'm thinking to myself, oh my goodness, Okay, could 105 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: I take that kind of material and do this writ 106 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:25,279 Speaker 1: large now. The truth is the archivist said to me 107 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:27,359 Speaker 1: that she had read to Bigger Fael and she said, 108 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:30,160 Speaker 1: you're not going to do this book. This doesn't exist 109 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,040 Speaker 1: because the material is not there. It's there for this guy, 110 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 1: but the other people you're gonna struggle. 111 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:37,560 Speaker 2: And you took that as a challenge. 112 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:39,480 Speaker 1: I took that I didn't want to believe her. Now 113 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: she by the way, she was partially right. I think 114 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: most historians sort of find two or three or four 115 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,919 Speaker 1: archives and then they excavate the archive and they really 116 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:50,280 Speaker 1: just go deep in the archive. The challenge in this 117 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 1: case was there really wasn't like one or two or 118 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:55,720 Speaker 1: three places you could go. It was you had to 119 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 1: be like needle in a haystack situation with you know, 120 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 1: fifteen twenty thirty different places, and you'd almost have to guess. 121 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: You'd almost have to say, Okay, well I don't have 122 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:09,239 Speaker 1: an archive for this character. But he might have called 123 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:12,240 Speaker 1: somebody or talked to someone after Well, who are the 124 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: twelve people he might have talked to? Okay, I'm now 125 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:17,039 Speaker 1: going to go to their archives and then pray to 126 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:20,159 Speaker 1: God that I'm going to find some letter there. And 127 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:21,760 Speaker 1: sometimes you would and sometimes you wouldn't. 128 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 2: Tracking all this stuff down sounds like it was more 129 00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 2: than a full time job. And I know that you 130 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 2: enlisted these grad students during COVID, right, So talk about 131 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 2: I mean, honestly just thinking about how overwhelming this task was. 132 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 2: How you were able to track all this stuff down. 133 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: Well, So one of the things I did, and this 134 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:44,240 Speaker 1: was sort of maybe the mother of invention. During COVID, 135 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: I had been going to a lot of these libraries. 136 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: I had a researcher who I'd worked with early on 137 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: and was planning to spend the time in the stacks, 138 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: and I ultimately did, by the way, spend extraordinary amount 139 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: of time, maybe too much time in the stacks. But 140 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 1: during COVID, you weren't allowed in. So we would call 141 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:02,599 Speaker 1: the librarian and say, is there any student who's allowed 142 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:05,400 Speaker 1: in the library. Sometimes they had a dissertation or a 143 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: thesis that was due, and so they were allowed. Those 144 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 1: like very select students were allowed in. And so I 145 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:12,440 Speaker 1: would then pay the students. 146 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 2: How did you find them? 147 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: By the way, the librarian would usually say, I'll give 148 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: you some emails of some people go for yeah, and 149 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 1: then you'd pay them. And then you'd say, I need 150 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: to find box one fifty two or whatever it is, 151 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 1: and I need you to take a picture of every 152 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:27,760 Speaker 1: page in one fifty two, and we'll set up these 153 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:31,000 Speaker 1: sort of elaborate drop box folders and then you'd read it. 154 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:34,239 Speaker 1: It was a very tedious process, but it was actually 155 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: quite helpful. 156 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 2: I have to say, how many grad students did you 157 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 2: work with, and I hope you acknowledge them in the book? 158 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: Did you Yes, a bunch of them? I do a handful, 159 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:46,040 Speaker 1: only a handful. The truth is that after the pandemic 160 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 1: was over, I oftentimes found myself back at a lot 161 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: of the same libraries because one of the things I 162 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:54,120 Speaker 1: really did learn was you almost felt like you needed 163 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:56,920 Speaker 1: to see everything because you were worried that something was missed. 164 00:07:57,720 --> 00:07:59,520 Speaker 1: Maybe there was a box that you didn't know to 165 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: look in. I know about all this history stuff. You know. 166 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:06,000 Speaker 1: Some boxes are indexed so people know what's in them. 167 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 1: Some boxes have nobody knows what's in them, and sometimes people, 168 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 1: as a result, don't even look. And that's where the 169 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 1: great sort of needle in a haystack situation comes into play, 170 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 1: because sometimes you will land on something go ah, that's amazing. 171 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 2: Now I understand the eight year process. So you amass 172 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:26,720 Speaker 2: all this original research, Andrew, and you read it, you 173 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 2: learn about all these specific characters, and you write this 174 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:35,959 Speaker 2: tone about the year. And I'm curious as you read 175 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 2: and sifted through all these stories. What was the theme, 176 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:44,839 Speaker 2: What surfaced that made you think this would make such 177 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:47,439 Speaker 2: a compelling story, and what was that story? 178 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:51,960 Speaker 1: I think the animating idea for me was a the 179 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 1: people themselves sort of the human condition, and what was 180 00:08:56,600 --> 00:09:00,400 Speaker 1: happening in the nineteen twenties was just so fascinating to 181 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 1: me in that this was like a boom like nothing 182 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:05,560 Speaker 1: we've ever seen it. Maybe it's a boom like today 183 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:07,360 Speaker 1: we're having with AI or something, but it was like 184 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:11,960 Speaker 1: a generational shift in the whole country. So prior to 185 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:15,600 Speaker 1: nineteen nineteen, nobody ever took credit, nobody borrowed money. It 186 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:19,199 Speaker 1: was considered a moral sin in America to borrow money, 187 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:22,680 Speaker 1: like you just wouldn't do that. General Motors started doing 188 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:25,680 Speaker 1: that actually helped them sell more cars, and then Sears 189 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:28,439 Speaker 1: Roebuck clocked what was happening and said, okay, we should 190 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: do that for appliances. And then a guy named Charlie Mitchell, 191 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:34,200 Speaker 1: who ran a bank called National City later on become 192 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:37,320 Speaker 1: City Group you know now, said okay, well we can 193 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: do this too, and we're going to lend people money 194 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:42,680 Speaker 1: so that they can buy stocks. And there was this 195 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:46,560 Speaker 1: explosion and all of these people became celebrities, business people, CEOs. 196 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 1: All of this was the celebrity all of the things 197 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 1: that are happening now. You know, Elon mus Sam Altman, 198 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: Jamie Diamond, That like really started in the nineteen twenties. 199 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 2: And it was all because of credit. 200 00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:58,839 Speaker 1: And it was all because of credit, because all of 201 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:03,440 Speaker 1: a sudden, everybody gamble and brokerage houses start emerging on 202 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:05,760 Speaker 1: the corners of streets, like the way they're Starbucks today. 203 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,320 Speaker 1: I mean, they're just everywhere and you could go in 204 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:10,560 Speaker 1: and you could literally give them a dollar. If you 205 00:10:10,559 --> 00:10:12,640 Speaker 1: put down a dollar, they would give you. They would 206 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:15,920 Speaker 1: lend you ten dollars. So as the market's going up. 207 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:17,400 Speaker 1: And by the way, when I say the market's going up, 208 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:19,480 Speaker 1: it's not like going up ten percent a year. In 209 00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:21,959 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty eight to the year before nineteen twenty nine, 210 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:25,800 Speaker 1: the market went up forty eight percent. By September of 211 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:30,280 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty nine, the market was up ninety percent. So 212 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 1: this was like free money and people, you know, they 213 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 1: feel wealthy. They're running around, they're doing all of these 214 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 1: crazy things, and it was just so fascinating to see. 215 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:42,080 Speaker 1: I don't want to say greed, but I think the 216 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:45,160 Speaker 1: human condition is to want more. Everybody wants more, and 217 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: people knew that this was getting out of hand. It 218 00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:52,160 Speaker 1: wasn't that nobody was saying, you know, this isn't crazy. 219 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:56,200 Speaker 1: There were cassandras in the room, but nobody really wanted 220 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: to stop that. The party was going, the drinks were flowing, 221 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: you know what. 222 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:02,880 Speaker 2: I mean, wealth was growing. 223 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:05,480 Speaker 1: Well, there's a great line. It actually happened right before 224 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:08,000 Speaker 1: the financial crisis in two thousand and eight. Guy himed 225 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:10,679 Speaker 1: Chuck Prince, who was actually the CEO of City Group, says, 226 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:13,280 Speaker 1: you know, when the music's playing, you have to dance. 227 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:17,680 Speaker 1: And these folks in the nineteen twenties they were dancing, 228 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: and I thought that was it was so interesting to 229 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:22,320 Speaker 1: see all of those component parts and then to see 230 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:25,000 Speaker 1: the mistakes that they were making along the way. And 231 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:28,720 Speaker 1: the story also goes in many ways actually beyond nineteen. 232 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: I mean, ninet twenty nine is sort of the pivotal domino, 233 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:34,000 Speaker 1: but the story really goes through the summer of nineteen 234 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:37,600 Speaker 1: thirty three because and I think that will also maybe 235 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:39,840 Speaker 1: change your impression of nineteen twenty nine. People think like 236 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,520 Speaker 1: there was some kind of great crash, the great depression happens. 237 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:46,280 Speaker 1: That's not really what happens. It's like there's a series 238 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:50,439 Speaker 1: of crashes actually, and then a series of terrible decisions 239 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:54,360 Speaker 1: that get made in Washington, oftentimes in conjunction with the 240 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:57,160 Speaker 1: CEOs and bankers who are trying to influence the president 241 00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 1: and tell them crazy things that really lead to what 242 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 1: ultimately turns into the Great Depression. 243 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:07,400 Speaker 2: Before we talk about this moment, actually two moments in 244 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 2: nineteen twenty nine, and what happened in those bad decisions. 245 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:14,800 Speaker 2: I'm fascinated by the Roaring twenties, you know, and was 246 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:19,360 Speaker 2: this kind of environment or atmosphere where everybody was like 247 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:24,400 Speaker 2: going crazy and live and large. Was that impacting everyone 248 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:26,720 Speaker 2: or only a certain segment of society. 249 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:30,320 Speaker 1: It's a great question. So the inequality was real in 250 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:33,680 Speaker 1: nineteen twentyine, very similar to now. But I do think 251 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: all of this was sort of under the guise of 252 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:42,560 Speaker 1: democratizing finance. So you did have the quote unquote ordinary 253 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:47,840 Speaker 1: American going into these effectively gambling salons otherwise known as 254 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 1: brokerages to try to participate in this dream. There was 255 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:53,520 Speaker 1: this almost lottery like idea, but also, by the way, 256 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:55,599 Speaker 1: a real shift in what I even describe as the 257 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:59,720 Speaker 1: American Dream. You know, prior to this period, people really 258 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:01,680 Speaker 1: did to talk about the sort of Horatio Alger story 259 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 1: being the American dream, the sort of get rich quick 260 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:09,640 Speaker 1: fantasy of capitalism or whatever however you want to describe it. 261 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:14,559 Speaker 1: That was a phenomenon of the nineteen twenties. There was 262 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 1: also a technological shift too, happening. So here we are 263 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:22,079 Speaker 1: on a podcast with video. The hottest stock in the 264 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:25,520 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties was tick or symbol radio. 265 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:27,840 Speaker 2: I knew you were going to say. 266 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:31,120 Speaker 1: RCA, and that was like the Nvidia of its time 267 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:34,199 Speaker 1: or something. And everybody was going crazy because they thought 268 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: this is going to change the world, just the way 269 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: we thought the Internet was to change the world, just 270 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:39,440 Speaker 1: the way we think AI is going to change the world. 271 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:42,760 Speaker 2: It's amazing how many similarities. And I do want to 272 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:45,040 Speaker 2: talk about that in a moment, but first I want 273 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:48,320 Speaker 2: to hear about some of the characters that you really 274 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:52,600 Speaker 2: learn about and that you profiled, and whose diaries you read, etc. 275 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:55,320 Speaker 2: And letters. I think a lot of people think, oh, 276 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:58,200 Speaker 2: Hoover Rose about and maybe Carter Glass when they think 277 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:02,320 Speaker 2: of this whole episode in American history. But let's talk 278 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:04,480 Speaker 2: about some of the others that are less known but 279 00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 2: will be now because of your book. Thomas Lamont, managing 280 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:11,600 Speaker 2: partner at JP Morgan. Just tell us quickly about him, Okay. 281 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:14,480 Speaker 1: So JP Morgan was considered like the most important bank 282 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:18,360 Speaker 1: in the country still now is now was then? He 283 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:20,240 Speaker 1: really was the guy running the bank. So the guy 284 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 1: named Jack Morgan, the son of JP Morgan JPMorgan had 285 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:25,400 Speaker 1: died at this point, was ostensibly the CEO, but Thomas 286 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:28,760 Speaker 1: Lamont was really the man who ran the bank. And 287 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:32,359 Speaker 1: he was the ultimate sort of client guy. He believed 288 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 1: that if you could just get a bunch of people 289 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:36,320 Speaker 1: in a room, like the right people, you could control 290 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,280 Speaker 1: the world. And he would have dinner with Hitler and 291 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:42,800 Speaker 1: with Mussolini and with Roosevelt, with Hoover. You know, this 292 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:46,200 Speaker 1: guy was just he was everywhere and everything. He was 293 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:48,480 Speaker 1: befriending all the journalists, so he was. 294 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:49,960 Speaker 2: With Schmoozer and Chief. 295 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 1: Schmoozer in Chief. He was whispering in everybody's ears. This 296 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:55,720 Speaker 1: was that guy. And the truth is he tried to 297 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 1: control this thing, but it sort of got away from him. 298 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:01,520 Speaker 1: So he did believe that somehow he could keep all 299 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:05,800 Speaker 1: of this from bubbling over and then October ninet twenty 300 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: one comes around. He gets the people in the room 301 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:09,320 Speaker 1: and doesn't work. 302 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:12,480 Speaker 2: I want to know what happened on that day, but 303 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:15,480 Speaker 2: first let me go through a couple more characters. Charles 304 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:19,440 Speaker 2: Sunshine Charlie Mitchell, CEO of National City Bank. You mentioned 305 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:20,160 Speaker 2: him earlier. 306 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:24,520 Speaker 1: Charlie is my favorite character in the book. And Charlie really. 307 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 2: Did feel like you know him, right, I feel like 308 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:27,200 Speaker 2: I know Charlie. 309 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 1: Charlie ran as I said, the bank that becomes City Group. 310 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:33,440 Speaker 1: He was the Jamie Diamond of his time, and he 311 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:35,960 Speaker 1: was as famous as Jamie Diamond run JP Morgan today, 312 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:37,800 Speaker 1: but he's probably the most famous banker in America in 313 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:40,520 Speaker 1: the world. He invented the idea. He was the one 314 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:43,880 Speaker 1: who said, okay, we should lend money to folks to 315 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,560 Speaker 1: buy stock. He was called Sunshine Charlie because he would 316 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:49,800 Speaker 1: tell anybody who would listen to him that everything was 317 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:51,960 Speaker 1: always going to be better. He always had a smile 318 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:54,560 Speaker 1: on his face at all times. That was sort of 319 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:58,840 Speaker 1: his job and his way. And he gets I don't 320 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 1: want to give away what happened, but he does a 321 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:04,480 Speaker 1: little side deal at one point with his wife, who 322 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 1: gets involved in this whole thing. And let's just say 323 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:09,160 Speaker 1: that the police show up at his house at one 324 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:13,160 Speaker 1: point and he gets handcuffed. We won't say what happens 325 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:14,440 Speaker 1: after that for lessons. 326 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:16,520 Speaker 2: So Sunshiny at that point. 327 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:18,520 Speaker 1: At that point, that happened in nineteen thirty three, so 328 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: it took a while for things to catch up to him. 329 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:24,520 Speaker 2: The other one is Jesse Livermore. Poor Jesse Livermore, right. 330 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: Poor Jesse Livermore. So one of the I mean, look, 331 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:29,800 Speaker 1: I know this probably sounds like a book about the economy. 332 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:33,840 Speaker 1: It's kind of like a crazy drama. So Jesse Livermore 333 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:37,560 Speaker 1: is a emotionally tortured short seller. This is somebody who 334 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:41,600 Speaker 1: bets against stock and he was famous in the twenties 335 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 1: for betting against dock and winning. He almost is basically 336 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:47,200 Speaker 1: out of business by nineteen twenty eight and twenty nine 337 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: because the stock market keeps going up and up. In 338 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:51,200 Speaker 1: a book, he's losing his shirt. You can't bet stocks 339 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:55,000 Speaker 1: are going down during this period, and he magically comes 340 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:59,320 Speaker 1: back and makes a crazy trade in the fall of 341 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:03,320 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty nine walks away with one hundred plus million dollars, which, 342 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:04,679 Speaker 1: by the way, within a year or two, he had 343 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:06,040 Speaker 1: simarily lost again. 344 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:07,720 Speaker 2: He was sort of addicted. 345 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: Addicted you might describe as like degenerate gambler of sorts, 346 00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:15,760 Speaker 1: and I will give away the ending. He ultimately, in 347 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:19,280 Speaker 1: nineteen forty one, walks into what was then the cloak 348 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:22,440 Speaker 1: room at the Sherry Netherland up on Fifth Avenue near 349 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:25,280 Speaker 1: the Apple Store, right, you know, the Apple store wasn't 350 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:28,720 Speaker 1: there back then, and he shoots himself in the head 351 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:32,399 Speaker 1: and kills himself. So there's actually a number of suicides 352 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:35,480 Speaker 1: that take place during this whole period, a bunch of 353 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:36,879 Speaker 1: people who jump out of windows. 354 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:40,440 Speaker 2: And I think that people who don't know that much 355 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:44,439 Speaker 2: about the crash, I think that's what they always think of, 356 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:48,919 Speaker 2: people jumping out of windows, people losing their everything, their wealth, 357 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:50,600 Speaker 2: and a matter of minutes. Right. 358 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:54,920 Speaker 1: So, my grandfather, Sidney Sorkin, who's no longer alive, lived 359 00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:57,840 Speaker 1: so he was ninety one years old. He was down 360 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:00,800 Speaker 1: there in October of ninety twenty nine. His brother was 361 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:03,040 Speaker 1: a messenger boy, and I think he was eleven. He 362 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:05,440 Speaker 1: went with his older brother down there, and he used 363 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:07,480 Speaker 1: to tell us a story about how he saw somebody 364 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:10,160 Speaker 1: to jump out of a window. In October nineteen twenty nine. Wow, 365 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:14,600 Speaker 1: And he never in his whole ninety one years bought 366 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:18,000 Speaker 1: a sheriff stock And it was interesting. It was a 367 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:21,920 Speaker 1: generationally scarring event for him. I think he bought bonds. 368 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 1: Maybe he had some mutual funds. I don't know, but stock 369 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:27,679 Speaker 1: like individuals. He always thought the stock market was like 370 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:31,000 Speaker 1: this place for gamblers because of this sort of formidable 371 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:32,760 Speaker 1: experience he had. But I think a lot of Americans 372 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:33,000 Speaker 1: had that. 373 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:35,679 Speaker 2: My dad too, by the way, you know, when I 374 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:38,720 Speaker 2: was starting to make some money and TV news, my 375 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,639 Speaker 2: dad was always like Muni bonds. He really wanted something 376 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:45,639 Speaker 2: super safe and secure. And thinking about that, my dad 377 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 2: was born in nineteen twenty so I think probably like 378 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 2: your grandfather, he had the same scarring experience, even if 379 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:56,480 Speaker 2: it was from Afar right now. 380 00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:59,879 Speaker 1: Weirdly, I should note, just to be factual as a journalist, 381 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 1: one of the more interesting things that I did learn 382 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: is that actually, from a data perspective, there were actually 383 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: not more suicides in nineteen twenty nine than there were 384 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:12,560 Speaker 1: the year before. Oh wow, So there's sort of this 385 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:15,760 Speaker 1: impression that you know that everybody's jumping out the window. 386 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:18,159 Speaker 2: No, But I guess because it was so dramatic that 387 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:23,320 Speaker 2: it has been overblown in retrospect, right, Yeah, that is interesting. 388 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:25,280 Speaker 1: And I think also in the moment, to the extent 389 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:28,160 Speaker 1: there were suicides, they were more dramatic. There were people 390 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:30,440 Speaker 1: shooting themselves in the head, they were jumping out of windows, 391 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:34,480 Speaker 1: and they were being covered in the newspapers constantly, because oftentimes, 392 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:37,080 Speaker 1: if you read the article about somebody committed suicide, it 393 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:40,119 Speaker 1: was also about how they had lost their fortune, or 394 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:42,040 Speaker 1: lost all their money, or had to mortgage their home. 395 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:45,440 Speaker 2: Maybe it was in a sort of truncated period of time, Andrew, 396 00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:49,119 Speaker 2: maybe there weren't more, but maybe it was in a 397 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,119 Speaker 2: limited time span. I don't know. Get on that, will you? 398 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:53,040 Speaker 1: I will? I will. 399 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:02,199 Speaker 2: Hi everyone, Katie Couric. You know I'm always on the 400 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:06,560 Speaker 2: go between running my media company, hosting my podcast, and 401 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,399 Speaker 2: of course covering the news. And I know that to 402 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,240 Speaker 2: keep doing what I love, I need to start caring 403 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:15,879 Speaker 2: for what gets me there, my feet. That's why I 404 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:20,360 Speaker 2: decided to try the Good Feet stores personalized arch support system. 405 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:23,760 Speaker 2: I met with a Good Feet arch support specialist and 406 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:26,840 Speaker 2: after a personalized fitting, I left the store with my 407 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:31,240 Speaker 2: three step system designed to improve comfort, balance, and support 408 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:35,760 Speaker 2: my feet. Knees and back are thanking me already. Visit 409 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 2: goodfeet dot com to learn more, find the nearest store, 410 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:52,240 Speaker 2: or book your own free personalized fitting. The book opens 411 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:55,200 Speaker 2: with sunshine Charlie Mitchell, the CEO of National City Bank, 412 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:58,399 Speaker 2: for turning to his office at fifty five Wall Street 413 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:02,240 Speaker 2: on October twenty eighth, nineteen twenty nine, hours after the 414 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:05,679 Speaker 2: market had closed with a thirteen percent drop. 415 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:12,520 Speaker 1: What happens next, Well, Charlie finds out that while he 416 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:14,400 Speaker 1: was out of the office all day, he had joined 417 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:16,639 Speaker 1: the board of the New York Fed while he was 418 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:21,760 Speaker 1: out of these emergency meetings, that his trader had bought 419 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:26,639 Speaker 1: a whole ton of stock in the bank itself, and 420 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:28,560 Speaker 1: they didn't have the money to buy the stock. So, 421 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:31,880 Speaker 1: you know how companies buy their own stock, So back then, 422 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:36,240 Speaker 1: companies did the same thing. The problem was that during these, 423 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:39,719 Speaker 1: especially these sort of crazy periods in October twenty nine, 424 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:42,159 Speaker 1: the stock market, like if you looked at the board 425 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:45,359 Speaker 1: of the stock prices on the exchange back then, they 426 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 1: were oftentimes like two or three or four five hours 427 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:52,480 Speaker 1: behind what was actually happening in reality, and so people 428 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:56,480 Speaker 1: were buying stocks not understanding what the prices were, and 429 00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:59,880 Speaker 1: so they effectively bought thirty plus million dollars worth of their 430 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:02,800 Speaker 1: and they couldn't afford it, which put him in this 431 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:04,800 Speaker 1: position trying to figure out what am I going to 432 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,000 Speaker 1: do to try to save the bank without anybody knowing. 433 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,600 Speaker 1: He all of a sudden has a sort of existential crisis, 434 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:14,320 Speaker 1: and well, I don't know if I want to give 435 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:14,920 Speaker 1: away what happens? 436 00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:18,680 Speaker 2: We'll just give a little and people will still buy 437 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:19,040 Speaker 2: the phone. 438 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:21,000 Speaker 1: No, no, no, no. One of the things one of the 439 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,159 Speaker 1: things that he does is he decides he's going to 440 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:26,240 Speaker 1: put this whole thing on his back. He goes to 441 00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:28,439 Speaker 1: JP Morgan to try to get them to give him 442 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,680 Speaker 1: a loan and for him to buy the stock off 443 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:34,200 Speaker 1: of the bank, because he didn't want anyone to know 444 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:37,880 Speaker 1: that the bank would have otherwise been in trouble. And 445 00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:42,600 Speaker 1: that decision, which that sort of secret decision, turns into 446 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:46,800 Speaker 1: a sort of bigger problem for him later because he 447 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:50,639 Speaker 1: then tries to do some sort of tac shenanigans with 448 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:51,200 Speaker 1: his wife. 449 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:54,680 Speaker 2: Lets to say, that leads to his arrest. I think 450 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:58,600 Speaker 2: when we imagine this crash, right we think of a crash. 451 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:00,480 Speaker 1: Do you think one thing this is not real. It 452 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 1: was like multiple days. 453 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:03,560 Speaker 2: And you say it wasn't a moment, it was a 454 00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:06,960 Speaker 2: relentless unraveling. Talk about that. 455 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:10,680 Speaker 1: Well, so, the very strange thing is that despite the 456 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,040 Speaker 1: market going down, you know, forty to fifty percent between 457 00:23:14,080 --> 00:23:17,440 Speaker 1: September or end of September and November, by the end 458 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:19,000 Speaker 1: of the year, and this is the part that most 459 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,800 Speaker 1: people probably would never even imagine, by the end of 460 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:24,959 Speaker 1: the year, the stock market was only down seventeen percent, 461 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,640 Speaker 1: and so there was this sort of relief thing happening, 462 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:31,280 Speaker 1: except that all of these people had lost their money 463 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:32,800 Speaker 1: in the process. And I think the one thing to 464 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,000 Speaker 1: think about with this stock market, which is just so 465 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:37,880 Speaker 1: different than it is today. You know, when the stock 466 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:40,120 Speaker 1: market goes down today, people say, oh, well, I bought 467 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:42,199 Speaker 1: the stock at fifty dollars and now the stocks at 468 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:44,880 Speaker 1: thirty dollars, so I lost twenty dollars a share. Not good. 469 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:49,720 Speaker 1: But what was happening is most people had borrowed all 470 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,359 Speaker 1: the money to buy the stock. So it wasn't just 471 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:54,960 Speaker 1: that you lost the twenty dollars, it was that you 472 00:23:55,680 --> 00:24:00,040 Speaker 1: owed the bank oftentimes like one hundred dollars. And so 473 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: people are going into hawk. I mean There's a great 474 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:08,199 Speaker 1: little scene that I landed on with Graucho Marx, who 475 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:11,399 Speaker 1: at that point was not actually famous or really that 476 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: famous yet, and he was out in Long Island. He 477 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,240 Speaker 1: was pretty conservative, according to his son, with his money, 478 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:19,320 Speaker 1: but he was spending like all day long at this 479 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 1: brokerage house in Long Island, just following the tape like constantly. 480 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:24,879 Speaker 1: That's what he did. 481 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:26,800 Speaker 2: It was like smoking his cigars. 482 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:29,560 Speaker 1: Smarky cigars, and following the tape. And he actually was 483 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,200 Speaker 1: a very smart guy. He was questioning his broker about 484 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: whether you should buy RCA. Why is RCA not giving 485 00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:36,919 Speaker 1: out dividends. Well, they weren't giving out dinners because they 486 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:38,920 Speaker 1: don't have a cash. But the brokers were like, this 487 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:41,600 Speaker 1: time is different. If you don't do this, you're gonna 488 00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:43,880 Speaker 1: lose out. Trust me, I do it too. We're all 489 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 1: doing this. Well, he gets a call in October nineteen 490 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,040 Speaker 1: twenty nine says you got to get down here and 491 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:51,119 Speaker 1: you're gonna have to pay off alone. He ends up 492 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:53,760 Speaker 1: having a mortgage his own home to deal with it all. 493 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:55,800 Speaker 1: And I think that that was sort of just a 494 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 1: little like microcosm of a story of what was happening. 495 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:03,600 Speaker 2: Everywhere little bit more about sort of the relentless unraveling, 496 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:06,680 Speaker 2: if you will, Andrews, so give us a little time 497 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:08,680 Speaker 2: stamp of all these events. 498 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:10,679 Speaker 1: Well, I don't know how far we want to go. 499 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:14,399 Speaker 1: I mean, most of the real action happens in October 500 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:16,680 Speaker 1: in terms of the market crash. However, as I said, 501 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:19,960 Speaker 1: the sort of a series of dominoes. So the country 502 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:23,040 Speaker 1: is sort of losing its shirt. In late nineteen twenty nine, 503 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:25,679 Speaker 1: market starts actually coming back a little bit, but the 504 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:28,200 Speaker 1: economy is not really coming back. And so there's a 505 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:30,919 Speaker 1: big question is what is President Hoover going to do? 506 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:34,280 Speaker 1: What is the government going to do? Talk about bad decisions. 507 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:37,440 Speaker 1: So President Hoover's Treasury secretary then was a guy named 508 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:39,680 Speaker 1: Andrew Mellon, who you may have heard of. And Andrew 509 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,639 Speaker 1: Mellon was a true capitalist. His view was, if you 510 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,240 Speaker 1: trade and you lose, you lose. We're not helping you, 511 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,880 Speaker 1: we're not bailing you out, screw you. Hoover had this 512 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,160 Speaker 1: sort of view that somehow the economy and the stock 513 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:54,879 Speaker 1: market were like separated, that they weren't really connected to 514 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,520 Speaker 1: each other, and this was almost like a psychological problem, 515 00:25:57,560 --> 00:25:59,720 Speaker 1: and that if you could just get the country over 516 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:04,159 Speaker 1: the psychological problem that somehow you'd be in a better place. 517 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:07,800 Speaker 1: But he also wanted to raise taxes at that time, 518 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: probably not the best decision. He then decides to implement tariffs. Again, 519 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,080 Speaker 1: what's happening in America today tariffs. So he implements in 520 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:21,400 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty something called the Smooth Holly tariffs. A year later, 521 00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:25,080 Speaker 1: global trade is down sixty percent and by the way, 522 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,280 Speaker 1: same thing as now. A thousand economists wrote an open 523 00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 1: letter to Hoover begging him not to do this. But 524 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:33,840 Speaker 1: he had run on this because he wanted to get 525 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:36,880 Speaker 1: the farmers in the middle of the country to vote 526 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,520 Speaker 1: for him, and he wanted to make good on his promise. 527 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:42,879 Speaker 1: So there were a series of these things. But of 528 00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 1: course by nineteen thirty three, even before that, I mean, 529 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:49,040 Speaker 1: you started to have what's called Hooverville's were emerging. These 530 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:52,000 Speaker 1: were like tented camps, even including in DC. In DC, 531 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:55,159 Speaker 1: also in Central Park, there were tented camps in Central 532 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: Park literally blocks away from Charles Mitchell's house. Charles Mitchell 533 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:02,680 Speaker 1: lived York very well up on Fifth Avenue and seventy 534 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:05,480 Speaker 1: fifth Streets the French Consulate. Uh huh, that was his house. 535 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:07,280 Speaker 1: That's where he lived. They lived in these like they 536 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:10,040 Speaker 1: were the kings. They lived in these mansions. There were castles, 537 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:12,840 Speaker 1: but Hooverville's were emerging, and so you had this sort 538 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:15,760 Speaker 1: of Those are sort of the series of dominoes of 539 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:18,439 Speaker 1: things that really I think put the country in a very, 540 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:19,200 Speaker 1: very tough place. 541 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,480 Speaker 2: It's amazing when you think about the culture of the twenties. 542 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:25,600 Speaker 2: Obviously in this I'm sure struck you time and time again. 543 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,719 Speaker 2: As you're writing this book, Andrew, and what we're seeing 544 00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,840 Speaker 2: today in terms of the economic climate, sort of income 545 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:38,000 Speaker 2: and equality, a less a fair regulatory policy, mood, investors 546 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:44,480 Speaker 2: and innovators becoming celebrities. Yes, and as I mentioned widening inequality. 547 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:48,719 Speaker 2: I mean, were you like, holy shit, yeah, I mean 548 00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:51,959 Speaker 2: we are right for something like this to happen, or 549 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:55,719 Speaker 2: how did you square the similarities between these two periods. 550 00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:58,280 Speaker 1: I should just say straight up, when I started the project, 551 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:00,240 Speaker 1: I didn't think that I was writing about to tay 552 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:02,320 Speaker 1: like that was not really the goal. And by the way, 553 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:04,600 Speaker 1: there's nowhere in the book, as you know, where I say, hey, 554 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:07,240 Speaker 1: like this is like this right, But as I'm writing 555 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:08,920 Speaker 1: the book, I would say, especially in the last couple 556 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:12,040 Speaker 1: of years, I'd be like, oh, Okay, the tariff thing 557 00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:15,000 Speaker 1: is happening. The tariff thing is happening. This idea of 558 00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:19,239 Speaker 1: democratizing finance is happening. It's happening. We're going to take 559 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:22,240 Speaker 1: some of the guardrails and rules away. And you realize, 560 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:24,080 Speaker 1: by the way, in the nineteen twenties there were no rules, 561 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:27,320 Speaker 1: I mean literally no rules. There was no sec instead 562 00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:30,680 Speaker 1: of trading. All these stocks are being manipulated like crazy 563 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:34,879 Speaker 1: back then. And here we are right now trying to 564 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:37,480 Speaker 1: take these rules away, trying to take transparency away. 565 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:39,840 Speaker 2: The tech titans are meeting at the White House. 566 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:43,960 Speaker 1: So many of the sort of same component parts of this. 567 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,480 Speaker 1: And also I would argue even now with I don't 568 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 1: know if you call it a bubble, but here we 569 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:51,560 Speaker 1: are on this sort of like Ai Revolution, feels a 570 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:55,000 Speaker 1: little bit like the Radio Revolution. People are betting massive 571 00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:59,000 Speaker 1: quantities of money, using leverage, using debt, and it's happening 572 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:03,200 Speaker 1: all over. And there's also this idea of the lottery ticket. 573 00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:06,840 Speaker 1: So right now, Trump just implemented a new law that 574 00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:09,840 Speaker 1: effectively was going to allow the venture capital guys and 575 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:12,520 Speaker 1: the private equity guys and the private credit guys to 576 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:17,480 Speaker 1: literally sell product to the ordinary investor for the first time. 577 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:19,640 Speaker 1: This stuff's going to end up in people's retirement accounts 578 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:21,480 Speaker 1: for the first time, like your four one K account 579 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:23,560 Speaker 1: is now going to have access to these things which 580 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,280 Speaker 1: we never allowed before because we thought it was too risky. 581 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:29,680 Speaker 1: But now we're saying it's not too risky. 582 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:32,480 Speaker 2: And why is that happening. I don't quite understand that. 583 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:34,760 Speaker 2: Is that also have to do with the government and 584 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:37,640 Speaker 2: intel and sort of or is that a different thing. 585 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:39,720 Speaker 1: I think it's a different thing. I think it's the idea, 586 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:42,719 Speaker 1: and this was a very nineteen twenties ish idea that 587 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,520 Speaker 1: the elites were making all of this money and that 588 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:49,040 Speaker 1: the little guy had no access. So it is true 589 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:52,760 Speaker 1: that folks who've had access to buy shares of Uber 590 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:55,920 Speaker 1: or Facebook before they ever went public, they're the ones 591 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:58,600 Speaker 1: who made a fortune. And we created laws, by the way, 592 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:01,960 Speaker 1: after nineteen thirty three, well, we said unless you have 593 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,040 Speaker 1: a million dollars, you cannot invest in these type of 594 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 1: private investments because with lib to risk you we didn't 595 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:09,400 Speaker 1: want people who didn't have enough money to be able 596 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:13,000 Speaker 1: to risk all of it. That was the concept. But 597 00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:16,520 Speaker 1: in a way, there's a view today that somehow we 598 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:20,800 Speaker 1: have not just protected them from losing money, we've protected 599 00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:23,960 Speaker 1: them from making money. And at the same time we're 600 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,840 Speaker 1: sort of protecting the man. Right, So there's this sort 601 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,440 Speaker 1: of subculture and elite that's been able to make all 602 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:32,040 Speaker 1: this money and others haven't had access. And so what 603 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:34,480 Speaker 1: I think this president is trying to do is say 604 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:37,000 Speaker 1: we want everybody to have the lottery ticket. The thing 605 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:39,480 Speaker 1: that I that worries me is when everybody has a 606 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:41,520 Speaker 1: lot of ticket, most people have a lot of ticket lose. 607 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:44,200 Speaker 1: That is the great conundrum of the lottery. 608 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:47,840 Speaker 2: And the people who lose are often the people. 609 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:52,000 Speaker 1: Who can't afford for to lose. Yes, that's exactly right. 610 00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:53,800 Speaker 2: When you look at the big picture, what do you 611 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:57,480 Speaker 2: think is responsible for all these kind of big cultural 612 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:01,880 Speaker 2: and economic ships that were witnessing right now? If you 613 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,760 Speaker 2: had to put the pieces together, are they all the 614 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:08,120 Speaker 2: things that I mentioned In terms of the environment we're 615 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:11,760 Speaker 2: living in, what forces are colliding right now? 616 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:14,840 Speaker 1: So I think there's a couple of things happening. Start 617 00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:17,920 Speaker 1: with the underlying issue of the human condition, which is 618 00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:22,000 Speaker 1: we all want more. That's not capitalism, that's just human 619 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:28,920 Speaker 1: nature human nature. And you also have a group of people, 620 00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:32,960 Speaker 1: financiers who have a lot of money, who've been lobbying 621 00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:35,840 Speaker 1: in Washington to allow for a lot of this to happen. 622 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:41,680 Speaker 1: So Crypto, which is again another seemingly speculative kind of 623 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:48,200 Speaker 1: thing to do, those guys basically helped bankroll President Trump's election. 624 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:52,480 Speaker 1: They effectually paid for that access. And there are people 625 00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:54,480 Speaker 1: I do believe that the people who are behind all 626 00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:58,000 Speaker 1: this genuinely do believe that this is good for America, 627 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:02,200 Speaker 1: like they do believe that at letting the ordinary American 628 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:06,080 Speaker 1: invest in these opportunities, they call them opportunities, and they 629 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:08,000 Speaker 1: think they're a good thing. And by the way, they 630 00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 1: may turn out to be a good thing in the 631 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,040 Speaker 1: long run if you can keep all the guardrails around them. 632 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:16,920 Speaker 1: I think one of the great lessons of nineteen eighty 633 00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:20,120 Speaker 1: nine was you need guardrails. People left to their own 634 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:22,840 Speaker 1: devices will always want more. And we are not the 635 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:25,160 Speaker 1: greatest self regulators of ourselves, which. 636 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:26,600 Speaker 2: Is a guardrails. 637 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:29,440 Speaker 1: And that's the conundrum I think right now, increasingly the 638 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:33,000 Speaker 1: guardrails are coming off. The administration recently announced a plan 639 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:36,440 Speaker 1: where corporations public companies who used to have to report 640 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:39,600 Speaker 1: their earnings every quarter, four times a year. The President 641 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:41,040 Speaker 1: came out and said, you know what, you don't need 642 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:42,520 Speaker 1: to do that anymore. We want you to only do 643 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:46,080 Speaker 1: that twice a year. So again less transparency, and the 644 00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:49,360 Speaker 1: SEC looks like they're probably going to back that plan. 645 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:51,680 Speaker 1: So I think there's just a whole bunch of these 646 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:54,520 Speaker 1: types of things that are happening in this moment that 647 00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:55,960 Speaker 1: are concerning. 648 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:59,160 Speaker 2: Let's go back to nineteen twenty nine. In the aftermath 649 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:03,760 Speaker 2: following those few years there was regulation. Yes, talk about 650 00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:07,360 Speaker 2: what happened, and do you view some of the measures 651 00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:09,080 Speaker 2: as perhaps an over correction. 652 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:13,280 Speaker 1: It's a great question. So one of the big things 653 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:15,040 Speaker 1: that happened, and one of the main characters in this 654 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:15,800 Speaker 1: book is a guy. 655 00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:18,400 Speaker 2: Named carter Glass glass Stiegel though. 656 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:22,520 Speaker 1: From Glass Stiegel. Carter Glass though, was really like the 657 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:26,200 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Warren of his time, maybe AOC, but more like 658 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:29,160 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Warren. And for many years in the nineteen twenties 659 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:31,880 Speaker 1: he used to rail about the thing called Mitchellism in 660 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:34,080 Speaker 1: Charlie Mitchell. He thought people at Charlie Mitchell were going 661 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:36,960 Speaker 1: to ruin America because Charlie Mitch was loaning people his 662 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:38,640 Speaker 1: money was going to lead to all the speculation and 663 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:41,520 Speaker 1: up end the economy, and so there were a lot 664 00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:43,480 Speaker 1: of laws that were put in place by people like 665 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,960 Speaker 1: Carter Glass, though again without giving away too much how 666 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,640 Speaker 1: Glass Stiegel was actually put together. Even for me and 667 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:51,800 Speaker 1: I think some scholars who's read the book, it's just 668 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:54,400 Speaker 1: like a shock. It's like completely at odds with what 669 00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:58,120 Speaker 1: you'd think really happened, sort of a wild story. And 670 00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:01,160 Speaker 1: so you had that happen the creation of the SEC 671 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,200 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty four. By the way, Roosevelt course comes 672 00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:07,520 Speaker 1: into power in nineteen thirty three, he goes after some 673 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:09,719 Speaker 1: of the bank shuts down a lot of the banks, 674 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:11,759 Speaker 1: So there was a whole bunch of things. Is an 675 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:16,600 Speaker 1: overcorrection probably to some degree, but was it too much? 676 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:18,440 Speaker 1: I mean, the good news is we've had other financial 677 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:20,319 Speaker 1: crises two thousand and eight being one of them, dot 678 00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:24,439 Speaker 1: Com bust being another. But we haven't gone totally off 679 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:28,080 Speaker 1: the cliff for a decade or more at a time. 680 00:34:28,640 --> 00:34:30,520 Speaker 1: And the one thing I will say there was a 681 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:33,680 Speaker 1: bit of a weird lesson for me. We all think 682 00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:36,520 Speaker 1: speculation is like a dirty word, right, You don't want 683 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:39,799 Speaker 1: too much speculation, but we all need a little bit 684 00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:45,480 Speaker 1: of speculation, because speculation is like the twin of innovation, 685 00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:47,640 Speaker 1: like if you look at think about it, like Elon 686 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:53,040 Speaker 1: Musk and Tesla. Somebody at some point had to speculate 687 00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:56,880 Speaker 1: on Elon Musk early on, when it seemed like an 688 00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:59,680 Speaker 1: insane thing to do. It was a complete speculation, and 689 00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:02,160 Speaker 1: you I need that in the economy for there to 690 00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:04,399 Speaker 1: be innovation, otherwise we're never gonna get any of it. 691 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:07,480 Speaker 1: But the question is where's the line and when does 692 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:09,560 Speaker 1: it become too much? And when does it become too 693 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:11,920 Speaker 1: much of a group think. I do think, by the way, 694 00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:14,560 Speaker 1: we might be having a little bit of that. Well. 695 00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:16,319 Speaker 2: I was going to ask you, of course, when you 696 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:19,480 Speaker 2: said that, I'm thinking, Okay, the AI bubble, right, and 697 00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:22,640 Speaker 2: what's happening now? How do you think that's playing out? 698 00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:26,960 Speaker 2: And how does it relate to some of the other disasters. 699 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:30,200 Speaker 1: Honestly, I think the AI bubble is a bubble and 700 00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:32,640 Speaker 1: it will pop. But I think of it more like 701 00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:36,200 Speaker 1: the dot com bubble, which is to say, the Internet 702 00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:38,520 Speaker 1: came of age in the late nineties and there was 703 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:41,480 Speaker 1: a pop, But the Internet is still here and is 704 00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:43,640 Speaker 1: more powerful and a bigger force than ever. So I 705 00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:48,360 Speaker 1: think something like that will probably happen with AI, meaning 706 00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:52,280 Speaker 1: there's definitely over investment and probably investment in the wrong areas, 707 00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:55,239 Speaker 1: and so there will be some kind of come up. 708 00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:57,759 Speaker 1: And I don't think that means that AI is not 709 00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:00,160 Speaker 1: a thing. I think AI is probably, you know, a 710 00:36:00,239 --> 00:36:02,880 Speaker 1: generational shift for everybody. 711 00:36:03,719 --> 00:36:05,839 Speaker 2: There will be a correction. Question that we. 712 00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:08,640 Speaker 1: Don't know this time around is if you believe that 713 00:36:08,680 --> 00:36:11,760 Speaker 1: every financial crisis is a function of too much leverage 714 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:14,160 Speaker 1: in the system, too much borrowing money. Right in nineteen 715 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:16,440 Speaker 1: twenty nine, there's too many people borrowing for stocks. In 716 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:18,399 Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, is too many people borrowing for 717 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:21,439 Speaker 1: subprime loans and the like. It could be that there's 718 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:25,720 Speaker 1: too much borrowing going on around these AI data centers 719 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:29,359 Speaker 1: people don't appreciate. Yes, you know, Google and Facebook, they're 720 00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:31,880 Speaker 1: all spending hundreds of billions of dollars. But to build 721 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:34,600 Speaker 1: these data centers, there's energy companies that are taking on 722 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:38,160 Speaker 1: extraordinary amount of debt, construction companies, real estate company. I 723 00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:41,520 Speaker 1: mean there's a and that debt we can't see anymore. 724 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:43,880 Speaker 1: That's actually another big thing. It used to be that 725 00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:46,600 Speaker 1: you'd get a loan from a bank and so the 726 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:50,040 Speaker 1: system could see the debt in the system, the leverage 727 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:52,360 Speaker 1: in the system. Today, it's all moved into what they 728 00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:55,120 Speaker 1: call the shadows, into this private credit business, and so 729 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:57,239 Speaker 1: we don't really know what's going on. And that's a 730 00:36:57,280 --> 00:36:59,640 Speaker 1: little scary. And I'll give you one more little not 731 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:02,720 Speaker 1: to scared everybody, but you know, you're starting to see 732 00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:06,480 Speaker 1: what they called round trip deals, these like circular deals. 733 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:10,719 Speaker 1: Where so in Vidia and open Ai did this very 734 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:14,480 Speaker 1: unusual deal a couple weeks ago where open ai is 735 00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:18,880 Speaker 1: buying chips like crazy from Nvidia. But open Ai can't 736 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:21,640 Speaker 1: afford to buy all the chips that it's committing to buy. 737 00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:24,359 Speaker 1: It doesn't make money, it's losing money right now. So 738 00:37:25,239 --> 00:37:30,640 Speaker 1: what's happened. In Vidia invests money into open Ai, so 739 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:33,240 Speaker 1: they have now committed to give them a hundred billion dollars, 740 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:35,520 Speaker 1: which then they're going to take one hundred billion dollars 741 00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:41,120 Speaker 1: and buy the Nvidia chips. So it's a completely circular transaction. 742 00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:44,319 Speaker 1: It's like magic. And then just I think two weeks 743 00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:47,560 Speaker 1: ago now a similar deal, open Ai is going to 744 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:51,520 Speaker 1: buy chips from AMD. Can't afford to buy the chips 745 00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:54,759 Speaker 1: in AMD says to itself, well, if we announce that 746 00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:57,520 Speaker 1: we're going to buy chips from AMD. AMD stock is 747 00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:00,160 Speaker 1: likely to go up, so we're going to get a 748 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:03,520 Speaker 1: stake in AMD, and when the shares magically go up, 749 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:05,840 Speaker 1: we'll now have money from those and then we'll go 750 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:06,520 Speaker 1: buy the chips. 751 00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:08,719 Speaker 2: What's wrong with that, Well, it just. 752 00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:13,640 Speaker 1: Reflects that there's not a sort of underlying stability in 753 00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:15,319 Speaker 1: that market. You know, when you get into what's called 754 00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:18,799 Speaker 1: vendor financing, when the vendor basically has to finance you, 755 00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:21,480 Speaker 1: it can come back to bite you. Now, yes, if 756 00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:23,680 Speaker 1: open ai turns out to be a massive success and 757 00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:27,400 Speaker 1: super profitable, no harm, no foul. But if it doesn't, 758 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:31,359 Speaker 1: you know, the whole certain ecosystem can break. And I don't. 759 00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:34,719 Speaker 1: Right now, we're in this very weird moment in the 760 00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:37,680 Speaker 1: stock market where every time that a company announces they're 761 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:40,239 Speaker 1: going to invest spend more money, the stock goes up, 762 00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:42,120 Speaker 1: doesn't go down. It used to be. You know, if 763 00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:44,520 Speaker 1: you fire people, stock will go up because they're gonna 764 00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:47,000 Speaker 1: spend less money. They're gonna invest less. Stock goes up. 765 00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:48,360 Speaker 1: This is like the opposite. 766 00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:52,520 Speaker 2: You say, people aren't investing in the right thing with AI, 767 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:56,280 Speaker 2: so I'll bite. What should I be investing? You should say. 768 00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:58,440 Speaker 1: AI investing in AI. I think the way people are 769 00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:01,200 Speaker 1: investing in AI right now is just the big shares 770 00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:02,959 Speaker 1: in the big tech companies in video. 771 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:04,600 Speaker 2: And there are a lot of other smaller companies that 772 00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:08,480 Speaker 2: are going to be important to the whole AI environment. 773 00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:12,040 Speaker 1: Maybe, And that's another question. There's so many small startups 774 00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:14,920 Speaker 1: that have been coming up around this whole ecosystem. Do 775 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:18,040 Speaker 1: they last? Do they not last? I don't know if 776 00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:21,600 Speaker 1: we know the answer. The other piece of this that 777 00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:24,760 Speaker 1: we haven't got into, and maybe go back to nineteen 778 00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:27,160 Speaker 1: thirty three and think about this. So we had unemployment 779 00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:29,000 Speaker 1: in the country in nineteen thirty three of about twenty 780 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:32,560 Speaker 1: five percent. It's kind of insane twenty five percent. A 781 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:37,200 Speaker 1: quarter of people were unemployed. If AI is successful, so 782 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:40,120 Speaker 1: if all of these AI companies for them to be successful, 783 00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:43,200 Speaker 1: they have to create more productivity. Companies are only going 784 00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:46,239 Speaker 1: to pay for these services if they create more productivity 785 00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:49,880 Speaker 1: for their company. Productivity is a euphemism. Dare I say 786 00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:55,160 Speaker 1: for taking out cost other cost? What is the other cost? 787 00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:58,719 Speaker 1: It's human cost people. So if they shoot the moon 788 00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:01,640 Speaker 1: and this is really successful, at the same time that 789 00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:05,040 Speaker 1: the companies may seemingly be successful, there's a lot of 790 00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:07,400 Speaker 1: people who lose their job who won't be able to 791 00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:10,880 Speaker 1: afford to use the services that these companies are going 792 00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:11,480 Speaker 1: to provide. 793 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:14,040 Speaker 2: Do you think anyone is thinking about that. 794 00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:18,440 Speaker 1: I think that there's a lot of people wearing blinders saying, 795 00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:21,279 Speaker 1: let's hope for the best. I think there's a lot 796 00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:23,560 Speaker 1: of hope. I don't think there's a lot of actually 797 00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:26,440 Speaker 1: like modeled out spreadsheets that say if you do this 798 00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:29,080 Speaker 1: and this and this, it will do this. There's like 799 00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:31,319 Speaker 1: a lot of hope in prayer taking place right now. 800 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:33,279 Speaker 1: And by the way, if you talk if you talk 801 00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:38,320 Speaker 1: to Soulten Valley today, they say, we are more scared 802 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:42,000 Speaker 1: of being behind, and so therefore we're just going to 803 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:44,080 Speaker 1: you know, we're putting all our chips down. 804 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:50,080 Speaker 2: It's jina, jina, jina, right. That's as the President would say. 805 00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:55,000 Speaker 2: I feel like they are saying, we cannot lose our 806 00:40:55,360 --> 00:41:03,560 Speaker 2: competitiveness and unintended or obvious consequences be damned. Honestly, there's a. 807 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,240 Speaker 1: Truth to that. You look at some of these companies 808 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:07,880 Speaker 1: that they're spending basically half to maybe in some cases 809 00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:11,200 Speaker 1: more than all of their revenues. Literally, they're taking all 810 00:41:11,239 --> 00:41:13,759 Speaker 1: the money and investing in AI and maybe they'll be right. 811 00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:15,640 Speaker 1: And by the way, as I said, I am sure 812 00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:18,440 Speaker 1: that AI will be a powerful force, huge powerful force. 813 00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:20,680 Speaker 1: On the other side of this, I just think along 814 00:41:20,719 --> 00:41:22,320 Speaker 1: the way there will be a hiccup. And the question 815 00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:23,800 Speaker 1: is how big is the hiccup? 816 00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:29,000 Speaker 2: Kind of like globalization, Like nobody really thought about the 817 00:41:29,080 --> 00:41:32,840 Speaker 2: long term impact of a flatter world, as Tom Friedman 818 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:36,760 Speaker 2: would say, and this is kind of that on steroids, right. 819 00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:37,600 Speaker 1: It could turn out to be. 820 00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:41,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, isn't that when the government is supposed to come 821 00:41:41,719 --> 00:41:46,120 Speaker 2: in and say, whoa, everybody, let's kind of talk about 822 00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:51,680 Speaker 2: the impact of this technology and let's plan for Yes. 823 00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:53,680 Speaker 1: That's what the government is supposed to do. Having said that, 824 00:41:53,719 --> 00:41:56,800 Speaker 1: we have both a broken government and we're in a rush. 825 00:41:57,080 --> 00:42:00,400 Speaker 1: It's a combination of two things. It's that the government clearly, 826 00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:02,719 Speaker 1: at least in this moment, I don't think you're gonna 827 00:42:02,719 --> 00:42:04,960 Speaker 1: have both sides talking on these issues. And the other 828 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:07,360 Speaker 1: piece was is and they're not wrong in this respect. 829 00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:10,719 Speaker 1: If life is relative, you do need to care what 830 00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:14,760 Speaker 1: the competitors doing, and that is China. And if China 831 00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:17,560 Speaker 1: is going full steam ahead and they're throwing all their 832 00:42:17,640 --> 00:42:21,839 Speaker 1: chips down. Maybe at least the argument goes we have 833 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:25,520 Speaker 1: to otherwise we lose, and that there's like a permanence 834 00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:30,400 Speaker 1: to the loss. Right, that's the issue. I think you 835 00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:35,280 Speaker 1: could do a lot of what we're doing marginally slower 836 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:40,040 Speaker 1: without ultimately losing the game. I think we are still 837 00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:43,760 Speaker 1: ahead of the game relative to China, and I think 838 00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:47,000 Speaker 1: you could say, what does that mean in practice? I 839 00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:51,080 Speaker 1: think from a regulatory standpoint, instead of sort of opening 840 00:42:51,160 --> 00:42:54,160 Speaker 1: up all these new avenues for everybody to just throw 841 00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:57,759 Speaker 1: money at the problem, I think you probably do that 842 00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:00,879 Speaker 1: part in a slower and more methodical way then we're 843 00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:03,279 Speaker 1: doing it. And I don't think that would slow an 844 00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:06,240 Speaker 1: open AI or a Microsoft or a Google down that much. 845 00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:09,279 Speaker 2: And that would give a chance for some of these 846 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:11,319 Speaker 2: other considerations to be the. 847 00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:14,600 Speaker 1: Bigger considerations about employment and about the yeah no, right, 848 00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:16,799 Speaker 1: really get talking to really get into like what's going 849 00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:21,120 Speaker 1: to happen with employment. I don't know what you're supposed 850 00:43:21,160 --> 00:43:22,120 Speaker 1: to do because or. 851 00:43:22,160 --> 00:43:23,880 Speaker 2: What's going to happen to our way of life? And 852 00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:26,400 Speaker 2: should there be universal basic income? 853 00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:28,520 Speaker 1: And how I think we need to be having those conversations. 854 00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:30,319 Speaker 1: People are probably not. I mean, you've been having some 855 00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:33,000 Speaker 1: of those conversations. Others have had those conversations, but it's 856 00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:36,000 Speaker 1: not like a active conversation in part because we don't know. 857 00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:39,880 Speaker 1: So that's the other piece of this. We don't really know. 858 00:43:40,600 --> 00:43:43,399 Speaker 1: And is it going to be a transitional period where 859 00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:45,120 Speaker 1: we're gonna have to set like transition from one thing 860 00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:46,759 Speaker 1: to another and that's going to be painful. But on 861 00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:49,440 Speaker 1: the other side of the transition, we all figure it 862 00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:51,479 Speaker 1: out and everybody learns how to use AI, and. 863 00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:54,520 Speaker 2: Or there will be a robot or there'd be a robot. 864 00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:57,000 Speaker 1: Apocalypse second and people will be listening to this podcast 865 00:43:57,120 --> 00:43:59,520 Speaker 1: and we will be holograms like that exactly. 866 00:44:00,200 --> 00:44:02,640 Speaker 2: We should put this conversation in a time capsule. 867 00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:04,960 Speaker 1: I mean, the craziest thing. I don't know if you've 868 00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:07,440 Speaker 1: played with like notebook LAM or any of these models. 869 00:44:07,600 --> 00:44:10,000 Speaker 2: Yes, I actually just learned how to do that. 870 00:44:09,960 --> 00:44:12,840 Speaker 1: So you know, you can create a podcast. I have 871 00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:16,520 Speaker 1: a son who now takes material from the Internet that 872 00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:20,080 Speaker 1: he has to learn, puts it into these models, puts 873 00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:23,360 Speaker 1: his headphones on, and goes for a walk and listens 874 00:44:23,480 --> 00:44:27,439 Speaker 1: to a effectively a AI generated podcast to teach him 875 00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:30,959 Speaker 1: about some of the classes that he's trying to learn. 876 00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:33,759 Speaker 1: There's part of me that thinks that's super exciting. By 877 00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:36,040 Speaker 1: the way, it's like a great it's like a very 878 00:44:36,239 --> 00:44:39,319 Speaker 1: cool thing. But it often, or I don't know if 879 00:44:39,320 --> 00:44:43,000 Speaker 1: it's often ultimately probably means we won't have as many teachers. 880 00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:45,319 Speaker 1: And what are those people? I mean, I don't know. 881 00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:46,759 Speaker 1: I don't know what we're I don't know where this 882 00:44:46,840 --> 00:44:47,440 Speaker 1: all heads. 883 00:44:47,719 --> 00:44:49,960 Speaker 2: I just think we should be thinking about it some 884 00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:53,479 Speaker 2: more and hypothesizing about it some more, so. 885 00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:55,560 Speaker 1: That we're we have a better position to at least 886 00:44:55,920 --> 00:44:59,120 Speaker 1: have thought about the debate when it actually hits us. Yes, yes, 887 00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:02,840 Speaker 1: I'm with you. Think about financial crisis in two thousand 888 00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:05,319 Speaker 1: and eight. I remember people two thousand and three and four, 889 00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:07,080 Speaker 1: people say, oh, I think there's a real estate bubble 890 00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:09,400 Speaker 1: going on. Remember, yeah, you know, I'm not going to 891 00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:11,319 Speaker 1: buy a house this year. I'm gonna wait. It's gonna 892 00:45:11,320 --> 00:45:13,880 Speaker 1: fall next year, so I'm just going to wait. In 893 00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:16,279 Speaker 1: the next year, you'd read a big article cover article 894 00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:18,520 Speaker 1: about how there's a real estate bubbies. No, I actually 895 00:45:18,680 --> 00:45:20,919 Speaker 1: wait another year. But you wait and then it keeps 896 00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:23,359 Speaker 1: going up, and then you say yourself, Okay, the train 897 00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:24,160 Speaker 1: is leaving the station. 898 00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:24,840 Speaker 2: I better get it. 899 00:45:24,960 --> 00:45:26,000 Speaker 1: I got you to get it on the chair. I'm 900 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:27,439 Speaker 1: never gonna be able to get on this train. Of course, 901 00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:30,600 Speaker 1: everyone jumps on the train right before it's about to 902 00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:31,920 Speaker 1: curl off the track. 903 00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:41,399 Speaker 2: Hi everyone, it's me Katie Couric. You know, if you've 904 00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:44,160 Speaker 2: been following me on social media, you know I love 905 00:45:44,239 --> 00:45:47,400 Speaker 2: to cook, or at least try, especially alongside some of 906 00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:51,160 Speaker 2: my favorite chefs and foodies like Benny Blanco, Jake Cohen, 907 00:45:51,239 --> 00:45:55,560 Speaker 2: Lighty Hoyke, Alison Roman, and Ina Garten. So I started 908 00:45:55,600 --> 00:45:59,080 Speaker 2: a free newsletter called good Taste to share recipes, tips 909 00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:02,520 Speaker 2: and kitchen muscle asks. Just sign up at Katiecouric dot 910 00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:06,080 Speaker 2: com slash good Taste. That's k A t I E 911 00:46:06,320 --> 00:46:10,040 Speaker 2: c o U r ic dot com slash good Taste. 912 00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:14,719 Speaker 2: I promised your taste buds will be happy you did. 913 00:46:23,320 --> 00:46:26,000 Speaker 2: Before we talk about today, because I want to ask 914 00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:28,279 Speaker 2: you some things about President Trump. I do want to 915 00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:31,080 Speaker 2: go back for a moment to talk about FDR and 916 00:46:31,160 --> 00:46:34,520 Speaker 2: his role in all of this, because I admire I 917 00:46:34,680 --> 00:46:39,719 Speaker 2: stan FDR in modern day parlance, and I thought it 918 00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:42,680 Speaker 2: was really interesting what you wrote about him. You said 919 00:46:43,160 --> 00:46:47,560 Speaker 2: that even though handling the economy wasn't actually Roosevelt's strength. 920 00:46:47,560 --> 00:46:48,680 Speaker 1: It was not his things. 921 00:46:48,719 --> 00:46:52,239 Speaker 2: Somehow Americans grew to trust him anyway, and as a 922 00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:54,920 Speaker 2: whole world fell apart, the United States fed off his 923 00:46:55,120 --> 00:46:59,319 Speaker 2: abundant confidence. People were desperate to believe in something. And 924 00:46:59,360 --> 00:47:02,160 Speaker 2: then you add, certainly didn't believe in money anymore. 925 00:47:02,320 --> 00:47:02,840 Speaker 1: That's true. 926 00:47:02,920 --> 00:47:05,800 Speaker 2: So just tell me what I don't know about FDR. 927 00:47:06,239 --> 00:47:08,880 Speaker 1: FDR. I don't want to say FDR was Trumpian, but 928 00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:11,200 Speaker 1: FDR was kind of Trumpian. I mean, I think that 929 00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:15,239 Speaker 1: people there were people who just were believers, They really believed. 930 00:47:15,520 --> 00:47:18,040 Speaker 1: I don't think that anybody would have told you that 931 00:47:18,120 --> 00:47:21,000 Speaker 1: somehow FDR was some kind of you know, financial genius 932 00:47:21,080 --> 00:47:24,440 Speaker 1: or guru who understood how to deal with the economy. 933 00:47:24,440 --> 00:47:27,480 Speaker 1: I think he saw a mess. It was a mess. 934 00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:29,680 Speaker 1: I think he got a little bit lucky in terms 935 00:47:29,719 --> 00:47:32,800 Speaker 1: of the timing of when he came in and the fact, frankly, 936 00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:35,640 Speaker 1: that Hoover didn't make certain decisions he probably should have 937 00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:39,480 Speaker 1: or could have in the year or two before Roosevelt arrived, 938 00:47:40,360 --> 00:47:43,640 Speaker 1: and the country was sort of so psychologically damaged that 939 00:47:43,680 --> 00:47:47,720 Speaker 1: they just wanted, they like, almost willed certain things to happen. 940 00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:51,200 Speaker 1: And then of course the New Deal comes around. But 941 00:47:51,280 --> 00:47:55,879 Speaker 1: that was not like an economic plan really initially it was. 942 00:47:55,920 --> 00:47:59,400 Speaker 1: There was so many other social aspects to what he 943 00:47:59,440 --> 00:48:02,360 Speaker 1: was trying to do. But it all happened to work 944 00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:04,640 Speaker 1: and so and then of course World War two comes 945 00:48:04,640 --> 00:48:07,080 Speaker 1: along and that helps economically too. So there's there's a 946 00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:10,200 Speaker 1: whole bunch of things that I think we give Roosevelt 947 00:48:10,280 --> 00:48:12,479 Speaker 1: a lot of credit. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve. 948 00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:15,920 Speaker 1: It happened on his watch, but I'm not sure it 949 00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:19,640 Speaker 1: happened because he was the messiah when it comes to 950 00:48:19,719 --> 00:48:21,200 Speaker 1: economic activity. 951 00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:26,600 Speaker 2: Speaking of messiahs or lack thereof, let's talk about Donald 952 00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:30,680 Speaker 2: Trump and his economic plans. Yes, just thirty seven percent 953 00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:34,240 Speaker 2: of US adults approve of his handling of the economy, 954 00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:39,000 Speaker 2: according to a recent APRC Center for Public Affairs poll. 955 00:48:39,760 --> 00:48:41,759 Speaker 2: What do you make of that number, given that so 956 00:48:41,840 --> 00:48:45,839 Speaker 2: many people look to him as a businessman, an all 957 00:48:45,920 --> 00:48:49,040 Speaker 2: knowing businessman, to set the economy straight. 958 00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:54,000 Speaker 1: So this to me is a complicated question, and more 959 00:48:54,040 --> 00:48:58,319 Speaker 1: complicated maybe than you'd think. I don't know. The economy 960 00:48:58,400 --> 00:49:03,040 Speaker 1: seems to be doing shockingly well, at least on the surface. Now, 961 00:49:03,080 --> 00:49:05,560 Speaker 1: I would argue one of the reasons for that is 962 00:49:05,600 --> 00:49:08,279 Speaker 1: this AI bubble. I think if you would actually take 963 00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:11,360 Speaker 1: the AI investment piece out of it and look at 964 00:49:11,360 --> 00:49:13,640 Speaker 1: the rest of the economy, you'd say, actually, kind of 965 00:49:13,719 --> 00:49:16,560 Speaker 1: lowsy or not so great. And then you throw on 966 00:49:16,640 --> 00:49:19,880 Speaker 1: the tariff piece that he's put in place, and you 967 00:49:19,920 --> 00:49:24,840 Speaker 1: say to yourself, Okay, that is creating more of a 968 00:49:24,880 --> 00:49:29,319 Speaker 1: slowdown than we give it credit for. Because AI is 969 00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:32,279 Speaker 1: powering so much of it. I think it's masking a 970 00:49:32,320 --> 00:49:35,080 Speaker 1: lot of the other things that are happening in the economy. 971 00:49:35,280 --> 00:49:37,600 Speaker 2: Are you talking about the stock market or the. 972 00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:40,359 Speaker 1: I'm talking about the overall economy. So when I say 973 00:49:40,400 --> 00:49:42,840 Speaker 1: AI bubble, people think, oh, AI bubble is like the 974 00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:46,000 Speaker 1: Nvidia stock That's not what's happening here. The AI bubble 975 00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:51,120 Speaker 1: is impacting the entire economy. So what's happening is companies 976 00:49:51,160 --> 00:49:54,239 Speaker 1: are spending hundreds of billions of dollars. Those hundreds of 977 00:49:54,239 --> 00:49:56,720 Speaker 1: billions of dollars are being used to build a data 978 00:49:56,760 --> 00:49:59,919 Speaker 1: center or data centers all over. What does that mean? 979 00:50:00,160 --> 00:50:02,040 Speaker 1: Someone has to buy new real estate, they have to 980 00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:05,359 Speaker 1: go construct the data center. They have to create new 981 00:50:05,480 --> 00:50:09,319 Speaker 1: forms of energy. So the energy companies, the electricians, the 982 00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:12,600 Speaker 1: construction guide. I mean this is huge amounts, and obviously 983 00:50:12,680 --> 00:50:16,080 Speaker 1: the chip makers. There's so many pieces of the economy 984 00:50:16,080 --> 00:50:17,480 Speaker 1: where people are getting jobs now. 985 00:50:17,680 --> 00:50:20,360 Speaker 2: And what about companies too that have to hire people 986 00:50:20,360 --> 00:50:23,960 Speaker 2: to help understand how AI is going to impact their business. 987 00:50:24,080 --> 00:50:25,680 Speaker 2: Is that contributing to it as well? 988 00:50:25,960 --> 00:50:27,960 Speaker 1: I mean, I think there's a little bit of that happening. 989 00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:29,560 Speaker 1: I think the truth is more people who lose their 990 00:50:29,640 --> 00:50:32,680 Speaker 1: job in the short term from AI than the new 991 00:50:32,680 --> 00:50:36,520 Speaker 1: people that are actually coming on bubble transform to transform 992 00:50:36,560 --> 00:50:38,239 Speaker 1: the stuff. And the truth is a lot of this 993 00:50:38,280 --> 00:50:40,319 Speaker 1: is a sugar high. So I would say, are we 994 00:50:40,360 --> 00:50:43,280 Speaker 1: in like a gold rush or a sugar rush? Because 995 00:50:43,640 --> 00:50:45,200 Speaker 1: you know you're going to build the data center, which 996 00:50:45,239 --> 00:50:48,000 Speaker 1: could each data centers can take hundreds of people to build, 997 00:50:48,680 --> 00:50:51,319 Speaker 1: but once the data center is built, it could take 998 00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:53,640 Speaker 1: five or ten people to manage the data center. It's 999 00:50:53,640 --> 00:50:56,080 Speaker 1: not like it requires thousands of people. 1000 00:50:56,400 --> 00:50:58,640 Speaker 2: So even if this is a bubble though, Andrew, why 1001 00:50:58,640 --> 00:51:01,239 Speaker 2: do just thirty seven percent of people approve of his 1002 00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:02,560 Speaker 2: handling of the economy. 1003 00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:05,919 Speaker 1: I think costs are going up. It feels like things 1004 00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:09,520 Speaker 1: are still more expensive. I think that's true to some extent, though, 1005 00:51:09,560 --> 00:51:11,680 Speaker 1: by the way, to his credit, there's certain things that 1006 00:51:11,719 --> 00:51:13,719 Speaker 1: are cheaper than they used to be, and other things 1007 00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:16,319 Speaker 1: that are more expensive than they used to be. I 1008 00:51:16,360 --> 00:51:20,000 Speaker 1: think people are just anxious and worried about, you know, 1009 00:51:20,040 --> 00:51:23,399 Speaker 1: where we really are. And I think that in the 1010 00:51:23,440 --> 00:51:27,000 Speaker 1: areas where he said that he was going to make 1011 00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:30,040 Speaker 1: big changes, this is in the industrial you know, russ 1012 00:51:30,040 --> 00:51:32,400 Speaker 1: belt of America. I don't think you've actually seen the 1013 00:51:32,400 --> 00:51:34,440 Speaker 1: real changes. But we also haven't talked about like immigration 1014 00:51:34,520 --> 00:51:37,799 Speaker 1: is a big issue. If you don't have immigrants, that's 1015 00:51:37,840 --> 00:51:41,040 Speaker 1: a problem. There's a lot of sort of economic forces 1016 00:51:41,080 --> 00:51:44,760 Speaker 1: at play here between tariffs and immigration and everything else 1017 00:51:45,680 --> 00:51:48,560 Speaker 1: that I think we have to be thinking about. Having 1018 00:51:48,600 --> 00:51:51,680 Speaker 1: said that, one of the biggest shifts in this whole conversation, 1019 00:51:51,960 --> 00:51:56,319 Speaker 1: and the President has made it such, is they're now 1020 00:51:56,360 --> 00:52:02,480 Speaker 1: tying tariffs to national security. And that's a very interesting concept, 1021 00:52:03,280 --> 00:52:04,879 Speaker 1: by the way, that's the concept we were not talking 1022 00:52:04,880 --> 00:52:06,040 Speaker 1: about in nineteen twenty nine. 1023 00:52:06,280 --> 00:52:08,799 Speaker 2: Interesting or scary, I don't know. 1024 00:52:10,120 --> 00:52:13,840 Speaker 1: I'm not sure. If we didn't have tariffs on cars 1025 00:52:13,840 --> 00:52:17,200 Speaker 1: in America. There's a company called byd in China that 1026 00:52:17,239 --> 00:52:20,839 Speaker 1: can make the cars better and cheaper than any car 1027 00:52:20,880 --> 00:52:24,760 Speaker 1: that's made here. We would have no automobile industry at all. 1028 00:52:24,960 --> 00:52:26,920 Speaker 1: You wouldn't make it a car here, just wouldn't happen. 1029 00:52:27,680 --> 00:52:30,840 Speaker 1: Is that okay? Is that acceptable that there would be 1030 00:52:30,880 --> 00:52:33,480 Speaker 1: no automobile industry if there was ever a problem where 1031 00:52:33,480 --> 00:52:36,840 Speaker 1: you couldn't get access to cars in China? Would that 1032 00:52:36,880 --> 00:52:39,480 Speaker 1: be a problem. I think we did learn during the 1033 00:52:39,520 --> 00:52:43,600 Speaker 1: pandemic that you do need some form of resilience around drugs, 1034 00:52:43,680 --> 00:52:48,319 Speaker 1: around masks, around potentially cars and parts and all sorts 1035 00:52:48,360 --> 00:52:51,040 Speaker 1: of things. So I think there's this very interesting question 1036 00:52:51,080 --> 00:52:53,759 Speaker 1: that we all have to resolve, which is, yes, we 1037 00:52:53,800 --> 00:52:57,000 Speaker 1: could get the cheaper product from other places and we 1038 00:52:57,040 --> 00:53:00,160 Speaker 1: could become a complete services economy, sort of like what 1039 00:53:00,160 --> 00:53:02,880 Speaker 1: the UK did, or we could decide that we actually 1040 00:53:02,920 --> 00:53:04,799 Speaker 1: need to be making these products here, and if we're 1041 00:53:04,800 --> 00:53:06,200 Speaker 1: going to make these products here, then we got to 1042 00:53:06,200 --> 00:53:06,680 Speaker 1: figure out how. 1043 00:53:06,640 --> 00:53:08,959 Speaker 2: We're going to do that, and how we're going to compete. 1044 00:53:08,760 --> 00:53:11,280 Speaker 1: And how we'd compete. I think we're not going to compete, 1045 00:53:11,280 --> 00:53:13,080 Speaker 1: by the way, that's the other thing. So all these 1046 00:53:13,120 --> 00:53:14,600 Speaker 1: tariffs are going to mean we're not going to compete. 1047 00:53:14,600 --> 00:53:16,919 Speaker 1: It is likely the ten years from now, I'm talking 1048 00:53:16,920 --> 00:53:18,960 Speaker 1: to the CEO of a big auto company. Ten years 1049 00:53:18,960 --> 00:53:23,760 Speaker 1: from now, we will pay more for lousier cars in America, 1050 00:53:24,120 --> 00:53:26,720 Speaker 1: then most people will be able to get in other places. 1051 00:53:26,719 --> 00:53:30,160 Speaker 1: You'll go on vacation to Europe or to Asia or 1052 00:53:30,200 --> 00:53:32,319 Speaker 1: somewhere like that, and you will sit in the back 1053 00:53:32,360 --> 00:53:34,600 Speaker 1: of a car and think, Wow, this is pretty great. 1054 00:53:34,680 --> 00:53:36,839 Speaker 1: We don't have things like this, or we have things 1055 00:53:36,920 --> 00:53:39,040 Speaker 1: like this, but they cost so much that nobody has them. 1056 00:53:39,160 --> 00:53:42,360 Speaker 2: And do you think Americans can tolerate pay more for 1057 00:53:42,440 --> 00:53:43,400 Speaker 2: crummy products? 1058 00:53:43,760 --> 00:53:46,080 Speaker 1: That's the fundamental question, or less. 1059 00:53:45,840 --> 00:53:47,720 Speaker 2: Less good products. I shouldn't say. 1060 00:53:47,640 --> 00:53:49,600 Speaker 1: We don't really like to pay more for things that 1061 00:53:49,640 --> 00:53:52,359 Speaker 1: say made in America. Most people don't. Most people don't 1062 00:53:52,360 --> 00:53:55,359 Speaker 1: seem to care. See the little sticker in the back 1063 00:53:55,360 --> 00:53:58,600 Speaker 1: it says man China made in America. Nobody seems to really. 1064 00:53:58,920 --> 00:54:01,400 Speaker 2: Just give me the I want and give me the 1065 00:54:01,400 --> 00:54:03,000 Speaker 2: best problem to pay too much, and I. 1066 00:54:03,000 --> 00:54:04,920 Speaker 1: Don't want to pay too much. And I think we 1067 00:54:04,960 --> 00:54:06,760 Speaker 1: as a country sort of have to come to grips 1068 00:54:06,760 --> 00:54:07,680 Speaker 1: with what that means. 1069 00:54:07,840 --> 00:54:10,239 Speaker 2: And we could talk about like wire cars so much 1070 00:54:10,280 --> 00:54:13,760 Speaker 2: more expensive and lower quality in this country versus China, 1071 00:54:14,280 --> 00:54:16,719 Speaker 2: right because we pay people to make them. 1072 00:54:16,760 --> 00:54:18,800 Speaker 1: Because we pay people to make them, that's a huge 1073 00:54:18,840 --> 00:54:20,640 Speaker 1: part of it we pay people to make them, and 1074 00:54:20,680 --> 00:54:22,279 Speaker 1: so we have decided do we want to pay people 1075 00:54:22,320 --> 00:54:23,959 Speaker 1: to make them? I mean, these are all of that. 1076 00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:26,040 Speaker 2: Are we going to even need people making them in 1077 00:54:26,080 --> 00:54:27,040 Speaker 2: the era of AI? 1078 00:54:27,400 --> 00:54:30,759 Speaker 1: We may not because the robots may ultimately make them. 1079 00:54:31,360 --> 00:54:32,440 Speaker 2: My head is exploding. 1080 00:54:32,560 --> 00:54:33,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's tough stuff. 1081 00:54:34,600 --> 00:54:38,400 Speaker 2: How would you characterize Trump's economic philosophy? I wanted to 1082 00:54:38,400 --> 00:54:41,080 Speaker 2: ask Condy Rice. Andrew and I were at a conference 1083 00:54:41,120 --> 00:54:44,600 Speaker 2: recently and Kandy Rice was there. I wanted to have 1084 00:54:44,680 --> 00:54:49,839 Speaker 2: her characterize Trump's foreign policy philosophy. Unfortunately I didn't get 1085 00:54:49,840 --> 00:54:52,200 Speaker 2: to ask her the question. So let me ask you, 1086 00:54:52,320 --> 00:54:56,960 Speaker 2: how would you describe his economic philosophy? It seems all 1087 00:54:57,000 --> 00:54:57,720 Speaker 2: over the place. 1088 00:54:58,200 --> 00:55:01,360 Speaker 1: I think there's actually one through line everything the man does, 1089 00:55:01,680 --> 00:55:06,759 Speaker 1: which is he wants leverage over everyone, everyone, over people, 1090 00:55:06,840 --> 00:55:09,920 Speaker 1: over countries. Where can he find the leverage? Where is 1091 00:55:09,960 --> 00:55:13,600 Speaker 1: the leverage point that he will have over somebody else? 1092 00:55:14,200 --> 00:55:19,800 Speaker 1: That is the entirety of the strategy. He went after 1093 00:55:19,960 --> 00:55:22,040 Speaker 1: the universities, for example, and said I'm going to take 1094 00:55:22,160 --> 00:55:25,360 Speaker 1: your money away for science and other things. He looked 1095 00:55:25,360 --> 00:55:28,239 Speaker 1: and said, I don't like the DEI policies at universities. 1096 00:55:28,560 --> 00:55:31,520 Speaker 1: Do I have any leverage with these people. Well I do. Actually, 1097 00:55:31,680 --> 00:55:34,040 Speaker 1: if I take their science money away right. 1098 00:55:34,360 --> 00:55:36,680 Speaker 2: Now, they're federal funding for all those schools, or. 1099 00:55:36,680 --> 00:55:40,080 Speaker 1: They're federal funding away. Do I have leverage over China? 1100 00:55:40,200 --> 00:55:42,719 Speaker 1: Do I have leverage over Europe? Do I have? You know, 1101 00:55:43,120 --> 00:55:45,560 Speaker 1: I don't like the way Europe's treating American companies. Well 1102 00:55:45,600 --> 00:55:48,040 Speaker 1: maybe if I have they need? What do I have 1103 00:55:48,120 --> 00:55:51,319 Speaker 1: that they need? And can I put the screws to them? 1104 00:55:51,440 --> 00:55:53,040 Speaker 1: And if I put the screws to them, will they 1105 00:55:53,040 --> 00:55:55,960 Speaker 1: then do what I want? That is the strategy. 1106 00:55:56,200 --> 00:55:59,520 Speaker 2: I'm clary aboard. As someone who knows the economy like 1107 00:55:59,520 --> 00:56:02,319 Speaker 2: the back of it hand. What are the pitfalls of 1108 00:56:02,640 --> 00:56:04,160 Speaker 2: running a country that way? 1109 00:56:04,560 --> 00:56:07,880 Speaker 1: Well, it depends. This is a very interesting question. Depends 1110 00:56:07,920 --> 00:56:11,319 Speaker 1: how mercenary you think the world really is. So I 1111 00:56:11,360 --> 00:56:13,719 Speaker 1: think for the last fifty years, we've actually thought that 1112 00:56:13,760 --> 00:56:17,000 Speaker 1: we could be a role model for the world, and 1113 00:56:17,520 --> 00:56:20,040 Speaker 1: that we wanted people to like us, and we did 1114 00:56:20,080 --> 00:56:22,200 Speaker 1: lots of things to make people like us. We let 1115 00:56:22,239 --> 00:56:26,120 Speaker 1: our most of our economy be open, We tried to 1116 00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:31,120 Speaker 1: share our prosperity with others. We oftentimes were donating money 1117 00:56:31,160 --> 00:56:33,799 Speaker 1: to other countries and bailing them out, and doing all 1118 00:56:33,840 --> 00:56:37,480 Speaker 1: sorts of things, and the question is did that help 1119 00:56:37,560 --> 00:56:39,960 Speaker 1: us or not. He believes it did not help us. 1120 00:56:40,040 --> 00:56:43,120 Speaker 1: He believes we had no leverage over these people and 1121 00:56:43,160 --> 00:56:44,359 Speaker 1: that they took advantage of us. 1122 00:56:44,440 --> 00:56:46,279 Speaker 2: I was going to say that we got screwed, that. 1123 00:56:46,239 --> 00:56:48,440 Speaker 1: We got screwed. I think it's hard to say we 1124 00:56:48,480 --> 00:56:50,520 Speaker 1: got screwed because I think the truth is we are 1125 00:56:50,640 --> 00:56:54,399 Speaker 1: still this great Shanning Hill city, a city on a hill, 1126 00:56:54,520 --> 00:56:57,520 Speaker 1: thank you. We could also be a hill. Yeah, And 1127 00:56:57,560 --> 00:56:59,640 Speaker 1: I think we probably did get screwed in certain things, 1128 00:56:59,640 --> 00:57:01,720 Speaker 1: but I think think on the whole we've done pretty 1129 00:57:01,719 --> 00:57:03,200 Speaker 1: well doing it this way. 1130 00:57:03,640 --> 00:57:07,640 Speaker 2: And then this desire to have leverage on everyone, Let's 1131 00:57:07,640 --> 00:57:11,840 Speaker 2: face it, it can also be very alienating to countries 1132 00:57:11,880 --> 00:57:13,560 Speaker 2: when we need them, right. 1133 00:57:13,360 --> 00:57:15,120 Speaker 1: Well, that's going to be the big question when we 1134 00:57:15,200 --> 00:57:17,600 Speaker 1: actually need them, what's going to happen? And I don't 1135 00:57:17,600 --> 00:57:20,720 Speaker 1: think we know the answer. There's so many things where 1136 00:57:20,760 --> 00:57:24,000 Speaker 1: this president is just shifting and changing the way we've 1137 00:57:24,000 --> 00:57:26,600 Speaker 1: done things. Taking stakes in companies. 1138 00:57:26,200 --> 00:57:28,320 Speaker 2: Well, I wanted to ask you about that. Can you 1139 00:57:28,400 --> 00:57:32,000 Speaker 2: talk about the government taking a ten percent interest and 1140 00:57:32,160 --> 00:57:36,600 Speaker 2: intell because it is so unprecedented and explain it to me. 1141 00:57:36,800 --> 00:57:41,120 Speaker 2: Somebody who doesn't really understand the economy that well, how 1142 00:57:41,160 --> 00:57:44,400 Speaker 2: this is so needless to say unconventional. 1143 00:57:44,520 --> 00:57:49,240 Speaker 1: Okay, So historically we claimed we had a free market, 1144 00:57:49,520 --> 00:57:52,560 Speaker 1: and the free market was such that companies could succeed, 1145 00:57:53,000 --> 00:57:57,440 Speaker 1: they could fail, and the government was not an investor 1146 00:57:57,760 --> 00:58:00,000 Speaker 1: or playing a real role in this. Maybe they were playing. 1147 00:58:00,000 --> 00:58:01,320 Speaker 2: We did bail out companies. 1148 00:58:01,880 --> 00:58:04,440 Speaker 1: We have bailed out companies, but typically there was a 1149 00:58:04,520 --> 00:58:06,960 Speaker 1: serious crisis. It was a crisis, and the reason for 1150 00:58:07,000 --> 00:58:09,160 Speaker 1: bailing them in two thousand and eight was we believe 1151 00:58:09,200 --> 00:58:10,800 Speaker 1: that if we didn't bail them out, it was going 1152 00:58:10,840 --> 00:58:14,160 Speaker 1: to have a wider effect on the economy. So here 1153 00:58:14,200 --> 00:58:19,120 Speaker 1: we are, Intel is struggling. We've decided, as a country, 1154 00:58:19,200 --> 00:58:22,600 Speaker 1: or at least this president has decided that chips and 1155 00:58:22,640 --> 00:58:25,240 Speaker 1: making chips in America is a super important thing to 1156 00:58:25,280 --> 00:58:28,600 Speaker 1: do for national security reasons. Most of our chips are 1157 00:58:28,640 --> 00:58:30,439 Speaker 1: not made in America. We need to start making chips 1158 00:58:30,480 --> 00:58:34,640 Speaker 1: in America. The Biden administration had given money to Intel 1159 00:58:35,080 --> 00:58:37,880 Speaker 1: as a grant, said here's the money. We're not asking 1160 00:58:37,880 --> 00:58:40,200 Speaker 1: for anything in return. What we're getting in return is 1161 00:58:40,240 --> 00:58:42,400 Speaker 1: we'll have national security and we'll have more resilience because 1162 00:58:42,440 --> 00:58:44,800 Speaker 1: chips will be made here, but we're not asking for 1163 00:58:45,080 --> 00:58:48,920 Speaker 1: anything else. Handing you the money, Intel, to be honest, 1164 00:58:49,040 --> 00:58:52,160 Speaker 1: became a mess. It was probably a bad investment in 1165 00:58:52,280 --> 00:58:56,960 Speaker 1: Intel to start with, and became an even bigger problem. 1166 00:58:57,560 --> 00:59:01,560 Speaker 1: Intel needed more money, more money, but needed this sort 1167 00:59:01,560 --> 00:59:03,120 Speaker 1: of the next tranch of the money that they were 1168 00:59:03,120 --> 00:59:06,360 Speaker 1: going to get, and this president said, you know what 1169 00:59:06,520 --> 00:59:09,000 Speaker 1: this whole thing is, so screwball. I want more. If 1170 00:59:09,040 --> 00:59:10,920 Speaker 1: I'm going to give you all this money, and instead 1171 00:59:10,920 --> 00:59:12,240 Speaker 1: of granting you the money. 1172 00:59:12,000 --> 00:59:14,440 Speaker 2: Just so you could have it, what's in it for me? 1173 00:59:14,560 --> 00:59:16,400 Speaker 1: What's in it for me? I want a piece of 1174 00:59:16,400 --> 00:59:18,720 Speaker 1: the action, and I want the taxpayer to have a 1175 00:59:18,760 --> 00:59:20,200 Speaker 1: piece of the action. So if Intel is going to 1176 00:59:20,240 --> 00:59:22,840 Speaker 1: do better over time, I want them to be able 1177 00:59:22,880 --> 00:59:25,040 Speaker 1: to have shares in the company. And if they do worse, 1178 00:59:25,080 --> 00:59:28,280 Speaker 1: by the way, we'll also lose our shares too. That's 1179 00:59:28,280 --> 00:59:31,280 Speaker 1: the conceit of what happens. The problem with doing something 1180 00:59:31,360 --> 00:59:36,480 Speaker 1: like this, in my mind, is it changes the dynamic. 1181 00:59:36,600 --> 00:59:41,240 Speaker 1: Once the government becomes an investor in companies plural. So 1182 00:59:41,480 --> 00:59:44,960 Speaker 1: let's say Intel in the future wants to merge with 1183 00:59:45,040 --> 00:59:49,560 Speaker 1: another company, and normally whatever that merger is a regulator 1184 00:59:49,640 --> 00:59:52,040 Speaker 1: might say, you know what, this seems like really bad 1185 00:59:52,040 --> 00:59:54,400 Speaker 1: for customers. We don't want two of these big guys 1186 00:59:54,440 --> 00:59:58,120 Speaker 1: getting together like this. Well, how does that dynamic in 1187 00:59:58,200 --> 01:00:02,200 Speaker 1: that conversation change when you say to yourself, we actually 1188 01:00:02,200 --> 01:00:04,840 Speaker 1: own ten percent of this company, and if we do this, 1189 01:00:05,480 --> 01:00:07,640 Speaker 1: we will do a lot, but taxpayer will do a lot. 1190 01:00:07,680 --> 01:00:11,120 Speaker 1: But customers make get screwed. But the taxpayers, the US 1191 01:00:11,160 --> 01:00:13,040 Speaker 1: government that owns this will do better. So all of 1192 01:00:13,080 --> 01:00:13,840 Speaker 1: a sudden, it's sort of. 1193 01:00:13,760 --> 01:00:16,680 Speaker 2: We're seeing it with these mergers of media companies that 1194 01:00:16,840 --> 01:00:18,720 Speaker 2: play out in a different way. Die way. 1195 01:00:18,760 --> 01:00:21,480 Speaker 1: It just changes the whole dynamic with which how everything 1196 01:00:21,520 --> 01:00:23,480 Speaker 1: gets played out, and it becomes political. 1197 01:00:24,120 --> 01:00:26,400 Speaker 2: So do you see this happening more and more? Is 1198 01:00:26,400 --> 01:00:27,640 Speaker 2: this kind of a one off thase? 1199 01:00:27,720 --> 01:00:30,120 Speaker 1: No, Well, you're having it happen right now with rare earths, 1200 01:00:30,240 --> 01:00:33,400 Speaker 1: these rare earth companies, which again we may need rare 1201 01:00:33,400 --> 01:00:37,200 Speaker 1: earths in this country to have great success. Should those 1202 01:00:37,360 --> 01:00:41,960 Speaker 1: be independent businesses? Should the government effectively subsidize them, If 1203 01:00:42,000 --> 01:00:44,880 Speaker 1: they do subsidize them, should they get money? I have 1204 01:00:44,920 --> 01:00:46,560 Speaker 1: one for you, And actually, because I think about this, 1205 01:00:46,640 --> 01:00:48,360 Speaker 1: and I actually do think it's a very interesting one. 1206 01:00:48,640 --> 01:00:50,800 Speaker 1: So One of the things that the Trump administration wants 1207 01:00:50,840 --> 01:00:53,640 Speaker 1: to do is right now, the US government gives grants 1208 01:00:53,680 --> 01:00:57,880 Speaker 1: to universities all the time, and scientists use that grant 1209 01:00:57,920 --> 01:01:04,240 Speaker 1: money and they make amazing discovers inventions, and the profits 1210 01:01:04,280 --> 01:01:08,880 Speaker 1: of those inventions and the patents for those inventions typically 1211 01:01:08,960 --> 01:01:13,880 Speaker 1: go to the scientist and the university that's behind them. Now, 1212 01:01:13,920 --> 01:01:16,640 Speaker 1: the money that was used to pay the scientist and 1213 01:01:16,680 --> 01:01:20,360 Speaker 1: the university came from you, Katie Kirk, and me and 1214 01:01:20,400 --> 01:01:23,600 Speaker 1: everybody in this room and who's listening and watching, because 1215 01:01:23,600 --> 01:01:27,960 Speaker 1: we're the taxpayers. Historically, we have never gotten anything. We 1216 01:01:28,040 --> 01:01:30,040 Speaker 1: have had no stake in it. What we've gotten is 1217 01:01:30,080 --> 01:01:34,160 Speaker 1: the invention. We've decided that the invention, unto itself is 1218 01:01:34,160 --> 01:01:39,560 Speaker 1: the benefit for our society. Right, should we, like an investor, 1219 01:01:39,640 --> 01:01:43,880 Speaker 1: would get a stake in the patent because that's the 1220 01:01:43,920 --> 01:01:45,760 Speaker 1: next place this is all going. They're going to go 1221 01:01:45,800 --> 01:01:49,440 Speaker 1: to the universities and say, look, you want this grant money. Great, 1222 01:01:49,800 --> 01:01:52,800 Speaker 1: if you have a great success creating crisper or the 1223 01:01:52,800 --> 01:01:56,200 Speaker 1: next great drug, the US taxpayer should get a little 1224 01:01:56,240 --> 01:01:58,480 Speaker 1: bit of that money. And you would look at that 1225 01:01:58,680 --> 01:02:00,920 Speaker 1: and also in the context and say, oh, this government 1226 01:02:01,200 --> 01:02:04,640 Speaker 1: we as a country are overspending and not taking enough revenue. 1227 01:02:04,880 --> 01:02:06,880 Speaker 1: You have to figure out new ways to get revenue. 1228 01:02:07,480 --> 01:02:09,800 Speaker 1: That would be one way to do it. Is that good? 1229 01:02:10,240 --> 01:02:12,920 Speaker 1: Is that bad? The science community will tell you it's horrible. 1230 01:02:13,360 --> 01:02:16,960 Speaker 2: Why, I know, why would the science community be so against. 1231 01:02:16,640 --> 01:02:20,600 Speaker 1: That, Because they would say that they deserve the fruits 1232 01:02:20,600 --> 01:02:23,600 Speaker 1: of their labor and that these are non inventions of 1233 01:02:23,680 --> 01:02:26,840 Speaker 1: the taxpayer, and that the American public is getting a 1234 01:02:26,880 --> 01:02:28,120 Speaker 1: great benefit. 1235 01:02:28,000 --> 01:02:29,520 Speaker 2: Because it's life saving work. 1236 01:02:29,560 --> 01:02:33,120 Speaker 1: Because it's life saving work, what do you think? I 1237 01:02:33,120 --> 01:02:35,600 Speaker 1: have totally mixed views of it. I don't know. I 1238 01:02:35,640 --> 01:02:37,800 Speaker 1: don't know if we said we want ten percent of 1239 01:02:37,800 --> 01:02:42,439 Speaker 1: the action, whether that would change the dynamic with which 1240 01:02:42,480 --> 01:02:46,160 Speaker 1: the universities would do this work, whether the professors a 1241 01:02:46,160 --> 01:02:47,760 Speaker 1: scientists would not do this work or do. 1242 01:02:47,720 --> 01:02:49,280 Speaker 2: It different to a different country. 1243 01:02:49,440 --> 01:02:50,200 Speaker 1: I don't know that. 1244 01:02:50,360 --> 01:02:52,600 Speaker 2: I mean, right now they're not getting the funding, so 1245 01:02:52,640 --> 01:02:53,960 Speaker 2: it's kind of a moot point. 1246 01:02:54,000 --> 01:02:57,920 Speaker 1: Philosophically, it's a very interesting concept. And irrespective whether you 1247 01:02:57,920 --> 01:03:00,360 Speaker 1: think President Trump is a good president or a bad president, 1248 01:03:00,560 --> 01:03:03,320 Speaker 1: these are some of the ideas that he's throwing around, 1249 01:03:04,280 --> 01:03:07,360 Speaker 1: some of which I think at least merit A conversation 1250 01:03:07,720 --> 01:03:10,240 Speaker 1: about saying Okay, maybe this is good, maybe this is bad. 1251 01:03:10,480 --> 01:03:13,680 Speaker 2: What about his view of the Federal Reserve. I mean, 1252 01:03:13,680 --> 01:03:17,240 Speaker 2: it's very different. It's been a core guard rail for 1253 01:03:17,320 --> 01:03:20,720 Speaker 2: decades and now he's pressuring as you know. I mean 1254 01:03:20,720 --> 01:03:24,040 Speaker 2: you probably talk about this every morning, Andrew Jerome Pile 1255 01:03:24,360 --> 01:03:29,200 Speaker 2: trying to ausk Governor Lisa Cook talk about the threats 1256 01:03:29,320 --> 01:03:32,440 Speaker 2: to the Fed's independence. This is a different way of 1257 01:03:32,480 --> 01:03:35,360 Speaker 2: looking at the Federal Reserve. Should it be an arm 1258 01:03:35,680 --> 01:03:38,720 Speaker 2: of the executive branch or should it be independent? 1259 01:03:39,040 --> 01:03:41,360 Speaker 1: This I have a much stronger view about. I think 1260 01:03:41,360 --> 01:03:43,960 Speaker 1: politics has to stay very very far away from the 1261 01:03:44,000 --> 01:03:45,800 Speaker 1: Federal Reserve. And by the way, to bring it back 1262 01:03:46,040 --> 01:03:48,600 Speaker 1: oddly to nineteen twenty nine, one of the reasons that 1263 01:03:48,640 --> 01:03:50,640 Speaker 1: the Federal Reserve didn't do what it probably should have 1264 01:03:50,640 --> 01:03:52,880 Speaker 1: done in nineteen twenty nine, which is raise interest rates 1265 01:03:53,080 --> 01:03:56,280 Speaker 1: in a material way, was because they were worried about 1266 01:03:56,280 --> 01:03:58,160 Speaker 1: the politics of it. They were worried about the optics 1267 01:03:58,160 --> 01:04:01,280 Speaker 1: of it. The Federal Reserve was a entity started in 1268 01:04:01,360 --> 01:04:04,000 Speaker 1: nineteen thirteen, and these guys thought, you know, what if 1269 01:04:04,000 --> 01:04:06,520 Speaker 1: we do something that damages the economy, meaning we like 1270 01:04:06,560 --> 01:04:08,560 Speaker 1: try to clamp down on all of this, we're gonna 1271 01:04:08,560 --> 01:04:10,439 Speaker 1: get hauled up in front of Congress. We may lose 1272 01:04:10,440 --> 01:04:12,600 Speaker 1: our jobs, but not just that. The Federal Reserve may disappear. 1273 01:04:13,240 --> 01:04:14,920 Speaker 1: Now it's been around for a while, so people think 1274 01:04:14,960 --> 01:04:17,240 Speaker 1: it's supposed to be here. That was not the case 1275 01:04:17,240 --> 01:04:21,520 Speaker 1: back then. You do not want political pressure on the 1276 01:04:21,560 --> 01:04:23,840 Speaker 1: folks operating the Federal Reserve. You want them to be 1277 01:04:23,880 --> 01:04:28,520 Speaker 1: making a decision based on the math. Frankly, and the 1278 01:04:28,560 --> 01:04:33,000 Speaker 1: second you think politics gets involved. At some point, I 1279 01:04:33,000 --> 01:04:37,040 Speaker 1: would imagine that investors around the world to invest and 1280 01:04:37,080 --> 01:04:40,080 Speaker 1: buy treasuries in America would say to themselves, do you 1281 01:04:40,120 --> 01:04:43,560 Speaker 1: know what right now? I pay X percent for the 1282 01:04:43,600 --> 01:04:45,720 Speaker 1: bond and you have to give me this kind of 1283 01:04:45,720 --> 01:04:48,440 Speaker 1: premium because I trust you. But if you're going to 1284 01:04:48,440 --> 01:04:50,800 Speaker 1: politicize all of this and I don't know what you're doing, 1285 01:04:51,320 --> 01:04:54,120 Speaker 1: I'm going to charge you more. And if they charge 1286 01:04:54,120 --> 01:04:55,280 Speaker 1: you more, it's going to cost. 1287 01:04:55,120 --> 01:04:59,080 Speaker 2: All of us. So the impact would be. 1288 01:04:59,600 --> 01:05:02,800 Speaker 1: Our day at the US debt would ultimately cost more, 1289 01:05:03,640 --> 01:05:05,960 Speaker 1: and that would be a problem because we don't have 1290 01:05:06,080 --> 01:05:07,840 Speaker 1: enough money to pay our debt as it is. 1291 01:05:08,560 --> 01:05:13,040 Speaker 2: Donald Trump has I think, kind of reimagined the presidency 1292 01:05:13,480 --> 01:05:15,880 Speaker 2: to say the least and I'm just curious with everyone 1293 01:05:15,960 --> 01:05:20,600 Speaker 2: you talk to every day about very complicated topics. And 1294 01:05:20,640 --> 01:05:23,480 Speaker 2: I know your focus is on the economy and finances, 1295 01:05:23,520 --> 01:05:26,120 Speaker 2: but when you look at what has gone on, Andrew, 1296 01:05:27,120 --> 01:05:29,760 Speaker 2: I'm asking for a friend, Yeah, and asking a friend 1297 01:05:30,280 --> 01:05:33,600 Speaker 2: from the time he went into office to now and 1298 01:05:33,760 --> 01:05:37,040 Speaker 2: plans and you hear things like plenary authority and things 1299 01:05:37,120 --> 01:05:41,680 Speaker 2: like that uttered by Stephen Miller, and this unprecedented power 1300 01:05:41,680 --> 01:05:45,840 Speaker 2: of the executive branch. As somebody who's covered so many 1301 01:05:45,880 --> 01:05:50,680 Speaker 2: administrations on a scale of one to ten, yeah, how 1302 01:05:50,720 --> 01:05:52,640 Speaker 2: concerned are you for the country? 1303 01:05:53,520 --> 01:05:57,520 Speaker 1: Seven? Seven? Because and let me tell you why I 1304 01:05:57,560 --> 01:05:58,800 Speaker 1: think you might be ten. I don't know. 1305 01:06:00,160 --> 01:06:02,720 Speaker 2: Maybe I'm a little higher than seven. I don't think. 1306 01:06:02,880 --> 01:06:04,960 Speaker 2: I don't know if I'm ten now, but maybe. 1307 01:06:05,000 --> 01:06:06,439 Speaker 1: But I'm going to tell you the thing that I 1308 01:06:06,480 --> 01:06:09,840 Speaker 1: grapple with. Okay, So there are things that this president 1309 01:06:09,880 --> 01:06:13,000 Speaker 1: does that I think are completely unusual and problematic. And 1310 01:06:13,040 --> 01:06:17,000 Speaker 1: I worry about democracy. And I see the indictment of Komi, 1311 01:06:17,080 --> 01:06:20,760 Speaker 1: for example, and I Chis James, and that is to me, 1312 01:06:21,320 --> 01:06:24,840 Speaker 1: at least from the outside, feels like a weaponization of 1313 01:06:25,160 --> 01:06:28,880 Speaker 1: the system in a very bad way. And then I 1314 01:06:29,000 --> 01:06:34,640 Speaker 1: see this deal that was just made between Israel and Amas, 1315 01:06:35,480 --> 01:06:40,080 Speaker 1: which seems almost unthinkable, by the way, during the Biden administration, unthinkable, 1316 01:06:41,360 --> 01:06:45,880 Speaker 1: and potentially, if lasting, could have a huge impact on 1317 01:06:45,960 --> 01:06:48,960 Speaker 1: peace in the Middle least, if that is true. And 1318 01:06:49,120 --> 01:06:52,120 Speaker 1: trying to balance and wave these things against each other 1319 01:06:53,280 --> 01:06:56,240 Speaker 1: are harder for me than you'd think. And so I'm 1320 01:06:56,280 --> 01:06:59,280 Speaker 1: not ready to wave my hand and say it's all awful. 1321 01:06:59,600 --> 01:07:02,440 Speaker 1: And I'm definitely not ready to say it's all fabulous. 1322 01:07:02,760 --> 01:07:06,680 Speaker 2: You're ready to say you have mixed feelings. 1323 01:07:07,120 --> 01:07:07,920 Speaker 1: I'm out of seven. 1324 01:07:08,760 --> 01:07:12,280 Speaker 2: Well, the book is called nineteen twenty nine Inside the 1325 01:07:12,280 --> 01:07:15,320 Speaker 2: Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and how it shattered 1326 01:07:15,560 --> 01:07:19,120 Speaker 2: a nation. It is going to make a great dramatic 1327 01:07:19,280 --> 01:07:24,560 Speaker 2: series for someone somewhere because the characters are so fascinating, 1328 01:07:24,640 --> 01:07:27,120 Speaker 2: and I think part of it, I mean a big 1329 01:07:27,160 --> 01:07:29,680 Speaker 2: part of it, Andrew, is because you write it like 1330 01:07:29,760 --> 01:07:33,320 Speaker 2: a thriller, and it is so dramatic and the characters 1331 01:07:33,320 --> 01:07:37,120 Speaker 2: are so interesting that they jump off the page. And 1332 01:07:37,200 --> 01:07:39,360 Speaker 2: I hope everyone buys it and. 1333 01:07:39,160 --> 01:07:40,640 Speaker 1: From our lips than you give. 1334 01:07:41,200 --> 01:07:43,240 Speaker 2: And I love talking to you. Thank you so much 1335 01:07:43,280 --> 01:07:43,960 Speaker 2: for coming in. 1336 01:07:44,080 --> 01:07:44,600 Speaker 1: I appreciate it. 1337 01:07:46,600 --> 01:07:49,800 Speaker 2: Thanks for listening. Everyone. If you have a question for me, 1338 01:07:50,200 --> 01:07:52,680 Speaker 2: a subject you want us to cover, or you want 1339 01:07:52,720 --> 01:07:56,080 Speaker 2: to share your thoughts about how you navigate this crazy world, 1340 01:07:56,440 --> 01:07:59,640 Speaker 2: reach out send me a DM on Instagram. I would 1341 01:07:59,680 --> 01:08:02,760 Speaker 2: love to hear from you. Next Question is a production 1342 01:08:02,880 --> 01:08:07,360 Speaker 2: of iHeartMedia and Katiekuric Media. The executive producers are Me, 1343 01:08:07,680 --> 01:08:12,360 Speaker 2: Katie Kuric, and Courtney Ltz. Our supervising producer is Ryan Martz, 1344 01:08:12,880 --> 01:08:17,679 Speaker 2: and our producers are Adriana Fazzio and Meredith Barnes. Julian 1345 01:08:17,760 --> 01:08:22,880 Speaker 2: Weller composed our theme music. For more information about today's episode, 1346 01:08:23,040 --> 01:08:25,439 Speaker 2: or to sign up for my newsletter, wake Up Call, 1347 01:08:25,880 --> 01:08:28,800 Speaker 2: go to the description in the podcast app, or visit 1348 01:08:28,880 --> 01:08:32,080 Speaker 2: us at Katiecuric dot com. You can also find me 1349 01:08:32,160 --> 01:08:35,880 Speaker 2: on Instagram and all my social media channels. For more 1350 01:08:35,920 --> 01:08:41,240 Speaker 2: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 1351 01:08:41,280 --> 01:08:47,080 Speaker 2: wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Hi everyone, it's Katiekuric. 1352 01:08:47,400 --> 01:08:49,760 Speaker 2: You know I'm always on the go between running my 1353 01:08:49,880 --> 01:08:54,320 Speaker 2: media company, hosting my podcast, and of course covering the news. 1354 01:08:54,760 --> 01:08:57,040 Speaker 2: And I know that to keep doing what I love, 1355 01:08:57,439 --> 01:08:59,719 Speaker 2: I need to start caring for what gets me there 1356 01:09:00,360 --> 01:09:03,599 Speaker 2: my feet. That's why I decided to try the Good 1357 01:09:03,600 --> 01:09:07,720 Speaker 2: Feet store's personalized arch support system. I met with a 1358 01:09:07,760 --> 01:09:11,759 Speaker 2: Good Feet arch support specialist and after a personalized fitting, 1359 01:09:12,080 --> 01:09:14,960 Speaker 2: I left the store with my three step system designed 1360 01:09:15,000 --> 01:09:19,200 Speaker 2: to improve comfort, balance and support. My feet, knees, and 1361 01:09:19,320 --> 01:09:23,320 Speaker 2: back are thanking me already. Visit goodfeet dot com to 1362 01:09:23,400 --> 01:09:26,920 Speaker 2: learn more, find the nearest store, or book your own 1363 01:09:27,040 --> 01:09:28,599 Speaker 2: free personalized fitting.