Speaker 1: A host of COVID headlines. Paul um and, as we
Speaker 1: talked about earlier in the show, the market seemingly brushing
Speaker 1: off concerns about the delta variant. Yeah, it really is,
Speaker 1: and I think, you know, definitely some concerns there, but
Speaker 1: the expect I think the focused least on the near
Speaker 1: term has been earnings and has been the Federal Reserve,
Speaker 1: and all of those things are supporting. You know. It's
Speaker 1: kind of the narrative we've had for a while. Now, well,
Speaker 1: let's get right to it with Tania Winders, the President
Speaker 1: chief executive officer of the Allergy and Asthma Network. It's
Speaker 1: a nonprofit organization with the mission to end the needless
Speaker 1: death and suffering due to asthma, allergies, and related conditions
Speaker 1: through outreach, education, advocacy, and research. Tanya, thanks so much
Speaker 1: for joining us from Nashville, Tennessee. How you doing today,
Speaker 1: I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. How is your
Speaker 1: mission changed in the last sixteen months? Is you're not
Speaker 1: just battling allergies and asthma, but COVID as well. Yes, yes, Well,
Speaker 1: you know, any individuals who's living with a compromised immune
Speaker 1: system or respiratory system we know has greater complication from COVID,
Speaker 1: and so over the last sixteen eighteen months, Uh, it
Speaker 1: has taken center stage for our community, and we have
Speaker 1: listened to that community and responded accordingly by developing education
Speaker 1: materials and awareness materials and then taking those to the
Speaker 1: most underserved communities. And it seems to meet Tanya from
Speaker 1: you know, just following this, that this line of the
Speaker 1: of the pandemic, that it has just exposed the health
Speaker 1: care inequalities in this country, perhaps even more so, what
Speaker 1: are you finding as it relates to COVID nineteen the
Speaker 1: pandemic now it's all about vaccinations. What are you seeing
Speaker 1: in the communities that you interact with? Well, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1: I mean, so many of these health inequities have existed
Speaker 1: for decades even longer, and yet COVID shined that spotlight
Speaker 1: on the health inequities um more evidently. And one of
Speaker 1: the ways is even through vaccination rates. So if we
Speaker 1: go from one that code to another in cities like Atlanta,
Speaker 1: Shook Hargo, Prince George County, Maryland, UH, literally one zip
Speaker 1: code away, you can have vaccination rates higher than versus
Speaker 1: vaccination rates of lower than and and again, so much
Speaker 1: of that is driven by these factors that are driving
Speaker 1: health inequity, whether that be poverty, education, access to healthcare, food, insecurity.
Speaker 1: There are a host of different reasons why health in
Speaker 1: equities are occurring. Well, here in New York City, as
Speaker 1: we've been talking about all day, the city is going
Speaker 1: to require restaurant patrons to show proof of vaccination. Paul
Speaker 1: and I were talking about this is whether or not
Speaker 1: it will be some sort of impetus to get people vaccinate.
Speaker 1: And I'm wondering when it comes to health inequities, what
Speaker 1: health officials need to do to make sure that there
Speaker 1: isn't this disparity. Because the vaccination is there, it's free,
Speaker 1: how do we get it to these people who who
Speaker 1: haven't gotten it yet. Well, this is the shocking thing
Speaker 1: is that just because it's quote unquote free doesn't mean
Speaker 1: if people are going to take it man of it.
Speaker 1: And so we have to establish connection through a trusted
Speaker 1: messenger in their community. So whether that be a doctor
Speaker 1: who looks like them, a nurse who looks like them,
Speaker 1: perhaps even a pastor and a community center that they
Speaker 1: feel comfortable going to and trusting um and so that's
Speaker 1: why we've developed are Not One more life initiative to
Speaker 1: actually partner with those trusted messengers in each and every
Speaker 1: of the high risk communities across ten different cities. So
Speaker 1: the cities that you're in, what role is the family
Speaker 1: doctor playing, Because it seems to me one of the
Speaker 1: most trusted folks in in people's lives would be their
Speaker 1: family doctor if they have one UM and that if
Speaker 1: that yeah, so how do you deal with that issue? Right?
Speaker 1: So unfortunately, again, so many people do not have a
Speaker 1: primary care home, they don't have that medical home, that
Speaker 1: relationship with the position, and so we actually help them
Speaker 1: to identify uh physicians in the air community that will
Speaker 1: accept me patients they could get connected to. But we
Speaker 1: also provide just a general health screening and a lunghel
Speaker 1: screening free of charge in places like home depot parking
Speaker 1: lot or a church parking lot um just to get
Speaker 1: them to understand at baseline how they're doing with their
Speaker 1: blood pressure, their blood blue hosts, they're breathing in general,
Speaker 1: if they have any of those high risk co morbid
Speaker 1: conditions that would put them at risk for complication from COVID. Hey, Tanya,
Speaker 1: One thing that we've been talking about a lot on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week has been the way that this pandemic
Speaker 1: has disproportionately affected people of different demographics in the United States.
Speaker 1: You mentioned comorbidities and the way people who have those
Speaker 1: comorbidities are affected differently by COVID. I wonder if you're
Speaker 1: optimistic when we get to the other side of this pandemic,
Speaker 1: finally we will see some sort of large scale change
Speaker 1: when it comes to the health of Americans because there
Speaker 1: is that disparity there. So I think, again, we never
Speaker 1: before have we had a public health crisis that has
Speaker 1: lasted for this length of time. Every single night, the
Speaker 1: headline on the news is the leading story of the pandemic,
Speaker 1: and so I do think it presents an opportunity for
Speaker 1: us to really come together and think about how do
Speaker 1: we fundamentally change our health care delivery system in order
Speaker 1: to ensure that everyone gets equal access to care. So
Speaker 1: now is the time, and I certainly think that there
Speaker 1: are many opportunities for improvement that we can recognize just
Speaker 1: real quickly thirty seconds here, what's working? What are you
Speaker 1: guys finding it's working well? Well? You know what's working
Speaker 1: well is what we call hand to hand combat on
Speaker 1: this where we actually go into these high risk communities
Speaker 1: and have these trusted messengers approach people in you know,
Speaker 1: these high traffic areas and have the conversations, why aren't
Speaker 1: you being vaccinated? What is your greatest health concern? Do
Speaker 1: you have a primary care for position? Even engaging in
Speaker 1: that conversation in a casual way and getting the dialogue
Speaker 1: around the importance of vaccination and primary care part of
Speaker 1: the program. Tania Winder is President and Chief Executive Officer
Speaker 1: of the Allergy and Asthma Network, joining us live from Nashville, Tennessee.
Speaker 1: All right, Tim, So, I have four kids in that
Speaker 1: eighteen to twenty nine demographic, and all four kids have
Speaker 1: been vaccinated, and quite frankly, they didn't have a choice
Speaker 1: and they wanted to anyway. And so if they had
Speaker 1: a choice, do you think they would have not gotten
Speaker 1: back to No, No, none of them would. They all
Speaker 1: paid attention in science class. So, but apparently the Sweeney
Speaker 1: clan maybe a little bit of an outlier for that demo.
Speaker 1: Let's get the story. Rebecca Torrence works for with the
Speaker 1: US Healthcare Team for Bloomberg new She is in Lovely Durham,
Speaker 1: North Carolina at home of my Duke Blue Devils. Rebecca,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for joining us here. What's going on
Speaker 1: with the young folks? Um? Is it just simply saying
Speaker 1: I'm young, I'm strong, I don't need it. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: it's interest of what we're seeing. Um. There's only about
Speaker 1: fifty four percent of the population at twenty four that
Speaker 1: have received one dose of the vaccine at least, and
Speaker 1: that's compared with seventy of the total poculation. And you know,
Speaker 1: kind of what we're seeing is with older demographics. Um,
Speaker 1: when you cut through the misinformation about the vaccine, the
Speaker 1: health risks posed by these stars are significant enough to
Speaker 1: convince most of them to get the shot. But since
Speaker 1: the beginning of the beginning of the pandemic, we've seeing
Speaker 1: this messaging targeted at younger groups that they don't really
Speaker 1: face these same risks, UM, and that continues to impede
Speaker 1: progress on getting that group vaccinated. Essentially, they were told
Speaker 1: at the begining of the pandemic that this is something
Speaker 1: that affects the elderly worst. And Paul and I were
Speaker 1: talking about this during the break and he reminded me
Speaker 1: that young people were at the end of the line
Speaker 1: when the vaccine became available. So was it a messaging
Speaker 1: error from the beginning that's leading to this? Yeah, that
Speaker 1: is what some people are saying. Um, it seems like,
Speaker 1: you know, um, with the delta varia and especially, we're
Speaker 1: seeing those risks increase. But because we haven't gotten that
Speaker 1: messaging really until now, Um, young adults just simply aren't
Speaker 1: picking up on it. Um. And we are seeing hospitalizations
Speaker 1: increased in that age group as well. But because that
Speaker 1: rate is so low compared to some older demographics, UM,
Speaker 1: they seem to still think that that risk is low enough.
Speaker 1: Um that you know, they simply don't need to take
Speaker 1: the chance, as some would say, to get the shot. Um,
Speaker 1: despite effect that obviously the risk of getting the vaccine
Speaker 1: are also incredibly low. Yeah, and I guess you know,
Speaker 1: one of the challenges, Rebecca is going to be messaging
Speaker 1: and communication because the younger folks rely more on social
Speaker 1: media perhaps than some of the older demographics, and that's
Speaker 1: unfortunately where a lot of misinformation is To what extent
Speaker 1: is that a factor? Yeah? Absolutely, Um, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of misinformation being spread on TikTok and Instagram especially, UM,
Speaker 1: and officials are targeting those platforms in particular as they
Speaker 1: try to spread UM messaging to this demographic to get
Speaker 1: them vaccinated. UM. But I think more and more what
Speaker 1: you're going to see, UM is and what we're seeing
Speaker 1: for other genographics as well. UM as UH these pushes
Speaker 1: on social media. UM. You know, it's difficult to prove
Speaker 1: how effective they are. Is that we're seeing mandates more
Speaker 1: and more across the country. UM. There are well over
Speaker 1: six hundred colleges that we know of, UM that are
Speaker 1: acquiring vacuations in some form for their students. And UM
Speaker 1: I think that you know, we're going to see these
Speaker 1: institutions start to clamp down on these issues where messaging
Speaker 1: on these platforms just simply can't fill those gaps. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I know through my involvement with Duke University
Speaker 1: and know the last spring they made the decision two
Speaker 1: the kids had to be vaccinated. UM. What are you
Speaker 1: hearing from universities and from students is or pushback on that.
Speaker 1: There certainly has been some pushback. UM. There is a
Speaker 1: group at Virginia Attack in particular, that has gained a
Speaker 1: lot of UH traction across the states. UM in terms
Speaker 1: of signature is on a petition to oppose the vaccine mandate. Um,
Speaker 1: but colleges are pushing forward and saying that they'll di
Speaker 1: enroll anyone from the small semester and get vaccinated, And
Speaker 1: so we'll have to, UM, you know, keep an eye
Speaker 1: out for um how students either comply with these regulations
Speaker 1: or or attempt to evade them in some way. UM.
Speaker 1: But you know we'll see that effect UM in the
Speaker 1: next couple of weeks or so, as students start with
Speaker 1: trining to campus. May Rebecca, just in the last thirty seconds.
Speaker 1: How are we seeing with this most recent round of
Speaker 1: the virus? How are we how are we seeing that
Speaker 1: manifest in younger people who are unvaccinated? Are there an
Speaker 1: increasing share of people who are sick with the delta variant? Right? Yes, absolutely, UM.
Speaker 1: You know it's it's difficult to get exact date on
Speaker 1: this for that population. UM, but we are hearing from
Speaker 1: doctors across the country, UM that this population is getting
Speaker 1: more sick and getting thicker faster than we have been
Speaker 1: seeing UM with others trains of the virus, and so UM.
Speaker 1: You know, despite the fact that the population make things
Speaker 1: that they have a low risk, it seems that that
Speaker 1: risk may be increasing, and so you know, this is
Speaker 1: a real problem that a lot of health care officials
Speaker 1: are trying to target right now, Well, we really appreciate
Speaker 1: you joining us and taking the time. But he check
Speaker 1: out her story available in the terminal at Bloomberg dot
Speaker 1: com as well. That's Rebecca Torren. She works with the
Speaker 1: US healthcare team for Bloomberg News. Joining us live from Durham,
Speaker 1: North Carolina. As I mentioned earlier, there is a new
Speaker 1: sheriff on Wall Street and his name is Gary Gensler.
Speaker 1: He's a Chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission, and he's
Speaker 1: taking a hard look and turning his aim towards the
Speaker 1: crypto space. And in a video posted on Twitter earlier,
Speaker 1: SEC Chair Gary Ginser, he does tell investors in cryptocurrencies
Speaker 1: to be careful what they invest in. Let's take a
Speaker 1: lesson to those currently are considering investing in crypto. Please
Speaker 1: remember not only are they highly spent with avastic class,
Speaker 1: but there are also significant gaps in the investor protection
Speaker 1: afforded to you. Those SEC Chair Gary Ginsler, and we
Speaker 1: have a Bloomberg's story on Mr Gensler looking at crypto.
Speaker 1: Let's bring in Pat Regner. He's Markets and Finance edator
Speaker 1: for Bloomberg Business Week, joining us in our Bloomberg Interactive
Speaker 1: Broker studio and Ben Bain, financial regulations reporter for Bloomberg News.
Speaker 1: He's down studios in Washington. Pat, fascinating story here. What
Speaker 1: are you and Ben taking away from some initial remarks
Speaker 1: by Mr Gensler about how he's going to take a
Speaker 1: look and and and potentially regulating crypto. I mean, it
Speaker 1: looks to us like he's welighing down sort of a
Speaker 1: blueprint of what is actually going to be regulated. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, Ben and Rob Schmidt in reporting this, one
Speaker 1: of the things that was a big theme of their
Speaker 1: conversation is just exactly what does uh the SEC regulate,
Speaker 1: what's in its purview, what's in others regulators perview, and
Speaker 1: what uh sort of so far hasn't been established is
Speaker 1: regulated at all? And and um, Ben, I think you
Speaker 1: can speak to this. It looks like he's really trying
Speaker 1: to expand the reach of his his agency. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: I mean I think the big takeaway is that he
Speaker 1: thinks that there's a clear test out there already for
Speaker 1: whether something is a security and it it works for
Speaker 1: a cryptocurrency. The same way it works for whether something
Speaker 1: as a stock or an investment contract. But he thinks
Speaker 1: that this new technology, the blockchain and everything that goes
Speaker 1: along with it, does raise some new issues, and he
Speaker 1: pointed to some specific gaps he mentioned, specifically trading platforms
Speaker 1: he has. He says he's asked Congress to maybe grant
Speaker 1: some new authorities to the SEC or some other federal
Speaker 1: agency that would allow them to really focus on these
Speaker 1: crypto exchanges, because they're not like anything that's really ever
Speaker 1: been around before, um in the sense that you have
Speaker 1: some of them which are basically people lending crypto back
Speaker 1: and forth to each other, and others them which which
Speaker 1: look a lot more like a classic exchange. So he's
Speaker 1: definitely got as as Pat said, he's kind of laid
Speaker 1: the blueprint for what's a pretty comprehensive framework. I think, Ben,
Speaker 1: what exactly does Gensler inc about cryptocurrencies? Because as you
Speaker 1: and Robert Schmidt right, this is a guy who actually
Speaker 1: had twenty nine hours of a blockchain and money course
Speaker 1: that he developed that a m I T. I mean,
Speaker 1: what exactly does he think of crypto I think what
Speaker 1: we took away from the conversation was that he's of
Speaker 1: two minds. One is that when it comes to the technology,
Speaker 1: he's fascinated by it, He's interested in it. He says,
Speaker 1: it's something to the effect if he leaned into it
Speaker 1: when he was teaching a course, isn't it for three years, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, I've gotten millions of views online these
Speaker 1: courses he gave on the subject. That's one area. On
Speaker 1: the other hand, he really kept coming back to the
Speaker 1: idea that now as chair of the SEC, he's focused
Speaker 1: on protecting investors, and he referred to this space as
Speaker 1: the wild West. He doesn't think that there really is
Speaker 1: the sufficient level of protection that people need, and he
Speaker 1: said he's gonna level everything that the SEC SEC has
Speaker 1: to get it there. So, um, he's already got at
Speaker 1: least seven different areas or initiatives kind of underway, looking
Speaker 1: at everything from some of these initial coin offerings to
Speaker 1: how to handle custody to a bitcoin ETF. Potentially eventually,
Speaker 1: the SEC is kind of already churning and trying to
Speaker 1: kind of put something together that he thinks it is
Speaker 1: going to fill the gaps that are existed. You know,
Speaker 1: one thing that was really striking to me in this
Speaker 1: story is that a lot of people have been very
Speaker 1: in the crypto industry have been very excited about him
Speaker 1: being at the SEC because he knows so much about it.
Speaker 1: And I think the presumption from some people has been, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, because we understand Uh they're thinking, is that
Speaker 1: because we understand that being unregulated is core to this,
Speaker 1: if someone else understands what we're doing, he's going to
Speaker 1: have light touch regulation. And I think, you know, bless
Speaker 1: your heart for thinking that if somebody understands your industry
Speaker 1: very well, they're not going to want to regulate it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and Ben, you know, one of the issues that you
Speaker 1: point out, and it's just an a vexing one, is
Speaker 1: kind of, you know, who does regulate what? It feels
Speaker 1: like I might be kind of a regular regulatory kind
Speaker 1: of land grab here between the SEC, the CFTC, and
Speaker 1: whatever new groups Congress may create. This Gainster feel like
Speaker 1: the SEC is the proper and primary regulatory body. He
Speaker 1: didn't go that far to say that the SEC should
Speaker 1: have say over at all, but what he did say
Speaker 1: is that when you look across the crypto universe right now,
Speaker 1: and taking Bitcoin out of that, there's all of these
Speaker 1: tokens that exist in the world, and a majority of those,
Speaker 1: in his eyes are securities. And because their securities, that
Speaker 1: means that they fall under the SEC's remit and that
Speaker 1: means that if they're out there and not registering and
Speaker 1: not trading with the SEC's rules, then they're potentially in
Speaker 1: violation um of those rules. And what's really gonna we're
Speaker 1: gonna see now is how he's going to deal with that,
Speaker 1: because he's basically laid out the fact, much like his
Speaker 1: predecessor Jay Clayton did, that this space is existing and
Speaker 1: kind of this gray area for some, but for others
Speaker 1: it's actually quite clear. Something if you're raising money for
Speaker 1: a project and hoping to make more money off of it,
Speaker 1: that looks a lot like securities to to a regulator
Speaker 1: like like Gary Ginsler. So we're gonna see what he's
Speaker 1: gonna do about it now. Hey Ben, this is not
Speaker 1: the only thing that is this priority at the SEC,
Speaker 1: even though it gets a lot of attention. You do
Speaker 1: note that he's got close to fifty non crypto policy reviews.
Speaker 1: What's a timeline for any sort of SEC action and
Speaker 1: and and how would you characterize it as a priority
Speaker 1: given that he's also focused on U day trading and
Speaker 1: game Stop and r K goss and and more. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think he didn't give us, you know,
Speaker 1: a timeframe per se. But while all of those things
Speaker 1: are certainly priorities, and when you think about all the
Speaker 1: things that the SEC does, I mean, there are there
Speaker 1: are areas that touch a lot more people than than
Speaker 1: Crypto does, no doubt, and those are going to be
Speaker 1: things that he's going to have to deal with first,
Speaker 1: um for sure. But he also didn't teach, you know,
Speaker 1: three years of classes on any of those other things.
Speaker 1: So when we were talking to him, we came away
Speaker 1: with the impression and this is something he's not just
Speaker 1: thought about extensively, but but he cares about it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think he he really seems to have decided that
Speaker 1: this is something he wants to to get right and
Speaker 1: he wants to put the energy into. Even if it's not, um,
Speaker 1: you know, necessarily the biggest market at this point, he
Speaker 1: clearly thinks it's important. Well, it's a fantastic piece. You
Speaker 1: can read it now on the Bloomberg and at Bloomberg
Speaker 1: dot com. That's Ben Bain, financial regulations reporter for Bloomberg News.
Speaker 1: He joins US live from studios in Washington. Also with
Speaker 1: us pat Rickneer, Markets and Finance editor for Bloomberg Business Week,
Speaker 1: live in the Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio. It's also Today's
Speaker 1: Big Take. You can access it at the Bloomberg Terminal
Speaker 1: and at Bloomberg dot com. This is Bloomberg Business Week
Speaker 1: with Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovan on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. Alright, Bloomberg Business Week brought to you by SEI.
Speaker 1: Crises and challenges highlight the power of partnership and character
Speaker 1: work for the common good One Community. Se I go
Speaker 1: to s e I C dot com slash banks so.
Speaker 1: Earlier today, State Attorney General Leticia James said that Governor
Speaker 1: Andrew Cuomo engaged in quote unwanted groping and kissing of
Speaker 1: current and former state employees, as well as women outside
Speaker 1: of state government. Governor Cuomo, though, was defiant in his
Speaker 1: response to a state report. Uh he denied reports that
Speaker 1: he created a climate of fear in his office and
Speaker 1: violated federal and state laws. He did in a press
Speaker 1: conference this afternoon. Jointing is now as Marty Shanker, Editor
Speaker 1: at Large for Bloomberg News he's live with us in
Speaker 1: the Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio. Marty does. Does Governor Cuomo
Speaker 1: survived this politically? Well, that really does remain to be seen.
Speaker 1: You know, if you think back the Access Hollywood tapes
Speaker 1: we thought would doom the candidacy of Donald Trump, and
Speaker 1: he became president. So in this political environment, nothing is
Speaker 1: for sure, all right, So let's walk down the path
Speaker 1: of it resignation. Judging from the press conference game today,
Speaker 1: it didn't sound like he's in any mood to resign.
Speaker 1: What's your take there, Well, it was what struck out
Speaker 1: stuck out to me was the sharply produced i mean
Speaker 1: interspersing photos of himself, um right at the exact time
Speaker 1: he was speaking in that statement. He was well prepared
Speaker 1: for this moment um and he is gives no signal
Speaker 1: that he's going to voluntarily step aside. We knew that
Speaker 1: the state Attorney General was looking into these claims. Was
Speaker 1: there anything in that report that was particularly surprising two
Speaker 1: us Or to Cuomo? I would imagine not um. The
Speaker 1: only there were a couple of new allegations, including one
Speaker 1: about a state trooper on his female state trooper on
Speaker 1: his secure Aty Force um. But broadly speaking, most of
Speaker 1: this was in the public domain. UM. Andrew Cuomo did
Speaker 1: cooperate with the investigation, and his comments are well reflected
Speaker 1: in it, and he again denies most of these things
Speaker 1: ever happened. Alright, Albany politics are a world onto its own.
Speaker 1: What do you believe there's support for impeachment of Governor Cuomo? Well,
Speaker 1: I think they're you know, they're well on the way
Speaker 1: of an impeachment investigation. This report will add to the
Speaker 1: evidence that they have, have collected and will collect. The
Speaker 1: question is, though the Democratic leadership, and they are in
Speaker 1: firm control, have the will to try and remove Governor Cuomo.
Speaker 1: In the context of him denying any of this happened,
Speaker 1: You're also getting Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and Kristen
Speaker 1: Gillibrand all calling for his resignation, and it looks like
Speaker 1: Joe Biden's going to do that late today. Does that matter?
Speaker 1: Though probably not not to Andrew Cuomo. I mean he um,
Speaker 1: as you saw us firmly said, Look, this is not
Speaker 1: about me. This is about the people that stead in
Speaker 1: New York and I want to continue to do the
Speaker 1: job for them. What's the next I guess what's the
Speaker 1: next domino here? What's the next mile post that we
Speaker 1: should be looking for in terms of how this may go. Well,
Speaker 1: you would have to look at the legislature, the Assembly
Speaker 1: and see how they move forward on the impeachment, investigation
Speaker 1: and trial, and if they start setting firm deadlines for
Speaker 1: witnesses and for um uh an actual procedure in the Assembly,
Speaker 1: that would be the next step. And the gubnatorial election
Speaker 1: in any indication that if he doesn't resign, if he's
Speaker 1: not removed from office, he perhaps would be challenged by
Speaker 1: somebody who could actually unseat him. Yeah, I think that's
Speaker 1: quite possible. You know, in a poll in early July
Speaker 1: showed fully two thirds of New York voters don't want
Speaker 1: Andrew Cuomo to run again. Um that said, his name
Speaker 1: recognition and a reservoir of goodwill would make him a
Speaker 1: formidable candidate for governor in my In my view, what's
Speaker 1: the sense of timing here? I mean, is this something
Speaker 1: that's gonna drag on or or or can in fact
Speaker 1: the Assembly move quickly? It's gonna drag on, I mean,
Speaker 1: And you know, it's important to remember that these charges
Speaker 1: in the laws that were broken or civil laws, not
Speaker 1: criminal laws. So there will probably be people pursuing similar
Speaker 1: civil suits against Cuomo, but he is, you know, not
Speaker 1: charged with any criminal conduct. He mentioned those civil suits
Speaker 1: in his press conference today. What should we be be
Speaker 1: looking for in terms of who's suing him and what
Speaker 1: they could actually uncover? Well, I'm a result of them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he talked about it, and he said that he welcomes
Speaker 1: his chance in open court to uh get to the truth.
Speaker 1: Doesn't sound like he wants in any way to settle
Speaker 1: those claims. So this will drag on. I mean, the courts,
Speaker 1: even in non COVID times work very slowly, and now
Speaker 1: it would be you know, painfully slow. Is Mario Cuomo
Speaker 1: just kind of a product of his time, maybe, and
Speaker 1: just maybe in his mind he doesn't think he's doing
Speaker 1: anything wrong, And that seems to be one of the
Speaker 1: avenues that that we're hearing that he just doesn't really
Speaker 1: think what he does. He's a form of affection, for
Speaker 1: lack of a better word, is in fact, you know,
Speaker 1: taken a different way by some of these women. Well,
Speaker 1: Andrew Cuomo is clearly a product of his family environment
Speaker 1: that included the former governor, a very close knit Italian
Speaker 1: family from Queens. You know, I do think the culture
Speaker 1: has changed from the environment he grew up in. And
Speaker 1: whether Andrew cuomo Is has has been able to keep
Speaker 1: up with that change in climate um is a really
Speaker 1: good question. But you know, to Paul's point, those moments
Speaker 1: of his response, that those images that were interspliced at
Speaker 1: the exact moments where he was describing his own behavior,
Speaker 1: seemed to show that in his mind, things that he
Speaker 1: did that he was referring to were part of his normal,
Speaker 1: everyday behavior. Things that he did. Yeah, and that was
Speaker 1: his clear strategy, that the investigators misinterpreted his actions, that
Speaker 1: they were extremely common, that he's a warm person, that
Speaker 1: he does it hundreds of times, and no one ever
Speaker 1: said anything except when these allegations surface. So he was
Speaker 1: speaking to the public there and trying to tap into
Speaker 1: the goodwill he generated with his COVID response and for
Speaker 1: his almost eight years as governor UH. It remains to
Speaker 1: be seen whether that's going to work. It certainly does.
Speaker 1: Marty Shankar as editor at Large at Bloomberg News. He's
Speaker 1: with us live in the Bloomberg Interactive Broker's studio. Marty
Speaker 1: thinks so much. I think the big question is what
Speaker 1: comes next for him, And obviously it doesn't seem like
Speaker 1: he's in any hurry to uh resigned. And again his
Speaker 1: tone was defiant today and very clear, and uh, he
Speaker 1: certainly got that across. So something that happened to me
Speaker 1: in my own world in the last year Paul has
Speaker 1: been that several friends have left New York City and
Speaker 1: gone to the suburbs. One did it much sooner than
Speaker 1: the other, the other one they both bought in White Plains,
Speaker 1: had the toughest time finding a place. They were getting
Speaker 1: outbid every weekend by people going all cash. Uh, all
Speaker 1: young families who wanted to leave New York City and
Speaker 1: get more spaces. More and more people are working from home. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just extraordinary. We you know, we just sold our
Speaker 1: our home in North Jersey and it sold very quickly
Speaker 1: and it just confirmed the really really strong market out
Speaker 1: there for residents for sellers. Yes, it's a right time
Speaker 1: to be a sellable. Well, let's get right to it
Speaker 1: with Stephanie Malio's realtor and founding agent at Compass Real
Speaker 1: Estate in Short Hills, New Jersey. She joins us on
Speaker 1: the phone, not from New Jersey today, but from Maryland.
Speaker 1: Stephanie was that a fair character is a of the
Speaker 1: way that you're seeing the market right now in the suburbs.
Speaker 1: It absolutely is. I am in New Jersey today as
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, but that's exactly what we've been
Speaker 1: experiencing in this area. South Orange, Maplewood, Summit, Livingston, Chatham,
Speaker 1: all all the counties Essex, Morris Union Counties have all
Speaker 1: seen a tremendous amount of activity from people's kind of
Speaker 1: accelerating their timeline on maybe they were going to move
Speaker 1: in three to five years and now they're moving right now. So, Stephanie,
Speaker 1: I want to get essentially kind of some of the
Speaker 1: drivers here. I guess it's it's some combination of boy
Speaker 1: historically low interest rates and from in the mortgage market,
Speaker 1: plus the pandemic, and then the need for space and
Speaker 1: people rethinking working from home and all of that. So
Speaker 1: as you talk to your clients, what are you hearing
Speaker 1: as the primary driver? Well, for a lot of them,
Speaker 1: they've been working from home, but if they have kids,
Speaker 1: they've also been schooling from home, and that is really
Speaker 1: sort of untenable in a one or two better apartment
Speaker 1: with two adults arrants working from home and one or
Speaker 1: two kids going from home. It's just not possible. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's possible, but it's not fun. One of the challenges though,
Speaker 1: that comes with such a hot market is the people
Speaker 1: who are selling needs somewhere else to go. And I
Speaker 1: wonder when prices just get so high, as they've continued
Speaker 1: to climb that people who do want to move somewhere
Speaker 1: else and already own they are priced out of their
Speaker 1: own area because prices have gone up so much. That's
Speaker 1: absolutely happening here. But there's been a huge growth of
Speaker 1: luxury apartment rentals built in the region. Um, anywhere where
Speaker 1: you could sort of stick a hundred or two hundred
Speaker 1: units in a little funny area. UM, people are building
Speaker 1: them and here they are they're ready, so UM number
Speaker 1: of people in certain generations that would never have considered
Speaker 1: renting because it's just sort of against the law to
Speaker 1: rent and pay somebody else's mortgage. Um, that mindset has
Speaker 1: changed quite a bit, especially when the tax laws change
Speaker 1: and you could no longer write off more than ten
Speaker 1: tho dollars or your property tax. And in this area, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: kidding me too. So they're like, you know, let's just
Speaker 1: take our money off the table. We'll just rent for
Speaker 1: a year or two. I was just with somebody today
Speaker 1: who's scaling down from a four million dollar house in Shorthills,
Speaker 1: thinking they'll rent for a year and see what happens,
Speaker 1: and maybe they'll buy something smaller and renovated, or maybe
Speaker 1: they'll relocate. They don't know, but they like the fact
Speaker 1: that they can be liquid and act quick when they're ready. Stephanie,
Speaker 1: what do you think would or will derail this hot market? Um? Well,
Speaker 1: interest rates going up doesn't help, but often that stimulates
Speaker 1: people to act because funny enough is interest rates stay
Speaker 1: very low or when they're declining, everyone thinks they have
Speaker 1: all the time in the world to find something, and
Speaker 1: when they go back up, that's when they realized they
Speaker 1: missed the bottom and oh they better scramble and get in.
Speaker 1: So some times having low interest rates doesn't spur activity.
Speaker 1: But in this time period with school about to start,
Speaker 1: anyone with children going into school this year, they want
Speaker 1: to make sure that because are going to be in
Speaker 1: a seat, and that's not necessarily guaranteed in the suburbs,
Speaker 1: but I think a lot of people think there's a
Speaker 1: better likelihood that they'll be in a seat in a
Speaker 1: classroom with a live teacher in these kind of areas
Speaker 1: where schools have always been very highly prized and focused on.
Speaker 1: Have you mentioned a lot of areas that have been
Speaker 1: of interest to a lot of people for years. I'm
Speaker 1: wondering are there areas now that people should be paying
Speaker 1: attention to If they get priced out of the Summits
Speaker 1: and the short Hills is well, a lot of those
Speaker 1: people are actually moving to Harding Township which is also
Speaker 1: known as NW Vernon, which is very low taxes and
Speaker 1: very big properties and large homes because they realized that
Speaker 1: the need to be close to the community is no
Speaker 1: longer as important to them, so they're more willing to
Speaker 1: go sort of a country route as opposed to the suburbs.
Speaker 1: Where is someone coming out of Brooklyn or Jersey City,
Speaker 1: they might not be quite prepared for a fifteen minute
Speaker 1: drive to civilization a like a supermarket, but for someone
Speaker 1: who's already lived here, they kind of get it. So
Speaker 1: if they really don't think they need that, they're willing
Speaker 1: to make that kind of a trade. And especially you've
Speaker 1: seen a lot of people who normally would be thinking
Speaker 1: about scaling down at this point or downsizing we call
Speaker 1: it right sizing. But they're thinking, you know, let's go
Speaker 1: to a bigger place where if our kids right out
Speaker 1: of college, you have to move back in with us again,
Speaker 1: there's room for them, and let's have a pool to
Speaker 1: while we're at it, in the jacuzzy, and maybe even
Speaker 1: a tennis court. My kids are out of the house
Speaker 1: and they're staying out of the house, and we downsized,
Speaker 1: and we top tick. The market is kind of what
Speaker 1: I keep telling myself Stephanie Malio's Real Turn founding agent,
Speaker 1: Compass Real Estate Shorthills, New Jersey Office Journal. Yeah but
Speaker 1: you let me drive. Oh no, no, no, no no, honey,
Speaker 1: please out of the right revel. I want to drive ball,
Speaker 1: Just drive baby, good questions trying. This is the drive
Speaker 1: to the Globe Commune. Thanks, we'll dry up dawn on
Speaker 1: Bluebird Radio. All right, just drive the clothes boys looking
Speaker 1: at this market, driving hard to this close the s
Speaker 1: and p up seven tenths of one percent. Another big
Speaker 1: move Nasac a little bit, the soft going up four
Speaker 1: tenths of one percent, but still a lot of green
Speaker 1: on this screen. As the market continues to set new
Speaker 1: all time highs nearly on a daily basis, but I
Speaker 1: like talking with our next guest because he looks at
Speaker 1: things a little bit different. He's not just kind of
Speaker 1: a what I call meat and potato is kind of
Speaker 1: equity investors. He looks at distress situations, of event driven situations,
Speaker 1: some really interesting stuff. George Schultzy, founder Shultz the Asset
Speaker 1: Management He joins us on the phone from Rybrook, New York. George,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for joining us here. I mean, a
Speaker 1: bunch of us knuckleheads. We just throw money on our
Speaker 1: four one K and put it into you know, Fidelity
Speaker 1: Contra fund and and and we look back thirty years
Speaker 1: later and we think we're, you know, kind of legends.
Speaker 1: You actually look at some really interesting stuff. What do
Speaker 1: you look at looking at in the market that seemingly
Speaker 1: makes new highs every day? Well, thanks for having me. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The our main focus here at Shulti Asset Management is
Speaker 1: we're we observe defaults and distress and defaults are really
Speaker 1: down a lot this year. The economy is doing pretty well,
Speaker 1: but a lot of it is due to really what
Speaker 1: we call extreme monetary and fiscal policies, including the FEDS
Speaker 1: buying a hundred and twenty billion dollars worth of treasuries
Speaker 1: and mortgage backed securities each month. So that's really provided
Speaker 1: a lot of cheap money UM and because of that,
Speaker 1: companies are meeting their obligations. In the first half of
Speaker 1: last year, we saw over a hundred billion of defaults.
Speaker 1: In the first half of this year, it's only been
Speaker 1: eight point five billion of defaults, and in July there
Speaker 1: were no defaults at all. As a result, distress bonds
Speaker 1: only represent two percent of the High Yield Index right now,
Speaker 1: and the default rate is very low. It's only at
Speaker 1: about one versus what's that? What's that Historically that that
Speaker 1: number jumps out? I mean, is it typically five percent?
Speaker 1: Ten percent? Yeah, the long term default rate is about
Speaker 1: three point six percent UM, so it's really low right now.
Speaker 1: Last year, uh, distress bonds represented of the US High
Speaker 1: Yield Index, so we're close to the too. Uh, you
Speaker 1: know the historic lows here UM. Interestingly, energy is still
Speaker 1: the highest defaulting industry of almost six six percent in
Speaker 1: total UM, so it's it's you know, it's been pretty
Speaker 1: good times in the in the fixed income industry UM,
Speaker 1: and you're seeing it with low defaults right now. So
Speaker 1: what happens when the FED stops what happens when the
Speaker 1: era of low interest rates and accommodative monetary policy comes
Speaker 1: to an end. Well, there's really no way to predict.
Speaker 1: But last time the Fed tried to stop, you had
Speaker 1: this taper tantrum where there was a dramatic market sell
Speaker 1: off and that forced the Fed back into qui um.
Speaker 1: So we think right now the bigger and the bigger
Speaker 1: risk is really inflation because it'll be very difficult for
Speaker 1: the Fed to get out of, you know, such accommodative policies,
Speaker 1: and and you know, the core liery to all this
Speaker 1: good news is inflation. Um. We seem to be going
Speaker 1: from one major crisis to the next, and each time
Speaker 1: there's a bigger and bigger money printing bail out um.
Speaker 1: So really the only way to repay all this debt
Speaker 1: is through monetizing it with with inflation by printing more.
Speaker 1: All right, So what do you guys at Choltzi do
Speaker 1: that again? Looking at the distressed market, where do you
Speaker 1: go for opportunities? So in our in our approach as
Speaker 1: tsa management, we looked before, during, and after distress um,
Speaker 1: and in times like this, when distress is low, when
Speaker 1: default rates are very low, we focus on those companies
Speaker 1: that were previously distressed, that were distressed, that had distressed debt,
Speaker 1: but then restructured that that where the former lenders and
Speaker 1: bondholders got new equity UM and and many times those
Speaker 1: companies can be value investment equities UM and sometimes they
Speaker 1: they have interesting events that drive them closer and closer
Speaker 1: to fair value. Give us some examples of those. Well,
Speaker 1: one large one that uh, you know recently went through
Speaker 1: distress and still has elements of distress is Pacific Gas
Speaker 1: and Electric. In just a few days to talk about
Speaker 1: pg NY, I'm the Californian so followed the company closely.
Speaker 1: Um and look, it's been in a tough I mean,
Speaker 1: we could do a whole show on pg NY with
Speaker 1: it's with regard to the fires and and the bankruptcy.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, but but the the situation, you know, they're
Speaker 1: they're still making headlines and you know, you're in wild
Speaker 1: fire season right now. But really, with the new laws
Speaker 1: that were passed in California as well as the restructuring
Speaker 1: that occurred, we think it's positioned much more favorably going forward.
Speaker 1: And ultimately when they bury all their their lines, that
Speaker 1: will ultimately be paid for by Californian citizens. So the
Speaker 1: company will continue to become a much safer and safer
Speaker 1: utility going forward, although you'll still see these occasional you know,
Speaker 1: news stories about you know, terrible events and and and
Speaker 1: and issues as they transition. And with that usually we
Speaker 1: think there's a pretty good buying opportunity with the stock.
Speaker 1: How about do you look at the municipal bomb market
Speaker 1: thing in areas like Puerto Rico for example, Yeah, so
Speaker 1: that's a that's the largest municipal bankruptcy. Ever, Puerto Rico
Speaker 1: is still winding its way through bankruptcy. We expect that
Speaker 1: they'll vote on their disclosure statement UM this November and
Speaker 1: probably you know, most of Puerto Rico will start to
Speaker 1: emerge from bankruptcy in the first half of next year.
Speaker 1: There'll be some assing opportunities there as that island continues
Speaker 1: to recover UM. Unfortunately, the democratic the democratic graphic trends
Speaker 1: in Puerto Rico have been very difficult. But I think
Speaker 1: with all the debt release will be getting with their
Speaker 1: with the reorganization, will be some new opportunities there as well.
Speaker 1: So the demographic trend is that just is that people
Speaker 1: moving out, is that aging, It's both more people moving
Speaker 1: out though on the island of Puerto Rico, it's a
Speaker 1: you know, people have been looking for opportunity elsewhere because
Speaker 1: it's been under such distress for such a long period
Speaker 1: of time. Hey, how are you feeling about the health
Speaker 1: of the economy. We get the jobs report on Friday
Speaker 1: and there's sort of these competing signals that that we're seeing. Right,
Speaker 1: We're seeing equity markets continue to climb the record high
Speaker 1: as we said, though in the fixed income market we
Speaker 1: see concerns about growth. Uh, and I just wonder how
Speaker 1: you characterize it. So the economy is doing well, Um,
Speaker 1: we've really recovered a lot from the dog days of
Speaker 1: COVID now when the dog days of the summer, I guess.
Speaker 1: But you know, going forward, I think most you know
Speaker 1: economists are expecting near double digit growth into the third quarter.
Speaker 1: So things are looking pretty good. The question now is,
Speaker 1: you know, how does the FED get out of supporting
Speaker 1: the whole market with the d and twenty billion of
Speaker 1: asset purchases per month. And as they you know, as
Speaker 1: they try to taper that or wind it down, could
Speaker 1: there be a market sell off for an impact overall
Speaker 1: into the economy. So so What you really need is
Speaker 1: a transition from all this governmental spend, not just monetary
Speaker 1: stimulus but also fiscal stimulus with the infrastructure spend that's
Speaker 1: coming through, and you need to try to convert that
Speaker 1: back into the private sector um and that'll be interesting
Speaker 1: to see how that evolves. I think going forward, you know,
Speaker 1: beyond this year and into next, you know, the comparisons
Speaker 1: will be more difficult, and uh, you know, with luck though,
Speaker 1: we'll continue to see some growth. Yeah, fingers crossed, certainly.
Speaker 1: George Schulty, it is always great to speak with you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for taking the time, Founder of
Speaker 1: Chaltz Asset Management. He joins us on the phone, as
Speaker 1: he always does, from Rye Brook, New York.