Speaker 1: Now from our nation's capital. This is Bloomberg's sound on.
Speaker 1: We at the Fed understand the hardship that high inflation
Speaker 1: is causing. We're strongly committed to bringing inflation back down down.
Speaker 1: Gas prices are off. Our work isn't done. Floomberg Sound
Speaker 1: on Politics, Policy and Perspective from DC's top name. It's
Speaker 1: about balancing common sense. It's about going from a red
Speaker 1: hot economy to a stable economy so that things don't
Speaker 1: fall off the other side. It also means you've gotta
Speaker 1: pay people more. It okay, can I tell you something?
Speaker 1: Work is like the Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio. The biggest interest rate hikes since Welcome
Speaker 1: to the fastest hour in politics. As the Federal Reserve
Speaker 1: goes for seventy five it actually happened, and the White
Speaker 1: House goes for broke with big oil herging companies to
Speaker 1: produce more or else. We're gonna talk about the pressure
Speaker 1: on prices and politics today in Washington and ahead with
Speaker 1: you and rally from bed A Partners, someone who is
Speaker 1: actually moving money on all of this news today. His
Speaker 1: perspective is straight ahead. Our panel today, Bloomberg Politics contributor,
Speaker 1: Democratic analyst Genie Chanzano, along with Morgan Ortega's former treasury
Speaker 1: analyst in the Obama years and spokesperson for the State
Speaker 1: Department in the Trump administration, and later a conversation with
Speaker 1: the man in charge of implementing the infrastructure law, Mitch Landrew,
Speaker 1: the former governor of make that mayor of New Orleans,
Speaker 1: about rebuilding the country in the age of inflation is
Speaker 1: the biggest hike in almost thirty years of FED Chair J.
Speaker 1: Powell says, they are on it. We at the FED
Speaker 1: understand the hardship that high inflation is causing. We're strongly
Speaker 1: committed to bringing inflation back down, and we're moving expeditiously
Speaker 1: to do so. We have both the tools we need
Speaker 1: and the resolve that it will take to restore price
Speaker 1: stability on behalf of American families and businesses. Not that
Speaker 1: you should expect seventy five basis points sever time, which
Speaker 1: was made clear it could be fifty. It is pretty unusual.
Speaker 1: And the FED action comes the same day the White
Speaker 1: House sends letters to about a half dozen major oil companies.
Speaker 1: Letters in the mail, I think ex and Chevron, BP
Speaker 1: marathons so on. There were seven in total, the letters
Speaker 1: telling them that their unprecedented profit margins are unacceptable. The
Speaker 1: President of the United States calling for immediate action, his words,
Speaker 1: immediate action to improve capacity, saying the administration is prepared
Speaker 1: to use emergency authorities defense production acts to boost refinery output.
Speaker 1: I'm assuming it's defense production. There's been a lot for
Speaker 1: the markets to absorb here today, all of this. Of course, Washington,
Speaker 1: whether it's the Fed or the White House, trying to
Speaker 1: get its arms around prices, and we seek insights now
Speaker 1: from you and Rally, co founder and managing partner at
Speaker 1: b d A partners back with us today on sound
Speaker 1: on you and welcome back. Are you as happy as
Speaker 1: the market seems to be with seventy five basis points? Well, Joe,
Speaker 1: it's good to be back, thank you. You know, the
Speaker 1: market always wants predictability, The market wants calm and stability,
Speaker 1: and you're right, we've seen a lot of uncertainty over
Speaker 1: the last few weeks. Today felt like a relatively reassuring day,
Speaker 1: So yes, I'm happy like the market is okay that
Speaker 1: this may be followed by another seventy five although pale
Speaker 1: today seemed to feel like it was uh as unusual
Speaker 1: as it seems to be here that we might get
Speaker 1: fifty basis points. I think that that gets the question is, though,
Speaker 1: do you see the FED front loading? No, having you know,
Speaker 1: spent some time in the Oval office with Joe Biden
Speaker 1: that you know this is this is pressure time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that. I think that's exactly right. The FED
Speaker 1: is trying to frontload it. Um, we may see seventy
Speaker 1: five again in in July, probably fifty or twenty five
Speaker 1: in the final three meetings of the year, so probably
Speaker 1: another one and three quarters per cent. Again, the market
Speaker 1: is expecting this now, and I think, of course it
Speaker 1: falls hardest on on the poorer parts of the society.
Speaker 1: But as far as investors are concerned, we've got a
Speaker 1: relatively clear path towards what we hope will be a
Speaker 1: soft landing. Um. I don't think it's it's quite as
Speaker 1: simple as I'm saying, but that's what what we're looking for. Well,
Speaker 1: it would be awfully nice. Do you feel like the market,
Speaker 1: now that we've seen this sort of sigh of relief
Speaker 1: starts building in a bottom here is the investors look
Speaker 1: at the dot plots, people start calling the peak for
Speaker 1: inflation one more time. Yeah, I think, I think. Um,
Speaker 1: of course we're hoping for for an improvement after some
Speaker 1: pretty steep falls. Um, there's a there's an extra worry,
Speaker 1: which is the coming quantitative tightening by the Fed. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a huge, huge balance sheet which has
Speaker 1: more than doubled in in size to nine trillion dollars
Speaker 1: over the last couple of years. That's a bloated balance
Speaker 1: sheet which which the FED has to deal with. So
Speaker 1: there's still a lot of a lot of room for
Speaker 1: the FED to make mistakes overall. Again, I think and
Speaker 1: believe that the FED was was slow to move on inflation,
Speaker 1: but they seem to be getting their arms around it now. Uh,
Speaker 1: it remains to be seen whether whether that optimism is misplaced.
Speaker 1: Really fascinating a question and answer in the news conference today,
Speaker 1: the news conference with j Powell, of course, when Bloomberg's
Speaker 1: Mike McKee shows up. This is why they should go
Speaker 1: to Mike for the first question. I don't know why
Speaker 1: that doesn't happen at all of these things, but I
Speaker 1: want you to listen to the question and answer. I'm
Speaker 1: sure you already saw this, and it has to do
Speaker 1: with headline versus core inflation. And exactly what the FED
Speaker 1: thinks it has the ability to impact. Remembering that the
Speaker 1: White House is constantly deferring to the Fed. If you
Speaker 1: have an issue here with you know, whether it's oil prices,
Speaker 1: food prices, that's their job the FED that the White
Speaker 1: House doing what it can, but it's really the Fed's
Speaker 1: job to manage this trend. So it it speaks to
Speaker 1: the answer that Powell gives our colleague Mike McKie, Are
Speaker 1: you targeting headline inflation now or core inflation? In other words,
Speaker 1: how far would you chase oil prices if they keep
Speaker 1: going up, if that's going to be the component that
Speaker 1: drives expectations? Would you risk recession for a headline rate
Speaker 1: if the core rate is holding steady or starting to
Speaker 1: go down. So we're responsible for inflation in the law,
Speaker 1: and inflation means headline inflation, So that's our ultimate goal.
Speaker 1: We of course like all central banks to look very
Speaker 1: very carefully at core inflation because it is it's a
Speaker 1: much better predictor, and it's much it's it's a much
Speaker 1: better predictor where inflation is going, and it's also more
Speaker 1: relevant to our tools. As I mentioned, the parts that
Speaker 1: don't go into core are mostly outside the scope of
Speaker 1: our tools, so we look at that. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's the current situation is particularly difficult because of what
Speaker 1: I mentioned about expectations. We we we we can't affect really,
Speaker 1: I mean, the energy prices are set by global commodity prices,
Speaker 1: and most of food, not all of it, but most
Speaker 1: food prices are are pretty heavily influenced by global commodity
Speaker 1: prices to also other things, so we can't really have
Speaker 1: much of an effect. All right, Sorry for the long
Speaker 1: answer there, you and but what he just said is,
Speaker 1: you know, we can't affect oil, can affect food, so
Speaker 1: we're focusing on everything else here in the core, right,
Speaker 1: And I appreciate the value of having that core number
Speaker 1: and understanding longer term trends. But the White House keeps
Speaker 1: saying the big problems are oil and food. So what
Speaker 1: are we talking about here? Well, look, I think I
Speaker 1: think again the Biden administration is going to is already
Speaker 1: taking a lot of heat for inflation. Um, the public
Speaker 1: doesn't like it, and thoughts are probably gonna react pretty
Speaker 1: harshly against the Biden administration. But I think the President
Speaker 1: did the right thing today using his bully pulpit uh
Speaker 1: to the extent he can to try to encourage oil
Speaker 1: companies to do the right thing. Remember, oil companies are
Speaker 1: making very very high profits through this period, but unfortunately
Speaker 1: refinery capacity is pretty much tapped out. So you know,
Speaker 1: anything that the oil companies due to increase um investment,
Speaker 1: that will take a while to come through. I don't
Speaker 1: think President Biden or Power or anybody else can can
Speaker 1: solve the Ukraine problem. And we're going to definitely have
Speaker 1: a global grain grain issue, and that touches both of these. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's all that's that's your energy and there's your food.
Speaker 1: So while the FED is hiking interest rates and potentially
Speaker 1: slowing us into a recession, these prices may not even react,
Speaker 1: is that I think? I think they will react, of course,
Speaker 1: that's the concern. And you know, we've all been maybe
Speaker 1: spoilt by by prices that have been very low to rise,
Speaker 1: very slow to rise over the last few years until
Speaker 1: until the last twelve months. Um. I don't think the
Speaker 1: neither the FED nor the President and click their fingers
Speaker 1: and solve everything. I think they're taking the right actions,
Speaker 1: and gradually, for sure, expectations are going to abate and
Speaker 1: we're headed in the right direction. That's that's the best
Speaker 1: we can say. I just saw an incredible story across
Speaker 1: the Bloomberg terminal. A FED triggered recession threatens Biden's White
Speaker 1: House survival. Rate hikes to counter inflation lift the risk
Speaker 1: of a downturn to seventy two percent. You and in
Speaker 1: Bloomberg's economic models, seventy two Does that sound like reality?
Speaker 1: Is that your expectation? Yes, I think we I think
Speaker 1: I'm afraid to say, I think we'll have a recession
Speaker 1: next year. Hopefully it'll be a pretty soft recession, a
Speaker 1: short recession, and growth will growth will will return. The
Speaker 1: fundamentals of the economy are generally good, but it's very,
Speaker 1: very hard to come out of the pandemic we've been
Speaker 1: through with war and other problems without a recession. At
Speaker 1: some point, we're still uncharted here, right. This is obviously
Speaker 1: recovering from a pandemic we haven't done in a century. Uh,
Speaker 1: certainly not on this scale. We've never just shut off
Speaker 1: the economy before, and we've never done it at a
Speaker 1: time of war, at least considering the market implications we
Speaker 1: have now when it comes to energy. So, how can
Speaker 1: you possibly forecast anything at this point, and how do
Speaker 1: you make a bet on any of this? Well, I
Speaker 1: think I think, Look, the labor market is tight. Uh,
Speaker 1: consumers are still spending money more on services and on
Speaker 1: goods at the moment. You know, part of this is
Speaker 1: a is anecdotal, But if you sit on an airplane
Speaker 1: as I have done in the last week, or if
Speaker 1: you visit restaurants around the country, you'll see activity. Consumer
Speaker 1: activity is still reasonably good. So I think you know,
Speaker 1: this is an extraordinarily resilient economy. I think it's been
Speaker 1: reasonably well managed on the whole. I think the FED was,
Speaker 1: as I say, late to react to inflation, but I
Speaker 1: think the prognosis is not so bad. So why not
Speaker 1: start buying? Or are you I'm gradually starting to buy? Um,
Speaker 1: I'm licking, licking, licking my wounds from recent falls, but
Speaker 1: gradually starting to buy again. What is it? Something other
Speaker 1: than energy out of curiosity? Are you? Are you just
Speaker 1: looking for individual companies that have been unfairly abused over
Speaker 1: the last few weeks to to To be honest, I
Speaker 1: think bigger companies are better, uh, you know, have stronger
Speaker 1: balance sheets, better better position to weather. UM. The volatile markets.
Speaker 1: I think you know what what happens in these rock
Speaker 1: during these times of ructions is the biggest stronger companies
Speaker 1: tend to acquire. The weaker companies will see certainly see consolidation.
Speaker 1: I think consumer services will be stronger than consumer goods.
Speaker 1: I think financial services will do. Okay, there it is
Speaker 1: from you, and really I love this. Great to talk
Speaker 1: to you again from b DA Partners. You and thank you.
Speaker 1: We assemble our panel. Next on sound on, This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg you Sound on with Joe Matthew
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio. The headline on the terminal, Biden tells
Speaker 1: US oil refiners record profits not exceptable. I mentioned the letters.
Speaker 1: There were seven of them, seven big oil refiners. The
Speaker 1: President wants to get busy, suggesting that in the age
Speaker 1: of unprecedented profit margins at a time of ward is
Speaker 1: the patriotic thing to do to put more money back
Speaker 1: in the ground instead of sending it to shareholders. White
Speaker 1: House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre was asked about it's
Speaker 1: a day and exactly what the letters were all about.
Speaker 1: So this is basically a bit of a hey, we want,
Speaker 1: we want you to act. It's time to act. We
Speaker 1: have done our part with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the
Speaker 1: one the one million a day for the next six months,
Speaker 1: and so we need them to act. So that's where
Speaker 1: we are. We want it comes to solutions, which is
Speaker 1: why we say we want to have that conversation. And
Speaker 1: well we'll see where it goes from there. If there's
Speaker 1: something the presidents consider it to compel them or consequence
Speaker 1: in that. I don't have anything right now to to
Speaker 1: preview as to what would come What would come next?
Speaker 1: That's the question. What happens if they just sit on
Speaker 1: their hands or just keep their money in their pocket.
Speaker 1: As we assemble the panel here with the full Court press,
Speaker 1: the Federal Reserve hiking interest rate seventy five basis points,
Speaker 1: the White House Senate out letters to big oil, and
Speaker 1: we have Bloomberg Politics contributor and Democratic analyst Genie Shenzana
Speaker 1: with us today along with Morgan Ortega's former Treasury analyst
Speaker 1: in the Obama administration, spokesperson for the State Department in
Speaker 1: the Trump administration. It's great to have both of you
Speaker 1: with us. Genie, are you impressed with this? I won't
Speaker 1: say hold of government approach. Maybe hole of administration approach
Speaker 1: is a better way to talk about it. Seventy five
Speaker 1: bases points and some nasty grams to big oil. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I have so much to say following that interview,
Speaker 1: which I thought was so fascinating. And you know, I
Speaker 1: do think the FED is is doing what it can
Speaker 1: to tap down on the excess money. But I think
Speaker 1: the question you played that Mike asked is so critically
Speaker 1: important because the question now for the Biden administration in
Speaker 1: this oil letter speaks to it is on the supply side.
Speaker 1: And you know, you hear you hear the FED chair saying,
Speaker 1: you know, there's not a lot we can do about that.
Speaker 1: You hear the Biden administration blaming people, including the oil executives,
Speaker 1: and yet there are a lot of things people are
Speaker 1: saying they need to do on the supply side that
Speaker 1: they haven't done, like the tariffs on the Chinese tariffs,
Speaker 1: for instance. So you know, that is a big, big
Speaker 1: question I think for the Biden administration, what are you
Speaker 1: going to do on that? And you know, from the
Speaker 1: perspective of these oil executives, on the one hand, we
Speaker 1: increase production, you claim that we're destroying the planet. On
Speaker 1: the other hand, you claim if we have it down,
Speaker 1: we're not. So you know, you have the politics here
Speaker 1: at play and the blame game. Big question. I think
Speaker 1: if that even works with the American public at this point,
Speaker 1: because people don't pay too much attention to who he's blaming.
Speaker 1: They're paying, They're paying attention to what we're paying at
Speaker 1: the pump. This is a big meeting coming, Morgan. The
Speaker 1: President said the federal government will open talks with the
Speaker 1: National Petroleum Council, which represents the industry, calling on companies
Speaker 1: to give the Energy Department an explanation as to why
Speaker 1: they have cut capacity, which happened in many cases before
Speaker 1: this aministration, and then what could be done Let's to
Speaker 1: get it back up to speed, knowing it's going to
Speaker 1: take a while. Um Morgan, at what point are Republicans
Speaker 1: not going to be able to accuse the White House
Speaker 1: of doing nothing? Uh after potentially when a Republican in
Speaker 1: the White House. But you know, I'm asking that in reverse.
Speaker 1: Here is there is Joe Biden doing everything he can
Speaker 1: or do you see other levers he should be pulling? No?
Speaker 1: I think that listen. Lindsay Graham and his debate with
Speaker 1: Bernie Sanders and Boston a couple of days ago said
Speaker 1: at best, you know, uh, he said that President Biden
Speaker 1: and his team went to war on American energy and
Speaker 1: the victims are the American people. At the pump um
Speaker 1: and and President Biden made it very clear. I mean
Speaker 1: all the videos have been making the internet on Twitter
Speaker 1: over the last few months of President Biden during the
Speaker 1: campaign trail, you know, promising to end the fossil fil
Speaker 1: industry in the United States. Listen, my former boss, Mike Pompeo,
Speaker 1: I think phrase this well. He said, every administration has
Speaker 1: a guiding principle that guides all of their policies, right, policies, right,
Speaker 1: everything that they do. For for for Pompeio, for President Trump,
Speaker 1: that was his America First principle, meaning and every decision
Speaker 1: that every department made what was best for Americans. And
Speaker 1: for President Biden his team, that guiding principle is climate change.
Speaker 1: I think plenty of people think that's a noble goal.
Speaker 1: But what that that that overriding theme of climate change
Speaker 1: being the guiding principle of the Biden administration has unfortunately,
Speaker 1: um just come into a harsh reality as we're seeing
Speaker 1: today of American energy prices. But you're as when we
Speaker 1: talk about energy and oil, obviously you're speaking to to
Speaker 1: that equation. But my goodness, we have across the board
Speaker 1: inflation on a global level. So that's that's clearly beyond
Speaker 1: the policies of this White House. Yeah, I just don't
Speaker 1: I think what you're saying is a is a nuanced
Speaker 1: argument that's hard to make to the American people. Again,
Speaker 1: we're just I'm just talking to politics of it, you
Speaker 1: know right now, it's hard to make that to the
Speaker 1: American people because you know, they are feeling to and
Speaker 1: they check out at the grocery store and when they
Speaker 1: go to the pump, And I just think that from
Speaker 1: a from a political perspective, making the argument uh to
Speaker 1: go out and blame the blame the oil companies. Listen,
Speaker 1: that's definitely going to resonate with a certain part of
Speaker 1: the President's base. But if we're fighting over you know,
Speaker 1: the I live in Nashville, Tennessee, So if you're fighting
Speaker 1: over my friends, you know, suburban moms, I just don't
Speaker 1: think blaming the oil companies is a winning message. People. Actually,
Speaker 1: they're going to have a big meeting here. He's been
Speaker 1: accused of not engaging with the oil companies. Does that
Speaker 1: help the narrative and does it help to say, invoke
Speaker 1: the Defense Production Act to get more oil out of
Speaker 1: the ground. Yeah, I mean the president has to do
Speaker 1: everything he can, and I give the White House credit
Speaker 1: for getting out there. They are, you know, doing what
Speaker 1: they can. But you know the reality of this for
Speaker 1: any president, I mean, put Joe Biden aside, is you
Speaker 1: are very much like Bob the Builder. Without many tools
Speaker 1: on your belt, There's very little you can do. I
Speaker 1: say that having had two boys, but um, you know,
Speaker 1: there's very little you can do. And so they're doing
Speaker 1: what they can. People want him to do more. He'll
Speaker 1: take the blame at the mid term for it, but
Speaker 1: is it deserved. Probably not. I don't know. Genie and
Speaker 1: Morgan are with us. That's why it was we try
Speaker 1: to figure this out. We're gonna stick with the panel. Next,
Speaker 1: in turn to the primaries. Yeah, it was primary day
Speaker 1: yesterday and some good storylines. Next, this is Bloomberg broadcasting
Speaker 1: live from our nation's capital. Bloomberg to New York, Bloomberg
Speaker 1: eleven Frio to Boston, Bloomberg one O six one to
Speaker 1: San Francisco, Bloomberg nine sixty to the Country, Serious, x
Speaker 1: M General one and around the globe, the Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: app and Bloomberg Radio dot Com. This is Bloomberg Sound
Speaker 1: On with Joe Matthew. So a split decision for the
Speaker 1: Trump retribution tour in South Carolina last night and the
Speaker 1: first Republican member of Congress losing a seat after voting
Speaker 1: to impeach the former president. We'll get into the results
Speaker 1: from primary night next with our panel. So we were
Speaker 1: asking at this time yesterday if it was possible for
Speaker 1: a Republican member of Congress in the House, specifically who
Speaker 1: voted to impeach Donald Trump, could possibly survive a primary.
Speaker 1: The answer so far is no. The first last night,
Speaker 1: South Carolina Congressman Tom Rice lost his primary, which we
Speaker 1: discussed again this time yesterday to Russell Fry. Remember the
Speaker 1: Trump endorsed candidate who created that ad with the Joker
Speaker 1: and Satan in a therapy session with Tom rights, Well,
Speaker 1: this is why he's a narcissist, and he's driven by
Speaker 1: attention and he's driven by revenge. I took an oath
Speaker 1: to protect the consultation, and I did it then and
Speaker 1: I would do it again. Tomorrow and I won't likely
Speaker 1: have a chance. Tom Rice right there speaking with ABC
Speaker 1: News on the eve of the election, didn't win the primary,
Speaker 1: and it was not even close. It's like a twenty
Speaker 1: five point spread. But a different story for Nancy Mace,
Speaker 1: also in South Carolina, and as I was reminded today
Speaker 1: on Twitter, these are very different districts congressional districts. But
Speaker 1: the Republican congresswoman who didn't vote to impeach Donald Trump
Speaker 1: but did criticize him in the wake of January six
Speaker 1: and was facing a Trump and Doors candidate, she survived,
Speaker 1: known by many outside of South Carolina as the Republican
Speaker 1: who proposed legalizing marijuana. We talked to her about that
Speaker 1: earlier this year. Right here on sound On, Let's reassemble
Speaker 1: the panel for more Bloomberg Politics contributors. Genie Chan say No.
Speaker 1: Morgan Ortegas is with us today as well, former State
Speaker 1: Department spokesperson in the Trump administration. It's great to have
Speaker 1: both of you this day, after Genie your thoughts on
Speaker 1: South Carolina. These were two different races, but the Trump
Speaker 1: retribution on Tom Rice was unmistakable. With a twenty five loss,
Speaker 1: that's significant. It was as show lacking, as they say,
Speaker 1: and you know, some of us thought, and myself included,
Speaker 1: this could possibly go to a runoff, and not at all.
Speaker 1: Fry really really did extremely well because the joker wasn't
Speaker 1: that it was the joker that changed everything. But I
Speaker 1: do think you're the people you were speaking with on
Speaker 1: Twitter or right. The districts are critically important. We can't
Speaker 1: forget Nancy Mace's district includes Charleston, much more moderate there.
Speaker 1: And also, of course the tone of their campaigns. Nancy Mace,
Speaker 1: she said she agreed with Trump and any things she
Speaker 1: was critical of him, but she didn't take him on directly.
Speaker 1: Tom Rice was on I think it was MSNBC the
Speaker 1: other day saying that, you know, it was a badge
Speaker 1: of honor to vote against the president, you know, very defiant. Morgan,
Speaker 1: what's your read on these two races. The vote to
Speaker 1: impeach was obviously, uh, the undoing of Tom Rice, But
Speaker 1: Nancy Mace was was under fire and and managed to
Speaker 1: find herself out of trouble. She did, and I think
Speaker 1: Genie's had to talk about the tone. I mean, she
Speaker 1: was very complimentary if Trump said she would support him
Speaker 1: in twenty four if he ran agreed with his agenda.
Speaker 1: She ran a very different campaign, and I think it's
Speaker 1: an interesting window and how the twenty four presidential election
Speaker 1: will be conducted. Um, if President Trump decides not to run,
Speaker 1: I think the people that you will see at the top,
Speaker 1: you know, you will be like, none of these guys
Speaker 1: that we're going to run yet. But let's just say
Speaker 1: it's the Santist or Pompeo or or others. They're gonna
Speaker 1: be running close to Trump, whereas maybe the Chris Christie's
Speaker 1: or you know, the you know, the governor of Maryland.
Speaker 1: You know, those people that will run away from Trump.
Speaker 1: I think there's a very big start contrast and how
Speaker 1: that would play in a primary. But I will say,
Speaker 1: if I could just say, the one thing that Republicans
Speaker 1: are really animated about, uh, the is the race in Texas.
Speaker 1: Myra Flores is the first Mexican born um American to
Speaker 1: to be elected to Congress as a Republican. You know,
Speaker 1: I totally get the media. Everybody's talking about what happened.
Speaker 1: The Trump back candidates are not. I will tell you
Speaker 1: what we're Publicans around the country are doing. And on
Speaker 1: fact that the class Americans right right and Hispanic working
Speaker 1: class Americans in general. You remember that Myra's husband, um
Speaker 1: I met her before. She's fantastic. Her husband is a
Speaker 1: border patrol agent. We know that this community, the Hispanic
Speaker 1: American community, especially in Texas and Arizona, they actually care
Speaker 1: about the border. They care about the gas and cost
Speaker 1: of groceries, just like every other Americans. Sure, this is,
Speaker 1: of course, though temporary, right, this is this is a
Speaker 1: short term. We're we're the special election. What does it mean, Jennie,
Speaker 1: for the for the real election that will follow. Well,
Speaker 1: I agree with Morgan. I wrote down political tsunami, political earthquake,
Speaker 1: a demographic one. I mean this seat has been democratic,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, for a hundred years. This is big
Speaker 1: news out of Texas. So of course this district now
Speaker 1: goes away with a special election to finish it. That's
Speaker 1: the last election for this district. It's been redistricted. But
Speaker 1: I think the larger, the larger implications here are not
Speaker 1: as much in this case actually for Joe Biden. But
Speaker 1: the Demock had a party as a whole. It's long
Speaker 1: been stated, maybe not as publicly, that they have had
Speaker 1: a tendency to lump in people of color, Hispanics, Latinos
Speaker 1: and so on and appeal to them in sort of
Speaker 1: a a coherent way, and that has proven not to
Speaker 1: be successful, and this is one of the cases in
Speaker 1: which it was an utter failure. Democrats didn't even spend
Speaker 1: a lot until the last eight days of this, taking
Speaker 1: it for granted, and it was a big win. We'll
Speaker 1: have to see what happens when they redo this, but
Speaker 1: it was a big win for Republicans in that district.
Speaker 1: Morgan ortegas your take on Nevada where the Trump brand
Speaker 1: is still apparently quite powerful. Adam Laxalt beat Sam Brown
Speaker 1: by almost twenty points, and those two candidates spent the
Speaker 1: better part of the campaign trying to outmag at each other.
Speaker 1: We lost, Morgan RD Vegas. Stay with me, Jeanie, because
Speaker 1: this is also pretty important here. Senator Katherine Cortez Mastro,
Speaker 1: the Democrat, is considered one of the most at risk
Speaker 1: in the Senate. That's right, Morgan is probab run out
Speaker 1: to Nevada to work on these races is probably what
Speaker 1: she's doing. But you know, this is going to be
Speaker 1: one of the races to watch. And of course Adam Laxall,
Speaker 1: he was endorsed not only by Trump, but by Mitch McConnell,
Speaker 1: he is some of the Republicans feel very strongly about
Speaker 1: can take on Cortez Mastow, Democrats feeling like it's a
Speaker 1: seat they could possibly hold. But the numbers aren't hard
Speaker 1: thirty approval for Biden there. The economy post COVID, they're
Speaker 1: still trying to recover. It's a one industry town, as
Speaker 1: we famously know, so really really tough for them out there.
Speaker 1: And so, you know, one other story from Nevada is,
Speaker 1: of course you've got a series of election deniers out
Speaker 1: there who have won and potentially the Republican if you
Speaker 1: win Secretary of State in Nevada and now Florida, both
Speaker 1: election deniers. So Morgan was mentioning, imagine counting the votes
Speaker 1: in Florida and Arizona with those two at the helm
Speaker 1: if indeed that turn, if we can just get Morgan
Speaker 1: in for one set, we only have thirty seconds, Morgan,
Speaker 1: But I understand you are still there is Senator Catherine
Speaker 1: Cortes mass though in big trouble. I think so. I
Speaker 1: think I think Jennie's right there. But listen to what
Speaker 1: most Republicans are saying behind the scenes. We feel very
Speaker 1: good about the House. We think the Senator raisers edge
Speaker 1: right as it always is invigorated by Texas. I get it, Morgan.
Speaker 1: Thank you for being here in Genie. This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg. You sound on with Joe Matthew
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio. Remember Infrastructure Week, Remember it actually happened
Speaker 1: from President Biden signed the bill in the law one
Speaker 1: point two trillion dollars. It was the biggest deal in
Speaker 1: Washington at the time, bipartisan and unprecedented and well now
Speaker 1: it's being implemented in a very different environment than when
Speaker 1: it passed. Historically high inflation, expensive oil and gas, continued
Speaker 1: shortages of building materials. Dealing with all of this is
Speaker 1: the job of Mitch Landrew, the former mayor of New Orleans,
Speaker 1: now in charge of putting the infrastructure law into place,
Speaker 1: and he's with us now in studio. Should I should
Speaker 1: I call you? Mr? Mayor? Thank you? Put every mayor
Speaker 1: I've ever known who went on to have a bigger job, ambassador,
Speaker 1: Congress whatever. I still love being called mayor. That's what
Speaker 1: they all said. You still feel the hundred because you're
Speaker 1: you're the boss, but you're on the ground and you're
Speaker 1: responsible and uh, and it's hot and it's fast. And
Speaker 1: now you're on the other side of the equation, on
Speaker 1: the federal government side talking to mayors. It's that conversation. Well,
Speaker 1: it's a good conversation. I mean, I know, I know
Speaker 1: a lot of these folks, and I know how they think,
Speaker 1: and I know what their challenges are and um um
Speaker 1: have a profound respect for the for the immediacy of
Speaker 1: their work. When you're the mayor, you might and might
Speaker 1: not have security, depending on what city you're in. But
Speaker 1: no matter what, you're on the ground, and so whatever
Speaker 1: it is that you say or whatever you in your
Speaker 1: city council indicated is gonna happen usually happens like the
Speaker 1: next day. It's not like a year from now. So
Speaker 1: when you need something, and when you need something, you
Speaker 1: call the mayor. And by the way, the mid you know,
Speaker 1: takes out their own garbage and they go to the
Speaker 1: grocery store and they go to the ballpark. So people,
Speaker 1: your constituents who know you are not shy of coming
Speaker 1: up to you, even in mass and saying listen, I
Speaker 1: know you're praying, but but I can I can I
Speaker 1: grab you for a second finish let me just let
Speaker 1: me just finish this out, father, and then I'll get
Speaker 1: to you. Um. You know, so you have that, but
Speaker 1: it's an immediacy and you proct him into the people
Speaker 1: and it's a it's a joyful, exhilarating thing, but it's
Speaker 1: also very painful because you go to the funerals. You
Speaker 1: know people who are who are killed are um, you know,
Speaker 1: changes that happened in your city. You're there all the time.
Speaker 1: Or if there's a catastrophic event, you're actually part of
Speaker 1: the people who get hit by the hurricane or the
Speaker 1: flood or an electrical outage. So you're living in real time. Um,
Speaker 1: and you can't escape. But it's a it was It's
Speaker 1: really great. I really enjoyed it. Well, So this is
Speaker 1: why Joe Biden wanted you for this job. You're traveling
Speaker 1: the country talking to local policymakers, mayors, governors, uh, people
Speaker 1: in local government who are going to decide where all
Speaker 1: of this money goes. You're about to unleash from the
Speaker 1: process of unleashing a trillion plus dollars, it's never happened
Speaker 1: before on infrastructure. When that bill was first signed, that
Speaker 1: money was worth a little bit more now we're talking
Speaker 1: about this against the backdrop of inflation. Are you concerned
Speaker 1: about having less buying power as these projects begin, Well,
Speaker 1: the inflation is the President's number one priority. I mean,
Speaker 1: everybody knows American citizens who are get up every day
Speaker 1: have to go to work. We're about getting their kids
Speaker 1: to and from school safely. Unfortunately, um and just trying
Speaker 1: to make ends meet know that inflation is a real challenge.
Speaker 1: But they also know that we're living in a very
Speaker 1: difficult time. I mean, for God's sakes, we've come out
Speaker 1: of two and a half years of just intense turmoil,
Speaker 1: from the potential insurrection to the changes of the new
Speaker 1: presidency into um, you know all Macron just really taking
Speaker 1: a lot of lives, about loved ones and people working
Speaker 1: from home, and into this incredible war that Putin has
Speaker 1: put on the shoulders of the world by trying to
Speaker 1: invade Ukraine and challenge freedom all over the world, which
Speaker 1: is straining gas prices. And most people don't know this,
Speaker 1: but both Russia and the Ukraine together produced about of
Speaker 1: the world's weak Yeah, that's why the bread, that's why
Speaker 1: you don't have you don't have access to the things
Speaker 1: that we have and then China, UM, which we bought
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff from, basically has shut down a
Speaker 1: number of different times, and so they don't have the
Speaker 1: kind of goods that people want to buy. And so
Speaker 1: when you don't have a lot of goods and people
Speaker 1: want a lot of stuff, you're in the construction business. Essentially,
Speaker 1: you need oil, you need a lot of stuff that
Speaker 1: we're so I am clearly clearly inflation concerns the President
Speaker 1: for its impact on everyday Americans, but on everything that
Speaker 1: everybody is trying to build, the cost of it will
Speaker 1: go up. And that is true, except that this infrastructure
Speaker 1: plan is not a UM recovery plan in the sense
Speaker 1: that you put money in somebody's pocket today and you
Speaker 1: want them to spend it today. We're building bridges, and
Speaker 1: we're building roads, and we're building airports, and even on
Speaker 1: our best day when we go on as fast as
Speaker 1: we possibly can, this is a long term plan to
Speaker 1: five seven tents, so as the economy gets itself back
Speaker 1: on its feet over time through whatever pain that we're
Speaker 1: gonna have to go through together UM. And the President
Speaker 1: is trying to ease this pain every day by getting
Speaker 1: Congress to lower prices and calling on oil companies to
Speaker 1: do the right thing, that it won't have the kind
Speaker 1: of impact um over the long term as it as
Speaker 1: it would for example today, Sure, got it. Uh. The
Speaker 1: other major challenge has been the labor market, which is
Speaker 1: as tight as it's ever been. Words told, you need
Speaker 1: to hire a lot of people or someone is to
Speaker 1: do all of these jobs. Difficult is that going to
Speaker 1: be in this environment? Well, I'll tell you it's. Um.
Speaker 1: There are lots of problems that people can have in
Speaker 1: their life. One of them is that no jobs and
Speaker 1: there's no work, and there's no food and nobody can eat.
Speaker 1: That's one problem. We had that problem before. This problem
Speaker 1: is we have more jobs we need, right, and we
Speaker 1: need people. That's a that's a problem that that that
Speaker 1: creates lots of opportunities, and you have to see it
Speaker 1: that way. And so it's just all about a problem
Speaker 1: so everybody in America. The whole point of it was
Speaker 1: to help put people in America back to work and
Speaker 1: to build things in a way that prepare us to
Speaker 1: win the twenty one century, no matter who's competing against
Speaker 1: us on the world stage. You know, by the way,
Speaker 1: notwithstanding inflation and gas prices, which the President is working
Speaker 1: on every day because of the President's policies. Almost every
Speaker 1: economist agrees that we're in a better position financially to
Speaker 1: weather this storm than any country in the world because
Speaker 1: you know, inflacing, the gas prices are high everywhere, so
Speaker 1: this is just asn't in the United States. But the
Speaker 1: President would remind everybody that since he's been in office,
Speaker 1: would created eight point seven million jobs. That's more in
Speaker 1: the first eighteen months and any president than anybody can remember,
Speaker 1: the unemployment rate is at three. It also means you
Speaker 1: gotta pay people more. It also, can I tell you
Speaker 1: something works like that? The President likes that to the
Speaker 1: more wages you pay, the better you know people can
Speaker 1: can can can invest in themselves and their families. However,
Speaker 1: it creates a challenge, and the challenges how do you
Speaker 1: keep It's about balancing common sense. It's about going from
Speaker 1: a red hot economy to a stable economy so that
Speaker 1: things don't fall off the other side. And it's just
Speaker 1: not overly easy. It's not like turning off a light switch.
Speaker 1: The president is going to continue to use the power
Speaker 1: its president to make sure that we get things to
Speaker 1: the to the middle class, and to build things from
Speaker 1: what he says, the bottom up in the middle out
Speaker 1: not trickle down because it never trickles down. It never
Speaker 1: trickles down. So the President put the money, his money
Speaker 1: where his mouth is on this bill, and it's gonna
Speaker 1: improve people's lives, it's gonna make it safer, it's gonna
Speaker 1: give us more tools, laying high speed internet, for example,
Speaker 1: so that everybody has access to knowledge. In case people
Speaker 1: didn't understand the importance of this after COVID, they surely do.
Speaker 1: Of trying to work from home without internet, you just
Speaker 1: can't play in in a modern economy. You can't you
Speaker 1: can't do agribusiness, you can't um uh, you can't do telemedicine,
Speaker 1: you can't do precision agriculture. You can't build entrepreneurship from
Speaker 1: maybe wanting to live in a rural area and then
Speaker 1: have some kind of work experience in the in the
Speaker 1: urban area of vice versa. So you speed internet. It
Speaker 1: is an absolute utility and a necessity. And and it
Speaker 1: really is about equality too, and laying having a level
Speaker 1: playing field so everybody in the country can participate. You
Speaker 1: got that, and then there's money in here to build
Speaker 1: a clean energy economy. Everybody now knows what the price
Speaker 1: of gas as high as it is. We gotta get
Speaker 1: out of being dependent on other folks, and so we
Speaker 1: have to build other sources of energy, which we're aggressively
Speaker 1: doing so that we can help with climate but also
Speaker 1: just lower the costs on American people. And we and
Speaker 1: we're working hard to get there, and I think we will.
Speaker 1: You help to rebuild one of the greatest cities in
Speaker 1: the world. As the mayor of New Orleans following Katrina,
Speaker 1: you have institutional knowledge having been through that that I'm
Speaker 1: guessing no one else in Washington has. What do you
Speaker 1: what do you see that they don't. I love my
Speaker 1: city so much. I love the people of New Orleans.
Speaker 1: They have so much heart and so much soul, and
Speaker 1: and we're so thankful, by the way, to the people
Speaker 1: of America for reaching down and helping us and out
Speaker 1: the arcas our You know, we had eighteen hundred people
Speaker 1: would killed in Katrina and two hundred fifty thousand homes
Speaker 1: got destroyed. The whole world came to help us, and
Speaker 1: you know, we're forever gradeful for that. But in the
Speaker 1: middle of that catastrophic event, it caused us to really
Speaker 1: kind of get our act together, and so thinking about
Speaker 1: who we were and what we wanted to build back,
Speaker 1: and we didn't really want to build it back like
Speaker 1: it was now. We wanted to maintain our essence. We
Speaker 1: wanted to maintain our authenticity. We wanted to maintain our
Speaker 1: specialness as a and the culture of the city. But
Speaker 1: we also knew that we had been a little bit outdated,
Speaker 1: Like the buildings were old and tired, the roads weren't
Speaker 1: built the right way. Maybe the transportation systems could have
Speaker 1: been built for the twenty one century. The schools should
Speaker 1: be twenty one century learning center. So we had a
Speaker 1: chance to build back the way we should have had
Speaker 1: we gotten it right the first time. So interestingly enough,
Speaker 1: the President says, I want to build back better too.
Speaker 1: So I just don't want to go build roads and
Speaker 1: bridges like we used to. But if I'm putting buses
Speaker 1: on the street, I want the buses to have batteries
Speaker 1: in and so when a kid gets out of the bus,
Speaker 1: he doesn't have to suck exhaust and have asthma. The
Speaker 1: man makes kind of perfect sense, right. If if we
Speaker 1: don't want to depend on on on Russia or other
Speaker 1: folks for oil, why don't we why don't we decrease
Speaker 1: eye dependence on oil and moved to the electrification of
Speaker 1: the economy, so also had to organize a massive building. Well,
Speaker 1: what happened was I learned that that when it works well,
Speaker 1: and it can work well, the federal, state and local
Speaker 1: governments and partnership with the private sector, the not for
Speaker 1: profit and the faith based all have to be at
Speaker 1: the same table, pulling in the same direction. I'll call
Speaker 1: it one team, one fight, one voice. And so it's
Speaker 1: like hurting cats, you know, it's like just my grandma
Speaker 1: would say, elbow grace. I mean, you gotta work it.
Speaker 1: You gotta set the system up right, and then you
Speaker 1: have to work the system because human beings are imperfect
Speaker 1: and they weren't always doing it. But if you're gonna
Speaker 1: win a super Bowl and you call a play, you
Speaker 1: gotta make sure everybody's running the same play and they're
Speaker 1: doing it the way you're supposed to, and then you
Speaker 1: execute it and then you win. But if if you're
Speaker 1: pulling in the wrong direction of people not following the
Speaker 1: same play, you've got no chance. Even if you have
Speaker 1: even even if the strategy is a good strategy. So
Speaker 1: you've gotta have the players. You've gotta have the system,
Speaker 1: you gotta have the strategy, you have the execution, and
Speaker 1: then you just gotta do it, and you gotta keep
Speaker 1: doing it and keep getting better until you get, you know,
Speaker 1: really good at it and you build something strong and
Speaker 1: good that can last the ages. And that's what we're
Speaker 1: trying to do. Mitch Landrew, I can't wait to come
Speaker 1: by one by Boss is listening. I can't wait to
Speaker 1: come and meet you at Gallax was for lunch. You
Speaker 1: can show me what you're doing with that highway and
Speaker 1: the Tremaine and everything else. We can need some gumbo.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have a good time and some VENs and
Speaker 1: sign me up, Mr Mayor. I'm so easy to get
Speaker 1: you through my stock. Thanks to the former mayor Mitch
Speaker 1: Landrew with us talking infrastructure in the throes of inflation
Speaker 1: here on the fastest hour in politics. Thanks to our
Speaker 1: panel as well, Andy you and Rally for being with
Speaker 1: us on sound On. I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomber