WEBVTT - Caution for Logistics Sector as Yellow Shuts Down 0:00:01.360 --> 0:00:05.720 This is Bloomberg Business Wait inside from the reporters and 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:09.440 editors who bring you America's most trusted business magazine, plus 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:13.680 global business, finance and tech news. The Bloomberg Business Week 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:19.000 Podcast with Carol Messer and Tim Stenebeck from Bloomberg Radio. 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:21.959 Well, the truck in from Yellow Corp. Told workers that 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:24.760 are shutting down. That's according to its union, jeopardizing thirty 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:28.200 thousand jobs as the historic freight brand faces heavy debt, 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:31.840 loads and operational woes. This company is the third largest 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.240 less than truckload carrier in the US, so that means 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:38.199 that it uses a warehouse network to combine several smaller 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:41.360 shipments on one truck for short haul deliveries. It's different 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:44.280 from long haul trucking in the parcel industry, those UPS's 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:48.319 of the world, which carries individual, usually smaller packages. Very 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:50.720 pleased this afternoon to be joined by Thomas Black, Bloomberg 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.280 Industrial Logistics and Aerospace reporter. He's been all over this story. 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.120 We're also joined by Bloomberg anchor and markets correspondent Crety Kupta, 0:00:57.360 --> 0:00:59.840 who's also been all over this It's good to have 0:00:59.880 --> 0:01:02.320 you both with us. Thomas, I wanted to start with 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:04.919 you and just give us kind of the latest, because 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:07.760 we're still reading that. It's the union that's communicating this, 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:08.440 not Yellow. 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:10.400 That's right. 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:13.920 Yellow hasn't made it official yet, but all the expectations 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:17.080 are they will to clear for bankruptcy. There may be 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:22.120 some legal issues. They are still shopping around. Their threepl business, 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:27.440 which is a business that coordinates freight, doesn't have truck 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:30.200 so I don't know if that's slowing things down. But 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.240 we haven't heard from the company, but the union knows 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:36.319 this is happening because the company has shut down operations 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.080 and workers are no longer going to work. 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:42.680 Well, bankruptcy doesn't always mean that a company shuts down operations, 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:45.360 that a company stops what it's doing. I mean, there 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:48.560 are plenty of bankrupt companies that continue to have operations. 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:49.720 What's going on with Yellow? 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:52.080 Yeah, in this case, trucking is a little bit different 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:54.960 because you can't get your products stuck in the system. 0:01:55.600 --> 0:02:01.400 So when the operations are under strus like this, customers 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:06.040 tend to flee, and at some point they have closed operations, 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:07.520 they are no longer picking up freight. 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:10.960 So we do know that, all right, So Chrity, come 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:13.120 on in here, because I know that you are following 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:16.520 the labor story for several companies right now, so closely 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:20.839 talk to me with Yellow specifically about what the back 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:23.320 and forth looked like between the union and the company 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:24.920 and what the kind of sticking points were. 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:28.680 Well, we know that the Team Stars union negotiations have 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:31.320 really kind of set the tone for labor negotiations across 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.560 the country when it came to what they demanded from UPS, 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:37.720 the Majorshipper, and this included things like eliminating the two 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:42.000 tier wage system, giving benefits time off, but of course 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.360 pay was at the core of it, especially because a 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:48.080 lot of these workers, I mean they're truck drivers, they're 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:51.919 manual laborers. This is a very intensive industry, and they 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:55.600 weren't getting paid necessarily by the same rate depending on 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:58.800 how many hours that they worked. UPS has really ended 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.360 or the Teachers negotiations that really ended that dynamic. But 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:07.120 Teamsters also represents a lot of workers at say Amazon 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:11.400 for example, and Yellow among others. And the Yellow story 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:14.480 is really interesting because they had tried to negotiate an 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:17.120 agreement with this. By the way, I should say, what 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:20.080 used to be kind of a name brand logistics company 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:23.880 and of course has declined since but they ultimately, I 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:26.440 think what you need to know here is had negotiated 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:29.799 a fifty million dollar increase of a payment from Yellow 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:33.640 to their employees, and their Yellow's company finances got so 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:37.360 bad they weren't even able to make that payment. Ultimately, 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:39.680 Teamster said, look, we're going to strike, and even that 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.000 didn't pan out simply because there's no money to go around. 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:46.240 Well, the company also really kind of put the blame 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:49.520 on the union, saying that the union efforts hurt a 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:53.440 plan to combine its trucking divisions for Yellow. What is 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:57.120 Yellow's standing on that and how does that plan into 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:01.240 the overall picture that we're seeing in the infighting between 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:03.560 unions and these companies. 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:06.040 Yeah, well, I think it's really speaks to kind of 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.200 the pattern that I think Yellow has developed, and I 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:11.120 mean Thomas can speak I think probably better to this, 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:14.839 but essentially this idea that a lot of their financial 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:19.680 troubles have come simply from trying to acquire other pieces 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:22.880 of the logistics space, and in doing that, that kind 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.680 of consolidation, which again is very normal when you're trying 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:28.440 to be in market share, has ultimately led to these 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:33.000 major debt issues. Add On the higher wages of workers 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:35.280 and specifically what the teamsters are adding for and that 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:37.680 is an additional cost. So you are seeing this kind 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:42.680 of double barreled whammy. If I will on on kind 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:45.000 of how they're able to deal with these, I'll allow that. 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:47.919 Created I'll allow that. I thought, Thomas, I want to 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:49.880 bring you back in here and talk a little bit 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.520 about the other companies that might be the beneficiaries of 0:04:53.640 --> 0:05:01.200 Yellow shutting down XPO Logistics. Old dominion, for example, from 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:03.520 the perspective of customers is that where they fled. 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:09.760 Now, the LTL market is a little bit more concentrated, 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:13.880 a lot more concentrated than the truckload market, so they're 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:17.600 a handful of large players. FedEx, for example, has an 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:20.800 LTL business. There's another company called SI, and the ones 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:23.919 that you mentioned, those are really the dominant players in 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.920 this market. There's some smaller ones, but it's concentrated. So 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:32.440 those companies have had a decline in their volumes just 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:36.760 coming down from the pandemic highs, so they have excess 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:41.120 capacity and they are up you know, the freight that 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:44.040 will come to them. They probably will try to cherry 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:45.880 pick it a little bit to make sure they get 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:49.400 the most profitable part of that or the freight that 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:52.000 matches up with the lanes that they tend to run. 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.600 So we're going to see that being divvied up. I 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:58.800 would say on the union talks, the company actually came 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:01.560 to the union to ask them to reopen the negotiation, 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:06.560 but they their contract had run through into next year, 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.960 but they wanted to do this consolidation of their different 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:15.080 units to gain some efficiency, so they reopened that contract 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.239 and the negotiations didn't go anywhere, and that that fifty 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:20.520 million payment was a payment that they owed for the 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:22.840 penon and when they couldn't make that, that's when the 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:28.760 team decided to pull the plug on their negotiations. Now, 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:31.840 whether it's the fall of the Teamsters or not, that's 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:34.320 I don't want to make that call. Certainly the company 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.680 says that's the case. I would just say that the Teamsters, 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:43.400 besides the UPS contract, did negotiate contracts with the art 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:47.640 Best freight unit called ABF Freight, which is also an 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:52.520 LTL carrier, and they just they're about to ratify an 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:57.080 agreement with t Force, which is the LTL carrier that 0:06:57.279 --> 0:06:59.880 UPS sold a couple of years ago. So it's it's 0:06:59.920 --> 0:07:02.680 not like the team stars aren't doing agreements. This one 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:05.200 I think was maybe an outlier. 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:08.280 Okay, that's that's that's good to know. Thomas Credie. I 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:09.760 want to bring you back in here because you and 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.480 I were chatting about this a little earlier about you 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:14.600 know what you thought sort of the most interesting element 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:16.720 of this story is, and it's one that struck me 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:20.559 as well, it's the fact that pretty much everyone listening, 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:25.040 if they're a US taxpayer, they're owners of this stock. 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:27.920 Taxpayers are owned thirty percent. 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:29.160 Of this they are. 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:31.280 The irony is that the stock is a penny stock now, 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:33.720 it doesn't even really hold that much value, So. 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:35.600 The taxpayer should have shorted it, is what you're saying. 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.280 I mean, I do not give investment advice, thank you, 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:43.640 but yeah, I think that's my favorite fun fact time 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:46.480 about the whole stories that look, because of these big 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:49.760 financial troubles that Yellow has gotten into, well, then to 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:53.239 procuring about a seven hundred million dollar load in twenty 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.080 twenty when a lot of businesses were getting that kind 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:59.120 of COVID relaef the idea that under the Trump administration, 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:01.560 he can use these nations security measures to make sure 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:04.960 that supply chains were working that everything was kind of 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.760 trying to function as best as it could just given 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:10.680 the dynamic there. Under that Yellow had gotten a seven 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:13.680 hundred million dollar loan that they still have not paid back, 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:17.640 So they basically owe the Treasury Department seven hundred million 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:21.640 dollars and in doing that, by extension, taxpayers own about 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:23.880 thirty percent of the stock I think. So one of 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.640 my favorite kind of things to put into perspective here 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:30.600 is simply that when you look at their long term debt, 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:34.880 that seven hundred million dollar loan represents nearly half of it. 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:37.880 It's a lot. So again, when I say that they're 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:42.280 in some serious financial trouble, taxpayers are are paying part 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:43.320 of it all. 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:46.240 Right, final thirty seconds here, Thomas is part of the 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:51.280 takeaway from this story about overall freight demand clients declines 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:52.439 rather post COVID. 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:56.120 I would just say Yellow is an outlier. 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:59.400 They've had financial problems really since the Great Recession back 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:03.280 in two thousand in eight two nine, so they have 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:07.559 been battling financial difficulty for a long time. So I 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:10.560 wouldn't read too much and do their particular problems for 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:13.560 the freight market is depressed a little bit, but the 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:14.559 strong carriers are going. 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.199 To be able to power through really good stuff. Guys, 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:20.400 both of you really appreciate that. That's Kredi Gupta, Bloomberg 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:22.400 anchor and Market's correspondent, and the voice you just heard 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:26.679 there Thomas Black, Bloomberg Industrial Logistics and aerospace reporter. Both 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:28.200 of them have been all over this story, so we 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:29.120 really appreciate it. 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:33.120 You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week podcast. Catch us 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:36.520 live weekday afternoons from three to six Eastern Listen on 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:40.600 Bloomberg dot com, the iHeartRadio app, and the Bloomberg Business App, 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:42.600 or watch us live on YouTube. 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:46.280 Maddie, I got a true story for you last week. 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:49.040 I'd hear it last week. I come into work and 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:55.000 I'm soaking with sweat, and my colleague Alex s Gittelson says, Tim, 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:58.080 how is your bike ride in this morning? And I 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:01.560 was like, Alex took the subway in. This is how 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:04.600 much I sweat when I walk from the subway to 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:08.600 our office two blocks. And he was like, Oh, I'm sorry, 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:10.240 you're so sweaty. I thought you rode your bike all 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:13.600 the way from Brooklyn. No, that's just because this month 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:17.760 has been really hot. All that to say June was hot. 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:20.520 In fact, it was the hottest June in recorded history, 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:25.800 and this month it's the hottest ever July. It's not 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:29.400 good news, but it's good that we have Eric Rosston 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:31.360 all over this story. It's a big take from last 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:36.000 week and overheating planet requires supercharged climate solutions. Eric joins 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:41.079 us on zoom from our Washington, DC bureau. Eric, good 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:44.720 to have you with us. First, give us the bad news. 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:47.240 Just how bad was July? 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:54.200 July was bad? You have characterized it well, it was 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:57.120 the hottest month and recorded history. The temperature records go 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:00.400 back to the middle of the nineteenth century. This year 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:03.400 is likely to be the hottest year on record. The 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.440 last nine years have been the hottest year on record, 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:10.360 the hottest twenty two, twenty two of the hottest twenty 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:13.760 three years have occurred this century, and every decade has 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:16.720 been hotter than the last since the nineteen sixties. 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:21.880 Yeah, so not great. How much more of this are 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:24.960 we going to experience throughout the rest of this year? 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:27.840 How much more heat can we anticipate? Is this going 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.560 to happen through the end of twenty twenty three? 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:35.920 Even well, we're helped out in some ways by the 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:40.080 fact that July is the hottest month, and so as 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:44.880 we spin around the sun toward fall and winter, temperatures 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:51.360 will retreat from the peace we've seen. On the other hand, 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:56.600 we're also entering hurricane and wildfire Season's what's making this 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:03.960 year unduly punishing is the coincidence of not only climate change, 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:09.040 which just steps up all the time, but also in 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:13.600 El Nino, which is this phenomenon of the Pacific Ocean 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:16.760 sort of coughs up lots of heat every few years, 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:21.079 and it makes temperatures hotter and throws weather in the 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:22.640 chaos in different parts of the world. 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:24.840 It's pretty depressing, I gotta tell you. 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:25.160 Eric. 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.280 You know, we got a note from my kids nursery 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:32.400 school that says AQI is over one hundred today, so 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:36.120 we're not going to let the kids play outside. Meaning 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:38.400 the air quality index from the wildfires in Canada a 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:41.040 few weeks ago, a few months ago, and a few 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.440 weeks ago actually happened twice recently prevented the kids from 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:46.680 being able to play outside. But it's so hot that 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:49.280 you got to be blasting the air conditioner. Where does 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:51.880 the electricity come from to blast the air conditioner? Well, 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:54.640 because it's not coming from nuclear anymore here in New York. 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:58.840 It's coming from fossil fuels. It's creating this terrible cycle 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.079 that we're in right now, which is you know, really 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:05.000 my question is about solutions, because staying inside in blasting 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:07.760 the ACA is not a viable solution. That's not going 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:10.760 to keep sea levels from rising, that's not going to 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:13.199 keep wildfires from happening, that's not going to keep the 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:15.040 air clan. What do we do. 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:19.400 We need to get off fossil fuels, even though it's 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:23.840 not said that bluntly in American political culture, fossil fuels 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:28.040 cause called fossil fuel burning causes climate change, and until 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:31.080 we get that under control, climate change will always be 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:33.880 in its opening act. This will be a cold summer 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:39.880 in twenty or thirty years, and that's ultimately this whole story. 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:43.440 You know, this is not a complicated topic. We've known 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:47.440 for many decades that this is occurring. Scientists, you know, 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:49.680 warned us for decades that you want to get on 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:53.079 top of this before the symptoms start occurring. The symptoms 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:58.320 are occurring. Fortunately, and this is the good news. We 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:05.120 have the tools, right We have affordable solar wind and 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:08.400 battery technology, Solar is cheaper than coal in most of 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:13.160 the world on a levelized cost basis. We have wild 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:20.360 investment into things that are not solved technologically. Yet this story, 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:24.680 the reason this is the greatest story ever is that 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:28.920 the stakes could not be higher. But you know, we 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:32.240 have the fixes and all we need to do is 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:37.280 the work to implement them. Like that's it. All we 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:38.400 have to do is the work. 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.640 Can we reverse some of the damage that's already been done? 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:44.880 Or when you said this is going to be viewed 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:47.680 as a cool summer in twenty or thirty years, is 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:51.360 that a foregone conclusion or can we fix it still? 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:55.600 The scientists have said, in a break from previous years, 0:14:56.360 --> 0:15:00.280 they think that as soon as we stop increasing the 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:04.880 atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, that the warming will will 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:09.920 stop pretty quickly thereafter. So let's what you know, it's 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:13.640 what passes for good news in this space. Uh, but 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:16.680 you know this is this is uh, it's a it's 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:20.080 a situation, right, This is not it's not great news. 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:23.200 We've known about it for a long time. We've made 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:25.840 you know, we put it off for a long time. 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:30.440 And that's just where we are. I, as someone who 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:33.720 covers this. You know, we get climate reporters, I think 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:35.720 get this question a lot, which is how do you 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:41.120 deal with it? And part of the part of it 0:15:41.160 --> 0:15:46.000 is by being in touch with everything that's going on. 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:50.440 There's a way that kind of diffuses anxiety, you know, 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.400 like if you can if you can understand something, it 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:56.600 makes it less scary. But the other thing is that, 0:15:56.680 --> 0:16:02.920 like again, I cannot over emphasize the excitement around clean 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:06.560 energy technologies. The rate of growth, the rate of the 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:12.720 price declines, it's just phenomenal how quickly we can solve 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:14.680 the problem if we decide. 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:17.360 To Nancy Lyons in our DC newsroom, who I believe 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:19.640 it's probably Eric, just a few steps from you, because 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:21.800 I think you're in the same newsroom today. She just 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.120 sent in our chat a great question and reminded me 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:27.560 that the problem when it comes to renewables is consistent 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:30.960 power supply. You know, when there is no wind, when 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.160 there is no sun, when it's nighttime. How do we 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:38.080 get to a place where we can actually store power 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.120 that's generated in the day to offset fossil fuel use 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:42.880 at night? Or is the answer just nuclear? 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:49.640 Both of the answer the price declines in utility scale 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:55.240 batteries have plummeted like the curve just like somebody looks 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:57.760 like somebody just like dropped an egg on the chart 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.480 of price declines, right, it's just like very precipitous. So 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:07.240 increasingly you see utility scale batteries and nuclear is an 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:11.639 option that has been there the whole time, and it 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:16.240 is a critical source of baseline electricity. 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:18.520 It's just there. 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:21.160 People just seem not to be able to build them. 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.960 They're just they come in billions of dollars over budget 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:29.520 and many years late. You know, when you look at 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:33.840 the time crunch, we're in to have global emissions by 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:38.000 twenty thirty, Like you can't build nuclear in that time, 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.439 or at least nobody has. So you know, nuclear is 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:46.199 you know, it's this tragedy of like having a carbon 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:49.560 free source of power that you know, we've used for 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:53.080 more than half a century, but nobody will build them. 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:54.000 Yeah. 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:57.359 In our final minute with you here, I'm curious about 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:00.320 legislation around this because you are in DC for us. 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:05.520 How effective has legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act been 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.360 at sort of solving some of the issues that you're 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:09.280 talking with us about. 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:15.919 It's the most phenomenally important climate legislation that any country 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:21.600 has ever passed. You know, the the International Energy Agency 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:26.240 says we need to triple renewable deployment by twenty thirty, 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:29.199 we need to double energy efficiency, and the oil and 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:32.760 gas sector needs to cut its methane emissions by seventy 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:36.680 five percent. There are things in the inflation reduction app 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:42.040 and now in copycat legislation in Europe that will incentivize 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:46.040 all of those things. So it is it's difficult to 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:53.520 overstate the importance of how much that that legislation will 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:57.160 help things along. There's still more that's needed. One interesting 0:18:57.200 --> 0:18:59.720 thing is like we're going to build so much solar 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:03.240 and wind in the US that like we can't keep 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:06.000 up with plugging it into the grid fast enough. And 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:10.000 so it's interesting, like the federal government can you know, 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:15.360 has U can build pipelines and highways, but they can't 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:18.520 build transmission right, So that's something Congress has to fix. 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:20.159 Eric, we got to run, but we love it when 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:22.120 you join us. Thanks so much for doing this. That's 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:25.840 Eric Roston, sustainabilitator at sustainability editor at Bloomberg News. 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:30.000 You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week podcast. Catch us 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:34.080 live weekday afternoons from three to six Eastern on Bloomberg Radio, 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:37.520 the Bloomberg Business App, and YouTube. You can also listen 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:40.760 live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:45.480 Just say Alexa Play Bloomberg eleven thirty. 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:49.480 We have been talking a lot about investors, and they've 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:52.639 been very bullish this year on everything from AI to 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:56.320 big tech chip manufacturing of course, Tim, but you know 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:58.800 one other thing that they're bullish on, it turns out 0:19:59.040 --> 0:19:59.879 is women's soccer. 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:00.400 Yeah. 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:03.200 We got a great story featured in BusinessWeek newsletter recently 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:05.960 the BW Daily newsletter, and with the World Cup going, 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:09.399 we're gonna get a pulse check on women's soccer, specifically Maddie. 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:09.680 Yeah. 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:12.560 We're thrilled to have Bloomberg BusinessWeek editor Joel Weber here 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:15.040 with us in studio as well as reporter Aira Budua 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:17.359 to discuss and as always, you can find this story 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:19.760 on Bloomberg dot com and on the terminal. But Joel, 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:22.600 talk to us because investors, they're into a lot of 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:23.440 sports right now. 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:29.000 They are, Pickaball being one. So the thing with pickaball 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.480 is that it's really loud. It's so loud and it's 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:38.879 like maybe you've heard it, so've heard it. Yeah, Uh 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:41.840 I still love it, still love it. But you know, 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:45.560 look it's it's World Cup season, and uh it is 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:49.760 a huge reminder of just whenever this comes around every 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:53.639 four years, Uh, all eyes just go to it. And 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:57.840 America is obviously really good at the American team is 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:03.359 really good. So good, right, and kind of a lukewarm 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:07.720 start here, we'll see what happens. But reminded how much 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:12.640 people love watching it, right Ira so far, and I'm 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:17.159 curious what the business really looks like. And it's just 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:19.399 this reminder of like when this comes around, it's like 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:23.240 pulls everybody in and it turns out this business just 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:24.640 gets better and better and better. 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:25.440 Yeah. 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:28.000 It's interesting because I mean this is the third time 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:30.560 that the National Women's Soccer League, is the third time 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:33.320 that the US has tried a professional women's soccer league, 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:35.639 and each time it's sort of been tied to the 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:39.000 buzz and hype of the World Cup. So in you know, 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:41.160 after the ninety nine Ers, the famous team in nineteen 0:21:41.200 --> 0:21:44.440 ninety nine that won it here on US soil, huge sensation, 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:47.040 Mia Hamm all of that proved that they could draw 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:50.600 huge crowds, they launch a league and after three seasons 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:53.480 one hundred million dollars spent, it collapses. And I think 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:55.800 some people thought that meant there wasn't a market beyond 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.680 the national team. But if you talk to people in 0:21:59.640 --> 0:22:01.359 this world world now, they say the lesson of that 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:04.399 was basically that you need more patience and time. If 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:07.320 you look at any sports league, it takes decades to grow. 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:09.880 And what you're seeing now in the National Women's Soccer 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:13.520 League is big money coming in smart investors. You know, 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:16.000 we look at Sixth Street just paid the private equity 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:18.560 from just paid fifty three million dollars for the expansion 0:22:18.600 --> 0:22:23.399 franchise in San Francisco BAFC. That shatters the previous you know, 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:25.720 you used to pay two million for that kind of thing. 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:28.399 And they see this as a real opportunity. They think 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:30.199 they're going to reach parody with men's soccer in this 0:22:30.240 --> 0:22:33.520 country within about a decade, and they're investing a one 0:22:33.560 --> 0:22:36.119 hundred and twenty five million as a commitment and that 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:38.320 those kinds of numbers are what it's going to take, 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:41.160 and it's going to take time. But now it looks 0:22:41.200 --> 0:22:45.399 like the wherewithal is there finally what's changed. Well, if 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:48.399