WEBVTT - The Presidential Debate and Apple's Business in China 0:00:01.320 --> 0:00:05.160 We're from Marhart where innovation, money and power Collie in 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:10.400 Silicon Valley, NBN. This is Bloomberg Technology with Caroline Hyde. 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:11.120 And Ed Ludlove. 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:28.520 I met Ludlow in San Francisco. Caroline Hyde is off. 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.720 This is Bloomberg Technology. Coming up, we have full coverage 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.760 of the first presidential debate and discuss the state of 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:40.000 crypto with former Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswami. Plus we'll 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:43.080 break down Apple's business in China as iPhone shipments jump 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:47.600 forty percent following discounts, and a new survey shows Tesla's 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:52.959 design changes are confusing customers and undercutting its quality. Will 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:57.160 discuss that and so much more through the hour. Happy Friday, 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.320 June twenty eighth, twenty twenty four, Let's get right to 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:01.720 financial monde markets. The S and P five hundred and 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:04.560 new all time high, the NASDAK one hundred, a new 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:09.000 all time high, briefly breaching the twenty thousand mark for 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:12.640 the first time, yields a little higher, and Bitcoin, even 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.440 though we kind of have this risk on, sentiment softer 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:18.800 by a percentage point below sixty one thousand US dollars 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:21.800 per token. The main factor in the markets this morning 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:27.240 is not the first presidential debate, but the PCE reading decelerating, 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:32.000 the PCE being the Fed's preferred gauge or measure of inflation. 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:35.360 That's kind of the discussion on the week. I also 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:38.480 want to take a look at one specific name in 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:40.960 the context of what we are about to talk about, 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:44.640 which is the presidential debates, and that is Trump Media 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:49.120 and Technology Group. This morning, we actually traded significantly higher, 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:51.280 maybe more than three and a half percent. You see 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:55.280 that we're now down six tenths of a percent. This is, 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:59.000 of course the parent company, a true social that a 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.800 company went public via a spack with ownership ties to 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.360 Donald Trump. We will get to this in due course, 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:08.760 but for now, let's get a recap of the first 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.440 presidential debate hosted by CNN that took place in Atlanta 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:13.000 last night. 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:16.239 There's more to be done. There's more to be done. 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:18.080 Working class people are still in trouble. 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:19.960 He has not done a good job, He's done a 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:22.960 poor job. And inflation's killing our country. It is absolutely 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:23.600 killing us. 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.240 Price of eggs, the price of gas, the price of housing, 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:28.200 the price of a whole range of things. That's why 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:30.600 I'm working so hard to make sure I deal with 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:35.399 those problems. I was recently in France for D Day 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.560 and I spoke to all about those heroes that died. 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:41.520 I went to the World War II cemetery, World War 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.120 One cemetery. He refused to go to. He was standing 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:46.560 with his four star general and he told me, said, 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:47.840 I don't want to go in there because they're a 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:50.840 bunch of losers and suckers. My son was not a loser, 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:53.520 was not a sucker. You're the sucker. You're the loser. 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:56.320 There's nobody that's taken better care of our soldiers than 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.080 I have. The money that we're spending on this war, 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:03.120 we shouldn't be spending. It should have never happened. I 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:07.639 will have that war settled between Putin and Zelensky as 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:11.000 president elect before I take office on January twentieth. I'll 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:13.280 have that war settled. If we had a real president, 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:16.920 the president that knew that was respected by Putin, he 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.960 would have never he would have never invaded Ukraine. Israel 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:24.359 would have never been invaded in a million years by Hamas. 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:28.120 You know why, because Iran was broke with me. I 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:30.160 wouldn't let anybody do business with him. 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:35.280 Everyone from the United Nations Security Security Council straight through 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:38.040 to the G seven to the Israelis and Netnaw himself 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:40.160 have endorsed a plan. The only one who wants the 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:42.320 war to continue is Hamas under Roe v. 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:45.680 Wade, you have late term abortion, you can do whatever 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:47.640 you want. Depending on the state, you can do whatever 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:49.880 you want. We don't think that's a good thing. We 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:52.560 think it's a radical thing. We think the Democrats of 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:54.320 the radicals, not the Republicans. 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:57.280 It's been a terrible thing, what you've done. The fact 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:00.119 is that the vast majority of consuls and scholars support 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:03.720 ROW when it was decided support it ROW, and that 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.160 was that's this idea that they are all against. It 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:08.560 is just ridiculous. This guy's three years younger and a 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:09.480 lot less competent. 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.120 Well, I took two tests, cognitive tests. I ast them. 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:14.400 I just won two club championships. 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:20.280 Bloomberg's Kaye Lines joins us with more from DC and Kaylee, 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:22.120 I just want to read you the headline of the 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:26.560 most read story on Bloomberg this morning, Biden's disastrous debate 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:33.080 accelerates doubts over candidacy. Let's start with how poorly Biden 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:35.840 is perceived to have performed relative to Trump in that. 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:38.520 Debate incredibly poorly. 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:43.200 Edin you have bipartisan lawmaker's political strategists saying that this 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:45.880 morning Joe Biden, at eighty one years old, very much 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:49.000 showed that he is an octogenarian president. The White House 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:51.120 has now said that he was battling a cold, but 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:53.720 his voice was raspy at times, his speech was halting, 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:56.760 He took many long pauses, misstated facts, at one point 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:03.120 actually saying that he beat medicare dis not adequately articulating 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:05.920 his own policy in many instances, which gave Donald Trump 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.599 many openings to attack him. Donald Trump, for his part, 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:13.440 seemed much more energetic focused, uncharacteristically so perhaps for the 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:16.839 Donald Trump that we typically see at campaign rallies, working 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:19.080 within the format of this debate, which of course was 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:21.159 Mike's cut off when it was not your turn to speak, 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:24.120 lack of a live studio audience. Things that the prevailing 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:26.880 notion was might help Biden more going into the debate 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:30.360 actually turned out to potentially be advantageous to Donald Trump. 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:34.240 That said, Donald Trump did lie repeatedly throughout this debate 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:37.479 on things like economic statistics under his administration, like the 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:40.239 lowest black unemployment rate of all time that actually happened 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:43.480 during the Biden administration. He said that tariffs would not 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:47.599 cause higher inflation, something that almost every single economist. 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:48.920 We speak to would dispute. 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:51.560 He also said that he didn't say things that he 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:54.360 has said on tape right again about the outcome of 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:57.279 the twenty twenty election, and yet was not fact checked 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:00.560 by the moderators and was struggling Joe Biden struggling to 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:02.719 fact check him himself. He repeatedly called him out for 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.080 lying many times, but then could not articulate what the 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:07.320 actual truth of the matter was. So all in all, 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.560 it was a very difficult night for Joe Biden, and 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:12.760 there is a lot of talk here in Washington this morning, 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:15.680 including from those within the Democratic Party, as to whether 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:18.440 or not he can actually go forward as the nominee. 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:21.880 The placement of the debate, as well as the words 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:26.960 Joe Biden on Google trends, for example, is interesting. Unsurprisingly, 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:29.880 all of the names involved are trending on x, the 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:31.440 platform formerly known as Twitter. 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:33.360 We've woken up to. 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:37.760 A world this morning, perhaps different to what we expected, 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:42.760 where we are debating President Trump's candidacy and what might 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:44.760 happen next. It's a long way to go to the 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:48.440 next debate in September ahead of the election in November. 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:50.280 What are you hearing in Washington, d C. 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:54.960 Well, there is this idea that considering this was a 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:57.880 very early debate, this happened in June before either Trump 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:00.400 or Biden are officially their party's nominees. At this point, 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:03.200 they're still just presumptive nominees. There is a question of 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:05.960 when we get to that Democratic Convention in Chicago as 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:07.760 to whether or not it might be an open convention. 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:11.120 Of course, that is his decision only President Biden is 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:14.239 able to make. He already has had the adequate number 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:16.920 of delegates to secure the nomination pledged to him. They 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:19.440 have to remain so unless he decides to drop out 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:21.840 of the race and direct them to cast their votes 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:24.240 for someone else. Of course, that is a decision that 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.800 the President those close to him, including the First Lady 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:28.480 Joe Biden, will have to make. But that is a 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:32.200 very real conversation that is happening here in Washington, and 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:34.360 was happening in Atlanta last night, where a number of 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:36.160 the surrogates that were there in the spin room for 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:39.360 the Biden campaign included those who potentially the prevailing thought 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:41.840 is could be someone who is the nominee instead of him, 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:44.560 like California Governor Gavin Newsom, who was swarmed when he 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:46.920 hit the spin room floor after the debate. Now, he 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:48.960 did say Joe Biden is going to be the nominee 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:52.240 that he has as full backing. Other potentials like Michigan 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:55.040 Governor Gretchen Whitmanner have said the same within the last 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.200 twenty four hours. But it certainly is a great difficulty 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:02.080 that the Democratic Party at largest space as they struggle 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:04.160 with this idea that Donald Trump does seem now to 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:06.960 be even farther ahead in this race, if betting markets 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:09.800 are to be believed, than he was heading in. 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:10.160 To this debate. 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:13.920 Finally, Kayley, and quickly, you know what I see on 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:17.960 social media, beyond the memes and endless clips that have 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:21.920 been shared, is a frustration from American voters that they 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:25.600 didn't learn anything. There was actually no answer to many 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:29.120 of the questions posed from a policy or platform perspective. 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:32.200 Going into a presidential election campaign. 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.320 No frequently, and they did not answer the questions that 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:39.199 were directed at them at all, instead pivoting to entirely 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.560 different subjects. Certainly you saw social media in a tizzy 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:45.600 not even fifteen minutes into this debate, many Democrats expressing 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.240 exasperation with the performance of Joe Biden, but many others 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:51.520 still calling into question how the US ended up with 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:53.959 these two as candidates. We know that voters are very 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:58.040 unhappy with these choices. They are hoping for any other choice, 0:08:58.080 --> 0:08:59.960 which is why you are seeing other third party camp 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:03.080 and it's like RFK Junior gaining more support. But certainly 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:05.240 there is a lot of frustration among the voting populace 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:07.760 as to what they saw last night. And I would 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.240 just point out when voters wanted to hear about the issues, 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:13.560 even issues that Joe Biden, what we understood from his campaign, 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:15.800 were planning to drive home on hit Donald Trump hard 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:18.960 on like abortion or democracy. Many of those moments were missed. 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:20.840 At one point, when he was talking about abortion, it 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:25.040 spiraled into a story about immigration and a woman who 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.640 had been murdering. It got very confusing at times. It 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:31.760 was really difficult for policy to break through for either 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:34.640 of these candidates at all. And of course, even under 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.400 direct questioning, Donald Trump was asked repeatedly if he would 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.600 accept the results of this election, no matter what the 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:43.000 outcome was, and he would not give a straight yes 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:43.680 or no answer. 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.280 Bloombo's Katie lyones out of Washington, d C. A late 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:49.079 night for you. Grateful to have you with us on 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:53.600 Bloomberg Technology. Surprise for many to the world we woke 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.400 up to this morning. But we'll keep the conversation going 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:59.440 because coming up we will be joined by former Republican 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:03.440 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswami for his take on last night's 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:08.360 presidential debate. Bloomberg has reporting that mister Ramaswami is close 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.360 to Trump and the Trump team and advising on some 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:14.760 areas of tech policy. That's the conversation we're going to have. 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:33.760 This is Bloomberg Technology. Let's break down the presidential debate 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:37.840 from last night with Vivek Ramaswami, a former Republican candidate himself. 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:41.320 He joins me now from Atlanta. Mister Ramaswami, Good morning 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:45.720 to you this Morningberg Technology. We're a technology show and 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:48.600 I've wanted to ask you to come on following the 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.760 debate because of your background, because of the reporting of 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:56.360 your relationship with former President Trump and the Trump campaign team. 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:59.480 But we should talk about last night so the floor 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:00.120 is yours. 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.559 Your reaction to that debate, Well, look, I was. 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:04.520 In Atlanta last night, got back to my home in 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:07.040 Columbus today, and after sleeping on it, my conclusion is 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:09.480 the same as what we saw last night, which is 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:11.880 this was sad for the United States of America to 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:15.120 see the current President, Joe Biden in the mental state 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:17.120 that is actually in. There was a lot of joking 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.079 about drug testing or were they going to drug him up? 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:21.200 It looked more like he had a lobotomy, and I 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:24.000 just think that that's a sad thing, speaking as an American, 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.439 regardless of partisanship, when you think about the country that 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:30.640 has produced the greatness of innovation and the leaders leading 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:33.439 companies in the private sector. To see the person who's 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:36.120 leading the federal government himself be as absent as he 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:39.400 was yesterday, I think is really a damning indictment of 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:41.600 the modern Democratic Party now the president. 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:45.560 Yep, mister Ramswami, may I just jump in, and it's 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:50.800 interesting that that you ran as a president's candidate for 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:55.920 the Republican Party. You're representing former President Trump, but you 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:59.240 started by speaking about President Biden's performance. 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:01.400 Any of frustrated this morning. 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:03.920 That we actually didn't hear any answers to the questions 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:07.360 posed to former President Trump about what he would do 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.600 if re elected, what some of his policy platforms were. 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:14.400 What did you learn about what former President Trump might 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:16.640 do were he to be re elected to the White House. 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:18.920 Well, he asked me about my impressions. And I think 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:21.079 the number one most salient thing about the debate for 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.360 anybody who watched it was in needed the surprise of 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:25.800 Biden's performance, which is why I commented on it in 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:27.800 response to your question. But I agree with you it's 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:30.240 much more productive to talk about the policy vision of 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:32.600 the man who's likely to be the next president, which 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:34.160 is Donald Trump. And I think one of the things 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:37.040 we took away from yesterday was talking about the revival 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:40.080 of American success and a focus on the economy. The 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:42.560 fact of the matter is President Trump, I think demonstrated 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:45.800 that despite being a member of a different economic class 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:48.600 than most Americans as a billionaire, he is still somebody 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:52.880 who understands prices have gone up but wages have remained flat. 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:55.680 And I think that part really landed. I wish the 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:58.880 debate had gone into greater depth on policy. Frankly, if 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.200 Biden had shown up with great mental acuity. We might 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:03.440 have had that opportunity. In many cases, the things he 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:05.760 said were incoherent. That stopped that debate for me as 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:07.960 useful as it could. But what do we learn last 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:10.480 night and then the combination of recent speeches that President 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:14.200 Trump has given. Economic growth is a core objective for 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:16.719 Donald Trump. That's not a left leaning message or a 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:20.559 right leaning message. Economic growth is an inherent and worthy objective. 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:23.560 From bringing down the tax burden, to the regulatory burden, 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.719 to drilling for oil and natural gas and increasing the 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:29.920 supply of energy to bring down costs. Those are core 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:32.240 issues that I think matter not only to business owners 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:35.560 and economically minded voters. It's a factor that matters to 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:37.480 all voters. And that was one of the more powerful 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:39.720 things that came out of last night was the discussion 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:42.400 about the economy and the economic vision for the next 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:42.960 four years. 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:45.880 Mister Remeswome, may I just point out what you said 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:50.080 on prices and also wage inflation. You said prices have 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:52.720 gone up, what wages have remained flat? That is no 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:55.280 longer true. If you look today. We saw inflation in 0:13:55.360 --> 0:14:00.600 May down fractionally almost company to be ages we're up 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:02.640 seven tenths of a percent. I just want to get 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.960 the latest dates me out. Let me just comment on 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.640 that in direct response to you. So your numbers, guy, 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:10.360 I like that, as you well know. 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:14.120 I believe you well know. Inflation is accumulative, right, So 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:15.680 that is the inflation rate. 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:17.319 But inflation over. 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:18.880 The course of the last several years. You want to 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:21.600 look at actual mini consumer goods and products are up 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:24.960 by over fifty percent since the time Biden took office. 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:27.160 How much does a carton of egg cost? How much does 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.840 a car cost? How much is your electric bill? Those 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:32.760 are undoubtedly higher than when Joe Biden took office, and 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:35.120 it is a hard fact that wages have not gone 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:36.640 up at the same rate. So I don't want to 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.000 play this verbal jiu jitsu of the last month's numbers. 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:40.400 If you want to get into facts, I'm all in 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:43.360 favor of it. Those are the hard, indisputable facts, and 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:45.120 we don't have to argue the facts because most Americans 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:47.680 who pay those bills already have a deep understanding of that. 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:49.440 And I do think that is going to be a 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:51.800 guiding force in what we see this November. 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.080 Mister Ramasami, you and I both agreed on one thing, 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.160 which is that we will talk about technology and policy 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:02.120 from it from a technology standpoint. You mentioned energy and 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:04.520 oil in particular. One of the things that I reported 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:09.080 was that you act as almost in intermediary between former 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:12.680 President Trump and Elon Musk, and it seems as if 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:17.000 the former president in Elon Musk are now speaking. 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:18.040 Or at least have spoken. 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:22.520 Where do you see them finding middle ground and an 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:25.800 influence if former President Trump were to return to the 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:26.360 White House. 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:29.840 I respect the two of them individually, both as people 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:32.480 who have succeeded in this country through the private sector. 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:34.680 I think we all share a belief, all three of us, 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.800 that we need more of those voices in American politics 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:41.440 driving change, not as professional politicians, but people who look 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:44.760 at political problems through the lens of an entrepreneur and 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.160 a business leader objectively. And so I think that that's 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:50.000 a common cause that I would say is formIn basis 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:52.560 for the friendship with both of them. The reality is 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:54.360 one of the things that we're all rooting for as well, 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:57.480 is not only an economic revitalization of the US, but 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:01.160 a revitalization of innovation in the United States of America. 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:03.160 I think we have seen a decline in the rate 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:06.160 of innovation in the US. But that is ultimately our 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:09.880 competitive advantage in the end is the ultimate innovation and 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:13.520 the innovative spark of starting the greatest companies known to mankind, 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:16.640 generally here in the United States, which then has collateral 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:20.040 benefits of creating jobs and creating wealth. But it's also 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:24.120 the founding spark of American exceptionalism. Right Our founding fathers 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:26.680 were the likes of Thomas Jefferson, who not only wrote 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:30.080 the Declaration of Independence, he also invented the swivel chair 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:33.160 and the polygraph test. Benjamin Franklin. I think of Elon 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:36.080 Musk as a modern Benjamin Franklin type of figure. Invented 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:39.120 the lightning rod and the Franklin stove. Yet these were 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:41.800 also the people who led the country politically and set 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:44.080 it into motion. So I think we have a chance 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:47.440 to revive that seventeen seventy six kind of spirit. And 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:49.840 I think there's a role for a modern Washington, a 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:53.400 modern Jefferson, a modern Benjamin Franklin. I think in many 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:55.280 ways Donald Trump is stepping up to be the modern 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:58.040 George Washington of our time. Elon Musk reminds me of 0:16:58.080 --> 0:16:59.880 the Benjamin Franklins of their day, and so I think 0:16:59.880 --> 0:17:02.360 we found different common cars in our love of this 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:05.840 country to revitalize that founding spirit. Even though each of 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:08.639 us have had our own successes separately in the private sector. 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:10.440 And I'm biased, but I'm of the view that we 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:12.560 need actually more of those people stepping up to play 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.920 different roles in defining the future of our politics in America. 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:18.440 Mister Ramaswami, can I ask just very quickly, is as 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:21.280 a matter of checking, have you spoken to the former 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:22.640 president since last night? 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:25.199 I haven't spoken to him since last night. No. 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.960 The reason I ask is about your role with him 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:33.159 directly and also his team. You know, one of the 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:37.119 areas of reporting of focuses been discussions you may have 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:40.400 had with him around crypto and the role that crypto 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:44.159 may play if former President Trump returned to the White House. 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:45.840 Could you tell me a bit about that and the 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:48.480 conversations that you've had someone that. 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:51.040 Started actually after I left the race. I left the 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:53.800 race after the Iowa caucus, but before the New Hampshire primary, 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:55.840 and I could tell you one part that was sort 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.280 of totally public on that stage was in New Hampshire 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:01.359 began my conversations with Donald trum about why in my 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:05.080 campaign I had been opposed to a central bank digital 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:08.320 currency a CBDC. And one of the things that impressed 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:11.600 me about President Trump was his intellectual curiosity about that issue. 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:14.520 I've met a lot of politicians, including Republicans, who have 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:17.360 heard the vague acronym CBDC, but don't know the first 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.080 thing about what it actually means, but they pretend like 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:21.879 they do. Donald Trump was the opposite of that. He 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:23.719 actually said, what the heck is that? Tell me what 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:25.399 it is? And then he asked me what are the 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:28.240 best arguments for why they're actually supporting it? And I 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:29.760 thought that was a mark of a good leader who 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:32.400 wanted to understand the best arguments for the other side. 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:35.040 And later on he said it from the campaign stage 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:37.440 and an event, so I feel comfortable sharing this part 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:40.520 of it where he came out then after a thoughtful consideration, 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:43.480 after careful study of the issue of his opposition to 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:46.760 a central bank digital currency, and he explained why it's 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:48.919 the threat to liberty. The flip side of that is 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:53.200 why you might favor decentralization and alternative options from people 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:55.760 just staying tethered to the dollar of holding the FED 0:18:55.800 --> 0:19:00.000 accountable by having other options in the marketplace of alternative currency. 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:02.560 So I think there's been a number of productive conversations 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:04.359 he and I have had. And one of the things 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:06.359 that I look at this for is it's not a sector. 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:09.080 I don't look at cryptocurrency as a sector. To the contrary, 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:11.639 I look at the first principles of the United States 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:15.560 of America, founded on competition and choice and financial freedom, 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:18.320 and I think those principles are certainly what motivated my 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:20.479 interest in these issues in the campaign, and I think 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:22.560 that's what's also helped a lot of my conversation with 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:25.240 the President Trump is let's start with first principles of 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:27.760 what's right for America, not what's good for one sector 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:30.520 or another. But then let's adopt the kinds of policies 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:33.840 that actually allow America to remain the beachhead of innovation 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:35.159 rather than playing from behind. 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:39.080 Mister Rameswami, just one item on the idea, the president 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:43.639 has to block anything or anyone from doing CBDC. I 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:46.640 think the FED is said clearly many times that it's 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:50.560 not going to introduce one unless mandated by Congress. Now 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:53.240 that that's the Fed's position on that, I want a 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:53.960 little about. 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:56.960 And just since we're closing the loop on that, Jennet 0:19:57.040 --> 0:20:00.400 Yellen has certainly stood for her advocacy and Executive Raffan 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:02.840