WEBVTT - Levi CEO Says Company Is Meeting Challenges 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:04.440 This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carol Masser and I'm 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:07.280 Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stanovk. We're here every day bringing 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:09.840 you the latest news from the world to business and finance, 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:13.640 plus technology, politics, economics, all purtnising the power of Business 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:17.159 Week reporters and editors, not to mention our journalists and 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.000 analyst in more than one twenty countries. You can download 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:23.479 Bloomberg Business Weekend iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot com. You 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:25.439 can also listen to our radio show at two pm 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:28.400 Eastern Time on Bloomberg Radio or watch us on YouTube. 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:32.320 Search Bloomberg clovel News. Shares of Levi. They are certainly 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:36.000 an outperformer, up almost nine percent in two day's session, 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:38.040 and this is after a third quarter sales top Wall 0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:41.720 Street expectations. The company also boosting its full year profit outlook, 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.159 authorized a two hundred million dollars share buyback program. So 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:48.360 great to have with us, Levi Strauss and Company CEO Chipberg, Hey, Chip, 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:51.440 so nice to have you here on Bloomberg. Um, how 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:53.120 are you And it seems like you guys had a 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:56.000 pretty good quarter. Yeah, it was a great quarter. It's 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:58.720 great to be here with you, Carol, thank you very 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:01.520 much for having me. We're really pleased with the quarter, 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:06.440 especially when you consider the macro economic headwinds that we've 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:10.760 been facing, supply chain challenges and everything else. Our team 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:14.680 around the world is just doing an exceptional job executing. 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:20.800 We've delivered sales growth of versus last year. But importantly, UM, 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:26.440 we were up three versus pre pandemic, and um you 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:29.479 know we expect to be up versus in the fourth 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:34.600 quarter as well. So really good quarter on strong profit delivery. 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:37.240 But you know, we've we've just done a great job 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:41.800 navigating all of the challenges that are facing the industry. 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:43.640 I can hear it in your voice. I think both 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:45.160 Tim and I are looking at them. So tell us 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:48.000 about the challenges. I mean, what is it that you 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:49.840 can't get, What is it that you have to pay 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:53.400 a lot more for? Tell us about that? Well, I 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:56.120 think you know, supply chain challenges have been in the 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:59.720 news and have affected really all of the soft line 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:03.680 UH and apparel stocks over the last three three months 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:08.680 or so. UH pork challenges are obviously an issue. COVID 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:12.280 is impacting a number of countries in Asia. Many factories 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:15.160 are shut down. But what we've got going for us. 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.400 Is I actually believe our global supply chain is a 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:23.160 competitive advantage. UM. We have a huge amount of scale. UM. 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:26.160 We source. We made a decision a long long time 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:27.720 ago that we were not going to put all of 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:31.120 our eggs in one basket. UM. We source from twenty 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:35.400 four different countries. No country represents more than our total 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:40.640 volume UM. And we also cross source. About half of 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:44.520 all of our volume is crosssource, meaning we could make 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:49.400 that same product in different factories in different countries, which 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:52.520 gives us an incredible amount of agility. So that if 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:55.839 a factory shuts down unfortunately because of COVID, we've can 0:02:55.960 --> 0:03:01.200 quickly move that production h to somewhere else that's still operating. 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:04.400 So that's given us a ton of agility. I mean, 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:07.960 just to dimensionalize that, the vietnamsment in the news a 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:12.320 lot here lately. UM, we're importing less than four percent 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:16.680 of our product right now from Vietnam UM UH and 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:20.040 so that's that's big. We've also been really agile on 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:23.400 the on the shipping front. In fact, we've locked up 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:27.680 about sevent our shipping through the first half of next 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:32.160 year of the compacity that we need UH. And we've 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.880 been able to, you know, ship deliveries from the West 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.600 coast to the East coast given the West coast court challenges. 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:42.880 So our diversified supply chain and the team that we've 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:45.920 got really is a big competitive advantage. We left, you know, 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:48.080 we did one and a half billion dollars of revenue 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:50.600 in the quarter. We left ten million dollars of revenue 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:54.880 on the table from unfilled orders. Really a great really 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:58.680 a great job. Common prices have surge year of a year, 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:01.920 according to Bloomberg in Intelligence, shipping prices I know for 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:05.680 you have increased. You did say yesterday, levis indicated that 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:07.800 you have pricing power and you're able to pass on 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.720 some of these increased costs that you face two consumers. 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:13.560 How much pricing power do you have? How much more 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:17.080 our customer is going to pay for their levis? Well, 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:19.880 a couple of things to first of all, Um, you know, 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:24.240 there's it's clear inflation is here. And it's not just cotton, 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:28.120 it's everything. It's labor costs, it's shipping costs, it's truck costs, 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:32.280 it's it's really everywhere. Um. We saw it coming over 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:35.360 a year ago and we took pricing. We've been taking 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:37.720 pricing for the last year. Our au R s are 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:41.560 up pretty significantly over the last two years, and it's 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:44.480 because we saw inflation coming and we've been pricing ahead 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:48.960 of inflation and have been successful. It's sticking and so 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:50.520 a lot of that, and that's part of the reason 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:53.240 you're seeing such high gross margins fifty seven and a 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.000 half percent gross margins this past quarter. We've been in 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:59.520 the fifty seven's for the last three quarters, UM. And 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:04.040 it's because as we've successfully passed on pricing. We don't 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:08.960 buy cotton, we buy fabric from mills, and we've already 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:12.520 negotiated our cost of good soul through the first half 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:18.200 of two with a low single digit one percent cost 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:21.400 inflation built into our cost of goods. We're in the 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:25.120 midst of negotiating for the second half. I expect that's 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:28.279 going to be higher. Obviously, given what's happening to cotton, 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:31.200 we're expecting it's gonna be somewhere in the mid single 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:34.640 digit area. UM. If it's more than that, we may 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:38.280 have to take additional pricing, but priced ahead of inflation, 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:40.479 and feel that we're in a pretty good place right now. 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:43.200 We're also confident in the strength of the brand that 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:45.720 if we need to take more pricing, we can do 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:49.880 that very surgically and and you know, and recover the 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:54.279 higher costs to maintain your margins basically exactly. Hey, listen, 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:57.520 you said, I thought it was interesting to have you said, um, 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:00.279 that you saw inflation coming about two years go. Are 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.120 you saying that there were problems in the supply chain 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.240 pre pandemic, because I think this speaks to we are 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:09.040 trying to figure out inflation transitory or not. Right, it's 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:12.080 the big big question of the day. What would you 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:15.799 say someone who has to manage your supply chain so carefully? 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.359 Is this a bigger deal that lasts that stays with 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:21.680 us longer. Yeah, it wasn't really two years ago we 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:25.200 saw coming. It was about right, kind of coincidental with 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:28.960 the pandemic and the lockdowns. We knew that there was 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:31.880 already going to be pressure from a labor standpoint. We 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:35.680 were seeing that here in the US in particular. Um, 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.120 you know, I know there's a lot of debate about 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:42.400 whether inflation is transitory or not. I personally believe it's 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:46.400 here to stay. And that's why we started taking pricing 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:50.479 action early. Is you know, instead of a big, huge 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:54.160 leap and prices. It's it's better to get the consumer 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:59.080 there slowly over a series of price increases, and and 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:01.680 and so we got going on it early, and I 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:04.800 think we're out ahead of the curve. Are a U 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:07.600 R s are up kind of in the mid high 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:12.120 single digit area versus a year ago and two years ago. Um, 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:14.880 so I believe it's here to say. I mean, we're 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:20.440 looking at higher labor cost. Wage wages are going up 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:25.680 pretty significantly around the world. There's shortage of of labor 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:29.520 for different types of skills. So I think we're looking 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:31.880 at this for at least the next couple of years. 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:34.400 Really quickly, ten seconds, am I gonna troll getting my 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:38.280 Levi's for Christmas? Now there will be Leavis underneath your 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:43.520 Christmas tree. We're spending more on air freight this quarter 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:46.240 than we'll we typically do in a normal year. We're 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:50.000 gonna do everything we can to make sure we service 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:54.320 the demand that is out there. We're chasing inventory right now. 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:57.480 And you know, I jokingly say we're spending so much 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.240 on air freight, we could probably buy a seven board 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:04.040 and seven Funny it's under your tree, and I hope 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.840 you'll be giving lots of levives for others to under 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:09.040 their tree. Got it, got it well here Sant has 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:10.800 done well in the stock market, so he can afford 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:12.520 to uh spend a little bit more to get it 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:14.320 all here. Hey, listen, thank you so much to come 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:17.080 back soon, because your story is an incredible one. Levi 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:20.720 Strauss and Company CEO Chipberg. This story, the story the 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:24.239 stock also one of the outperformers of the day. This 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:28.280 is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:32.640 Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. So this week's cover story, 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:34.920 it also happens to be today's Bloomberg Big Take on 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:37.400 the Bloomberg Terminal. It is about tether. It's the world's 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:40.720 most popular stable coin. Is a type of cryptocurrency that 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:44.080 is favored by traders to mainly because it's backed by 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:47.880 really U S dollars. Yeah, but where maybe not? Is 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.760 it backed by US real real U S dollars? That's 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.160 the question. It's this week's cover story. Joining us now 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:57.120 is Zeke Fox. He's a financial investigations reporter at Bloomberg News. 0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:00.320 He's with us in the Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio is he. 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:03.080 I don't even know where the start. We have inspector gadget, 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:06.480 a retired plastic surgeon, a star of the Mighty Ducks, 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:12.920 all being characters in a story that trails multiple continents. Yeah, 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:15.800 so it's it's been a mystery for years. There's always 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:20.320 been this cryptocurrency called tether that's worth a dollar because 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:23.439 each coin is supposedly backed by a dollar in the bank. 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:25.559 But there have always been these critics who are saying, 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.240 where are these dollars? Really? Does this company really have 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:33.000 the money it claims? And this year they've been printing 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.760 like a crazy amount of tether's, so there's now sixty 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:39.320 nine billion of them, which means the company is supposed 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:44.400 to have sixty billion of real dollars somewhere, of real 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:46.640 US cash. It needs to be backed by real US 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:50.480 cash exactly. That's what they've promised. And I went out 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:53.680 to try and figure out, all, right, where is this money, 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:56.840 what have they done with it? On how much of 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:00.200 it did you find? Chill Webber, joining US editor about 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:02.680 Business Week, was a little disappointed because I was hoping 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:04.440 there would just be like a pile of gold somewhere, 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:06.880 but I realized that that's not uh, that's not really 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:11.319 how how money work. Yeah. Um. But it turns out 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:13.959 that they're one of the biggest banks is down in 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:17.000 the Bahamas, and I went and met with the chairman 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:21.040 of the bank. It's called Dell Tech, and he said 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:25.400 that they hold about fifteen billion I think he said 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:28.360 of the of the sixty nine, but he's not quite sure. 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:30.920 He can't speak for He said that money safe, it's 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:33.560 here with us, but he can't speak for the rest 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:37.960 of it. Um. So I mean, the reason this is 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.760 really important is that, uh, tether is sort of like 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:44.480 at the center of the cryptocurrency world. You might think 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:46.160 it's kind of like pointless, like why would you even 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:49.320 want a cryptocurrency that wasn't going to make you rich? Um, 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.559 But this is the one that you use to send 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:55.640 money from one exchange to the other to place your 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:58.559 bets at the exchange. Essentially, if you think of the 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:03.120 cryptocurrency exchanges as like giant casinos, these are the chips, 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.079 and all the casinos make you get the same chips, 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:10.760 which are tethers. So it's like the connection between all 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:13.760 the different parts of the cryptocurrency world. And so if 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:18.240 these coins aren't worth one dollar. It could throw all 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:19.960 these markets out of whack, would be like a huge 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:23.640 deal for for all of crypto worth mentioning what he 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:27.680 did before he was a Bahamed bahamaed binker. Yes, so 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:33.680 very impressive, dude, Jean Chalapin, the chairman of Deltech. He 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:38.720 actually the first big success was creating the cartoon about 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:44.920 the cyborg cop inspector gadget or cyboards with my childhood. Yeah, 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:49.360 um world. So he got he got very rich from 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:53.720 from that and making also some other cartoons. He uh 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:58.360 sold his studio, moved to the Bahamas, where he bought 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:03.640 this beautiful pink colonial mansion that you probably saw in 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:09.440 the James Bond Foam Casino Royale. It was the it 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:11.760 was the it was the villains. It was the villain's 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:15.640 house in that and it's certainly nice enough to be that. 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:19.480 And he then bought this bank in the Bahamas. And 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:24.199 I mean, the whole thing is kind of is hugely 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:28.640 hard to wrap your mind around, but essentially tether needs 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:31.040 to have it needs banks. It needs banks to hold 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:34.640 money because people send tether real money to get the 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:37.280 tether coins. And they've had a lot of trouble over 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:41.160 the years finding banks that will do business with them, 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:44.240 because a lot of banks have just not wanted to 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:48.560 do business with cryptocurrency companies in general. And so he 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:50.880 this Dell Tech Bank of the Bahamas was one of 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:53.480 the few that would and really save them at a 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:57.280 time when they were struggling to figure out what to 0:12:57.280 --> 0:12:59.920 do with their money. Might this be a Ponti scheme? 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:06.120 So that's what some of the harshest critics have said. 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:10.559 I mean, the information that I got is that, um, 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:14.880 they are taking this money and investing it, and rather 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:18.080 than it just being totally a giant scam, it's all 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.800 made up. It's more about a conflict of interest where 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:25.160 when you buy a tether coin, you really want it 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:27.680 to be safe. You really want to get your dollar 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:33.520 back no matter what if you uh yeah, But if 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:36.920 you're the it turns out that the the way it structured, 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:40.120 the owner of the tether company, he's not sitting on 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:44.400 sixty billion dollars. He can invest that money in different things, 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:48.720 and any earnings on those investments go to him. So 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:52.720 even if he earns like one that's six and ninety 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:56.600 million dollars, and uh, there's not much expenses in running 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:59.720 this company. It's a really small operation, so his incentive 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:02.959 is to invest in weird stuff to try and make 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:06.120 some money. And what I found was that in fact, 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:09.920 a fair amount of it billions was invested in Chinese 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:13.920 commercial paper, which is kind of like, uh, something that 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:17.520 people on Wall Street really avoid. Like there's a most 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.960 commercial papers held by money market funds and they just 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:24.360 basically will not buy Chinese commercial paper. There's very few 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:29.480 of them have much of it. Um So this is 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:33.360 like a big risk. So what's at risk for crypto 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:37.600 and maybe the rest of us if you can't trust tether? 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:43.320 So all of the on some of the biggest exchanges 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:47.440 to the trades are denominated in tether, and it's becomes 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.560 so natural that people almost forget it. But like you're 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:55.360 buying your bitcoin versus tether, and so if the if 0:14:55.400 --> 0:15:01.560 people no longer trusted tether, they would all, uh, I 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:05.440 want to dump tether for to buy whatever they could 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:07.960 with it before if they're worried that like it could 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:11.120 go to zero. Um. So it kind of bizarrely on 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:13.760 those exchanges, it would probably drive up the price of 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:16.800 cryptos in a short term, but it would it would 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:22.440 be uh uh, at least in tether terms um, but 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:25.200 it'd be like a huge disruption because still, even like 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:30.400 almost a decade into this whole cryptocurrency boom, a huge 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:34.560 part of the economy, the crypto economy rests on these 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:38.840 weird stable coins instead of real dollars, and it's something 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.240 that the traders kind of take for granted. But like, well, 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:46.480 stable coin like talk about the messaging there, and we 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:49.440 think that there could be uh some news in the 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:54.040 near future out of DC around stable coins, right just quickly. Yeah, 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:59.720 so there's like uh Treasury Department commissioned a report about 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:04.440 state bookcoins all. Basically every financial regulator has said somebody's 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:06.880 got to do something about this, and it's not clear 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.160 exactly what they're gonna do, but it seems unlikely that 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:12.200 they'll just uh let it ride. Where you have the 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:17.200 whole cryptocurrency world relying on this unregulated sixty nine billion 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:21.840 dollar quasi bank thing called tether well on the money 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.320 trail from Taiwan to Puerto Rico, the French revie of 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:26.360 mainland China and the Bahamas. He didn't go to all 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:28.360 the places, but he didn't go to some. It is 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:31.040 an amazing story. It's the cover story of Bloomberg Business 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:34.720 Week magazine. Zeke Fox, financial investigations reporter here at Bloomberg News, 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:37.000 along with Joeld Webber, editor of Bloomberg Business Week. Check 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:40.160 it out. It's the new issue of Business Week. You're 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:44.160 listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:48.440 Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, we told 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:50.400 you about some of the COVID headlines that were in 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:53.440 the stories that we are following, specifically the story about 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:57.160 heart damage and rocking COVID survivors a year after the 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:00.880 after they get infected. Joining us now is senior scholar 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.280 from John's Hawkins Center for Health Security and the Bloomberg 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:06.320 School of Public Health. Dr g g. Gronville joins us 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.639 on the phone from Baltimore. Dr Gronvall, It's great to 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:12.080 have you back with us. One thing that I've been 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:14.840 thinking a lot about when it comes to UH, when 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:16.480 it comes to where we are in the pandemic, is 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:18.439 testing and the evolution of testing. And we did hear 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.200 from the Biden administration that they are making a significant 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.520 push to increase the availability of home tests this week, 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.040 and I wonder to what extent you think that that 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:28.800 will help us get to the other side of the 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:34.639 pandemic if we can easily get home tests. Yeah. So 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:39.120 home testing is really important and I think, um it's 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:43.200 been uh demanded by lots of people. Um that's why 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:46.119 you haven't seen them on the shelves recently. UM. So 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:50.400 this move to increase manufacturing and to you know, get 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:53.159 more than them a little bit more cheap so that 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:55.880 people can actually afford to use them, um will be 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:59.879 a really welcome change. And it's something that other countries 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:02.399 been doing, so it's really good that the US is 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:04.680 finally doing this as well. Okay, help me understand though. 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.360 These are not PCR tests that we will have access 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:11.240 to at home, right, No, No, they these are a 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:15.199 tests that um that look for the look for the 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:17.360 amount of virus basically that you have in your nose 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:21.320 at that moment. So you get a result umty minutes 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:24.040 depending on the test after you take it. And so 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:28.600 it's really it doesn't have the amplification step that PCR has, 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.320 so that it can't it can't detect like really weak 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:34.600 signals and tell you that you might be infectious in 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.240 two or three days, but it can tell you if 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:40.600 you're infectious right now, which is really a key thing 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:43.160 for public health. I do think that's a challenge. Carol 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:45.200 and I are, you know, traveling for the first time 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:47.320 in a long time, and we have to get a 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:50.000 PCR test within what a certain number of hours before 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:52.040 we go to this event. I think it's like three days, 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:54.320 two or three days. Well, And I have to say 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:56.920 I was googling last night and this morning and looking 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.760 at boosters and what the CDC says about who's allowed 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:01.920 to it, and it says, you know, if you are 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:05.720 likely to be around a population where you increase your 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:08.720 chance maybe if I think getting COVID. I was, I 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:11.399 really was trying to understand because I have to say, 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.960 I'm a little I'm coming to the six month point 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:19.280 of my second vaccination and trying to understand. I really 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:21.600 don't want to be one of those people who really 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:25.159 aren't approved at this point to go get a third shot. 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:27.440 But I am thinking about it. Do I need to 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:29.600 be concerned? And some of what I've read is said 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:32.439 you've got immunity and your body has this great memory 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:36.560 response that if you do get COVID, it will react 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:38.879 and take care of you so that you won't be hospitalized. 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:41.359 I mean, that's the science behind it. But nonetheless, I 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:42.960 get a little nervous when people say, even if you 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:47.760 get COVID there could be long haul UM complications. That 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:51.160 freaks me out. What's your advice to all of us? Yeah, 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:53.600 I think it's important for people to not overthink this. 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:57.560 And we don't have a supply issue right now, so UM, 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:00.040 you know there there if you get a shot, do 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.320 you get a booster shot? It's not like that shot 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.440 UM would have gone to somebody else who really needed it. 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:10.080 There's really good data to support UM older people UH 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:13.840 to to get the booster shot. That that's clear, that's UM. 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:16.920 The science is there for that. It's a little murkier 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.800 for people who are not seniors UM, whether or not 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:24.200 they need it. But these are safe and effective vaccines. UM. 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:27.200 You know, if if if you think that you might 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:30.160 UM at least give you a piece of mind, then 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:34.119 go ahead and get it. Because because the guidance right 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:37.880 now is so broad UM that you know, you probably 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:42.080 are encountering people who you are being being put into 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:45.000 positions where you might be UM at higher risk. Who 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:48.520 knows UM, But you know, there's it's not like, it's 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.040 not like there's a supply issue at stake here. Is 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:53.919 it a mistake that there's not more clear federal guidelines 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:56.159 and guidance on who should get these and when they should? 0:20:56.160 --> 0:20:57.960 And I asked because I know people who are work 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:00.040 in education who are in their thirties and doctors in 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:02.560 the thirties who have or are getting boosters soon, But 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:05.880 people in their fifties or sixties who don't haven't gotten 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:09.840 any guidance about it. Right, Yeah, I think they left. 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:12.040 So there's the science, and then there's a limit to 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:14.840 what you can say based on the science. And then 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:18.360 there's the policy decision, which is that you know, right 0:21:18.400 --> 0:21:20.920 now the door is kind of open for people who 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:23.919 want to have a booster to have it. So, yeah, 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:26.960 it is. It is vague, but they have been as 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:29.840 clear as they can about what the science supports. And 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:33.639 I agree it's it's it's vague, but it's nobody is 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:36.399 going to be, I think, prohibited from getting a booster 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:38.520 as long as there's six months out from their second shot. 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:41.159 All right, that's good guidance because we were we were 0:21:41.200 --> 0:21:43.680 really wondering about it. Hey, how often do you there's 0:21:43.720 --> 0:21:46.600 been some great research that our team has done about 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:52.000 the next wave, the fourth wave COVID nineteen. Uh, the 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:55.880 immune escape variants. How many conversations are you guys having 0:21:55.880 --> 0:22:00.400 at Hopkins about that? And just got about forty five seconds? Sure, So, um, 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:03.160 you know, every time the virus replicates with the chance 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:05.879 to mutate, so you have to worry that there's going 0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:09.199 to be additional variants. Um, right now, we can just 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:11.880 need to do what we can to get transmission under control. 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:15.840 So that means unvaccinated you need to get vaccinated. We 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:18.400 need more testing so that people who are infectious can 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:22.240 limit their possibility to spread. So, um, we just have 0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:25.439 to keep doing what we're doing, and globally it's not easy. 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:30.600 This is the hardest pandemic I've ever been exactly. Hey, 0:22:30.680 --> 0:22:33.440 Dr Gronville, thank you so much. We appreciate your time 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:36.520 and everybody over at Hopkins for really helping create so 0:22:36.600 --> 0:22:39.160 much and clarity for us on this subject. She's Senior 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:41.520 Scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, the Bloomberg 0:22:41.520 --> 0:22:44.320