WEBVTT - White House Nearing Deadline for Fiscal Stimulus 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.280 This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carol Masser. Every day 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:05.200 we're bringing you the latest news from the world's of 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:08.920 business and finance, plus technology, politics. So much going on 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:12.160 in the world of politics, economics, and it's all harnessing 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:14.840 the power of Business Week reporters and editors. If you 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:18.280 can download Bloomberg Business Week on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:20.480 dot com. If you can also listen to our radio 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:23.400 show at two pm Eastern on Bloomberg Radio and be 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:26.320 sure to watch us too on YouTube by searching Bloomberg 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:28.560 Global News. So it's been a couple of months, Paul, 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:32.560 since we checked last, or checked last, and check we 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:35.440 last checked in. Let's try that again. Let's try it again. 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.599 It's only Wednesday's were last checked in with Dr William Hasltin. 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:42.400 He is chairman and president of Access Health International. It's 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:44.920 a nonprofit thing tank. It's on a mission to improve 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:47.959 access to high quality and affordable health care for people everywhere. 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:51.400 He's also a very well known name when it comes 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:55.320 to biotech, of course, founding a dozen biotech companies, including 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:59.080 Human Genome Sciences. He has put out several living e books. 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:01.880 Living because they're constantly updated on how we are living 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:04.960 with COVID and figuring out our way back. He's also 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:08.200 I got an autobiography, my lifelong fight against disease from 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:11.440 polio and AIDS to COVID nineteen. Quite a trip, he 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:14.520 joins us on the phone from Connecticut, Doctor haselteen, It 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.360 is so nice to have you back with us. Um, 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:23.560 how are you. I'm very well, very happy here in Connecticut. 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:27.800 I Uh, during the summer, I purchased an old farm 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:31.800 and I'm busy, uh, sort of fixing it up. It's 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:35.480 a lot of working old farm, I can tell you. Yeah. 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:40.759 They're bigger farmers. Not no easy business. Um. So Dr Hazel, team, 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.360 let's just start with the numbers. They're not going in 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:48.720 the right direction. I guess we can say we we're 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:52.760 expecting this some type of second wave. What what are 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:55.120 you seeing in the numbers as relates to new cases 0:01:55.120 --> 0:02:00.120 and so on. Let's take a global look. It's we 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:05.080 look at Europe. We see very sharp spikes in European 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:10.639 leading European countries UH, Italy, France, UH, Spain, UK. The 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:13.880 numbers are up from the peak, the very very peak 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:18.720 of the spring. They now back up three to five 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:22.480 times higher than they were think about that three to 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:25.799 five times higher than they were when we saw those 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:30.720 dreadful scenes from Italy originally and then other places. Uh, 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:35.280 North and South America, with the Canadian exception, but connect 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:42.200 Canada is beginning to show signs of distress are really bad. Um, 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:46.200 both North and South America. India is in dreadful shape. 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:49.160 There's only one part of the world actually maybe two 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:54.720 that are doing well for some reason that people don't understand. 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.840 I'm beginning to look at Sub Saharan Africa, and then 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:04.040 of course China. China and Southeast Asia are in great shape, 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:08.919 but especially China, which has had six fifty million people 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.960 travel over Golden Week and nobody got interacted. I have 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:17.160 offices in Shanghai and Beijing, and everybody's going about their business. 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:21.079 Their economy is growing. There have the highest exports and 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:26.400 imports as they've ever had. UM. That global picture gives 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:32.160 you two pieces of information. One, this epidemic can be 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:36.560 controlled through public health measures. Follow the book and you 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:41.440 can be China. It isn't totalitarian. It's following the book, 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:44.600 the guide book. And there are many such books. If 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:46.720 you asked me the names of them. Uh, there are 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.680 many such books which will tell you how to control 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:53.520 a pandemic. You need good leadership which is clear, credible, 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:57.320 and consistent. You need good governance and the public health 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:02.320 institutions to guy you. And you need a sense of 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:06.360 solidarity in your population. They have it. The rest of 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:11.200 the world seems to lack it, especially the United States, which, 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:17.479 despite four of the world's population, is about of the 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:20.520 world's disease. We are punching way above our weight, but 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:23.680 not where we want to be. Now, what everybody is 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:27.320 concerned about is what's happening right now and in the 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:30.920 next few months. And it looks grim because we're not 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:34.640 doing what's necessary because we don't have leadership, Our governance 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:38.960 processes are faulty, and our social solidarity never was really strong. 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:42.240 It is falling apart. We've got real problems. I had 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:50.520 serious problems, Okay, grim, Yeah, I mean, and it doesn't 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:52.400 surprise me when you were going down the list of 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.520 leadership could govern ince sense of solidarity, And I felt 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:57.799 like there was some solidarity certainly in New York Metro 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:00.680 when we were hitting some of those high numbers. But 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:04.520 you know, we're not hitting or firing annal cylinders when 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:06.240 it comes to that list that you just put out there. 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:08.960 So what does that mean? Do you think Let's take 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.160 the United States, because that's where we are right now, 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:13.480 what do you think that means for the next few months. 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:18.480 I think unless we change our course radically, we are 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.520 going to see at least a hundred thousand people a 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:25.560 day infected. We'll see our hospitals begin to overflow as 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.480 we are now, they'll be totally overflowing. We might need 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:32.160 search capacities. We're gonna have to start opening new graveyards. 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:36.000 It's going to be very, very bad unless we change 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:40.440 our course. Now. Is it inevitable? It's not inevitable. We 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:44.120 can carry out public health policies even now, now that 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:47.360 we know lots more about the disease. We can institute 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:51.559 very rapid tests that are universally available, that are given 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:55.000 frequently to almost everybody. And we can start a program 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:59.800 of what I call compensated homestay UH so that p 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.039 bowl who are infected can stay home with their families. 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:05.720 And I'm advocating paying them a lot to do that, 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:09.880 five dollars a day for fourteen days with their whole family. 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:13.000 I think that's enough for people to identify themselves as 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:17.160 positive to have the public health authorities that are responsible 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:21.800 for paying them be able to double check and to 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:24.600 keep people home as a family for fourteen days, that's 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:27.359 not too tough. And for those who can't don't have 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.640 a home, the homeless and people in a nursing home, 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.520 put them in hospitals and hotels and pay for it. 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:37.599 And when you had it's a lot less. What do 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:41.640 you make though, doctor Haseltine, of all the schools opening up. 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:44.760 We had someone on yesterday who said, you know, kids 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:47.640 are not super spreaders and that kind of making the 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:50.240 case for opening up schools. What are your thoughts on that, 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:52.480 especially with what you just told us in the last 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:54.960 break about if we don't get things right, it's gonna 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:59.120 be pretty horrible the next few months. I it is, 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:02.640 and I we have to watch the situation carefully. There's 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:06.400 a new report out that actually gives a very precise 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:11.120 idea about who can transmit the virus to whom that is, 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:16.080 the Indian government carried out an enormous project where they 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:19.640 did contact tracing and then for each of the people 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:23.720 who were contacted by somebody with COVID, they just looked 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:26.320 to see whether they in fact were infected, and the 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:30.200 results are very surprising in one sense and very not 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:34.800 surprising another. At every age group. They looked at school age, 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:39.800 the elementary school, the high school age above that, college age, 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:43.520 and then people in the workforce and older people of 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:49.239 one age let's say five to ten transmitted the virus 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:53.600 most frequently two people of five to ten. People fifteen 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:57.080 to twenty transmitted the virus two people who were fifteen 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:00.240 to twenty, and the rates of transmission were pretty much 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:05.040 constant across all of that spectrum. So children are not 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:09.920 protected from giving the virus to one another, and they 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:12.120 can give the virus to the rest of their family 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:15.520 that will then give it to other people. So that 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:19.200 when we are looking at zones that are read that 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:23.600 being a high rate of infection, a high rate of 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:29.120 say five or more people per hundred thousand infected, and 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.960 there are many states are even fifty or more UH 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:33.560 to put you in a red zone. There are many 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:36.680 states in the US that are now bright red UH. 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:39.560 It's at a serious question of whether you should send 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:42.480 your kid back to school. If it was my child, 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:45.080 I wouldn't do it. In the red zone. And much 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:48.760 more of the US is turning red rather than green. 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:52.240 It's not a good situation for children, and it's got 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:55.440 to be very cognizant of what's happening. So dr in 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:58.599 your book, My Lifelong Fight against Disease, from pollio and 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:03.640 AIDS to COVID nineteen, what are the commonalities between those 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:07.520 three and maybe what are some differences here? I'd say 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:12.160 the first commonality is when it first appeared, our senior leadership, 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:17.600 our president and senior administration, including our health officials, refused 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:20.240 to acknowledge it as a serious problem. They even wrote 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:22.800 a book about me and Bob Redfield, an ame. You'll 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:27.280 be familiar with this epidemic. We're still around, we're still 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:30.080 fighting diseases. But they wrote a book called the Myth 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:33.959 of Heterosexual AIDS. If you could imagine that, a whole 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.600 book attacking me and Bob Redfield called the Myth of 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:42.720 Heterosexual aid Uh. Some of our administration is trying to 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:46.880 wish this a waste. Fortunately, our public health officials are 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:51.079 not as they did. So that's one commonality. A second 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:56.920 run uh commonality is how the research are very strong. 0:09:56.960 --> 0:10:01.120 Biomedical research. It got engaged right away and started working 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.040 on and trying to understand the disease and coming up 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:06.800 with solutions and for age. It was long time in 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:11.520 coming five six years and coming where combination chemotherapy has 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.880 been able to uh save and extend the lives so 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:19.880 there are normal lifespans of those who are infected. We 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:23.040 can see an enormous effort from the biomedical community. I 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:26.760 think there's something like sixty papers now published from the 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:30.440 biomedical community around the world that is really good news. 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:33.800 But whether or not it's going to be as effective 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:38.040 as the drugs were in uh saving people's lives remains 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:40.760 to be seen. It's an open question. The question on 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:44.960 vaccines also remains open. We'll probably get a vaccine which 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:49.160 is sort of like the flu vaccine, partially protective, uh, 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:53.280 partially safe uh somewhat, but it won't stop that, it 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:56.000 won't stop the pandemic. I don't think. I don't think 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:58.000 there's going to be a a show stopper for this vaccine. 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:00.280 I have to say, every time you're on, we always feel, man, 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:02.800 we could just go another sixty minutes easily. So I 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:05.120 do hope you'll come back real soon, and we'd love 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:06.880 to talk a little bit more too about your book. 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:09.360 Dr William Hasseltine, Thank you so much, always gracious with 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:12.560 this time, chairman and president of Access Health International. Check 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:14.320 out his book, It's at It as an e book 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.080 and a hardcover coming out in February. My lifelong fight 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.720 against disease from pollio and AIDS to COVID nineteen. He 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:23.679 has seen so much. This is Bloomberg Business Week with 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:27.600 Carol Messer from Bloomberg Radio. Well, COVID plus decades of 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:31.480 pollution are a nasty combination for Detroit, especially if your 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:34.040 zip code happens to be four eight two one seven. 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:37.439 It is one of the most polluted areas in Michigan, 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:42.199 and this certainly is problematic when it comes to COVID nineteen. 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:44.800 This story in the magazine this week soon hit news stands, 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:47.400 also on the Bloomberg and online at Bloomberg dot Com. 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.920 Cynthia Coon's wrote it. She's US healthcare reporter at Bloomberg News. 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:54.280 She joins us on the phone in New Jersey and Synthony, Cynthia, 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:56.280 you know, Paul and I were talking. It feels like 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.480 there's never any kind of upbeat story coming out when 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.960 it when you're talking about Detroit, tell us about Teresa 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:05.440 Landrum and tell us about the zip code for eight 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:09.960 two on seven. What's going on? Yeah, thanks for having me, Carol. 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:14.000 This was a story about a very small part of Detroit. 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:16.199 It's only a little more than two miles, but it's 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:21.599 surrounded by more than two dozen industrial companies and polluting 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:26.800 facilities that have been making the air, contributing to poor 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.080 air quality in this one small section of Detroit and 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:33.840 other parts of Detroit. Obviously, pollution doesn't know borders for years, decades, 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:38.360 and Teresa actually has been fighting these companies for decades. 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:40.920 She started her work in what's known as the environmental 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:44.160 justice movement in the late in eighteen nineties, and that 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:48.520 was back to when Detroit Salt was using explosives that 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:51.400 were leading cracks in people's houses and their driveways and 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:55.080 their foundations. And that was her first environmental justice battle. 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:58.200 But through the years she's come up against any number 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:01.240 of companies. She has dealt with HERMIT application. She has 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.439 tried to stop these companies from increasing pollution. And of course, 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:07.439 earlier this year, COVID comes to her community and from 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.000 what she could see and from all the people she 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:13.360 introduced me to, it had a pretty devastating effect in 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:16.720 terms of people getting very sick when they got the virus. So, 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:19.760 since you this is a fantastic article, great reporting, and 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:22.520 you know in this article is that this map that 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:24.959 you that you refer to is literally the zip code 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:28.880 is surrounded by a dozen or more factories. I mean 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:31.600 it just they can't escape, it seems like. And so 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:33.720 I wonder, you know, and that led obviously to the 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:37.839 pollution issue that she's been fighting. How has COVID impacted 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:42.240 this community. The interesting thing is, not only does Treason 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:44.040 know a lot of people who have gotten COVID, but 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:45.480 we all know there are a lot of reasons why 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:47.559 someone might contract COVID. It could have to do with 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:50.480 how much it was circulating in the community before there 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:52.880 was a shutdown, or jobs people do and so on 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:54.880 and so forth. But what's interesting about the people she 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.439 introduced me to was the severity of their cases. And 0:13:57.520 --> 0:13:59.400 so when I would talk to people who live in 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:01.800 for a tow and seven, they would talk about weeks 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.680 of pneumonia or I talked to one woman who still 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.199 was trying to catch her brass months after being discharged 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:09.440 from the hospital and told me that to this day, 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:11.520 which is even months later than when I first spoke 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:14.320 to her. She still can't go on her five mile walks. 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:16.840 She can only walk about half a mile because it 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:19.400 impacted her so much from a respiratory point of view. 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:23.000 And so we started with the story of Landrum's niece, 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:26.200 who is this woman, Danielle Hall, who had spent an 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:28.560 enormous amount of time both in the hospital as well 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:31.680 as in nursing home learning how to walk again, and 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:35.120 just really use this to explore this idea that what 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:37.800 we do understand is some research has come out early 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:42.040 research showing that in exposure to pollutants does increase the 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:44.440 number of deaths in a given area. That's been, that's been, 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.280 that's starting to be shown in scientific research papers. But 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:50.560 then the question is also could people's COVID cases actually 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.040 be worse because their lungs are compromised by the time 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:56.240 they get exposed to the virus. There were so many 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:58.120 like I'm shaking my head. I know you can't see 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:00.920 it on radio and you can't see it since Polkan 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:04.040 guess we're on Nexian video conferencing. But like in your 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:07.440 story you talk about um, I guess it was. In January, A. K. 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:10.880 Steel filed an application requesting permission to triple the plants 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:14.400 lead in manganese excuse me emissions. I guess what I 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:16.720 can't get my head around is that I keep thinking 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.960 we're in a world where we're trying to improve systems 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:24.520 and prevent you know, more impacts on our climate, and 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:29.320 yet we know that that's not happening. Yeah, the environmental 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:32.040 regulator actually gave us the data said that in the 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:36.320 past decade they approved three thousand, five hundred eighties six 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:40.640 applications and denied eighteen. And we asked for those numbers 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:43.760 because a state representative who also had COVID, who also 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:47.760 grew up he lived, which is the big thoroughfare that 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:50.480 a lot of the industrial like trucks travel through and 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:53.960 is cut through the community. He also had said, you know, 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:56.560 we go to these permit hearings. We go to we 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:59.400 we the people communicate that this is a problem for them. 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:02.400 People say that we can't kick on more pollution. And 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:04.400 these are these are companies that are across the streets, 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:08.600 sometimes from playgrounds and schools, and yet they still get approved. 0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:11.840 And so the question becomes how hard can it be? 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:16.080 And there really are quite teams of lawyers who are 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.880 trying to help these community members. But it's it's interesting. 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.120 One of the conversations I have with Theresa, she said, 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:24.440 it's very it's really challenging because the companies come in 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:28.960 that with with reams of documents and experts using language 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:33.080 that's very highly scientific that an average community member you 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.440 and I wouldn't know. We would have to get we'd 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:37.640 have to get up to speed on parts for trillion 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:41.240 and things that are just very much the lingo of 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:45.640 that world. But it's very hard for community members to say, Okay, 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:47.640 wait a second. What you're actually saying here is this 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:49.640 is going to spe more let into the air across 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:51.520 the street from where my child goes to school, which 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:54.680 is what seems to happen happening. So, but there's very 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.280 interesting movement on the other side. So environmental justice lawyers 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.320 filed the civil rights complaint earlier this year, saying that 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:03.920 you know, this is systemic racism and action, that this 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:07.280 is a community that's predominantly a minority community. Was there 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:10.280 was an approval of a hazardous waste facility, a huge expansion, 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:13.399 and the lawyers came out and said, no, this is 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:15.280 a problem, and this is a civil rights issue. And 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:17.399 people shouldn't have to breathe this air deal with the 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:21.280 effects of this pollution disproportionately. That's what I was lived. 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:23.399 I was thinking, you know, and Paul, I'm listening you know, 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:25.480 to Cynthia, this whole idea of like, do we have 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:29.439 a right to have clean air, fresh air as a 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.960 citizen of this country. Yeah, it's interesting, And Cynthia, you 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:36.399 know it's there's a forward plant right across the street, 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:41.320 isn't there. Yeah, So so wherever you look, that's a 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:44.760 massive forward complex actually, and it's actually now operating, not 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:46.480 quite like it used to be. Right. It used to 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:48.920 employ more than a hundred thousand people, and it's hey day, 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:51.000 and I think it was like the nineteen thirties, but 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:54.080 now it's it's just much smaller. I mean, obviously a 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:57.080 lot of this has turned to automation. But there while 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:01.080 certain plants maybe have down scale, then certain industry has 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:03.600 moved away, there's other industry that's obviously for me, like 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:07.840 wastewater treatment and obviously hazardous waste facilities and power stations 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:10.800 and cement plants. And you just don't really take into 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:12.720 until you stop and really think and look at this. 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:14.919 You don't think about the totality of things that go 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:16.959 into say making a car, and how many parts might 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:19.119 be made right nearby, and that's how you end up 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:21.680 with these sort of clusters of industry. And once upon 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:23.760 a time this was, you know, a great place to 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.320 live because there were jobs. But now there aren't nearly 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:28.160 as many jobs as there used to be. So that's 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:30.719 not necessarily benefiting anyone either. But no one should have, 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:36.080 you know, their employment tied to breathing air that is substandard. Hey, Cynthia, 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:39.680 just quickly thirty seconds here, where's Congress or lawmakers on this? 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:43.919 They've got to know about it. So Congress did actually 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:45.960 bring in one of the scientists I spoke to who 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.439 did a study very early on showing that exposure to 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:52.960 pollution had um increased the death rate in certain communities. 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:56.639 UM and Corey Booker also had brought this UM scientists 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:59.159 on into like a big town hall about this topic. 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:01.640 So I think this kind of you know, I think 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:03.800 there is some movement. I think there are some people 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:05.600 in Congress who really believe in this and really cares. 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:08.080 So there is a potential. The wheels are are turning, 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:12.840 so yeah, there's a possibility for change. Amazing. It's a mustreet. 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:14.480 I'll put it on Twitter. It'll be in the magazine 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:16.440 this week as well. Cittia Coon's You're the best US 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:20.280 healthcare reporter at Bloomberg News. This is Bloomberg Business Week 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:24.280 with Carol Messer from Bloomberg Radio. All Right, everybody, it's 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:26.359 twelve days and I was looking for my hourly count. 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:28.480 I lost my clock. Oh here it is twelve hours, 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:31.640 twelve days, nine hours, fifty seven minutes, forty six seconds 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:35.960 until the election. We kicked off the day, Paul today 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:38.040 with some news from White House Chief of Staff Mark 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:41.199 Meadows saying on Fox at the goal in talks with 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:44.080 how speaker Nancy Pelosi is a deal on coronavirus relief 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:46.680 packages within the next forty eight hours. So we'll see 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:50.560 what happens. Someone who is watching this very closely, Eric Wasson, 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:53.200 he is congressional reporter at Bloomberg News. He's on the 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:56.480 phone from Washington, d C. So, okay, here we are 0:19:56.560 --> 0:19:59.520 less than two weeks away. Um TikTok. I thought Nancy 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:04.240 Pelosi had a deadline, Eric, for yesterday to get this done. Yeah, 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:06.840 that deadline obviously wasn't a very hard one. She had 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.000 clarified at something along the way that it was just 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:10.959 that she had to see people put their card more 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:13.160 over their cards on the table. Of sounds like there 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:16.600 has been some similar progress on things like the liability 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:19.080 protection for companies. There could be a trade off there 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:22.160 where a few strength and workplace protections and companies would 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:24.960 be able to achieve some kind of legal defense over 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:29.040 their COVID procedures. But overall, big, big issues like state 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:32.000 and local aid. Uh, this is a Democratic push to 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:34.520 to get five billion dollars to stay in local governments 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:37.679 that lost revenue during the lockdowns. There's still some some 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:40.719 issues going on. So Meadows did put another forty eight 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:43.480 hour deadline on it today here in the Capitol. He 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:45.480 came out of the lunch from that up and says 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:47.760 two or three days. So that sound like a little 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:50.480 bit more lit the room there. Um. But you know, 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:53.200 we're seeing more and more of this possibility that they 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:55.080 come to it. You know, maybe even at NAPSID before 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:57.800 the election. Gives the president something to talk about the 0:20:57.920 --> 0:20:59.800 head of the election and then actually do the vote 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:02.520 for the election. So a lot of things are slipping here, 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:04.800 but it does look like they're there. May be a 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:08.120 possibility of the deal, if not before the election, then 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:10.680 then into the Lamb duck session, which is when Congress 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:14.520 comes back after uh November three. So, Eric, I have 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:17.960 to admit the inner workings of Washington and billmaking often 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:21.040 confused me, but this one really confuses me. I think 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:23.439 I've you did not. You're obviously not a student of 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:27.000 Schoolhouse Rock. I you know, I am, I remember it clearly, 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:29.920 but it just doesn't seem to happen that smoothly. Um So, 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:33.280 But so, Eric, we have a president who wants stimulus. 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:38.320 We have the Democrats who want stimulus, yet the Senate 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:40.640 Republicans do not. Do I have that right? And if so, 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:43.520 what do you think the strategies of the Senate Republicans here? 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:46.040 I wouldn't say that they don't want stimulus. Thing that 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:48.240 they put forward to bills today that they voted on 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:51.400 five billion dollars, you know, as much of a comic 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:54.000 point that is, you know, wasn't chump changed before this 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:58.080 COVID uh pandemic came about. Where we've seen three chillion 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:00.879 dollars spent so far, but they just don't see the 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:03.840 level of the two trillion dollar level that the White 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:06.919 House and pelosity you're talking about now, you just have 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:09.960 different incentives. I think at this point there may be 0:22:10.119 --> 0:22:12.840