Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Shoppers spent billions on Black Friday and could break Cyber
Speaker 2: Monday records. Today, Luisy and a Senator Bill Cassidy joins
Speaker 2: us now for more. Senator Cassidy, thank you so much
Speaker 2: for being here. Could you square this idea of incredible
Speaker 2: spending and the ongoing American consumer continuing to uphold the
Speaker 2: underlying economy and this real feeling that cost of living
Speaker 2: is becoming unsustainable.
Speaker 1: Well, there's obviously segments within our society, and there's a
Speaker 1: group of people who are still managing to do well.
Speaker 1: There's another group of people who are really hurting. Now
Speaker 1: they may have the money to go out and buy
Speaker 1: their children the gift for Christmas. On the other hand,
Speaker 1: there is an increasing cost of insurance, whether it's health,
Speaker 1: property and casualty or flood insurance, as well as the
Speaker 1: increasing costs of groceries. They have extra money but up here,
Speaker 1: But there's a lot of folks down here who are hurting.
Speaker 2: This is the reason why a lot of people are expecting,
Speaker 2: even though we are seeing profits and companies continue to increase,
Speaker 2: they're expecting the FED to cut rates to respond to
Speaker 2: that case. Shaped economy or the massive people who really
Speaker 2: aren't feeling the gains, and I'm just wondering how much
Speaker 2: you're prepared to step in that you think that it's
Speaker 2: government's job on the fiscal side to really support that
Speaker 2: lower tier of consumers that are really feeling the pain.
Speaker 1: I would argue that in the tax cut for workings,
Speaker 1: families are the one big beautiful bill we attempted to
Speaker 1: do that. We did it both by no tax on overtime,
Speaker 1: no tax on tips for seniors, eliminating the tax that
Speaker 1: most would pay on their Social Security, but also putting
Speaker 1: in some some pro business efforts that would encourage business
Speaker 1: to reshore to build out their manufacturing. Lastly, I will
Speaker 1: say there's a lot of money taking place on infrastructure
Speaker 1: right now, and that infrastructure creates jobs. AI cannot swing
Speaker 1: a hammer, and so AI is not swinging in a hammer.
Speaker 1: Those folks are being employed. I would say that there
Speaker 1: is a business strategy to help those folks who are
Speaker 1: in the kind of struggling area of the economy centator.
Speaker 3: There's one area, it comes to affordability that actually might
Speaker 3: become a lot more expensive next year if Congress does
Speaker 3: not act, and that's the enhanced premiums when it comes
Speaker 3: to the Affordable Care Act. You have a hearing this
Speaker 3: week regarding this. Do you think we can get to
Speaker 3: a decision before the deadline?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we can. I have a plan, but
Speaker 1: it's one that other Republicans have reposed some form of,
Speaker 1: and we take that enhanced premium tax credit and instead
Speaker 1: of giving it to insurance companies where they take twenty
Speaker 1: percent for a profit and overhead, we give one hundred
Speaker 1: percent to the patient in the form of a deposit
Speaker 1: within a health savings account. This allows her not to
Speaker 1: buy the more expensive silver plan, but also get a
Speaker 1: cheaper plan called the Bronze plan. Now did I say
Speaker 1: it's cheaper. It's cheaper, and so we're helping her own
Speaker 1: our affordability. By the way, the money in our health
Speaker 1: savings account also gives her first dollar coverage for a
Speaker 1: child's trip to the er. You know, I practiced for
Speaker 1: twenty years as a doctor, caring for the uninsured and
Speaker 1: the poorly insured. I learned that if you give power
Speaker 1: to the patient, you can lower health care cost. So
Speaker 1: we're giving power to the patient, profit to the insurance company.
Speaker 3: Well, Democrats come on board with this plan. It doesn't
Speaker 3: seem like they are interested in this. They want at
Speaker 3: minimum and extension for a year or two of the
Speaker 3: extended premiums.
Speaker 1: So think about it. We are we would actually be
Speaker 1: if you will, in one sense extending the enhanced premium
Speaker 1: tax credit. But instead of giving one hundred percent to
Speaker 1: insurance companies, they take twenty percent for profit and overhead.
Speaker 1: We're given one hundred percent to the patient.
Speaker 3: So you're getting the extension, but the pool shrinks that money.
Speaker 3: So to shrink it does not shrink well for the insurance.
Speaker 3: Are they're going to have to pay more? Are you
Speaker 3: going to have to say you're on say the premium plan,
Speaker 3: or is your plan going to be even more expensive?
Speaker 3: It's not being subsidized by those in the lower end.
Speaker 1: No, Again, going back to this, if you got this
Speaker 1: amount of money and currently under the current plan, you
Speaker 1: give one hundred percent to insurance companies and they take
Speaker 1: twenty percent for overhead and profit. Instead, you give one
Speaker 1: hundred percent to patients in terms of deposits within a
Speaker 1: whole savings account. First, you're lowering their deductible and because
Speaker 1: you have low they're deductible, they can take a cheaper
Speaker 1: bronze plan. Now, normally you don't because your deductible is higher.
Speaker 1: We just lowered their deductible. They're getting a cheaper bronze plan.
Speaker 1: By the way, when you get power to the patient,
Speaker 1: she gets the health care she chooses to have that
Speaker 1: she knows she needs, as opposed to the healthcare the
Speaker 1: insurance company permits her to have a lot of wins
Speaker 1: in here for the patient who would not be for that.
Speaker 1: Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, do.
Speaker 2: You think that this is enough to prevent the government
Speaker 2: from shutting shutting down again in January when this comes
Speaker 2: back up.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Why, Because we've actually addressed affordability in the exchanges,
Speaker 1: I would argue, we also begin to address the overall
Speaker 1: increase in health care cost. When you give that woman,
Speaker 1: and women make all the decisions in healthcare. When you
Speaker 1: give her the power of the purse and you say listen,
Speaker 1: if you go here, you save money. If you go there,
Speaker 1: you don't, everybody begins to lower their cost to where
Speaker 1: they can attract her business.
Speaker 2: You said something earlier that I think is really important.
Speaker 2: You said that businesses have a role in creating jobs
Speaker 2: and creating a better landscape. For the lower core tiles
Speaker 2: and de siles of the US economy and the US earners.
Speaker 2: I just wonder what policies you think need to be
Speaker 2: implemented to do that, because right now it doesn't seem
Speaker 2: to be working.
Speaker 1: Are you talking about in terms of overall business the business? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: So I think that the tax policy that we put
Speaker 1: in and frankly with President Trump's tariffs, there's an incentive
Speaker 1: for people to begin to reshore that's certainly nearshore, and
Speaker 1: so when you reshore, you're going to create jobs. Now
Speaker 1: that doesn't happen like that, think how long you need
Speaker 1: to put together your financing stack. But that's going to happen,
Speaker 1: and so as it happens, we'll see that kind of
Speaker 1: upswing in jobs for construction, for service, all those jobs
Speaker 1: that are related to that reshoring of manufacturing activity, and
Speaker 1: that'll cause a general boom. So that is long that
Speaker 1: is a sustainable strategy to create prosperity for folks.
Speaker 2: A lot of people are saying that the reason why
Speaker 2: companies haven't created more jobs is because they're using artificial
Speaker 2: intelligence for efficiencies, and you're seeing that in terms of
Speaker 2: Amazon coming out and saying they're laying people off because
Speaker 2: of some of the efficiencies they're getting from algorithmic learning.
Speaker 2: I'm just wondering, from a legislation standpoint, what you think
Speaker 2: that the government's role is and trying to make sure
Speaker 2: that people aren't left behind in this transition, given that
Speaker 2: a lot of these new programs can take on roles
Speaker 2: previously done by humans.
Speaker 1: I'm a techno optimist. If you've got something that's going
Speaker 1: to increase the productivity of our nation, we'll increase tax revenue,
Speaker 1: not by increasing rates, but by increasing the overall growth
Speaker 1: of the economy. When you increase that overall growth of
Speaker 1: the economy and you have more money, We've got like
Speaker 1: trillions of dollars of backlog in infrastructure. Let's just focus
Speaker 1: once we're there. If you begin to invest that money
Speaker 1: in infrastructure, AI does not swing a hammer, You're going
Speaker 1: to create a lot of jobs for folks who right
Speaker 1: now are struggling to get better jobs. By the way,
Speaker 1: we're also building out our oil and gas industry, our
Speaker 1: energy industry. That creates a heck of a lot of jobs.
Speaker 1: And so everybody looks at the negative, Oh we're going
Speaker 1: to downside, we need to look at the positive that
Speaker 1: will just shift investment to a more productive area of
Speaker 1: the economy. As we grow at the expense of other nations,
Speaker 1: or maybe we all grow together, we'll create that employment.
Speaker 3: Lisa started out this conversation talking about affordability. Americans are
Speaker 3: still struggling. You're also looking at trying to address healthcare
Speaker 3: affordability by actually having this health savings account proposal. The
Speaker 3: President talked about two thousand dollars tariff checks. You're on
Speaker 3: the Finance Committee, you're on the help you lead the
Speaker 3: Health Committee. Do you think that that is a good
Speaker 3: way to address affordability right now? Putting money directly into
Speaker 3: consumer's pockets.
Speaker 1: So I'd like to see what the President's going to propose.
Speaker 1: We do know that the debt and deficit eventually takes
Speaker 1: money out of our pockets, and so we absolutely know that.
Speaker 1: So the question is better to pay down our nation's debt.
Speaker 1: And as you've paid down our nation's debt, then it
Speaker 1: makes it easier to lower interest rates for the FED
Speaker 1: to lower interest rates, which then lowers a mortgage payment,
Speaker 1: which then maybe lower other credit forms of credit. As
Speaker 1: you do that, you make life more affordable that way.
Speaker 1: The other thing you have to worry about is if
Speaker 1: you give everybody a two thousand dollars check, does that
Speaker 1: bump up inflation? And therefore the Fed is inhibited on
Speaker 1: lowering their rates. So it can't be taken in kind
Speaker 1: of isolation. It has to be taken in context of
Speaker 1: everything we can do to benefit that person sitting at
Speaker 1: home struggling a little bit.
Speaker 3: It sounds like you would be a no. Then on
Speaker 3: the two thousand zero sounds like.
Speaker 1: I'm going to investigate so.
Speaker 3: That I know, okay, while you investigate, there's also potentially
Speaker 3: going to be another big Senate first to hearing and
Speaker 3: then a vote when it comes to the president's FED peck.
Speaker 3: Right now, the front runner is his counsel and Economic
Speaker 3: Advisor's chair, Kevin Hassett. Do you think you would say
Speaker 3: yes to him being the FED chair.
Speaker 1: I've been impressed with Kevin. This is the second time
Speaker 1: around Servant and Trump's administration. I think he's done a
Speaker 1: good job. Of course, our reserve judgment until we actually
Speaker 1: begin to look at him as FED chair. We are
Speaker 1: having this problem of inflation which just is a little
Speaker 1: bit sticky, and yet we want to decrease rates. How
Speaker 1: you're going to navigate that, but I'm certainly predisposed to
Speaker 1: support him. Are you worried about FED? And FED independence
Speaker 1: is critical, you just have to have it. But I
Speaker 1: also think that Kevin would step up and be as
Speaker 1: aware of the importance of FED independence as anybody.
Speaker 2: Louis Yana Senator, thank you so much for being with us,
Speaker 2: Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy here in the New York Studio.
Speaker 2: Very much cost of living on the docket, especially given
Speaker 2: how much healthcare has dominated the conversation, and potentially and
Speaker 2: Marie could be the reason why the government could shut
Speaker 2: down yet again.
Speaker 3: Right, there's this going to the debate. It's happening all
Speaker 3: of December. The Senator is going to be leading a
Speaker 3: hearing on it. What do you do in the sense
Speaker 3: that you have these enhanced Obamacare credits that are going
Speaker 3: to be ending. And for Democrats this is really important
Speaker 3: for them to have this fight because this is what
Speaker 3: the entire shutdown, longest shutdown history was based around.