Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. Welcome to the Bloomberg
Speaker 1: This Weekend podcast with David Gura, Christina Raffini, and Elisa Matteo.
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us for today's selection of conversations from
Speaker 2: the show.
Speaker 3: You can listen to our favorite discussions right here on
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Speaker 3: every Saturday and Sunday morning, starting at seven am Eastern.
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Speaker 2: President Trump returned to the White House Correspondence Centner. The
Speaker 2: initial dinner, of course, ended abruptly after a gunman breach
Speaker 2: security well.
Speaker 3: The President condemned political violence at the dinner last night,
Speaker 3: while at the same time attacking political opponents and the
Speaker 3: press at large.
Speaker 5: But tonight we come back together to answer that Hanus
Speaker 5: attack with unwavering resolve, and every one of us here
Speaker 5: this evening to show that in America we.
Speaker 6: Do not yield to political violence.
Speaker 5: As I said three months ago, the show must go on.
Speaker 5: But this place is the really largest group of Trump
Speaker 5: derangement syndrome people ever put together at one time, I
Speaker 5: suspect this evening it's really all about the fake news media,
Speaker 5: and you're handling of prizes and writing and producing and
Speaker 5: performing made up stories like the Academy Awards, and this
Speaker 5: is somewhat of a scoop my intention to run for
Speaker 5: a fourth term as President of the United States. I
Speaker 5: will be doing that. I will be having an official
Speaker 5: In fact, I think I have yeah, I want three times.
Speaker 5: Now I'm going to do it again.
Speaker 7: Thank you, Joyce.
Speaker 3: Now as Bloomberg White House correspondent Jeff Mason, he was
Speaker 3: at last night's dinner. He was a president in the
Speaker 3: past with White House Correspondent Association.
Speaker 6: Jeff, great to see you, and I.
Speaker 3: Guess I should start just by asking you about the
Speaker 3: feeling in the room. We were all there at the
Speaker 3: first iteration of this. Dinner took place at the Washington Hilton,
Speaker 3: a giant ballroom. This was a much smaller affair, different affair.
Speaker 3: How much was the program last night duplicative of what
Speaker 3: was supposed to happen at that first dinner just a
Speaker 3: couple of months ago.
Speaker 8: I think it was pretty close. In fact, the fact
Speaker 8: that of course the President spoke, the President Association spoke
Speaker 8: the awards were given to members of the press, and
Speaker 8: also student journalists were recognized for scholarships, and then there
Speaker 8: was the mentalist at the end as well. It was
Speaker 8: pretty much the program that was meant to have gone
Speaker 8: on in April, just three months later, and with the
Speaker 8: fact that that shooting stopped that dinner, that was over shadowing.
Speaker 8: I guess you could say this dinner again. But in general,
Speaker 8: the program was the same, but the venue was smaller,
Speaker 8: and that was very noticeable, certainly for someone who's attended
Speaker 8: a bunch of dinners. The ballroom at the Hilton, of
Speaker 8: course fits more than two thousand people. It's the biggest
Speaker 8: ballroom in Washington. This one was instead of about twenty
Speaker 8: six hundred people, there were fewer than seven hundred in
Speaker 8: the room. That doesn't mean it's small, but it's just
Speaker 8: a much much more I guess you could say intimate
Speaker 8: size of a dinner. And then that changed the mood
Speaker 8: in the room too. And we can talk a little
Speaker 8: bit more about this, but when the President spoke, I
Speaker 8: think that he also was speaking to what for him
Speaker 8: was an unusual crowd in that most of the people
Speaker 8: in that room were journalists like myself and it was
Speaker 8: not a friendly crowd for what ended up being very
Speaker 8: much like a rally speech.
Speaker 2: That's an interesting point, Jeff, because I mean, we said
Speaker 2: it the first cinner, and it is a huge ball,
Speaker 2: as you mentioned, and it's a mixed crowd because the
Speaker 2: journalist invites so many guests. You have entertainment people. You
Speaker 2: often invite people who are familiar.
Speaker 9: Or close to the White House.
Speaker 2: This is a much smaller room, and I imagine, you know,
Speaker 2: if he's used to speaking to a bigger crowd, it's
Speaker 2: harder when the audience is right in front of you.
Speaker 2: And you can see some of those reactions. I mean,
Speaker 2: what were the reactions to jokes like I'm assuming it
Speaker 2: was a joke, you know, running for a fourth term,
Speaker 2: and some of the other remarks, And then there were
Speaker 2: also you wrote a few awkward moments where awards were
Speaker 2: presented to journalists for being hard on this White House.
Speaker 2: How did the President react to that?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean to your first question. First, the reaction
Speaker 8: were a lot of straight faces in the crowd, because
Speaker 8: that's our job, you know. I mean, I certainly was
Speaker 8: keeping a straight face, and I think so were most
Speaker 8: of the reporters in the room who are committed to
Speaker 8: neutrally covering this president and recognize that that joke, as
Speaker 8: it were, of him running for what he called a
Speaker 8: fourth term is a joke about the constitution, which of
Speaker 8: course prohibits him from running for another term when he's
Speaker 8: already served too, which he will have at the end
Speaker 8: of his second term now. But he I mean, it's
Speaker 8: also again a quote unquote joke that is rooted in
Speaker 8: the fact that that's something that he was actively thinking
Speaker 8: about at the beginning of his term and something that
Speaker 8: he has openly mused about before. I think right now
Speaker 8: it is a joke. I mean, he has stopped talking
Speaker 8: about it regularly, particularly after a Speaker of the House,
Speaker 8: Mike Johnson, basically told him this is unconstitutional, and he
Speaker 8: seems to have accepted that, and so I think, you know,
Speaker 8: I think he wanted. He likes to poke at the
Speaker 8: press with stuff like that, and that was one of
Speaker 8: the things that he did last night. Remind me of
Speaker 8: your other question, Christina.
Speaker 2: That's all right, Jeff, we can move on. I know
Speaker 2: you had like three hours of sleep, so we're very
Speaker 2: grateful for your getting up a friend of the show,
Speaker 2: Jeff Mason, we really appreciate you, David.
Speaker 3: Just a generous I mean, there's been this over the
Speaker 3: course of having this dinner, there's been a conversation about
Speaker 3: should it be smaller, should it involve fewer celebrities, fewer
Speaker 3: members of the administration. I'm curious, as you experienced the
Speaker 3: dinner last night, did it give you a sense of
Speaker 3: maybe this is the way that it's headed in light
Speaker 3: of the criticism most recently that it faced after that
Speaker 3: first dinner. How is the conversation about the longevity of
Speaker 3: this dinner changed, you know, in the context of the
Speaker 3: one that we had last night.
Speaker 8: You know, I think I think the answer to that
Speaker 8: is still TBD. The The incoming president of the Association,
Speaker 8: Jackie Heinrich, who works for Fox News, announced that the
Speaker 8: dinner would be held again next year, back at the Hilton.
Speaker 8: So that was certainly a foreshadowing by the Association that
Speaker 8: they're not looking to keep the scale down version as
Speaker 8: a model. But yes, you're you're not wrong to say
Speaker 8: that this sparked a lot of conversations, certainly about security
Speaker 8: at the Hilton and security for this event, but it
Speaker 8: also sparked some conversation within the press court itself about
Speaker 8: this dinner more broadly, and it's you know, there are
Speaker 8: people who are who are are big fans of this
Speaker 8: dinner in Washington, and there are people who aren't. And
Speaker 8: I imagine those conversations will continue.
Speaker 6: Jeff Mason, come back here in a little bit. We'renna.
Speaker 3: Let you take a nap over the course the next
Speaker 3: maybe forty minutes, bringing back, take a quick disco nap,
Speaker 3: Jeff Maason, our White House correspondent, joining us on the
Speaker 3: heels the White House Correspondents Association dinner which took place
Speaker 3: last night.
Speaker 2: Thanks Jeff.
Speaker 8: All right.
Speaker 2: Just hours ago, the UK Maritime Trade Operations Center warned
Speaker 2: of an incident involving a tanker and military forces in
Speaker 2: the Gulf of Oman and his warning vessels in the
Speaker 2: area to remain diligent.
Speaker 3: Joining us now is Boomberg Energy and Commodie supporter Stephen Sebpcimski,
Speaker 3: who joins us now from Singaport. Seem great to have
Speaker 3: you with us, and I want to start just by
Speaker 3: asking you how the contours of this war have changed
Speaker 3: here in recent days that the Houthies, which were of
Speaker 3: course lined aligned with the Iranians, getting into this conflict.
Speaker 3: Announcing this this blockade, and maybe I could ask you
Speaker 3: first just what effect that's had so far on the
Speaker 3: oil trade and sort of what traders, what investors are
Speaker 3: thinking about the consequences of that going forward.
Speaker 10: You know, I think the market is still trying to
Speaker 10: digest exactly what is happening or in the Red Sea
Speaker 10: and at the Bab Almandeb Strait, which is where the
Speaker 10: Hoo thieves are trying to tighten control. Now let's put
Speaker 10: this into context, since the Straight of Horn moves close
Speaker 10: effectively since the end of February, when the US and
Speaker 10: Israel began strikes on Iran, Saudi Arabia was beginning to
Speaker 10: ship more of its oil. Four million barrels per day
Speaker 10: were loaded in the Red Sea through an east west pipeline.
Speaker 10: Normally that oil be flowing through Hormves it was shot,
Speaker 10: so they were using this workaround. The oil would then
Speaker 10: go south, down through the Red Sea, through the Bab
Speaker 10: Almandeb Straight and then out to customers in Asia. And
Speaker 10: what's happened is with the Houthi rebels increasing attacks targeting
Speaker 10: specifically Saudi ships, there was a fear that this key
Speaker 10: workaround was now in danger and either would really real
Speaker 10: lead to delays or even a reduction in loading from
Speaker 10: from Saudi ports, because that would require them going through
Speaker 10: the north, through the Suez Canal through and then around
Speaker 10: the southern Cape of Africa to get the customers in Asia.
Speaker 10: We did see a few ships you turn over the
Speaker 10: last week away from the Babel Mandeb straight but in
Speaker 10: the last twenty four hours we did see two China
Speaker 10: linked super oil tankers though carrying Saudi crude did get through,
Speaker 10: So it's a mixed picture. There is some oil flowing through,
Speaker 10: but at the same time there are some ships turning around,
Speaker 10: and you saw oil prices. Brent was about one hundred
Speaker 10: dollars a barrel when I was leaving the office Asia afternoon,
Speaker 10: but it closed the session US afternoon around ninety six
Speaker 10: ninety seven dollars, which indicates a bit of a fall
Speaker 10: after those red sea flows continued. But at the same time,
Speaker 10: you have to remember this is Friday. You never know
Speaker 10: what Trump's going to do. It was probably a lot
Speaker 10: of people just wanting to enjoy the weekend as well
Speaker 10: and not have to worry about having a long position
Speaker 10: going in. But at the same time, the market, the
Speaker 10: way they're looking at this, it is.
Speaker 7: A risk, and this is the biggest escalation.
Speaker 10: Of the war in the region and attacks on infrastructure
Speaker 10: risk to oil that we've seen since March and April.
Speaker 2: I'm wondering, can you to find that risk a little
Speaker 2: bit because I know, according to a report from CBS,
Speaker 2: at least seven major pipeline projects are under construction trying
Speaker 2: to find alternatives to the Strait. And I know the
Speaker 2: main threat right now in the Red Sea is the
Speaker 2: distribution point, but we've also got reports this morning the
Speaker 2: Houthis have claimed to destruct Saudi Arabia with missiles on
Speaker 2: Saturday morning. Is the concern mostly about that Red Sea
Speaker 2: distribution point? Or is the concern also that an escalation
Speaker 2: between Saudi's and the Houthis could start to impact Saudi
Speaker 2: production as well.
Speaker 10: You know, I think that's a really good point, and
Speaker 10: it's both and I go even a step further that
Speaker 10: any sort of flare up between Saudi Arabia and the
Speaker 10: Houthis and the Houthis attacking ships. Trump himself has said
Speaker 10: that they will then if their ship's attacked by the Hohothies,
Speaker 10: they will then attack Iran, and he's threatened power plants
Speaker 10: and bridges Iran in time said that if that happens,
Speaker 10: they will attack energy infrastructural throat the region. The biggest
Speaker 10: risk in this war since since hasn't necessarily been the
Speaker 10: closure of these straits, these waterways. Sure they could be closed,
Speaker 10: but with a good piece deal, they could open up
Speaker 10: within weeks and trade could resume to normal in months.
Speaker 10: The real fear has been if this escalates into a
Speaker 10: wider conflict within the region, if energy infrastructure, pipelines, LICKFI,
Speaker 10: natural gas plants, ships, if they're getting attacked, that's infrastructure
Speaker 10: that can't easily come back online if there is a
Speaker 10: piece deal. So the reason why oil was at one
Speaker 10: hundred and twenty dollars in March wasn't so much because
Speaker 10: of the hormones closure. It was because Iran kept attacking
Speaker 10: infrastructure across the region. We haven't gotten to that worst
Speaker 10: case scenario that we've seen three or four months back,
Speaker 10: but if it does spiral into that sort of situation, yes,
Speaker 10: certainly that is something that the market is going to
Speaker 10: be deeply worried about. And if Saudi Arabia create other
Speaker 10: countries Qatar's LNG export plant, if all those facilities are
Speaker 10: either damaged more or if they have to reduce production,
Speaker 10: then then certainly we'll see another leg up in rent
Speaker 10: and WTI oil prices.
Speaker 3: Steve, when I said that was the Fonti Bureau a
Speaker 3: few weeks ago, and we talked about the state of
Speaker 3: inventories around the world, and countries have begun to kind
Speaker 3: of refill those reserves that they had in the lulls
Speaker 3: that we've seen.
Speaker 6: Sounds like they haven't.
Speaker 3: Can you just get us up to speed sort of
Speaker 3: on the status of reserves globally. I know there's been
Speaker 3: a lot of focus here in the US, where the
Speaker 3: strategic petroleum reserve is the lowest it's been in a
Speaker 3: very long long time. How much effort has there been
Speaker 3: around the world to kind of replenish those reserves that
Speaker 3: have been deployed on an emergency basis since the start
Speaker 3: of this conflict.
Speaker 10: You know, I think I think the better way to
Speaker 10: look at it, perhaps is that a lot of customers
Speaker 10: in Asia of Persian golf oil they're really looking at
Speaker 10: they were looking at replacing their supply instead of replenishing.
Speaker 10: So there hasn't been a really big effort to refill inventories.
Speaker 10: As you said, the SPR in the United States lowest
Speaker 10: level in decades, pushing as well.
Speaker 7: A key point it's getting low used to decrease.
Speaker 10: Chinese oil inventories are something that are opaque. You're not
Speaker 10: exactly sure what's going on there, but there is an
Speaker 10: expectation that China use quite a lot of their oil
Speaker 10: inventories when when their imports dropped pretty significantly in April
Speaker 10: May and then into June, so and then Japan as well.
Speaker 10: All the other G seven nations had been using their
Speaker 10: spr So you're in a situation where oil inventories are low.
Speaker 10: But it's not just oils, also other fuels diesel, gasoline,
Speaker 10: jet fuel. The amount of supply globally is at an
Speaker 10: uncomfortable level and that's why you're seeing those product prices
Speaker 10: rise as well. And it's also not just oil products,
Speaker 10: it's also natural gas. In Europe, natural gas inventories at
Speaker 10: the lowest seasonal level in about five years. They're not
Speaker 10: on pace to hit an eighty percent target refill by November,
Speaker 10: which is what they want to be at when when
Speaker 10: winter starts. Because in winter and Europe they use a
Speaker 10: lot of natural gas for heating. So inventories are a problem.
Speaker 10: And I think the issue is we pulled that lever
Speaker 10: in March and April to help ease some of the
Speaker 10: pain in the oil market, and because of this current
Speaker 10: situation with depleted inventories, you can't really pull that lever
Speaker 10: again if this horror moves, closure continues, and if the
Speaker 10: bab al Mandeb straight as well is affected. So it
Speaker 10: is a worrying part of the market.
Speaker 2: Are you starting to see that stress a little bit
Speaker 2: in the prices of oil? I mean, it seems to me,
Speaker 2: as we've been covering this conflict, there's been kind of
Speaker 2: this indefatigable optimism, of somewhat frustrating optimism for those of
Speaker 2: us who covered diplomacy that this is going to get resolved.
Speaker 2: But I'm wondering if that's because they did have those
Speaker 2: strategic reserves as kind of a buffer, and ASO start
Speaker 2: to deplete, do you think that optimism will start to
Speaker 2: wane as well.
Speaker 10: I think there are a few reasons why oil has
Speaker 10: I mean, granted, we're at one hundred dollars print in
Speaker 10: very just a few short weeks, so I would say
Speaker 10: that we're at a pretty relatively high level. We're not
Speaker 10: the highs of one hundred and twenty that we were before,
Speaker 10: and we're certainly not near two hundred dollars, which is
Speaker 10: what some analysts we're warning about. Part of that is
Speaker 10: because of the workarounds, you know, the Saudi Arabia's Red
Speaker 10: C the East West Pipeline. They had their ad knock
Speaker 10: in the UE being able to do their uh their
Speaker 10: shuttle service to get some oil out, which is to
Speaker 10: a degree continuing perhaps although those ships are going dark
Speaker 10: as well. Chinese demand has not really returned, and China
Speaker 10: is one of the big factors that the biggest buyer
Speaker 10: of oil globally. So as long as China, Chinese demand
Speaker 10: doesn't come roaring back, that does add a lot of
Speaker 10: length and and it does provide some ease to the market.
Speaker 7: But I would say it is showing up in some prices.
Speaker 10: I mean you look at the diesel run rate or
Speaker 10: basically the the the profits that you can make from
Speaker 10: refining crude into diesel, gasoline and other other products has jumped.
Speaker 7: There is a need for for those fuels, and there
Speaker 7: is a.
Speaker 10: Fear that those supplies are depleting natural gas supply is
Speaker 10: natural gas in Europe. Those price this are a settled
Speaker 10: basis at the highest level since twenty twenty three, LNG
Speaker 10: prices in Asia at the highest level since March, and
Speaker 10: almost the highest level since January twenty twenty three.
Speaker 7: So you are starting to see that some.
Speaker 10: Of that pain maybe not showing up in crude itself,
Speaker 10: which is about twenty dollars off from the highs of March,
Speaker 10: but you're seeing it in other products.
Speaker 3: See before we let you go, let me ask you
Speaker 3: about another shooting war, the one taking place in Ukraine
Speaker 3: and the effect that that's had on energy prices. We've
Speaker 3: talked a lot about the crackspread in recent weeks on
Speaker 3: the show, talked about refined products, and we've seen Ukraine
Speaker 3: launching those attacks on energy facilities in Russia, and we've
Speaker 3: seen Russia reply and kind targeting energy facilities in Ukraine.
Speaker 3: What have been what's our sense of the broader implications
Speaker 3: of that on the global energy market, the way that
Speaker 3: that's escalated.
Speaker 10: I mean, that's again, that's one more lever that the
Speaker 10: market was depending on that is now gone. So let's
Speaker 10: look at it from a crude perspective. The Black Sea
Speaker 10: is a key export area for Kazakhstan oil.
Speaker 7: It goes to the CPC.
Speaker 10: Through the CPC pipeline to a Russian port, and right
Speaker 10: now Russia Moscow's basically said that it is unsafe for
Speaker 10: them to be docking there. Ukraine has targeted in recent
Speaker 10: weeks over ninety ships that are connected with Moscow. So
Speaker 10: you're removing those Kazakhstan supplies, which I believe is about
Speaker 10: one to one point five percent of global seaborne oil supplies.
Speaker 7: It's not nothing.
Speaker 10: So again with Babelmandem straight with horror moves, that's one
Speaker 10: one amount of oil that's that's reduced. Then you look
Speaker 10: at the refining capacity in Russia which has been greatly
Speaker 10: affected and disrupted by constant attacks by Iran on the refineries,
Speaker 10: and Russia is a big, pretty big supplier and exporter
Speaker 10: of that fuel and they've had to restrain and essentially
Speaker 10: stop exports of diesel. Again, that tightens the global diesel market.
Speaker 10: So you're getting the crude hit from Kazakhstan and also
Speaker 10: the diesel hit again, tightening things for consumers globally.
Speaker 2: All right, Steve Sipchinski, thank you for breaking that all
Speaker 2: down for us.
Speaker 3: Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend.
Speaker 6: Right after this, and.
Speaker 2: Alarming statistics from the CDC On Friday, the number of
Speaker 2: measles cases this year in the United States hit two
Speaker 2: three hundred and eighteen. That's higher than all of last
Speaker 2: year and is now the most infection since nineteen ninety one.
Speaker 6: For more, joining by doctor Amisiadlogy.
Speaker 3: He's an infectious disease expert and senior scholar at Johns
Speaker 3: Hopkins University Center for Health Security. Doctor Dalsh, great to
Speaker 3: have you with us once again, and let me just
Speaker 3: start by asking you about how we got to this place.
Speaker 3: And I guess a natural follow on to that is
Speaker 3: what would the US need to do to kind of
Speaker 3: get beyond this or get back to the way things were?
Speaker 6: How far is the cat out of the bag?
Speaker 11: When you think about outbreak, sometimes it's hard to understand
Speaker 11: how things got started. How you got to the status
Speaker 11: quo with measles. It's really a no brainer. We got
Speaker 11: there because vaccination rates fell below the herd immunity threshold.
Speaker 11: And we're talking about what is the most contagious infectious
Speaker 11: disease that we humans face, one that requires a high
Speaker 11: level of immunity in the population, and one in which
Speaker 11: it's circulating in many parts of the world. So all
Speaker 11: it took was for us to lower our armor, to
Speaker 11: lower our force field, and then measles came back. It
Speaker 11: never went away. And the solution is equally simple. It's
Speaker 11: just to get more vaccine into the arms of people
Speaker 11: who are unvaccinated, and then this problem will disappear.
Speaker 2: David and I have a selfish question when we were
Speaker 2: putting this in the lineup yesterday. We've had mmrs as kids.
Speaker 2: Are we protected people who had the usual vaccine course
Speaker 2: as children? Does that take you through adulthood or at
Speaker 2: some point if you're in one of these places with
Speaker 2: high infection rates, do you need some sort of booster.
Speaker 11: The vast, vast majority of people the standard two dose
Speaker 11: childhood vaccination schedule will protect them for life. That doesn't
Speaker 11: mean that the vaccine is a high undred percent, but
Speaker 11: it's pushing above ninety five percent. So there's no generalized
Speaker 11: recommendation for boosters that are needed for the population. It's
Speaker 11: really about people who've had zero doses of measles. That's
Speaker 11: what's driving this.
Speaker 3: You know, your line of work, a lot of what
Speaker 3: you deal with is kind of communication about the need
Speaker 3: for vaccination going forward. And I'm curious at this moment
Speaker 3: when it seems like there are government officials who are
Speaker 3: not promoting them or not advocating for them. Maybe it's
Speaker 3: incumbent more on public health practitioners like yourself to push
Speaker 3: for that. What is the messaging campaign like? In other words,
Speaker 3: how do you assess the way in which public health
Speaker 3: professionals are making the case for vaccines at a time
Speaker 3: when they seem more necessary than ever.
Speaker 2: And what kind of campaigns have been effective? Have you
Speaker 2: seen any of that have worked?
Speaker 11: So I think it depends upon why someone is not vaccinated.
Speaker 11: There may be people who haven't gotten around and getting
Speaker 11: their children vaccinated. There may be people who have questions
Speaker 11: about vaccines. So you kind of have to take a
Speaker 11: different tach depending upon where someone is. And often it's
Speaker 11: very different to do it kind of as a one
Speaker 11: size fits all message on television by a talking head
Speaker 11: versus a provider sitting in front of a patient or
Speaker 11: a patient's family and asking what questions do you have
Speaker 11: about measles? And I think that's the better way to
Speaker 11: do it. We know that people will move towards vaccination
Speaker 11: if they can get their answers, get answers to the
Speaker 11: questions that they have in a non judgmental way. That's
Speaker 11: a very different type of rhetoric when you're dealing with
Speaker 11: the likes of RFK Junior, who is spreading disinformation, where
Speaker 11: you just have to basically call him out for spreading lives.
Speaker 11: So it's very kind of nuanced and very personalized, and
Speaker 11: that's what works. And we know that parents trust family doctors,
Speaker 11: they trust their primary care providers. That's where that that's
Speaker 11: where the actual movement occurs, not so much when someone's on,
Speaker 11: you know, blasting from a megaphone about the vaccine.
Speaker 2: I think we talked about this last time you were
Speaker 2: on here, but it seems pretty much a FATA company.
Speaker 2: Now that the US is going to lose its measles
Speaker 2: elimination status, there was this hearing the US requested that
Speaker 2: it be pushed back into the fall, so now that
Speaker 2: decision won't come down fall. But at this point, can
Speaker 2: you see anyway that doesn't happen given the case rates
Speaker 2: in the US.
Speaker 11: No, I think that the United States has effectively lost
Speaker 11: its elimination status, and even if by some technicality it
Speaker 11: maintains its elimination status, the deeper question is does the
Speaker 11: United States have resiliency against measles the answer is no,
Speaker 11: irrespective of what the eliminations status decision is, and there
Speaker 11: will be politics around the elimination decision. So I think
Speaker 11: it's just for all intents and purposes, the US does
Speaker 11: not have the ability to control measles any longer.
Speaker 3: On the issue of control, I'm curious how that details
Speaker 3: with kind of economic considerations. So when you look at
Speaker 3: where these outbreaks are, I saw there's one in Titon
Speaker 3: County in Wyoming, for instance. When you start to see
Speaker 3: an outbreak like this, so much work has to be
Speaker 3: done to track down who's been exposed to it, get
Speaker 3: the word out, obviously.
Speaker 6: Mount vaccination campaign as well.
Speaker 3: Could you talk a bit about the economic consequences of
Speaker 3: having a resurgence in a disease like measles in the
Speaker 3: way in which we're seeing here in the US.
Speaker 11: So, anytime there's an infectious disease, it will lead to disruption.
Speaker 11: People can't go about out their activities of daily life,
Speaker 11: which means if it's a child with measles, that child
Speaker 11: can't go to school, that child's parents might have to
Speaker 11: stay home, that child's parents might have to hire someone
Speaker 11: to babysit, And then you have a health department that
Speaker 11: then has to go and investigate who was the person
Speaker 11: in touch with Do they need to contact people, do
Speaker 11: they need to do any kind of countermeasures to stop
Speaker 11: the measles from spreading in a given community. All of
Speaker 11: that costs money, and it's money that doesn't need to
Speaker 11: be spent because these measles cases are happening voluntarily by
Speaker 11: people's choices. This is not some force of nature. This
Speaker 11: is people's choice to not vaccinate their children. And then
Speaker 11: it has economic consequences that don't need to be incurred.
Speaker 11: And I think that's another important point to make with
Speaker 11: infectious diseases, is that they keep humans from flourishing because
Speaker 11: they're stuck in bed sick and they're not out there producing,
Speaker 11: they're out there innovating, And you're taking money that could
Speaker 11: be used for some other other concern. Now it's being
Speaker 11: put back to something. It's put into something that we
Speaker 11: shouldn't have to be putting money into when we've had
Speaker 11: a solution to this since the nineteen sixties.
Speaker 8: Back before we.
Speaker 2: Let you go, we want to ask you about the
Speaker 2: other thing a lot of Americans are worried about, and
Speaker 2: that's a cyclospora going around with this you know, possibly
Speaker 2: that's tainted let us. It seems like did the administration,
Speaker 2: did the government react faster fast enough? And is this
Speaker 2: a larger concern about food safety and oversight in the US?
Speaker 11: So I do think it was more of a reactive
Speaker 11: reaction from the government. I think state governments did very well,
Speaker 11: namely Michigan, which got hit very, very hard. But you
Speaker 11: have to remember that the CDC basically got decimated in
Speaker 11: this administration in terms of cuts to its budget, Whole
Speaker 11: divisions that were eliminated, including the division that would have
Speaker 11: been responsible for cyclospora. So there's less people doing this.
Speaker 11: So when you're thinking about a food born outbreak, it's
Speaker 11: time and speed in the speed to under identify what
Speaker 11: the vehicle is that's spreading something. If you've got less
Speaker 11: people around to crunch the data, to do the interviews
Speaker 11: with people who are who have our case patients, it's
Speaker 11: going to take longer. The state departments have done well,
Speaker 11: but they are also underfunded, chronically underfunded, understaffed, So it
Speaker 11: is something that decreases the overall resiliency to food born illness.
Speaker 11: Is when you don't have a robust system in place,
Speaker 11: or when that system is being actively dismantled.
Speaker 2: All right, Doctor Adalga from Johns Hopkins University Center for
Speaker 2: Health Security, Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 12: Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend.
Speaker 6: Right after this.
Speaker 3: Christopher Nolan's film treatment of the Odyssey has had an
Speaker 3: epic debut.
Speaker 13: Feel free to proces Christine if you'd like to.
Speaker 3: It's on track to rake in nearly five million dollars
Speaker 3: in its first two weekends in theaters.
Speaker 2: The three hour long blockbuster is based on the twenty
Speaker 2: seven year one hundred year old Greek poem that inspired
Speaker 2: Nolan's screenplay. Joining us now is Emily Wilson, professor of
Speaker 2: classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the first
Speaker 2: woman to translate the Odyssey into English. Ellie Wilson, thank
Speaker 2: you so much for being here. I have a very
Speaker 2: strange anecdote to share with you, but it's relevant to
Speaker 2: how big this has become. I was in Central Park
Speaker 2: yesterday walking my dumb little dog, and I overheard two
Speaker 2: like bros in their twenties explaining the plot of the
Speaker 2: Odyssey to each other. And I turned around and I said,
Speaker 2: you know, I have Emily Wilson.
Speaker 9: On our show. Tomorrow, and he went, what, no way,
Speaker 9: I gotta wash it.
Speaker 2: She's the chick who did the new translation. So did
Speaker 2: you ever think at any point when she's in this
Speaker 2: career you would have Central Park tech pro name recognition?
Speaker 13: Who could have on a random Friday?
Speaker 8: So weird, it's so funny. I mean, I still wake
Speaker 8: up and think this can't possibly be real.
Speaker 14: It's wonderful, though, but I love that Homer is getting
Speaker 14: all of this new free press thanks to Christopher Nolan,
Speaker 14: who was an English major, not a classics major, but
Speaker 14: he's really put his humanity's education to good use.
Speaker 3: You brought your brood to see this film, I gather.
Speaker 3: I'm curious what you thought of it and how you
Speaker 3: is somebody who has been so deeply immersed in this work.
Speaker 3: Can you enjoy a film like this or are you
Speaker 3: able to kind of enjoy it as a viewer, or
Speaker 3: are you kind of constantly thinking about whether or not
Speaker 3: it's sticking literally to the text.
Speaker 14: I had a lot of fun, as you said, Yes,
Speaker 14: I took my three kids, my teenagers. One of thems
Speaker 14: over twenty, but the others are teenagers.
Speaker 8: They all had a good time.
Speaker 14: I thought it was a fun time.
Speaker 8: At the movies.
Speaker 14: You know, I think there were many ways in which
Speaker 14: the book is better, But I would say that right,
Speaker 14: this is a fun summer movie, and I think it's
Speaker 14: very entertaining, and I'm actually really looking forward to many
Speaker 14: years of discussing with my students. How does the book
Speaker 14: relate to the film.
Speaker 8: I think it's really going to.
Speaker 14: Enrich classroom discussions of the Odyssey all around the world.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's interesting because there are people who take
Speaker 2: issue with the movie. There are people who take issue
Speaker 2: with your translation. The book may be better, but it's
Speaker 2: this big I mean, is it good that people, like
Speaker 2: you said, are at all just showing interest in it?
Speaker 2: Does that do you think lead to more interest in
Speaker 2: the classics? And is controvers maybe a good thing to
Speaker 2: get people reading these these texts.
Speaker 14: I think it's wonderful that this engagement of whatever kind.
Speaker 14: I mean, I think it is really clear that this
Speaker 14: film is bringing both lots and lots of people back
Speaker 14: to the physical movie theaters, which is I think also
Speaker 14: a good thing. But it's also bringing people back to
Speaker 14: reading big books. The sales of the Odyssey and library
Speaker 14: checkouts of the Odyssey. My translation, but also other translations
Speaker 14: are by some order of magnitude up this summer, which
Speaker 14: I think it's wonderful, And it's just this new engagement
Speaker 14: with people who didn't maybe didn't think ancient literature could
Speaker 14: be for me realizing this is a really fun read
Speaker 14: and really interesting in so many different ways.
Speaker 2: Just to put another on it, sales are up one
Speaker 2: four hundred and twenty percent of hard books of the Odyssey. Crazy.
Speaker 3: Yes, interesting remuneration I think come hand in hand, which
Speaker 3: is good. Who's knocking on your door at Penn these days?
Speaker 3: What does a classics major look like? What's his or
Speaker 3: her background? Who's showing interest in majoring in the classics
Speaker 3: these days?
Speaker 14: You know, it's really very very diverse. I mean, kids
Speaker 14: from all different backgrounds. I mean, I think back in
Speaker 14: the day, there used to be an idea that if
Speaker 14: you haven't gone to the kind of private school where
Speaker 14: you do Latin, then there's no hope for you as
Speaker 14: a classicist. And that's very much not true anymore. I mean,
Speaker 14: there's every possible background, every possible high school. Even if
Speaker 14: you didn't go to a high school where you read
Speaker 14: The Odyssey in ninth grade, even if there wasn't Latin
Speaker 14: offered at your school. There's so many opportunities at the
Speaker 14: college level to get into this. I mean, one common
Speaker 14: thread that I see, especially in the big myth classes
Speaker 14: that I teach, is very often it's kids who've read
Speaker 14: the Percy Jackson books as very excited about following up
Speaker 14: with what is different about the Percy Jackson universe verusus
Speaker 14: the universe that we get in Homer, And we have
Speaker 14: those discussions and it's fun.
Speaker 2: Do you think that diversity makes for a better, more
Speaker 2: holistic study of the classics? I mean we were mentioned
Speaker 2: you were the first woman to translate this text. Talk
Speaker 2: to us a little bit about what you think your
Speaker 2: perspective brought to that text as you looked at the
Speaker 2: language and search for nuance. And does you know do
Speaker 2: people from different places, different backgrounds, different ethnicities bring that
Speaker 2: to these translations as well.
Speaker 13: I think that can be the case.
Speaker 14: Yes, I mean the first woman headline I slightly resist
Speaker 14: the idea that women's work must always be defined by gender.
Speaker 14: And of course for many other female homerests before me.
Speaker 14: The Odessey and the Iliad have been translated into many
Speaker 14: other languages by women before me. I don't think you
Speaker 14: could pick out of a lineup which translations are by women.
Speaker 14: I actually don't think that guest stands up to any
Speaker 14: particular scrutiny. I mean I would say that, yes, of course,
Speaker 14: all kinds of background questions can feed into any interpretshi
Speaker 14: of activity, whether it's being a historian, being a journalist,
Speaker 14: being a translator, being a literary critic. The things that
Speaker 14: you both know as a scholar as a reader, and
Speaker 14: also the things you know through bodied experience are going
Speaker 14: to feed into your interpretative work in some way or other.
Speaker 14: I mean, for me, my background in English poetics as
Speaker 14: well as in Greek and Latin poetics, seems essential to
Speaker 14: what I'm doing as a translator, and so far as
Speaker 14: my primary intervention as I see it is to do
Speaker 14: with using traditional metrical verse, in contrast to the vast
Speaker 14: majority of modern translators who've used unmetrical free verse or
Speaker 14: prose to translate homer And that has nothing to do
Speaker 14: with gender.
Speaker 8: It's about It's about poetics.
Speaker 3: Can I ask a dumb question about the way you work?
Speaker 3: So there's the Homeric question, of course, who wrote this?
Speaker 3: Did he write this? And the ilia etca, etc. You know,
Speaker 3: you mentioned these other translations, so there's Fagels and Fitzgerald
Speaker 3: and Mendelssohn for that matter. As you're writing this, as
Speaker 3: you were doing your translation, how much of that was
Speaker 3: it in dialogue with those translations that you'd read previously.
Speaker 3: In other words, where're working principally from the text in
Speaker 3: ancient Greek? Or are you drawing from at least inspiration
Speaker 3: from those texts those translations as well.
Speaker 14: Primarily from the Greek. And I don't actually, in terms
Speaker 14: of my practice, spend much time looking at other translations,
Speaker 14: because most of the time, if I'm wrestling with a
Speaker 14: particular problem about this line is so beautiful in these
Speaker 14: particular ways, how can I convey that using.
Speaker 8: Completely different words?
Speaker 14: It's not going to help me if I then look
Speaker 14: and see, oh he did that. Now I can't use
Speaker 14: that anymore because he's already stole that. So I actually
Speaker 14: need to spend the time by myself wrestling with it.
Speaker 14: I'd read a lot of commentaries, I reread the dictionary
Speaker 14: over and over to try and figure out how else
Speaker 14: is this word used wherever else it's used in ancient Greek.
Speaker 14: But it's not really about other looking at other translations. So,
Speaker 14: of course, while I was starting this project, I was
Speaker 14: meditating on my experiences, especially in the classroom, using many
Speaker 14: different other translations, and thinking about what doesn't get across
Speaker 14: when I use bagels or when I use Latimore. And
Speaker 14: primarily I've thought about both meta and about the vividness, rapidity,
Speaker 14: and the multi vocality of Homer, about how, in some
Speaker 14: ways this is about how Homer can work for the
Speaker 14: screen as well as for the stage and adaptation. The
Speaker 14: Odyssey was composed before drama existed, but it has these
Speaker 14: amazing speeches of characters who are so fully realized, and
Speaker 14: we fully understand who Penelope is.
Speaker 6: We're gonna have to leave it there.
Speaker 9: Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: I welcome you excellent version of the Odyssey. My other
Speaker 2: favorite is, of course, wish Bone.
Speaker 12: Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend. Right
Speaker 12: after this, you've.
Speaker 13: Waited, as I have, for more than two hours for this,
Speaker 13: It's time for the pointed news quiz.
Speaker 5: Here.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you what David Gera and Lisa Matteo.
Speaker 2: If you change the rules again to benefit David, I will.
Speaker 9: Walk off this set.
Speaker 13: I always defer to Lisa. That's why I do so
Speaker 13: well at this game.
Speaker 1: A table.
Speaker 8: What is happening.
Speaker 7: Lisa.
Speaker 2: I thought we had a girl code and she shared
Speaker 2: that list.
Speaker 13: My respect and comes down to that week after week.
Speaker 9: Okay, don't discount it, David, to it. We are talking
Speaker 9: about the pointed news everybody. This is the part everybody's
Speaker 9: waiting for. Okay.
Speaker 4: So for those of you at home, you're like, what
Speaker 4: is this game? Okay, here's what happens. You can play
Speaker 4: too on home at home if you want, might choose
Speaker 4: the rules again, change the rules. There will be three categories, okay,
Speaker 4: David Christina each have thirty chips in front of them.
Speaker 4: They will place their bets on each category depending on
Speaker 4: how they feel. You know, maybe they feel more confident
Speaker 4: about the first or maybe not so much the second.
Speaker 9: We'll see.
Speaker 4: Are you ready for your three categories? Born before you
Speaker 4: place your bets. Okay, here are your categories. First off
Speaker 4: is birds, second is frequent flyers, and third is world records.
Speaker 8: Did you read bad bords this week?
Speaker 13: I've read no stories this week, which is part of
Speaker 13: my strategy here.
Speaker 9: So are you going thirty across.
Speaker 13: The board because birds could be frequent flyers?
Speaker 2: I'm also true, Lord help us From David Gara Puns today.
Speaker 9: Across the board as well. All right, they have placed
Speaker 9: their vets. Let's go on to the first question.
Speaker 4: Here we go, birds, Lisa, Chinese exports are surging for
Speaker 4: what type of bird used in a popular dish? Now?
Speaker 4: This is despite local demand kind of being soft. So
Speaker 4: Chinese exports surging for what kind of bird used in
Speaker 4: a popular dish? What bird is used in a popular
Speaker 4: dish from China?
Speaker 9: Anytime? Now, David, he's writing people.
Speaker 4: He even drew a picture for those of you who
Speaker 4: duck is courage.
Speaker 9: More specifically peaking duck. But I'll give it to you. Okay,
Speaker 9: there we go. I have I've tried it, and I'm
Speaker 9: not a big fan. I don't know.
Speaker 13: Crispy skin, Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I think it's hard to prepare. They have to do
Speaker 2: it like really well it's well yeah, so why is this?
Speaker 2: Why are the exports up? Gets back focusing I'm focusing
Speaker 2: on back.
Speaker 6: Down to get us back.
Speaker 13: Why are they soft soft in in in the country.
Speaker 9: They just don't soft a man in the country. They
Speaker 9: just don't not so much. I mean they have it
Speaker 9: all the time.
Speaker 4: What they're trying to explore it getting more popular, trying
Speaker 4: to get more popular.
Speaker 9: Yes, Okay, there we go. We're moving on to frequent flying.
Speaker 3: Energy duns up there, thinking about that duck ducks to
Speaker 3: frequent flyers.
Speaker 2: Here we go.
Speaker 4: What public figure has flown fifty seven thousand miles since
Speaker 4: June in a Gulf Stream private jet enough to.
Speaker 9: Circle the equator twice? See, I know you know who
Speaker 9: it is. But what is the name? What is this
Speaker 9: person's name?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 13: Okay, it's cryptic?
Speaker 2: What now?
Speaker 9: Now I'm confused? What public figure? What is his name?
Speaker 4: He's flown fifty seven thousand miles since June since in
Speaker 4: the Gulf Stream?
Speaker 9: What's what it is?
Speaker 14: I wonder?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I wonder. David Garrett, A lot's been happening since.
Speaker 6: Mentioned on a certain sport. Maybe the attention to the
Speaker 6: chat in weeks.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 9: I don't know. Okay, okay, flipp it.
Speaker 6: What do you got Johnny Infantina, Hey Taylor?
Speaker 4: Then you said yes, yes, so the president of FIFA.
Speaker 9: Yes he is the one.
Speaker 4: I mean, you have the expanded World Cup right, there's
Speaker 4: now forty eighteen, So thanks, I get her chips.
Speaker 9: Okay, but listen to his travel schedule, okay.
Speaker 4: June twenty sixth he went from Miami to Dallas, Dallas
Speaker 4: to Seattle, Seattle to Miami because he has to watch
Speaker 4: all these games, most of them, so it's.
Speaker 6: A doc plan. I should say he's paying for it.
Speaker 7: No, no, no, yeah.
Speaker 4: The estimated costs for jet fuel three hundred and fifty
Speaker 4: thousand dollars.
Speaker 9: That is a price quite the carbon footprints that as well.
Speaker 9: Uh number three you ready, number three world record.
Speaker 2: Continue my suffering, Lisa.
Speaker 4: Okay, I did this story, so I want to make
Speaker 4: sure you guys were listening when I did it. Runner
Speaker 4: Josh Kerr he broke the world record for fastest mile. Okay,
Speaker 4: which Berkshire Hathway own brand designed his shoe?
Speaker 13: Such a good question.
Speaker 9: Sneaker brand, think about it. Sneaker brand running the world.
Speaker 13: Here has always listened to Lisa Matteo, pay attention.
Speaker 9: I can't remember we talked to him pulling.
Speaker 13: Back the curtain.
Speaker 3: You know, we're always trying to get ready for the
Speaker 3: next segment, listening to what the director has to say.
Speaker 9: Always it's drugs, Christada.
Speaker 12: Oh yes, he also was wearing a speed suit special suit.
Speaker 3: Yeah, special credible to save those thousand time.
Speaker 9: Every every second count.
Speaker 2: No if like it's not swimming I don't know how
Speaker 2: much the speed suit is going to be different.
Speaker 4: Well, three hours, forty two minutes and sixty six seconds,
Speaker 4: that's exactly.
Speaker 2: Maybe we can speed up this.
Speaker 9: All right, let's do it.
Speaker 4: Let's hit the bonus because Christina, you can win these
Speaker 4: all of my when you get all the back.
Speaker 9: Okay, bonus is New Jersey. Okay, that's the category.
Speaker 4: James Patten was sentenced to twenty months twenty one months
Speaker 4: in prison after he inflated sales from twenty thousand dollars
Speaker 4: to one hundred million dollars for.
Speaker 9: What type of New Jersey small business? Think about it?
Speaker 9: New Jersey small business? What type of New Jersey small business?
Speaker 4: Okay?
Speaker 6: Interesting? All right, I really have no idea.
Speaker 14: On this front.
Speaker 9: Oh you don't know so fast?
Speaker 13: Okay, I wrote lawn care trash collection.
Speaker 9: It's Deli Deli. Remember the story?
Speaker 7: Next?
Speaker 2: Do you see that condescending for a radio? Listen, there's
Speaker 2: a very contor.
Speaker 8: The battery just received.
Speaker 3: Always listen to Lisa Matteo. You can test your knowledge
Speaker 3: on all ten questions. You can take the point in
Speaker 3: new quisite Bloomberg dot com slash pointed. You can find
Speaker 3: it on the Bloomberg Business App.
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us on today's Bloomberg This Weekend podcast.
Speaker 2: Don't forget to tune in live for the show every
Speaker 2: Saturday and Sunday morning, starting at seven am Eastern.
Speaker 3: We're on Bloomberg Television Radio and the Bloomberg Business App,
Speaker 3: bringing you unique takes and in depth interviews on news, politics,
Speaker 3: lifestyle and culture.