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Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carole Masser and I'm

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Speaker 1: pm Eastern Time on Bloomberg Radio or watch us on

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Speaker 1: YouTube search Bloomberg Global News. I want to get to

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Speaker 1: our next guest. He's written about um, the US reaction

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Speaker 1: and watching what's going on in Russia and Ukraine. Specifically,

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Speaker 1: he's written about why the US cannot allow Russia to

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Speaker 1: create a sphere of influence. He's also talking about really basically,

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Speaker 1: you know, managing to some extent the information that's going

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Speaker 1: out there, and how the US is learning to win

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Speaker 1: the information war. How brands is Bloomberg opinion columnist Henry

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Speaker 1: As entered Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of

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Speaker 1: Advanced International Studies. He's a sky all or two at

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Speaker 1: the American Enterprise Institute, author of The Twilight Struggle What

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Speaker 1: the Cold War teaches us about great power rivalry? Today

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Speaker 1: he is on the phone in Baltimore, Maryland. How it

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Speaker 1: is great to have you here with Katie and myself,

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Speaker 1: So initially as you continue to see this situation in

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Speaker 1: full present buying just making some comments about um, some sanctions, Um,

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Speaker 1: what's your initial thoughts here? So? I think that the

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Speaker 1: Biden administration has tried to strike a balance between being

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Speaker 1: strong and its response to what we've seen from Russia

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Speaker 1: so far, while also holding and reserve more severe sanctions

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Speaker 1: that might be put in place if there's further Russian

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Speaker 1: aggression in Ukraine. And so the first tranch has been

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Speaker 1: fairly impressive. I think the central measure is basically putting

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Speaker 1: the nord Stream two on hold, and we'll see what

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Speaker 1: happens if putin goes further. And how I want to

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Speaker 1: wrap this into this column that you had out on Friday,

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Speaker 1: that the US can't let Russia get a sphere of influence.

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Speaker 1: I mean, just listening to President Biden speak, some of

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Speaker 1: the headlines coming out saying that you know, Biden still

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Speaker 1: believes Russia's poised to go much further, that this is

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Speaker 1: the beginning of a Russia invasion. I mean, if you could,

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Speaker 1: you know, look inside the President's mind right now, would

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Speaker 1: you say that this is the fear, that that's what

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Speaker 1: Russia wants to create a sphere of influence. I think

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Speaker 1: that's certainly what the Biden administration fears, in part because

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Speaker 1: Putin has mobilized a force that is far bigger than

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Speaker 1: he need simply send some so called peacekeepers into the

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Speaker 1: done boss. If you'll take Putin's rhetoric seriously, He's talked

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Speaker 1: about rebuilding the influence of the Soviet Union used to have.

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Speaker 1: He's called the collapse of the Soviet Union the great

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Speaker 1: geopolitical tragedy of the twentieth century. And so I think

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Speaker 1: at this point it's only prudent to expect that his

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Speaker 1: objectives are not limited to Eastern Ukraine. Isn't it kind

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Speaker 1: of ironic? Though? The U s is okay about it

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Speaker 1: being involved in spheres of influence and being the great influencer,

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Speaker 1: and yet it's very uncomfortable with others. There is a

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Speaker 1: certain irony to the out of of course, there's critics

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Speaker 1: might call it hypocrisy. But of course the big difference

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Speaker 1: is that most countries want to be part of America's

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Speaker 1: sphere of influence with the dynamic that's obviously absent from

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Speaker 1: the Russian case. And so there are a very few

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Speaker 1: countries that are trying to leave America's system of alliances today.

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Speaker 1: There are many many more that would prefer to be

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Speaker 1: part of that system. It's the opposite when you look

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Speaker 1: at the countries around Russia's periphery. So just to follow then,

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Speaker 1: So what's really at stake here? And if Russia is

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Speaker 1: allowed to have too much of its way and sway,

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Speaker 1: if you will, in the region, what are the implications

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Speaker 1: the longer term implications, Well, there would be a sustained

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Speaker 1: crisis of security along NATO's eastern frontier as Russia gather

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Speaker 1: strength and postures its forces more menacingly in Ukraine and Belarus,

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Speaker 1: in addition to on its own territory. And I think

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Speaker 1: one of the concerns and American policymakers have always had

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Speaker 1: is that when aggressive authoritarian regimes are able to carve

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Speaker 1: out a fear of influence, they don't necessarily stop there.

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Speaker 1: They might simply use it as a platform to push further.

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Speaker 1: And so I think the fear in the in the

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Speaker 1: United States and in many European capitals would be that

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Speaker 1: Putin would use a strengthened position in Eastern Europe to

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Speaker 1: apply greater pressure to the Baltic States or Poland, for instance.

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Speaker 1: And how I want to turn to another piece you

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Speaker 1: had out for Bloomberg opinion that the US is learning

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Speaker 1: to win the information more and you highlight that the

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Speaker 1: Biden administration they've been willing to publicly release sensitive intelligence

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Speaker 1: on Russia. I was telling Carroll earlier that I was

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Speaker 1: listening to Biden speak on Friday, and I was kind

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Speaker 1: of shocked to hear him say that he expects invasion

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Speaker 1: within the next few days, within the next week, you know,

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Speaker 1: to hear that from the President, it's not not something

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Speaker 1: we've gotten used to. And I'm curious what you think

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Speaker 1: is behind that strategy shift. Well, part of it is

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Speaker 1: about forcing Putin to pay as higher price as possible

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Speaker 1: for what he's doing in Ukraine, and part by depriving

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Speaker 1: him of the ambiguity and s rise in which he

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Speaker 1: likes to cloak his actions. And so the United States

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Speaker 1: is trying to get out ahead of Russian moves is

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Speaker 1: a way of rallying the broadest possible coalition to to

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Speaker 1: punish those moves when they occur. I think the other

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Speaker 1: thing that's happening those United States has learned that it

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Speaker 1: simply has to be faster when it comes to responding

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Speaker 1: to disinformation, whether in this or other context. That we've

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Speaker 1: seen that the Russians are certainly going to try to

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Speaker 1: create a variety of of lies and this truth around

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Speaker 1: their role in Ukraine, perhaps inventing Ukrainian provocations. And the

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Speaker 1: only way the United States is going to be able

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Speaker 1: to push back against that disinformation is by getting its

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Speaker 1: own story out more quickly, right. And it also is

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Speaker 1: kind of uh, I guess how you could say is hey, guys,

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Speaker 1: we know what you're doing even before it is publicly known,

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Speaker 1: like we're on it. That's right. I mean, there's certainly

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Speaker 1: some messaging going on here that the U. S Intelligence

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Speaker 1: has very good information not simply on Russian troop movements

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Speaker 1: and military preparations, but on the innermost decision making of

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Speaker 1: the regime. And I would imagine that some of these

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Speaker 1: releases are meant to create a certain sense of doubt

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Speaker 1: or even dissension within the regime by advertising the fact

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Speaker 1: that it's intermost communications are presumably compromised. What's the risk

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Speaker 1: of doing this though on the part of present vine,

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Speaker 1: especially if you get something wrong, well, you you could

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Speaker 1: look foolish. If you get something wrong, you could promote

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Speaker 1: crisis fatigue. If you're constantly warning about an imminent invasion,

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Speaker 1: you can also blow sources and methods, and so of

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Speaker 1: the United States too aggressively publicized information that it has

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Speaker 1: obtained through sensitive sources, it could make it easier for

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Speaker 1: the Kremlin to figure out what the conduit for that

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Speaker 1: information is in the first place. And so there's certainly

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Speaker 1: a balancing of risks that that that has to be

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Speaker 1: involved here. All right, we're gonna leave it on that note. Listen,

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Speaker 1: we really appreciate your insight, uh and taking some time

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Speaker 1: to chat with us. How brands Henry A. Kiss Into

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Speaker 1: a distinguished professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced

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Speaker 1: International Studies. He is a Bloomberg opinion columnist, and as

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Speaker 1: we mentioned, he's got a book that's very timely right now.

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Speaker 1: It is entitled The Twilight Struggle. What the Cold War

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Speaker 1: teaches us about great power rivalry today? Joining us on

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Speaker 1: the phone from Baltimore. The pandemic really taught us big

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Speaker 1: time the importance of connectivity, and for many of us,

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Speaker 1: I think Katie, it's saved to say, were kind of

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Speaker 1: shocked at how well it worked thanks to advancements and technology, Like,

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Speaker 1: it's amazing what everybody was able to get done. Yeah. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: I mean it felt like life as we know. It

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Speaker 1: moved online for everyone, for workers, for students, for everyone.

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Speaker 1: We did okay, we did okay, We're doing okay, not perfect,

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Speaker 1: not equal, but still impressive. Back with us and working

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Speaker 1: on creating the connected campus is Transact Campus ces Nancy Linger.

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Speaker 1: She joins us once again on the phone in Phoenix, Arizona. Nancy,

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Speaker 1: nice to have you here with Katie and myself. How

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Speaker 1: are you. I'm good, How are you kill doing okay?

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Speaker 1: Doing okay? Managing through and just trying to, you know,

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Speaker 1: take take in everything that keeps continually being continuously being

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Speaker 1: thrown at us. So remind our audience about what you

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Speaker 1: are up to and specifically how you're doing it. Yeah. So,

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Speaker 1: Transit Campus, we're we're really in two different business lines.

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Speaker 1: One is payments, both tuition payments as well as non

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Speaker 1: tuition payments on higher ED generally higher ED campuses. So

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Speaker 1: we have the software that UH handles really parents are

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Speaker 1: students going into to make all of their tuition, room

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Speaker 1: and board type payments integrated deeply into the to the

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Speaker 1: university systems. And then we have on campus things like

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Speaker 1: point of sales software, mobile ordering KIOSK especially important right

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Speaker 1: with kind of where the world's gone with contact lists.

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Speaker 1: And then we have UM what we call campus i

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Speaker 1: D so those ideas that students used to navigate in

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Speaker 1: buildings but also contains UH stored value where they can

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Speaker 1: load funds to actually transact on campus and also to

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Speaker 1: some extent off campus leveraging those funds. And most of

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Speaker 1: that we've really moved to a mobile credentials. So we've

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Speaker 1: got about we've got about the universities twelve million plus

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Speaker 1: students that we service in some capacity in those in

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Speaker 1: those solutions. So twelve million students that you have some

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Speaker 1: insight onto. I'm curious, you know this stop and start

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Speaker 1: emerging from the pandemic. I mean, one of my in

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Speaker 1: laws is still in college and it feels like, I

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Speaker 1: don't know, trying to come back from winter break was

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Speaker 1: definitely a difficult thing. To do as we as colleges

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Speaker 1: try to emerge from the pandemic. What have you noticed

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Speaker 1: in how that's affected students spending habits? Yeah, I mean

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Speaker 1: I think in you tracked the spending habits, you know,

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Speaker 1: tuition is always the largest obviously it's about forty thousand

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Speaker 1: over four years, and then comes renting room and board,

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Speaker 1: which is about seventeen thousand, and you get into the

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Speaker 1: personal spending and I can't tell we have a a

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Speaker 1: you know, deep deep knowledge, but I would say we've

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Speaker 1: seen most of that trending pretty typical, you know, in

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Speaker 1: terms of dining, you know, food being next probably for

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Speaker 1: an dollars a month or so that they spend either

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Speaker 1: on a meal plan. But you do see definitely an

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Speaker 1: up to take no surprise in you know the grub

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Speaker 1: hub or eats, you know, kind of restaurant delivery, meal,

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Speaker 1: field delivery, kind of expenses that have kind of uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, eclipsed what generally students have been been spending on. So, Nancy,

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Speaker 1: I always wonder about, like, in terms of college spending,

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Speaker 1: what kids are spending on. What does it tell you,

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Speaker 1: if anything, about what's going on more broadly in terms

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Speaker 1: of consumer spending or the you know kind of economic

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Speaker 1: outlook or or sometimes I feel like colleges are just

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Speaker 1: some extent insulated maybe from what's more broadly going on economy,

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Speaker 1: but but maybe not so. So I'm curious how you

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Speaker 1: see it. Yeah, I mean I would say, like I said,

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Speaker 1: I think you see the trend in really convenience space

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Speaker 1: spending right where where you know, they're spending a little

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Speaker 1: more to have kind of contact lists, uh, kind of

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Speaker 1: um delivery, whether it's it's food or other items. UM.

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Speaker 1: I think that you know that they clearly are spending

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Speaker 1: less on you know, kind of academic curriculum stuff, mostly

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Speaker 1: because that's fun digital light that used to be a

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Speaker 1: fairly high item for them, but that's lower. But they

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Speaker 1: are spending more on you know, kind of personal expenses,

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Speaker 1: and I think a lot of that goes to convenience

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Speaker 1: based and some of that just kind of a trend

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Speaker 1: with millennial but some of that I think is tied

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Speaker 1: to kind of COVID and just what's gone on with

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Speaker 1: you know, how we want to engage and make purchases

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Speaker 1: and it's I want to talk a little bit about

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Speaker 1: transact campus and uh, some of the deals that you've

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Speaker 1: made recently because you've announced some new partnerships with Apple, Google,

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Speaker 1: grub Hub. Really the list goes on. Yeah. So so

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Speaker 1: when you think about our mobile credential, which today again

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Speaker 1: it it holds the stored value that a student would

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Speaker 1: use to make purchases, but it's also what they used

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Speaker 1: to kind of navigate securely through campus, and it was

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Speaker 1: critical that we embedded that and integrated that first into

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Speaker 1: both the Apple and Google wallet. So that's that's, that's

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Speaker 1: you know, just um kind of table stakes in terms

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Speaker 1: of having those kind of partners with you know, with

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Speaker 1: the population that that we serve. And then you look

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Speaker 1: at you know, we have point of sales software on

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Speaker 1: campus and we have mobile ordering, you know, which which

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Speaker 1: is in kind of a closed campus environment, but wanting

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Speaker 1: to extend that out to where they can leverage that

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Speaker 1: outside of campus um at at merchants, but also through

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Speaker 1: a grub hub or we're speaking with Uber eat store Dash,

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Speaker 1: all of those, Uh, just makes sense in terms of

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Speaker 1: how students really want to make perstances and transact right

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Speaker 1: a broad array of offerings and the more you can

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Speaker 1: kind of load it becomes kind of a full service. Hey, Nancy,

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Speaker 1: thanks for the update. Nancy Langer, she's CEO a TRANSAC

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Speaker 1: campus on the phone from Phoenix, Arizona. So one of

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Speaker 1: the stories that definitely is a must read today. It's

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Speaker 1: also among our most righte on the Bloomberg Today. It

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Speaker 1: has a line. It's starts with US business is getting

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Speaker 1: ready for long inflation. So let's get to it. Sean

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Speaker 1: donnin Is Bloomberg New Senior writer for Economics on the

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Speaker 1: phone in Maryland. Inflation. Inflation, inflation, Sean, your story is

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Speaker 1: so relevant, especially when it comes to our discussions about

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Speaker 1: what's going on in the economy and what we might

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Speaker 1: get from the Fed. Next. What are you guys hearing?

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Speaker 1: What were you reporting on? Yeah? Look, I mean we've

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Speaker 1: all been hearing about higher inflation for some time now,

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Speaker 1: and I guess when you start calling around to US

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Speaker 1: businesses and asking what they're expecting, their answer is you

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Speaker 1: should expect to hear about it for a little bit longer.

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Speaker 1: Uh maybe longer than a lot of people expect right now.

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Speaker 1: And that's you know, this is a big question confronting

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Speaker 1: the Federal Reserve at its meeting in March. It's going

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Speaker 1: to get to work, and we're expecting it to raise

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Speaker 1: interest rates. They really telegraphed that that's the beginning of

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Speaker 1: a fight against the inflation. But that's going to take

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Speaker 1: some time, economists say, And businesses are still looking at

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Speaker 1: this year and think they're gonna have to deal with

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Speaker 1: elevated inflation for some time. And sean, where do wage increases,

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Speaker 1: you know, the cost of labor factor into this, because

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Speaker 1: that's where inflation ticket really sticky, right exactly. And look,

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Speaker 1: so already we've seen, uh, you know, a lot of

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Speaker 1: people calling last year the you know, the return of

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Speaker 1: the power of labor. We saw those strikes of places

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Speaker 1: like John Deere that yielded some big wage increases for

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Speaker 1: for workers there. But that's not over, if anything, that's

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Speaker 1: building speed. And that's a big worry for the FED

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Speaker 1: who worry about the kind of wage price spiral in

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Speaker 1: other words, that as higher prices cause workers to add

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Speaker 1: ask for higher wages, that leads to higher prices as

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Speaker 1: companies try to pass on the cost of those higher

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Speaker 1: wages and and so on. M you talked to, you know,

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Speaker 1: I was talking to a guy called Brian Nelson who

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Speaker 1: is works for an agricultural equipment parts maker called hcc UH.

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Speaker 1: They're based in Illinois. Uh. They are a big supplier

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Speaker 1: to John Deere. Uh, and you know what it's going

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Speaker 1: to hurt him this year, he says, is he's going

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Speaker 1: into wage negotiations with the U a W who just

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Speaker 1: negotiated a new contract with John Deere, and he's expecting

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Speaker 1: a lot of the same there. You talked to other folks,

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Speaker 1: a lot of small manufacturers, and they're expecting UH to

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Speaker 1: have to raise wages again pretty aggressively, just to keep

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Speaker 1: up with the competition and to get out ahead of inflation.

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Speaker 1: You know, Sean, I can't help but feel, especially coming

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Speaker 1: off the financial crisis, we were in such a period

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Speaker 1: of low inflation for so long that we were all

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Speaker 1: kind of shocked by it, right, And then I wonder

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Speaker 1: would we still be in that period of low inflation

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Speaker 1: had we not gone through the pandemic, or were we

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Speaker 1: starting to see signs that something was changing in our

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Speaker 1: inflationary environment that was just different fundamentally. Well, look, I

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Speaker 1: mean the big irony is that before the pandemic, the

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Speaker 1: FED was really hoping to get a little bit more

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Speaker 1: inflation in the economy, right. Uh. We we there was

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Speaker 1: a hope that you get running the economy that they

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Speaker 1: wanted to run the economy a little bit hotter. And

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Speaker 1: President Trump certainly made that point over and over again.

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Speaker 1: He wasn't necessarily after higher prices, but he wanted faster growth.

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Speaker 1: And we've seen that this time around with the response

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Speaker 1: to the to the pandemic, the economic crisis side of

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Speaker 1: the pandemic, that everyone has has done their work to

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Speaker 1: get the faster growth and it's gotten this higher inflation

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Speaker 1: that's there, and the big question now is how long

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Speaker 1: that sticks around. One of the really interesting things right

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Speaker 1: now is a really interesting note doubt from JP Morgan's

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Speaker 1: chief economist UH last week making a point that we

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Speaker 1: all of the models that we have now for inflation

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Speaker 1: don't really explain what's going on now with inflation. And

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Speaker 1: that raises a big question, and that is are we

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Speaker 1: entering a new era of higher inflation or are we

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Speaker 1: going to go back to what we saw pre pandemic?

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Speaker 1: And a lot of economists are are betting that we're

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Speaker 1: going to have higher inflation for longer and that's gonna

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Speaker 1: have consequences for businesses and consumers and the economy as

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Speaker 1: a whole for some time. And if we are heading

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Speaker 1: into that environment, I mean you highlight in the piece

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Speaker 1: that for some companies actually persistently high inflation, it's not

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Speaker 1: so bad, right. I mean, if you're a Walmart and

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Speaker 1: competitors are charging higher prices, there's an argument that and

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Speaker 1: an argument that executives there make that that's actually good

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Speaker 1: for business. It draws more customers uh their way. We

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Speaker 1: also talked to the CEO of the price comparison site Trivago.

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Speaker 1: He said, look, if people are are spooped by higher

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Speaker 1: prices out there, they're going to spend more time on

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Speaker 1: price comparison shot fights looking for for bargains. So there's

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Speaker 1: always a little bit of an outside, but you know,

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Speaker 1: it becomes a grind for for for a lot of families,

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Speaker 1: and and that's something that we're going to have to

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Speaker 1: get used to thinking to a little bit more about

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Speaker 1: the purchases. I think we felt a lot of people

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Speaker 1: felt flush through the pandemic. They weren't spending as much

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Speaker 1: on commuting. They weren't they were getting the government stimulus

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Speaker 1: checks and so on, and they were spending that on

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Speaker 1: goods or home renovations, right, and so on. We may

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Speaker 1: be entering a period where we have to think a

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Speaker 1: little bit more about what we buy. Yeah, gosh, that's

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Speaker 1: no no joke. Hey. I do also love in your

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Speaker 1: story where you talk about this h c C president

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Speaker 1: Brian Nelson and how because of higher inflation he had

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Speaker 1: to put off his retirement because the board wanted this

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Speaker 1: seven years seventy year old to stay on. Somebody who

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Speaker 1: understood an inflationary environment just got twenty seconds. I mean,

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Speaker 1: we're seeing this right. We want executives will understand this

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Speaker 1: cycle just quickly. Absolutely, And Brian makes the point, Look,

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Speaker 1: I went through this in the nineties, and I'm not

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Speaker 1: freaking out this time because that's been through it before.

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Speaker 1: He also does business in Brazil, and you know what

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Speaker 1: he's doing. He's getting his people in Brazil to treating

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Speaker 1: these people in the US and how to deal with inflation,

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Speaker 1: how to ask customers for higher prices. Alright, good stuff.

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Speaker 1: Shawn Donna and senior economics writer up bloom News on

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Speaker 1: the phone in Maryland. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Weeek

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Speaker 1: Carl Master, Katie Greifeld, and this is Bloomberg Radio. Well,

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Speaker 1: the future is schmir so, says our next guest website,

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Speaker 1: who founded Better Brand. It's a company that's attracted investments

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Speaker 1: from Reddit co founder Alexis o'hanian, also the grandson of

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Speaker 1: Wendy's founder excuse me, Dave Thomas, also actress Emmy Rossum

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Speaker 1: and more. Here with what she is doing to create

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Speaker 1: the Better Bagel is Amy Yang. She's founder of the

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Speaker 1: Better Brand and she's on the phone in l A. Amy.

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Speaker 1: Nice to have you here with Katie and myself here

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Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio. So tell us about your company and

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Speaker 1: what you're up to. Hey guys, thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: having me and thrilled to be here. Um so yeah,

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Speaker 1: to share a little bit more about Better Brand. We are,

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Speaker 1: you know, a food tech company and leading innovation in

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Speaker 1: the refined carb space. Right. So our mission is really

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Speaker 1: creates a world where you know, we can eat freely

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Speaker 1: without worrying about and weight gain or negative health consequences

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Speaker 1: and and without having to compromise is on you know

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Speaker 1: what in paste, text, or flavor or basically in any way.

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Speaker 1: And you know what better way to showcase that innovation

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Speaker 1: and start them by turning the most car heavy food, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, a bagel into the carb equivalent of let's say,

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Speaker 1: two slices of banana. Sounds sounds really good. Sounds really good. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: how exactly do you do that? Walk us through that process, because,

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Speaker 1: like you said, to the same net carbs as two

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Speaker 1: banana slices seem amount of protein as four eggs. That's

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Speaker 1: what really caught my eye. Yeah. Yeah, you know, it

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Speaker 1: was a long innovation journey and um, you know a

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Speaker 1: lot of people referred to better brand as you know,

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Speaker 1: the beyond need of cards, right, And I think that's

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Speaker 1: a really great way of thinking about it and understanding

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Speaker 1: you know exactly, you know, what we had to do

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Speaker 1: to get where we are in terms of you know,

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Speaker 1: on the focus on R and D there and so,

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Speaker 1: but you know, to dive a little bit deeper, it

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Speaker 1: really comes down to you know, um, preparatory ingredient formulation

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Speaker 1: and in process. Okay, so I'm going to jump in

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Speaker 1: when you say a proprietary ingredient formulation. It's a little

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Speaker 1: bit of a red flag for me because I like

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Speaker 1: to know what I'm eating and increasingly we're in a

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Speaker 1: consumer space. We want to know how are the things

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Speaker 1: we wear, who produces it, where it's made, who's manufactured,

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Speaker 1: is it fair labor, is it sustainable? When it comes

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Speaker 1: to food, we're equally increasingly looking at that. So tell

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Speaker 1: me what you can tell us about Yeah, I agree,

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Speaker 1: and I would actually think that with food it's even

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Speaker 1: more important to be transparent, right because it's something that

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Speaker 1: that we consume and expects you know us you know, physically,

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Speaker 1: physiologically and everything between. So so when we were focused

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Speaker 1: on development of better brand, um, you know, we were

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Speaker 1: focused on completely clean label, non GMO ingredients. And what

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Speaker 1: I mean by preparatory blend is um. You know, all

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Speaker 1: the ingredients are you know, wide listed on the label,

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Speaker 1: but just in terms of the specialty ingredients we've really

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Speaker 1: been able to develop and use. UM. But you know,

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Speaker 1: again completely clean label and non GMO and and transparent

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Speaker 1: in every way. UM. So to just kind of dive

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Speaker 1: into that a little bit more in terms of specialty ingredients,

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Speaker 1: so you know, UM, the first ingredient on on our

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Speaker 1: ingredient list is is a modified wheat starch, right, So

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Speaker 1: so what is that wheat start? Okay, and so so

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Speaker 1: you know what does that really mean? Right? So, so

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Speaker 1: it's a Nephew actually approved source of fiber um and

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Speaker 1: you know it's classified as an RS for Type of

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Speaker 1: Existance search, which means that's actually indigestible in the upper

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Speaker 1: gastro intestinal tract um. So so if you think about that,

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Speaker 1: you know, in the terms of consumption, right, and so,

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Speaker 1: typically you have wheat search that's starggested by you know,

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Speaker 1: an enzyme in the body called um alpha amblaise. And

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Speaker 1: what that does is then you know, the refined carbs

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Speaker 1: and sugars released throughout your body and drives up insulin levels,

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Speaker 1: which you know causes the body tostore access calories and

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Speaker 1: and so what we've been able to do is actually

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Speaker 1: modify that wheat to where that and it's not penetrable

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Speaker 1: from the emilyse so and and it's not um, so

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Speaker 1: it's not able to be absorbed by the body, is

430
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:23,320
Speaker 1: indigestible in your gas row intestinal tract and therefore functions

431
00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:26,879
Speaker 1: as a dietary fiber um while retaining all the distal

432
00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:30,160
Speaker 1: laptic properties of the wheat. So you know, it still

433
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:32,399
Speaker 1: allows us to make all the foods that we crave

434
00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,679
Speaker 1: um and the way that we crave them, but you know,

435
00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:40,240
Speaker 1: without any of the negative health side effects or um

436
00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:43,399
Speaker 1: or guilt and so, I mean, you've been compared to

437
00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:46,520
Speaker 1: the beyond meat of grains, but some of the pushback

438
00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:48,520
Speaker 1: that I hear about the Beyond Meat products is that

439
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:51,600
Speaker 1: the texture is totally off that you know, it's not

440
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,840
Speaker 1: quite like eating real meat. And you know, when you're

441
00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:59,160
Speaker 1: designing the Better Bagel, I mean, are you going for

442
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:01,640
Speaker 1: you know, something that's if you bite into it, it's

443
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:05,560
Speaker 1: indistinguishable from a bagel, or are you trying for you know,

444
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:10,720
Speaker 1: maybe just a different unique taste. We're going for. Um.

445
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:14,240
Speaker 1: You know, when a consumer bites into that bagel, they

446
00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:19,040
Speaker 1: feel the entire joyous experience of what it's like to

447
00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:21,840
Speaker 1: eat a traditional bagel. You know, there's never that feel

448
00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:25,560
Speaker 1: of oh, I have to compromise, um, but whereas you know,

449
00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:28,680
Speaker 1: rather it's it's kind of that feel of oh wow,

450
00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:31,680
Speaker 1: you know, how is it possible that this entire bagel

451
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:34,920
Speaker 1: is the carb equivalent of two slices of banana? Um?

452
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:37,639
Speaker 1: And I can you know, have three bagels and in

453
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,479
Speaker 1: the morning if if I want without ever having to

454
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:44,040
Speaker 1: worry or feel guilty or feel like I'm doing something

455
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:46,760
Speaker 1: you know that's that's not great for my body. UM.

456
00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:48,720
Speaker 1: And so that's how that was kind of our goal.

457
00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:51,520
Speaker 1: And we're really really excited about, you know, kind of

458
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:55,280
Speaker 1: sharing the better bagel with you know the world, um,

459
00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:58,560
Speaker 1: and and kind of stemming forward from from there. You mean,

460
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:00,280
Speaker 1: you know, if you do a Google start. Guys have

461
00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:02,200
Speaker 1: been raising a bunch of money from certainly some high

462
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:05,679
Speaker 1: profile individuals. Um, where are you guys in terms of

463
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,680
Speaker 1: product to market? I'm just curious about what's the consumer

464
00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:12,200
Speaker 1: side of this and the consumer ramp up side of this. Yeah.

465
00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,280
Speaker 1: So you know, I fundamentally believe as a founder that

466
00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:17,399
Speaker 1: you know, if you believe in your product, in your mission,

467
00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:19,600
Speaker 1: then you should get the product out in the markets

468
00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:22,520
Speaker 1: as soon as you can, right because one that's the

469
00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:25,119
Speaker 1: only way you're able to learn and collect data and

470
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:28,639
Speaker 1: really run an efficient company. To UM, you know, it's

471
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:31,320
Speaker 1: important to to take the consumer on on the journey

472
00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:34,840
Speaker 1: with you right as you put your story forgiving because

473
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:36,760
Speaker 1: we're running out of time. But in thirty seconds, like

474
00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:40,520
Speaker 1: are you placing our who's placing orders with you? What's

475
00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:42,119
Speaker 1: what are we seeing in terms of kind of the

476
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,480
Speaker 1: balance sheet, in terms of top and bottom line? Just

477
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:48,400
Speaker 1: very quickly. Yeah, so we actually hit a million dollar

478
00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:51,040
Speaker 1: run rate within three months of launch. And I've really

479
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:54,159
Speaker 1: d to see at eat better dot com um, you know,

480
00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:57,520
Speaker 1: and it's really about this, this transformative vision of creating

481
00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:00,480
Speaker 1: that world where you know, we can eat freely without

482
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:02,879
Speaker 1: compromise in any way. We'll stay in touch and let

483
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:04,800
Speaker 1: us know how things are ramping up. Amy Yang, she's

484
00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:10,080
Speaker 1: found her better brand. On the phone from l A. Yeah,

485
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:17,359
Speaker 1: but you let me drive. No, no, no, I'll do gravels.

486
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:22,640
Speaker 1: I want to drive. It's a good question, but drive.

487
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 1: This is the drive to the clothes on Bloomberg Radio.

488
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:33,800
Speaker 1: All right, just coming up on ten minutes away from

489
00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,520
Speaker 1: that closing bell on this Tuesday, as to shortened holiday

490
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:39,080
Speaker 1: trading week. But nonetheless, it's been kind of a wacky

491
00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:42,000
Speaker 1: Tuesday to say the least, and of course driven by

492
00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:45,000
Speaker 1: geopolitical up concerns. Our next guest notes that the SMP

493
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:48,119
Speaker 1: is down ten percent. Maybe I think we thought earlier

494
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:53,200
Speaker 1: wasn't about little We're definitely through. It seems like we've

495
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:55,439
Speaker 1: bounced back a little bit. Yeah, definitely. And but the

496
00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,800
Speaker 1: average stock, he noted, is down or more. So. Let's

497
00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:01,200
Speaker 1: get to it with Walter A. Todd, President and Chief

498
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:04,640
Speaker 1: investment Officer Greenwood Capital Associates, on the phone from Greenwood,

499
00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:07,359
Speaker 1: South Carolina. Walter, so nice to have you here with

500
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:11,280
Speaker 1: Kitty Greifeld and myself. So all right, let's just talk

501
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:13,600
Speaker 1: about the day. First of all, A lot of volatility,

502
00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:16,320
Speaker 1: it seems we know where it's coming from. Uh, I

503
00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:17,840
Speaker 1: don't know, how do you factor in a day like

504
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:23,639
Speaker 1: today into your longer term thinking about the financial markets? Yeah, well,

505
00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:25,800
Speaker 1: good afternoon, Thanks for having me on. Yeah, you know

506
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:27,440
Speaker 1: it's going to be an interesting day. When you pull

507
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:29,920
Speaker 1: up the old G I P on the Bloomberg terminology,

508
00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:32,959
Speaker 1: hundred s and P points on the right hand scale.

509
00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 1: Um so, yeah, it has been very volatile, is very

510
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,720
Speaker 1: fluid situation. UM. I think it's important in times like

511
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:40,840
Speaker 1: these for us is just to kind of, you know,

512
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:43,120
Speaker 1: try to step back and look at you know, try

513
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:46,359
Speaker 1: to maybe dig in on some individual names and you know,

514
00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,320
Speaker 1: earning stories that we're still getting despite all these headlines

515
00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:51,439
Speaker 1: kind of whipping things around. And I think, you know,

516
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:54,159
Speaker 1: it can present opportunities for companies maybe that have just

517
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:57,320
Speaker 1: reported that maybe don't have that much exposure to this

518
00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:00,199
Speaker 1: situation directly that you are getting caught up in this

519
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:03,439
Speaker 1: this macro trade. Yeah, and I mean it's interesting to

520
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:04,919
Speaker 1: hear you say, you know you want to dig in

521
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:08,480
Speaker 1: on specific companies. I mean Home depot comes to mind,

522
00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,400
Speaker 1: because man, their gross margins really didn't look too great

523
00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:15,320
Speaker 1: compared to a year ago. I mean zooming out and

524
00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:17,560
Speaker 1: looking at that at a macro level, I mean, what

525
00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:20,600
Speaker 1: does that tell you in terms of how companies are

526
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:25,240
Speaker 1: dealing with inflation? What the read through into markets is. Yeah,

527
00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:27,480
Speaker 1: I think that's you know, the quarters being reported. Of

528
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:29,960
Speaker 1: course we're looking back are great, right, And to your point,

529
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,679
Speaker 1: they're looking forward. It's the guidance and the issues around

530
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,560
Speaker 1: the supply chain and what that means for margins in

531
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:38,560
Speaker 1: terms of the input costs, et cetera. I don't know.

532
00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:41,760
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised that time depots down on the guidance.

533
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:44,440
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit surprised at the magnitude of the move. Um.

534
00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:46,480
Speaker 1: I don't know why. I was a surprise that growth

535
00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:50,880
Speaker 1: is gonna slow after EPs years. But no, I understand

536
00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:52,760
Speaker 1: you know the dynamic there, and I do think it

537
00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:55,880
Speaker 1: speaks to a bigger issue. It's it's a combination of

538
00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:59,120
Speaker 1: the input costs, but also you know, the demand side

539
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,120
Speaker 1: is good, but it's it's moderating. I mean, let's face

540
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 1: the consumers are having to deal with a lot of

541
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:07,320
Speaker 1: other you know, input costs, themselves a little the gasoline, food,

542
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 1: et cetera. That are going to kind of cramp their

543
00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:11,760
Speaker 1: ability to spend on what they've been spending on for

544
00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:13,920
Speaker 1: the past you know, two years or so. So how

545
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:16,160
Speaker 1: do it make sense though, of the economic data? Is

546
00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:19,840
Speaker 1: that fundamentally something that you think is important? Um? US

547
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:25,200
Speaker 1: consumer confidence dropping to a five month low on inflation concerns. Um.

548
00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:28,080
Speaker 1: So we see that playing out. Meantime, some decent strong

549
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:30,880
Speaker 1: pm I data on the manufacturing and servants sector. So,

550
00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:33,120
Speaker 1: you know, when we kind of get rid of all

551
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:37,880
Speaker 1: of the chaos and the static out there, I mean, fundamentally,

552
00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:42,800
Speaker 1: what kind of backdrop is there for the US economy. Yeah,

553
00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:46,080
Speaker 1: it's very I would say confusing at this point. I mean,

554
00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:48,880
Speaker 1: aside from the geopolitical headlines, like you said, when you

555
00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:51,640
Speaker 1: look at these various inputs, you know, like you said,

556
00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:53,360
Speaker 1: the p m I is the market numbers this morning,

557
00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:55,320
Speaker 1: we're pretty good, actually pretty strong. But then you look

558
00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:58,760
Speaker 1: at consumer competence conference boards. Okay, but the Michigan number

559
00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:01,680
Speaker 1: you know last week, as you know in recession territory,

560
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:04,360
Speaker 1: and you know, some of these Federal Reserve surveys or

561
00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:06,600
Speaker 1: week as well. So it's a very mixed, and again

562
00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:08,440
Speaker 1: I think it's important to go back to see what

563
00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:10,960
Speaker 1: companies are telling you, and I would say that the

564
00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 1: message from management teams is not as dire as some

565
00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:18,240
Speaker 1: of the macro headlines or data points that we're getting.

566
00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:21,120
Speaker 1: It still seems pretty healthy. I would point to Walmart's

567
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:24,320
Speaker 1: quarter um last week, which was pretty upbeat on their

568
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:26,880
Speaker 1: on their outlook, which is a little bit surprising, quite honestly,

569
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 1: so I think, man, it speaks to the broader right,

570
00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:32,760
Speaker 1: a wider swath of the US economy. Is that fair

571
00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:36,680
Speaker 1: to say? I would say so definitely, you know, lower

572
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:40,520
Speaker 1: income kind of dynamic there. But still again the pretty

573
00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:43,000
Speaker 1: upbeat message from the CEO about what they're seeing from

574
00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:45,720
Speaker 1: the consumer. But again it's just a lot of different

575
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:49,680
Speaker 1: cross currents here flying um from from a macro standpoint,

576
00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:52,440
Speaker 1: that are that are moving individual stocks in the markets

577
00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,360
Speaker 1: around pretty ugg resting, and those cross currents from a

578
00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:57,640
Speaker 1: macro perspective, let's just walk through of them. I mean,

579
00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:00,560
Speaker 1: we have the earning season. I mean, again, it was

580
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:03,480
Speaker 1: pretty strong, but you did start to see, uh, maybe

581
00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:06,120
Speaker 1: some not so great news coming out from companies such

582
00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:09,320
Speaker 1: as Home Depot. You have geopolitical tensions, you also have

583
00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:11,360
Speaker 1: the FED to worry about, and I would love to

584
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:14,600
Speaker 1: hear your perspective on how you think FED officials are

585
00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:17,440
Speaker 1: looking across the balance of risks right now. And I

586
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:20,240
Speaker 1: do want to point out the yield curve looks very

587
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:22,760
Speaker 1: very flat right now through forty basis points on that

588
00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:26,880
Speaker 1: very key two's tense curve. Yeah. Absolutely, Okay, it's a

589
00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:29,280
Speaker 1: great point. And you know, it's funny, we're basically the

590
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:31,040
Speaker 1: same face on the SMP that we were in the

591
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,280
Speaker 1: first week of October last year from a level standpoint,

592
00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:36,040
Speaker 1: but you look at kind of the changes on the

593
00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:40,280
Speaker 1: FED outlook back then there was one hike estimated today

594
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:42,840
Speaker 1: six um. You know, the two years at twenty eight

595
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:46,800
Speaker 1: basis points today as at three UM. So very different

596
00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:50,920
Speaker 1: backdrop from the FEDS. And I don't en be their

597
00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:55,400
Speaker 1: position right now because their growth is clearly slowing. It's

598
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:57,960
Speaker 1: the question of how much is more permanent versus I'm

599
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:00,800
Speaker 1: a crime related etcetera. But then at the same time,

600
00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:04,840
Speaker 1: you've got this inflationary event going on geo politically politically,

601
00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:07,520
Speaker 1: spiking energy prices, et cetera. So I don't I don't

602
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,280
Speaker 1: envy their position, but I think they're going to probably

603
00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:13,000
Speaker 1: go slow at first and then speed up if they

604
00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:15,960
Speaker 1: have to, based on the balance of what we've heard

605
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,640
Speaker 1: from from all the individuals, which are which is quite

606
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:22,840
Speaker 1: a bit of commentary unfortunately from the FED presidents themselves

607
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:25,880
Speaker 1: and create even more confusion. Walter just quickly just got

608
00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:28,320
Speaker 1: about thirty seconds you you know, shared with us some

609
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,120
Speaker 1: notes about the S and P down from its highs

610
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:34,320
Speaker 1: average stockdown or more. Does that mean there's some buying

611
00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 1: opportunities in your view? And just quickly yeah, I do.

612
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:40,280
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's across sectors. There's a lot

613
00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 1: of focus on on technology have been hit the hardest,

614
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:45,480
Speaker 1: but I think you can dive into individual sectors across

615
00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:49,360
Speaker 1: the board and look at the opportunities in healthcare and industrials, uh,

616
00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:52,640
Speaker 1: in financials and even you know energy pulling back here

617
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:55,560
Speaker 1: off of the oil movie. So I think I think

618
00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:58,560
Speaker 1: there are some significant opportunities, particularly on the cap scale,

619
00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:00,680
Speaker 1: smaller cap stocks. If you have some bit harder than

620
00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:03,240
Speaker 1: somebody gives you some new money just twenty seconds, where

621
00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:06,560
Speaker 1: would you put it to work? Right now? Yeah, So

622
00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:08,880
Speaker 1: just some individual names that we hold that we've found

623
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:12,560
Speaker 1: very trying to have already reported drop Box Cisco qualcom

624
00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:15,640
Speaker 1: in fell J M J. Biogen. All right, that's pretty

625
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:19,520
Speaker 1: interesting for our client. Okay, good to know. Love specificity.

626
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:21,960
Speaker 1: 'm Walter Todd, Thank you, Thank you. He is President

627
00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:25,240
Speaker 1: and chief investment Officer at Greenwood Capital Associates. On the

628
00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:28,720
Speaker 1: phone from Greenwood, South Carolina. Thanks for listening to Bloomberg

629
00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:32,440
Speaker 1: Business Week. Download the podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg

630
00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:34,360
Speaker 1: dot com. And you can also listen to our radio

631
00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 1: show at two pm Eastern on Bloomberg Radio or watch

632
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:39,360
Speaker 1: us on YouTube search Bloomberg Global News