WEBVTT - Bloomberg Wall Street Week: Stimulus Special 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.360 This is Bloomberg Wall Street Week. What's the state of 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:06.360 corporate governance? The deficent is a real issue. The US 0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:09.960 economy continues to send mixed signals, the financial stories that 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:13.560 keep our world fed, action to con concerns over dollar liquidity, 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:16.599 and encouraging China data. The five hundred wealthiest people in 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:19.560 the world. Through the eyes of the most influential voices 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:22.880 Larry Summers, the former Treasury Secretary, star Ward, CEO, Kevin 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:26.640 Johnson sec Chairman j Clayton. Bloomberg wool Street Week with 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:30.639 David Weston from Bloomberg Radio. The check is in the 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:34.400 mail for schools, for states, for restaurants, and oh yes, 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:39.400 for of American households. This is a special Stimulus edition 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:43.440 of Bloomberg Wall Street Week. I'm David Weston. President Biden 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:46.640 pledged to get the virus under control and get Americans vaccinated, 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:50.000 a priority that is reflected in the stimulus package. Everything 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.760 in the American Rescue Plan addresses a real need, including 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:58.760 investments to fund our entire vaccination effort, more vaccines, more 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:04.000 vaccinate tours, and more vaccination sites. About seven percent of 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:06.360 the one point nine trillion dollars will go towards the 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:11.800 country's pandemic response, including testing, contact tracing, and vaccine distribution. 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:14.840 The government is not alone in its efforts to get 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:18.960 people vaccinated. In North Carolina, Honeywell has been partnering with Atrium, 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:21.320 one of the largest health care systems in the country. 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:24.600 We have CEO Eugene Woods. How the campaign to get 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:27.800 shots in arms is going. Yeah, the challenge has been 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:30.319 from the beginning is getting enough vaccines. I think you 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:33.040 see things ramping up and so we're excited about that now. 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:36.160 Really it's just a distribution issue. I do have concerns 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:39.800 that we need to to take a state like North Carolina. 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:42.200 We're about ten million people in North Carolina. If you 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:44.280 take out the two million that or sixteen and under 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:48.640 we've got to vaccinate about, you know, to get her 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:51.680 her immunity. So that's eight millions. That's about seven million 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:53.800 or so that we need to get vaccinated. And we've 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.840 gotten one point five shots and arms one point five 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:58.600 million shots and I'm so far, so we still got 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.200 a ways to go. That's aid. We went from about 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:03.560 the bottom fifteen in terms of states to number one, 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:06.920 uh last week in terms of over sixty five getting 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:09.280 shots and arms. So we're gonna continue this path, and 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:12.480 as as supply becomes more plentiful, I think we're gonna 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:16.440 be able to continue to use mass mass vaccination sites 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:20.760 to get shots. Before this this variant comes into play, 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:24.200 which is what concerns me. Are you getting any resistance 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:26.320 at all? Because we hear some descriptions that could be 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:30.840 of the population that just isn't really interested in getting vaccinated. Yeah, 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:33.600 that's the challenge, right, So if you think about her community, 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:35.560 depending on what scientists you talked about, we need to 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:41.320 get about the population vaccinated. Right now, there's about hesitancy 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:45.519 about about thirty percent that I'm hearing the latest statistics, 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:49.040 So to get we have to eat into that about right, 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:50.919 And so that's the work that we're doing right now. 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:54.560 There are some glimmers of hope um African Americans, for example, 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.200 who have had for all very good reasons and mistrust 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.720 of the health care system. Back in the number said 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:04.519 they we're going to get the vaccine vaccine. The most 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:07.000 recent numbers I saw us at six. So we're beginning 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.520 to make some progress, but they're still work to be done. 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:12.280 So address that question very specifically, because I know in 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:15.400 New York, for example, that there's a disproportionate number of 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:19.239 African Americans and Latin X individuals who are more at risk, 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:21.880 disproportion number who haven't gotten the vaccine yet there they 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:24.400 are under indexing. Is that true in North Carolina at 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:26.800 this point? It's true all over the country unfortunately. And 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:29.000 that's why you've got to be really really intentional about 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.680 your strategies to reach those communities of color. So, for example, 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:35.920 we have roving bands that we're working with this coalition 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:39.560 of churches, about sixty churches. They're African American and Latin X. 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:41.720 And so we're going through the parking lots and and 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:44.800 we're really saying tell us where we need to go, 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:47.640 and in the roving bands and think about a physician 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:50.080 office basically on wheels, and we go to where where 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:53.640 we're needed sev of the people that were vaccinating or 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:55.720 people of color. And then when we've done the mass 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:59.520 vaccination events at Bank of America Stadium, we preferentially opened 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:03.080 the schedule to those churches another other vulnerable community. So 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:05.320 you've got to be really intentional about the strategy. The 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.360 one thing that I'm proud working together with Honeywell, the 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:12.400 Panthers and Motor Speedway. We put together a playbook. Andy Slavitt, 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:16.520 who's on the President Biden's Corner Virus task for US, 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:19.200 asked for sort of what have the key lessons learned, 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:20.960 and so we shared that a couple of weeks ago. 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:24.000 He shared that with the governors and we're hoping that 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:27.039 that there's some insights there that could help the country 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:28.960 do this well. So, Jeanne, if you would take it 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.520 a half step back here from the specifics of the 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.400 vaccination and talking about healthcare provision more generally in this 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:36.080 time of the pandemic and beyond. We now have a 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:38.400 new stimulus bill one point nine trillion dollars has a 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:42.840 fair amounty money in there actually subsidize some uh the exchanges. 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:44.960 So the people in Ford Healthcare, do you see a 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:48.480 shift going on because of the stimulus bill in your business? Yeah, 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:50.719 I mean, I think we're really excited that the stimulus 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:53.960 bill has a number of important provisions, including, you know, 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:58.000 additional dollars for for for distribution of the vaccine, and 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:01.320 there's some other uh part of that that includes helping 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:03.840 some of these community based centers that are really been 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.760 struggling and also rural care. So we're we're excited about 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:09.080 that that what we didn't see in that is additional 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:12.640 relief for providers. Uh and to the extent that we 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:14.680 would hope. We've been on the front line of this 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:17.240 health systems and so we're still not out of the woods. 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:19.680 So we're we're hoping to work with the administration to 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:24.080 have other opportunities for providing additional support to the health 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:26.600 systems like ours, because we're still very much in the battle. 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:29.440 What about the cost of healthcare? We hear from some 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:32.000 people that with the move to telehealth, which seems to 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.280 have really ramped up during the pandemic, that we may 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:36.440 actually finally be able to bend that cost curve a 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:38.599 little bit. Are you finding that in North Carolina? Yeah? 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:40.159 I mean, I think we could spend the next hour 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.400 talking about the cost of health care and affordability. We 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:45.240 we do know that it's a multi factorial issue that 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.479 includes pharma, that includes insurance companies, providers, We all own 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:50.359 a piece of that. But I think that what we 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:52.440 learned in the pandemic is that we can provide care 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:56.440 in vastly different ways. For example, we started UM when 0:05:56.440 --> 0:06:00.000 we when we had some challenges with occupancy bed occupancy. 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:03.560 We started this hospital come program. We've seen fifty thousand 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:06.200 patients in their home during this COVID UH and that's 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:08.920 just a different sort of way to deliver care. So 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.640 we really think the learnings that we've had through this 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.680 through this past year will carry forward and among other things, 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:17.560 will will help with affordability of healthcare. That was Atrium 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:21.200 Health CEO Eugene Woods coming up. What the stimulus package 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:23.479 would mean for the states and what the three hundred 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:26.680 and sixty billion dollars they get will pay for from 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:30.040 Ned Lamont, governor of the state of Connecticut. That's next 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:42.719 on Wall Street Week on Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Wall 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:46.560 Street Week with David Weston from Bloomberg Radio. One of 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.360 the most controversial parts of the one point nine trillion 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.599 dollar packages the aid for state and local governments, with 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:55.920 Democrats insisting it's badly needed to make up for lost 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:59.440 revenues and for increased costs they've incurred because of the 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:02.239 pandemic that has led to more than a million state 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:06.400 and municipal employees losing their jobs. About one fifth of 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:09.240 the one point nine trillion dollars stimulus package will go 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:12.760 to states and local governments. The Care's Act, signed into 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:15.679 law a year ago, included one hundred and fifty billion 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:19.360 dollars in aid to states and localities. This time they're 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:22.880 getting three hundred fifty billion dollars and an additional ten 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:26.840 billion dollars to put toward critical infrastructure projects. Here's New 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:29.560 Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. We need a big chuck of 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:31.600 state local aid. And we're not alone. This is every 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:35.280 American state. That sounds abstract, but what that means is 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:41.280 keeping the frontline workers, police, fire educators, healthcare workers employed 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:44.600 in their position, delivering the services that our residents so 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:48.480 desperately need. But Republicans take a very different view, saying 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.120 the state assistance amounts to a bailout of states that 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:54.480 have run up their bills under Democratic leadership. Those at 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:57.080 a focused bill of targeted bill. We need to help 0:07:57.120 --> 0:07:58.920 the people have lost their jobs. We need to help 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:01.360 our small business. No, it was a payback to New 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.400 York and California. I mean, think about what they've done 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.520 with the state bailoffs that Senator Rick Scott of Florida, 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.200 and it does appear that at least when it comes 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:13.920 to revenue losses, different states have had very different experiences. 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:17.880 Here's Jamie Diamond from JP Morgan Chase. Half the states 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.960 revenues went up, they didn't go down. Do they need help? 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:23.400 So they should be cautious about overdoing it. Get us 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:26.000 through the problem. Keept the country growing, but you know, 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:28.120 don't try not to overdo it too much. According to 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:32.000 the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, states and localities 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.320 have received three hundred sixty billion dollars from the federal 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:38.440 government since the beginning of the pandemic, but states say 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:41.560 they need more assistance because much of the funding provided 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:46.160 to them has been limited to specific programs like Medicaid. Again, 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:50.520 Senator Rick Scott, our state revenues are equal to what 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:53.199 they year the year before, and they gave more to 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:55.560 states like New York and California than state. It's like 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.600 my home state of Florida. But I mean, it makes 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:01.400 no sense how unfair this is to the American public. 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.120 Whatever the merits. In the end, about one fifth of 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:06.960 the one point nine trillion dollar stimulus package will go 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:10.320 to states and local governments. We asked Connecticut Governor Ned 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:14.079 Lamont why his state needed the money. Look, we know 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:17.600 that we've got our budget set for the next couple 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:19.480 of years. We know that we don't have to raise 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.319 any taxes. We know that there won't be any broad layoffs, 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:25.120 and that's all thanks to the state and local aid. 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.079 But more importantly, I love what we're doing on education. 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:30.960 We have our schools have been open su September, but 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:34.160 we still have our kids who haven't been in the 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.560 classroom for um nine months. We've got a lot of 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:39.600 catching up to do, and it's a chance to make 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:42.000 sure that wasn't a last year. We can build off 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:43.840 of it. So what are you gonna do with the 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:45.800 money that you get? I mean, as a practica money. 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:49.680 You just mentioned employment issues, your budget and taxes, but 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:52.280 where's the money really gonna go. We're gonna spend it. Well, 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:54.199 first of all, on education. I can tell you the 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:58.520 school year doesn't end on June. It restarts again on 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:01.480 you know, July six, and we're going to have a 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:05.760 lot of activities in and around camps and learning experiential 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:08.120 a lot of kids who really haven't been with their 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:10.760 peers in a long time. Do I everything you can 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:14.160 to help them catch up. Maybe bring some college kids 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.600 in as apprentice teachers to help them learn and have 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.679 role models there and then come to fall, we'd have 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:23.679 after school activities, social workers and help these kids hit 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.920 the ground running. Is there any consideration at all of 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:30.080 extending the school year? Absolutely, I mean whether I legally 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:33.000 extend the school year or just say, starting July tenth, 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:36.040 we're going to have a two months of summer programs. 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:39.079 We'll figure out how to phrase that. So if it's 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:41.200 in facts the case that the schools are open but 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:43.320 you don't have all the students back in the classroom, 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:45.840 what is the barrier? Why aren't they back in the classroom. 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:48.000 It's it's sort of tragic, Davi. But I mean in 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:54.000 our suburban towns are more rural towns, predominantly white towns, 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:56.040 of the kids are back. But a lot of the 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:59.240 kids in our urban centers, small as they may be, 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:02.319 were likely to be a children of color. They were 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:05.880 hit particularly harder, their families were by COVID, and they've 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:08.200 been a lot more reluctant to get back. But now 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:12.240 we got our teachers vaccinated, our healthcare um frontline, and 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:15.760 the schools are vaccinated. They're calling up the kids saying 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:17.920 come back for the final two months. It's worth it. 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:21.200 Are all your teachers back are essentially all your teachers back. 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:24.520 Essentially they're all back. And what other effects we have. 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:26.680 I'm talking about employment because we saw in the last 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.160 employment numbers for the country the place where we really 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:31.520 lost a lot was actually in state and local employees. 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:33.920 What's happened in employment situation in Connecticut? Where are you 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:36.120 compared to a year ago? Where are you going in 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:39.440 terms of you know, actual state employees. That number has 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:43.680 been trending down for quite some time, and frankly, I 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:46.480 don't see us ramping up a lot. It's not COVID related, 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:49.760 but we're making more investments in a computer technology so 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:52.600 we can be a lot more efficient and less cost 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:54.600 I'll tell you the other thing I'm really excited about, 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:58.240 David as uh the money for daycare and childcare. We 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:03.360 lost a lot of employees and the service industry, overwhelmingly women, 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:07.040 often women of color. And the fact that we're going 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:11.240 to have heavily subsidize are even free daycare and childcare, uh, 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:12.920 you know, for the rest of this year, can make 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:17.000 a big difference in helping them get back into the workforce. Governor, 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:19.680 what about infrastructure, Because one of the things we've heard 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:22.400 about is not only a promise perhaps infrastructure coming down 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:24.480 the pike, but also that some of the money going 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:27.199 to state and local government could be used for infrastructure. 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:30.160 Is that true in Connecticut? Uh? That is it's it's 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.400 not big dollars for infrastructure. We need that infrastructure bill 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:36.439 going through. And we've got old infrastructure here in the Northeast. 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:39.360 As you know, this stuff was all built, uh you know, 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:43.200 sixty eight years ago. So what I've got our Department 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:47.319 of Transportation doing right now is doing the design, build, engineering, 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.640 ready to go. So when the federal government says, here's 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:54.840 our infrastructure plan, will be funded, Connecticut and get in 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:56.160 the front of the line and get some of that, 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:58.760 give us an update. If you could governor on where 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:00.640 COVID is in the state, it can etiquette. I've been 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:03.000 sort of watching the positivity rates and they've been coming down. 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:06.120 For you. Where are you in terms of the extended 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:09.120 the disease in the state and restrictions. So when it 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:12.560 comes to um you know, infection rate like the rest 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:15.400 of the country, we've come down. It's not down to 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:19.560 you know, one percent, it's hovering around three percent. But 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:21.760 the good news, David, which people want to pay more 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:24.880 attention to is Uh, they tend to be younger people 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:26.720 who are a little more likely to be the ones 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:30.960 who are infected. Now, Folks fifty five and over overwhelmingly 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:34.120 vaccinated or will be in the next ten days or so. 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:36.280 So we have a lot less infection, a lot less 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.800 complications with the most at risk group. So I think 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:42.240 even though we have sort of a three percent two 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:45.679 to three percent infection rate, um, it's not really impacting 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:49.600 our hospitals, emergency rooms. I see us fatalities that those 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:52.040 numbers continue to get better. Where are you on the 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:54.480 restrictions Texas? Of course, in Mississippi have just taking them 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:57.760 all off. It's only voluntary. Where is Connecticut? I think 0:13:57.800 --> 0:13:59.559 I heard on the radio that you're going back to 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:01.840 a hundred sent in the restaurants. Is that right? Yeah, 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:06.040 that is true. We're doing uh, you know, restaurants retail 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:10.480 houses of worship at a hundred percent occupancy. But we're 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:13.840 maintaining the mask requirement and we're maintaining the six foot 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:17.760 of distancing. That was Democratic Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:20.920 coming up. Everyone agrees that it's important to get children 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:23.520 back to school, but what does it take to do 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:27.640 that safely? Randy Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:31.920 says the Sinner's Package is the lifeline the education system needed. 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:40.880 That's next on Wall Street Week on Bloomberg. This is 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:45.280 Bloomberg Wall Street Week with David Weston from Bloomberg Radio. 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:48.480 Education in the time of the pandemic has been hard 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:52.600 on teachers and students. Schools across the country would try 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:55.280 to reopen, only to be forced to close again when 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:59.480 COVID nineteen cases spiked. Here. Senator Ben Cardon of Maryland, 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:02.400 are schools need to open safely and be able to 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:06.120 remain on open safely. The American Rescue Plans sets aside 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:10.120 about one billion dollars to help K through twelve schools 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:14.080 reopened by funding improvements the ventilation systems and buying personal 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:17.600 protective equipment. There's a lot of resources and energy focused 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:20.640 on making sure that we contain the pandemic and importantly 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.280 that schools can open safely so that all of those 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:25.680 parents can get back to work knowing that their children 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.080 are are learning what they need to learn in school. 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:31.160 That's Heather Bouchet, member of the White House Council of 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:34.480 Economic Advisors. While parents are eager to get children back 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:37.680 to school. Some teachers unions have resisted a return to 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:41.160 in person classes for fear of new waves of COVID cases. 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:46.960 Here's Wall Street Week special contributor Larry Summers entrenched. I'll 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:53.040 say it, uh, teacher union interests that have resisted going 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:58.840 back to school have really been putting their own material 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:04.840 benefit I had of uh, the interests of their kids, 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:09.080 and that is not the best tradition of the teaching profession. 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:13.400 Teachers were forced to shift their lesson plans online abruptly 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:17.120 when lockdowns were imposed last year. According to the Economic 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:20.520 Policy Institute, a third of surveyed educators felt that the 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:24.480 training they received for online learning was not useful. We 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:27.880 can understand and help our teachers use technology in in 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:32.120 more fulsome ways and more effective ways, and we can 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:36.400 take leadership at the federal level around broadband and device ubiquity. 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:40.880 That's former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. Access to devices and 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:46.080 consistent internet also deepened longstanding racial and economic disparities in students. 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:50.400 Here's Robin Hood Foundation CEO Westmore. You know when when 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:53.520 when schools closed? And in New York City alone, you 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:56.520 know three hundred thou school children lacked access to devices. 0:16:56.840 --> 0:16:59.680 Under the one point nine trillion dollar stiments, planned colleges 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:03.720 and higher education institutions would get almost forty billion dollars 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:08.639 towards financial aid grants for students. Again, Margaret Spellings, we 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:12.639 have just wide variety from gigantic little cities in our 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:17.080 flagship universities to you know, very customized learning at smaller 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:20.639 liberal arts colleges or hbc U S or m s 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:24.320 I S, etcetera. And so yes, they're all under strain, 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:27.960 they're all under financial challenge. Randy Weingarten has become the 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:30.760 face of teachers unions in the United States, having served 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:33.720 as president of the American Federation of Teachers for over 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:36.879 twenty years. So we asked her straight up, is it 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:40.320 the unions who are keeping our school children out of classrooms? 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:45.120 You know, we did a poll in February early February 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:49.359 UM and asked our members if we got what the 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:52.119 a f T had been proposing for a long time 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:55.880 and then layered on with with vaccines, meaning if we 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:59.720 were able to have the mitigation strategies that CDC says 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:03.320 is important. That is also important in all of these 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:06.280 new studies that show that kids can go back, if 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:09.520 we had the testing like the NFL had, so that 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.199 you can not only reopen, but stay open because you 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:16.000 were managing and seeing a symptomatic spread, which is what 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:18.280 is most of the spread here. And if we have 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:24.520 vaccine access, so mitigation testing and vaccines. A d eight 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:29.320 percent of my members said that they were willing to 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:32.600 be in school with a plan like that because they 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.879 know how important it is for kids to be in 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:39.600 school and do in school learning. So it's always been 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:43.600 not an either or for us. It's always a both, 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:47.119 and how do we make school shore that in school 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:50.840 learning is safe so that we can make it safe 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:53.840 for everyone. It's a lot safer than it was, though, 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:55.960 isn't it. I mean, for example, in Cleveland, there's a 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:59.199 priority given to vaccinations for teachers as it moved a 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:02.080 long way the direction you get too, because those parents 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:03.880 are saying, when do we get our kids back into 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:06.880 the classroom. Yes, it's moved. I mean, I think what 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:11.680 you've seen is we've learned a lot last September and October. 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:16.399 I mean, the difficulty, David, was that Trump refused to 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:19.000 do any of the things that we asked him to do. 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:22.800 That the doctors and the experts told us we needed. 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:25.440 You know, I tease a lot that I'm so studies 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:27.960 teacher and a lawyer. I don't even play a scientist 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:31.000 on TV. I have to listen to the scientists in 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.320 terms of what they tell us we need. And what 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:37.440 happened was we asked Trump and Divorce, would you get 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:39.800 us data, would you get us the guidance in a 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:42.000 in a real and transparent way, and would you get 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:44.720 us the resources. They basically said no to all of 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:48.639 it and just created the polarization. But you had districts 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:51.399 and you now have some of the CDC reports that 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:55.119 kept on trying different things in the fall. We learned 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:58.560 a lot from them. Biden, the new president is getting 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:02.440 us the things we need. This, that the mitigation strategies, 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:06.240 that resources for them, and that's why you're seeing so 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:10.720 many districts now reopening, and we now have less than 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:16.760 less than of districts that are still all virtual. So 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:20.080 there's been a sea change in the last I would 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:22.880 say two or three months, led by New York City 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:27.239 now Chicago pretty soon l A and and lots of 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:30.840 small cities in between. That was Randy Weingarten, President of 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.560 the American Federation of Teachers. Coming up, we take a 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:36.520 look at just how historic this stimulus package really is, 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:40.280 with special contributor Larry Summers at Harvard and Neil Ferguson 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.440 of the Hoover Institution. That's next on Wall Street Week 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:50.680 on Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Wall Street Week with David 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:54.760 Weston from Bloomberg Radio. The idea that it's prosperity that 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:59.080 causes inflation may not have any factual support in history, 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:03.680 But since when did fact every interfere with Washington policy making? 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:07.240 That was Lewis Ruckeiser back in January of two thousand one. 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:10.960 Twenty years later, that debate over what causes inflation is 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:14.159 dividing economists and policymakers once again in a time of 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:17.080 easy money and at one point nine trillion dollar infusion 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:20.280 of support into the economy. We asked economists in Wall 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:24.520 Street Week special contributor Larry Summers and historian Hoover Institutions 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:28.000 Neil Ferguson about what we can learn from the history 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:32.480 of inflation. Well, I think it's pass of a continuum 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:38.879 of uh acts by democratic administrations that have expanded the 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:46.159 role of government in alleviating poverty and economic hardships. So 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:49.880 you can trace a continuous line if you want, from 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:53.639 the New Deal through Lyndon Johnson's Great Society to this. 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:58.120 But there's a difference. This is a very very large 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:05.040 amounts of money relative to the US economy, and it 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:09.320 implies very large deficits by the standards of of peacetime. 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:15.040