Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carl Masser. Every day
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Speaker 1: You are listening to Bloomberg Business Week. So some of
Speaker 1: the headlines we've seen record cover of nineteen deaths in
Speaker 1: Eastern Europe. We see new curbs coming into place over Europe.
Speaker 1: Charlie mentioned earlier about JP Morgan Chase asking most of
Speaker 1: its employees in England to work from home. So we
Speaker 1: continue to see this UM sore court in cases really
Speaker 1: starting a key battleground states to UM as we all
Speaker 1: head to the polls for today's presidential election. Let's get
Speaker 1: back to someone who is seeing all of this happen firsthand.
Speaker 1: Dr Peter Alperin is VP at Ducks May. It's a
Speaker 1: professional medical network for physicians. He joins us on the
Speaker 1: phone in San Francisco, where he practices. Um, nice to
Speaker 1: have you back with us, Dr Alprin. How are you
Speaker 1: What are you seeing when it comes to the virus
Speaker 1: right now? Oh? Well, thanks for having me back in
Speaker 1: San Francisco. Actually, we have been pretty fortunate in the
Speaker 1: sense that we've had kept our baseline levels of coronavirus
Speaker 1: pretty low. And um, we've been had really good community
Speaker 1: support in terms of people doing the things that matter socially,
Speaker 1: distancing and wearing masks. Um, that's been We've seen you know,
Speaker 1: outbreaks of course. Uh, and we've been relatively slow to open.
Speaker 1: So in San Francisco, things are looking pretty good here
Speaker 1: on election day. But when you look around the country,
Speaker 1: how do you see it and what are your anticipation
Speaker 1: or what do you expect kind of how this plays
Speaker 1: out for the U, especially watching I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's a fair assumption that, in terms of what's going
Speaker 1: on in Europe, should we assume that's going to happen
Speaker 1: here in the US. Yeah, So, Um, it is a
Speaker 1: little scared when you look around the country where you're
Speaker 1: definitely seeing virus caseloads surge. You're seeing um, you know,
Speaker 1: increased case testing rates as well as increased numbers of hospitalizations. UM.
Speaker 1: And I think what you're seeing in Europe is in
Speaker 1: some ways what's playing out in many parts of the
Speaker 1: country here with these increased caseloads, particularly in the middle
Speaker 1: part of the country and other places where you know
Speaker 1: people have gathered. UM. It is a it's really just
Speaker 1: the same things that help us prevent UM. You know,
Speaker 1: the spread of COVID nineteen that we've talked about a
Speaker 1: million times. It's this is very much a marathon and
Speaker 1: not a sprint. So it's very very difficult. I know
Speaker 1: people are tired, but we really have to persevere. Well,
Speaker 1: what are you guys finding and the folks that you
Speaker 1: know within your netric metric network, excuse me, within your
Speaker 1: network at doximity. You know, what are doctors hearing from
Speaker 1: patients because you guys are doing, as we know a
Speaker 1: lot of telemedicine. We've talked with this, you know about
Speaker 1: this with you before. You know, what are they hearing
Speaker 1: from patients? Are they kind of getting back to taking
Speaker 1: care of you know, normal medical procedure is um or
Speaker 1: are they still kind of hesitant. Yeah, so UM. On
Speaker 1: the network, we're seeing a tremendous amount of discussion related
Speaker 1: to uh COVID nineteen in the various topics that you
Speaker 1: brought up. Specifically, UM physicians are discussing that there's that
Speaker 1: you know, patients are UM, you know, having just you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's a tough time out there and trying to UM,
Speaker 1: you know, take care of themselves and their family members.
Speaker 1: But in particular we are seeing UM a persistence of telehealth.
Speaker 1: To telehealth is really has UM is staying the course.
Speaker 1: It's obviously less than it was in the springtime when
Speaker 1: there was a huge surge, but we're still seeing around
Speaker 1: particularly of healthcare being delivered through telehealth. Although many physicians
Speaker 1: have of course reopened their offices and there are procedures
Speaker 1: that are being done UM and but they're being very
Speaker 1: careful as they bring patients into their office. That's another
Speaker 1: topic of discussion on the Doctor Simity network is all
Speaker 1: the protocols and things that have happened to UM patients
Speaker 1: have a safe encounter with their physicians when they do
Speaker 1: when they do need to come into their offices, so
Speaker 1: distancing UM, washing their hands and spacing out those appointments
Speaker 1: just a little bit more. What do you think we
Speaker 1: need to think about two in terms of I actually
Speaker 1: went to the poll this morning, really early, first thing
Speaker 1: in the morning, mostly as a journalist. I kind of
Speaker 1: wanted to see what it turnout and what it was like.
Speaker 1: UM did drop my ballot, But UM, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: I did think about I don't really want to be
Speaker 1: around a lot of people, you know, and I do
Speaker 1: think about is it just the basic safety, you know,
Speaker 1: to wash your hands, keep your social distancing. And I
Speaker 1: think everybody understand, certainly in this New York metro area
Speaker 1: the protocols. Um, but I do think there are people
Speaker 1: who are concerned still and understandably so understandably so. UM,
Speaker 1: but you know that the need to vote is so
Speaker 1: important and so critical. So if you are going to
Speaker 1: go to the polls today, um, and you haven't gone already, UM,
Speaker 1: if you can go in the midday when polls tend
Speaker 1: to be slightly have fewer people, that's a great thing
Speaker 1: to do, because it really is please you sort of imply, Carol,
Speaker 1: it's really about keeping your distance and maintaining that so,
Speaker 1: you know, staying six feet away from people, bringing your
Speaker 1: own pen as always, of course, a good idea reviewing
Speaker 1: your ballot. Knowing knowing who you and who you want
Speaker 1: to vote for is um yes or no is super
Speaker 1: important as well, so you spend less time inside of
Speaker 1: the actual pulling up if you can, you can perhaps
Speaker 1: wait in your car if that works for you, so
Speaker 1: that you can stay a little more isolated, and of
Speaker 1: course wear a mask. So just some of those common
Speaker 1: sense things I think are tremendously important. Hey, one last
Speaker 1: question before we go, um, Dr Alprin. You know I'm
Speaker 1: hearing from people. I'm seeing it that medical plans where
Speaker 1: telemedicine was kind of adopted just kind of loosely to
Speaker 1: get us through COVID, now systems are saying or employers
Speaker 1: are saying, listen, this is going to be a part
Speaker 1: of your medical plan going forward. We've turned the quarter
Speaker 1: on this, you think, I do. You know that's something
Speaker 1: that we've seen a tremendous amount of discussion on the
Speaker 1: Docimity network related to to tell in medicine. I think
Speaker 1: we are going to turn the corner. Patients really like
Speaker 1: the convenience that telehealth provides, particularly patients with chronic conditions,
Speaker 1: so that they can uh, you know, be seen a
Speaker 1: little bit more frequently by their providers and in a
Speaker 1: safer environment. And I think physicians have m have realized
Speaker 1: that this is something that they need to offer, and
Speaker 1: I think figuring out how to do that is a
Speaker 1: bit of an ongoing process in terms of how to
Speaker 1: incorporate it into their practice. But I think it's her
Speaker 1: to stay all right. Gonna leave it on that note,
Speaker 1: stay safe, Really appreciate your time. Dr Peter Alpern, He's
Speaker 1: vice president of do Simity, also a physician in private
Speaker 1: practice in San Francisco, and of course joining us on
Speaker 1: the phone from San Francisco on this election day Tuesday.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: Are most read story number one on the Bloomberg Termamental
Speaker 1: about China suspending the Shanghai and Hong Kong debut of
Speaker 1: and Groups thirty five billion dollar offering. It was supposed
Speaker 1: to be the world's biggest I p O was supposed
Speaker 1: to happen Thursday, but it's not. You knew about it,
Speaker 1: thanks tort Bloomberg New Economy Editorial director Andy Brown. He
Speaker 1: has written and talked about how aunt's biggest obstacles, maybe
Speaker 1: the Chinese government. Andy is with us again on the
Speaker 1: phone in New York City, and I'm so glad you're here.
Speaker 1: You know, this headline hit and I think for a
Speaker 1: lot of people it was a bit shocking. But you
Speaker 1: did write about this and kind of gave us all
Speaker 1: the heads up. And a colony wrote last month, why
Speaker 1: is it, though, that China is doing this? You know,
Speaker 1: Jack ma has always had an uneasy, ambiguous relationship with
Speaker 1: Chinese authorities. He once was he famously quoted as saying
Speaker 1: love the government, but don't marry them. In other words,
Speaker 1: keep your distance. And regulators have never quite known what
Speaker 1: to make of Jack ma Um. On the one hand,
Speaker 1: they look at him as a big opportunity. He's clearly
Speaker 1: a disruptor. He's bringing a lot of small and medium
Speaker 1: sized enterprises into the formal economy, putting capital their way.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, there's always been the sense among
Speaker 1: regulators that he's an accident waiting to happen. Um. They
Speaker 1: haven't been able to decide. And yesterday or today rather
Speaker 1: they did uh. They've decided that he's too much of
Speaker 1: a risk and they're reining him in. Well, and why wait, though,
Speaker 1: kind of to the eleventh hour. You know, Andy, this
Speaker 1: is obviously a company that they've been looking at for
Speaker 1: some time. Why is it, you know, is it just
Speaker 1: because the I p O finally said to them, what
Speaker 1: we've got to We've got to really now look at
Speaker 1: this more closely and maybe do something about it. Well,
Speaker 1: he made a terrible, a terrible political mistake. It was
Speaker 1: at at a at a conference recently in Shanghai. He
Speaker 1: lit into Chinese and international financial regulators, basically called them
Speaker 1: all a bunch of fusty old folk holding back innovation,
Speaker 1: stunting the dreams of young people. Um, you know, not
Speaker 1: not under not understand. He said that the Basel accord
Speaker 1: was an old people was an old people's club. He
Speaker 1: said banks in China, um what they sickly had a
Speaker 1: had a pawn shop mentality. And he said all this
Speaker 1: at a conference where the headline that the keynote speaker
Speaker 1: was one Chief Sean. He's one of the most powerful
Speaker 1: men in China. Formerly he was the anti corruptions are
Speaker 1: but it's also one of the godfathers of the Chinese
Speaker 1: banking system. And one Chi Shan's line at that conference
Speaker 1: was completely opposite. His line was we have to be cautious,
Speaker 1: safety first, and Jack Mark comes in and says, we've
Speaker 1: got to rip it all up and start again one
Speaker 1: Chi Shan. Obviously his arguments have won the day. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can't I anticipate that. Um you know, uh that
Speaker 1: Jack Mars you know, PR team kind of sitting at
Speaker 1: the side being like, what are you saying? What are
Speaker 1: you saying? Um? What's interesting is though, you know, Andy,
Speaker 1: I think about China wanting to open up and be
Speaker 1: much more involved in and be really dominant, whether it's technology, finance,
Speaker 1: more sophisticated parts of the global economy, and I feel
Speaker 1: like Auntie is one way for them to do this.
Speaker 1: But it's interesting then to see them kind of rein
Speaker 1: it in so it's is much more a personal thing
Speaker 1: when it comes down to it. Or are they really
Speaker 1: concerned about kind of the structure and the sprawl if
Speaker 1: you will, of aunt Well, this is a this is
Speaker 1: a broader political issue, you know. I mean, China right
Speaker 1: now is throwing open its markets to foreign investments. It's
Speaker 1: once more money in the markets, and and that message
Speaker 1: has got a very is is being welcomed by by
Speaker 1: US investment. Maybe like Ray Dalio was saying, you know,
Speaker 1: we really need to rewait China and investor portfolios is
Speaker 1: now three percent should be If it goes to fifteen percent,
Speaker 1: it would imply this massive gusher of money. But what
Speaker 1: this episode dramatically highlights is that when you get involved
Speaker 1: in Chinese markets, you're also getting entangled in Chinese politics.
Speaker 1: Right now, it's impossible to say what Jack Ma's political
Speaker 1: risk profile is. Nobody knows, at least of all Jack
Speaker 1: My himself. That's kind of important given the Jack Ma
Speaker 1: is the richest guy in China, and this is potentially,
Speaker 1: if it ever comes, if it ever he ever pulled
Speaker 1: it off, the biggest I p O in history. Um,
Speaker 1: Andy got about twenty seconds. Should we say, this is
Speaker 1: far from over and we could still ultimately see that
Speaker 1: I p O just quickly? Yeah we could. I mean
Speaker 1: it still could go out. But there's going to be, UM,
Speaker 1: it's going to be a very bumpy ride, which essentially
Speaker 1: is what foreign invest does need to expect when they
Speaker 1: get involved in the Chinese financial system. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: And I we knew in this story Hit we had
Speaker 1: to talk with you, um because she gave us that
Speaker 1: heads up. You've been on it Andy Brown, thank you
Speaker 1: so much. He's editorial director at Bloomberg New Economy. Joining
Speaker 1: us on the phone in New York City. This is
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer from Bloomberg Radio. Well,
Speaker 1: he's a known Republican economist, worked under President George W. Bush,
Speaker 1: also worked on the campaigns of Mitt Romney, also Jeb Bush.
Speaker 1: And yet he says President Shrump, Well, he doesn't exactly
Speaker 1: have an economic plan. Bloomberg Business Week Economics editor Peter
Speaker 1: Coy watching all things election and the economy, joining us
Speaker 1: on the phone in New Jersey. Also with a s.
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week editor Joel Weber from Brooklyn. Uh. A
Speaker 1: timely story, no doubt about it here, Joel. Yeah, Well,
Speaker 1: Peter is full of timely stories and and we're going
Speaker 1: to see more to common. I hope talk to him
Speaker 1: about more than just uh, this one that he wrote
Speaker 1: for today. But Peter, like, let's start there. You got
Speaker 1: a little time here with Hubbard and curious what you
Speaker 1: what he had to say. Well, I've talked to Glenn
Speaker 1: over the years before and after he was with the
Speaker 1: George W. Bush administration, and he is a sort of conventional, uh,
Speaker 1: sort of small deficit, small government, republican and for Trump
Speaker 1: is not to his liking. So we know that. So
Speaker 1: he said negative things before, but I called him just
Speaker 1: to try to get in aessment of sort of what's
Speaker 1: revalcan establishment thinks Trump, and that's what he came up with.
Speaker 1: He's he has some nice things to say about Trump.
Speaker 1: He had agrees with him on taxes and deregulation for
Speaker 1: the most part. Um he he doesn't agree with him
Speaker 1: on trade. He feels like Trump provoked on needless conflict
Speaker 1: with allies over for examples, you aluminum tariffs, and didn't
Speaker 1: go about dealing with China the right way, even though
Speaker 1: he was right to take on China. But as for
Speaker 1: the next term, he said that the Trump has been
Speaker 1: conspicuously vague on what he hopes to achieve in the
Speaker 1: second term. And that's why he said. It's not like
Speaker 1: I dislike his plan, it just doesn't have one right right. Well,
Speaker 1: but he's also not very complimentary bout Joe Biden neither
Speaker 1: when it comes to an economic plan, right right. So
Speaker 1: I got a few Bloomberg terminal subscribers who wrote to
Speaker 1: me and saying how come you singled out his criticism
Speaker 1: of Trump and the headline and not Biden. I said, well,
Speaker 1: I wrote back, I said, look, when a Republican criticizes
Speaker 1: a Democrat, it's not news Republican. Yeah, he doesn't think
Speaker 1: Biden has a very detailed plan either. But you know,
Speaker 1: you could come back, either one of the candidates could
Speaker 1: come back and say, look, um, you know, not governing yet,
Speaker 1: I'm campaigning. It's a different kind of thing. You don't
Speaker 1: necessarily want to have a detailed blueprint what you gonna
Speaker 1: do in office when you're just trying to win votes. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So so, Peter, I know you've been uh squirreling away
Speaker 1: on many things, some of which that you know that
Speaker 1: I've asked you to do, and others day you've created
Speaker 1: nominating But you know, I wanted to kind of pick
Speaker 1: your pick your brain going into election night. And I'm
Speaker 1: wondering sort of like, you know, you as an economist
Speaker 1: and you know, like long time part of the big
Speaker 1: voice of Bloomberg Business Week, what are the things that
Speaker 1: you're you're thinking about. First of all, I always take
Speaker 1: care to say I'm not an ecommis and journalist writes
Speaker 1: about economics, so not not not claiming, but I think, uh,
Speaker 1: you know this, as I wrote on one of my pieces,
Speaker 1: I forgot which one is. There's so many floating around.
Speaker 1: Oh just for the reader, by the way, this for
Speaker 1: the listeners. By the way, you probably need to know
Speaker 1: that we have multiple plans. We have stories for every
Speaker 1: possible contingency pre written. Crazy exercise. It's been a fun
Speaker 1: week in business week, right, I'm gonna actually just add
Speaker 1: a caveat there, which is like every every scenario right
Speaker 1: exactly a meteor could still strike. Um, but but it's
Speaker 1: kind of weird, like placing your it's like wearing virtual
Speaker 1: reality goggles. Where to write an article, the scenario means
Speaker 1: you have to thrust yourself into that world. So I've
Speaker 1: been in the Trump world, Trump wins world, in the
Speaker 1: Biden wins world. I can tell you all about them technicolor. Well,
Speaker 1: but it's interesting, go ahead, go ahead. Oh yeah, Oh no,
Speaker 1: I was going to say, like, you know, I want
Speaker 1: to save all of that for for tomorrow maybe actually,
Speaker 1: But but as you've kind of done that, like, what
Speaker 1: are the things that have stood out to you, especially
Speaker 1: in regards to like what business looks like under either
Speaker 1: of these candidates for the next four years. So Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Economics did a fairly narrow look at just asking one
Speaker 1: key question, but a very important one, you know, is
Speaker 1: like stimulus. So, uh, we have had a several months
Speaker 1: now of a gap in coronavirus relief and starting to
Speaker 1: weigh in the economy. So, um, what's what's going to happen?
Speaker 1: And Bloomberg Economics believes that the strongest stimulus package would
Speaker 1: come with a Biden win and a Democrats taking the Senate. Um,
Speaker 1: perhaps two trillion dollar relief package. Um. The word risk
Speaker 1: would be if there is no decision for weeks and weeks,
Speaker 1: heaps of animosity and however it turns out, um, nobody's
Speaker 1: gonna want to work with each other. And we have
Speaker 1: a small relief package, the one where Trump wins, uh
Speaker 1: and say Democrats, uh, Republicans keep the Senate. You know,
Speaker 1: you still get a pretty good result because the assumption
Speaker 1: there is that the Republicans, already starting to look into
Speaker 1: the midterms, will want to, um, you know, provide a
Speaker 1: little more stimulus than they've been willing to this fall. Well,
Speaker 1: and we know that stimulus is so key in terms
Speaker 1: of keeping the economy going. Obviously, the financial markets all
Speaker 1: it's It's all connected. I kind of kicked off the
Speaker 1: show saying everything's connected, whether it's the virus, the election stimulus. Hey,
Speaker 1: before you go, Um, Joel is quite the taskmaster because
Speaker 1: you've been doing a lot of stories. Um, there's a
Speaker 1: great story. And because we talked so much about poles
Speaker 1: and polling in the election, and you you you ask
Speaker 1: the question, what is the more bit of error? Anyway,
Speaker 1: anybody didn't take statistics, So I don't know how many
Speaker 1: people are listening. Remember Emily Litella from the old Saturday
Speaker 1: Night Live and what's all this fuss about endangered feces?
Speaker 1: I'm saying, what what is all this fuss about the
Speaker 1: Margarine era? No, it's the marginal margin of error. No,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's you gotta read it. It's like impossible
Speaker 1: to explain briefly, but I just try to explain to
Speaker 1: people when you hear this term, it's a little more
Speaker 1: subtle than you might guess. For example, the reported margin
Speaker 1: area or survey refers only to the headline numbers and
Speaker 1: not to the sub components. And also it doesn't refer
Speaker 1: to the differences between the candidates. For example, here there's
Speaker 1: a three percent margin of error on the survey. That
Speaker 1: doesn't mean there's a paper sent margin area on the
Speaker 1: difference between Trump and Biden that the difference would have
Speaker 1: roughly a six per margin of air. Just keep that
Speaker 1: in mind, because yeah, people put a little too much
Speaker 1: faith sometimes in the results they hear from polls. I
Speaker 1: think we left, Joel. I think you want to get
Speaker 1: a drink or something. I think that is a perfectly
Speaker 1: it was a perfectly good sort of cliffhanger. Unfortunately, to
Speaker 1: leave us on heading into tonight where it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: there's been poles in there's also this thing called margin
Speaker 1: of air, and no one knows anything, like we don't
Speaker 1: have enough uncertainty out there. All right, guys, thank you
Speaker 1: so much. Already my favorite time of the day here.
Speaker 1: This is so good. Uh, Joel Webber, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Editor Bloomberg Business Week. You've gotta be sure to check
Speaker 1: out the magazine because they are really working hard on
Speaker 1: all the different scenarios and how this all works out
Speaker 1: on the remote access from Brooklyn. Peter Koi economics that
Speaker 1: are Bloomberg Business Week on the phone from New Jersey.
Speaker 1: Check him out to at Peter Koy on Twitter. Always
Speaker 1: great and you learned something you're listening to Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week with Carol Messer on Bloomberg Radio. Well covid N
Speaker 1: team laid bare many of the inequities in our world,
Speaker 1: whether it's about who got sick, access to health, here
Speaker 1: are our ability to really support ourselves and take care
Speaker 1: of our families. It also brought out further a digital divide.
Speaker 1: But as our Bloomberg Associates team researched for its second
Speaker 1: Digital City Tools Report, cities continue to focus on the
Speaker 1: technologies that are enabling city services to be delivered more
Speaker 1: effectively with the goal of providing better services and really
Speaker 1: it's about a higher quality of life for its residents.
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Associates is the philanthropic philanthropic consulting arm of Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Speaker 1: Michael or Bloomberg, of course, the founder majority owner of
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Alp, the parent company of Bloomberg Radio and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Speaker 1: Let's get more though on this report. Let's bring in
Speaker 1: Milan Deputy Mayor ROBERTA. Coco. She's on the phone in Milan,
Speaker 1: Italy and also with us is Bloomberg Associates Principal Catherine
Speaker 1: Oliver on the phone in New York City. So great
Speaker 1: to have both of you with us, and I want
Speaker 1: to dig into the report in just a moment um,
Speaker 1: but I do have to ask you, mayor Coco, how
Speaker 1: are you doing? Um? We know Italy getting ready for
Speaker 1: um more stimulus, uh, directer measures because of the virus.
Speaker 1: How are you doing? How is your city doing? Okay,
Speaker 1: first of all, thank you for inviting me, and I'm
Speaker 1: really happy to to share my experience with you tonight.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, Milan was the first largest city
Speaker 1: in Europe struck by the pandemic and we had such
Speaker 1: an arrest during the summer, but now unfortunately we are
Speaker 1: again under a new wave of pandemic. So uh, tonight
Speaker 1: our Prime Minister and Mr Conte is announcing a new
Speaker 1: means for trying to face these pandemic. So we are
Speaker 1: all waiting what will happen, but we know that we
Speaker 1: will have to be ready for a new kind of lockdown.
Speaker 1: We really hope so not as terrible as the previous one.
Speaker 1: But we understand that that we have to do something
Speaker 1: to control the pandemic right right now, and we certainly
Speaker 1: hope that that it isn't as tough as it was
Speaker 1: certainly last time, Catherine, I want to bring you in.
Speaker 1: You and I've talked a few times since spring about
Speaker 1: how kind of our worlds have been turned upside down
Speaker 1: on all levels because of COVID nineteen. You guys were
Speaker 1: working on this report, we're conducting research as COVID happened.
Speaker 1: Tell us kind of what your team set out to
Speaker 1: do and how the virus impacted what you were looking
Speaker 1: at and what you were hearing from the cities that
Speaker 1: you engaged with. So the studies really showcases what thirty
Speaker 1: leading digital cities are doing to address city needs. And
Speaker 1: when we did the report two years ago, it was
Speaker 1: really the goal which to facilitate pure to pure learning
Speaker 1: and to really take a look and to showcase interesting
Speaker 1: ways that city governments around the world are using technology
Speaker 1: to engage with their residents and their visitors. But as
Speaker 1: you said, when we were doing this report, UM, COVID
Speaker 1: nineteen hit and it altered every aspect of urban life,
Speaker 1: and you know, more and more mayors and leaders quickly
Speaker 1: realized that technology was critical for every form of communication,
Speaker 1: distributing their messaging, telling stories, tracking data. UM. So it
Speaker 1: became essential. UM. But the need for data collection and
Speaker 1: data sharing UM is important, but leadership is important. And
Speaker 1: you know, UM, it would vary widely from city to city,
Speaker 1: but we really it really crystallized the importance that you
Speaker 1: need a strong leader, you need UM, a digital approach
Speaker 1: and an appreciation of the use of technology. UM. But
Speaker 1: you know, it was really exemplified and what Milan Mayor
Speaker 1: bepe Sala could do with his amazing team. You know,
Speaker 1: they were hit with COVID early on, and how they
Speaker 1: were able to embrace the technology and use it effectively
Speaker 1: to really get information out, critical information out at a
Speaker 1: time that was critical to their constituents and businesses. Well,
Speaker 1: and that's a really you know, important point that you
Speaker 1: can have technology, but unless you have the right leadership
Speaker 1: and the strong leadership to really use it effectively, it's
Speaker 1: just technology. Deputy Mayor Coco, I mean, how did you
Speaker 1: know expand upon what what Katherine just talked about about
Speaker 1: technology becoming critical and how you use it during the
Speaker 1: shutdown And I'm curious, you know, if you have any
Speaker 1: specific examples. Yeah, so I have to sell something at
Speaker 1: the beginning, because we were working on a huge digital
Speaker 1: transformation plan since the very beginning of the mandate of
Speaker 1: the mayor. So we begin to build our digital of
Speaker 1: GET in two thousand sixteen and so we have been
Speaker 1: working on a complete new strategy to move most of
Speaker 1: our services on a digital assects and there trying to
Speaker 1: move the opportunity for citizens to achieve services through their
Speaker 1: mobile phone. So this was our our strategy. When the
Speaker 1: pandemic struck in Stance, I can say that we had
Speaker 1: built something, and so I can't say that we were
Speaker 1: ready because nobody was. And so this pandemic was so
Speaker 1: terrible that at the very beginning we were shocked. But
Speaker 1: we had the the digital infrastructure and the digital services
Speaker 1: that we built, and so we could use them as
Speaker 1: our levers for facing the situation. And UH for example,
Speaker 1: we boosted boosted all the services to mobile phones because
Speaker 1: the people were locked down. They were in their houses
Speaker 1: and so we couldn't ask them to go out to
Speaker 1: go to the registry offices for any needs that they
Speaker 1: might have, and so we had to offer our services
Speaker 1: in their houses. And the same for an example, for
Speaker 1: the people who were in real need, so we had
Speaker 1: to reach them to bile phones, reassuring them, offering them information.
Speaker 1: The city mayor Coco, let me get back to you,
Speaker 1: because I knew you were finishing and you're talking about
Speaker 1: the use of mobile phones, mobility um in terms of
Speaker 1: dealing with the COVID situation in your city. I didn't
Speaker 1: want to let you finish your thoughts. Yeah, I was,
Speaker 1: you know, explaining that we had to leverage all the
Speaker 1: digital assets that we prepared in advance because facing the pandemic,
Speaker 1: we had to move all our services on the mobile
Speaker 1: phones because the citizens in their houses they had that
Speaker 1: their own mobile phones in their pockets as they couldn't
Speaker 1: go out because they were locked down, And so we
Speaker 1: boosted the apps to alp the citizens during the lockdown,
Speaker 1: for example, apps that reported nearby shops with all the liberty,
Speaker 1: or how to connect with our moon incipality, or even
Speaker 1: helping trying to help citizen to use the technology to
Speaker 1: be connected to their families and their relatives. And we
Speaker 1: knew that technology was a kind of lifeline for people
Speaker 1: on that terrible situation for school work, for personal relationships,
Speaker 1: and also for being connected to the municipality. Catherine, I
Speaker 1: want to bring you back in and putting back this
Speaker 1: are putting together this report. You worked with several cities
Speaker 1: around the globe, and I do wonder if there were
Speaker 1: often common challenges UM and a sharing of knowledge and
Speaker 1: and and solutions that came about in terms of tackling
Speaker 1: those problems. Sure, we serve a dirty leading digital cities
Speaker 1: global cities around the world representing every continent and UM.
Speaker 1: The report really mapped the deployment of forty one technologies
Speaker 1: UM across five areas and government connectivity, data, city operations,
Speaker 1: transport and mobility, and of course safety and security, and
Speaker 1: we looked at how these technologies are applied to specific
Speaker 1: city challenges and priorities. And I think it's important that
Speaker 1: there's there's no such thing as a quick fix. All
Speaker 1: of these cities, like all of us, are grappling with
Speaker 1: new technology. Technology is changing quickly, and these cities have
Speaker 1: to be nimble and creative and have the expertise to
Speaker 1: embrace them and deploy them UM. But developing a digital
Speaker 1: culture and then embedding these digital tools and processes in
Speaker 1: city operations takes time and planning and investment, and as
Speaker 1: Roberta will tell you patients. But I have to give
Speaker 1: credit to Roberta and what she's doing in Milan is
Speaker 1: that it's important to have and to create a pipeline
Speaker 1: of expertise and talent. And Roberta has launched a number
Speaker 1: of STEM programs really designed to educate a younger generation
Speaker 1: more about opportunities in science and technology and teaching them
Speaker 1: about how this could be applied to potentially careers within
Speaker 1: city government. And I think that this is really very important,
Speaker 1: and Roberta has really dedicated herself to this to be
Speaker 1: a role model herself. She's had a very successful career
Speaker 1: at Microsoft and now has gotten back into public service
Speaker 1: to really make a difference in Milan. But I think
Speaker 1: that she's helping local city services but also thinking creatively
Speaker 1: about how to create that pipeline of talent and create
Speaker 1: the next generation of entrepreneurs. Well, Deputy Mayor Coco talked
Speaker 1: to us about talent because you could have initiatives planned.
Speaker 1: But it's Katherine brings up such a good point that
Speaker 1: if you don't have basically the infrastructure in place, which
Speaker 1: includes having the right people to be able to implement
Speaker 1: what you want to put into place when it comes
Speaker 1: to technological initiatives, talked to us about what was a
Speaker 1: priority for you and what needed to be done. Okay,
Speaker 1: thank you, very much better friend for your words, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's still better. In public administration, we
Speaker 1: do not have enough resources and enough digital skills for
Speaker 1: driving the digital transformation plan. And this is this, this
Speaker 1: is true, and so we have to react also because
Speaker 1: especially in Italy, we are suffering from a very large
Speaker 1: digital gat which is all around you know, the public administration,
Speaker 1: private sector, everything. But we are you know, moving forward
Speaker 1: and we are changing this situation. And from from a
Speaker 1: public administration point of view, you can't draw I've deep
Speaker 1: digital transformation plan if you do not have enough resources
Speaker 1: to manage great lead and so we UM we'll be
Speaker 1: also quite a huge program of hiring and new first
Speaker 1: thing technology and also attracting youth in French ways right
Speaker 1: as intern or you know, in the first years of
Speaker 1: the university and so on. At the same time, Deputy Mayor,
Speaker 1: my my apologies, I have to to break in because
Speaker 1: we're running out of time. But I do hope we
Speaker 1: can reach out to again and it would be really
Speaker 1: interesting to hear a little bit more about the initiatives,
Speaker 1: UM that you are putting in place to get this
Speaker 1: all done. Milan Deputy Mayor ROBERTA Coco on the phone
Speaker 1: in Milan, and our thanks also to Bloomberg Associates Principal
Speaker 1: Katherine Oliver joining us to talk about the Digital City
Speaker 1: Tools Report. Bloomberg Associates, of course, supported by Michael R. Bloomberg,
Speaker 1: Founder A Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies BROC Journal. Now,
Speaker 1: but you let me drive? Oh no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: drive home, honey, please, I'll do the riding drivel exst me.
Speaker 1: I want to drive, Just drive baby, the question trying.
Speaker 1: This is the drive to the Globe Commune. Thanks, we'll
Speaker 1: driving us down on Bloomberg Radio. It is time for
Speaker 1: the drive to the close back with us as Kathy Boyle,
Speaker 1: she's president founder at Chapenhill Advisor. She's with us on
Speaker 1: the phone from Pound Ridge, New York. Kathy, good to
Speaker 1: have you here with us. How are you? I'm great, Carol?
Speaker 1: How about yourself? Do it okay? Kind of watching those
Speaker 1: rising virus numbers and watching the election and there's a
Speaker 1: lot on everybody's mind. I do wonder, you know, when
Speaker 1: you talk with some of your clients and investors, um,
Speaker 1: how do they take it all in and how has it,
Speaker 1: if at all, been kind of impacting their investment strategies,
Speaker 1: So great question. It really varies very much. I find
Speaker 1: people apathetic, you know, because continue to go up. I
Speaker 1: see a lot of people with equity, new people that
Speaker 1: come to me and have questions and you know, miss
Speaker 1: my chance to still Netflix and five something because I
Speaker 1: wrote calls and now it's three forty, so I'm waiting
Speaker 1: for it to go back up, you know. And they
Speaker 1: all have their own scenarios. You know, a lot of
Speaker 1: smart people in the market, and they all have these
Speaker 1: scenarios where they think it's going and then other people
Speaker 1: are apathetic and they just like, all right, whatever, you
Speaker 1: just tell me what to do and I'm there. So
Speaker 1: it ranges quite a bit. Well, oh that's kind of yeah.
Speaker 1: I guess that's that's what makes a market, right, um,
Speaker 1: which is kind of interesting. Well, let's let's talk about
Speaker 1: some of the major things that are out there. First
Speaker 1: of all, the election. I don't know, how do you
Speaker 1: see it? Or Vince Ignarella, he's so smart and you know,
Speaker 1: keet off our show just talking about you know, the
Speaker 1: expectation is and maybe why we're seeing a rally despite
Speaker 1: the rising virus numbers, is that there is the expectation
Speaker 1: that we're going to get more stimulus. The question is
Speaker 1: just kind of exactly when and how big it will be, correct,
Speaker 1: And so the problem becomes that you know, right now,
Speaker 1: Biden's leading by ten points, which is a large margin,
Speaker 1: but in sixteen they had Hillary leading as well, So
Speaker 1: those poles are not always reliable. Um, and most people
Speaker 1: are expecting a blue wave to come in, right so
Speaker 1: it's blue wave versus red wave, and so if the
Speaker 1: blue wave gets in, they are expecting stimulus. But the
Speaker 1: problem is the amount of stimulus that they're willing to do,
Speaker 1: if Pelosi and Biden are in control of it, is
Speaker 1: not going to be offset enough by the massive tax
Speaker 1: increases that Biden's expected to do, and so you're gonna
Speaker 1: see a migration of people leaving areas like New York
Speaker 1: City where the tax is supposed up to six you know.
Speaker 1: So I think that they have some real potential negative effects.
Speaker 1: There's certainly a dislocation society. Look how much anger there is.
Speaker 1: I mean, we see mother of one story, I saw
Speaker 1: that her son stopped talking to her because she was
Speaker 1: voting for Trump. So we're seeing, you know, a huge
Speaker 1: amount of anger. The other scenario is if Trump gets
Speaker 1: in it's considered pro business. Um. So one scenario I've
Speaker 1: seen is, you know, initial reaction to Biden getting in
Speaker 1: up and then down to what Jape and Morgan actually
Speaker 1: came up with out with recently, and the other scenarios
Speaker 1: Trump wins may be some knee jerk reaction on the
Speaker 1: downside to start with, but then in the SMP, I mean,
Speaker 1: bottom line, isn't there at some level, you know, Kathy
Speaker 1: and I do understand Republicans versus Democrats, certain policies seem
Speaker 1: to be, you know, more common, you know, for certain
Speaker 1: parties versus are for one party over another. But I
Speaker 1: do think if we are inheriting whoever the president is,
Speaker 1: they're gonna deal with the economy that's going to need help,
Speaker 1: and that's going to require, whether you're a democratic Republican
Speaker 1: policies to assist it. Correct, You're absolutely right, I mean,
Speaker 1: the amount of people that are being affected by COVID.
Speaker 1: One of my girlfriends just put a plea out yesterday because,
Speaker 1: as you know, I rescue animals and so I have
Speaker 1: a very big rescue community. She has a kennel, a
Speaker 1: boarding kennel that normally supports rescue, and so she put
Speaker 1: out a plea to help pay her property taxes because
Speaker 1: nobody's using kennels because they're not traveling. You know, Royal
Speaker 1: Caribbean just announced they're not doing any cruises to the
Speaker 1: end of this year. You cannot support a restaurant at capacity.
Speaker 1: So how much longer can some of these businesses go?
Speaker 1: How many businesses are going to shut down? You know,
Speaker 1: that's part of what people are afraid of is the
Speaker 1: Dems are in favor of more of a lockdown. Look
Speaker 1: at the increasing COVID rate. But they're also but they're
Speaker 1: also favoring a bigger stimulus and and package to help
Speaker 1: out the economy. Correct, but how long does a PPP
Speaker 1: loan go? How long can that help? Loans do not
Speaker 1: stimulate demand. We've got to be able to annulate the economy.
Speaker 1: Inflation is rising. The according to said, we have no inflation,
Speaker 1: but if you go to the grocery store, you know
Speaker 1: there's inflation. So a lot of people. The moratoriums on
Speaker 1: evictions are going until commercial realtors are under pressure. Individual realtors,
Speaker 1: you know, people that own multiple family buildings are under
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure. So the underlying effect to this
Speaker 1: economy is really much deeper than I think certainly the
Speaker 1: market is is understanding and recognizing, so it becomes the
Speaker 1: real concern. Well, you've offered, So how low do you
Speaker 1: think the market? What level do you think the market
Speaker 1: to really be at? Kathy right now? So it shouldn't
Speaker 1: be up here, that's for sure, whether it should come
Speaker 1: down to three thousand, two thousand on the SMP. I
Speaker 1: think when we had a ten percent correction over the
Speaker 1: last two months and nobody panics, right, and now we
Speaker 1: see this huge you know, got oversold last week, so
Speaker 1: we have a thousand point rally in two days. What
Speaker 1: you have to understand about the market is the market
Speaker 1: like certainty, and I don't think we're going to get
Speaker 1: that tonight. I So then why is the market rallying
Speaker 1: Cathy today? If you don't, I mean we've we've had
Speaker 1: because Biden is leading, okay, and so the expect is, yes,
Speaker 1: we're going to get the stimulus and it's going to
Speaker 1: be the panacea. And you know, and also remember Biden
Speaker 1: is very pro trade, and so they think, you know,
Speaker 1: relations with different countries will open up, trade will open up.
Speaker 1: So that's the expectation that I believe in the market,
Speaker 1: along with the fact that just you know, gets over
Speaker 1: sold and you get bounces and the text are leading today. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: we've seen certainly another rotation can at least on a
Speaker 1: daily basis. When it comes to the markets, Um, what
Speaker 1: do you think about technology at this point, Kathy? So
Speaker 1: the market is very concentrated. You have to remember the
Speaker 1: fang stocks or fang stocks, you know, Facebook, Apple, Amazon,
Speaker 1: Netflix replaced by Microsoft and then Google, which stuff of
Speaker 1: that that controls the bulk of the market. Is very
Speaker 1: similar to shades of two thousand when just a small
Speaker 1: brow stocks were accountable for return in the NASTAC. So
Speaker 1: you know a lot of people have concentrated portfolios, even
Speaker 1: within ets and mutual funds. They don't realize that there's
Speaker 1: an overlap in holding. So a lot of people are
Speaker 1: concentrated in large cap growth. CACT is certainly winning. Certainly,
Speaker 1: like you look at Amazon with online delivery, look at
Speaker 1: the amount of online shopping. Retailers are getting hurt, but
Speaker 1: you know they're cremating the marketplace on that side. And
Speaker 1: certainly Netflix, how many people are now watching I finally
Speaker 1: gave up and subscribe to Netflix. So yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: there's really a lot of reason behind it, but it's
Speaker 1: not the panacea, and they're trading at astronomical valuations. In
Speaker 1: many cases, they've definitely definitely run up, all right, Kathy,
Speaker 1: Good to hear your voice. Kathy Boyle, President and founder
Speaker 1: of Chapen Hill Advisors, joining us on the phone from
Speaker 1: Pound Ridge, New York. Thanks so much for listening to
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week. Download the podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, or
Speaker 1: at Bloomberg dot com, and be sure to check out
Speaker 1: our daily radio show at two pm Eastern on Bloomberg Radio.
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