March 11, 2025 • 16 mins
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont discusses trade relations, US tariffs on Canada and their potential impact, and other government policy. He speaks with Bloomberg's Tom Keene and Paul Sweeney.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Many talk few have to act in one of them.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
As the Governor of Connecticut and Medlamont joins us right
now in our studios this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
You're wounded.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
For those of you on radio, He's got the sling
going in that you're on a trade mission to India.
How is President Trump helping Connecticut with your trade relations
with India?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
India was nervous as heck about President Trump. That said,
we went to Eastern India, which is by far the
most innovative and entrepreneurial part. We did a trade mission there,
met with a forty or fifty companies, some of which
you're thinking about getting a foothold in the United States.
I had to spell Connecticut forum, but now they know, well,
you have.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
To spell Connecticut for me as well. Governor Laman Bloomenthal
as well.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
On this yesterday. You take electricity from Canada. If doug
Ford of Ontario or Quebec Hydro, if they pull the plug,
what's it mean for Bridgeport.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
We have some very high electric prices throughout New England,
including Connecticut, and we bring down a lot of hydro
from Canada. So you put ten percent on there that
would add about seventy five million. You put twenty percent
on there, that'd be one hundred and fifty million additional
fees paid for by our rate payers.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Not a great idea, So, Governor, as you've probably seen
here in the financial markets, which Tom and I and
deal with every day, a lot of uncertainty in the
marketplace as it relates to economic policy of this new administration.
We're seeing that in lower stock prices and weaker dollar.
How did you see it from Connecticut? How did you
and your constituency look at this current environment.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I come out of the business world. The business world
hates uncertainty. If you know, when I took over Connecticut,
we were going from boom to bust a bust and
raising taxes. And we've had six straight balanced budgets trying
to give people a certainty or unemployment rate is way
down and job growth is up. But it's just the
opposite in Washington, DC right now all that uncertainty starting
(02:03):
with tariffs, are looking at deficits, a lot of businesses
that I think I'm going to hold off right now
before I make that investment. That's not good.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
So in Connecticut, what are the chief issues that you
guys are dealing with from an economic perspective these days.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Look, we're going to we're looking at our seventh and
eighth balanced budget. Unless they cut medicaid by a billion dollars,
you cut medicaid by a billion dollars, our budget has
turned upside down. And that's true of forty nine other states.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
What are you hearing from the federal government about some
of those big ticket items.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I don't think they know right now. I was down there.
I met with folks, the secretaries that just come into office.
They're coming up and they're modeling. But everything runs through
the White House.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
For those of you across the nation in your commute today,
a Democrat, the governor of Connecticut is with us, Ned
lamont Is. He goes through the tiptoes through all this
different policy changes we're seeing. I'm going to cut to
the chase. You got to vote of confidence from the people.
You get forty nine percent of the vote and one
in twenty eighteen, I'm going to call it barely.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
You improved dramatically.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
In twenty twenty two with fifty seven percent of the vote.
What do you say, really, the polarity of the nation
on right and left. But what do you say to
the Democratic Party is they addressed from a left liberal
point the reality of a centrist Lamont and others as well.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
A centrist Lamont probably is going to disagree with the
Trump administration on a majority of things. But start with
areas where we can find some agreement, where we can
work together. For me, that starts with energy. The high
price of electricity. You know, the possibility that we could
bring in natural gas or expand nuclear in our region
would be transformative. A place where I've been meeting with
(03:50):
the Secretary is down to Washington. Something we can get
done together.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Well, let me let me you know, we're at a
piece of chalk on our hand at Harvard years ago,
Nev Lamont. Did the Republicans win the election, Tod Trump
win or did the Democrats lose the election because they
were too far left?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I think Trump won. He won because it was a
change election. I look around the world, nobody wanted more
of the same, and I think a little bit Kamala
got stuck with the Biden legacy, couldn't differentiate herself from there.
And believe me, Donald Trump represented change.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
When you think about the Democratic Party today, a lot
of folks are saying, where's the leadership? Because it seems
like President Trump and his administration taking all the oxygen
out of the room. Where is the democratic response, Where's
the democratic policy? Where's the democratic leadership?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Who do you think is the leader? Does a democratic
party have a leader these days? Well, when we're not
in power, you tend to have a lot of different leaders.
I'd start with the governors. The governors are not making
everything a battle about Donald Trump. But when it comes
to medicaid, we're going to hit hard. We're going to
work with Republican governors to say, you know, unensuring these
poor people is just going to drive a wedgend or
(05:00):
hospitals as well, make a difference, find areas of specific
interest and focus on that, you know, rather than just
make everything about Trump.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Congestion pricing. We've got a congestion pricing corresponding right here
is trying.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
To get me in trouble.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Yes, New Jersey has a particular view of congestion pricing
against it. How does the folks in Connecticut.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I just think you have to pay your bills, and
New York City's got to pay their bills. You've got
a pretty anniquated subway system. Does anybody have a better
idea of how to pay for things? It's so easy
to say no, and right now there are a lot
of people say no. So I'm a little sympathetic that
Kat the ohlklown.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
You represent an advantaged America with the heritage of JP
Morgan and all that you've.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Done in your life.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
How does America find the center again? We are whatever
anybody's politics on this show, we can all admit it's
a fractured America.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
How do we find the center?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Back to your family and he's key four years ago
and others, how do we get back to the center?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Governor Lamont, I.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Think we found in Connecticut Republicans and Democrats find places
we can agree. Let's say we did the biggest tax
cut ever last year, but it was middle class people
and beyond it was not for rich people. That was
an area where Republicans and Democrats could get together a
five hundred million dollars tax cut. What we're doing in
(06:25):
terms of making sure that we educate people for the
jobs that are out there right now, there's a disconnect.
I'm finding pretty good balance between Republicans and Democrats there. Look,
there's a certain incentive to say no, that's what the
nature of the opposition party is. I don't think that's
good for Democrats at the national level, and I don't
think that's good for Republicans at our state level.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Foreign policy, it's another area that is front and center
for better or worse for the United States, both in
the Middle East and in the Ukraine. Just start with Ukraine.
There seems to be I guess, a willingness to find
some solution over there, and that's question how you get there?
And President Trump has a certain focus here. How would
you approach what's happening in Ukraine trying to find some
(07:08):
type of piece there.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Not the way Donald Trump is doing it. Look, he
wrote the Art of the Deal. You go in, you
negotiate from a position to strength. Instead, Pete Hesa just
pulled the rug out from under Zelenski put in place
a whole list of concessions, a sense that we're not
going to be there to back them. I think that's
a terrible way to do it. And our allies around
the world are watching how we treat Ukrain. I heard
(07:29):
that when I was in India as well. I'm glad
they're sitting down I think they're negotiating. I think that's
long overdue, but negotiate from a position of strength.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Well, I look, Governor Laban at Connecticut, and I think
there's so many stereotypes out there, and folks, you can
come up with your own stereotype. It probably starts with
a Hinkley picnic voter at Graham Banks. Yeah, but the
reality is Connecticut's got an incredible polarity, including sixteen seventeen
percent foreign born migrants. You know, whatever those numbers are.
(08:00):
The last time we talked, you said you're managing it.
It's not the crisis of New York State and what
Mayor Adams is facing. But give us an update, and
our Connecticut is tackling this polarizing issue.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Connecticut is a diverse state. We represent the diversity of
the United States of America. When I go to India,
I have to say, Look, the stereotype of Connecticut is
a bunch of Fairfield County guys in these boats you're
talking about. Is not the reality. Our biggest percentage of
international students are Indian born students, and that we welcome that.
(08:34):
I think that's a great strength for our state, and
I think it is a great strength for our country,
and I think we're getting away from that.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
You come from business, you have a business background. President
Trump today is addressing the business roundtable. What do you
think the message should be from Trump to the business
leaders and from the business leaders to President Trump.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
I think from the business leaders to President Trump, you're
seeing the incredible anxiety and uncertainty reflected in a collapse
stock market and a rising unemployment rates. Look, I agree
with you in terms of wanting to do big things,
but you don't have to do them overnight with a chainsaw.
Give us a direction of where you want to go,
and we can invest accordingly. I hope the President listens
(09:14):
to that.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
I'm fascinated with a Supreme Court decision the other day
with Amy Cony Barritt going over.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
There seems to be a primal.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Scream of the judiciary solving legislative problems. You're part of
that as an executive in Connecticut, but also almost like
a legislature to Washington.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Is a.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Governor is a legislature just giving up the ghost in Washington?
I mean, does Congress even part of the debate anymore?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
I'm sort of glad to see the judiciary standing up
to some of the intrusions from the Trump administration. You
know that said they haven't passed a darn thing down
in Congress. In the life too.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Exactly, that's.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Maybe the judiciary is stepping in there. But I think
the judiciary right now is the guardrails protecting our democracy.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
One of the great themes here and it's the theme
of your life, is we've expanded our federal mandate away
from states like a Connecticut. I mean, there's a swing
back here where we've said enough on a titlements.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
When you see.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
The policy from your advisors, we're going to pull back
from agriculture, We're going to pull back from Congress. We're
going to pull back FAA and all the rest of
the DOSE stuff and all the rest. It's a primal
scream of a smaller Washington.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Is that feasible right now?
Speaker 1 (10:41):
It's popular because it sounds like Dose is getting rid
of a bunch of bureaucrats or you know, just leaning
on their shovels. But every day in our state level,
you're seeing how it's hitting people, starting with healthcare. I
think that pushback is going to get louder and louder,
and den Lebama.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
With US the governor of Connecticut. We continue our conversation.
We welcome all of you. Governor Lamon's people came in,
they said, Tom, please do data checks here. We understand
the market's blown up. Futures up twenty five now negative three. Again,
the VIS comes out over twenty eight. That's a key statistic,
twenty eight point zero five on the VIS yields we're lower,
(11:16):
they're now higher. There's some real correlated churn to the
tape right now. Oil sixty six eighty seven a barrel.
The dollar weaker this morning, yen churning. I'm gonna call
it the euro well over a one oh nine, showing
some of the currency dynamics. Paul with a governor of Connecticut.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Governor, you and the state of Connecticut, as you mentioned,
have been able to balance your budget. We're coming up
to some budget discussions then in Washington, DC. What is
your advice to folks in Congress about these upcoming negotiations
and trying to balance the budget and trying to push
that part of the policy through.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Governors are so frustrated with Washington. We all have to
balance our budget down in Washington, and it's an afterthoughtstand
that deficits are not politically that charged an issue, But
you got to do the right thing. You don't have
to solve it overnight, but you've got to directionally start
showing that you're getting your budget under control. I don't
see that happening in Washington.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Are you surprised there's not more political pressure to do that?
Because I think the message I've taken is that unless
people force Washington to do that, either to lower expenses,
raise revenue, whatever they have to do. Unless there's political pressure,
there's no really no incentive to do anything.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Look here at Bloomberg, we care about that deeply. We
know if you don't have an honestly balanced budget, a
bad things happen in the future. I've paid down our
debt by over ten billion dollars. People don't care that much.
You know, they have real needs every day. How can
you not taken care of that?
Speaker 4 (12:49):
So how do you think about that? I mean, is
this the How do you think if you were to
balance the US budget? Where would you go expenses, revenue both?
How would you think about it?
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Don't I think I'd have the biggest tax cut in
history for the wealthiest folks. I think that sends the
wrong signal. It takes us in the wrong direction. I
think I would be going after efficiency, not the way
Doze is doing, but in a serious way. And you
can't disregard entitlements.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
I got two questions left. They're both really really important.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
One with immense respect to your family, the heritage of
the Lamont family.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
On all of Wall Street. Is this a new gilded age?
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Have we skewed things so far over to billionaire mania
that we're really reliving? I mean, Trump has this fixation
over McKinley and tariffs. Are we reliving McKinley as a society.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I think we are a little bit. I think inflating
the money supply and all the deficits have made the
rich a lot richer, probably the richest they've been since
nineteen twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
I got one final question. It's credit.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Paul emails in and says it's just simple. Finally Big
East basketball is back. I mean, I'm looking at Yukon
Saint John's.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
This could be a bit that is going to.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Be a great Big East game. You got Yukon is
playing better and better than men when the women are
top flight.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Women are top flight, but in men's basketball, Yukon's won
four in a row.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Are they saving it for Saint John's here?
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Hey, look we're two time national champions. Yeah, we know
what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Okay, John Tucker, would you like to do this? His
own congestions you to know this is more important. Do
you know why they call it a nutmeg state?
Speaker 1 (14:22):
No, it's based on a scam they used to the
Yankee peddlers used to sell fake nutmeg to unsuspecting travelers
in Connecticut. That right, I rephrase that a little bit.
We're a great trading state. We take advantage of our advantages.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Final question, I noticed, finally, after finally, after four hundred years,
we get new Amtrak trains. Everybody blames Connecticut for the
worst wires.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
We fixed it. You know, forget about the tunnels. We
fixed it in New York to Washington.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Give us an update on your unspeakable relationship with Amtrak
to give us better, cheaper train service.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
I will tell you we're gonna be able to speed
up a track dramatically over the next five years. We
got significant resources from the Biden administration. We are a
choke point. We got a lot of little towns, a
lot of stops along the way, a lot of twist
and turns around. Missus o'gillicutti's home. We're going to speed
that up.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Is the President going to cut your submarine effort?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I don't think so. It's the strategic piece of our triad.
They're still undecipherable, folks.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
For those that don't know it.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
You take the train up and you're there and there's
like a submarine over in a window. Explain to people
what's going on. It's your submarine base in Connecticut. It's
top top, top secret. They don't even know if they
leave or go because they leave underwater. But explain the
commitment of Connecticut to our United States Navy.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, electric boat part of General Dynamics, makes most of
our submarines here and down in Virginia. It's the last
piece of our triad that is still undetectable. So it's
really important in terms of our strategic deterrence. If you
think the Soviets are coming in from the North Sea,
you know they're going to come right by New England.
It's very important what we got there in the Groton,
(16:05):
New London areas.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Governor, thank you for joining Bloomberg today, Grant, I appreciate
it I'm still a mount of the state of Connecticut.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Many talk few have to act in one of them.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
As the Governor of Connecticut and Medlamont joins us right
now in our studios this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
You're wounded.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
For those of you on radio, He's got the sling
going in that you're on a trade mission to India.
How is President Trump helping Connecticut with your trade relations
with India?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
India was nervous as heck about President Trump. That said,
we went to Eastern India, which is by far the
most innovative and entrepreneurial part. We did a trade mission there,
met with a forty or fifty companies, some of which
you're thinking about getting a foothold in the United States.
I had to spell Connecticut forum, but now they know, well,
you have.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
To spell Connecticut for me as well. Governor Laman Bloomenthal
as well.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
On this yesterday. You take electricity from Canada. If doug
Ford of Ontario or Quebec Hydro, if they pull the plug,
what's it mean for Bridgeport.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
We have some very high electric prices throughout New England,
including Connecticut, and we bring down a lot of hydro
from Canada. So you put ten percent on there that
would add about seventy five million. You put twenty percent
on there, that'd be one hundred and fifty million additional
fees paid for by our rate payers.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Not a great idea, So, Governor, as you've probably seen
here in the financial markets, which Tom and I and
deal with every day, a lot of uncertainty in the
marketplace as it relates to economic policy of this new administration.
We're seeing that in lower stock prices and weaker dollar.
How did you see it from Connecticut? How did you
and your constituency look at this current environment.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I come out of the business world. The business world
hates uncertainty. If you know, when I took over Connecticut,
we were going from boom to bust a bust and
raising taxes. And we've had six straight balanced budgets trying
to give people a certainty or unemployment rate is way
down and job growth is up. But it's just the
opposite in Washington, DC right now all that uncertainty starting
(02:03):
with tariffs, are looking at deficits, a lot of businesses
that I think I'm going to hold off right now
before I make that investment. That's not good.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
So in Connecticut, what are the chief issues that you
guys are dealing with from an economic perspective these days.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Look, we're going to we're looking at our seventh and
eighth balanced budget. Unless they cut medicaid by a billion dollars,
you cut medicaid by a billion dollars, our budget has
turned upside down. And that's true of forty nine other states.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
What are you hearing from the federal government about some
of those big ticket items.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I don't think they know right now. I was down there.
I met with folks, the secretaries that just come into office.
They're coming up and they're modeling. But everything runs through
the White House.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
For those of you across the nation in your commute today,
a Democrat, the governor of Connecticut is with us, Ned
lamont Is. He goes through the tiptoes through all this
different policy changes we're seeing. I'm going to cut to
the chase. You got to vote of confidence from the people.
You get forty nine percent of the vote and one
in twenty eighteen, I'm going to call it barely.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
You improved dramatically.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
In twenty twenty two with fifty seven percent of the vote.
What do you say, really, the polarity of the nation
on right and left. But what do you say to
the Democratic Party is they addressed from a left liberal
point the reality of a centrist Lamont and others as well.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
A centrist Lamont probably is going to disagree with the
Trump administration on a majority of things. But start with
areas where we can find some agreement, where we can
work together. For me, that starts with energy. The high
price of electricity. You know, the possibility that we could
bring in natural gas or expand nuclear in our region
would be transformative. A place where I've been meeting with
(03:50):
the Secretary is down to Washington. Something we can get
done together.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Well, let me let me you know, we're at a
piece of chalk on our hand at Harvard years ago,
Nev Lamont. Did the Republicans win the election, Tod Trump
win or did the Democrats lose the election because they
were too far left?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I think Trump won. He won because it was a
change election. I look around the world, nobody wanted more
of the same, and I think a little bit Kamala
got stuck with the Biden legacy, couldn't differentiate herself from there.
And believe me, Donald Trump represented change.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
When you think about the Democratic Party today, a lot
of folks are saying, where's the leadership? Because it seems
like President Trump and his administration taking all the oxygen
out of the room. Where is the democratic response, Where's
the democratic policy? Where's the democratic leadership?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Who do you think is the leader? Does a democratic
party have a leader these days? Well, when we're not
in power, you tend to have a lot of different leaders.
I'd start with the governors. The governors are not making
everything a battle about Donald Trump. But when it comes
to medicaid, we're going to hit hard. We're going to
work with Republican governors to say, you know, unensuring these
poor people is just going to drive a wedgend or
(05:00):
hospitals as well, make a difference, find areas of specific
interest and focus on that, you know, rather than just
make everything about Trump.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Congestion pricing. We've got a congestion pricing corresponding right here
is trying.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
To get me in trouble.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Yes, New Jersey has a particular view of congestion pricing
against it. How does the folks in Connecticut.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I just think you have to pay your bills, and
New York City's got to pay their bills. You've got
a pretty anniquated subway system. Does anybody have a better
idea of how to pay for things? It's so easy
to say no, and right now there are a lot
of people say no. So I'm a little sympathetic that
Kat the ohlklown.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
You represent an advantaged America with the heritage of JP
Morgan and all that you've.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Done in your life.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
How does America find the center again? We are whatever
anybody's politics on this show, we can all admit it's
a fractured America.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
How do we find the center?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Back to your family and he's key four years ago
and others, how do we get back to the center?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Governor Lamont, I.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Think we found in Connecticut Republicans and Democrats find places
we can agree. Let's say we did the biggest tax
cut ever last year, but it was middle class people
and beyond it was not for rich people. That was
an area where Republicans and Democrats could get together a
five hundred million dollars tax cut. What we're doing in
(06:25):
terms of making sure that we educate people for the
jobs that are out there right now, there's a disconnect.
I'm finding pretty good balance between Republicans and Democrats there. Look,
there's a certain incentive to say no, that's what the
nature of the opposition party is. I don't think that's
good for Democrats at the national level, and I don't
think that's good for Republicans at our state level.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Foreign policy, it's another area that is front and center
for better or worse for the United States, both in
the Middle East and in the Ukraine. Just start with Ukraine.
There seems to be I guess, a willingness to find
some solution over there, and that's question how you get there?
And President Trump has a certain focus here. How would
you approach what's happening in Ukraine trying to find some
(07:08):
type of piece there.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Not the way Donald Trump is doing it. Look, he
wrote the Art of the Deal. You go in, you
negotiate from a position to strength. Instead, Pete Hesa just
pulled the rug out from under Zelenski put in place
a whole list of concessions, a sense that we're not
going to be there to back them. I think that's
a terrible way to do it. And our allies around
the world are watching how we treat Ukrain. I heard
(07:29):
that when I was in India as well. I'm glad
they're sitting down I think they're negotiating. I think that's
long overdue, but negotiate from a position of strength.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Well, I look, Governor Laban at Connecticut, and I think
there's so many stereotypes out there, and folks, you can
come up with your own stereotype. It probably starts with
a Hinkley picnic voter at Graham Banks. Yeah, but the
reality is Connecticut's got an incredible polarity, including sixteen seventeen
percent foreign born migrants. You know, whatever those numbers are.
(08:00):
The last time we talked, you said you're managing it.
It's not the crisis of New York State and what
Mayor Adams is facing. But give us an update, and
our Connecticut is tackling this polarizing issue.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Connecticut is a diverse state. We represent the diversity of
the United States of America. When I go to India,
I have to say, Look, the stereotype of Connecticut is
a bunch of Fairfield County guys in these boats you're
talking about. Is not the reality. Our biggest percentage of
international students are Indian born students, and that we welcome that.
(08:34):
I think that's a great strength for our state, and
I think it is a great strength for our country,
and I think we're getting away from that.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
You come from business, you have a business background. President
Trump today is addressing the business roundtable. What do you
think the message should be from Trump to the business
leaders and from the business leaders to President Trump.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
I think from the business leaders to President Trump, you're
seeing the incredible anxiety and uncertainty reflected in a collapse
stock market and a rising unemployment rates. Look, I agree
with you in terms of wanting to do big things,
but you don't have to do them overnight with a chainsaw.
Give us a direction of where you want to go,
and we can invest accordingly. I hope the President listens
(09:14):
to that.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
I'm fascinated with a Supreme Court decision the other day
with Amy Cony Barritt going over.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
There seems to be a primal.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Scream of the judiciary solving legislative problems. You're part of
that as an executive in Connecticut, but also almost like
a legislature to Washington.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Is a.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Governor is a legislature just giving up the ghost in Washington?
I mean, does Congress even part of the debate anymore?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
I'm sort of glad to see the judiciary standing up
to some of the intrusions from the Trump administration. You
know that said they haven't passed a darn thing down
in Congress. In the life too.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Exactly, that's.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Maybe the judiciary is stepping in there. But I think
the judiciary right now is the guardrails protecting our democracy.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
One of the great themes here and it's the theme
of your life, is we've expanded our federal mandate away
from states like a Connecticut. I mean, there's a swing
back here where we've said enough on a titlements.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
When you see.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
The policy from your advisors, we're going to pull back
from agriculture, We're going to pull back from Congress. We're
going to pull back FAA and all the rest of
the DOSE stuff and all the rest. It's a primal
scream of a smaller Washington.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Is that feasible right now?
Speaker 1 (10:41):
It's popular because it sounds like Dose is getting rid
of a bunch of bureaucrats or you know, just leaning
on their shovels. But every day in our state level,
you're seeing how it's hitting people, starting with healthcare. I
think that pushback is going to get louder and louder,
and den Lebama.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
With US the governor of Connecticut. We continue our conversation.
We welcome all of you. Governor Lamon's people came in,
they said, Tom, please do data checks here. We understand
the market's blown up. Futures up twenty five now negative three. Again,
the VIS comes out over twenty eight. That's a key statistic,
twenty eight point zero five on the VIS yields we're lower,
(11:16):
they're now higher. There's some real correlated churn to the
tape right now. Oil sixty six eighty seven a barrel.
The dollar weaker this morning, yen churning. I'm gonna call
it the euro well over a one oh nine, showing
some of the currency dynamics. Paul with a governor of Connecticut.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Governor, you and the state of Connecticut, as you mentioned,
have been able to balance your budget. We're coming up
to some budget discussions then in Washington, DC. What is
your advice to folks in Congress about these upcoming negotiations
and trying to balance the budget and trying to push
that part of the policy through.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Governors are so frustrated with Washington. We all have to
balance our budget down in Washington, and it's an afterthoughtstand
that deficits are not politically that charged an issue, But
you got to do the right thing. You don't have
to solve it overnight, but you've got to directionally start
showing that you're getting your budget under control. I don't
see that happening in Washington.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Are you surprised there's not more political pressure to do that?
Because I think the message I've taken is that unless
people force Washington to do that, either to lower expenses,
raise revenue, whatever they have to do. Unless there's political pressure,
there's no really no incentive to do anything.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Look here at Bloomberg, we care about that deeply. We
know if you don't have an honestly balanced budget, a
bad things happen in the future. I've paid down our
debt by over ten billion dollars. People don't care that much.
You know, they have real needs every day. How can
you not taken care of that?
Speaker 4 (12:49):
So how do you think about that? I mean, is
this the How do you think if you were to
balance the US budget? Where would you go expenses, revenue both?
How would you think about it?
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Don't I think I'd have the biggest tax cut in
history for the wealthiest folks. I think that sends the
wrong signal. It takes us in the wrong direction. I
think I would be going after efficiency, not the way
Doze is doing, but in a serious way. And you
can't disregard entitlements.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
I got two questions left. They're both really really important.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
One with immense respect to your family, the heritage of
the Lamont family.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
On all of Wall Street. Is this a new gilded age?
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Have we skewed things so far over to billionaire mania
that we're really reliving? I mean, Trump has this fixation
over McKinley and tariffs. Are we reliving McKinley as a society.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I think we are a little bit. I think inflating
the money supply and all the deficits have made the
rich a lot richer, probably the richest they've been since
nineteen twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
I got one final question. It's credit.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Paul emails in and says it's just simple. Finally Big
East basketball is back. I mean, I'm looking at Yukon
Saint John's.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
This could be a bit that is going to.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Be a great Big East game. You got Yukon is
playing better and better than men when the women are
top flight.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Women are top flight, but in men's basketball, Yukon's won
four in a row.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Are they saving it for Saint John's here?
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Hey, look we're two time national champions. Yeah, we know
what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Okay, John Tucker, would you like to do this? His
own congestions you to know this is more important. Do
you know why they call it a nutmeg state?
Speaker 1 (14:22):
No, it's based on a scam they used to the
Yankee peddlers used to sell fake nutmeg to unsuspecting travelers
in Connecticut. That right, I rephrase that a little bit.
We're a great trading state. We take advantage of our advantages.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Final question, I noticed, finally, after finally, after four hundred years,
we get new Amtrak trains. Everybody blames Connecticut for the
worst wires.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
We fixed it. You know, forget about the tunnels. We
fixed it in New York to Washington.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Give us an update on your unspeakable relationship with Amtrak
to give us better, cheaper train service.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
I will tell you we're gonna be able to speed
up a track dramatically over the next five years. We
got significant resources from the Biden administration. We are a
choke point. We got a lot of little towns, a
lot of stops along the way, a lot of twist
and turns around. Missus o'gillicutti's home. We're going to speed
that up.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Is the President going to cut your submarine effort?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I don't think so. It's the strategic piece of our triad.
They're still undecipherable, folks.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
For those that don't know it.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
You take the train up and you're there and there's
like a submarine over in a window. Explain to people
what's going on. It's your submarine base in Connecticut. It's
top top, top secret. They don't even know if they
leave or go because they leave underwater. But explain the
commitment of Connecticut to our United States Navy.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, electric boat part of General Dynamics, makes most of
our submarines here and down in Virginia. It's the last
piece of our triad that is still undetectable. So it's
really important in terms of our strategic deterrence. If you
think the Soviets are coming in from the North Sea,
you know they're going to come right by New England.
It's very important what we got there in the Groton,
(16:05):
New London areas.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Governor, thank you for joining Bloomberg today, Grant, I appreciate
it I'm still a mount of the state of Connecticut.
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