November 12, 2025 • 41 mins
Watch Carol and Tim LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.
Democrats returned to pressing Donald Trump on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, highlighting a selection of emails in which the late financier and convicted sex trafficker suggested the president knew of his activities.
A congressional committee on Wednesday released some 20,000 pages of documents, pivoting attention away from the ongoing government shutdown and forcing the White House to respond to an issue that has frustrated the president and drawn scrutiny from parts of his base.
The trove of documents included emails in which Epstein — who died in 2019 while facing sex-trafficking charges — appeared to allege that Trump spent hours in a house with one of Epstein’s victims.
The new information came the same day that a new House lawmaker was officially sworn into office. Adelita Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, immediately signed a petition forcing a vote on legislation to compel the Justice Department to release files on Epstein.
Today's show features:
- Bloomberg News National Security Reporter Jamie Tarabay on emails released by congressional Democrats, which suggest Donald Trump spent hours in a house with one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims (according to Epstein)
- Bob Michele, Chief Investment Officer and Head of the Global Fixed Income, Currency & Commodities (GFICC) group for JPMorgan Asset Management on the fixed income market, the US economy and ripple effects from the shutdown
- CFO Briefing: Tricia Tolivar, Chief Financial Officer of Cava, and Bloomberg News Senior Editor Nina Trentmann
- Peter Atwater, President of Financial Insyghts and Adjunct Lecturer of Economics at the College of William and Mary, on the US economic outlook
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News. This is Bloomberg business
Week Daily reporting from the magazine that helps global leaders
stay ahead with insight on the people, companies, and trends
shaping today's complex economy. Plus global business finance and tech
(00:23):
news as it happens. The Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast
with Carol Masser and Tim Stenebeck.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
On Bloomberg Radio, all.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Right, Disgrace financer Jeffrey Epstein appeared to allege that Donald
Trump spent hours in a house with one of the
late sex traffickers victims and suggested that the president was
aware of his activities and emails released today, Tim Bi,
Congressional Democrats.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
With moron what was released and what we know? Joining
us is Jamie Tara Bay, Bloomberg News National Security reporter,
joining us from the Bloomberg News Bureau in Washington, d C.
Speaker 5 (00:55):
Jamie.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
These emails that we're talking about, what exactly we're in them?
Give us the time period, what information in details we
were able to garner.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
From them hill they were released.
Speaker 6 (01:08):
One of them was a twenty eleven email that Epstein
had written to Glene Maxwell, who as we know, is
in jail for her role in helping Jeffrey Epstein abuse
and potentially traffic young women. And one of the very
very early up in our story, we say, I want
(01:30):
you to realize that that dog that hasn't barked is Trump,
without specifying, of course, that he was referring to the President,
and he went on to say that a victim had
spent hours at my house with him and that he
has never once been mentioned as in the middle of
everything that he was dealing with, the name of Trump
had been kept out of the spotlight. There's more. There's
(01:51):
a back and forth between Jeffrey Epstein and the author.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
Of Michael Wolfe.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
Michael Wolfe suggests that he could use his connections and
he's not of what Trump may or may not have
done with him, regarding these potential these victims as leverage
as he was preparing himself to run for president. And
there was also a conversation in later documents that were
(02:16):
released this morning between wolf and Epstein about doing a
CNN hit about Trump right after or before he was
due to before President Trump. Donald Trump was about to
do a presidential debate on air. So it's very interesting
because obviously this is coming on the first day of
(02:37):
most of the House returning to DC and the government
on the verge of being reopened. It's also a huge
signal that whatever it is, that whatever lull had happened
in the questions over the Epstein matter, both Republicans and
Democrats have been trying to seize the narrative in these
(02:58):
releases of files. The House over Committee, which is chaired
by a Republican, literally sent out dozens and dozens of
files this morning without any real kind of explanation of
what they were. Some of them were spreadsheets that didn't
really make any sense. There was a video of a
dog with a doll of Donald Trump and the doll
of Hillary Clinton, which was very strange. And then the
(03:20):
Democrat members of the Oversight Committee sent out their more
emails that they were seeing as well. So clearly they've
been getting thousands and thousands and thousands of documents and
one side of the isle is being very circumspect about
what they're sharing and the other side of the isle
is being very deliberate about what they're sharing with everyone.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
To be fair, we noted that in the story too
that we put out on this that back in July,
President Trump tel reporters that he had nothing to do
with the guy, and that he never went to the island,
referring or appearing to refer to the properties in the
Caribbean that belonged to Jeffrey Epstein, where it is alleged
that the financiers sexually abused.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
And trafficked young women.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
How do these emails perhaps do they clearly contradict some
of the current thinking about the relationship between Donald Trump
and Jeffrey Epstein, because it's not like it's an email
between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, so like, we're all
just being smart and careful here. So I'm just curious.
Speaker 6 (04:20):
I think that being smile and careful is probably the
only thing we can do right now, and we're not
really But it also what it really kind of speaks
to is the unending curiosity about this case and the
reality that, unfortunately for the White House, no matter how
much the President has tried to dovert or dismiss the
(04:41):
focus on the Epstein matter, that as long as everyone
believes that there's something that's being hidden, those questions will remain,
and to release things piecemeal isn't going to satisfy so
many people, who include themselves in Trump's base of supporters,
and to have it come on this day, on the
(05:04):
day when Adelita Grialva, who was elected to represent her
district in Arizona in September twenty three, today she is
finally going to be sworn in, and she has said
she is going to be that last barely essential necessary
signature on the discharge petition that would force the House
(05:25):
to vote on the release of these files and then
to hear this clamor of activity from the White House.
According to all the reporting that we're seeing, according to
what Hakim Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, is saying,
that people are trying to get those who the Republicans
who voted for the discharge position to withdraw their support
(05:47):
ahead of her confirmation, because once she's in, that's something
that you can't undo. And so all of this noise
and all of this clamor it doesn't really track with
of this incident being a hoax and that this relationship
being nothing worth noting. And unfortunately, until everyone gets the
(06:10):
documents or season enough to satisfy their curiosity, that attention
and that focus and that that skepticism is going to
remain all right.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
So to be continued, I'm guessing, Jamie, thank you so much.
Carefully reported out and covered by Jamie Tarabay, Bloomberg News
national security reporter. She's there in our DC bureau for
Bloomberg News.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
We should know.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
White House Press Secretory Caroline Levitt said innist statement quote
the Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to
create a fake narrative to smear President Trump. Levitt also
said the victim referenced in the emails had quote repeatedly
said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever
and couldn't have been friendlier to her in their limited interactions.
(06:54):
Stay with us more from Bloomberg Business Week Daily coming
up after this.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast. Catch
us live weekday afternoons from two to five e's. During
that listen on Applecarplay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg
Business app, or watch us live on YouTube.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Treasuries with fields dropping across the curve on bets that
the Fed we'll have room to cut rates next month
at last meeting of twenty twenty five, maybe to help
prop up the US jobs market.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Traders might get some clues.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
We've got a lot of central bankers out there speaking.
We are curious to see what Bob Michael has to say.
He's Chief investment Officer, head of the Global Fixed Income,
Currency and Commodities Group over at JP Morgan Asset Management, a.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Certainly well known voice here across.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Bloomberg platforms, joining us in studio.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
Welcome, welcome, happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well, it's great to have you here.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I feel like there's some different views out there, like
the tarfanks maybe not completely done. We've got a growing
US budget deficit, Bob, We've got a slowing US labor market.
How do you see today? This in more Americans falling
behind on their car payments. How is the US economy
right now? How do you see it?
Speaker 7 (08:06):
I think the US economy is just okay, it's not great.
I think recession is remote, but it's a little bit squishy.
So it feels as though businesses and households are still
struggling a little bit with tariffs and the ultimate impact
to cost of goods. I think that's ahead. Whend, certainly
(08:27):
the government shutdown hasn't helped with sentiment. And of course
the FED has highlighted for a while that interest rates
are a bit on the restrictive side, and I think
all of those things are conspiring to take a little
steam out of the economy right now.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
The part of the labor market part is what I'm
really interested in hearing from you. Absent government data for
a couple of months, what's an accurate view of the
strength of labor market right now?
Speaker 7 (08:51):
So the government data is one thing, but you and
I both work in franchises which have ungodly amounts of data.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
We use that.
Speaker 7 (09:01):
We look at the chase data, We look how the
consumer is performing. The consumer looks okay, Deposit balances look okay.
We're seeing big ticket purchases starting to tick up a
little bit. But of course all of that is concentrated
in the top quintiles of earners from businesses. Our equity
(09:22):
and credit analysts talk to literally hundreds of businesses a day,
and what we're hearing there is they don't feel an
urgency to do any hiring. They're in pause mode headed
into year end, and of course that would weigh on
the labor market.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I want to bring into something that and forgive me
if I mispronounced Gregory Daco. He's chief economist at Ey
Parthenom doco, and he says the economy remains resilient on
the service, but it's increasingly dependent on three narrow, interconnected
A pillars affluent consumers, artificial intelligence, field investment, and asset
price gains, and talks about how they're connected. We know
(10:00):
the wealthier consumer has been out there spending. They're responsible
for really a big bulk of consumer spending that goes
on in the US. But if the AI spending boom
Bob is not, if there ends up being a little
bit of a bust, a big bust or something, or
we start to talk about right now, we're talking about
the spending and on balance sheets, and you know whether
or not we're going to have to kind of replace
(10:22):
these these items. They're not going to last forever, whether
it's chips or what have you. But what if we
see those acid prices come down, the affluent consumer doesn't
feel so affluent, they stop spending.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Does all of this start to come undone?
Speaker 7 (10:36):
It could, but I think we have to remember we're
a month and a half away from the One Big
Beautiful Bill Act hitting And when you look at the
One Big Beautiful Bill Act and think about the tax
refunds on tips and overtime and social security payments were
are most of those Those are in the bottom couple
(10:56):
quick tiles of earners. So you're going to get some
relief there. You think about the Genius Act and a
lot of things that are happening there, You're going to
see some spending there. And the one thing nobody's really
talking about right now, which we see on the horizon,
is deregulation. It's certainly going to come to financial services.
(11:17):
It will likely come to other industries as well.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
Well.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
That makes me think about it.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
And we weren't going to talk about this a little
bit later on, but we do know that President Trump
is hosting a little soiree with a bunch of financial executives.
Jamie Diamond's going to be there. At least according to
reporting or people who have been briefed on the event,
is that what they're going to talk about the regulatory environment.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Have you talked to Jamie about this, but if you
were sitting down with you.
Speaker 7 (11:41):
When I looked at some of the attendees, I suddenly thought, boy,
there's going to be one outspoken banks rimes with I'm
sure they're going to do a lot of listening. I
think They're going to be a sounding board for a
lot of things. The things that have been mooted in
the market recently, two thousand dollars, peas that go out
checks get cut, fifty year mortgages maybe not, Maybe you
(12:06):
just take your mortgage with you. I think this is
going to be an administration that will bounce things off
of them. I think it will be one that will
ask them, what do we need to do to unleash
big banking, big business? Are there other things that can
be done? And I think there's going to be a
group there that will be pretty free flowing with the
(12:26):
information for.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
What it is worth.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Caroline Levitt at the White House was asked earlier this
afternoon about the fifty year mortgages. She said, the administration
is seriously looking into fifty year mortgages.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
I do want to go back to the JAPI.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Would you recommend investors buy.
Speaker 7 (12:40):
A fifty year mortgage?
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Which size darrel are you talking about?
Speaker 7 (12:46):
All I got taught very early there's no such thing
as a bad bond, just a bad price. So it
depends on where that's price.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
And the features in it.
Speaker 8 (12:57):
I do you want to go back to AI because
can answer the question Hey, just by price, okay, secured
by a home I would buy it.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
I absolutely would buy it.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
We were talking about one side of what ends up
happening with AI, and if there is potentially some sort
of unraveling given or bust. What about the other side,
What about the side where everything actually exceeds expectations, where
productivity increases as a result of this technology, and then
potentially we see widespread job losses. Are we looking at
(13:29):
the right parts of this right now? Are we understanding
where we could see productivity gains?
Speaker 7 (13:34):
I think you have to look at it all, and
I think you have to realize that unlike the dot
com bubble where nobody envision the iPhone ten years later
or whatever, and there are companies without revenue with how
even really business models that were worth billions of dollars,
You actually have deep pocketed companies that are either developing
(13:57):
or investing in it. And it is every where. We
see it in JP Morgan. How it's being used everywhere
to create efficiencies. You talk to any company now and
they talk about how they operate in real time. They
can shift their supply chain, so think about the logistics
and shipping. All of that can have some sort of
(14:19):
AI overlay to it. How they manage their pricing that
could have an AI overlay to it. And those are
two big things that have come out of tariff policy,
and already we're seeing AI introduced there.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
So what could possibly go wrong here and all that's
coming at US.
Speaker 7 (14:38):
I always go back to William McChesney Martin, whose comment
was I.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Kind of wish Tom was here, because you would love that.
Speaker 7 (14:46):
Our job is to take away the punch bowl, and
the reality is there's a lot of money slashing around
in the system. Policy makers on the monetary side and
the fiscal side are working hand in hand. You may
even see the regulatory side as part of that accommodation
coming from everywhere. But we're not looking at the next
(15:11):
Paul Volker being appointed to the Federal Reserve. We're looking
at people who fundamentally believe that lower interest rates create
a level of economic activity which will generate higher productivity.
So for me, as long as that's in place, I'm
not really worried. I would get worried when you have
(15:32):
to take the punch bowl away. Growth and inflation pressures
are so high you have to start draining liquidity from
the system.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
But you don't think we're there.
Speaker 7 (15:40):
No, I don't think we're going to be there anytime
next year.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Well, that brings us to one last question.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
We got the news today that Fitbank of Atlanta president
Raphael Bostick announced plans to retire at the end of
his current term in February. We are seeing a changing composition,
Bob of the FED, new names, more to come. Kevin
Hassen telling Carli Groups and hosts of Peter Peer Conversation
David Rubinstein that if President Trump asks has it, will
do it.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
He also said he had high regard for Vetcher J. Palve.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Is changing the composition of the FED good bad? How
does that help hurt in getting policy?
Speaker 5 (16:13):
I think it's reality.
Speaker 7 (16:16):
I think you have to accept that these are political appointees.
And believe me, I know that they go into rooms,
they work with their staffs, they try to make the
very best decisions. But they come with different core fundamental views.
And one could be the William of Chesney, Martin Paul
(16:36):
Volker kind of you, which is, there's too much money
slashing around the system. Get it out of here before
we have an inflation problem. Hans Tiitmeyer kind of central
banker and others come thinking now we need to be
able to create liquidity, make mortgages and housing affordable. That
will create economic activity, which which gets taxed. There will
(17:00):
be productivity that comes out of AI which we'll offset
that headwind. It's an exciting time to be in the markets,
and it's an exciting time to see the way policy
makers are shifting around.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Come back soon.
Speaker 5 (17:15):
Always happy to be invited.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Okay, we will definitely invite you.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Bob Michael, thank you so much, really appreciate, Chief Investment Officer,
head of the Global Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Group
over at JP Morgan Asset Management.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
Stay with us.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
More from Bloomberg Business Week Daily coming up after this.
Speaker 9 (17:35):
This is the Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast. Listen live
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Speaker 3 (17:54):
Shares some Kava slightly lowered, down about half a percent
in today's session. They are down there around fifty six
percent year to date. They are also down nearly seventy
percent from an all time high last December, and nearly
fifteen percent of the float is short. Now, keep in
mind the company did report after the close in November fifth.
The stock closed down about two point six percent the
following day on that news.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
What the earnings.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
News was Caava Group cutting its full year sales growth
targets after its foot traffic stalled in the third quarter,
and that added to some wearrying trends that financially squeeze
consumers are foregoing fast casual restaurants. To be fair, we've
seen this at some other fast casual restaurants. So back
with us in our latest installment of CFO Briefing Tricia Toliver.
She is the chief financial officer of Cava, joining us
(18:39):
from Baton Rouge Luisi Ana. She will be featured in
an upcoming CFO Briefing newsletter, and then also with us
in studio is Nina Trentman, Bloomberg News Senior Editor. She
writes the CFO Briefing newsletter, which you can subscribe to
and find at Bloomberg dot com slash CFO Briefing.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Good to have you both here, Tricia.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I want to start with you because she saw a
City come Out and CoV and Sweet Green were put
on Cities ninety day Positive Catalyst Watch and analys there,
noting that sales he expects to improve off lows as
the US government likely rehopens in the coming weeks. I'd
love to start there and welcome, welcome, welcome back to Bloomberg.
How has the shutdown hurt business and how does it
(19:20):
look from here on out if indeed we see the
government start opening hik Carol, it's.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Going to be with you today.
Speaker 10 (19:27):
Certainly, as we experienced the shutdown and around the middle
of October, around the time when people in the district Maryland,
Virginia stop receiving their paychecks, we did see a slight
step down and spend in those markets. Certainly not anything acute,
but certainly an impact that we noticed in the business overall.
So as we look forward to hope, hopefully a return
(19:48):
to work in the near future, it's likely that it
will have a benefit. But really what we're wanting to
do more focused is on the long term and what
that means for COVA to be able to provide incredible food,
abundant on with amazing flavor that make you feel good
while you're eating it in after and we believe that
relevance will continue to drive benefit for the business over
(20:08):
the long term.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
The other thing to keep in mind is that we.
Speaker 10 (20:11):
Were, actually we are anniversary or lapping very strong same
restaurants sales in the prior year fourth quarter at twenty
one percent, and so that is what's influencing our outlook
for the rest of the year in twenty five and
as we go into twenty twenty six, looking forward to
the culinary offerings that we have that we can bring
to our guests every day.
Speaker 11 (20:30):
Tricia, thanks for joining us again. I'm just wondering in
terms of your view of the consumer. We've seen restaurant chains,
not just you, but also others reporting weaker results and
cutting forecasts. What's your view of the consumer from here?
We've heard a lot about the K shaped economy where
sort of well off people are doing well, but the
weaker income bands are just spending less. Is that something
(20:53):
that you are concerned about?
Speaker 10 (20:54):
Certainly you can see from the high frequency data with
credit cards that the consumer is feeling somewhere pressure as
well as just the consumer sentiment in general, there have
been a lot of challenges as the consumers are facing
them in the near term, and as we experience those
in our business, what we're finding is that consumers continue
to lean into our premium items, so our amazing steak
(21:15):
and our new chicken shwarma, as well as attaching with
incremental items like our fan favorite Peeda chips. Right now,
we've got some and sugar Peeda chips with a drizzle
up honey that's incredibly tasty, as well as our pressure
I know, I know, I had them for lunch today,
so it was They're incredible, But that as well as
our housemade juices, so those are continuing to attach an increase.
(21:37):
And also when you look at our restaurants and how
their positioned based on media and household income in their markets,
we're finding that the lower income consumers actually experiencing those
restaurants higher saying restaurants sales than the rest of our
cohorts of restaurants.
Speaker 11 (21:54):
So from that.
Speaker 10 (21:55):
Standpoint, it's encouraging to see that we are becoming more
accessible for the lower income consumer and driving increase in
sales in those areas.
Speaker 11 (22:03):
How does the weaker results that you reported in the quarter,
how does that impact you were think you're planning on
future growths, like I know that you wanted are planning
to open as many restaurants next year roughly as you
opened this year? Is that still the plan?
Speaker 10 (22:20):
We do intend to continue to increase the opening of
our restaurants, with at least sixteen percent growth in restaurants
in twenty twenty six. This year, we'll open at least
sixty eight to seventy restaurants.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
And what we're.
Speaker 10 (22:32):
Seeing is that despite the challenges we see with the
consumer today, we're very encouraged about the strength of the
business and what we're able to offer. So our new
restaurants that are opening or have opened in twenty twenty five,
those restaurants are delivering average unit volumes above three million dollars,
which is above our chain average, and that really underscores
the power of the bank, the brand itself, the excitement
(22:56):
around the consumers that we come into new markets and
existing markets, and gives the confidence in our white space
opportunities that we will continue to lean into our growth
and new restaurants as we move forward.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
For certainly, new restaurants a big part of TAPEX this
year next year, but where else are you investing?
Speaker 10 (23:13):
We're always looking for ways to make our operations and
our restaurants easier to run for our team members. So
some of the investments we're making are in equipment in
the restaurants to streamline operations, like our kitchen display systems
which works with our digital ordering systems on the back
of the house which supplies our digital customers. Those tools
(23:33):
allow our operators and team members to fill orders more
easily and create a higher level of accuracy. We've also
equipped our restaurants with turbo chef ovens. Many of our
restaurants didn't have them, and in this year we made
those investments at streamlines cook times, creates better quality and
efficiency and simplifies operations for the team members. Overall, our
(23:55):
view hit Cove is a happy team member equates to
a happy guest and a happy pillion L. We're always
looking for ways to reinvest in the business to drive that.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Let's talk P and L and I'm just curious about
you know, in your earnings, tariffs talked about how they
have hit your or you guys talked about how tariffs
have hit your restaurant level profitability through higher food, beverage
and packaging costs.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Is that just the new reality?
Speaker 3 (24:17):
And new normal that will stay with us for longer
or perhaps forever. I'm just curious how what you read
on that, and then how does it play into pricing,
because I think you guys were still looking to limit
price hikes now and also into twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
But is that maybe up in the air.
Speaker 10 (24:33):
Yeah, So, tariffs have certainly been an evolving and ever
changing area. Luckily, one of our values is to act
with agility, so our team members on the supply chain
side have done an incredible job in minimizing that impact
as much as possible. But the tariffs did have about
a twenty basis impact on our food, beverage and packaging
costs in the quarter, and I expect those to continue
into twenty twenty six as well.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
And what we've done from a.
Speaker 10 (24:56):
Pricing perspective is really try to minimize that impact. We
took no incremental price in twenty twenty five related to
those incremental costs that we were incurring. We didn't believe
we should put that on our guests and wanted to
absorb that and try to continue to elevate our value proposition,
which is.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Quite high amongst our peers.
Speaker 10 (25:15):
And then as we think about it, going into twenty
twenty six, we're also going to be very mindful about
price increases and anticipate very modest increases. Since the end
of twenty nineteen to the end of the third quarter,
we've only raised price less than ten percent below CPI
or inflation, and less than half of many of our
industry peers. And that's something that we feel very strongly
(25:37):
about in a trend we expect to continue to do
despite the pressures we may experience on our input costs.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Se Trisha, So I get that.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
So it sounds like you are being incredibly in habit
and mindful in terms of price increases on consumers.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Having said that, if no price.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Increases, but you did say that the tariffs have hit
you guys on a couple different levels.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Does that mean margins take take a hit?
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Or where do you screase costs out? Is it workers?
Is it the supply chain? Where do you squeeze price?
You know some of the cost of this out.
Speaker 10 (26:08):
So certainly in twenty five we took no incremental price
related to tariffs, and in twenty six will be modest
menu price increases. That helps minimize any inflation that we
experience on the labor side as well as the input
cost side. And then there are other opportunities from an
efficiency standpoint as we grow and scale that we will
continue to deploy to minimize the impact on the P
(26:29):
and l overall.
Speaker 11 (26:30):
I TUSA, your share price is done quite a bit
this year. I'm just wondering from a CFO perspective, is
there room for shareholder returns? Like, are you thinking about buybacks?
What's the measure to get your share price back up?
Speaker 10 (26:43):
Well, what we've always said since the beginning is this
is a journey and a long term journey overall, and
so while the share price can go up and down,
we want to remain focused on the business over the
long term and that what that we can do to
make sure that we drive that and we stay focused
on our strategy and committed to that well. Aways explore
opportunities to strengthen and maximize those returns, and right now
(27:04):
we're just going to continue to remain focused on the
strategy we have at hand, and that is opening and
expanding the Mediterranean Way across the country and running great
restaurants every location, every shift, and deepening personal relationships with
our guests. With the high performing team you.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Stores in more than a dozen states in DC, so
this question is dependent on geography, but in general, the
labor market right now, our team has reported on Walgreens
cutting pay for hourly workers after its private equity buyout.
Is the labor market better for hiring people right now?
Speaker 10 (27:38):
You know, we're in twenty eight states in the district
in Columbia across the country, and the labor market is
one that we keep a very close eye on, and
our focus is making sure that we're paying a very
fair wage in every market across the country. So I
work closely with our operations and people on culture team
on a quarterly basis to evaluate our wages to make
sure that we're in the top quartile of pay so
(27:59):
that we don't don't have as much pressure on wage
and can bring on high quality team members that can
lead the future growth of our business overall.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
All right, next time you have to send us some
pita chips, I'm just gonna say, am I allowed.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
To say that you can go? We can go? Get
that that we could?
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Why didn't we do this? I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
You're right, we could just scoot out out here on
a park Atna Park.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
But is it Third or Lexington.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
There are a lot of stories. I'm looking at the
website right now. There are a lot of stores in.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
New York around us. Hey, listen, Tricia, wait third, check
it out. She knows, Tricia, Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Tricia Tolliver back with us, Chief financial officer of Kava,
joining us from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And of course our
thanks always. Anina Truentpman, Bloomberg News Senior editor. She writes
the CFO Briefing newsletter. You can subscribe to it at
Bloomberg dot com slash CFO Briefing and a new one
comes out every Sunday.
Speaker 5 (28:48):
Stay with us.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
More from Bloomberg Business Week Daily coming up after this.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week Daily podcast. Catch
us a Love weekday afternoons from two to five these
during listen on Applecarplay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg
Business app, or watch us live on YouTube.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Well, we're trying to understand where we are in this
economy with a lack of government data, with starkly different
signals coming from different segments of the consumer. The latest
and it is one of the most read stories today
on the terminal. It's about how more Americans than ever
carol are falling behind when it comes to those car payments.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I got to say, we've been talking about this a
lot today.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
With ongoing inflation pressures and the return of student loan bills,
millions of car owners are struggling to afford their monthly payments.
It's the latest sign of weakness in the United States
in the economy as the Fed considers the path of
future rate cuts.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
So we wanted some.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Help with what this economy really looks like. We turn
to a friend of the program. He is the author
of the Confidence Map, Charting a Path from Chaos to Clarity.
It's a book that digs deep into decision making. It
is super great to have back with us. Peter Atwater,
President of Financial Insights and edjunct lecturer of Economics at
the College of William and Mary.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
He joins us from our Bloomberg Washington, DC bureau.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
You've been such a good friend, actually to Bloomberg today.
I know we've had you on. I think you've been
on on the Balance of Power. You're going to be
on later on on BTV. But we're really glad because
this big take. And I feel like your thoughts around
this how many years ago when you started talking about
a K shaped economy. I feel like this is something
that the economy, maybe not yet quite markets, but politics
(30:28):
like it is front and center. Peter, So, where are
we with this shape economy? And why hasn't it gotten better?
Speaker 12 (30:36):
So, Carol, it's been more than five and a half
years since I first started writing about the K shaped economy,
and I think what's happened is that for those at
the top, the financial markets have been extraordinary. Meanwhile, for
those at the bottom, things have just continued to deteriorate,
and now compounded by the cumulative effect of inflation on
(30:57):
particularly food. You've referenced the Carloane delinquencies, and that's another sign.
And I think that those at the bottom have this
heavy weight, whether it's childcare, education, housing, it feels mighty
heavy to those at the bottom. And I think at
this point we really don't have a single economy in America.
(31:19):
We have two very distinct experiences.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
So are we becoming Peter an economy a country where
there are a few rich people who are living in
a poor country.
Speaker 12 (31:33):
I would describe it, yeah, as a handful of folks
who feel invulnerable in a mounting sea of despair.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
Hasn't it been like that for years? Though?
Speaker 4 (31:42):
What's different about right now? I mean I remember having
the same discussion, not with the same data, but in
graduate school in a class about how in the developing
world you start to see economies such as this, and
that was what the professor was arguing where we were
headed in the US. It's been like this for quite
some time.
Speaker 12 (32:02):
The gap has existed, but not to this extreme. And remember, Tim,
there used to be a sense that there was a ladder,
a way to progress from the bottom up through the
middle class and into the upper middle class and then
into the truly wealthy. And for those at the bottom,
that ladder's gone. There are no more rungs that enable
them to go up. And I think we have fallen
(32:25):
into a more of a cast system that, to your point,
looks less like the America that many were promised and
more like a lot of the developed nations around the world.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
So when does it show up, Peter?
Speaker 3 (32:39):
I feel like we definitely, you know, we just talked
with the CFO of Kava and we definitely saw it. Chipotle,
where they're seeing their business impacted because those who are
at the lower economic rung, if you will, when it
comes to the US economy, or are having troubles and
so they're not going to Chipotle, or they're not going
(32:59):
to and a few other places. But when does this
really start to show up in our economy in the
financial markets?
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Just curious.
Speaker 12 (33:09):
So in terms of consumer sentiment, it showed up almost
immediately after COVID, when those white collar workers were able
to pivot to work from home, their confidence was restored.
They also got boosts from monetary and fiscal policy. And
for those at the bottom, those stimulus checks really just
(33:30):
went through them, to their lenders, to their landlords. And
so this has been ongoing for a long time, and
I wouldn't underestimate the compounding effect that time has for
those at the bottom. And I think it's showing up
in the affordability message that you're seeing now politically.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
All Right, The other part I want to get to
is ask you about is the upper part of the
K because what we're starting to hear and a chief
economist ever at Ey Parthenon, he says, the economy means
resilient on the service, but it's increasingly dependent peter on
three narrow interconnected a pillars, affluent consumers, artificial intelligence fueled
(34:09):
investment in asset price gained.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
And the concerns Again, yes, exactly, thank you.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
And so the other thing is, then I guess I'm
broadening out a little bit because I, you know, very
worse in what's going on in those who are just
struggling to get food on their table or pay their bills.
But at the upper ring, and I'm thinking about the
broader economy as well. We know the richer consumer is
responsible for a bulk of the consumer spending that goes
(34:37):
on the economy, and they have felt upbeat because we've
seen stock market highs and that is a result of
in a big way, all of the spending on the
AI build out. If that it's starting to be questioned
that I build out a little bit and replacement you know,
of chips and so on and so forth, and those
costs and how they are amortized on balance.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Sheets and so on and so forth.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
But I guess my concern is when you look at
this economy, is it kind of fragile even perhaps potentially
for those who are even wealthier in this economy?
Speaker 12 (35:11):
I think so, And I think that what there's been
lots of discussion about the circularity within the AI system.
I think that circularity exists more broadly between the wealthy
AI and you see that in first class travel, You
see that in a lot of the luxury experiences. And
(35:31):
we used to say that the economy is not the markets,
but at the upper end, the markets and the economy
are now indistinguishable. And we need to appreciate the fragility
of over confident financial markets. If I look at the
amount of speculation going on through options and the price
(35:53):
price to earnings multiples, there are lots of signs that
this is a market that feels extraordinarily confidently. That's where
the fragility ultimately rests.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
What about this idea of the meritocracy or the idea
that people actually in this day and age have a
harder time moving in and out of social strata. The
American dream is this idea that anyone can come to
the United States and succeed regardless of where they start.
(36:23):
You argue that that doesn't exist as much anymore.
Speaker 12 (36:27):
Why is that so wealth accumulation happens more slowly. You
look at, for example, the fact that it now takes
to age forty to be a first time home buyer.
It wasn't that long ago when that age was twenty five,
and so the wealth accumulation potential for this new generation
(36:48):
is far less than the generation before, assuming that housing
is a means for accumulating wealth. And so what you're
seeing is, particularly with things like childcare and health care,
the burden on those families starting out is substantially higher
than the one certainly I experienced and likely the one
(37:08):
you started with.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
All right, so how do we fix this? Because it
does feel you have three minutes, Peter, fix the pop.
Speaker 7 (37:19):
No.
Speaker 12 (37:20):
I think that policy makers need to be really attuned
to this. I think they shouldn't ignore the message of
affordability that came out of the New York mayoral election.
What we're seeing is not a movement to the left
as much as a movement down. And I think policy
makers really don't appreciate how purple the bottom of our
(37:44):
economy is, and it's increasingly purple with rage.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
So we need to address.
Speaker 12 (37:52):
Their shared vulnerability, their despair, because ultimately history shows that
that when it becomes widespread, those with nothing to lose
will gladly go after those with everything to lose.
Speaker 4 (38:04):
Do policymakers actually have the tools in a divided country
to fix this.
Speaker 12 (38:11):
I think they do. I think it requires them to
recognize that it is in the best interest of both
political parties to address this, because we know that anti
established candidates become more popular, we know that progressive candidates
become more popular, and so it behooves them to pay
(38:32):
attention to this and to address it. And to be clear,
those at the bottom are not looking for a handout.
They're looking for a hand They want to see job training.
They want to see opportunities that allow them to move up,
as we saw from the soybean farmers and the ranchers.
They don't want a government handout. They want their products sold.
(38:53):
They want to have a real meaningful purpose in this economy.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
You know, Peter, I'm thinking of the big take that
you do, Sara Holder that's on the Bloomberg right now, and.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
I guess they were asking.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
She was asking, along with Katerina Sariva, talking about this
case shaped economy not just being kind of the same
thing as like measuring inequality. And I'm just thinking about
a response that you gave and you said, it's not
just inequality in terms of an economic sense, it's inequality
multiple dimensions at once, because for those at the bottom,
(39:27):
they have scarcity in education and healthcare, in childcare, in
job opportunity, they have what you termed stacked vulnerability, where
the economic piece is just one more thing. And at
the same time, those at the top have an overabundance
in everything, power, money, influence, and so it's become very
difficult for those at the bottom to ignore what's happening
(39:47):
around them. It's also something that has accumulated over years.
It feels like whether there were Republicans or Democrats in
the White House are in charge in Congress, So is
it going to take time for us to get this
fixed or do the people like I don't know, you know,
I had a brit say to me, you're a young nation,
You're gonna have some kind of uprising, a revolution, Like,
(40:08):
I don't know, how do you I understand policymakers going
at this, but it seems like it's a big task.
Speaker 5 (40:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (40:17):
I think those at the top ignore the impatience at
the bottom. Time moves very slowly when you lack confidence.
And I also think that those at the top are
largely blind to the human experience at the bottom, and
at the same time, those at the bottom are all
too aware of the abundance that exists above them.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
Well said, Well said, And I feel like there's a
layer of social media here that also makes it a
little tricky and certainly really puts it out there.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Peter, Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
Peter Atwater, President of Financial Insights, adjunct Lecturer of Economics
at the College of William Mary, joining us from the
Bloomberg Washington, DC Bureau. He is the subject of the
Bloomberg Big Take, which talks all about the K shaped economy.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
This is the Bloomberg Business Weekdaily podcast, available on Apple, Spotify,
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(41:25):
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(00:23):
news as it happens. The Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast
with Carol Masser and Tim Stenebeck.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
On Bloomberg Radio, all.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Right, Disgrace financer Jeffrey Epstein appeared to allege that Donald
Trump spent hours in a house with one of the
late sex traffickers victims and suggested that the president was
aware of his activities and emails released today, Tim Bi,
Congressional Democrats.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
With moron what was released and what we know? Joining
us is Jamie Tara Bay, Bloomberg News National Security reporter,
joining us from the Bloomberg News Bureau in Washington, d C.
Speaker 5 (00:55):
Jamie.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
These emails that we're talking about, what exactly we're in them?
Give us the time period, what information in details we
were able to garner.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
From them hill they were released.
Speaker 6 (01:08):
One of them was a twenty eleven email that Epstein
had written to Glene Maxwell, who as we know, is
in jail for her role in helping Jeffrey Epstein abuse
and potentially traffic young women. And one of the very
very early up in our story, we say, I want
(01:30):
you to realize that that dog that hasn't barked is Trump,
without specifying, of course, that he was referring to the President,
and he went on to say that a victim had
spent hours at my house with him and that he
has never once been mentioned as in the middle of
everything that he was dealing with, the name of Trump
had been kept out of the spotlight. There's more. There's
(01:51):
a back and forth between Jeffrey Epstein and the author.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
Of Michael Wolfe.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
Michael Wolfe suggests that he could use his connections and
he's not of what Trump may or may not have
done with him, regarding these potential these victims as leverage
as he was preparing himself to run for president. And
there was also a conversation in later documents that were
(02:16):
released this morning between wolf and Epstein about doing a
CNN hit about Trump right after or before he was
due to before President Trump. Donald Trump was about to
do a presidential debate on air. So it's very interesting
because obviously this is coming on the first day of
(02:37):
most of the House returning to DC and the government
on the verge of being reopened. It's also a huge
signal that whatever it is, that whatever lull had happened
in the questions over the Epstein matter, both Republicans and
Democrats have been trying to seize the narrative in these
(02:58):
releases of files. The House over Committee, which is chaired
by a Republican, literally sent out dozens and dozens of
files this morning without any real kind of explanation of
what they were. Some of them were spreadsheets that didn't
really make any sense. There was a video of a
dog with a doll of Donald Trump and the doll
of Hillary Clinton, which was very strange. And then the
(03:20):
Democrat members of the Oversight Committee sent out their more
emails that they were seeing as well. So clearly they've
been getting thousands and thousands and thousands of documents and
one side of the isle is being very circumspect about
what they're sharing and the other side of the isle
is being very deliberate about what they're sharing with everyone.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
To be fair, we noted that in the story too
that we put out on this that back in July,
President Trump tel reporters that he had nothing to do
with the guy, and that he never went to the island,
referring or appearing to refer to the properties in the
Caribbean that belonged to Jeffrey Epstein, where it is alleged
that the financiers sexually abused.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
And trafficked young women.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
How do these emails perhaps do they clearly contradict some
of the current thinking about the relationship between Donald Trump
and Jeffrey Epstein, because it's not like it's an email
between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, so like, we're all
just being smart and careful here. So I'm just curious.
Speaker 6 (04:20):
I think that being smile and careful is probably the
only thing we can do right now, and we're not
really But it also what it really kind of speaks
to is the unending curiosity about this case and the
reality that, unfortunately for the White House, no matter how
much the President has tried to dovert or dismiss the
(04:41):
focus on the Epstein matter, that as long as everyone
believes that there's something that's being hidden, those questions will remain,
and to release things piecemeal isn't going to satisfy so
many people, who include themselves in Trump's base of supporters,
and to have it come on this day, on the
(05:04):
day when Adelita Grialva, who was elected to represent her
district in Arizona in September twenty three, today she is
finally going to be sworn in, and she has said
she is going to be that last barely essential necessary
signature on the discharge petition that would force the House
(05:25):
to vote on the release of these files and then
to hear this clamor of activity from the White House.
According to all the reporting that we're seeing, according to
what Hakim Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, is saying,
that people are trying to get those who the Republicans
who voted for the discharge position to withdraw their support
(05:47):
ahead of her confirmation, because once she's in, that's something
that you can't undo. And so all of this noise
and all of this clamor it doesn't really track with
of this incident being a hoax and that this relationship
being nothing worth noting. And unfortunately, until everyone gets the
(06:10):
documents or season enough to satisfy their curiosity, that attention
and that focus and that that skepticism is going to
remain all right.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
So to be continued, I'm guessing, Jamie, thank you so much.
Carefully reported out and covered by Jamie Tarabay, Bloomberg News
national security reporter. She's there in our DC bureau for
Bloomberg News.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
We should know.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
White House Press Secretory Caroline Levitt said innist statement quote
the Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to
create a fake narrative to smear President Trump. Levitt also
said the victim referenced in the emails had quote repeatedly
said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever
and couldn't have been friendlier to her in their limited interactions.
(06:54):
Stay with us more from Bloomberg Business Week Daily coming
up after this.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast. Catch
us live weekday afternoons from two to five e's. During
that listen on Applecarplay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg
Business app, or watch us live on YouTube.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Treasuries with fields dropping across the curve on bets that
the Fed we'll have room to cut rates next month
at last meeting of twenty twenty five, maybe to help
prop up the US jobs market.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Traders might get some clues.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
We've got a lot of central bankers out there speaking.
We are curious to see what Bob Michael has to say.
He's Chief investment Officer, head of the Global Fixed Income,
Currency and Commodities Group over at JP Morgan Asset Management, a.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Certainly well known voice here across.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Bloomberg platforms, joining us in studio.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
Welcome, welcome, happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well, it's great to have you here.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I feel like there's some different views out there, like
the tarfanks maybe not completely done. We've got a growing
US budget deficit, Bob, We've got a slowing US labor market.
How do you see today? This in more Americans falling
behind on their car payments. How is the US economy
right now? How do you see it?
Speaker 7 (08:06):
I think the US economy is just okay, it's not great.
I think recession is remote, but it's a little bit squishy.
So it feels as though businesses and households are still
struggling a little bit with tariffs and the ultimate impact
to cost of goods. I think that's ahead. Whend, certainly
(08:27):
the government shutdown hasn't helped with sentiment. And of course
the FED has highlighted for a while that interest rates
are a bit on the restrictive side, and I think
all of those things are conspiring to take a little
steam out of the economy right now.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
The part of the labor market part is what I'm
really interested in hearing from you. Absent government data for
a couple of months, what's an accurate view of the
strength of labor market right now?
Speaker 7 (08:51):
So the government data is one thing, but you and
I both work in franchises which have ungodly amounts of data.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
We use that.
Speaker 7 (09:01):
We look at the chase data, We look how the
consumer is performing. The consumer looks okay, Deposit balances look okay.
We're seeing big ticket purchases starting to tick up a
little bit. But of course all of that is concentrated
in the top quintiles of earners from businesses. Our equity
(09:22):
and credit analysts talk to literally hundreds of businesses a day,
and what we're hearing there is they don't feel an
urgency to do any hiring. They're in pause mode headed
into year end, and of course that would weigh on
the labor market.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I want to bring into something that and forgive me
if I mispronounced Gregory Daco. He's chief economist at Ey
Parthenom doco, and he says the economy remains resilient on
the service, but it's increasingly dependent on three narrow, interconnected
A pillars affluent consumers, artificial intelligence, field investment, and asset
price gains, and talks about how they're connected. We know
(10:00):
the wealthier consumer has been out there spending. They're responsible
for really a big bulk of consumer spending that goes
on in the US. But if the AI spending boom
Bob is not, if there ends up being a little
bit of a bust, a big bust or something, or
we start to talk about right now, we're talking about
the spending and on balance sheets, and you know whether
or not we're going to have to kind of replace
(10:22):
these these items. They're not going to last forever, whether
it's chips or what have you. But what if we
see those acid prices come down, the affluent consumer doesn't
feel so affluent, they stop spending.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Does all of this start to come undone?
Speaker 7 (10:36):
It could, but I think we have to remember we're
a month and a half away from the One Big
Beautiful Bill Act hitting And when you look at the
One Big Beautiful Bill Act and think about the tax
refunds on tips and overtime and social security payments were
are most of those Those are in the bottom couple
(10:56):
quick tiles of earners. So you're going to get some
relief there. You think about the Genius Act and a
lot of things that are happening there, You're going to
see some spending there. And the one thing nobody's really
talking about right now, which we see on the horizon,
is deregulation. It's certainly going to come to financial services.
(11:17):
It will likely come to other industries as well.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
Well.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
That makes me think about it.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
And we weren't going to talk about this a little
bit later on, but we do know that President Trump
is hosting a little soiree with a bunch of financial executives.
Jamie Diamond's going to be there. At least according to
reporting or people who have been briefed on the event,
is that what they're going to talk about the regulatory environment.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Have you talked to Jamie about this, but if you
were sitting down with you.
Speaker 7 (11:41):
When I looked at some of the attendees, I suddenly thought, boy,
there's going to be one outspoken banks rimes with I'm
sure they're going to do a lot of listening. I
think They're going to be a sounding board for a
lot of things. The things that have been mooted in
the market recently, two thousand dollars, peas that go out
checks get cut, fifty year mortgages maybe not, Maybe you
(12:06):
just take your mortgage with you. I think this is
going to be an administration that will bounce things off
of them. I think it will be one that will
ask them, what do we need to do to unleash
big banking, big business? Are there other things that can
be done? And I think there's going to be a
group there that will be pretty free flowing with the
(12:26):
information for.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
What it is worth.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Caroline Levitt at the White House was asked earlier this
afternoon about the fifty year mortgages. She said, the administration
is seriously looking into fifty year mortgages.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
I do want to go back to the JAPI.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Would you recommend investors buy.
Speaker 7 (12:40):
A fifty year mortgage?
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Which size darrel are you talking about?
Speaker 7 (12:46):
All I got taught very early there's no such thing
as a bad bond, just a bad price. So it
depends on where that's price.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
And the features in it.
Speaker 8 (12:57):
I do you want to go back to AI because
can answer the question Hey, just by price, okay, secured
by a home I would buy it.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
I absolutely would buy it.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
We were talking about one side of what ends up
happening with AI, and if there is potentially some sort
of unraveling given or bust. What about the other side,
What about the side where everything actually exceeds expectations, where
productivity increases as a result of this technology, and then
potentially we see widespread job losses. Are we looking at
(13:29):
the right parts of this right now? Are we understanding
where we could see productivity gains?
Speaker 7 (13:34):
I think you have to look at it all, and
I think you have to realize that unlike the dot
com bubble where nobody envision the iPhone ten years later
or whatever, and there are companies without revenue with how
even really business models that were worth billions of dollars,
You actually have deep pocketed companies that are either developing
(13:57):
or investing in it. And it is every where. We
see it in JP Morgan. How it's being used everywhere
to create efficiencies. You talk to any company now and
they talk about how they operate in real time. They
can shift their supply chain, so think about the logistics
and shipping. All of that can have some sort of
(14:19):
AI overlay to it. How they manage their pricing that
could have an AI overlay to it. And those are
two big things that have come out of tariff policy,
and already we're seeing AI introduced there.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
So what could possibly go wrong here and all that's
coming at US.
Speaker 7 (14:38):
I always go back to William McChesney Martin, whose comment
was I.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Kind of wish Tom was here, because you would love that.
Speaker 7 (14:46):
Our job is to take away the punch bowl, and
the reality is there's a lot of money slashing around
in the system. Policy makers on the monetary side and
the fiscal side are working hand in hand. You may
even see the regulatory side as part of that accommodation
coming from everywhere. But we're not looking at the next
(15:11):
Paul Volker being appointed to the Federal Reserve. We're looking
at people who fundamentally believe that lower interest rates create
a level of economic activity which will generate higher productivity.
So for me, as long as that's in place, I'm
not really worried. I would get worried when you have
(15:32):
to take the punch bowl away. Growth and inflation pressures
are so high you have to start draining liquidity from
the system.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
But you don't think we're there.
Speaker 7 (15:40):
No, I don't think we're going to be there anytime
next year.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Well, that brings us to one last question.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
We got the news today that Fitbank of Atlanta president
Raphael Bostick announced plans to retire at the end of
his current term in February. We are seeing a changing composition,
Bob of the FED, new names, more to come. Kevin
Hassen telling Carli Groups and hosts of Peter Peer Conversation
David Rubinstein that if President Trump asks has it, will
do it.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
He also said he had high regard for Vetcher J. Palve.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Is changing the composition of the FED good bad? How
does that help hurt in getting policy?
Speaker 5 (16:13):
I think it's reality.
Speaker 7 (16:16):
I think you have to accept that these are political appointees.
And believe me, I know that they go into rooms,
they work with their staffs, they try to make the
very best decisions. But they come with different core fundamental views.
And one could be the William of Chesney, Martin Paul
(16:36):
Volker kind of you, which is, there's too much money
slashing around the system. Get it out of here before
we have an inflation problem. Hans Tiitmeyer kind of central
banker and others come thinking now we need to be
able to create liquidity, make mortgages and housing affordable. That
will create economic activity, which which gets taxed. There will
(17:00):
be productivity that comes out of AI which we'll offset
that headwind. It's an exciting time to be in the markets,
and it's an exciting time to see the way policy
makers are shifting around.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Come back soon.
Speaker 5 (17:15):
Always happy to be invited.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Okay, we will definitely invite you.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Bob Michael, thank you so much, really appreciate, Chief Investment Officer,
head of the Global Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Group
over at JP Morgan Asset Management.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
Stay with us.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
More from Bloomberg Business Week Daily coming up after this.
Speaker 9 (17:35):
This is the Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast. Listen live
each weekday starting at two pm e sterno on applecar
Play and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. You
can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship
New York station, Just Say Alexa played Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Shares some Kava slightly lowered, down about half a percent
in today's session. They are down there around fifty six
percent year to date. They are also down nearly seventy
percent from an all time high last December, and nearly
fifteen percent of the float is short. Now, keep in
mind the company did report after the close in November fifth.
The stock closed down about two point six percent the
following day on that news.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
What the earnings.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
News was Caava Group cutting its full year sales growth
targets after its foot traffic stalled in the third quarter,
and that added to some wearrying trends that financially squeeze
consumers are foregoing fast casual restaurants. To be fair, we've
seen this at some other fast casual restaurants. So back
with us in our latest installment of CFO Briefing Tricia Toliver.
She is the chief financial officer of Cava, joining us
(18:39):
from Baton Rouge Luisi Ana. She will be featured in
an upcoming CFO Briefing newsletter, and then also with us
in studio is Nina Trentman, Bloomberg News Senior Editor. She
writes the CFO Briefing newsletter, which you can subscribe to
and find at Bloomberg dot com slash CFO Briefing.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Good to have you both here, Tricia.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I want to start with you because she saw a
City come Out and CoV and Sweet Green were put
on Cities ninety day Positive Catalyst Watch and analys there,
noting that sales he expects to improve off lows as
the US government likely rehopens in the coming weeks. I'd
love to start there and welcome, welcome, welcome back to Bloomberg.
How has the shutdown hurt business and how does it
(19:20):
look from here on out if indeed we see the
government start opening hik Carol, it's.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Going to be with you today.
Speaker 10 (19:27):
Certainly, as we experienced the shutdown and around the middle
of October, around the time when people in the district Maryland,
Virginia stop receiving their paychecks, we did see a slight
step down and spend in those markets. Certainly not anything acute,
but certainly an impact that we noticed in the business overall.
So as we look forward to hope, hopefully a return
(19:48):
to work in the near future, it's likely that it
will have a benefit. But really what we're wanting to
do more focused is on the long term and what
that means for COVA to be able to provide incredible food,
abundant on with amazing flavor that make you feel good
while you're eating it in after and we believe that
relevance will continue to drive benefit for the business over
(20:08):
the long term.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
The other thing to keep in mind is that we.
Speaker 10 (20:11):
Were, actually we are anniversary or lapping very strong same
restaurants sales in the prior year fourth quarter at twenty
one percent, and so that is what's influencing our outlook
for the rest of the year in twenty five and
as we go into twenty twenty six, looking forward to
the culinary offerings that we have that we can bring
to our guests every day.
Speaker 11 (20:30):
Tricia, thanks for joining us again. I'm just wondering in
terms of your view of the consumer. We've seen restaurant chains,
not just you, but also others reporting weaker results and
cutting forecasts. What's your view of the consumer from here?
We've heard a lot about the K shaped economy where
sort of well off people are doing well, but the
weaker income bands are just spending less. Is that something
(20:53):
that you are concerned about?
Speaker 10 (20:54):
Certainly you can see from the high frequency data with
credit cards that the consumer is feeling somewhere pressure as
well as just the consumer sentiment in general, there have
been a lot of challenges as the consumers are facing
them in the near term, and as we experience those
in our business, what we're finding is that consumers continue
to lean into our premium items, so our amazing steak
(21:15):
and our new chicken shwarma, as well as attaching with
incremental items like our fan favorite Peeda chips. Right now,
we've got some and sugar Peeda chips with a drizzle
up honey that's incredibly tasty, as well as our pressure
I know, I know, I had them for lunch today,
so it was They're incredible, But that as well as
our housemade juices, so those are continuing to attach an increase.
(21:37):
And also when you look at our restaurants and how
their positioned based on media and household income in their markets,
we're finding that the lower income consumers actually experiencing those
restaurants higher saying restaurants sales than the rest of our
cohorts of restaurants.
Speaker 11 (21:54):
So from that.
Speaker 10 (21:55):
Standpoint, it's encouraging to see that we are becoming more
accessible for the lower income consumer and driving increase in
sales in those areas.
Speaker 11 (22:03):
How does the weaker results that you reported in the quarter,
how does that impact you were think you're planning on
future growths, like I know that you wanted are planning
to open as many restaurants next year roughly as you
opened this year? Is that still the plan?
Speaker 10 (22:20):
We do intend to continue to increase the opening of
our restaurants, with at least sixteen percent growth in restaurants
in twenty twenty six. This year, we'll open at least
sixty eight to seventy restaurants.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
And what we're.
Speaker 10 (22:32):
Seeing is that despite the challenges we see with the
consumer today, we're very encouraged about the strength of the
business and what we're able to offer. So our new
restaurants that are opening or have opened in twenty twenty five,
those restaurants are delivering average unit volumes above three million dollars,
which is above our chain average, and that really underscores
the power of the bank, the brand itself, the excitement
(22:56):
around the consumers that we come into new markets and
existing markets, and gives the confidence in our white space
opportunities that we will continue to lean into our growth
and new restaurants as we move forward.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
For certainly, new restaurants a big part of TAPEX this
year next year, but where else are you investing?
Speaker 10 (23:13):
We're always looking for ways to make our operations and
our restaurants easier to run for our team members. So
some of the investments we're making are in equipment in
the restaurants to streamline operations, like our kitchen display systems
which works with our digital ordering systems on the back
of the house which supplies our digital customers. Those tools
(23:33):
allow our operators and team members to fill orders more
easily and create a higher level of accuracy. We've also
equipped our restaurants with turbo chef ovens. Many of our
restaurants didn't have them, and in this year we made
those investments at streamlines cook times, creates better quality and
efficiency and simplifies operations for the team members. Overall, our
(23:55):
view hit Cove is a happy team member equates to
a happy guest and a happy pillion L. We're always
looking for ways to reinvest in the business to drive that.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Let's talk P and L and I'm just curious about
you know, in your earnings, tariffs talked about how they
have hit your or you guys talked about how tariffs
have hit your restaurant level profitability through higher food, beverage
and packaging costs.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Is that just the new reality?
Speaker 3 (24:17):
And new normal that will stay with us for longer
or perhaps forever. I'm just curious how what you read
on that, and then how does it play into pricing,
because I think you guys were still looking to limit
price hikes now and also into twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
But is that maybe up in the air.
Speaker 10 (24:33):
Yeah, So, tariffs have certainly been an evolving and ever
changing area. Luckily, one of our values is to act
with agility, so our team members on the supply chain
side have done an incredible job in minimizing that impact
as much as possible. But the tariffs did have about
a twenty basis impact on our food, beverage and packaging
costs in the quarter, and I expect those to continue
into twenty twenty six as well.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
And what we've done from a.
Speaker 10 (24:56):
Pricing perspective is really try to minimize that impact. We
took no incremental price in twenty twenty five related to
those incremental costs that we were incurring. We didn't believe
we should put that on our guests and wanted to
absorb that and try to continue to elevate our value proposition,
which is.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Quite high amongst our peers.
Speaker 10 (25:15):
And then as we think about it, going into twenty
twenty six, we're also going to be very mindful about
price increases and anticipate very modest increases. Since the end
of twenty nineteen to the end of the third quarter,
we've only raised price less than ten percent below CPI
or inflation, and less than half of many of our
industry peers. And that's something that we feel very strongly
(25:37):
about in a trend we expect to continue to do
despite the pressures we may experience on our input costs.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Se Trisha, So I get that.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
So it sounds like you are being incredibly in habit
and mindful in terms of price increases on consumers.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Having said that, if no price.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Increases, but you did say that the tariffs have hit
you guys on a couple different levels.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Does that mean margins take take a hit?
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Or where do you screase costs out? Is it workers?
Is it the supply chain? Where do you squeeze price?
You know some of the cost of this out.
Speaker 10 (26:08):
So certainly in twenty five we took no incremental price
related to tariffs, and in twenty six will be modest
menu price increases. That helps minimize any inflation that we
experience on the labor side as well as the input
cost side. And then there are other opportunities from an
efficiency standpoint as we grow and scale that we will
continue to deploy to minimize the impact on the P
(26:29):
and l overall.
Speaker 11 (26:30):
I TUSA, your share price is done quite a bit
this year. I'm just wondering from a CFO perspective, is
there room for shareholder returns? Like, are you thinking about buybacks?
What's the measure to get your share price back up?
Speaker 10 (26:43):
Well, what we've always said since the beginning is this
is a journey and a long term journey overall, and
so while the share price can go up and down,
we want to remain focused on the business over the
long term and that what that we can do to
make sure that we drive that and we stay focused
on our strategy and committed to that well. Aways explore
opportunities to strengthen and maximize those returns, and right now
(27:04):
we're just going to continue to remain focused on the
strategy we have at hand, and that is opening and
expanding the Mediterranean Way across the country and running great
restaurants every location, every shift, and deepening personal relationships with
our guests. With the high performing team you.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Stores in more than a dozen states in DC, so
this question is dependent on geography, but in general, the
labor market right now, our team has reported on Walgreens
cutting pay for hourly workers after its private equity buyout.
Is the labor market better for hiring people right now?
Speaker 10 (27:38):
You know, we're in twenty eight states in the district
in Columbia across the country, and the labor market is
one that we keep a very close eye on, and
our focus is making sure that we're paying a very
fair wage in every market across the country. So I
work closely with our operations and people on culture team
on a quarterly basis to evaluate our wages to make
sure that we're in the top quartile of pay so
(27:59):
that we don't don't have as much pressure on wage
and can bring on high quality team members that can
lead the future growth of our business overall.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
All right, next time you have to send us some
pita chips, I'm just gonna say, am I allowed.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
To say that you can go? We can go? Get
that that we could?
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Why didn't we do this? I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
You're right, we could just scoot out out here on
a park Atna Park.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
But is it Third or Lexington.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
There are a lot of stories. I'm looking at the
website right now. There are a lot of stores in.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
New York around us. Hey, listen, Tricia, wait third, check
it out. She knows, Tricia, Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Tricia Tolliver back with us, Chief financial officer of Kava,
joining us from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And of course our
thanks always. Anina Truentpman, Bloomberg News Senior editor. She writes
the CFO Briefing newsletter. You can subscribe to it at
Bloomberg dot com slash CFO Briefing and a new one
comes out every Sunday.
Speaker 5 (28:48):
Stay with us.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
More from Bloomberg Business Week Daily coming up after this.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week Daily podcast. Catch
us a Love weekday afternoons from two to five these
during listen on Applecarplay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg
Business app, or watch us live on YouTube.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Well, we're trying to understand where we are in this
economy with a lack of government data, with starkly different
signals coming from different segments of the consumer. The latest
and it is one of the most read stories today
on the terminal. It's about how more Americans than ever
carol are falling behind when it comes to those car payments.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I got to say, we've been talking about this a
lot today.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
With ongoing inflation pressures and the return of student loan bills,
millions of car owners are struggling to afford their monthly payments.
It's the latest sign of weakness in the United States
in the economy as the Fed considers the path of
future rate cuts.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
So we wanted some.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Help with what this economy really looks like. We turn
to a friend of the program. He is the author
of the Confidence Map, Charting a Path from Chaos to Clarity.
It's a book that digs deep into decision making. It
is super great to have back with us. Peter Atwater,
President of Financial Insights and edjunct lecturer of Economics at
the College of William and Mary.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
He joins us from our Bloomberg Washington, DC bureau.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
You've been such a good friend, actually to Bloomberg today.
I know we've had you on. I think you've been
on on the Balance of Power. You're going to be
on later on on BTV. But we're really glad because
this big take. And I feel like your thoughts around
this how many years ago when you started talking about
a K shaped economy. I feel like this is something
that the economy, maybe not yet quite markets, but politics
(30:28):
like it is front and center. Peter, So, where are
we with this shape economy? And why hasn't it gotten better?
Speaker 12 (30:36):
So, Carol, it's been more than five and a half
years since I first started writing about the K shaped economy,
and I think what's happened is that for those at
the top, the financial markets have been extraordinary. Meanwhile, for
those at the bottom, things have just continued to deteriorate,
and now compounded by the cumulative effect of inflation on
(30:57):
particularly food. You've referenced the Carloane delinquencies, and that's another sign.
And I think that those at the bottom have this
heavy weight, whether it's childcare, education, housing, it feels mighty
heavy to those at the bottom. And I think at
this point we really don't have a single economy in America.
(31:19):
We have two very distinct experiences.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
So are we becoming Peter an economy a country where
there are a few rich people who are living in
a poor country.
Speaker 12 (31:33):
I would describe it, yeah, as a handful of folks
who feel invulnerable in a mounting sea of despair.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
Hasn't it been like that for years? Though?
Speaker 4 (31:42):
What's different about right now? I mean I remember having
the same discussion, not with the same data, but in
graduate school in a class about how in the developing
world you start to see economies such as this, and
that was what the professor was arguing where we were
headed in the US. It's been like this for quite
some time.
Speaker 12 (32:02):
The gap has existed, but not to this extreme. And remember, Tim,
there used to be a sense that there was a ladder,
a way to progress from the bottom up through the
middle class and into the upper middle class and then
into the truly wealthy. And for those at the bottom,
that ladder's gone. There are no more rungs that enable
them to go up. And I think we have fallen
(32:25):
into a more of a cast system that, to your point,
looks less like the America that many were promised and
more like a lot of the developed nations around the world.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
So when does it show up, Peter?
Speaker 3 (32:39):
I feel like we definitely, you know, we just talked
with the CFO of Kava and we definitely saw it. Chipotle,
where they're seeing their business impacted because those who are
at the lower economic rung, if you will, when it
comes to the US economy, or are having troubles and
so they're not going to Chipotle, or they're not going
(32:59):
to and a few other places. But when does this
really start to show up in our economy in the
financial markets?
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Just curious.
Speaker 12 (33:09):
So in terms of consumer sentiment, it showed up almost
immediately after COVID, when those white collar workers were able
to pivot to work from home, their confidence was restored.
They also got boosts from monetary and fiscal policy. And
for those at the bottom, those stimulus checks really just
(33:30):
went through them, to their lenders, to their landlords. And
so this has been ongoing for a long time, and
I wouldn't underestimate the compounding effect that time has for
those at the bottom. And I think it's showing up
in the affordability message that you're seeing now politically.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
All Right, The other part I want to get to
is ask you about is the upper part of the
K because what we're starting to hear and a chief
economist ever at Ey Parthenon, he says, the economy means
resilient on the service, but it's increasingly dependent peter on
three narrow interconnected a pillars, affluent consumers, artificial intelligence fueled
(34:09):
investment in asset price gained.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
And the concerns Again, yes, exactly, thank you.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
And so the other thing is, then I guess I'm
broadening out a little bit because I, you know, very
worse in what's going on in those who are just
struggling to get food on their table or pay their bills.
But at the upper ring, and I'm thinking about the
broader economy as well. We know the richer consumer is
responsible for a bulk of the consumer spending that goes
(34:37):
on the economy, and they have felt upbeat because we've
seen stock market highs and that is a result of
in a big way, all of the spending on the
AI build out. If that it's starting to be questioned
that I build out a little bit and replacement you know,
of chips and so on and so forth, and those
costs and how they are amortized on balance.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Sheets and so on and so forth.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
But I guess my concern is when you look at
this economy, is it kind of fragile even perhaps potentially
for those who are even wealthier in this economy?
Speaker 12 (35:11):
I think so, And I think that what there's been
lots of discussion about the circularity within the AI system.
I think that circularity exists more broadly between the wealthy
AI and you see that in first class travel, You
see that in a lot of the luxury experiences. And
(35:31):
we used to say that the economy is not the markets,
but at the upper end, the markets and the economy
are now indistinguishable. And we need to appreciate the fragility
of over confident financial markets. If I look at the
amount of speculation going on through options and the price
(35:53):
price to earnings multiples, there are lots of signs that
this is a market that feels extraordinarily confidently. That's where
the fragility ultimately rests.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
What about this idea of the meritocracy or the idea
that people actually in this day and age have a
harder time moving in and out of social strata. The
American dream is this idea that anyone can come to
the United States and succeed regardless of where they start.
(36:23):
You argue that that doesn't exist as much anymore.
Speaker 12 (36:27):
Why is that so wealth accumulation happens more slowly. You
look at, for example, the fact that it now takes
to age forty to be a first time home buyer.
It wasn't that long ago when that age was twenty five,
and so the wealth accumulation potential for this new generation
(36:48):
is far less than the generation before, assuming that housing
is a means for accumulating wealth. And so what you're
seeing is, particularly with things like childcare and health care,
the burden on those families starting out is substantially higher
than the one certainly I experienced and likely the one
(37:08):
you started with.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
All right, so how do we fix this? Because it
does feel you have three minutes, Peter, fix the pop.
Speaker 7 (37:19):
No.
Speaker 12 (37:20):
I think that policy makers need to be really attuned
to this. I think they shouldn't ignore the message of
affordability that came out of the New York mayoral election.
What we're seeing is not a movement to the left
as much as a movement down. And I think policy
makers really don't appreciate how purple the bottom of our
(37:44):
economy is, and it's increasingly purple with rage.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
So we need to address.
Speaker 12 (37:52):
Their shared vulnerability, their despair, because ultimately history shows that
that when it becomes widespread, those with nothing to lose
will gladly go after those with everything to lose.
Speaker 4 (38:04):
Do policymakers actually have the tools in a divided country
to fix this.
Speaker 12 (38:11):
I think they do. I think it requires them to
recognize that it is in the best interest of both
political parties to address this, because we know that anti
established candidates become more popular, we know that progressive candidates
become more popular, and so it behooves them to pay
(38:32):
attention to this and to address it. And to be clear,
those at the bottom are not looking for a handout.
They're looking for a hand They want to see job training.
They want to see opportunities that allow them to move up,
as we saw from the soybean farmers and the ranchers.
They don't want a government handout. They want their products sold.
(38:53):
They want to have a real meaningful purpose in this economy.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
You know, Peter, I'm thinking of the big take that
you do, Sara Holder that's on the Bloomberg right now, and.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
I guess they were asking.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
She was asking, along with Katerina Sariva, talking about this
case shaped economy not just being kind of the same
thing as like measuring inequality. And I'm just thinking about
a response that you gave and you said, it's not
just inequality in terms of an economic sense, it's inequality
multiple dimensions at once, because for those at the bottom,
(39:27):
they have scarcity in education and healthcare, in childcare, in
job opportunity, they have what you termed stacked vulnerability, where
the economic piece is just one more thing. And at
the same time, those at the top have an overabundance
in everything, power, money, influence, and so it's become very
difficult for those at the bottom to ignore what's happening
(39:47):
around them. It's also something that has accumulated over years.
It feels like whether there were Republicans or Democrats in
the White House are in charge in Congress, So is
it going to take time for us to get this
fixed or do the people like I don't know, you know,
I had a brit say to me, you're a young nation,
You're gonna have some kind of uprising, a revolution, Like,
(40:08):
I don't know, how do you I understand policymakers going
at this, but it seems like it's a big task.
Speaker 5 (40:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (40:17):
I think those at the top ignore the impatience at
the bottom. Time moves very slowly when you lack confidence.
And I also think that those at the top are
largely blind to the human experience at the bottom, and
at the same time, those at the bottom are all
too aware of the abundance that exists above them.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
Well said, Well said, And I feel like there's a
layer of social media here that also makes it a
little tricky and certainly really puts it out there.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Peter, Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
Peter Atwater, President of Financial Insights, adjunct Lecturer of Economics
at the College of William Mary, joining us from the
Bloomberg Washington, DC Bureau. He is the subject of the
Bloomberg Big Take, which talks all about the K shaped economy.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
This is the Bloomberg Business Weekdaily podcast, available on Apple, Spotify,
and anywhere else you get your podcasts. Listen live weekday
afternoons from two to five pm Eastern on Bloomberg dot com,
the iHeartRadio app, tune In, and the Bloomberg Business App.
You can also watch us live every weekday on YouTube
(41:25):
and always on the Bloomberg terminal.
Hosts And Creators
Tim Stenovec
Carol Massar
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