Vaping Replaces Smoking for US Kids

You can also listen to our radio show at two pm Eastern Time on Bloomberg Radio or watch us on YouTube search Bloomberg Global News. We wanna talk a little bit about what's going on when it comes to e cigarettes, in particular the CDC coming out recently and saying vaping is growing more prevalent among young people. In check this out, one in nine high school students that they had vaped in the past months. So let's get some thoughts on

the health effects of vaping. Dr Joanna Co and his director of the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health supported by Michael R. Bloomberg, founder Bloomberg Gulp and Bloomberg Philanthropies, she'd joins us on the phone from Baltimore. Dr Cohen, good to have you

here on this Thursday. Let's get to it because some other research I've seen is that when you tend to uh do ease cigarettes, you see that in terms of adolescence, they are over three times more likely to use cannabis than those who don't. So there's a lot of things to think about when it comes to health impacts. How do you see what is the research and the thoughts

that you think we should be all thinking about. Yeah, well, let me start with the bottom line that really no one should be using you cigarettes for cigarette smokers who are trying to quit. And unfortunately, there's been a lot of kids exactly as you say, Carol, have taped up the use of these cigarettes. They've tried them that come adicted.

And partly this was because there are a lot of marketing of fun flavors, fruit and unicorn, at kinds of all kinds of different flavors, and that's appealing to kids. And I think kids all also don't really equate these vaping products to cigarettes. They know that cigarettes aren't good and they have not been smoking. We've seen smoking rates decline among kids. But it's been, you know, really scary to see this epidemic of vaping among young people. And um,

there are health effects. As you say, it appears that, UM, kids who do vape go on to to their unhealthy behavior. We want to keep these products out of the hands

of kids. Yeah, Jenny, I wanted to go back to that idea you just said about how if you're trying to quit actual smoking cigarettes, that that vaping is not the best route because I remember years ago, and maybe it was just a marketing thing, but that seemed to be sort of the appeal of vaping, that it it wasn't as dangerous as cigarette smoking and a good way to sort of wean yourself off of that has has

the research sort of debunked that notion completely. Yeah, that's a good question, Mike, And UM, it is hard to quit smoking, but it's the most you know, important thing you can do for your health, and so nothing is going to be as harmful cigarettes. Um. The research is still nascent to whether you know how helpful SIGs are. Um, they're randomized trials. They see that in certain conditions they

might improve smoker's chances of quitting. So I think that at this point, if you're a cigarette smoker, you've tried other FDA approved methods for quitting, whether it's nicotine replacement therapy or some various drugs, and they have not worked. These cigarettes might work for you, and it's worth to try. It's not going to be as harmful as your cigarettes, but you won't completely You want to get up cigarettes UM and move e cigarettes and then eventually quit the

e cigarettes. Alright, So the FDA ban on Jewels vaping products UM the market the United States, Is it having an impact? Good questions? So actually there's an administrative day on the f SPAN on Jewel UM. This is you know, it's UM. The f d A is re reviewing the materials that Jewel submitted to make a determination of whether these products can stay on the market or not. But but the FDA is reviewing UM marketing stations for actually

millions of the cigarettes and liquids. They've made determinations on a number of them, and we are going to be seeing that countrying. We're not going to be seeing as many brands on the on the market if youre UM spers as well, UM. But that's still in progress. So with Jewel Um, you know that's that's certainly a one. Products are still on the market at this time during the administer strait of stay on the ruling. And is there do you think there's any path for jewel to

to bring these products back to market? You know, I'm assuming they're fighting uh in court and everything. Is there a concern that all you know, some court might uh sort of put them back in business. Well, it depends, I think. You know, there were a lot of, um, hypothetically great things about Jewel UM, and potentially the hope is that they can deliver the nick in a way that cigarette smokers find appealing, UM, so that they can switch completely to UH cigarettes and get off their cigarettes.

There's that hope. No, please finish, forgive me, I don't know. UM. Yeah, So I think you know what jewel has to do is show that their products are um, you know, going to benefit the pump the pub off, that they're not going to attract kids to you, and that they are you know, not going to create additional harms for cigarette smokers. There were some concerns in them in their application that potentially UM there were some met some some toxicological conce

with the application. But there, you know, potentially h Jewel can get over those and if they are ethical and not marketing to kids um and focusing on the market that could potentially truly benefit from their products. I think there's a possibility that that they can do good. All right,

We're gonna leave it on that note. Dr Joanna Cohen, thank you so much, Director of the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, of course, supported by Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropy. She was joining us on the

phone from Baltimore. Keep in mind, Jewel just created, you know, roughly a decade or so ago, so not such a long time ago, I think even under a decade, and so it's interesting to see kind of the rise and fall of something like this. Absolutely, and I think Carol, we can all agree there's there's nothing as nasty as actually chewing tobacco, I think. So this is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stenovic

on Bloomberg Radio. One of the stories that is certainly getting a lot of a tension on the Bloomberg is today's Bloomberg Big Take. It's must read, as determined by our editorial team here at Bloomberg. It's about how renters across cities and income brackets are really struggling to find new homes or pay for the ones that they already live in. Let's get more with Bloomberg News US Economy reporter Maria Paulo Paula Jas Torres. She's with us in

our Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio. You would think, as I said to you, my million years of Spanish would make me better with pronunciations, but um, we're so glad to have you here with us. Uh. Maria talked to us about this story because I do think when it comes to inflation prints we're watching the different components of the inflationary pressures. Some are coming down when it comes to

shelter not so much so. Yesterday in the CPI report, random shelter was the number that was hiking up the most, And in this story, we just got to show the

stories behind that. So in a lot of cities in the US, not only the ones we know, you know, New York, in California, but in many other places here we talk in Las Vegas, Atlanta, Phoenix, Miami, twoson um places where rent usually wasn't as expensive now it's very expensive that not even locals can afford it, and their fear in eviction and facing a lot of challenges, you know, with how essential living is. How much have they got

up a lot. Yes, it's the first time that in a while that the media and rent is two thousand dollars, and we we saw how it was a huge, a huge um hike for for the typical American. Is well, we talked about right like we're talking about energy says, we're talking about food prices. But when we think about it, right, my, I think about it when I'm making my mortgage payment,

like it's a big chump chunk of change. And if you're renting the same thing that rental prices because so many Americans cannot afford to actually buy homes, those rental prices have gone up. But overall, shelter is such a big part of what every American pays on a regular basis. Yeah, and that's exactly what we wanted to focus this story on rents because um, the housing market is very it's a very hot topic right now. Because it's a heart market. But not a lot has been done on rents either,

and they're sloppering a lot, renting a slfering a lot. Yeah, I think shelter is something like a third of CPI. So even if you're not worried about making rent, if you're a market person worried about inflation, it's just the most important thing in inflation. But Maria, I'm wondering, you know, we tend to focus on the inflation problem in the US a lot, uh politically, it's it's just a big

hot topic. Um, But really inflation is a globe problem, and I'm wondering, is this problem with rising rents is that also a global problem? And is the U s sort of uh in the same boat as the rest of the world or is it worse here you know, house this situation globally Yeah, Well, other countries are also

struggling a lot with rent I know in Australia. And we lead a stephonomic episode on this article that came out two weeks ago, and we were talking also another global issues, but here we got to focus mostly in the US because we saw in a Census beer survey that it was the biggest number in a while. Eight point five million Americans weren't able to pay their month to the more the monthly rent in June and July. So that's the biggest number we've seen you in a

long time. And it's a concerning issue here in the state, especially because a lot of people moved to you know, CDs that have more calorious climates during the pandemic and uh, you know, headquarters moved and that cost places like Atlanta and Miyeah me to get hired amen of rents and the locals now cannot afford it. Well, that's what I wonder. I know, just from my own family anecdotally, there's I've had a lot of members moved down south because they

can do flex working. Their employees don't care where the heck um they are living, and they're looking for places where there's lower taxes, maybe warmer climates. How is that also led to some of these imbalances and higher rental prices. Yeah, that's one of the reasons that the man has increased

and the prices have increased. But also this is the first time since the pandemic that a lot of renters are left without the moratoria that allow them to, you know, be more flexible when they received the same amount of income during the pandemic. Um. So it's the sum of a lot of things. Is the the end of the moratoria terms? Is the inflation that we're seeing is the high demand for people moving south. So everything ones like k Rendal Siding in the article we quote her is

a perfect story for renders right now. You know, Maria, I was reading the story and I was thinking back two years ago in New York, there was a guy who tried to start a political party, Carol. You might remember, it's called the Rent is Too damn High. They didn't get very far with that political party. But it does make me think, you know, is there is there any signs of a political backlash about this? Is there any sort of pressure being put on on the politicians to

solve this issue? Um? I would love to hear that. I would love to see if there's another meme that comes out of this issue. Um. When we took out the podcast two weeks ago, that was one one of the editors tweeted out the rams to them high. But um, it would be definitely an issue to watch in these new mid term elections. That makes any kind of impact.

But so far, what we've seen most is people advocating for it and other issues like, um, how these rent people cannot afford the rent there that the manage increasing. People are constructing new condos um that you know, I don't need to be builble, but they're only being built because they're targeting the new audiences moving in that needs like fancier apartments. So that's in women started saying it's

more social than political. Alright. Well, our on air UM whisperer Ariel Agami, our producer of our YouTube show, said it was Jimmy McMillan who went out there and said, read that's right. How can I forget that name? I don't know, but all right man, he just like closes in. Maria, thank you so much. Really appreciate the Bloomberg big take. Check it out on the Bloomberg terminal. I'm brooom journal. Yeah, but you let me drive? No, no, no, honey, I'll gravel.

I want to drive. It's good question. Drive is the drive to the clothes on Bloomberg Radio. It is time to drive towards the clothes. It is Thursday, August eleventh, and we've just got about it. Ten and a half minutes left in today's trading session. Charlie breaking down those numbers the equity side of things. We are just coming off our loads of this session, but we're seeing it across the board. Little changes though on the SMP and Dow.

Really the NASTAC the underperformer. So let's get to it with Axel Murk, President and chief investment officer at the investment advisory Formerk Investments. He joins us on the phone from San Francisco. Axels so great to be talking with you. It's been a while. Um, you do focus on macro trends. What are the top macro trends that you are focusing on in today's environment? When I feel like there's a lot of them, but there's a couple of really big ones. Yeah.

I think cat hurting is a technical I like that on these days we have all these teenagers that that called the market and all the tas de fedd. I mean, what what what we have is we we've had high inflation, and I think what I what everybody is trying to do is they try to put this into the linear models, saying, oh, if we just high crates or if we just do this um. What I think people have to realize is that once inflation is high, we have created unstable dynamics

and so and that's why everybody is so confused. That's why the mark goes up one day, then goes down one day, and every day we we changed the tune of what it's all about. And and now we think, oh my god, the inflation is low, so everything is going to be fine, but it will be fine for a few weeks, maybe a few months, and then guess what, another inflation print is going to be hind And and so that's the sort of and if you're asking me

with the big trends I'm watching. While I'm obviously watching the economic development, I'm watching them, I'm watching what inflation is gonna do. But also I'm watching human nature. We've had folks like Bananchi right in editorials that we are so much smarter than the nineties seventies. Yes we are,

but it's human nature. And so when inflation comes down a little bit, okay, you take the you take the sledgeham away a little bit, right, But it's if we have this unstable dynamic, and I think that's what we really have to just accept and and try to moddel through accel. One word that's obviously being thrown around a lot in this environment is stagflation. And I know your firm launched a stagflation et F to murk stagflation e t F to ticker stg F. Talk to us about

that strategy. How does that et F specifically sort of invest in a stagflation area environment? And and how in general should investors think about investing when there's stagflation like we're seeing. We looked at what happens when when inflation expectations move higher, and obviously we only have the nineties seventies economy is kind of a little different, but stocks on a on a real basis didn't perform so well. Ideally you want to invest in the CPI, but you

can't do that directly. So what we invest in We have a heavyweighting in tips, and then we invest in old on oil gold in real estate and have a trend following methodology in oil golden real estate because that's sort of trend methodor Pollo methodology worked well in staclationary environments.

And and net what you want to do, you want to have something and at least the way that we designed it that is a substitute to potential bond a location as that sort of volatility, but has the opportunity that in the stagflation environment gives you an extra kicker, whereas in a in a normal environment behave more like like a like a bomb might. And so we're trying to bridge that. And I think this is the first, though I know it's the first staclation team d CAP

in the market. It's it's a tool for the toolbox of investors. I'm not going to replace everything else, but we believe it's a it's a diversified that people want to look at. Excell when it comes to macron Any asked about that initially, what what key things might you be focusing on. Is it possible should we concede at some point that we can actually have persistently higher inflation,

maybe not eight nine percent that's manageable. Maybe we need to rethink that it needs to be three to four percent, but that we can do it still with jobs growth and ultimately some economic growth. Do we need to kind of rethink our economic model, perhaps, especially as we see a turnback on globalization. Mike and I were just talking about near shoring or you know, more manufacturing coming home.

Certainly here in the United States, do we need to rethink our metrics that describe kind of an okay and stable economy. Well, first of all, even when VOLCA got inflation out of control, we didn't go right back down to two percent and lived happily ever after. And so we have to keep in mind that this is going to be a process. The the challenges really is whether the FETE is going to lose focus too much. We in the seventies we have to stop and go economics.

THEFT says no, they're not going to do this, meaning that the moment that the economy slowed down, they stopped and so forth. And that's where I mentioned the human factor is so important. The theory is one thing, but yes, what are you going to be satisfied with by all means? We have lots of lots of tail winds have turned into headwinds. Be the globalization to move from just in time production, just in case production, um, the Ukrainian War

is I believe the symptom of less stability globally. Everybody's gonna invest more in military defense, and that means budget deficit is going to continue to be high. Um. A lot of the and and a lot of the the the the benefits we had from globalization, um in reverse when it comes to to inflation anyway, and and so yes, and it's going to be higher. But the Federals obviously has a job to do, and the question is whether

they'll do it or not. At this stage, the only thing that the power FET has admitted is that the models have been wrong. UM. I think it was Larry Summers who said we need a new approach. They need to throw out this backward looking methodology they they they introduced and all kinds of other things, and we may need a new FET chair for that. And that's not on the horizon. So I don't think we're gonna get to something, um that's going to be more stable in

the long run, for for quite a while. Act. So, I'm curious what you think about this legislation in Washington, the Inflation Reduction Act. It obviously focuses a lot on green energy. What are some of the market implications for this bill in your opinion? Well, yesterday's low inflation print was clear proof that the Inflation Reduction Act has a full impact already. And I'm saying that's gonna ye points right. I mean, these they they they come up with these

fancy names. Obviously there is no direct impact on inflation many of these the impacts is no longer run, but it has a nice name. When it comes to green technology that the one thing I would like to just point out is everybody wants to turn green, and nobody knows where all these these minerals come from. That you need fallow batteries and whatnot, and so on that end. Anyway, I'm not suggesting the overall CPI is going to be high for that matter, but but turning everything green is

gonna be expensive. Now, obviously the cost of some stuff is coming down. But ultimately this it's it's a political thing to call it inflation reduction Act. The actual implication is is obviously we're not doling out checks as much anymore as we used to. They do another part of the world, the Germans want to give yet another stimulus. When you give a check but supply is correct, trained

then you have a problem. And that's really why why is the acculation lasts for a while, Because the politically right thing to do is the economically wrong thing to do. Yeah, makes a lot of sense Um gotta run. Great to hear from you again. Act Soll Murk. He's President, chief investment officer over at Murk Investments, joining us on the phone from San Francisco. Thanks for listening to Bloomberg Business Week.

Download the podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot com, and you can also listen to our radio show at two pm Eastern on Bloomberg Radio or watch us on YouTube search Bloomberg Global News.