Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News. Welcome to the Bloomberg This Weekend Podcast with David Gura, Christina Raffini and Elisa Matteo.
Thanks for joining us for today's selection of conversations from the show.
You can listen to our favorite discussions right here on the podcast, but also make sure to join us live every Saturday and Sunday morning starting at seven am Easter.
We're on Bloomberg Television, Radio and the Bloomberg Business App, bringing you unique takes and in depth interviews on news, politics, lifestyle and culture.
The UK is announcing it will deploy one of its warships to the Middle East for a European led mission to escort ships through the Strait of Hormus once there is a stable ceasefire in place. This coming as dramatic new pictures from Sentcom released overnight show flames and large plumes of smoke after US fighter jet disabled two Iran flag tankers, which it says we're violating the US blockade of Irun imports.
President Donald Trump has worn America could escalate its military posture in the Strait as Iran weighs a new proposal from the US to end the war back with US now is Bloomberg News White House correspondent Jeff Mason, Jeff, where do you think this stands all this? Do we have any updates on whether each side has gotten a response from the other and is there a fear that the President will be leaving this conflict without fully securing the Strait. I guess that's good news for the President.
He's likely to be happy that news from the UK that they are sending some resources down there. But where does this leave the Strait overall if the US doesn't fully secure it before and trying to end this conflict?
Well, the UK angle is definitely interesting, given the pressure that President Trump has put on the UK Prime Minister and the very really positive state visit that he had
from King Charles. But to your initial question, Christina, still no updates on whether or not Iran has responded yet to the latest offer from the United States, and in addition to the broad question that you asked about, whether that may lead to the President leaving this conflict without a few major things resolved, including the Strait of Horror moves and whether or not Iran hasn't the ability to create a nuclear weapon in the short term. Those are
more longer term issues. In the short term, it also raises a question of where will the conflict stand as he leads leaves this country on Tuesday for China. The President has a big trip to Beijing next week, and this issue is hanging over that visit in the same way that it's hung over a lot of the President's relationships with other countries and other leaders around the world.
Jeff, let's talk a bit about that visit. I know you're going to be on the plane with the President heading over there for that summit. This is one that was postponed. I think it was supposed to take place back in March. Of course, was postponed because of the start of this war. It hasn't ended. In Bloomberg reporting this week, there's some unease or dissatisfaction among the Chinese that this conflict is still roiling in the Middle East
while this summit going to take place. We spoke with ambassad Nicholas Berns, who was President Biden's ambassador to China. I talked to Gary Ginster, the former head of the SEC, about the work that they did during the previous administration
kind of reintegrate ties with China. What are the broad objectives that Preston Trump has going into that meeting, aside from just sitting down face to face and I guess keeping alive that human connection between the leaders of the two largest economies in the world.
Well, that last one that you said is actually a pretty pretty big one, just keeping their relationship open, keeping the ties and conversations going. But there certainly are some other ideas or other hopes that the President wants to achieve during that trip, including perhaps extending a trade truce that has been in place for a little bit between China and the United States, talking about tariffs on both sides.
Also talking about fentanyl. The President has pressed China's to reduce the amount of fentanyl that is coming out of its country and into the United States. That's something that they had previously agreed on, but that the United States does not feel China is really.
Following up on.
But then to circle back to the perennial topic of Iran, that is no doubt also likely to come up when the two leaders meet in Beijing, in part because, as you rightly said, Beijing is not happy that this war is going on. Beijing is a big client of Iran
for Iranian oil. That, on the other hand, has created tensions between China and the United States because the US is upset that they're taking that oil and sort of undercutting the blockade that the United States is putting on Iranian ports to try to squeeze Iran's economy to push them not just to come to the table, but to agree to a peace deal.
Christine, I want to pick up on this because we were talking with Ambassador Burns about this. Obviously, the meeting that took place between the Foreign Minister of China and Iran, but something else that the ambassador said stood out to me, and that is he sees this as the beginning of a sequence of meetings that we're going to see here and indeed, during the Biden.
Administration, three bullish on this.
Yeah, sorry, continue, no, no, And I thought that was so fascinating. We're focused on this meeting taking place, but he seemed quite optimistic this would lead to additional summits here down the road. Anyways. Just wanted to note them.
Jeff, I mean, what is your take, Is there a plan for more after this or do they have to see how well this one this one goes and then of course, before we let you go. The other lingering issue is Taiwan, and whether or not the President will be more willing to be pushed on Taiwan, or even just not stating strongly US support for Taiwan could be taken as a signal by the Chinese.
Absolutely, so to those two points. Number one, Yes, there are more meetings planned this year between President She and President Trump, and I heard at least some former officials say that's one reason why the list of deliverables, which is very Washington speak, is not super high for this summit, in part because they have to leave some for other meetings later in the year. That's another reason why this one wasn't delayed, I was told, in part because of
the calendar. If they delayed this one on one meeting, it doesn't leave a whole lot of room for the other two or three meetings that are expected between the two leaders later this year at summits and perhaps as she visit or visit by President She to the United States. To your last question on Taiwan, that is absolutely also hanging in the air over this visit, there are some former government officials who said, who I've heard say in the last week as I was preparing for this trip.
They're concerned that President Trump is in a mood or in a position to really soften the US take on Taiwan, and that President She is going to try to use this opportunity to get him to soften that, perhaps get him to say something or commit to delivering fewer arms from the United States to Taiwan, and that that would potentially dramatically change the position of the United States in
Taiwan and change that whole relationship with China. It's definitely something that President She wants to see.
All right.
Jeff Mason traveling with President's Day, our White House corespondent, Thank you as always for joining us.
Give it to another major story now, health experts across the globe tracking down and monitoring passengers who are on board a cruise ship hit by hauntavirus. Right now, the ship is off the coast of West Africa set to doc early tomorrow morning. Or seventeen Americans on board that vessel.
That's right.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has set a team to meet them after six cases have been confirmed with two more probables. That includes three people who died now, once passengers get on dry land, those Americans will be flown to Nebraska for quarantine.
The individuals that are coming thus far have not been diagnosed with hauntavirus, but should they develop symptoms and concerning for that diagnosis, we will definitely assess them and care for them in the biocontainment unit.
Joining us now is the former COVID Response Coordinator under President Biden, doctor ashish Ja. Doctor. First of all, I want to ask a dumb question, and that is is it hantavirus or haunt of virus?
Morning?
We have differing opinions on this. And then I also, I grew up with this out West. I know, David, you spent some time there as a kid. I didn't think it spread like this. So how do we say it? And how does it spread? And how dangerous is it?
All right?
Three great questions? Good morning, and thanks for having me here. I've always called it hantavirus. That's what I was taught when I was in medical school. So let's go with hanta.
Okay.
Most strains of haunt of virus are spread from rodents to humans, and they don't spread from human to human. There's one strain that is an exception to that, and that's C ANDDY strain, and unfortunately that's what we have on the cruise ship.
So far.
It's a pretty dangerous virus. And so if you grew up in the American Southwest, New Mexico, Arizona, you've probably heard of hunt of virus. Usually get it from rodent droppings, getting aerosolis and you breathe it in thirty forty percent mortality of it, maybe even higher. So it's a pretty
dangerous virus. Thankfully, we have not seen large outbreaks in the past, but this one is different, partly because it's the wrong strain or is the bad strain the one that spreads and it ended up being on a cruise ship, which is a pretty good piece tree dish for a lot of viruses.
Ready my turn now for a two part question. The first is Nebraska. Why Nebraska? I remember this being a facility that was used during the Abola outbreak. I think maybe during the early days of COVID as well. So that's my first part. The second is what will happen to these patients when they get there? What does this quarantine look like in practice?
Yeah, two good questions. So Nebraska, we have these special pathosien units in across the US. The University of Nebraska Medical Center is got one of the best ones in the country. I'd argue one of the best in the world. The most dangerous pathogens, people who might be infected with them can go there. They've got fantastic safety protocols, some of the best clinicians in the world on these topics.
So that's why Nebraska, that's why our ebola patients went there, and that's why it's a good place for these folks to go. Look, I don't think do I think they need that.
I don't.
I think they're doing it out of an abundance of caution. I think that's totally reasonable. What's going to happen is they're going to be monitored very closely. What we know about huntavirus in the one strain that spreads from people that people usually only spreads when people have symptoms, So you could make the case that if they're feeling great, they don't have to be in a place like this. But again, I think out of caution, they're going to
watch them very closely. Obviously, if any of them develop symptoms, are going to need to get tested and treated. But that's going to be the plan.
I'm surprised how quickly this has gotten into people's minds, possibly because you know, we're all still a little scarred from COVID. Actually, The New York Times writes about COVID PTSD and how this is a lingering legacy. I was walking down the street in New York and some woman on the phone, young woman, said, you know, I really just want to go meet my friends before the hunt of virus takes us all. This was yesterday here, But it is serious. It sounds like it's unlikely to cause
a huge up outbreak, at least immediately. But if you are getting symptoms, what do those look like and how quickly do they progress? What should you be on the lookout for.
Yeah, and I want to just reader it. I think the chances that this is kind of how going to become a big global outbreak is exceedingly low. It's just I don't think it's going to happen. Now, let's talk about symptoms. The problem with this virus, like most viruses, they all start off about the same way. A fever, a headache, you know, just feeling lousy by the way. That's like, you know, we all have symptoms like that. When we get viral syndromes, it then progresses pretty rapidly.
There are two forms.
There's a pulmonary form where you get very severely short of breath. It really affects your lungs and you can get very sick that way. There's another form where you get much more in the abdominal pain affects your vessels and you can get very sick and die in that other way. So starts off pretty much like most viral syndromes, and then it can progress pretty quickly after that.
Ask about the vaccine for this, So Bloomberg reporting, Maderna has done some early stage work on the vaccine for hunting viruses in the US. It's working with xin Information Centered careed University College of Medicine on a potential immunization. What's the status of the development of immunization for this? Is that something we should be looking for in your estimation here in short order?
Yeah, So, look, the m RNA platform is awesome and obviously we used it during COVID to get vaccines after the American people very very rapidly. As you probably know, Sector Kennedy is not a fan and Therefore, he has really blocked the development of m RNA vaccines here in the United States. I think, by the way, completely irrationally. There's no logic for that. So now companies like Maderna
and European companies are working with other countries. In terms of the hunt of virus vaccine, it's still pretty early stage. Eventually we need to go through kind of large clinical trials. There aren't that many people getting infected with this, so you're not going to see those trials, So it's not anywhere near primetime. But the good news is I don't think we need it right now.
I mean, we should.
Develop it obviously, if it becomes a bigger outbreak, we should study it much more closely. But for most people this is not going to be an issue. But we're not going to be getting hunt of virus vaccines anytime soon.
Since we have you, I do want to ask you. There's some reporting from the Wall Street Journal that President Trump has signed off on a plan to fire the FDA commissioner after policy fights about vaping, the abortion pills, and others. He was actually asked about it last night. We've got some sound for you.
In the Love I've been reading about it, but I know nothing about it.
So Trump saying, asked what he knows, he says he doesn't. You know, he's going to do it. He says he does knows nothing about it. What is your take on this and the state of play at the FDA right now, how well it's functioning and morale inside that agency.
Yeah, it's a great question. Obviously, I don't know exactly what's happening in terms of doctor mcrey's status. There's all this confusion. I've been reading the same stuff that everybody else has in terms of the FDA. I mean, I think what I would say is I actually was a pretty big fan of Marty. I have been for a long time of him getting nominated. I think he has
tried to do a good job. I think he's made a few some missteps, and it's been complicated because there's a lot of political pressure from his boss, the Secretary of AHHS, to do certain things that I think a typical FDA commissioner would not face from a typical secretary of HHS. So I think Marty's had a hard job, and you know, and as I said, I think he's been he's very qualified to do this how this plays out, I don't know, but the FDA is struggling because they've
lost a ton of staff. They've been doged, and that has meant some of their best scientists have left. Marty's been managing at pretty difficult agency that's under a lot of stress because of some of those moves.
Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend. Right after this well, President Trump is expected to meet with President she in Beijing later this week. As I've been talking about over the course of the morning, that summit i've been postponed because of the war in Iran, and you can guess the conflict will be high on the agenda when the heads of the world's two largest economies meet. We're us going to talk about trade issues, artificial intelligence, and fentanyl.
Our next guest is the ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the US and China. He's Communist Party Congressman Rocana. Joins us this morning from Maplewood, Ohio, where he's leading a three day heartland tour visiting farms and factories. We want to get to that trip. We also want to get to the President's trip to China. But first thank you for joining us, And I do want to ask you about that testimony on Wednesday with
Howard Lutnik. You said, regarding his connections to Epstein, he made a quote farce of the English language and that Trump would fire him if he heard what he said. And I wanted to ask you, are you sure about that? Are you sure you think the President would fire him if he knew what he said?
I am, because the President would see him sweating and mumbling and struggling to answer very basic questions. I mean, Howard Lutnik's testimony was that when he told the nation that he would never visit Epstein after two thousand and five, that what he meant was that he himself would never visit Epstein, but it was fine for him, his wife and his kid to visit Epstein's island. That just makes no sense. Anyone listening to it would know he was lying and he was not honest.
That's the real issue.
I want to ask about the Epstein Transparency Act. Where we are in this process. So a signal moment having the Commerce Secretary up on Capitol Hill testifying before the Oversight Committee. There was a lot of commentary early on that the Justice Department hadn't upheld its obligations to that act, have they since? Are you satisfied with what you've gotten from the Justice Department? And indeed, where does this investigation, in part helmed by the Oversight Committee go from here?
Well, it's been the largest release of documents over decades, three million files released, and they have shown an Epstein class that feels like they don't need to live by the rules that treats these women as dispensable. But there's still three million files that need to be released. And the biggest thing that survivors tell me is they want to see investigations. Sections there are people who abuse them, rape them, or traffic them in these files, and there
haven't been any investigations or prosecutions. So we need the release of the remaining files, and we need investigations and prosecutions.
I was also wondering, and stick with me here. It is a bit of an odd question, but I'm wonder if you've been any insight into why Malania Trump, seemingly out of nowhere, made that odd and rare public appearance in April, denying any connection with Epstein and calling for Congress to bring survivors forward to testify. Do you know what prompted that?
I don't, but I actually welcomed it because, unlike her husband, who's calling these survivors a hoax, first Lady Trump is saying that they deserve to be heard. First Lady Trump is saying that there should be investigations and prosecutions. And the most important thing she said is Epstein was not alone. She knows that there were other men involved in abusing, trafficking,
raping these young girls. And she is saying there needs to be an investigation, needs to be prosecution, and she's contradicting her own husband.
So what I would ask for the first Lady.
Is to say, call on the Justice Department to release the remaining files and call on them begin investigations and prosecutions.
Car Spakana, as we mentioned, this trip is coming up this week, this postponed trip the President's taking to Beijing to meet with President She You're the ranking member of this committee on China, and I'm curious of how do you see the importance of this visit and indeed what you hope will come out of it. What is a good outcome in your estimation of this trip where the leaders of the two largest economies in the world are going to meet.
Well. I've been in Pennsylvania and Ohio and Michigan talking to our farmers, talking to our factory workers. Let me offer four things we need to do. First, we need to get a deal for China to buy more of our soybeans.
The farmers have been hurt.
They're buying now from Argentina, They're buying from South America. They're not buying from our farmers. Second, we need to make sure that they're not sending their ships to our ports without a fee. We suspended this fee and China's using their ships in our ports that are hurting American shipbuilding. Third, we need to find some way to lower the cost of fertilizer. It's really hurting a lot of our farmers. It's hurting a lot of the food prices in the
United States. That means getting them not to have export controls on that, and that means figuring out how we open up this strait or foremost. And finally, we need to make sure that they are not dumping into the United States. They continue to have unfair trade practices and we need to clamp down on that.
Historically, the Chinese have been very adept and very tenacious negotiators, especially when it comes to matters of the economy. We've been talking this morning about how the Treasury Secretary has laid the groundwork and established a relationship with his counterpart
in Beijing. But I'm wondering if if you think this administration, if you think President Trump is ready to go toe to toe with the Chinese, if he can get successfully the things you were all just talking about out of these negotiations.
Well, he hasn't shown that ability so far.
Obviously, I'm rooting for him because he's the American president, but we've lost eighty thousand manufacturing jobs on his watch. We've seen three hundred and sixteen farm bankruptcies on his watch compared to two hundred and fifteen the year President Biden was in office. We've seen the trade deficit for the United States actually increase. We've seen the cost of inputs increase because of blanket tariffs. So he has a lot that he has to reverse, and we've had China
hold us hostage on rare arts and critical minerals. I want a deal that actually helps American farmers, American shipbuilders, American manufacturers, and I hope he will work to get that.
He hasn't so far.
Part of that committee's remit design, understand is to look at this balance of this level of competition between the US and China. And I'm curious how you see that dynamic at play right now. So we had just a few days ago Iran's foreign minister going to Beijing to meet with China's foreign minister. It's clear that China, by not getting actively involved in this conflict in the Middle East, is position, shall we say, differently from the US right now.
And perhaps that's something I think advantageous to the Chinese leadership. It's not a war that's training resources from them. Sure, they'd like to have the energy that's stalled in the strait of horror moves. How do you see that competitive dynamic? And how worried are you about the degree to which the US the administration is paying attention to that binary between the US and China.
Well, I'm concerned that we're draining our resources in a war in Iran. We haven't been able to get their enriched uranium out. Iran's regime is more hard lined, with the IRGC having more control. Iran has more control over the strait of hormos. It's cost US billions of dollars, and it's increased our food price, and China basically is just watching from the sideline. They're not sinking that money
into the Middle East. They're sinking that money into building their ships, into building alternative energy, renewable energy, into building their economy. So what I want is for the United States to be putting our resources in investing in manufacturing here at home, jobs here at home, research and innovation here at home, and not getting sucked into the Middle East. That's a drain of our resources.
Chris, What I do want to ask you more arms services the question. And there's this report in the Washington Post about US intelligence analyzing the data and saying that Iran is situated to last at least three or four more months of this blockade before really feeling the economic pressure when it comes to a war of attrition. If you're looking at Iran versus the US versus even China,
how long they're willing to sit this out. Do you think the American public and people, real people who you've been talking to in the Midwest are going to give the president the benefit of the doubt for this conflict for three to four more months, given what it's doing to prices of almost everything.
No, it's because we're spending a billion to two billion.
Dollars a day. But that's not just the cost.
I mean, when it has Pete hext what's the cost is said, it's a gotcha question. But Pete HEXTT may want to go out to Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania. Because the cost is the increased cost of gas. The cost is the increased cost of diesel. The cost is the increased cost of fertilizer. All of that means increased costs for Americans when it comes to food, when it comes to their rent, when it comes to filling up
their tanks this summer. And that's not a worth in Iran that is more hardline and that still has enriched uranium.
So we haven't.
Achieved anything, and we've created enormous economic hardship on the American people.
We need to end this war.
We need negotiation that opens the straight up foremost allows gas, allows diesel, allows fertilizer's prices to fall.
How blind are you other lawmakers flying right now? I guess it's no small thing that the defense Secretary did make his way to Capitol Hill to answer some questions, not all of them, but at least at least some of them. You know, I think when we first heard about the funny request the administration was making, there was some speculation that lawmakers would welcome that as an opportunity to kind of use that to get Secretary Hegseth and others on the Hill to answer questions about this conflict,
about the trajectory of this war. How much confidence do you have in your understanding of what the administration wants to do and where this war is headed.
The administration doesn't have a clear strategic goal. First they said they wanted regime change. Now they acknowledge that the regime that's in place is actually more hard line that comminate. Then they said they wanted the nuclear energy out and for Iran to be denuclear. Now they acknowledge that enriched uranium is still buried under Iran soil. Then they said, well,
they want the straight off hormose to be open. Wellse was open before this war, so now we have to figure out how we get the strado for moose open.
There is no strategic goal. The strategic goal right now should be the immediate opening of the straighto for Moose, the end to these hostilities, not shooting at each other so that the price of food and the price of gas can drop, and then negotiation with the international community to get Iran to commit on getting enriched uranium ount and inspections, something Obama had achieved that Trump tore up.
The President has been very frustrated with European allies who've so far been unwilling to engage directly in either helping with the blockade or helping American action in the region. Part of the repercussions of that, he has now threatened to take a significant number of troops out of Germany after the Chancellor had some harsh words about Trump and saying he was getting played by the Iranians. Are you
concerned that that will really happen? And at what level do you worry it will impact American operational abilities because those are big The US relies on them for a heck of a lot of stuff in that theater. Why is he doing this and are you concerned it's going to impact military readiness?
Well, I'm concerned that he's doing it in a retaliatory way. If he wants to look at lessening our footprint on our eight hundred bases overseas to reduce cost. That's a separate conversation. But he shouldn't be threatening the German Chancellor with our troup presidents in Germany because the German Chancellor doesn't want to engage in a blockade that isn't being effective in the.
Strait up Hormouse.
What we need to do is bring all along our European allies, like President Obama did to put pressure on Iran to have a deal that forces them to submit to inspection and give up their enriched uranium. Obviously, the military option didn't work. Yes, the military destroyed Iran's navy. Yes, it destroyed Iran's air force. That may weaken them regionally, but it did nothing in terms of getting them the enriched uranium out. And for that we need our European allies in napel and diplomacy.
Let me pivot from the shooting war in the Middle East, shooting war in Europe, to the political war here in the United States over congressional districts. And as I said, you were uniquely positioned. You're an Armed services oversight The China Committee You're also from the great state of California, which is wrestling with some of these issues having to do with congressional districts. I'm curious what your reaction is to what we've seen in recent weeks out of Virginia.
The Virginia Supreme Court ruling that the redrawn districts that were passed by voters there does not comport with the States Constitution obviously a setback for Democrats. We saw the ruling from the Supreme Court on the Voting Rights Act. Where do you see this war, that political war heading as we see Republicans and Democrats going back and forth on the way those congressional districts are drawn.
Well, the Virginia decision was overruling Virginia voters. Virginia voters just voted on maps, and for the Virginia Supreme Court to invalidate an election is deeply in high democratic. And then for the US Supreme Court to get voting rights in the Deep South to not understand that there's racially polarized voting in the Deep South is completely out of touch and undermining the efforts of the civil rights movement.
I mean, they're going after Jim Clyburn's district. There was not a black member in Congress in South Carolina for one hundred years between Reconstruction and Jim Crow Jim Clyburn, one that seen in nineteen ninety two. Because they grew a black majority district and they're trying to eliminate that. They're trying to eliminate the work of the voting rights and civil rights moment, eliminating black majority districts in the South.
It's deeply concerning, and not on a political level, just on a level if anyone who cares about civil rights and a black representation in America.
So what are you going to do about this?
What are Democrats going to do? And at this point, is this a map Democrats can reasonably win and hope to flip either of these bodies in November.
We're going to win.
The House will win despite all of these games. My concern is what is this doing in terms of our civil rights representation. I would encourage people to watch Jamie Harrison's passionate defense of a black majority districts in South Carolina and beyond when he spoke at the South Carolina Legislative Session. And I do believe that we can convince in some of these legislators not to do what they're
thinking of doing, eliminating black districts. It's not right for the country, and it may actually backfire on them creating more democratic districts in the process. So as they eliminate black districts, they may actually be creating more democratic opportunities. So we're going to be fighting in each one of these states to make sure that they don't eliminate these districts.
What do you say to the viewer of Bloomberg Television, the listener to Bloomberg Radio who sees the gentleman from Fremont, California in Maplewood, Ohio and wonders if this gentleman has higher respirations than representing a congressional district in California, and if you demur on answering that directly, what does the Democratic Party need to know from the places that you've been spending the last three days visiting.
I'm here in my capacity as the top Democrat on the China Select Committee, and I'm here with colleagues from Michigan, from Pennsylvania, from Ohio. But what I would say is the Democratic Party needs to spend more time in places in rural America, on farms in factory towns, and then to understand that they're upset.
They're upset with both parties.
They've seen manufacturing job laws, they've seen the prices increase, They've seen wealth pile up in districts like mine in Silicon Valley, while the American dream seems farther out of reach here, and we need to offer a vision. I call it economic patriotism. A new Industrial bank that invests in communities, a thousand new trade schools, a new sense of tech institutes across America, a trade agenda that actually
opens up foreign markets for our farmers. So we need to offer an economic agenda for the future.
So you're exploring running for president.
Well, right now, I'm exploring what the agenda for the China Committee and House Democrats should be. But I do believe whoever runs to represent our party in our nation should have a comprehensive economic agenda for the future.
I think that's the central issue.
How are we going to improve the lives of Americans in many of these places that were hollowed out after NAFTA, hollowed out after China came into the World Trade Organization, what is our vision for bringing them back for having economic security and economic independence.
Corson Kinna, thank you very much for being so generous with your time again and joining us from Maplewood, Ohio this morning on his tour of heartland States. He heads to Michigan this afternoon, and very much appreciate the time. And you're engaging on all of these important issues, Christina. Again, he sits on so many important committees and is in such a unique position to talk about so much of what we've been discussing over the course of the morning in the last few weeks.
Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend right after this.
From film to television, to music, even food and health and beauty, Korean culture is seeing a surge in popularity in America and around the world.
A new CNN series premiering tonight starring Daniel Day Kim, captures this k pop phenomenon.
Here's a preview.
Where are we going titoo?
I don't know, but wherever we're going, I want to be wearing this hat.
WHOA.
I have to say, it's one of the cleanest factories I've ever seen in Korea. You're the first person to discover this. Can we see? Wow, Hi, guys, it's just.
A lot of it.
It is a lot.
The host and executive producer of Kay Everything and apparently snail aficionado, Daniel Dick Kim is with us. Now, thank you for being here. For our radio listeners. Please describe what we were just seeing on the screen.
So what you saw or what was What are called king snails and they are used to produce for their snail musin, which is the trail that they leave behind as they walk places, and that musin is now used in cosmetic products. And we went to the factory where this musin is harvested from these king snails.
I have to tell you I've used that product. I kind of thought it was a synthetic facsimile. I didn't realize it was really from.
No, it's the literal thing. And so I actually had the privilege of having the snails on my hand and they're crawling around. They're big, I mean, for the for the audio listeners like it's they're like a good like four inches long, so they're really big. But I will tell you that after I took the snail off my hand and my hand had dried, it was noticeably softer. Really, it really was, and so you know, I'm proof that this stuff actually has an effect.
Tell us about the genesis of the show. Why did you decide to go and make it to focus on Koreean culture.
Well, you know, I've been noticing, you know, how prominent Korea culture has become over the last ten or fifteen years, in like areas like drama, which is something I'm close to. I've been watching, you know, movies like Parasite, when the Oscar Squid Game becoming netflix most watched TV show, k Pop Demon Hunters becoming Netflix's most watched movie. So, you know, it was staring me in the face. And then I realized, not only is it, you know, drama, but it's food,
it's beauty, it's music. Of course everyone knows k pop, and so I thought it was a perfect time to kind of showcase this culture to the world.
Did you not have enough jobs? You needed to come do my job? You're an actor, your producer, Now now you're doing our job. I was watching this last night. I was like getting aggressively jealous because you've talked to
so many fun people. Well, one of my favorite segments was in the episode we got on k beauty is you go to explain it, it's like a when you do your resume in Korea, mostly a lot of times includes a photo and you who you know, I've known you fore hour, so I don't like to give you compliments, but you know, other people find you to be a very attractive man. The amount of photoshopping they did on your face to make it acceptable for a resume is terrifying. And this is like a standard thing.
It is, well, it's no longer required, but for a while employers were requiring a photo to go along with your resume, and so Koreans, you know, would start to stretch the boundaries of what they actually look like. So you can go to these photo booth places and you can ask for levels of retouching, and one is like K pop goddess. And what they do is they'll they'll retouch not only your skin, but they'll make your eyes symmetrical,
they'll change your jawlines subtly. They'll they'll fix a crooked smile, whiten your teeth. But it's not it's so drastic that it's not you, but they call it the best version of you.
You make this series and I imagine you're wrestling with why Korean culture seems to be so resonant globally and so resident at this moment. What's your thinking on that.
It's a good question. You know, Korea came from a war torn, poverty stricken nation just a few generations ago to one of the most modern civilizations in the world. And I think it has something to do with the competitive nature and the pride of the Korean people, and
both those things are positives and negatives. So one of the things I did at the end of every interview was ask the interview subjects, what are five words you would use to describe the Korean society, And every one of them said competitive.
Is that right?
Yeah?
And so that competitive nature, that drive actually propels them to succeed in areas in such a short compress time, and at the same time, it can make it difficult at times to live there if you're falling behind or perceived to be falling behind.
So talk us through the other episodes that you did, one on K Pop, you did one in K Beauty, What are what's the breath of it? And what was your favorite one?
They were all pretty cool, but I have to say, like because I'm a stranger in a strange land when it comes to k beauty. That was the one that I think I had the most fun with. I actually went to a very well known dermatologist and soul and underwent a procedure where she injected salmon sperm into my salmon sperm.
Sure, how was that?
It was actually interesting? Like I'd heard horror stories about people doing laser treatments and like they do them and you can't be seen for weeks because you look like a zombie. But Korea's techniques are so advanced that they give you the treatments and you can go about your business as soon as you're finished. And and they're they're relatively painless, and they're quick, and yeah, that's the thing.
They're super cheap a relative to the United States, and so you know, you know, beauty cosmetics tourism is actually on the rise there. There's this one region where or one part of the city where all the plastic surgery clinics are and you walk down the street and sometimes you look like you're on the set of Walking Dead because everyone's in like bandages as they're walking down the street and sitting in cafes it's very surreal.
You open the door to us talking about the economics of all of this. I'd love to get into that a little bit as well. Yes, there's the massive cultural resonance that we've seen, but this is a huge business. Korean culture, the export of Korean culture is a huge business worldwide.
Yeah, it's a huge business, and it's government supported. There are initiatives on behalf of the government to introduce Korean food to the world. We get into that a little bit into the series. And you know, they embraced k pop in such a way that they're active ambassadors for Korea, you know, and anyone who's a prominent figure and in the global spotlight is honored. There is encouraged by the government. Not in such a way that it's like like a communist country, but it is.
It is.
They're celebrated and they take a lot of pride in those who succeeded.
Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this Weekend. Right after this, Welcome back.
To Bloomberg this Weekend or BT wow.
As I'm constantly.
Bulliod, We're making progress. I'm Christina David Gara alongside Lisa Mitteo. This is the moment in the show, and Lisa shows us all that she has surfaced over the course of the week stories. Yes, we you may have missed Lisa.
May have missed it. I did not. Okay, So let's get to the first one. This was actually on the Bloomery. This is from Bloomberg. So it says travelers spend big by using astrology as a vacation planner. Could Well, here's thing. Do you guys follow your signs? No, you're not too into that, Okay, a lot of people are. No, A lot of people are though, apparently, and a growing number they're turning to listen to this astro cartology. Okay. So this is when they look at the position of the planets,
the moment of your birth. So they're going to locate places in the world that align with achieving your goals. Okay. So a lot of people, like people considering a new chapter in their lives. They want to move, they're looking for love, they're they're doing all these things. They turned to these folks for some guidance.
You didn't do this some No, when you moved to New York.
You didn't design job, although I did.
I did once sit through a dinner where a woman, unprompted, brought a book, asked everyone for their birthday, and read for an hour and a half all of our rising like that.
Okay, you can go next over, get your cards, read nothing.
No, I I do have a tarot deck. I do have a tarot deck. I did a piece once on somebody. I did a piece once on somebody who had a really nice, chill take on it, and they gifted me one afterwards, and it was a nice gift. But I don't use it regularly.
We digress people are using this.
They're actually doing this.
They are there are because thirty percent of American adults say they turn to these horoscopes tarot cards. Like some more people are starting to do this. So now they're turning to this new service. And even corporations are hiring these people to bring them on because corporations, you know, they're they're taking on new ventures. So they want to see if it's in the right location. It's it's a you gotta read it. It's interesting right.
Out there, right Hannah, We're going to send you a directing message where I'm talking about this Pieceana.
Okay, this next hoe is from the Wall Street Journal. Okay, this is about the boy bands. Okay, so the boy band heyday may be over, but the man band era has just begun. Okay, so the boy bands that kind of we love when we were younger, Okay, a lot of them are making big money now.
Because are we talking about the people.
We're talking about new kids on the box, Backstreet Boys, right, remember, boys to Men, new addition, like all of those things. Yes, yes, yes, so there are men now in their forties and fifties.
They are they're not in their.
Twenties and thirties anymore. But they're making money because the women who love them back in the day now are older. They have more money to spend, so they're going to Vegas.
To the shows.
They're going with girlfriends. They're doing girl trips. My sister actually did one.
Girlfriend.
I did not go with her and a girlfriend. They booked flights, they went out to I forget where it was, but they had an excellent time and they's such a phenomenal time. But it's they are really really making money off of this. Guys. I was the new kids on the block. I got to say that was kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I had three younger sisters so it was always like who's your favorite, Who is your favorite?
So you're my neighbor, new kids on the block, bedspread, bedspread.
Gosh, but it's a thing. It's a girl's thing. VIP tickets and everything.
Now, but if you guys want to go, you let me know.
Before.
Okay, Okay, this one's from the New York Times. Okay, longevity, Right, A lot of people are seeking and this is some of the times. It says the longevity secrets helping athletes blow past the limits of age. Okay, So we're talking about athletes, right, they're extending their careers. Remember we talked about the Winter Olympics, right, two athletes over forty right, one gold medals. Last season you had three forty plus quarterbacks who started NFL games. And then of course there's
lebron James, right, he's forty one. His son is playing next to him for Little Bronni. Yeah, it's Little Bronni. So how they do it, It's more like they're not just sitting in an ice bath. I mean, this is high tech gadgets. A lot of data involved, like all these sci fi tech gadgets, and they're doing a lot of different things. A mortal chamber. It's one hundred and
sixty thousand dollars. It's a human charging station. So some of these athletes are even buying those so they can kind of rejuvenate themselves because they want to extend their career at least.
How much of this is proven because I have friends who do a lot of this stuff. Some of it there's some research to back up. But is this just is it solacebo effects for any I don't know.
I mean they're saying that it's helping because they're skinning working.
Yeah.
The thing is is that the athletes are making more money, right, so think about it. They make more money, they have more money to spend on a lot of these you know, gadgets to kind of prolong their careers.
So and you know, the career does end early relatively speaking, it does, but maybe the rest of your life and only so many play by play jobs that are available.
All right, I haven't this one more from the Washington Post. Okay, so this was an interesting to study why sitting all day is so bad for you and what to do about it. So we're sitting here right now, yes, and we you know, we got now and then to stand and stretch. The back. Sitting is a new smoking that was like the thing remember that? Not really Okay, So apparently the wall streams sit back Washington boats. They asked the experts and they said, how much is too much sitting?
So if you sit for eight to ten hours a day, that's a little too much. You can get up, you know once in a while. It's tied to higher risk of cancer, right, type two diabete. This is what the study show depression things like that, And the reason why is because when you sit right, your muscles are not working and it's affecting your metabolism at the same time. So that's what they say. Your muscles are very important, so you have to remember that when you're just doing that.
So that's why I have the standing desk.
Yes, I take your kinesiological council all the time, so simon you are it's aggressively.
They have the happiest and healthiest.
Member aspire to do what you're doing.
So you do have a stand up I have.
The stand up desk, and then my watch actually tells me it goes off when I've been sitting for the yell at you, yes it does, and that tells me it's time to stand. So yeah, yells at me, yells at me. That's I just use my dog. He just yells at me.
To get up.
You got to take the walks.
See.
By the way, Bloomberg This Week at least, thank you, Thank you very much, thanks.
For joining us on today's Bloomberg This Weekend podcast. Don't forget to tune in live for the show every Saturday and Sunday morning, starting at seven am Eastern.
We're on Bloomberg Television, Radio and the Bloomberg Business App, bringing you unique takes and in depth interviews on news, politics, lifestyle, and culture.