Return to Transcripts main page
Quest Means Business
At Least 250 People Dead in Powerful Italian Quake; More Than 1,000 People Displace in Italy's Quake; WhatsApp to Share User Data with Facebook; Vaz: Social Media "Consciously Failing" on Extremism; Clinton Responds to Trumps Charges of Bigotry; Conrad Black: Trump is Middle-of- the-Road Man; Conrad Black: Trump Rhetoric Often Tasteless; Mylan CEO: Health Care System Broken; Mylan Under Fire for 400 Percent EpiPen Price Hike; Wall Street Down; Mylan Leads Health Care Decline; European Markets Fall on Drug Woes; French Fashion Designer Sonia Rykiel Dies; Imported Synthetic Hair Helps Shape African Style; U.S. National Park Service Turns 100; Park Service Has $12 Billion Backlog of Projects
Aired August 25, 2016 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: Eleven consecutive medals for them, ringing the closing bell on Wall Street. Gold on the podium, red on the market. The
Dow is off the best part of 30 points. Oh, my word, you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of that rower. That's a firm rowing gavel, and
brought trading to a close. It's Thursday. It is August the 25th.
Tonight, a country that's still in shock with the powerful tremors are continuing in the Italian earthquake zone. We'll be there with a live
report tonight.
WhatsApp hits the share button on your phone number. It's sending the information to Facebook. Is this a breach of trust?
And the cost of saving a life. U.S. lawmakers are furious with the makers of the EpiPen.
I'm Richard Quest. Let's spend the hour together. And of course I mean business.
Good evening. The rescue operation is heading long into a second night in Italy and it follows Wednesday's devastating earthquake. There's now a
limited window, as you will be well aware, to find survivors. The hours ahead are vital in this rescue operation. But the numbers are telling a
very depressing story. At least 250 people are dead. CNN teams are on the ground are reporting that there are strong aftershocks. And yet amidst all
this misery and death, the stories of hope do still exist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(Rescue workers pull girl out of rubble.)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
She's ten years old. Georgia pulled from the rubble in Pescara del Tronto. Reported to be trapped beneath the ruins for 17 hours. Unfortunately, such
tales of hope are few and far between. Some of Italy's remote and mountainous towns are now unrecognizable. Atika Shubert is reporting for
us tonight on the destruction and the chaos that's following the quake.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The village Sant'Angelo has been reduced to rubble. It's cobble stone
streets and piazza covered in debris. When we arrived soldiers has salvaged the church bell, but no one is here anymore. Aftershocks keep
residents from returning. And most of the village's 300 residents have survived. But a mother and child were killed, crushed in their bed.
SHUBERT (on camera): It's incredibly eerie walking through the rubble of this tiny village of Sant'Angelo. I want to point this out, this bedsheet
here -- you can see it knotted to the top tied together. I think residents inside may have used this to try and come down, because as you can see the
doors are stuck because the walls collapsed around them. And there was no way for people to come out this way. So survivors may have tried to come
out here. And you get a real sense of just how horrific this was by the scenes here. Whole walls sheared off. And you can see inside the kitchens
and the living rooms just as they were at the moment the earthquake struck.
As you walk through the rubble here, you step over doors, twisted pipes, windows that have been sheared off. But this really shocked us. What
we're standing on top of now, it's actually a car that has been crumpled by the rubble of the home that's fallen on top of it.
At the village green, a tent camp is being built to house hundreds from Sant'Angelo and neighborhoods villages. Survivors rest in the shade, still
in shock. This grandmother tells us there is no hope, too many people dead. And Amatrice doesn't exist anymore. Amatrice has disappeared.
There are so many dead, so many children.
The village of Sant'Angelo is one of the places were tent camps are based. And this tent camp can house several hundred people. Now I actually spoke
to several teenagers that were right here in this playground when the earthquake struck at 3:00 a.m., that was lucky because they were able to
help many of the elderly residents who were trapped inside their homes. They set up a first aid camp. In that time the camp has grown. And I want
to show you a little bit here.
Many of the people from the neighborhoods towns and villages are coming here now. It's lunchtime, they're getting food, water, whatever medical
help they need. But also, importantly, electricity. They're able to plug their phones in, to keep in touch with their families and tell them that
they're safe.
Here they are safe but stunned by the destruction and loss all around them. Atika Shubert, CNN, Sant'Angelo, Italy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Emanuele Bombardi is the chief executive of World Vision Italy and joins me on the line from Amatrice the town center of the epicenter of the
quake. Sir, thank you for joining us. First of all, we're hearing these reports about very strong aftershocks. Have you been experiencing these
yourself? Have you felt any of these aftershocks?
EMANUELE BOMBARDI, CEO, WORLD VISION ITALY (via telephone): Yes, many shocks after the first. And so the shocks are continuing. And I have
heard this morning additional two or three shocks.
QUEST: How is the rescue operation proceeding? I mean, obviously, as the hours get longer, the hope of finding more survivors gets ever smaller,
doesn't it?
BOMBARDI: The rescue teams, at the moment -- I am here in the epicenter area -- I've seen that the tents have been built, and at the moment many
people can stay in tents. So this is the early stage to provide tents for accommodation to displaced people. And at the moment here I can see a lot
of people that can have, you know, lunch, dinner, inside safe tents.
QUEST: Do you have all the resources you need? Do you have enough tents, enough equipment? Obviously there's always room for more, but are you
getting what you need?
BOMBARDI: At the moment, to be honest, it's difficult to have a precise estimation of the needs, because, you know, hour by hour, the number of
victims and the number of people displaced is increasing. It's difficult to estimate the exact number. In this stage, you know, it seems that there
are enough tents to offer to the people. But then we are thinking, to medical, to water, to food. So I think we will need more to be sure,
especially because the number of displaced people are increasing hour by hour.
QUEST: And let's talk about that. How much more do you think we still have to discover about more fatalities, more injuries, more displaced
people. I mean, have we yet got a full picture of the extent of the effects of this quake?
BOMBARDI: I think that at the moment it is very difficult to estimate. You know, the number of injured and also displaced, of deaths. Can you
imagine that two hours ago, we counted 240 deaths, and now it's 250? And the same case for the injured and displaced, there are an increased number
of 10 percent, you know, in two hours. So I think it is not the time to offer precise estimation, maybe tomorrow will be the time.
QUEST: Emanuele, we thank you for joining us. And we respect your work and wish you well as you continue in it. Thank you, sir, for joining us
tonight.
Now respect your privacy is coated into our DNA. That's how WhatsApp describes its messaging service. And indeed, when it was taken over by
Facebook, it made clear that continuing respect for privacy would be at the heart of the company even after it became part of a much larger
organization. Now though it's going to hand over data to its parent company, Facebook.
And remember, Facebook paid $19 billion for WhatsApp a few years ago. So what data is being handed over? Well, your phone number is going to --
thank you. Your phone number along with other data. And let's face it, remember WhatsApp has a billion users. So you marry the billion WhatsApp
into the Facebook data book to connect to see if there are connections between them. And it allows Facebook to make product suggestions showing
relevant offers and advertisements. The privacy policy is to be updated, and users, that's you and me.
We have a chance to opt out before this comes in. And there'll be another date when we can opt out afterwards. But ultimately, they say, of course
that's the one side of the equation, what Facebook says is that it will allow users to communicate with businesses.
CNNMoney's Samuel Burke is in London. Samuel, we have much ground to cover on this. First of all, I've given this -- the messages which WhatsApp
trumpets as being encrypted end-to-end so no one can read messages, per se, are not going to be given to Facebook, but what else is?
SAMUEL BURKE, CNNMONEY CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely not, that's going to continue being encrypted. Really what they're doing here is doing what
they're doing here what companies do, and that's just trying to marry the data that they know about you, kind of the profile they know about you, if
they will you. So what they're wanting to do is match up all the stuff they know about you on Facebook, Richard, with your telephone number.
That's probably one thing that's been missing from the puzzle for Facebook in building this incredible profile that they have on you, and then
connecting that information with marketers. It doesn't mean they're handing it over to marketers. It just means if a marketer says, well, I
want to target somebody who has a British phone number, an American phone number, maybe someone from Arizona or London, they can do it that way.
QUEST: Well, hang on a second. But the reality is, this WhatsApp has made a huge deal out of secrecy, privacy. Now look, I'm not na
didn't pay $19 billion so it could become a philanthropic organization. But this appears to be a breach of faith from what WhatsApp said they would
never do.
BURKE: Well, you've been reporting on Donald Trump for days on your show. I've been watching, Richard, as he pivots or softens, he's saying. So I
think they're taking a page out of there. They're not going to say that they've just given up on privacy. It's not as though Facebook is going to
be able to go in and an employee will see your phone number, and an advertiser will. But this is certainly moving away from the core of what
Jan Koum, the CEO of WhatsApp was talking about when he sold his company to Facebook for all that money. They're definitely making a Trump-type pivot,
I might say.
QUEST: OK, related to that then, there's already anger amongst the WhatsApp cognoscenti, isn't there? There are already people tweeting
saying, look, enough.
BURKE: They always say that. But a lot of times people don't do that. What WhatsApp has on its side are those billion users you mentioned.
That's why people keep on using the software because you know it works, because your friends have it. But the risk that they run here, Richard, is
the fact that they have competitors, which are actually better. I've used competitors to WhatsApp that have video calls already. It's not a sure
bet. This could alienate people because they thought this was a core tenet of WhatsApp, that everything would be safe no matter what and this could be
seen as a type of vulnerability. Things change. Everybody had Myspace and then they switched to Facebook. And so people can go from WhatsApp to
another app. Nothing is certain. But they certainly have to be profitable.
QUEST: Samuel, as our tech correspondent, I mean, when I read this story this morning, and indeed it's part of my newsletter this evening. You can
read about it later. I'll give you the details on where you can read about it, I thought this was a big deal, which is why we're leading our business
coverage tonight. Because this does seem to be a quantum leap change between WhatsApp and Facebook, and arguably, some would say, the thin end
of the wedge.
BURKE: What I thought about immediately, when I was on your show, when this deal first broke between Facebook and WhatsApp, and you thought they
paid a ridiculous amount for it, and I said, no, no it will be worth it. It always catches up. And actually in the past few months I've been
thinking back to those conversations we had, Richard, and thinking you were right, they aren't making any money. I've been speaking to Facebook
investors who are looking back at that investment, and saying when are they going to make money? So I think this might be part of their path to make
it. At the end of the day they have to face up to that pressure that I've been hearing from so many Facebook investors. They have to make money. I
still think I was wrong and you were right so far. But maybe this deal will change that.
QUEST: Let's just loop that and play it every minute on the minute. I was wrong, you were right.
BURKE: For now.
QUEST: Oh, please. Thank you very much, Samuel Burke who's in London.
You can of course subscribe to the QUEST MEANS BUSINESS newsletter. It features the profitable moment and the top headlines of the rest of the
day. New York is closed, Asia is about to open. You need to know what the newsletter is saying. CNNmoney.com/quest to subscribe.
A new report from British lawmakers says companies like Facebook and Google are not doing enough to fight radicalism online. The head of the inquiry,
Keith Vaz, says, huge corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter with their billion-dollar incomes are consciously failing to tackle this threat
and passing the buck.
A member of Parliament, Keith Vaz, joins me now from London. Sir, good to see you as always. I guess they always seem to say, when radicalism
appears or radicalization appears, they act. But you're saying they should be more proactive. I'm not sure how they do that.
KEITH VAZ, CHAIRMAN, UK HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: You're right, Richard, we are concerned about this issue. We need to win the hearts and minds of
those young people who are being seduced because of the activities of groups like Daesh and others on the internet, recruiting them to join in
their struggle. And what we're saying is that big companies like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube and others, they need to be much more proactive in
taking down these websites, in making sure these posts are removed. Because this is the primary method by which terrorist organizations are
recruiting individuals.
QUEST: Do you think it is -- they're just being negligent about it or they're just not putting enough resources into it or, frankly, they don't
really care about it? Which is it?
VAZ: The failure to put in more resources results in these particular items remaining on websites. And what we would like to see is we would
like to see them increase the amount of people in their enforcement teams. If you look at twitter, for example, Richard --
QUEST: Why, sir? Why sir, do you think they're not putting more enforcement? Is it because they don't care about it or it's just not on
their radar as something that's important enough to deal with?
VAZ: It should be on their radar. But that's a question, Richard, that you should ask them. We believe that if you look at a company like
Twitter, 3,800 worldwide employees, only a hundred dealing with taking down these websites. So what you have at the moment -- and the internet is a
power for good. It's one of the greatest inventions in my lifetime. Is that you have a part of the internet that is unregulated, that is
uncontrolled, and that is lawless. And that means the very companies that create these platforms should be doing much more to ensure that their
platforms are clean of this kind of activity.
QUEST: Are you firing a metaphorical shot across the bows of these companies? That if they do not do more, then you and legislators will do
something to sort this out.
VAZ: Of course, because we cannot simply keep creating these reports and making recommendations. In the United Kingdom, when we had David Cameron
as Prime Minister and Theresa May as Home Secretary, we had our two most senior politicians sending out a very strong message that they were hard on
terrorism. We need to see that message get through to these companies so they are part of the solution to the problem. They're not the only
solution. But they're a very important part, because they provide the platforms that enable these groups to produce their very slick videos which
are winging their way around the world as we're speaking, Richard.
QUEST: Obviously we're not talking about the deep dark web where they can't be responsible for. You're talking about mainstream, Facebook,
Google, and Twitter. So I ask you finally, sir, do you believe ultimately this is going be assisted more by carrot or by stick to these companies?
VAZ: Obviously, we need to persuade them of the moral advantages of helping. But at the end of the day, if they don't act, then legislators in
different countries will have to take appropriate action. At the moment they are saying that they're global companies and therefore not responsible
to individual countries. We may need to act together with an international protocol if they fail to heed the warnings that we have put forward. They
have made some progress. They have taken down sites. We would like them to do much, much more.
QUEST: Keith Vaz, always good to see you sir. We thank you as always for popping in and coming in to give us your views tonight, thank you. Keith
Vaz, joining us from London.
Now, it was a revolution. It swept away 16 top Republican politicians.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Conrad Black: It was a tsunami coming, and only Mr. Trump saw it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: That was the former media baron, Conrad Black. You'll actually hear what he says, after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton a bigot. The Democratic nominee has fired back, and hard. Speaking a short time ago, Secretary
Clinton accused Trump of building his presidential campaign on prejudice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: What he's doing here is more sinister. Trump is reinforcing harmful stereotypes and
offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters. It's a disturbing preview of what kind of president he'd be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Donald Trump has turned the Republican Party on its head. He's invaded the political world and systematically destroyed the candidacy of
16 seasoned politicians. Lord Conrad Black, calls Trump's campaign genius. Lord Black once controlled the media empire that included "The Daily
Telegraph" and the "Chicago Sun-Times," and the "Jerusalem Post." Now of course, you will be remembering, of course he was sent to prison for
defrauding shareholders and skimming cash from his business. Conrad Black spoke to me from Toronto. And he told me why he believes the U.S. needs a
Trump presidency.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CONRAD BLACK, FORMER MEDIA MOGUL: I think he would be a good president because he would prevent the enthronement of political correctness. He
does not bandy God about. He doesn't bore us all with nonsense about American exceptionalism. He has not gone cocka-hoop on the environment.
He is a good negotiator. He's a middle of the road man in all respects except for some polemical treatment of some trade pacts and some aspects of
illegal immigration. In all other respects he's a centrist. He would make the system work. He would bring in the Congressional leaders of both
parties and we would get the ball rolling. I think his tax plan is excellent. He is in fact a moderate and a centrist. But he's scooped up
the Archie Bunker voter, Alf Garnet vote, you would call it in Britain, with his comments on trade and immigration. But in other respects he is a
centrist and I think would be a competent president.
QUEST: If we look at his tax plan and trade plan, we can talk about whether TPP should be abandoned, but the idea of reopening NAFTA after all
these years. And the idea of starting what some believe is a potential trade war with China over tariffs. And a tax plan that seemingly would
balloon the deficit, I'm not sure where I see you're finding favor with those policies.
BLACK: As you know, Richard, these are complicated issues. In a couple of minutes, we can't deal with them. But in word I would say, he's not
reopening the Canadian part of NAFTA, but Americans are right not to tolerate as big a trade deficit as they have with Mexico. You can
renegotiate that. On Trans-Pacific, that's a renegotiation job. You need trade wonks to discuss it. He's just seeking a better deal than what
shaping up. China, that's saber-rattling, the Chinese do it all the time.
That's just jockeying between great powers. I wouldn't be alarmed and anything terrible is going to result in it. He certainly isn't going to
make things worse.
QUEST: But then if he is so reasonable, why do you not find his polemics disturbing? Whether it's the idea of building a wall, which nobody
believes is practical, or the second amendment, the polemics and his inability to calm himself, is that presidential?
BLACK: No. And I found his polemics at times quite tasteless and disturbing. However, I know him, he is a reasonable man. As far as I'm
concerned, that was tactics to scoop up the roughly 40 percent of Americans who are broadly speaking the Archie Bunker vote. They're tired of
political correctness. They're tired of a regime that won't call Islamic terror, Islamic terror and calls the San Bernardino massacre workplace
violence. They're tired of that. But he's done that. And if you listen to him in addresses in the last week, when he spoke in Milwaukee on Monday
-- I forget where he was on Wednesday was -- they were excellent speeches. There was none of that nonsense. I think you're going to see a new Donald
Trump. He's lowered the expectation bar. And frankly, you people in the media have taken the bait and you've tanked him. And the public are going
to be pleasantly surprised that he's actually a competent man, reads a good speech off a teleprompter and makes sense.
QUEST: There was a letter in the "New York Times" earlier in the week that really pointed out, for a politician, a leader who claims to be a chief
executive of superb repute and managerial skill, his inability to pick his own top team and have to reshuffle three times in almost as many months
suggests a weakness.
BLACK: I had a business deal with Donald. And we co-developed the old "Sun Times" property in Chicago when we owned that newspaper. We dealt
with his company and dealt with him and he came in exactly on budget, right on time, built a very architecturally admired building and had it filled
with first-class pain tenants six months before it open. He was one of the best associates I've ever had. He's a very competent administrator. He
was a newcomer to presidential politics. He was an outsider in the Republican Party and it's taken him a little while to get the right people
in place. He at least had the intelligence to change when he saw that the previous group wasn't doing it. I would say you can't conclude he's an
incompetent administrator from that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Lord Conrad Black. CNN's Anderson Cooper sat down with Donald Trump this afternoon. You can see this interview about four hours from
now. Don't worry, if it's a little late for your viewing habits, it'll be replaying on Friday morning, 8 a.m. in London, and of course, where else,
CNN.
The chief of the company that makes this medical device, the EpiPen, says don't blame her for the astronomical cost of the medicine. The price of
the lifesaving device has gone up 400 percent. The chief exec is pointing the finger elsewhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment.
When a U.S. Senator demands an inquiry into the price of a life-saving drug. This EpiPen, will talk about this with Amy Klobuchar. We'll be live
on this program.
And will be remembering the queen of Paris. Legend designer Sonia Rykiel has died.
Before we get to those stories allow me to update you, because this is CNN and on this network the news always comes first.
At least 250 people are known to have died following Wednesday's 6.2 magnitude earthquake in Italy. Hundreds of people are injured. The rescue
operations continue late into the night with reports of aftershocks in the town of Amatrice.
A U.S. Navy boat has fired three warning shots at an Iranian vessel in the northern Persian Gulf. American officials say the Iranian boat was
harassing the U.S. Navy craft and failed to stop even after flares had been fired. The American ship then fired the three warning shots into the
water.
After 50 years of fighting, Colombia's government and the FARC rebels have reached a deal. It took nearly four years of negotiations to come to this
agreement, which must be approved by majority of Colombian voters. The referendum on this will be held in October.
Hillary Clinton has accused her Republican rival Donald Trump of peddling right wing conspiracy theories. The Democratic nominee said Trump was
being sinister in trying to appeal to extremists. Earlier Trump said, Hillary Clinton's email scandal was the most shocking since Watergate.
Ryan Lochte will be summoned to appear in a Brazilian court. The Olympic swimmer faces accusations that he filed a false police report after he
claimed to be robbed in Rio during the games. Brazilian police say Lochte is free to send a lawyer in his place.
Look at this, this is the EpiPen. Those who suffer from allergies will be well familiar with its use -- well, maybe not familiar with his use, but
certainly familiar with its design and intention if things go wrong. You basically stab yourself with it in the thigh.
The chief executive of Mylan that makes it, is now describing a broken health care system that's to blame for the skyrocketing price of the EpiPen
in the United States. Some 400 percent over the last couple of years. The drug companies under fire for raising the price of the injectable allergy
medicine so much, so fast. A box of two EpiPens costs $600 in the United States.
If you contrast that same medication in the United Kingdom, it's $120. You may well be saying, of course, nothing new about this, we could choose any
medication, whether it be indigestion, antiretroviral or EpiPen, and you would see a higher price in the United States. Mylan has announced a
discount program that would cut the price in half for some patients. That would still leave people around $300 for two EpiPens. And remember, they
only last for a year. So you have to renew them. And many people will be renewing them at the beginning of the year when they're paying the full
deductible on their insurance policies.
U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has tweeted, there is no justification for this hikes. The actress, Sarah Jessica Parker, whose son
suffers from a nut allergy, says she will end a relationship with Mylan. She had a deal to promote the company's allergy drugs. Mylan's chief
executive, Heather Bresch, says, "The pricing is out of our control." She called on congress to fix what they described as a broken system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEATHER BRESCH, CEO, MYLAN: Look, we are going to continue to run a business and we're going to continue to meet the supply and demand of
what's out there.
It's a complicated system. And to get in it and understand it takes time, which as you know, many people don't have the time to take the time. Our
Congress, our leaders in this country need to get around the table and fix this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: We're very grateful that joining us is the U.S. Senator from Minnesota, whose daughter also suffers from allergies and realizes on an
EpiPen.
Senator, thank you. Do you have any sympathy, Senator, which this idea or this view that it is the system that's broken and it's the system that's
responsible for such a sharp increase in price?
AMY KLOBUCHAR, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT, MINNESOTA: Well, I would like to see systemic changes. But to be very clear, this is the first program I've
been on that has had the audacity to lead with the fact that the prices for the very same product are so much cheaper in other countries. You see the
same thing in Canada. I actually have a bill with Republican Senator -- I'm a Democrat -- Republican Senator John McCain to allow for the re-
importation of drugs from countries that have cheaper prices, but just as safe of products. And so do I think there's systemic solutions? Yes,
including negotiations for drug prices with pharma for Medicare. Including stopping companies from colluding generics and big Pharma to stop products
from getting on the market that would create competition. But do I think this company did a bad thing? Yes.
QUEST: But what you did they do that was bad? When you have the chief executive saying, listen, this is the market. This is what it costs. This
is how we have to do business.
KLOBUCHAR: I'm sorry, but they were the company that had this product when it cost $100. It's not like they suddenly changed the product, they made
some minor changes to it, but there is absolutely no way those costs of R&D accounted to 500 percent increase on the product. There's no way you can
explain why it would be selling cheaper in other countries. So in my mind they took a product that was a good product, is a good product, and then
increased the price because they wanted to have more money and more profits. Their profit margin went up, Richard, from 2008 it was 9 percent.
In 2014 their profit margin was 55 percent.
QUEST: Right, where men and women of the world on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, Senator. What we're everything talking about here is price gouging, that's
the name for it, isn't it?
KLOBUCHAR: Well, and unfortunately, under American laws, when a company has monopoly power -- I'm the ranking member on the antitrust subcommittee
-- when a company has monopoly power and they price gouge, that in itself is not a violation of the antitrust laws. You have to show they colluded.
That they signed contracts to keep competitors out of the market. Obviously, I've called for that investigation of the situation with the
FTC.
QUEST: The problem is you'd have thought that since insurance companies pay much of the price for these drugs, and Medicare, Medicaid pays much of
the price, but for-profit insurance companies surely should have a greater interest in lower cost of pharmaceuticals. Let's face it, Senator, we're
talking about classic capitalism here. So why has classic capitalism failed?
KLOBUCHAR: I believe that you need the consumers empowered and the people empowered to see how much they're getting ripped off to get change. And
ironically that's what's happening. Some of these high deductible plans, which many of us which we didn't have a plan like that, but OK, high
deductible plans. They show the consumers how much these products have cost, are costing, and will cost. So that is creating pressure from
individual Americans to start pushing, saying this is way too much money.
And before it was just embedded in the system, hidden in the system. So I truly believe we need more generics for competition. And our laws allow
for that, but it's been slowed down. And pharma has stopped bills that would make it easier to have more competition, foreign competition, as I
pointed out, and then allowing negotiation. I don't think you can believe this, the harnessing nanergy of America's seniors, right now they have no
ability to negotiate. The prices are set. The VA gets to negotiate, the veterans do, but not the seniors under Medicare. That would be a huge draw
for bringing prices down.
QUEST: Senator, we're grateful that you've taken the time this evening in the busy election year, to come and talk to us. Thank you.
KLOBUCHAR: Well, it's great to be on.
QUEST: Thank you. Now, we'll talk more about this obviously in the months ahead. I still got my EpiPen in case things go a bit funny. I wonder
whose it is. I've got to give it back to him, because they need it more than anybody else.
Mylan's stock finished down nearly .75 percent. It was a little bit of an up tip there in the market, but down towards the end. Again, not big
movements on the day. The market closed down in the red. Mylan led a decline in health care stocks and it all brought the whole market down.
The Dow was off 33 points.
In Europe, the controversy over Mylan dragged down pharma across the Atlantic. And you see that the FTSE fell as drug makers saw a fall in
prices. Germany ifo survey says, business morale in the biggest economy deteriorated in August. And that's why you see the largest loss in the
Xetra Dax.
The queen the knitwear has passed away. Sonia Rykiel's fashion design, seen here in film, "Prot-.-porter," live on. And we will take a moment to
remember the woman who changed French fashion with a sweater. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, good evening.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: The queen of knitwear has died. For decades Sonia Rykiel's creations were literally a poke in the eye for the design bourgeoisie. The
woman with the bright red hair, pioneered a style. And that style as we know, is bold strips and vibrant colors. She made practical sweaters cool
again. She dressed celebrities like Audrey Hepburn and Bridget Bardot. Oh yes, she turned fashion on its head and made her creations available to
everybody in the high street, putting them on sale, even, in H&M. Jack Lang says, Sonia Rykiel paid an historic role in the development of French
fashion. He served as France's cultural minister. He knew Sonia Rykiel very well. When he joined me on the line from the Chans de Lise in Paris,
he remembered his time with the legendary designer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACK LANG, FORMER FRENCH MINISTER OF CULTURE: She became a great friend. And I knew her very well when I was minister of culture. It was during the
Mitterrand presidency. As the new minister of culture, I decide to give to fashion a new place in Paris and France. At that time, it was a very bad
situation for fashion. And Sonia helped me to organize many events in opera, in the Louvre, in the Tuileries Gardens. She was very well engaged.
Her support was very important for us. And it was really a very courageous woman. She was very brilliant, as you know. And what I can say, you know,
that she has opened new ways, revolutionary ways to fashion.
QUEST: The designs that she brought out in the 1960s and '70s revolutionized fashion in many ways. How do you think they revolutionized
fashion?
LANG: It was revolutionary because the use of materials, what we call tricot in French. And it was very revolutionary. And also what is
important to say is that Sonia was not only one designer or fashion woman. She was also a writer. And she had for literature real passion. It was a
very cultured woman. And she was at the time, as I can say, the queen of Paris. She had a great influence. And she gave help to young creators.
QUEST: I need to ask you, sir, before you go. And I want to ask you, the latest ban on burkinis on the beach in France, how big an issue is this?
LANG: It's a ridiculous situation. Sometimes behind this trial against this burkini, there is a deep mentality of certain people, a sort of
hostility against Muslins. And I cannot accept. For me, every region has to be respected. Every conviction has to be respected. I agree that
France offers this stupid controversy, this stupid debate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The former French culture minister.
Hair extensions are not going out of style in Nigeria anytime soon. Most of the country's synthetic is imported from Japan. CNN's Zain Asher has
more as part of our series, "AFRICA LOOKS EAST."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A beehive of activity at this Lagos factory. They're busy processing material for hair extensions. Part of an
estimated $6 billion market across Africa. Here in Nigeria, synthetic hair is a very lucrative part of the industry. And it's caught the attention of
international companies as far as Japan and India.
TAKU MIYAZAKI, MANAGING DIRECTOR, JETRO LAGOS: Nigeria is the biggest market for synthetic care for a Japanese companies. I'm very glad to know
that the Nigerian ladies like the Japanese product.
ASHER: Most of the hair used here comes from Japan.
MIYAZAKI: Japan has a long history in trade and investment with Nigeria since its independence. In terms of the export from Japan, Nigeria is
fifth destination whole of Africa.
ASHER: One of the leading manufacturer of synthetic care is the Japanese company, Kaneka. Maker of the brand, Kanekalon. Based in Osaka, Kaneka
says it commands a 40 percent share of the global synthetic hair market and a 60 percent share of the African market.
Here's how it works. Kaneka sends the raw materials to local manufacturers who then process and package the end product, ready for the salons.
According to Euro Monitor, women here spent nearly $500 billion on beauty and personal care in 2015. Beauty-conscious Nigerian women flocked to
stylus, UGO Igbokwe's, Make Me Salon in Lagos, where he expertly attaches the fibers into their hair.
UGO IGBOKWE, OWNER, MAKE ME SALON: And she takes this out. Just like that. And we grab this. And the style has changed.
ASHER: Considered a guru in the field, Igbokwe says, he advises a number of Japanese distributors looking to take a new product to market.
IGBOKWE: First of all, one thing that will never stop is women trying to look good. That would never happen.
ASHER: And looking good will never go out of style for both the businesses and consumers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: A hundred year ago today, the U.S. National Park Service was formed. I'm going to talking and walking with the man responsible. Where
better -- not responsible for forming it, but running it at the moment. He wasn't around a hundred years ago, or not that I'm aware of. We'll talk
about the national parks. Happy birthday. After the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Happy Birthday, U.S. National Parks, which turns 100 today. They've been described as America's best idea, 400 of them. Including such
institutions as Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, and some very small ones, right across the country. The Martin Luther King Memorial is also a park.
Look at that, brilliant, from Yellowstone. It was a treat and a pleasure to enjoy. The park service is charged with maintaining these famous
landmarks, including those on the Washington Mall. And it was there that I met the director of the National Park Service, Johnathan Jarvis. And I
asked him what this historic anniversary meant to him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNATHAN JARVIS, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE: It means a great deal to me. I started in the National Park Service in 1976, which was the
bicentennial of the nation. So to begin my career in the bicentennial and to end the career in the centennial is very, very powerful. There's a
great sort of patriotic, sort of public service aspect to this that I'm very proud to serve at this time.
QUEST: The parks themselves, 400 --
JARVIS: 412.
QUEST: -- 412 of them, ranging from small monuments to vast acreage. What do they stand for?
JARVIS: What's interesting about the National Park System is that they stand not only for a physical asset, the Grand Canyon or the Statue of
Liberty. They stand for an idea as well. The idea being that these places are preserved for the benefit and enjoyment for current and future
generations.
QUEST: You have a $12 billion backlog of work that needs to be done.
JARVIS: About half of that backlog is what I consider our transportation assets. Congress has recently passed an appropriations bill that grants
the Park Service a fair amount of money to address the transportation assets over the long term. So I'm feeling better about that part of the
portfolio.
The other half of the $12 billion are non-transportation assets. That's the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam, and the Jefferson and John Adam's home,
and the Statue of Liberty. These are physical assets of enormous historical value that are my responsibility. And we are not getting enough
money to take care of them.
QUEST: Do you ever imagine a McDonald's statue of liberty or this park brought to you by General Motors? After all, this country was born on
capitalism.
JARVIS: There's no way that this National Park Service would ever allow corporate renaming of these icons of a park or one of these memorials.
That's just inappropriate. I think it would be a violation of our responsibility to the American people.
QUEST: The preservation against the amount of road traffic, number of cars, number of people. Are the parks becoming loved to death? You've
heard that phrase.
JARVIS: I've never liked that phrase. I don't like that phrase. I never like that phrase. I think that the parks are loved to life. That they,
because the American people come and experience and become inspired, they give back of their own free will to these places.
QUEST: If you had to give a message to your political pay masters.
JARVIS: This guy standing down there?
QUEST: Yes, what would it be?
JARVIS: My message is that the National Parks are America's best investment. If you're going to invest the taxpayers' dollars in something
that returns in many ways to the American people, it returns economically, inspirationally, patriotically, the National Park Service is the place to
do that.
QUEST: Absolutely brilliant.
We'll have a profitable moment after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's Profitable Moment more of a muse. America's national parks are 100 years old, and they are absolutely glorious. In the last
month I got a chance to visit Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore and a couple of others as part of business traveler. What I discovered is that idea of
America's best idea is true. Others should follow.
And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. In New York, I'm Richard Quest. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable. I'm off to Las
Vegas.
END
