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First Move with Julia Chatterley
U.S. Jobless Claims Fall Below One Million Last Week; Facebook, The Social Media Giant To Block New Political Ads In The Week Before The U.S. Election; Angela Merkel Faces Courts To Ditch A Controversial National Gas Pipeline After A Russian Poisoning. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired September 03, 2020 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Social media giant to block new political ads in the week before the U.S. election.
And pipeline pressure. Angela Merkel faces courts to ditch a controversial national gas pipeline after a Russian poisoning.
It is Thursday. Let's make a move.
All right, welcome to FIRST MOVE. I'm Zain Asher sitting once again in for my colleague, Julia Chatterley.
It is another busy day for investors this Thursday. Important new jobs numbers have just been released about a half an hour or so ago. An
additional 881,000 people filed for first-time jobless claims in the U.S. last week, a greater drop than expected.
The numbers are below one million for the first time in three weeks. That said, the total number of people still collecting benefits have risen to
more than 29 million. It has been one month now since these jobless Americans actually lost their $600.00 a week in enhanced benefits and
Congress is still far, far apart on a deal to restore that aid.
As investors inspect the data, U.S. futures -- let's see here -- are pointing to a mostly lower start. You see red arrows across your screen. On
Thursday's session, investors taking a bit of a breather today after two straight days of solid gains.
The major averages all rallied on Wednesday with the Dow and S&P rising 1.5 percent. The Dow is less than two percent away from record highs. The S&P
500 and the NASDAQ closed at new records.
European stocks are solidly higher as well today as the Euro eases from recent gains. French stocks are in the lead after the government there
announced an almost $120 billion stimulus package.
Asian stocks were mixed with investors eyeing fresh U.S.-China tensions and India's banning of more than 100 Chinese mobile apps. More on that in a
moment.
Let's begin with our drivers with more on the jobs picture. Christine Romans joins us live now. So, Christine, let's talk about these initial
jobless claims coming in at 881,000. Just because of the seasonally adjusted factor, is this really an apples to apples comparison compared to
last week?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Look, so basically the jobs damage is so deep, so severe and has lasted so long that
the Labor Department is changing how it seasonally adjusts the data.
I mean, the way it was running these numbers was fine in a normal economy, but this is not a normal economy and not a normal job market. So 881,000,
that's below one million. We like to see that. But, again, it's a change in how the Labor Department conducts the data.
Also, for some perspective here, the last time -- you know, these numbers are unprecedented still, over and over again. I don't want to normalize
just how big these numbers are even when they are improving.
I mean, in October of 1982, six hundred ninety five thousand people filed for the first time for unemployment claims. That was the record, the long-
standing record. So we have every week -- every week -- we are blowing away what would be historical precedent.
When you look at continuing claims that fell a little bit. You want to see that. That's a number trending lower. Those are people who are getting
state benefits a couple of weeks in a row, so it shows that they're still continuing to get claims.
And the overall number of people in all programs, state programs and then these special pandemic programs for freelancers and part-timers, that
number is 29 million.
So just think of that for a minute -- 29 million people in the biggest economy in the world are receiving some sort of jobless benefit. So that
just shows you how deep I think, Zain, damage is in the labor market. We know the Congressional Budget Office this week said that they don't expect
the labor market to fully improve, to get to pre-pandemic levels for a decade, looking at an average of 6.1 percent unemployment over the next
decade and we've even had more big company announcements of furloughs just in the last 24 hours.
United Airlines and we've heard from Ford and we've heard from Amtrak. So there's still a coronavirus jobs crisis persisting here in this entry.
ASHER: And let's pivot slightly to U.S. debt. U.S. debt basically reaching its highest levels compared to the size of the economy since World War II,
how worrying is that -- Christine?
ROMANS: It's a really big number and it shows you the pandemic is like fighting a world war. I mean, it just shows you how serious this is, that
we've had to spend so much money, borrow so much money to fight the pandemic, to keep the American economy alive here. And what's interesting
is fiscal hawks will look at numbers like that and be terrified, except that right now, we are still in the midst of the crisis.
Congress has stalled on the next round of aid, and you run this risk of having a recession that turns into a depression if you don't respond
adequately, right?
So you're spending all of this money here, it just shows you how difficult the moment it is in the American economy with this pandemic. And, you know,
look, that is an awful lot of money. Interest rates are incredibly low here, but you're talking about debt the size overtaking the size of the
economy by next year. That's certainly a milestone and it shows you where we are.
ASHER: It's interesting, because we've got two important business headlines, one is a little bit more news worthy perhaps than the other, and
that is, number one, you've got the initial jobless claims coming in at 881,000, and number two, MacKenzie Bezos is now officially the richest
woman in the world. It shows you just the fact that during this pandemic how vast the gap has been between the rich and the poor.
[09:05:25]
ROMANS: And I'm really worried about what's been called the K-shape recovery where some people are going to do great. People with stock
investments, people in-housing and real estate, for example, not commercial real estate, but housing and real estate, they're bouncing back and even
profiting right now.
And then other people, low-wage workers, people without wealth and without resources, those people face a pandemic economy that is scarred for the
next couple of years and they have a hard time coming back.
You know, the great recession -- you know, the great recession basically cemented some of the inequalities in the American economy and you run the
risk that if you don't have the right kind of aid and the right kind of rescue from the Fed and from Congress, you run the risk of, you know,
making income inequality worse and opportunity inequality worsen in America, and it's a real moment they have right now.
By the way, they're not talking in Washington. Everyone is on recess.
ASHER: All right, Christine Romans live for us there. Thank you so much.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
ASHER: Facebook says it will ban new political ads on the platform in the week leading up to the U.S. presidential election. The move is a narrow
response to concerns that misinformation on the site could interfere with the vote.
Brian Fung joins us live now. So, this is an attempt by Facebook to combat misinformation, especially because it was criticized so heavily during the
2016 election. The question is, will it be enough?
BRIAN FUNG, CNN TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: That's exactly right, Zain. Facebook says it's doing its part to protect democracy here, but already, its plan
is raising questions about whether it's feasible.
Here is what is new policy says. It says Facebook won't be accepting new political ads the week before the election. It says that ads can still be
bought any time before then, they just won't be taking any new ads during that week leading up to Election Day.
Any new ads bought before the blackout begins can continue to run through that blackout period and the restrictions will lift after Election Day.
Now, it's important to point out here what Facebook isn't saying, Facebook won't be changing its rules on micro targeting, or its ability -- the
ability of advertisers to feed highly specific and custom messages to very niche audiences.
Facebook is also not requiring truthfulness in political advertising still, meaning politicians can continue to lie, which is something that Civil
Rights groups have argued strongly should not be allowed to happen on Facebook.
And, you know, the policy that's being rolled out today doesn't continue past Election Day. So after Election Day ends, political advertisers will
again be allowed to take out new advertisements on Facebook.
The company says it will label posts that seek to delegitimize the results or that, you know, posts from politicians that try to claim victory in the
election before official results are released, but it's unclear if that policy will also extend to ads.
So all of this, you know, building up to many, many questions about how Facebook will implement this new policy, even as it tries to assure the
public that it's ready for Election Day -- Zain.
ASHER: All right, Brian Fung live for us there, thank you so much.
The U.S. Federal health agency is telling states to get ready to begin distributing potential coronavirus vaccines as soon as late October.
The C.D.C. advised who should get the treatment first, prioritizing healthcare and essential workers. CNN's senior medical correspondent,
Elizabeth Cohen joins us live now.
So it's important to note that this does not necessarily mean that a vaccine is going to be ready by then. It's just that they're trying to make
sure they lay out the groundwork so that in case one is ready, the distribution pipelines are already available.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, that's right. I mean, saying hey, guys, be ready by early November to distribute this
vaccine does not mean there will be a vaccine.
You know, in any good preparedness plan, you want everybody, every little link in the chain to be ready earlier rather than later. So what the C.D.C.
is saying is that limited supplies may be available by early November.
We don't know exactly what that means. But for sure, we have seen a C.D.C., a U.S. Centers for Disease Control that seems to be more under the control
of Washington, of the central authority than in previous admissions -- Zain.
ASHER: And just in terms of who gets priority, if a vaccine was to become available, they've mentioned that it would be healthcare workers and other
essential workers, but beyond that core particular group, who gets the vaccine beyond that?
COHEN: All right, so let's talk about the priority for whenever a vaccine is available, whether it's in two months or six months. Let's take a look.
So the highest priority, as you talked about a little bit, would be first responders and also seniors in nursing homes. These are just examples.
There are other people in this category, all of these categories as well.
Medium priority would be Americans with underlying conditions, health conditions that would make them vulnerable to getting very sick or dying
from COVID and prisoners and others who are living in congregate settings - - very close together. Lower priority would be young adults and children.
And I think, it is clear, you know, this is a large country. You are not going to be able to distribute a vaccine to everybody all at one time. It
could take quite a while to work through these groups from high to medium to low.
[09:10:43]
ASHER: All right, Elizabeth Cohen live for us there, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
COHEN: Thanks.
ASHER: Tensions rise again between India and China. India banned nearly 120 additional Chinese mobile apps, citing national security concerns.
The latest rounds are banning target apps from some major Chinese companies including Baidu, Alipay and Tencent as well.
Vedika Sud is live for us in New Delhi with more. So, this is India's way of striking back at China. Will it be effective?
VEDIKA SUD, CNN PRODUCER: Well, perhaps that is what India is planning to do. You know, just economically distance itself from another Asian giant,
China.
But ever since June when that skirmish happened at the India-China border, the line of action control, Zain, you've seen over 200 apps, which are
affiliated with Chinese investors or companies, being banned.
Now, the latest was on Wednesday when 118 apps were banned and the Indian government came out to say that these apps have been engaging in activities
which are prejudicial to India's sovereignty, safety as well as defense, after which you've had the Chinese authorities come out today and say, you
know what, it's not only going to harm investors and companies from China, but the users in India as well.
A quick word on the mobile app, PUBG which was also banned yesterday. Now, just sample this. This mobile app, PUBG had the highest number of users. It
was a top game rather, all of last year in India.
In the first six months of this year, it's had more than 54 million downloads and the consumer spending has been over $15.2 million. So that's
quite a lot.
And now we have China coming out and saying that this is going to even harm the environment of investment in India and open economies -- Zain.
ASHER: And Vedika, just pivoting slightly, we know that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Twitter account was hacked. What more do we know about
that?
SUD: Yes, that did happen this morning, rather, early morning. The Indian government hasn't come out with a statement yet, but what we do know is
this was not his personal account that has more than 61 million followers, but this is another account which is 2.5 million followers and is
associated with his personal website.
Twitter has come out with a statement where they have said that this handle of the Prime Minister -- we've taken all measures to keep it safe now and
an investigation is under way to understand how that really happened.
Now, remember, Zain, this comes about a month after, or rather a month more than earlier when there were other accounts hacked, a huge hack took place
where prominent personalities, like Obama, Biden and Musk also had their accounts compromised.
Now Indian Prime Minister Modi is joining that list -- Zain.
ASHER: But as you mentioned, there will be an investigation as to what actually happened with his Twitter account. Vedika Sud, live for us there,
thank you so much.
Okay, so these are the stories making headlines around the world. Typhoon Maysak slammed into South Korea's southern coast early Thursday morning,
knocking down power lines and flooding streets. At least one person is reported dead.
Heavy winds and rain lashed the peninsula, even as damage from a previous typhoon was still being repaired. A third powerful storm in the region is
now gathering strength off the Korean coast.
And Russia says there is no reason to blame the Kremlin for what happened to opposition leader, Alexei Navalny. German Chancellor Merkel says testing
proves he was poisoned by a Novichok nerve agent.
She is consulting with allies and says their response will depend on whether Russia cooperates with the investigation.
In the Americas, the coronavirus has infected 13.5 million and the region's public health agency says 570,000 of them are actually healthcare workers.
In Brazil, South America's hardest hit, numbers are stabilizing, but the country is still edging towards four million cases. CNN's Patrick Oppmann
takes a closer look at one reason the region's outbreak has gotten so out of control.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nearly 570,000 healthcare workers in the Americas have fallen ill with the coronavirus.
According to the director of the Pan-American Health Organization, one in seven of those healthcare workers are in the United States and Mexico, and
a staggering 270,000 Brazilian healthcare workers have fallen ill with coronavirus.
[09:15:21]
OPPMANN: On Wednesday, she said that as the outbreak swept into many countries in the Americas that just too many doctors did not have access to
the proper protective equipment or they had to reuse things like masks and gowns because they just did not have enough of them.
So, she painted a picture of healthcare workers that were essentially left to themselves to fend themselves from this virus as they were treating this
barrage of people who were coming into the hospitals.
She said that the rate of infection seems to have stabilized in the U.S. and in Brazil, but those two countries still see more deaths related to the
coronavirus than any other country in the world.
Other countries in the Americas as well seem to have flattened the curve, like in Chile and Uruguay, but in the Caribbean, the country of the Bahamas
has seen in surge in cases. More than half of the cases in the Bahamas has, she said, they have reported in the last two weeks.
She also called on the United States to take part in an initiative that would share a potential vaccine with poorer countries, people whose
countries that may not be able to develop a vaccine on their own or buy a vaccine, give them access to a potentially life-saving vaccine.
More than 170 other countries have done so, she said, but so far at this point the United States has refused to commit to an initiative to share a
potential coronavirus vaccine.
Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Multiple reports say that football superstar, Neymar is one of three Paris-Saint-Germain players to test positive for COVID-19. The French
media reported that all three tested positive after returning from vacation on the Spanish island of Ibiza.
PSG says all players and staff will be tested in the coming days.
Coming up on FIRST MOVE, breaking up is hard to do, but for Jeff Bezos's ex, MacKenzie Scott, it's made her the world's richest women. We will have
more on that.
Plus, making the U.S. open fun without the fans. Interesting ideas from IBM for a tennis tournament without spectators.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:20:21]
ASHER: All right, welcome back to FIRST MOVE. U.S. stocks remain on track for a mostly lower open this Thursday. Blue chips however are trying to
move higher. The Dow begins the session above 29,000 for the first time since February.
NASDAQ stocks are under the most pressure premarket with Apple and Tesla set to pull back further from records.
Before the bell, the U.S. reported that an additional 881,000 Americans filed for first-time claims last week, the first drop below one million
since early august. This comes after a weaker than expected read on private sector jobs growth yesterday. The all-encompassing U.S. jobs report will be
released tomorrow.
Also, before the bell, the U.S. is reporting that the trade gap surged by more than 18 percent in July, thanks to an almost 11 percent rise in
imports. Seth Harris joins us live now. He's the former acting U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Obama.
Thank you for being with us. So, let's just talk about these initial jobless claims coming in at 881,000 this week. How do you interpret these
numbers? Obviously, they were seasonally adjusted, but they still do represent a decline technically compared to last week?
SETH HARRIS, FORMER ACTING U.S. SECRETARY OF LABOR UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, only technically, though, Zain. In reality, the actual number of
claims filed increased slightly, and overall about 1.6 million American workers filed for some kind of unemployment benefits last week.
The more troubling number inside this report that we got from the Labor Department today is that 29.2 million Americans are receiving some kind of
unemployment benefit. That's about one in five American workers.
So we are still in a very, very, very deep economic hole in the United States. Workers are struggling to crawl out of it. They are not succeeding,
because they're not getting the help they need from their Federal government.
ASHER: Right, because of the Stimulus Bill not yet being passed. So 29.2 million Americans needing help, needing some form of assistance.
Just walk us through where you stand on just how this administration has handled this pandemic, especially from a labor market perspective.
HARRIS: The Trump administration has been catastrophically incompetent at managing the pandemic. We have had flare-ups around the country because
they do not have a comprehensive national strategy, they don't have a national testing and contact tracing strategy, they don't have a national
personal protective equipment strategy so that our front line workers and others who are going back to work can be safe.
And the pandemic is continuing to kick around the United States. We're losing a thousand people to pandemic coronavirus deaths almost every day
now. People are scared. They're not willing to interact with one another. Different parts of the country are shutting down and reopening and there's
just not regular ability to engage in commerce with one another.
And as a consequence of that, the economy is in terrible, terrible trouble.
You know, the stock market is booming, but workers are suffering. It's sort of a K-shaped recovery: the wealthy are getting wealthier, working people
are struggling and declining and losing their wealth because the Trump administration simply has no plan, absolutely no plan, either for the
pandemic or for the economy.
ASHER: And so, I mean, the one plan that President Trump does have, just if you're using his words, if you're judging by his words, is that if he is
re-elected, he says that he will create 10 million jobs in the first ten months. How realistic is that, do you think?
HARRIS: It's definitely not going to happen if President Trump is re- elected. He has no strategy. He has no thought behind that plan. It's just as has often been the case with the Trump administration, sort of throwing
numbers at the wall to see if they can get people to buy into them.
It's a marketing plan, it's not an economic plan, and so what we really need to do is to think about what is going to be required once we are able
to get the pandemic under control, what's going to be required to rebuild the American economy.
We're going to need an aggressive investment in infrastructure. We're going to need to make a climate change investment so that the economy can shift
to a lower carbon footprint. We're going to need big investments in education, big investments in the caring economy, taking care of elders and
younger people so that we can liberate more people, particularly women, to get into the workforce.
That's the kind of aggressive national plan that we need to have. But simply throwing out numbers and making a bunch of empty promises that are
not going to be kept, which is this administration's strategy is not going to work to actually help working people.
[09:25:10]
ASHER: You talked about just the importance of the Stimulus Bill just because, you know, 29 million Americans are in dire straits now and need
help.
What is the most important area which that money should be spent in order to get people, either help working families or get them back into the labor
force? Is it the unemployment insurance, that $600.00 a week that might be coming in from the Federal government, or slightly less, or is it the small
business PPP? What are your thoughts?
HARRIS: This problem is so gigantic that there's no one silver bullet. But no question about it, restoring the $600.00 supplemental unemployment
benefit is critically important when President Trump and Senate Republicans allowed that money to expire.
They pull billions of dollars out of the economy every week, but we also need to provide additional loan support to true small businesses, not the
cronies and friends of people in the Trump administration.
But we need to help small businesses bridge this gap until they're able to get back to work. We also need to look at some of the industries that are
in a grave risk of collapsing in the United States, the airline industry is talking about tens of thousands of layoffs at the end of September. Their
unions have been working with them to try to get Congress to focus on the kind of investments they need to make in the airline industry and other
industries that are at risk of collapse.
And most importantly, let me just say -- I don't want to leave this out because this is very important. State and local governments need the
support of the Federal government. State and local governments cannot borrow to fill in a deficit in their spending, so they're having to
dramatically cut services. They're laying off large numbers of people, more than 1.5 million over the last several months.
That is going to slow our economic recovery and it's going to deprive people in our communities of the support that they need. So there's a long
list of things we need to get engaged on at the Federal level, but let me just say Congress has failed because Senate Republicans and the White House
are unwilling to meet the House Democrats halfway.
Speaker Pelosi has said, we'll agree to cut our requests, you need to come up a little bit in your requests. That's how bargaining works. But
apparently, the world's greatest dealmaker is not able to make a deal in this space.
ASHER: Then how much money do you think is needed? Because Senate Republicans are saying that they're willing to spend a trillion this time
around. Obviously, the Democrats want more than that.
But what do you think it is going to really take to get the economic, especially the labor market, back on track?
HARRIS: I strongly prefer the House Democrats Heroes Act, which would have invested $3.4 trillion in the economy. That is the size of problem that we
are encountering right now.
You know, this is a $21 trillion economy, and we have months and months and months of depressed economic activity and we have huge needs. There are
millions of Americans who are food insecure. We have schools that want to be open but safe. We have workplaces that want to be open but safe.
We have 29.2 million people who are out of jobs and need to be able to support their families because there are no jobs for them to find.
And so we need to do a lot more, not a lot less, so negotiating down from a trillion, which is apparently what Senate Republicans are doing, they've
gone down from a trillion to a skinny, what they call a skinny bill, a $500 billion.
Now, in the real world that's a lot of money, but in an economy the size of the United States, that's just a pittance and it's not going to get us
through even a few weeks.
We need a big, bold, and courageous investment from people who put the country first.
ASHER: All right, we hope that both sides are able to come to an agreement soon, because a lot of people's families and livelihoods are at stake,
especially minorities, working poor, and people of color.
Seth Harris, former Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Obama, thank you so much for being with us.
All right, you're watching FIRST MOVE. The market open is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:32:09]
ASHER: All right. Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. U.S. stocks are open for trade this Thursday, and expected, you've got a mostly lower open. The S&P
500 and the NASDAQ are pulling back from record highs.
The NASDAQ back below 12,000 again after crossing the milestone yesterday. All of this following news that an additional 881,000 Americans filed for
first-time jobless claims last week.
More than 29 million Americans are still receiving some kind of jobless assistance. Contrasting fortunes with some of the richest people on the
planet right now. Shares in Elon Musk's Tesla selling off after hitting a record high on Monday; while Jeff Bezos's ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott is now
the world's richest woman following their divorce settlement.
Pulling apart these two stories is Paul La Monica who is joining us live now. So, Paul, let's start with Tesla. Tesla's stock price is down right
now, partly because one of the largest outside shareholders is actually cutting their value. Why is that?
PAUL LA MONICA, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, the company, Baillie Gifford that owns a significant stake in tesla simply put, they've had to trim
their exposure to the stock because of the stunning run that Tesla has had before its stock split. It just got to be too large of a position, so they
were forced to really trim their stake.
They're not necessarily bearish on Tesla, but I think this is going to be interesting to watch, Zain, because there could be other large
institutional shareholders that may not necessarily decide that all of a sudden they think Tesla is doomed to fail and is going to have this big
drop, but they need to just pare their positions just for portfolio management.
You don't want to have one stock have an out-sized percentage. I think that could be one of the things that's going on with Tesla because again, this
stock is still up substantially this year.
ASHER: And just pivoting slightly, MacKenzie Bezos, I should say MacKenzie Scott, technically, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, now the richest woman in the
world. And I was just speaking to my last guest just about how much this has really highlighted the gap between the haves and the have-nots in this
pandemic.
LA MONICA: Yes, it clearly does highlight that, you know, clearly you have so many mega-billionaires, either through the self-started companies like
Jeff Bezos with Amazon and now, MacKenzie Scott, through their divorce settlement, she is a significant shareholder in Amazon as well and that is
why her wealth is so high.
But then obviously, you've got Bill Gates, one of the most wealthy people in the world, self-made through Microsoft. But it is interesting, you know,
MacKenzie Scott, she leapt over the heiress, the grandfather of the founder of L'Oreal. So there's a combination of self-made billionaires, as well as
people who have inherited this wealth.
There are a lot of heirs of Sam Walton for example that are on the billionaires list, the founder of Walmart.
[09:35:07]
ASHER: All right, Paul La Monica live for us. Thank you so much for breaking that down.
All right, now to the latest on the Alexei Navalny case. Germany says the Russian opposition politician was poisoned and Chancellor Merkel says any
response is dependent on Russian cooperation in the investigation.
Senior German politicians are putting pressure on Mrs. Merkel to punish Moscow by halting a gas pipeline project between Russia and Germany. John
Defterios joins us live now.
So John, this project has clearly been in the works for nearly a decade. You've got Gazprom as the main shareholder. Does it call into question now
Russian-German ties?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, let's put it this way, Zain, it certainly puts Angela Merkel in a very tough spot.
On one side, she has taken a hard line, suggesting that Navalny was a victim of a murder attempt, and on the other side saying basically we will
need more Russian gas in the future.
This is a huge project, $11 billion pipeline that is nearly done. The Mukran Port there is almost no man's land because of the situation we have
right now because it's not getting completed.
But the Nord Stream Project overall, and Nord Stream 1 predated Angela Merkel. It was the previous Chancellor, Gerhard Schroder who signed it
right before leaving as Chancellor in 2005. He remains very close to Russia and, in fact, the Chairman of the Shareholders Committee for Nord Stream.
So German politicians are suggesting right now, this can't be kind of a war of words by Angela Merkel, but tough action even halting the pipeline as
you suggested here. But I have to say, I find it very difficult to see that happening. Number one, there are a number of German partners involved in
the pipeline and perhaps, more importantly, because of Angela Merkel's energy policy, phasing out of nuclear power back in 2011 and actually
passing a bill this summer in July, to phase out of coal over the next 20 years.
That dependency on Nord Stream 2 will grow over time, not diminish because natural gas is much cleaner burning in this energy transition.
ASHER: And actually, this is the same pipeline that Donald Trump has slapped sanctions on as well, so doesn't that put Chancellor Angela Merkel
in a bit more of a bind as well?
DEFTERIOS: Yes, it's almost like Donald Trump gets to say to Mrs. Merkel, I told you so, right?
The sanctions started at the end of 2019 and I see that they've actually added another layer to them. In fact, hitting those contractors at the
Mukran port in the Baltic Sea and we have a case now where three Republican senators led by Ted Cruz from the oil and gas producing state of Texas have
written a letter saying that the Nord Stream 2 will threaten Europe's emergency independence and security in the future, which is kind of hard to
see as saying, overly dependent on Russia, even though there's supplies now coming from Southern Europe.
Number two, it will threaten U.S. national security. I think it's worth noting that there's two large export terminals that are getting finalized
in the United States. One is already done to try to ship LNG to Europe and this is the nasty game of geopolitics of energy, but nevertheless, because
of the Navalny case, Angela Merkel needs to now try to balance both priorities in the future.
ASHER: John Defterios, live for us, thank you.
All right, after the break, making tennis great again. How IBM is overcoming one big problem at the U.S. Open, the lack of spectators.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:41:34]
ASHER: The sound of silence at the U.S. Open this year, where coronavirus means that fans won't be seen packing the stands in New York.
IBM, the digital partner of the United States Tennis Association is getting creative to raise the excitement. It's using the power of its Watson super
computer to encourage fans to debate some of the sport's most contested questions, such as who are the most influential players in history, for
example.
And inside the stadium, IBM is using AI to recreate crowd sounds for the production teams based on similar play from last year.
Rob Thomas is the Senior Vice President for IBM's Cloud and Data Platform. He joins us live now. So, Rob, thanks so much for being with us.
Just walk us through how you're bridging the gap between technology and sports and really what the experience will be like for spectators and fans
this year.
ROB THOMAS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, IBM'S CLOUD AND DATA PLATFORM: Thank you, Zain. It's great to be here. We are really excited to be using Watson
AI to create a fantastic fan experience for everybody that wants to enjoy the U.S. Open, but can't do that in person this year.
And as you think about as we go forward, this probably sets a new standard for even once we're back in stadiums, and how you can combine digital
experiences with physical experiences to really make a great environment for sports fans, using Watson AI in this case.
ASHER: Some of the challenges to collecting this much data, because you've had to really study different types of sounds in different type of spaces,
indoor, et cetera, or outdoor, rather, et cetera, and just walk us through the challenges to really collecting that much data.
THOMAS: Sports are like business, in that most of the data that's valuable is actually encoded in language and text. So Watson has been studying the
history of the U.S. Open going back as far as we have written records, and now with open questions with Watson, we've created this AI debating that
anybody can go into usopen.org/openquestions and debate who is the greatest tennis player of all time or the most popular one today is, is Serena
Williams the best women's player.
You can do that because Watson studied all the language, all the documents and has a really great understanding of the history of tennis and can start
to think about making predictions going forward, and this is what we're doing in businesses around the world today.
ASHER: So how, going forward, will something like this revolutionize sports completely, do you think? Let's say in -- you mentioned that
obviously even after things go back to normal that this will really change things. How will it change things 10, 30, 40 years from now?
THOMAS: The experience that we've built is an online/offline experience, meaning you can be watching tennis on a device or hopefully in-person in
the future, but then you can do it on a smartphone.
You can engage in real time in what you're seeing in a match, whether that's in the form of debate or looking at the insights on the match from
Watson.
It's really about changing the overall way that you experience the event, which we think is fantastic. And then, you take this forward to how would a
business do this? It is companies like PayPal that are using Watson in the same way to change how they interact with customers.
So it's all about physical and digital converging, which is something we've all been forced to do as we've dealt with the current pandemic.
[09:45:10]
ASHER: And how have you managed to pull this off just so quickly? I mean, it was only -- I think it was in June where it was decided that the U.S.
Open would still continue without spectators. So you've essentially had 12 weeks to come up with this. How have you done it so quickly?
THOMAS: This is the wonders of modern technology. We've made Watson incredibly easy for any business user or developer to build something, in
some cases in 24 hours.
And many of the organizations that we helped sort of to support citizens during the pandemic, they got Watson Assistant up and running in 24 to 48
hours.
This is the modern technology. You can build things really fast and build a great experience and then they get better over time. So as we fed it more
data about the U.S. Open, Watson knew more and more and that's why you're seeing some of the great debates that are happening right now out in
usopen.org.
ASHER: You know, even though all of this data is really working to enhance the virtual experience for fans and spectators since they can't be there in
person, it's really hard to capture the moments that are really culturally significant.
For example, you've got Naomi Osaka basically protesting Black Lives Matter, she's wearing various masks. There she is wearing Elijah McClain's
mask there. How do you bring that to the fans? How do you bring those really key cultural moments to fans?
THOMAS: It really starts with engagement and that's why we started down the path of this debating system, is if it's just you're delivering
information to the fans, that's not engagement. Engagement is when the fans can ask questions, give a point of view, and get a response.
So it's all about two-way communication. That's what I think is critical to creating this type of environment, and we've seen this grow.
So we went live on Monday. Now, we have three times the participation that we had on Monday. And so, it starts to build on itself and it's all about
engagement. So I would encourage anybody to go out there, ask a question, see the kind of response you get.
To your point on Osaka, somebody can go ask a question about that and see how that engages the whole community.
ASHER: All right, Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President at IBM, thank you so much.
All right, still to come here on FIRST MOVE, inspired by burnout, the founder of shoe company, TOMS have a new business and it's focused on
mental health.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Preventing burnout is key to mental health, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The founder of shoe company, Toms believes healthy
habits build resilience so much so that he has launched a business based on the philosophy.
His Ten-Step Program aims to inspire small monthly changes to everyday routines, which he says will make a big difference. Joining me now is Blake
Mycoskie, founder of TOMS and Madefor.
So Blake, thank you so much for being with us. We'll talk about what you get in the Madefor, what you get in those kits in just a moment, but I
first want to ask you, because you're all about using business for good, using business for positive change in the world.
For potential clients out there for your Madefor company, how do you function with intentionality at a time like this, of just so much
uncertainty?
[09:50:22]
BLAKE MYCOSKIE, FOUNDER OF TOMS AND MADEFOR: Yes, I think it's amazing the timing of this pandemic. We launched on March 4th, just on the eve of it
really hitting here in the United States, and what we found with the Madefor members that are using the program is it helps remove some of that
uncertainty we all feel that creates a lot of anxiety and stress during this pandemic, during this time of sheltering in place.
And so it was very fortuitous and amazing timing that we worked on this program for two and a half years and it was set to launch just before the
pandemic came.
ASHER: So what do people get in these Madefor kits and how did you decide what would be in them?
MYCOSKIE: Sure, so my partner, Pat Dossett and I worked with a leading team of scientists for about a year and a half to identify the ten habits
and practices that had the biggest impact on people's lives. These are habits and practices that are very easy to learn, but people find are very
hard to sustain.
So with Madefor, what we do is send you a kit each month and it focuses on one new habit, something very easy to learn, but once you integrate it in
your life, it has a huge effect and beyond -- and in the kit, there's a tool that helps you learn the new habit, kind of all the science that we've
learned broken down into a very easy to read, like 20-minute chapter, and then a challenge to help keep you accountable as you learn this new habit
during the month.
And that comes to you each month and each month, you get to focus on a new one until you complete the program after ten months.
ASHER: See, I find this fascinating because I'm definitely into wellness, but, you know, just looking specifically at one of -- just so you can give
an example, one of the areas, I think that gratitude, for example, should actually be a way of life, not just sort of listening, finding things
you're grateful for once a day, but actually a way of life. I think it can completely change anybody's life.
How do you get somebody who is not familiar with gratitude, what tools can they use to incorporate it into everything they do?
MYCOSKIE: Sure, I'm so glad you asked specifically about the gratitude month because I think it kind of shows how we are taking kind of a 360-
approach to this.
So a lot of people have heard of the five-minute, write three things you're grateful for before you go to bed at night. That is one step to having more
gratitude. But what we found is there's a series of events that if you do over the month, that cause you to have different experiences of gratitude
with people, it actually kind of changes the way your brain thinks.
And specifically one of the challenges during the gratitude month is to think about a time in your life where you had something go wrong: you lost
a job, you broke up with a boyfriend or girlfriend or got divorced or something happened that seemed really, really bad at the time.
We then have you do a creative writing exercise where you write to that event and you write and thank it for what happened after, because
oftentimes what we find is something that looks really challenging and hard in the moment, later allows something great to happen in your life.
And so by changing the way that your brain thinks about challenging situations, like what we're experiencing right now, allows you to have more
gratitude and positivity and allows you to change your mindset, so moving from this fixed mindset to a growth mindset during the time of challenge.
And so during our gratitude month, we have about four different experiences that you do throughout it. Some are interacting with loved ones or people
that you care deeply about, colleagues, et cetera, and some of it is more personal, like this writing exercise that helps you reimagine when bad
things or hard things happen, how at some point you're actually will be grateful for the opportunity that they provide.
ASHER: So as a founder of multiple businesses, as an aspirational figure yourself, how have all of these practices actually changed your life?
MYCOSKIE: Well, the thing is that I think so many entrepreneur or ventures start with personal experience. This was very much for me.
I sold TOMS and I had all the success and helped so many people and was thinking I should just feel great every day, and, you know, several months
later, I realized I wasn't feeling great every day.
And what I realized is, I was focusing on all of these external accomplishments and not these internal practices I could do to really take
control of my wellbeing.
So this started as a personal research project myself so that I could feel better because I was waking up, you know, not feeling the same energy, I
was mildly depressed, I was really having a hard time at a time in my life when I thought everything should be perfect, and I felt a lot of kind of
personal shame around that.
And as I started to explore other people who were also challenged in this way, I realized that the people who are truly thriving weren't looking
outside themselves, but inside themselves, and they were doing these habits that scientifically have been proven to change the very important chemical
levels that increase your wellbeing.
[09:55:19]
ASHER: Yes, and thank you, by the way, for opening up to us about some of the harder times in your life. I'm sure a lot of people dealing with this
pandemic can relate to that.
But Blake Mycoskie, we'll have to leave it there. We've run out of time, sadly. Founder of TOMS and Madefor. Thank you.
All right, that's it for the show. I am Zain Asher. Thank you so much for watching.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:00]
END
