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First Move with Julia Chatterley
Fiscal, Monetary Policies in Sharp Focus This Week; G7 Finance Minister Agree to Overhaul Global Tax System; Private Equity Groups Buying Medline for Over $30B; El Salvador Plans to Make Bitcoin Legal Tender; At Least 45 People Killed in Pakistan Train Collision; Three Tech Factories in Taiwan Report COVID Clusters; Israeli Parliament Speaker Deciding When to Vote on Government; Naftali Bennett Calls for Orderly Transition of Power; Israeli Security Agency Warns of Incitement of Violence; U.S. Futures Flat with Key Inflation Data Out This Week; IMF Calls for $50 Billion Global Vaccination Drive; U.S. Energy Secretary: Adversaries Have Capability to Shut Down Power Grid; Bezos on List for "Blue Origin" Space Tourism Flight. Celebrating the Innovators on the Inside of Companies. Aired 9-10a ET.
Aired June 07, 2021 - 09:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[09:00:20]
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Live from New York I'm Julia Chatterley. This is First Move and here's your need to know.
Seven up, the G7 tax deal breakthrough, now attention turns to the fine print.
Cryptocurrency, El Salvador plans to make Bitcoin legal tender.
And Bezos' blast off, the billionaire and his brother are heading to space.
It's Monday, let's make a move.
Hello and welcome to a new week on First Move. It's great to be with you as always. And we have lots coming up on the show, including Eurasia Group Ian
Bremmer weighing in on plans by El Salvador where 70 percent of the population have no bank account, just to be clear, to make Bitcoin legal
tender.
How's that for some form of entrepreneurship? But have you ever heard of Intrapreneurship, fixing big business from within. That's the focus of the
League of Entrepreneurs. The co-founder will join us later on the show to discuss all that.
Plus, if you could would you spend $50 billion to make a return of $9 trillion. It sounds like a great deal to me and that's what the IMF's chief
economists say the world needs to do in order to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Gita Gopinath will explain later.
And we'll also weigh in on the groundbreaking G7 agreement to overhaul the global tax system with a minimum corporation tax rate of 15 percent. And
that's where we begin the drivers.
John Harwood joins me now. John, great to have you with us. Getting the G7 on board with this is pretty momentous in of itself. Digital taxes, of
course, remain in place until its all agreed. The question is how long does it take to implement? Because it does feel like, and we don't like this on
this show, a first mover disadvantage perhaps rather than an advantage.
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the first step, but there are a lot of steps remaining to go. It's far from the last one.
Among other things, this agreement that Janet Yellen has struck with other members of the G7, it needs to expand more broadly to deal with some of the
smaller low tax countries that corporations have been using.
It's got to get through the Congress here in the United States and Republicans have expressed opposition to it. But it is a significant
reflection of Joe Biden's approach to his presidency and foreign policy in his presidency. That is he wants to work with other countries for common
objectives.
And one of the common objectives that the United States shares with other advanced economies is figuring out ways to avoid having a multi-national
companies evade taxes by hop-scotching around looking for low tax rates.
And if everybody agrees to have a minimum tax and if you can make that stick and if you can get it through all the places it needs to get through,
that's going to have a big impact.
CHATTERLEY: I mean this makes perfect sense. And to your point about the United States, at a time when they're perhaps talking about raising
corporation tax rates, you're at a relatively less of a disadvantage raising those rates if there's a broader minimum around the world, whether
it's the G7 or I think, to your point as you were saying, perhaps the G20 nations too.
But, each individual government has to sign off on this and when you look at what goes on in Congress, the slim majority in the House, the challenges
of the Senate, John, can the United States even agree to do this itself never mind other nations?
HARWOOD: Well you could make an agreement and then you could try to propel it through the Congress. We're having a test right now of Joe Biden's
ability to push through what is popular in the polls, that is raising taxes on large corporations, but difficult to accomplish politically particularly
because Republicans are strongly opposed and some Democrats are reluctant.
So Joe Biden, for his domestic program, is pushing to raise the U.S. corporate tax rate from 21 now, it's well over 15 percent now in the United
States, to 28 percent. But also to apply a minimum tax to companies that have been able to use legal deductions to avoid taxes.
So this is all part of a broader effort to raise taxes in ways that, again, if you take a poll large majorities of the American public are for this and
you find that in other advanced economies as well. But, it's difficult to get from that popularity in the polls to the finish line in Congress.
CHATTERLEY: I can't help but this is going to take years, John. See you in the next administration?
HARWOOD: Yes. I think so.
CHATTERLEY: Shame. John Harwood thank you so much for that.
All right, back to the future now with one of the biggest leveraged buyout deals since the Financial Crisis. Private equity giants Blackstone, Carlyle
and Hellman & Friedman have agreed to buy a medical supply maker and distributor Medline. The deal is worth more than $30 billion including
debt.
[09:05:05]
Paul La Monica joins us now. Paul, I got excited when I saw this deal. The first LBO since the Financial Crisis was the first thing. It's not just a
sign that these big private equity giants have cash to splash and we know that they do, but it's a sign of the conditions as well. Ultra-low rates,
ability to finance this kind of deal. What do we make of this deal?
PAUL LA MONICA, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a fascinating deal Julia, particularly when you note that there are several big private equity
firms all pulling together to do one of these deals.
This isn't an example where you have one P.E. firm coming in and swooping up a company. What I also find fascinating with Medline is this is a
family-run business, the Mills family that started this company and they are still going to be the biggest shareholder.
So this isn't a typical P.E. type of deal where you have a publicly traded company that maybe had management that wasn't really all that top notch
getting put out of their misery, so to speak, by getting taken over by private equity firms that come in, slash payrolls and cut debt or add debt
and really try and make, you know, a business more streamlined for an eventual IPO.
This is not publicly traded company. The Mills family will still be running things. So, I think this is a reflection of just the demand for healthcare
businesses right now in the age of COVID as an area where private equity is going to be targeted.
CHATTERLEY: Couldn't agree more. A massive firm that no one's ever heard of, but when you look at what they do, they're a huge supplier in medical
equipment, gloves, gowns, diagnostic equipment.
And I absolutely agree with you that we've been through 18 months of chaos in terms of shoring up supplies and the supply chain for medical equipment
and whether it's technologies of the future or simply about the supply chain, private equity understands the importance of having this ensure
going forward and the potential upside benefits in having that scalable.
LA MONICA: Yes, without a question. I think you are going to see more deals like this also because of the potential tax implications. You have
concerns with family run businesses about what's going to happen with regards to the capital gains tax.
We know that President Biden is looking for a higher one. That might be one reason for family run firms to look to cash in through sales of their
businesses through private equity firms, although in this case the Mills family still going to have a large interest in the firm and still be in
charge kind of running the show so to speak.
But there are lot of other family run business that might be willing to just say, hey you know what, it's time to cash in and look at doing
something else maybe with the -- you know, all that cash they get from a deal and start doing philanthropic investments and what have you.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. Lots of signals in this deal. Thank you for sharing my excitement. Paul La Monica thank you so much for that geeking out. We
really are geeks.
Moving on from buyouts to Bitcoin. A drop-the-mike moment in Miami this weekend at the world's biggest Bitcoin conference. The president of El
Salvador said he wants the Central American nation to be the first to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAYIB BUKELE, PRESIDENT OF EL SALVADOR: The short-term this generate jobs and help provide financial inclusion to thousands outside the formal
economy.
And in the medium and long-term we hope that this small decision can help us push humanity at least a tiny bit into the right direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: This is a really interesting one. Patrick Oppman joins us now with more. Patrick, a lot going on in terms of the politics in El Salvador,
never mind something like this. But just in terms of the politics and the ability to pass this in parliament, if he says he wants this as legal
tender does that mean he probably gets it?
PATRICK OPPMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. President Nayib Bukele has a super majority, his appropriately named party, the New Ideas Party,
will back him on this because he is someone who has completely changed the face of politics in El Salvador, disrupting the traditional two-party
system creating his own party. And he basically rules by Twitter, much like other presidents including former President Donald Trump.
So, this is not a surprise to many people who do follow this unique politician. And, of course, it is a genius marking strategy, a free
marketing one. Because just in several days people who probably couldn't find El Salvador at the beginning of the weekend are now Googling listings
and talking on buying property there.
And Nayib Bukele on Twitter continued to make his pitch, talking about El Salvador's great weather, world class surfing, says it's one of the few
countries with no property tax, there's no capital gains there.
And this is really interesting Julia, he says there'll be immediate permanent residency for crypto entrepreneurs. So this is generating a lot
of buzz, but it also has some practical aspects for Salvadorians. A majority of that country does not have a bank account.
CHATTERLEY: Yes.
[09:10:00]
OPPMAN: Many people receive remittances, some $6 billion a year remittances flow form the United States. So using Bitcoin in the future for
those remittances would be a way to skirt the traditional companies that do charge for sending those remittances.
So, really could have some interesting, practical aspects for Salvadorians who are not part of a traditional economy in that country. We'll just have
to see how that plays out.
And, of course, now that El Salvador looks like it will be the first country to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender, will other countries follow
suit. Are they the first of many countries to take this interesting and bold move?
CHATTERLEY: Yes, as P.R. campaigns go it doesn't get better than this, Patrick, to your exact point. But a lot of the practicalities here remain
completely unknown about how this works and the sort of timing on it. But yes, fascinating move.
Patrick Oppman thank you so much for that.
And for much on this, Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer will join us later in the program. He has some strong views on El Salvador. Never mind
the Bitcoin announcement.
Now from Bitcoin to breakthrough to hardware on hold. A leading global chip supplier is suspending production at a site in Taiwan due to COVID-19. A
total of three tech factories have reported clusters and Will Ripley reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're outside the King Yuan Electronics Company. It is a key manufacturing hub for semiconductor
testing, around 100 kilometers southwest of Taipei.
And it's one of three Taiwanese tech companies that are grappling right now with clusters of COVID-19 infection. This company is by far the hardest
hit. They had to suspend their operations for two days, test more than 7,000 people, their entire workforce. So far as of Sunday the found around
200 cases, most of them among migrant workers, people living in cramped dormitories, often with reportedly unsanitary conditions.
If this sounds familiar it's because we've seen similar outbreaks among migrant workers last year in Singapore and Malaysia and earlier this year
in Thailand. So, the migrant workers here in Taiwan now have a 14-day paid quarantine. And while this company has resumed operations it's only
Taiwanese local employees who are on duty right now.
And this poses a grave threat to an already vulnerable semiconductor industry. Taiwan is the world's leading chip manufacturer. These chips
power everything from automobiles to smartphones and any sort of disruption to the supply chain could really have global ramifications.
That's why the Taiwanese government is trying to get more vaccine does on this island as soon as possible. Twenty-three million people live here,
fewer than three percent have received at least their first dose so far.
Now there are vaccine donations arriving from Japan and in the coming weeks from the United States. And the Taiwanese government hopes to have around
10 million doses available for the public by the end of August, but even that won't be enough to get the population vaccinated at a high enough
percentage to protect this island and its semiconductor industry from future outbreaks.
Will Ripley, CNN, Meyadi, Taiwan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: OK, let me bring you up to speed now with some of the other stories making headlines around the world.
Members of Israel's parliament are meeting today to hear when the speaker of the Knesset will set and vote on a new government. Naftali Bennett the
man set to become the next prime minister wants to hold a vote of confidence this Wednesday.
He's urging the speaker not to delay or postpone the process. For more CNN's Hadas Gold joins us now from the Israel Parliament. Hadas, you always
say nothing's done until it's done in Israel. What's the likelihood of a postponement or a delay with this vote?
HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well we just actually heard from the speaker of the Israeli Parliament Yair Lapid. He notified the parliament
that the Centrist Leader Yair Lapid had notified him that he was able to form a government.
And all he said in the last few minutes was that by law a session for a confidence vote has to convene by June 14, and then all he said was that
such a date will be scheduled later on. Not telling us when this actual confidence vote will be, but only that by law it has to take place by
Monday.
Of course, it's within Netanyahu and his Likud Party interest to push back this vote for as long as possible, because every day that they get is an
extra to try to convince at least one person to defect and vote against this coalition.
But the prime minister in waiting, you could call him, Naftali Bennett said in a speech last night trying to encourage Netanyahu not to leave a
scorched earth behind him and to let this vote happen, to let the new government take place.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAFTALI BENNETT, FORMER DEFENSE MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): I call from here on Mr. Netanyahu. Let go, release the country to move on.
People are allowed to vote for the establishment of a government even if it is not you who is heading it. A government that is 10 degrees to the right
than the current one by the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLD: Now the rhetoric and the language around this change of government has become so intense, so violent that he head of Israel Security Service
has issued a rare public statement trying to urge all sides to calm down, warning that this could lead to violence that he said could potentially be
lethal.
[09:15:10]
There is a fear here that this could lead to a style of mob violence that the U.S. saw at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. It is very rare to hear from
the head of the Israeli Security Service to give a statement like that.
But since last week, since those coalition agreements were signed Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies have been railing against this new government,
calling it -- using words that really echo Donald Trump's words, calling it a fraud, the scam of the century. Saying that it's a government of
deception. And Netanyahu is saying that even if he isn't the opposition he will do everything he can to try and topple this new government.
Julia?
CHATTERLEY: Yes, we hope calm prevails. Hadas Gold, thank you so much for that there.
All right, still to come here on First Move, spend $50 billion to see a $9 trillion boost to global GDP in 2025 so says the IMF.
And the richest man on earth reaches for the stars. Jeff Bezos says he will be going into space just 15 days after he steps down as CEO of Amazon.
hat's all next. Stay with us.
[09:16:10]
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[09:18:50]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to First Move. We spoke about the fiscal policy changes, could big monetary policy changes be on the way too? The latest
U.S. inflation data coming out Thursday. We'll be closely watching for potential queues for a Fed policy shift.
In the meantime, U.S. Futures are broadly unchanged at the moment, with the Dow doing slightly better than the others. Investors clearly on a wait and
see mode to begin the week. Hey, it's pre-market and it's Monday and it's early hours.
There's more activities in commodities however. Brent and U.S. crude pairing back after the WTI hit more than $70 per barrel for the first time
in three years. The global recovery and demand and constraint supply pushing prices slightly higher. Those you can easing back in the last few
hours.
Now if we want to supercharge the global economic recovery we need to spend $50 billion now on boosting the worldwide vaccine drive so says the IMF and
others. It calculates that $50 billion spent on vaccinations will pay off in the form in of a $9 trillion increase in global GDP by 2025.
The plan targets a worldwide vaccination rate of 60 percent by this time next year. Just to give you some perspective, the current worldwide rate is
just six percent.
And joining us now is Gita Gopinath. She's the Chief Economist at the IMF.
[09:20:00]
Gita, fantastic to have you on the show. The message is without this we simply aren't going to exit the global pandemic and that's the message.
GITA GOPINATH, CHIEF ECONOMIST AT IMF: Hi Julia. Indeed. I mean, I think it's abundantly clear at this point that he pandemic is not over anywhere
until it's over everywhere.
And there is, at this point, many parts of the world that haven't been able to vaccinate even their healthcare workers, while you have some other
countries where you have, you know, very young populations being vaccinated.
So it's absolutely essential at this point for countries to work together to ensure that we get to at least 40 percent every country being vaccinated
by the end of this year and at least 60 percent by around this time in 2022.
CHATTERLEY: And just to be clear on the money, the G20s expecting to fund $22 billion based on the report that was provided, $15 billion is available
from COVID-19 facilities set up by multi-national development banks.
So, it's the $13 billion shortfall really that we're talking about and you at the IMF, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization is
saying, come on we just need to find that extra bit to make such a crucial difference.
GOPINATH: So what the plan asks for is $35 billion in grants. The G20 countries have recognized the need to fund about $22 billion of those and
that's what -- that leaves $13 billion. But the bottom line is that the money hasn't come through yet. So, we still need the entire $35 billion to
be funded and it has to happen soon.
I think what countries need to recognize is that window to realize the very large gains that you mentioned in the beginning from worldwide vaccinations
is closing very quickly and that's why we call for up-front financing at this point and up-front vaccinate donations too, which is a very important
part of the plan.
CHATTERLEY: Just be very clear, you said that the money isn't coming through yet, though $35 billion has been effectively pledged. How much has
come through, Gita?
GOPINATH: So it's really -- $35 billion haven't -- I would not say that's been effectively pledged and there's been an expression of interest in
saying that we need to cover that $35 billion.
CHATTERLEY: Right.
GOPINATH: That $22 billion off the $35 billion, but in terms of actual pledges a few billion have come through recently, but no where near the
full amount that's needed.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I mean it's just not enough. It involves a number of elements that the United States has started to address in their millions of
doses that they've pledged to give to other nations now, also realizing the supply chain which is important too. And then there's the other angle which
is sort of perhaps sharing patents on some of these vaccines.
Where does the IMF stand on patent-sharing for some of these vaccines and allowing manufacturing to take place in other nations around the world
outside of the current? Because I saw some comments from Bill Gates earlier this year and he said even he wasn't necessarily in favor of that. Where
does the IMF stand?
GOPINATH: So right -- the plan that we have here is about solving the problem here and now. And for that we'll be looking at is the vaccine
supply that is expected to come in, which is quite substantial, and the problem is about making sure that production actually happens and to share
it so that all parts of the world at least get to 60 percent coverage by next year.
Now in terms of patent waivers, this -- there is an ongoing discussion on that front and we are in support of not leaving any stone unturned. But of
course that will take time. We completely agree that over time there has to be a push towards more diversified production in different locations not
just in some parts of the world, because what we have right now, voluntary technology transfers will be an important part of that.
But again, the plan is for solving the problem right now or the next 12 months and for that vaccine sharing, you know, ensuring free flow of raw
materials and finished vaccines and up-front financing, because commitments alone just don't work.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's up-front donations, up-front financing and at-risk investment I guess is the other thing to ensure down-side risks?
GOPINATH: Exactly right, because we know that there are these new variants that are cropping up for which countries might need booster shots, so we
have in $1 billion set aside for exactly to make sure there are one billion doses available next year to vaccinate low and low-middle income countries,
especially the high-risk groups.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, there shouldn't need to be this much push in incentive but it's there. I mean, as return on investment goes and I sort of made
this comment at the top of the show, if you were asked to invest $50 billion if you had it in order to achieve a return of $9 trillion which is
what you're saying will be added to output by 2025 as a result of this, it's sort of a no-brainer. But you're also saying 40 percent of this
benefit actually will accrue to the richest nations in the world.
[09:25:00]
GOPINATH: This is one of the best investments you can make at this point. I mean think about it, if you can put $1 in today and know that by 2025 you
will earn $180 I don't think there's any other investment that beats that at this point. So it is -- it is a very, very good investment and it makes
the -- keeps the world in a much safer place than where we are at this point.
CHATTERLEY: Someone will be yelling at the TV screen going cryptocurrencies could be an alternative option, but we'll skip over that.
The other point you make is $1 trillion in additional tax revenues and I do want to move on and talk about something else that I thinks been vitally
important and agreed in the last few days at least, the conversation to continue having the conversation and that's the G7 talking abut a global
minimum tax rate of 15 percent. What do you make of those discussions and the agreement?
GOPINATH: Look, the IMF has for a long time called for a global minimum corporate tax, because we certainly want to avoid the race to the bottom
which will happen in the absence of socially global minimum.
And I think it's very clear coming out of this COVID crisis that countries will need to have sound, social safety nets. Put -- make sure public good
are provided. And to finance that you need to be able to (inaudible) revenue. So we need to make sure that everybody pays their fair share of
taxes.
Now we'll have to figure out where the actual tax rate settles. They said at least 50 percent -- 15 percent, I'm sorry, and then of course there is
the question about who gets taxed and what the tax base is going to be and what countries can do. So there are many more details that still need to be
worked out, but this is a very welcomed first step.
CHATTERLEY: Are you confident or how confident are you that this perhaps could be something that the G20 nations could gather around and agree too?
Because you raise a great point actually, there's never been perhaps a more important moment to shore up a nation's finances and their social security
structures that are in place and make sure that big corporations pay their fair share.
GOPINATH: Indeed. Look, it's -- you know -- it's heartening to know that countries are coming together. But, you know, it's not going to be an easy
battle. There are a very large number of countries that have to be enrolled. And the question is what happens if a country decides not to sign
up?
Can another country just then impose taxes to make up for the -- for the difference? So, there are many details that still have to be worked out.
One hundred and thirty-nine countries are enrolled in these discussions with the OECD. But again, you know, we've never had this kind of momentum
before so this is extremely welcomed.
CHATTERLEY: Gita very quickly, fast-forward five years, do we have an established minimum corporate tax rate at the G20 level, yes or no?
GOPINATH: I would like to think so, yes. I guess --
CHATTERLEY: But we're not confident?
GOPINATH: (Inaudible).
CHATTERLEY: I know. We'll keep our fingers crossed. Two skeptics quite. Gita great to have you on. Thank you so much. Gita Gopinath, Chief
Economist at the IMF. Great to have your perspective on the show today. Thank you.
OK, the market opens next. Stay with us.
[09:28:05]
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[09:31:10]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to the show. El Salvador working to become the first nation in the world to use Bitcoin as legal tender. Right now it's
the U.S. dollar just to be clear. The country's popular young presidents says the cryptocurrency would make it easier for people to send money from
abroad as remittances are a huge part of the economy.
Many citizens also don't have access to bank accounts. Joining us now is Ian Bremmer, President of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media. Ian, fantastic to
have you on the show as always.
IAN BREMMER, EURASIA GROUP PRESIDENT: Sure.
CHATTERLEY: The reason why I wanted to get you on this is because I read an op-ed that you wrote in "Time Magazine" last month talking about what's
going on in El Salvador and some of the changes that this young president has made. I guess this decision's not out of character, but did this one
even catch you off guard?
BREMMER: Well, he -- his currency is -- he's tacked to the U.S. dollar and he's got massive indebtedness. And his major problem, even though he's at
90 percent approval ratings in his country right now and that's been consistent since he's won election a year ago, but his economy is in
trouble. And the IMF deal that he desperately needs, he's not going to get because he's antagonized the Biden administration pretty strongly.
So what does he do to get away from the dollar? Capital controls is an enormous hit to the country's middle-class and working-class, so he doesn't
want to do that. It's going to hurt his popularity.
And so here's a guy who sort of fancies himself the Elon Musk of the Northern Triangle, if that's a thing, and suddenly decides he's going to
make Bitcoin an acceptable, national currency. And that is a potential path to de-dollarization. And there are a lot of other countries around the
world I think that are going to watch this experiment very closely.
It's not that Bukele necessarily has a long-term financial strategy. He just knows that he's getting pressed hard by the Americans and he doesn't
want to have to seed anymore sovereignty to the U.S.
CHATTERLEY: I mean there are big companies working on this to try and help him, but I think the practicalities of this are pretty mind blowing at
least in the short-term. And I did note that Bitcoin didn't even budge over the weekend and I'm sure this wasn't in the prize.
It's just everybody is trying to work out the implications of what this means and if it's even practical Ian. But, you know, the reasons for doing
notwithstanding.
BREMMER: Well, you wouldn't stop allowing the dollar to be used as a legal currency.
CHATTERLEY: Right.
BREMMER: So it would be in parallel.
CHATTERLEY: Right.
BREMMER: But also probably be a lot more barter going on in El Salvador. But certainly it is true that you would see significant increase in usage
as a consequence. And, you know, Bitcoin is the largest by far of the cryptocurrencies and I think that this -- no, this is not going to move the
needle on Bitcoin per say.
But you could easily imagine other countries around the world, Sub-Saharan Africa, other Central American countries, maybe even a country like Sri
Lanka that otherwise would be facing capital controls and wants to find a way to have more influence locally. You could imagine them moving away from
their existing currencies towards Bitcoin, I think it's possible.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and I think for those that are huge proponents of the crypto space and the underlying technology, when you have a nation where 70
percent of the country doesn't have a bank account, where remittances and they pay huge amounts of fees on those remittances, is 20 percent of GDP
then a gain use, you can see the benefits if they can make this work.
But it is a decentralized concept being applied to a increasingly centralized regime. And I just want people to understand sort of the
politics of what's going on here and some of the things that have, to your point, sort of alarmed the international community, firing the attorney
general, removing established politicians.
[09:35:10]
He's making huge steps that he sees as trying to clean the swamp, if we use former President Trump's term, but it is alarming some people. The power
should be alarming people.
BREMMER: Yes, just this week -- just this weekend he arrested another opposition figure on very dubious corruption charges. He also suspended an
organization of American states supported anti-corruption group and that was supported by the United States as well.
So, one of the reasons why he's not concerned about moving towards a currency that he doesn't have centralized control over is he has
centralized control of everything else. As you said, he's gotten rid of all of his justices.
He has -- I mean really there are no checks and balances domestically on Bukele right now. And when you -- when you're a leader who's population is
prepared to allow you to support pretty much authoritarian oriented steps inside his country, then what he decides to do with his currency is not
much of a downside risk for him.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. I saw an article in light of his overhauling the constitutional court last year that said that the police couldn't arrest
people for flauting lockdown. And he said, yes you can. You can -- you can arrest them.
BREMMER: Yes.
CHATTERLEY: Savoir or strongman for the nation, quite frankly the question I think perhaps still remains. But if we go back to the beginning of the
conversation, in light of those look at digital assets and cryptocurrencies and say, you know, they're used for fraud, they're used for nefarious
purposes, is this a good thing do you think for broader adoption or do you think there will be those outside that look at this and say, look, this is
another case of a regime going rogue that's turning to something like Bitcoin as a -- as a way out? A way to flaut institutions?
BREMMER: Yes, it won't be seen -- it won't be seen as a positive by the United States. Keep in mind that the biggest issue the Americans have with
El Salvador is their inability to police their borders and the fact you have a lot of illegal immigrants from El Salvador through Mexico trying to
get to the United States.
The U.S. has a completely non-functional relationship with this government and this will be seen as a move away from the U.S. and a move away from the
dollar. So, anything you're going to see from the government is going to be this is negative.
And keep in mind, a country like the United States like fiat currency backed by the governments, supported by the Central Bank. Bitcoin does not
do that. Has no intrinsic value. None of these cryptos do. And so, this is not going to be seen as a positive by the established powers of the world.
Having said that, you know, I mentioned Elon Musk before, wealthiest man on the planet and an enormous advocate of various cryptocurrencies. So, I
think that you're going to continue to see a whole bunch of people that really believe in the asset class even if it's still comparatively small
and deeply speculative. Incredible volatility, right?
When you -- when you see the amount of money it costs to trade in Bitcoin and the enormous amount of volatility what it's worth over time, you can't
imagine that the average El Salvadorian is going to do better as a consequence of being exposed to that currency. I don't believe that.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. The cost of like the volatility in that for a remittance, like overnight the change in the difference in value that you're trying to
send home is -- could be vast and actually incredibly painful. But that's a whole separate conversation.
I do want to get your views very quickly and I always do this when I get you on. Cyber security, because I do feel like, particularly in the United
States where spending a great deal of time talking about the Capitol attacks on January 6 and the cyber security risk for me dwarfs that. And I
just want to play you something and get your -- get your view on it.
Because on the CNN "State of Union" the U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm warned the very malign actors have the U.S. in their sights. Just
listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Do you think that adversaries of the United States have the capability right now to shut down the power grid?
JENNIFER GRANHOLM, U.S. SECRETARY OF ENERGY: Yes, they do. I mean, I think that there are very malign actors who are trying even as we speak. There
are thousands of attacks on all aspects of the energy sector and the private sector generally.
It's happening all the time. And this is why the private sector and the public sector have to work together. And this is what the president is
doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: Ian, food supplies, energy supplies, I just feel like we're not paying enough attention to this and we're too focused on other things.
BREMMER: Julia, Jennifer just conflated two things and she shouldn't have done it. Yes, it's true that the United States is vulnerable in terms of
its critical infrastructure being shut down by malign actors.
[09:40:00]
It is not true that we are vulnerable to that from terrorist organizations or from criminal syndicates. And so it's very important to understand that
the United States also has the ability to take out the critical infrastructure of China, of Russia. State-based cyber attacks are a little
bit like the mutually assured destruction from nuclear weapons.
CHATTERLEY: Yes.
BREMMER: In other words we can destroy each other and that's why we don't so far at least. That's mostly why we limit ourselves and our adversaries
limit themselves to high-level espionage.
The ransomware attacks we've seen against Colonial Pipeline, against the Steamship Authority this last week, against, you know, major meat
distributors, that's coming from, you know, functionally criminal corporations that even have set up help desks and they understand this
market is in equilibrium. They are -- they have a large capacity to hit all sorts of corporate actors.
They want to make it relatively inexpensive and easy for you to pay the ransom, get back online so they can hit again and again and again and
that's a business model that's explosive, it's an increasing tax on your doing business and the U.S. government has absolutely zero ability to
police. Especially because most of it is happening inside countries that have no interest in policing it themselves.
CHATTERLEY: Yes.
BREMMER: That is the key geopolitical (ph) issue that we have to deal with.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, those individual nations have a responsibility to tackle the attackers that are based within their nations. The question is, will
they?
BREMMER: Oh, we would -- we would like to argue that. The certainly don't see it that way and we're going to have to force them because otherwise
nothings going to happen.
CHATTERLEY: Agree. Ian Bremmer great to have you on the show as always. President of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media.
BREMMER: Sure.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you for that.
All right, next from Amazon to the edge of space, Jeff Bezos about to make the journey of a lifetime. Find out who he's taking with him. That's next.
[09:41:55]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:44:35]
CHATTERLEY: Well welcome back to First Move. It's one giant leap whichever way you look at it. Jeff Bezos' rocket company Blue Origin has released the
passenger list for its first crude flight. And the billionaire himself will be leading the charge.
Rachel Crane is on the story for us. Rachel and it's a family affair because Jeff's taking his brother.
RACHEL CRANE, CNN INNOVATION & SPACE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Jeff Bezos will not be making this historic spaceflight alone in probably the
coolest gift that has ever been given among siblings.
[09:45:00]
He's bringing along his brother Mark Bezos for this historic suborbital flight to space for -- along with his company Blue Origin. Now Jeff says he
will be fulfilling a lifelong goal of his, getting these astronaut wings. He's wanted to go to space since he was 5-years-old, Julia. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF BEZOS, CEO OF AMAZON: You see the earth from space and it changes you. It changes your relationship with this planet, with humanity, it's one
earth. I want to go on this flight because it's a thing I've wanted to do all my life. It's an adventure. It's a big deal for me. I invited my
brother to come on this first flight.
MARK BEZOS, BROTHER OF JEFF BEZOS: I wasn't even expecting him to say that he was going to be on the first flight. And then when he asked me to go
along I was just awestruck.
Seriously?
J. BEZOS: If you're willing. If you want to.
M. BEZOS: My God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CRANE: Now Julia, the flight is set to take off on July 20, which also happens to be the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. That
flight will be taking place from Blue's facility in West Texas.
And this flight is significant because Blue Origin was founded over 20 years ago and they've been working on this spacecraft that will take them
on this journey, the New Shepard, for over six years now.
And they've had 15 consecutive, successful unscrewed flights of the system, but now the company is saying they're ready to fly paying customers and
probably in the ultimate sign of confidence in his team Jeff Bezos putting his own life on the line here along with his brother.
And it's noteworthy to point out that Virgin Galactic, which is Richard Branson's space tours and company. They have long had similar goals to Blue
Origin regarding space tourism.
And Branson had famously declared that, you know he would be the first paying passenger on his commercial space line and get those astronaut
wings. But unfortunately for Branson it looks like Bezos and his brother Mark are going to beat him to space.
But Julia, I also want to just tell you a little bit more about this journey that they'll be taking. They'll be flying in a fully autonomous
spacecraft, meaning that there will be no pilots onboard. They'll be blasted up to three times the speed of sound, up to an apogee more than,
you know, 60 miles above earth.
Officially gaining those astronaut wings and after experiencing a few incredible minutes of weightlessness that I and space enthusiasts all
around the world will be incredibly jealous of, the dome-shaped spacecraft will bring those passengers back to earth in a parachute landing, Julia.
But certainly going to be an amazing family affair as you said.
CHATTERLEY: I know, your enthusiasm is always clear to see Rachel. It makes me laugh. It's a take me with you moment. And there is a lottery, I
believe, for the last seat is being auctioned. I saw the cost. It was a mere $2.8 million as of Sunday evening. So yes, you and I, I think can want
on. But we will continue to talk about it.
Rachel Crane thank you for that.
All right, next up on First Move and inside job that there red-tape busting unsung heroes that help companies find their super powers. Next up we meet
the Intrapreneurs.
[09:48:10]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:40:20]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to First Move with a look at how U.S. markets are shaping up this morning. And it's a cautious start to trading with the
investors digesting the global minimum corporate tax agreement and wait for the U.S. Consumer Price Index data later this week.
Of course, key for inflation tech stocks actually were a little unchanged. We're a little bit softer. So, yes we shall see how this shapes up as the
session progresses. We've got the S&P 500 within touching distance of a record high, so we shall see.
In the meantime bureaucracy and thinking inside the box are just two of the things that had better watch out this week, because it's officially Global
Intrapreneur Week. What's an intrapreneur you ask? Think of as someone who works inside an existing institution troubleshooting problems and finding
ways to make the organization truly shine.
Maggie De Pree is the co-found of the League of Intrapreneurs and she joins us now. Maggie, fantastic to have you on the show. It seems like the
message from intrapreneurs is even if you're not the founder of a firm you can still be innovative and you can still make huge changes. And you
probably have huge resources perhaps compared to those to do it.
MAGGIE DE PREE, CO-FOUNDER OF THE LEAGUE OF INTRAPRENEURS: Well that's exactly right. Thanks Julia so much for having me as we're celebrating
Global Intrapreneur Week. And most people know what an entrepreneur is. I heard your segment about Jeff Bezos just now. So when we say entrepreneur
we think of people like Jeff and we celebrate them because of their blue sky thinking and the fact that they bring these new realities to life.
Well imagine those were your employees, right. You know, that same energy exists at all levels of the organization. It's what's got us through the
pandemic, right. If you think about how CNN has had to learn how to go digital, right. How we had to move our employees to working from home.
How, you know, General Motors their employees begged to make ventilators. We had brewers at AB InBev making hand sanitizer. We've just seen this
incredible moment of entrepreneurial capacity from our employees that been so impressive and we're going to need that going forward as we recover and
look ahead to the challenges that we face as a global society.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's sort of less sexy it seems to work for a big organization versus working for a start-up. And you see that in some of the
surveys as sort of relatively high disengagement level at work. And actually it feels like in some ways this is a way of challenging that.
DE PREE: Absolutely. It starts with purpose. It's this idea that I care about something that's bigger than my day job, right? But we all -- we all
have something we care about, whether that's the health of our communities, whether that's climate change, whether it's the inequalities that we've
faced. You know, we have these deep-seeded values and these things we care about, but what if we invited our employees to think about that from their
day jobs, right.
So, I'm in brand marketing and I care about climate change. What does that look like? Or, you know, the famous campaigns at Dove about self-esteem.
And here's the good news, that it's good for business, right.
So if you can get your employees engaged and caring and innovating about something, you know, they're more likely to work for you. They're more
likely to stay with you. Your customers are also going to feel that, right. So it impacts on your brand. So there's money to be made here. This isn't
just about philanthropy or corporate responsibility. It really is about business sustainability and growth.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And just to make it practical. I mean, you have intrapreneurs. I almost said entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs working at places
like LinkedIn, Netflix was a great example. Just talk to me about Aaron Mitchell.
DE PREE: Yes.
CHATTERLEY: Because he managed to convince the CFO of Netflix to put a lot of money into Black-owned banks.
DE PREE: Well I love this story. And what I love about Aaron Mitchell's story at Netflix is the simplicity of it. So, Aaron Mitchell and also the
fact that he was working in human resources, so the point about intrapreneurs is they can pop up anywhere in your company. So Aaron was
working in human resources in Netflix when he read a book about the lack of access to capital in marginalized, particularly in Black communities in the
U.S. and how that was a real systemic barrier to growth and economic development for those communities.
So he went to the CFO of Netflix and say, hey, you know I have this idea. What if we put all the cash reserves that we're holding into Black-owned
banks as a way to address that problem. And sure enough he made a compelling case and Netflix did invest $100 million into Black-owned banks.
And they're doing a lot more than that.
But I just love the fact that first of all Aaron was just a guy in human resources who had an idea and he had the courage to step up and, you know,
ask and share that idea with someone else in the company.
[09:55:00]
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and you wrote a book as well.
DE PREE: Yes.
CHATTERLEY: The community has written a book called, "The Intrapreneur's Guide to Pathfinding." Just practical tools to be an intrapreneur within
an organization and within your business. Simply how to make a start in making a difference.
DE PREE: We have. You know, what we've found is, you know, you might have gone to business school or, you know, journalism school, or you know a
master's degree. But we don't learn about being intrapreneurs. And so, what the League of Intrapreneurs does and what Global Intrapreneur Week is about
is learning from each other.
You know, how did you make the case to invest in climate change to your board. You know, how did you make a PowerPoint that convinced somebody to
care about, you know, low-income communities. So, what are the tips and tricks? So, it's everything from high-level business case onto this, I love
the story of Gib Bollic (ph) who was developing Extensured (ph) Developed in Partnerships (ph).
CHATTERLEY: Yes.
DE PREE: He created a fake press release to get people excited to see the possibilities of his idea.
CHATTERLEY: Just about making a difference. Maggie, great to chat to you. Maggie De Pree there. Thank you very much.
OK, so from intrapreneurship and space flight to finding a love that's out of this world. It was my parent's 50th wedding anniversary this weekend.
This is a picture of them taking on their wedding day five decades ago and I actually stole this picture when I first left home. Unofficially, of
course, I never left as they well know.
And as I said to my siblings this weekend, if laughter and friendship is the secret to long life and enduring love then you guys nailed it. And we
love you very much.
And here's to many more. Yes, that is not is not children, because you have enough with the challenging children that you have. But we love you.
That's it for the show. You've been watching First Move. I'll see you tomorrow.
[09:56:30]
END
