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Quest Means Business
President Obama Unveils Details of His Executive Action on Immigration
Aired November 21, 2014 - 16:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MAGGIE LAKE, HOST: Welcome to this shorter edition of "Quest Means Business" this Friday. I'm Maggie Lake. We'll have the top business news
in just a moment but first the main news headlines.
Moments ago United States President Barack Obama unveiled the details of his executive action plan to overhaul the nation's immigration system.
He said the action he is taking is just a first step and called on Congress to pass a bill into law.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are a nation of immigrants and that means that we're constantly being replenished with
strivers who believe in the American plan and it gives us a tremendous advantage over other nations.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
LAKE: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has warned Russia is greating - risking greater - isolation in that it has so far failed to comply with the
terms of a peace deal for Ukraine. He spoke in Ukraine's capital Friday on the first anniversary of the Maidan rising.
Britain foreign minister says talks on a nuclear deal with Iran are proving to be complex but useful. Iran and the group known as the P5+1
have until Monday to try to reach a deal. Phil Hammond says there are still significant gaps to be bridged.
The World Health Organization says Ebola had been eradicated from the democratic republic of Congo. It reached that conclusion because 42 days
have passed since the last person with the disease tested negative. Elsewhere, the WHO says the disease is still a major threat. Mali is the
latest country to have an outbreak with six cases reported so far.
A Los Vegas casino has canceled the planned performance by Billy Cosby scheduled for November 28th. The news follows fresh accusations of sexual
misconduct by the entertainer. Linda Traitz says Cosby groped her after offering her an assortment of pills when she was working as a waitress.
Cosby's legal team denies her story.
We begin tonight with more records and rallies to tell you about on the global stock markets. On Wall Street the Dow passed the 17,800 mark
for the first time ever, and as you can see, closed at 7,810. That is a new all-time high. It is up more than 11 percent over the past 12 months.
The S&P500 today said its 45th record close of 2014.
Stock in Europe also rates higher. The DAX and the CAC-40 both gained more than 2 and 1/2 percent. Mining shares were the day's big winners.
That's because China's central bank earlier surprised markets with its first interest rate cut in two years. It is a sign that Chinese
authorities are determined to deliver faster growth and it's positive for just about any company that does business with China. Also today, the head
of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi offered the strongest hint yet that he is prepared to launch full scale quantitative easing.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
MARIO DRAGHI, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK: We will continue to meet our responsibility. We will do what we must to raise inflation and
inflation expectations as fast as possible as our price stability mandate require us.
From scratch, a new institution - just the same.
If on its current trajectory our policy's not effective enough to achieve this or further reflation how to materialize, we will step up the
pressure and broaden even more the channels to which we intervene by altering accordingly the size, the pace and the composition of our
purchases.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
LAKE: So when central banks appear to come to the rescue, is that a good thing? A short time ago I put that question to Ken Rogoff, former
chief economist of the IMF. Here's his view.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
KEN ROGOFF, FORMER CHIEF ECONOMIST, IMF: Or glad they're taking the aggressive action. I think in the case of Europe, Mario Draghi's been
struggling to push through a more aggressive policy with Berlin kicking and screaming all the way because there's no government bonds to buy - they're
just individual countries. And then it sounds like he's favoring Portugal or Italy. In the case of China, who knows? They have been trying to ease
in other ways. They've been trying to target it to give loans to people they like, industries they thought would do well and it didn't seem to be
enough - the economy's slowing. So, yes, it's good news that they're responding to the bad news.
LAKE: In the case of China, their concern is that we don't really have that much transparency about what goes on --
ROGOFF: (LAUGHTER).
LAKE: -- in that economy, to say the least.
ROGOFF: Yes, to say the least.
LAKE: Do you think they can engineer this short of soft landing they seem to be looking for?
ROGOFF: Well, they have done an amazing job for several decades and you don't want to bet they can't. But on the other hand, I think the task
ahead is harder than it's ever been. The economy's slowing, there used to be people flowing into the labor force. Now that's tapering off. So, you
used to be able to let growth cover all sins. You got a lot of bad debt, no sweat, we'll just grow our way of it. They're not there. They have to
do things differently and it's not going to be easy. I mean, this is a risky moment. They're slowing more than the official numbers, maybe a lot
more than the official numbers. Can they not go all the way until, you know, having a recession? Probably, but it's tricky.
LAKE: We have a lot more transparency when it comes to Europe. But Mario Draghi's on the record saying we cannot do it alone. Is there a
political solution? Is there a political agreement for a way to jump-start growth and get those reforms that are needed in Europe?
ROGOFF: There's agreement but they don't know where to start. If I were to say that in a nutshell the French say, `We're happy to reform and
restructure our economy once you let us do more stimulus.' The Germans say, `We're happy to have everyone do more stimulus once your restructure
and reform your economies.' They're sort of stuck in the middle, and the ECB - the European Central Bank's - been left carrying the ball and Mario
Draghi wants to do more, but there's so much pressures. He's not just announcing what he wants to do, he is really, you know, confronting the
people who are trying to stop him from doing what -
LAKE: Is Europe at risk of a deflation problem like we saw in Japan and like we're still trying to grapple with in Japan?
ROGOFF: It's at risk of having a long bad period. We have not seen an exit. If you look at Europe as a whole, it's sort of like Japan, but if
you look at the periphery of Europe, -- the Portugals, the Greece - and it's just epic. It compares in some ways to the Great Depression. Twenty-
three percent unemployment in Spain, worse in Greece and youth employment is, you know, just off the charts. So it's a very difficult situation,
they don't have a central government which ultimately we use to get out of things. Now I said Germany and France don't agree. If they could agree,
everyone else would fall in line.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
LAKE: We want to finish with more from our top story this hour. The U.S. president's immigration reform of about 11.4 million undocumented
immigrants in the U.S. - more than half are from Mexico according to the Pew Hispanic Center. The Mexican Embassy in the U.S. welcome the
president's speech Thursday. I spoke to Eduardo Medina Mora, Mexico's ambassador to the United States and asked if Mr. Obama's measures go far
enough.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
EDUARDO MEDINA MORA, MEXICAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Yes Maggie, we welcome very much the announcement made by President Obama. It is
recognition of enormous contributions that the Magland (ph) community does to the economy and society of the United States. It does not solve all the
problems, but it go certainly to a very deep degree to make the life of Mexican nationals here in the U.S. much better. It improves their
opportunities, their certainty and their dignity. So we applaud the measures taken by President Obama in this time.
LAKE: His critics in Congress including the Speaker of the House John Boehner had said that this will create more problems and this will
encourage more illegal immigrants to come. Do you agree?
MORA: Well, I don't think so. First of all, the number of migrants coming to the U.S. at least from the southwest border has not been as low
as it is in many, many years. This of course is a multi-factorial phenomena. Things are much better south of the border in Mexico.
Fertility rates have dropped. But essentially the program provides the very clear signal that this is only covering those already here for over
five years that meet the requirements. So I don't think that this will create an incentive for new flows of migrants into the U.S.
LAKE: Clearly, Republicans are very upset about this, some Democrats. And there are some polls that suggest that even some of the American public
are concerned about how this was done - the politics around it. That it is an executive order. Do - are you concerned that the political disagreement
will stand in the way of something more comprehensive being done on immigration?
MORA: Well, this is of course a matter of U.S. domestic politics and this is not for the government of Mexico to actually have a role into that.
But we have seen how that could (ph) played out for the childhood arrival deferred action program that actually has been working very well, and I
think that if this program that now expands these program of childhood arrival and now establishes this for parents of U.S. citizens and permanent
legal residents, works in the same fashion, it will be very good for the U.S. society, the U.S. economy and will contribute in a substantial,
meaningful way to the U.S. well-being.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
LAKE: And just want to remind you of what happened on the markets on Wall Street. The Dow passed 17,800 for the first time ever on Friday. You
can see their closing at a new all-time high - the 45th for this year if you can believe it. It has been quite a year. And that's "Quest Means
Business." I'm Maggie Lake in New York. Thank you so much for watching. "Marketplace Africa" is next.
(END QUEST SHOW)
(COMMERCIALS)
ISA SOARES, REPORTER AT CNN INTERNATIONAL: Hello and a very warm welcome to "Marketplace Africa." I'm Isa Soares. Kenya has recently been
named the fifth largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its growth is driven in part by a booming real estate market. But as land values
skyrocket, some fear the property bubble is about to burst.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
(BEGIN CLIP)
Females: Look at the house. Excellent. Welcome.
(END CLIP)
SOARES: This TV show on the hottest properties in Kenya is a sign of the times, shining a spotlight on the robust real estate market.
Female: Each Sunday there's a professional who speaks about the process of home ownership.
Male: Wow. Look at this.
Female: The process of owning land in Kenya, the process of building and what each person needs to know their ABCs.
SOARES: Kenya has seen a decade of property value growth fueled by state-of-the art new homes like these.
Male 1: There are many homes now, even townhouses - selling for a million dollars in Nairobi which is a number you would never have imagined.
SOARES: Statistics released this year in a process called rebasing moved the country into middle income status and revealed some changes in
the main drivers of the economy. Agriculture still reigns supreme, but real estate has now replaced retail as the economy's fourth largest sector.
Male 1: It's not a silver bullet. Rebasing is not going to make our properties worth 10 or 20 percent more, it's not going to put money in our
back pockets. But what it does, it shines a torch on this sector in particular. And it gives people more confidence that the sector is - has -
scale and that this is a place that people should look to as investors.
SOARES: This is not just the residential properties seeing unprecedented growth. This massive construction site in affluent
neighborhood of Nairobi is a project known as `Two Rivers' - a hulking 830,000-square meter complex featuring the largest mall in Sub-Saharan
Africa outside of South Africa. As well as an office park, apartments and an upscale hotel.
Male 2: It will be a contemporary piece of architecture because it has shops of all manner of people from very small shops -- 50 square meters
- to the very large grocery anchor which is over 10,000 square meters. And so such it is really a big retail space.
SOARES: Building an upscale property like this in Nairobi can present problems with many resources not readily available in Kenya.
Male 3: The challenges are mainly costs - the labor is not too cheap and raw materials are quite expensive. We need to start producing some of
the items we use in real estate locally so that they can create industries.
SOARES: And there's also the issue of security. The shopping mall plans to open 2015, a little more than two years after the Westgate Mall
attack.
Male 3: Two River portrays, it shows that Kenya is becoming of age of better and bigger projects, and we're looking forward that we lead the way,
and hopefully that others will follow. We believe Kenyans deserve more. We have seen that the middle class is getting stronger and bigger in size.
And as you know, people with money to spend, they prefer to go to better destinations - secure destinations. And we are able to secure this place
because of the size.
SOARES: Its growing middle class also opens up opportunities for banks.
Male 4: I've Seen a lot of people are now in a position to either afford mortgages or are in a position to find the resources to buy property
and/or rent better properties and so you're seeing a lot of development in that area.
SOARES: There's also the issue of over-valued property. Some analysts suggest the Kenyan real estate market bubble is about to burst.
But not everyone agrees.
Male 4: When people talk about there perhaps being a bubble in the property market, that's not really possible I would think because bubbles
will come when people are financing their assets which are highly inflated (AUDIO GAP) raised to more proportion of the people in the property market
are actually borrowed from banks. So the likelihood of their not being able to pay their mortgages and therefore creating a bubble bust is a bit
insignificant at this point of time.
SOARES: So now though, the property market in Kenya remains strong.
Male 1: If you've made three times your money over ten years, you know, you're in a - you're in a good place.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
SOARES: Well, ahead right here on "Marketplace Africa," we continue with our theme of real estate and we hear how the changing African
landscape is reflected in the architecture of Western Africa.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOARES: Welcome back to "Marketplace Africa." Now, it may not be booming like Kenya, but real estate investment in Western African countries
has a lot of opportunities. On this week's "Face Time," the managing director of the leading Ivory Coast architecture firm tells me how the
unified vision for development is key.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
Male: There are a few trends that are going on in the building sector from the part of the world I'm in. I'm from mainly West Africa - I see
that many people are building and building and more and more, and it's not necessarily in a very organized way. So there's a lot of pressure on our
cities because of this quantity of buildings and we have to be very responsive to that and sort of make it happen in a very organized way.
One of the things that we're looking at as architects is definitely sustainability for the (inaudible) and in many sense, it's the
sustainability in the sense that what you build today has to be standing up tomorrow and you have to pass it on to people (inaudible). So it starts
from the idea - designing the idea -- of what you are going to build and how is that going to be standing in the next - future, in the future.
(Inaudible).
What kind of cities do we want for the future of Ivory Coast? We have a very interesting situation and in the `60s Abidjan was one of the leading
cities in West Africa in terms of urbanism. But for the first 30 years, the things have changed. The main challenge for me is the growth, and in
the past 20 years - 20, maybe 30 years -- we've seen that this growth has had a very negative impact on a lot of African cities.
Africa in general I see as promising. I see a lot of things happening from east to west. Although it may happen in different fashions, I see it
moving. For countries like ours, I think the main challenge is governance. How do we actually achieve a climate - or create a climate - in which we
can operate effectively.
Sustainable development is a challenge for African cities and African architecture, but it is also an opportunity. Knowing that we cannot avoid
sustainability and actually wouldn't make sense for to try to avoid it, I will have to work with it. And many African countries benefit from a very
nice climate, very nice environment, so in order to make a building sustainable, we don't have to go as far as we would have if we were, let's
say, in a more formalized environment where more-developed countries. For instance, if you take West Africa - the tropical climate allows you to play
with cross-ventilation and avoid air conditioning.
At this time, Africa's really interesting because a lot of things are changing, and not only in our lifestyle, but also with regards to the
interests that we have when we talk about Africa today. The image is not the same as it used to be. And in that fashion, a lot of Africans need to
redefine even the type of products that they want, the type of products they like. And what I've witnessed up until today and I think it's still
going on, that a lot of Africans come to Africa and want to build models that they've seen in other places. Maybe coming from Europe, China and
what have you. Whereas the role of the architect is actually to work with the environment, you know - the local environment and, you know, with
regards to climates, with regards to the culture, with regard to the needs and with regards to the actual configuration of the place. And if you do
that, you will probably end up with products that are very interesting and you will discover new typologies. And what is interesting is you can still
create new typologies - you know - work with modern materials.
So we've done a lot of buildings that, when you look at them, you know, might look very modern and very international, but when you take a
closer look, you will find that we've integrated a lot of the cultural aspects, a lot of environmental aspects such as cross-ventilation, such as
shading, and of course as you go from one part of Africa to the next, you know, the solutions might be different. But we believe that if you do
that, we will see a new sky or new identity of architecture emerge like we've seen in Asia and other places on the planet. This is the way we can
build a unique and modern African architecture.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
SOARES: And that sells it for "Marketplace Africa" for this week. You can find us online at cnn.com/marketplaceafrica. I'm Isa Soares.
Thanks very much for joining us.
END
