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Quest Means Business
Little Progress In Greece Debt Talks; Greek Stocks Fall Nearly 5 Percent; U.S. Markets Close Slightly Higher; Privacy Advocates Walk Out of Tech Talks; U.S. Authorities: Trans Fat Not Safe; Travel Industry Taps Into Yoga; Will Greece Stay in the Eurozone?; Donald Trump Announces 2016 Presidential Bid; NYT: MLB Officials Claim St. Louis Cardinals Hacked Houston Astros' Database. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired June 16, 2015 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:00:00] RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: A thousand bells ringing, the gavel is about to fall, could strong gavel (inaudible) as trading comes to an end
on Tuesday. It's the 16th of June.
Tonight, Tsipras sounds off, the Greek prime minister says the IMF have acted like criminals.
I'm tough. I'm rich and he's running for president. Donald Trump joins the race for the White House.
And foul ball, a Major League Baseball team is accused of hacking a fly ball.
We have a busy hour together. I'm Richard Quest and of course, I mean business.
Good evening. Tonight, tempers in Greece are rising and the country must agree to the terms offered by its creditors by Thursday or the country
will face losing out on desperately needed bail out cash.
The condition, the circumstances, the situation for Greece have rarely been more grayed, the prime minister, Alexis Tsipras is showing no
sign that his country will accept those terms. On Tuesday, he said it was up to Europe to make a deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXIS TSIPRAS, GREECE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The time has come for Europe to talk seriously not about Greece's future, but also the
future of the Eurozone. Will it insist on leaving their country and the people in humiliation and poverty or do they want to pave the way for
democracy and solidarity within its territory?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now there are some tough words for the European Commission, which is one of three institutions that Greece is relying to deliver the rest of
its bailout cash. The old (inaudible) don't bite the hands that feed you doesn't seemed to be scaring Mr. Tsipras.
The prime minister bit down harder on (inaudible) as well. This is what's been happening. He accused the ECB of financial asphyxiation in
address to the lawmakers and he stated that the IMF has criminal responsibility, in his words, for Greece's worms.
The situation is deteriorating and it's no -- it's not just a cliche to say time is running out. Everybody seems to be saying is the moment is
final. Samuel Burke reports on the key sticking points on a deal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMUEL BURKE, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Everyone is using the world final when it comes to Greece, final deadline, final payment and
instead of digging themselves out, everyone is digging in.
MARIO DRAGHI, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK: The bull lies squarely in the camp of the Greek government to take the necessary steps.
FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): What shout? We are arriving at a time that could be turbulent if we don't reach an
agreement.
BURKE: Thursday's critical meeting of Eurozone finance ministers could be one of the few chances left, but Greece says it isn't bringing any new
proposals to the table. So what progress can be made? Entrenched positions are clear. The only thing unclear now is who blinks first.
LARRY SUMMERS, AMERICAN ECONOMIST: The term Greek tragedy is 2,000 years old and we are going to see one of the biggest ones ever if something is
not done.
BURKE (on camera): Still two sticking points, cutting benefits for Greek pensioners and increasing tax on electricity. With Europe and Greece so
far apart on these two, a Greek default looks ever more likely.
GEORGE PEGOULATOS, GREEK ECONOMIST: I would say that the Greeks, it is inconceivable for the simple reason that it is a neutrally catastrophic
decision. Clearly Greece would have much more to suffer from such an event, but the losses would be very significant for the Eurozone as well.
Something that is so disastrous doesn't have to happen.
BURKE (voice-over): Much like Eurozone politicians, Eurozone citizens can't come to a consensus either. The vast majority of Greeks say they
want to stay in the Eurozone. Their most influential creditor, Germany, more than half of its people now say it's time for Greece to go. Samuel
Burke, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Now surprisingly, the reaction to all of this on the stock market has been fairly vigorous, if not in Greece alone, take a look and you'll
see. In Athens, you will see how the market fell. The Athens markets fell some 5 percent on Tuesday. The other markets are holding their own, barely
but just. You can see London obviously unchanged.
[16:05:02] These were just a tat on other issues. Greek says themselves have fallen 15 percent over three days and around the Eurozone perhaps
there were some buying opportunities that helped the Zetra and the CAC Currant actually rise as well.
So to put all these into perspective, we faced a Greek exit in 2012 and that seemed to have gone away with the first set of bailouts. Now I
asked Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz if this could be the final moment for Greece in the Eurozone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MOHAMED EL-ERIAN, CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISER, ALLIANZ: This could be the final moment and it could be final moment for two reasons. Either because of
politicians can't get their act together and they simply don't agree or alternatively they lose control of the situation. We are getting very
close to the point, Richard, whereby, the politicians may no longer have control of what actually happens to Greece.
QUEST: Now if we think back two or three years when Greek-xit and there were those moments of those summits and they called it back at the final
moment when they did agree of the bailout. You're not so optimistic that they can do it again this time.
EL-ERIAN: That is correct. And I'm not too optimistic for several reasons. One is people are exhausted and they are irritated with each
other. There is almost no trust left between Greece and its creditors and even within the creditor group, there is a lot of disagreement.
Secondly, the situation on the ground is much more difficult so that it's hard to get a quick response, but the good news, Richard, and this is
really important is that the threat to the Eurozone as a whole is less.
In 2012, I was really worried that if Greece had exited then the impact for the Eurozone could have been really bad. Today, I'm less
worried. Europe has taken major steps in terms of new institutions, new facilities to contain contagion and the ECB is very engaged.
And countries like Ireland and Spain have done a lot to get their homes in order so it's worse news for Greece, but it's thought as
threatening to the Eurozone as it was in 2012.
QUEST: You're in Europe. You're in Germany. Are you hearing the views that we are also hearing of people saying particularly in Germany, look,
we've gone as far as we can, if they won't go, if they won't do a deal, let them go?
EL-ERIAN: Yes, you hear it. It's quite interesting because the mood has changed and the narrative has changed so there is a sense that you can to
an agreement. If that persists, let's not force it. There is a sense that over the long term, and this is new, over the long term, the Eurozone may
actually be better off with Greece out.
There is concern about the short term, about the immediate impact, but there is sort of recognition that they've tried and tried and tried and
that so far, at least, it doesn't seem like you can get a good agreement.
QUEST: I'm having that just about everybody and their brother believes that currency controls or some form of capital controls, however this plays
out, is going to be necessarily even in the short term.
EL-ERIAN: Yes, and let me tell you the combination that I think is going to happen if you get no agreement within the next few days, the (inaudible)
banks will start in earnest, so far it has been a drag. That is going to force the Greek government to impose capital controls.
At the same time, Greece is going to start issuing IOUs to pay domestic obligations. Those IOUs will then evolve into parallel currency
and then if they don't get money, Greece will have difficulty first paying the IMF and then paying the ECB.
So you got to get a combination of capital controls, a parallel currency, IOUs and arrears. Under these conditions, no matter how
committed the politicians are to keeping the Eurozone -- to keeping Greece in the Eurozone, actually doing it becomes really difficult.
So that's why it really is 2 minutes to midnight and that if you don't get money quickly into Greece then the logic will dictate this
combination, which ultimately is the Greek accident. It is the event that forces Greece out of the Eurozone even though no one has taken a decision
for that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Sobering words and thoughts from Mohamed El-Erian. Here in the United States, the markets were more concerned with U.S. domestic matters
and when all is said and done, they closed up 113 points gain of over 0.5 percent. The investors are waiting for the chairman of the fed, Janet
Yellen. The fed debt OMC meets and waiting to see the results.
[16:10:02] It's expected that as a result of poor economic data or at least disappointing economic data, any issue of an early rate rise might actually
be put off to later, but the question of course is whether they change the wording in the statement.
In a moment, the companies want to use your face to market products, we are going to speak to the privacy advocate about why he walked out of
the talks over facial recognition technology as QUEST MEANS BUSINESS returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: So what's the value in your own face and whether or not people want to use it to market other goods and services to you? Well, privacy
advocates have now walked on the talks aimed at drafting rules for facial recognition technology.
And there are growing number of retailers and advertisers, they want to scan your face and then identify market products in realtime. The
groups against this include the American Civil Liberties Union and they've opened out a joint statement.
They are saying, "At a base minimum, people should be able to walk down a public street without fear of companies they've never heard of
tracking their every moment using facial recognition technology.
Alvaro Bedoya is the executive director on the Center on Privacy Technology at Georgetown University was part of the talks since they
started joins me now from Washington.
You walked out (inaudible) walked out of the talks, what was it that you felt couldn't be bridged? Why was there no meeting of minds?
ALVARO BEDOYA, CENTER ON PRIVACY AND TECHNOLOGY, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Look, Richard, people have a fundamental right to privacy and companies
shouldn't identify consumers by name using facial recognition technology unless they've gotten their consent. I think that's a pretty simple rule
and yet not a single industry group in this process, not one, Richard, would agree to that and --
QUEST: When you said to them that basic principle, it's up to me to sign in not to sign out, what was their response?
BEDOYA: Their response was we can't accept that. Their response was let's talk instead about giving people notice and transparency around this
activity, but the fact is, if the right to privacy means anything, it's the right to say leave me alone. And industry just would not agree to that and
that's why we walked out.
QUEST: And if they decide to go ahead without you?
BEDOYA: If they decide to go ahead without us it's no longer a negotiation, it's no longer a multi-stakeholder process. It's an industry
stakeholder process and frankly, I think it is a threat to American's privacy because people deserve more than this.
QUEST: But do you accept that you can be -- can you like hold back the tide and facial recognition is here, and you know, put it this way, someone
who is on television, believe me, is well aware of the implications of facial recognition.
BEDOYA: Right.
QUEST: So it's a question of managing this. If a company says, if you walk down Casia Gardens (ph), we reserve the right to use your face. Don't
walk down at Casia Gardens.
BEDOYA: The most remarkable thing about this, Richard, is that industry lobbyists are taking in position that contradicts industry best practices.
Google only uses your face with your consent. Microsoft does the same thing and in fact, most of the retailers you've been talking about only use
your face with your consent.
[16:15:08] And so these folks are putting forward a hard line position that I think hurts business and hurts innovation because consumers won't buy
what they don't trust.
QUEST: Walking out is usually never a good thing. It means you're basically said, well, go do what you like. We don't care.
BEDOYA: I don't think so because two states in the United States, Illinois and Texas, the reddest to the red, and bluest to the loop of the blue have
drawn a line and said, companies if you want to track people by their faces, get their permission first.
And so I think the bigger threat here is that companies with us or by themselves produce a rule book that undermines those existing
protections. In fact, Richard, when you visit your family in London, there is no facial recognition automatically by Facebook. Facebook has to ban
it.
And so what we are pushing for is Americans to get the same privacy protections throughout the United States that Europeans get everywhere.
QUEST: Finally, aren't you better off going with regulators, going with lawmakers, going with officials because there is a fundamental disagreement
between your goals and the industry's goals? I mean, you could all be as nice to each other if you like, but slicing it each way and backwards,
doesn't ignore the fact you have opposite goals.
BEDOYA: We do in Washington, D.C. The industry lobbyists who shut down this process are the same industry lobbyist, Richard, that have prevented
Congress from passing a single new consumer privacy law since 2009. Think about everything that happened since 2009, the Target hack, Apple location
gate, Home Depot, not a single new privacy law.
And so we may disagree with policymakers in Washington because of lobbying, but we don't disagree with policymakers and the rest of the
individual states. And so if Illinois can do it, Texas can do it, we think California can do. We think Wyoming can do it.
QUEST: Sir, good to see you. Thank you for lending your face for the last few minutes.
BEDOYA: My pleasure.
QUEST: America is saying goodbye to trans-fat. We'll tell you about a bold move by U.S. authorities to abolish them all from foods.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: U.S. health authorities are now to order American companies to trim the trans-fat. The FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, says trans-fat
is not generally recognized, in their words, as safe for human food and human use.
The FDA is warning, now this is what it really comes down to, the FDA is warning that changes could cost the industry $6 billion over 20
years. So you've got $6 billion on one side, but weigh that against a $130 billion saved from lower medical expenses, and you'll start to see a way in
which this gets puts together.
Michael Jacobson is with us from Washington, the executive director and co-founder of the Washington-based Center for Science in the Public
Interest. So it's game over for trans-fat and not a moment too soon they'll say.
MICHAEL JACOBSON, CO-FOUNDER, CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST: Not a moment too soon. This has been a long time coming. You know we've
first petitioned FDA to ban trans-fat back in 2004 and there's been tremendous progress since then because of the bad publicity, lawsuits
against companies, state and local regulations, and the FDA's labeling requirement.
[16:20:08] QUEST: Now a lot of people realize that trans-fat are not good for you, but obviously not sufficiently enough to the companies to do their
own bidding. Now on this program, we've had many fast food companies and restaurants saying that they are banning trans-fat. They are banning GMs,
they are moving to a healthier diet. So why do you think the hold ups remain?
JACOBSON: I think they are probably lazy about doing it or they ran into some kind of problem that I'm totally unaware of because in any food
category, pie crust, microwave popcorn and so on, you can find some brands with a fair amount trans-fat, but you find other brands without any. And
that demonstrates quite clearly that every company should be able to get rid of it and whatever they replace it with is not as harmful.
QUEST: Pulling the strands together, do you consider to, you know, game set match?
JACOBSON: Well, almost, the food industry has submitted a petition to the FDA to allow small amounts, what they say, are small amounts in the food
supply, and it gets down to what is a small amount. If it's something like sprinkles that you put on top of a cupcake, nobody cares about that.
That's trivial.
But they may be saying that the current levels of trans-fat in the food supply are safe, and that those current levels should be permitted.
Well, the industry is using -- still using a billion pounds a year of partially hydrogenated oil.
QUEST: But Michael, I keep -- I come back to this point that they are doing it with the -- I'm always aware that the cigarette and tobacco are in
the background, of course, but they are doing it with the knowledge of the science and the opposition so they must have a valid either economic or
commercial reason.
JACOBSON: Partially hydrogenated oils might cost a little bit less than other oil, but the cost difference is really trivial. Some companies have
been lazy about it. They have other priorities. They don't know anything about oils and so they've been really laggards.
QUEST: And we thank you, sir, for coming in to put the case for us tonight. Thank you, sir.
JACOBSON: Thank you for having me.
QUEST: So it is about 20 past 9:00 in the United Kingdom and in London, and the last of the day's travelers at Heathrow are probably sitting down
for a late night drink of coffee before their flight. But if you want to de-stress even further, there is now a room for spot of yoga.
As part of our series on the innovative trends is destructing traditional exercise mortals, Claire Sebastian takes a look at how airport
yoga is taking off.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLAIRE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From (inaudible) planes to polluting the sun, duty free to downward facing dog. Europe's busiest
airport has finally found its inner peace. The yoga room is part of a new project from the Sky Team Alliance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very tranquil. It's light colors --
SEBASTIAN: They introduced this temporarily in their lounge last year and the concept caught on.
BERT GORAN, SKYTEAM: The hectic airport environment can be so stressful and we want to take them out of that stressful environment and bring them
inside the Skyteam lounges and yoga room can contribute only to that, to relax them and to get them out of that hectic environment.
SEBASTIAN: To frequent travelers like Gillie Coghlan about to board a flight to Amsterdam, it's a welcome destruction.
GILLIE COGHLAN, FREQUENT TRAVELER: For a lot of days in airports the last few days and there are lots of ways to time usually and stress and shopping
and eating and it's great to come somewhere and relax.
SEBASTIAN: There are no classes just a specially produced video to follow and this is where the idea really takes off.
GORAN: We made one lounge video, which is really dedicated for spaces where you have really a yoga mat and we have one dedicated video which will
be used by most of our member airlines on board in the in-flight entertainment system where people could actually practice yoga during their
flight in their seats.
SEBASTIAN: Skyteam are planning new yoga rooms in Dubai, Sydney and Hong Kong later this year and they are not the only ones. Dallas Fort Worth
Airport, San Francisco and Chicago O'Hare in the U.S. have all brought yoga rooms already. So even for a beginner like me there is no excuse not to
try it.
(on camera): It may of course be a bit of a stretch for some people to think about doing yoga in an airport, the important thing is the travel
industry is now starting to offer that flexibility.
(voice-over): That option to stay fit or at least relax while you fly. Claire Sebastian, CNN, in Heathrow Airport, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[16:25:04] QUEST: I've tried many things in airports and I'm not about to try yoga. I'm sure somebody is going to tell me that I should,
@richardquest, if you like the idea of limboring up at yoga room.
Talking of limboring up, things are going very badly down when it comes to Greece. The deadline is ever closer. We'll talk about that after
this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Hello. I'm Richard Quest. There are, of course, more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment. When Iceland's prime minister tells us what
Greece can learn from his country's economic crisis and Donald Trump lets us know exactly how rich is he and announces he is running for president.
This is CNN and on this network the news always comes first.
The United States has confirmed the death of the al Qaeda leader, Nasser Al Wahayshi. U.S. officials say it's a major blow to the terror
group. He had been the leader of the Yemen base affiliate of AQAP, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the second in command of the entire
global terror network. AQAP has named its military chief as his successor.
Russian president, Vladimir Putin, says Russia will add more than 40 intercontinental nuclear missiles to its arsenal this year. It comes after
Russia criticized moves by the United States adding more troops in Eastern Europe around Russian borders. The head of NATO said he would increase the
readiness of NATO forces in response to the Russian moves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: This new saber rattling of Russia is unjustified. It's destabilizing and it's dangerous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Cairo, of course, has upheld the death sentence for the deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsy. Mr. Morsy was found guilty last month
for his role in a mass prison break during the 2011 uprising. The court also gave Morsy a life sentence for espionage. Both rulings can be
appealed.
A civil right leader in the United States who resigned after her parents accused of her of pretending to be black has given her first
television interview. Rachel Dolezal who stepped down as head of the NAACP in Spokane, Washington state told NBC's "Today Show" that she still
considers herself black.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT LAUER, TELEVISION HOST AND REPORTER, NBC'S "TODAY SHOW: Are you an African-American woman?
RACHEL DOLEZAL, FORMER PRESIDENT, SPOKANE NAACP: Identify as black.
[16:30:00] LAUER: You identify as black. Let me put a picture of you in your early 20s though and when you see this picture, is this an African-
American woman or is that a Caucasian woman?
DOLEZAL: That's not in my early 20s but --
LAUER: That's a little younger I guess.
DOLEZAL: (LAUGHTER). Yes, I was 16 in that picture.
LAUER: Is she a Caucasian woman or an African-American woman?
DOLEZAL: I would say that visibly she would be identified as white by people who see her.
LAUER: But at the time, were you identifying yourself as African-American?
DOLEZAL: In that picture, during that time, no.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: The British radio disc jockey Chris Evans is to be the new host of the BBC's "Top Gear." Evans has signed a three-year deal to lead a new
line up of presenters for "Top Gear." He replaces Jeremy Clarkson who was sacked by the BBC in March after he physically attacked a "Top Gear" producer.
And news in to CNN - 21st Century Fox has confirmed that James Murdoch, Rupert's son, will officially become the chief exec of 21st Century Fox on
July the 1st. He replaces his father Rupert. This was reported last week. Rupert Murdoch stays on as executive
chairman. 21st Century Fox says that Chase Carey, the company's COO, becomes executive vice chairman.
The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has called on his European creditors to stop the pressure on his country. However, it seems Tsipras
is himself the one who is under some pressure - being pulled in many different directions.
For example, look how members of his own party are tugging on his sleeve. On the one hand, they are looking at another tough bailout. They want to
stop the tough bailout terms. Tsipras told them today his mandate is clear - he wants to end austerity.
But on the other side, you have the institutions - the EC, the ECB - say the ball is now very firmly in the Greek court and Greece will have to act
if it wants to save itself from disaster. According to Jean Claude Juncker, "I don't care about the Greek government, I care about the Greek
people" is how the president of the Commission put it. Panos Polyzoidis is a Greek journalist at Greece's Skai TV. He joins us now from Athens. Panos, it's good to see you sir. Thank you as always.
The situation - how is it being viewed by Greek people? Because we know more than 60 or 70 percent want to stay in the Eurozone but that might be
inconsistent with the role being taken by their government.
PANOS POLYZOIDIS, JOURNALIST, SKAI TV: Initially when this government took over, most people wanted the government to play hardball. They wanted a
hard negotiation, they wanted to feel better themselves that they're actually making a stand and that their government is making a stand on
their behalf. Now - what - four months into the negotiation, I think there is a certain degree of fatigue among the public and a certain degree of fear.
QUEST: Right.
POLYZOIDIS: People have been - I've heard people saying - `I mean for God's sake, let's have an end to this, whatever that may be.' And I
daresay that some people have begun to get accustomed to the idea of leaving the Euro.
QUEST: Right.
POLYZOIDIS: Of course there is a huge majority in favor of the Euro still.
QUEST: Now, but if push - or when push comes to shove as it is this week - when it comes to cuts in pensions, smaller civil service --- all the things
that the institutions want versus leaving the Euro, which would it be?
POLYZOIDIS: I think that the Greek prime minister is playing a sort of game as part of that negotiation. Let's remember that his Finance Minister
Yanis Varoufakis is a game theorist. I think - well we all know the game who's going to blink first. I think that he's going to push the
negotiation to the very, very end hoping - believing in fact. And that's what we hear from his people, believing that the Europeans and the IMF will
give in at the end. But if they don't, Tsipras appears determined to go to a rift.
[16:35:00] QUEST: Now, with that in mind and bearing in mind the comments that we've heard from German politicians who basically say - some say
Greece will be better off outside anyway. You have the IMF leaving the meetings, you have Hollande saying it's time to do a deal - Greece better
take the deal that's on the table. Is there yet that reality check in Greece that this is now the moment or they go over the cliff?
POLYZOIDIS: I think yes. The public opinion -- or the majority of the public opinion I think would be tilting towards that direction. I'm not
terribly sure about the country's leaders, the people who are leading the government. Tsipras and his close aides and of course his right-wing anti-
austerity partner Panos Kammenos and the Independent Greeks. I think also that the opposition within Tsipra's Syriza Party will have to
play some kind of role. They like the idea of being in government. This is a first, this is a great opportunity for -
QUEST: Right.
POLYZOIDIS: -- the Greek left to govern, but then again, it is a strong case of ideology versus pragmatism, Richard.
QUEST: We'll talk about it in the days ahead. Panos, thank you for joining us. There are certainly several extremely tense days that are
coming up for that Eurozone meeting on Thursday. "The Telegraph" newspaper in the U.K.'s reporting that certain factions in
the ruling Syriza Party to propose Greece go through an Icelandic-style default. You'll recall the Icelandic pons (ph) collapsed in 2008 and the
country imposed emergency capital controls to stop money flowing out of the country.
The measures were designed to be temporary. Only now, some seven years later, are they being removed. Maggie Lake spoke to the Icelandic prime
minister and asked if Greece can learn from the Icelandic crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
SIGMUNDUR DAVID GUNNLAUGSSON, ICELANDIC PRIME MINISTER: I definitely think that there are lessons there. Iceland's crisis was in many ways unique
although it has a lot of similarities with other crises as well. But because of the uniqueness of this crisis, including its magnitude, we
had to find new solutions. We had to adopt an unorthodox approach to attacking the situation, including for example, bringing down household
debt with mortgage relief across the board in Iceland. And now with the last big step in reinforcing the Icelandic economy, (AUDIO
GAP) the capital controls. However, in Greece the situation is quite different from Iceland in that
Greece is already a member of the European Union and has the euro. So many of the channels we had for getting out of the economic difficulties are
closed to Greece. But that in my opinion also means that since Greece does not have those options - because it's already in the E.U. - it is a problem
not just for Greece but the European Union as a whole.
MAGGIE LAKE, BUSINESS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT FOR CNN INTERNATIONAL: How do you plan to rehabilitate completely Iceland's reputation among
international investors?
GUNNLAUGSSON: Well, I think we're already doing quite well. For example, the states of the failed banks which have been the main hindrance to the
lifting of capital - the lifting of capital controls - they've been doing quite well.
They have been - their asset value has been growing, and that allows us to lift the controls and allow these investors who came in after the fact -
after the banks went bankrupt - to make huge gains on their investments although they are leaving huge sums of money behind in Iceland at the same
time. Also the economy in general has improved considerably and we are - we are out of the difficulties we have been facing since two different dates (ph).
So unemployment is down to 3 percent, inflation is minimal, GDP is growing faster than in most European countries and even wages - purchasing power is
higher than we've ever seen in Iceland before including 2007. So it has been going well and I think therefore that international
investors will continue to see a lot of opportunities in Iceland.
LAKE: And what is the long-term growth plan for Iceland's economy? How do you build on this new-found stability that you have?
GUNNLAUGSSON: Well, we are working to diversify our economy and we've been doing that in my opinion rather successfully for the past couple of years.
So we have a lot of new investment and the new investment has not been hindered by the capital controls.
So we have several foreign investors building new plants in Iceland for example producing silicone because we rely on renewable energy and we like
to use that energy to make it possible to create even more renewable energy, so solar cells will be produced from silicon in Iceland
[16:40:10] But also, we are investing a lot more than ever before in research and development - creating incentives for new companies and
research and development companies that have already been set up to invest more. So we don't know which projects are going to work and which won't,
but in any case, a lot of new projects in the field for research and developments are starting up in Iceland now.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: That's the Iceland prime minister talking to Maggie Lake. Next, a man famous for firing wants to get hired. We're going to discuss the extraordinary announcement by Donald Trump who wants to be the next
president of the United States.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: The man known for his trademark line "You're fired" says he can make America great again. After flirting with the idea for years, Donald
Trump has finally made the announcement his supporters have been seeking.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Ladies and gentlemen, I am officially running -
(AUDIENCE CHEERS)
TRUMP: -- for president of the United States and we are going to make our country great again.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: Well, Trump says he doesn't need anybody's money because in his own words, he's really rich. And as the announcement was made, he trumpeted a
net worth of $9 billion which includes a vast portfolio of properties. Let me show you. The announcement he will run for president came at the lavish Trump Tower - his flagship building which is on Fifth Avenue in New
York. It's just one of several buildings he owns in New York, many of course have his name on them.
You've got the Trump SoHo, you've got the Trump in Chicago, you've got Trump in the Gulf. His hotels and business properties can be found all
over the United States and all over the world. For instance, if it's golf that you fancy, well maybe you've played on one
of his courses. There are many Trump courses including some controversial ones in Scotland where he has had various battles with local authorities.
Now you're looking at just two of the resorts in Florida and, as I say, in Scotland which is the controversial one.
Ryan Lizza is a CNN contributor and the Washington correspondent for "The New Yorker." He joins us now live from Washington. What do we make of his
announcement today, Ryan?
[16:45:00] RYAN LIZZA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR AND WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORKER": You know, I'm of two minds about this, Richard. I think on
the one hand there's a lot to poke fun at from this announcement. If you watched the full speech, it was a sort of jaw-dropping - I mean, frankly
hilarious presentation the way that he talks about politics, the way that he talks about issues.
There is nothing - there's no one like it in American politics. I would not want to be the person who had to fact-check that speech. A lot of, you
know, hyperbole and ridiculous statements. And so there's a lot to make fun of here.
And yet at the same time, he has a very famous name, he's likely going to be allowed into the Republican debates -
QUEST: OK.
LIZZA: -- go ahead.
QUEST: Now, I sort of jump in there because, you know, we can talk about, say for example, Ronald Reagan when he ran for governor and then president.
But the difference there was Reagan had been the president of the Screen Actors Guild, he had been steeped in public policy and he had strong views,
but he did know his way around the political and political issues.
LIZZA: And he was a two-term governor of one the biggest - one of the biggest states in the country by the time he ran for president and quite a
successful governor. So no comparison. I mean, this is just someone jumping into things, you know, a real estate billionaire and reality TV
show host jumping into a presidential race. I mean, his message though, Richard, I think you can't - you can't - be
totally dismissive of this candidacy because he's got this populist, frankly anti-immigrant, anti-China message that plays well with some parts
of the Republican party. He talks about issues in a very sort of, you know, easy to understand way
and I think there are elements in Iowa and New Hampshire in these early states that will not just go and see him as a novelty act, as a circus act
coming to town -
QUEST: OK.
LIZZA: -- but may take him seriously. So I don't - I wouldn't totally dismiss him.
QUEST: No, no, no, no, we'll never do that in any way - you know - he's entitled to run for president and spend his own money. I was walking
through Atlanta Airport this morning when he was making that announcement and on the TV monitors there, people were absolutely watching and
(INAUDIBLE) -
LIZZA: They were glued to it, right?
QUEST: That's exactly. They were glued to it. But what I #overheard, you know, Donald Trump running for president, oh my, oh my. I mean, --
LIZZA: Yes.
QUEST: -- what does he do to the other more sober candidates? Do they have to adapt their policies and the way they run because of it now?
LIZZA: Well, you look at - look, Donald Trump is very popular among conservative voters. If you ever watch Fox News, he's on there all the
time. He was sort of anti-Obama and hitting Obama really hard when there was an appetite for that among conservatives at the beginning of the Obama
presidency, and he sort of built a following on the right. Very outside of the following he used to have. I mean, he basically used to be like a New
York liberal or a moderate democrat. He's become a sort of populist right- winger over the years. And that following I think gives him an `in' into Republican politics. And
other candidates in previous cycles in 2012, there were candidates who wanted his endorsement who were out there, who thought it was a good thing
to be by his side. So the other candidates, I think they have to be playful, but they can't be totally dismissive of Trump -
QUEST: Right.
LIZZA: -- and they will have to respond to him in these debates.
QUEST: In a word, Ryan, in a word - come on, ever political junkie in the United States is drooling at the possibility of Trump versus Hillary.
LIZZA: (LAUGHTER). Well of course. That is not going to happen, Richard, Richard Quest. I promise that. If that happens, I will come on your show
and eat my shoelaces. Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee, but he will make things interesting --
QUEST: All right.
LIZZA: -- and we'll have a lot of fun covering it.
QUEST: I'm going out to buy some shoelaces. You heard it --
(LAUGHTER)
LIZZA: They do make edible shoelaces.
QUEST: Yes, I'll find you some not edible. Thank you very much. We'll talk more about it as it goes along.
The FBI's investigating a hacking case and this time it involves two major league baseball teams. Who's hacking and why? "Quest Means Business"
(RINGS BELL).
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:51:10] QUEST: Forget the Chinese, forget the Russians. When it comes to hacking, now the FBI is investigating whether one of the most successful
baseball teams, the St. Louis Cardinals, hacked (AUDIO GAP) bitter rivals, the Houston Astros.
According to "The New York Times" reporting the claims, MLB officials say the Astros hacked the database which includes team secrets and operational
information. You couldn't make this up. CNN Money's cybersecurity reporter Jose Pagliery joins me from New York.
So, one hacked the other. Why?
JOSE PAGLIERY, CNN MONEY CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: All right, so this is an allegation - we don't know this yet. But CNN has confirmed that the FBI is
looking into whether or not the Cardinals hacked a rival team, the Astros. Now, covering cybersecurity, I can tell you it was only a matter of time
before we'd be talking about this kind of thing - corporate espionage in the cyber realm. We've seen governments hack each other, we see terrorists
hacking governments, we see activists hacking companies. Now we've got an allegation that a professional baseball team is hacking into another -
QUEST: All right.
PAGLIERY: -- to get the kinds of secrets that they can pull and make their team more valuable.
QUEST: Is - does the allegation suggest those at the top knew what was going on? Because that's what it's going to turn into, isn't it? You
know, some low grunt at the bottom trying - hacked in, but meanwhile -
PAGLIERY: That's the way it always is, right?
QUEST: -- that's where it always - absolutely.
PAGLIERY: That's the way it was with Deflate Gate with the football team in New England, right, with the Patriots. It's, you know, - we don't know
yet. And so right now what we've got is that FBI's investigating this, they're
serving subpoenas to these teams and the Major League Baseball to figure out what's going on.
My guess is a few months from now, we're going to find out how deep this actually goes.
QUEST: On this cybersecurity question, let's just put to one side these Cardinals, because, I mean, it's criminal activity regardless - whichever
way. The Washington cyber hacks that we saw over the last couple of weeks --
PAGLIERY: Right.
QUEST: -- and we understand that has got bigger and bigger and there are many more millions of people who are now supposed involved in it. How big
is that hack?
PAGLIERY: The federal hack that we were talking about a few weeks ago is a pretty big deal. So we're - let's shift from sports over to -
QUEST: Yes.
PAGLIERY: -- people's personal information here. That is a pretty big deal because what we're talking about here is potentially that the Chinese
government hacked into databases full of personal information for federal employees with the, you know, alleged purpose that they'd be looking for
potential spies. Because think about it, if the Chinese government - if this is the case -
if the Chinese government grabbed a bunch of information on federal employees and they figure it out who's in debt, who doesn't have great
health insurance, who hasn't been paid very well at work. They know who to target to turn as spies.
This is - look - this is just the continuation of the Cold War. I've been saying this for months. It's a cyber Cold War. That's - the Cold War just
moved into the digital realm.
QUEST: But is there any indication that this is now going to turn into a political football, particularly bearing in mind the presidential campaigns
which are starting? And the reason I ask this is because if you look at the State Department's been hacked, the White House has been hacked, the
Department of Defense has been hacked and yet the administration says this is merely an indication of a new strategy and there needs to be more
pressure point. At what point does somebody say to the administration, `You've not done a very good job of protecting the secrets'?
PAGLIERY: Well, I mean, we can see it right now. The administration has not done a very good job of protecting its employees or their agencies.
They just haven't and the evidence bears that out. But it would be interesting if this turns into a political football next
year because if we're talking about whether or not the U.S. is a victim here of getting hacked, the fact is the United States hacks into other
countries around the world. I mean, they do that. The U.S. hacks into Russia, they hack into China because this is a spy game.
QUEST: That's the problem! You've put your finger on the problem!
PAGLIERY: It's a spy name.
[16:55:00] QUEST: Nobody comes to this table with clean hands and we wonder whether or not the Houston Astros have been doing a bit of hacker
armor of their own.
PAGLIERY: We should always ask ourselves if anyone has the moral high ground, and no, they don't.
QUEST: The moral high ground - what a fine way to end a business program. You talk about the moral high ground. You must be talking about some other
program.
(LAUGHTER)
QUEST: Jose, good to see you. Thank you for joining us -
PAGLIERY: My pleasure.
QUEST: -- with the hackers as they go (ph). We will have a "Profitable Moment" after the break. This is "Quest Means Business."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment." So many times I have stood here and discussed what the whole situation with Greece means - that it's clearly a
disaster, the calamity is `round the corner and it's all going to be over and very nasty too.
Unfortunately, we do appear to have reached that situation because three years after the first and the second bailout, now both the Germans and many
other Eurozone countries have basically had enough. They have buttressed the Eurozone so that a Grexit would not be that
damaging, the have made their best offers and they are now saying to Greece take it or leave it.
But there is a difference, and this is it. Now more people are actually saying Greece itself may be better outside the Eurozone, that it might be
better to get rid of the austerity, to get rid of the euro, to change their economic policies and do so outside of the zone.
Whatever it does mean, the language of calling of the IMF `criminally responsible' and the ECB `financial asphyxiation', it certainly does not
bode well for the coming days of negotiations. We really are at the end. And that's "Quest Means Business" for tonight. I'm Richard Quest at the
CNN Center. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, (RINGS BELL) I hope it's profitable.
END
