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Quest Means Business
Dow Jones Down 251 Points; Vincent Asaro Not Guilty in `Goodfellas' Heist Verdict; Interview with Israel's Former Finance Minister. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired November 12, 2015 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
RICHARD QUEST, HOST: The bell is ringing. A terrible day for the Dow Jones. It's down some 251 points, a loss of 1.5%. Give or take. The market was
down from the beginning. Now that is what you call a wimpy gavel on Thursday, November the 12th.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: In last hour, New York gangster, Vincent Asaro has been found not guilty of the notorious 1978 airport heist, The Lufthansa heist, which
inspired "Goodfellas" we'll talk about that. Stocks are down, oil is down, the Dow has its biggest fall for a month. What's behind it? And Israel's
former Finance Minister will be with us tonight, to tell me that Europe's plans to label settlement products is wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: I'm Richard Quest, we have an hour together. And I mean business!
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QUEST: Good evening. Not guilty, that is the verdict from a jury in New York in what was billed as the city's last big mafia trial. Vincent Asaro
has been acquitted of the so-called Lufthansa heist the robbery that took place in 1978, and which featured in the movie, "Goodfellas."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The trial began on October 19th, and it involved more than 70 witnesses most of them for the prosecution. This is Asaro when he was
arrested.
CNN correspondent Boris Sanchez has been following the racketeering trial of the alleged mobster. Boris is with me now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Good evening sir.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening sir, glad to be here.
QUEST: So, he gets acquitted of racketeering, murder, an entire range of - -
SANCHEZ: A slew of charges. It's important to point out, the murder, the Lufthansa heist, many of the charges fall under a bigger racketeering count
though. So he was really only acquitted of three charges.
Still the list of things that he was accused of doing, arson, a number of armed robberies on armed trucks, obviously the Lufthansa heist, two
separate murders.
QUEST: But there were witnesses admittedly, many of them admitted mafia members. Who pleaded guilty elsewhere. There were witnesses who say they
saw him with the gold, the jewelry and the cash and everything from the Lufthansa heist.
SANCHEZ: Certainly, well the defense apparently proved to the jury that these witnesses were unreliable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Many of them as you mentioned were former mafia members. Some of them had actually acknowledged having lied to the FBI before so they
painted them as unreliable and I guess the jury felt that there wasn't enough evidence to convict him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: A lot of the testimony was based on many, many hours of wiretaps in which he was captured saying certain things and the prosecution was
trying to imply that him saying these things meant he was guilty but the defense said that you know there wasn't enough context in the
conversations.
QUEST: Right, so for example some of the things he said on the wiretaps, you know, basically he was frightened of being demoted, from no longer
being top man of the mafia family.
SANCHEZ: He was demoted.
QUEST: He was worried about his position in the mafia.
SANCHEZ: He said he was worried about how he was going to keep earning money. He felt he was no longer relevant within the New York mafia in many
ways.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: One of the things he said that was kind after point of contention between the prosecution and defense was that he didn't, according to the
prosecution, he mentioned in the wiretaps, that he didn't get his fair share of the Lufthansa heist. The defense saying that there wasn't enough
admission there that he was even involved in the Lufthansa heist, and obviously the jury believed him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: How much of a black eye of this for the prosecutorial authorities. I mean whether it's the FBI or the special agents, they put years, if not
decades into this prosecution which the New York times described as probably the last major mafia trial as we know it.
SANCHEZ: This was years in the making. Obviously you mentioned more than 70 witnesses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Hours of testimony to give the jury instructions alone took three hours. So a lot of manpower, a lot of money dedicated to try to convict
Asaro and obviously, failed.
QUEST: Good to see you, sir.
SANCHEZ: Same.
QUEST: Thank you very much indeed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, tonight, stocks on both sides of the Atlantic fell. And they fell sharply and if you join me at the super screen, you'll see.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Just look at that, straight out the gate, down. And maybe with a little bit of hiccup around 11 o'clock. But in fact looking at this down at
the lowest point of the session, a loss of 254 points, the loss of 1.4%. , they never looked back from the very beginning.
There were a variety of influences. The New York Fed, Bill Dudley, suggests that the rate hike is more imminent than perhaps people think
bearing in mind it could be this in December's Fed meeting.
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[16:05:08]
QUEST: Basically, he says, it's you know every meeting is now an opportunity for rising rates. And that follows similar comments from the
Boston Fed President and of course from Janet Yellen, the Chair, who has said that it's a live possibility. And maybe this is what we are seeing.
We'll talk about that in just a moment.
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QUEST: Europe was done very sharply. The worst losses as I look at them there was in the CAC in Paris.
The fears over the Fed are also coinciding. And if you look at the markets in Europe, it's all coinciding with a serious slide in commodity prices, if
you join me at the screen.
First of all, talk about oil. And you get a view. You'll be aware over many months, oil has been falling sharply. But now having had a minor rebound
and if you look at the map, you see, there you have the post summer jump back in prices. It never really gets back above more than 55 or more than
expected. You go through the early part of autumn and now we seem to be having another slide again. Now whether that slide is predicated on demand
or supply, really doesn't matter. We are now heading back under towards $40 again.
Gold our old favorite. Gold prices have also been falling quite sharply now. When we talk about gold, you are really looking at there it is. It's
at a five-year low. And the reason is the likelihood of a rate hike which is sinking gold at the moment. Gold also doesn't do very well in low
inflation environments. It's always thought of as a hedge against inflation and there's one thing of which we are aware at the moment. There is no
inflation at least in the developed world.
Copper is down to a six-year low it was off 2% today. That's weak demand from China. If all that wasn't bad enough just look at how the corporates
factor this into the equation as well. And some corporate numbers that we had. Glencore; now you see Glencore has been hit by that fall in copper
prices and the price is down some 7.6%.
But look at this, Rolls-Royce, now this is the aero engines, aero marine and services, not the motor cars, this is Rolls-Royce aero engines, and it
saw its biggest percentage drop in 15 years. It was off nearly 20%. And that's because of lower forecast, its forecasting lower demand for aero
engines, for its service division and crucially for marine parts as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: We need some interpretation into all of this. And that means we need Jim Awad. Good to see you, sir.
JIM AWAD, MANAGING DIRECTOR, PLIMSOLL MARK CAPITAL: Always, my pleasure.
Nice to have you with us. Managing Director at Plimsoll Mark Capital. The market is unhappy.
AWAD: Yes.
QUEST: Is it just Fed unhappiness or is there something else going on?
AWAD: No, there's something much bigger. Which is that outside of the United States and Britain and maybe India, the rest of the world is showing
increasing economic weakness and that is affecting economic activity around the world which is negative for corporate profits for the United States as
is the rising dollar negative for corporate profits. So the markets are unhappy because they see weakness that's going to affect corporate profits
in the United States.
QUEST: Now, I saw the dollar at 1.06 to the euro is almost heading towards parity and the view seems to suggest that's where it is going to go.
AWAD: Absolutely. That we are in the position where we are raising rates whereas the Europeans are going to - it looks like they're going to up the
ante on lowering rates and more stimulus and bond buying. And so the money around the world will flow into the U.S. dollar to capture the higher
interest rates that we have here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Right, but this is all - this is where it gets complicated. Because all of this is an indication of U.S. economic strength.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: But what seems to be suggesting of course, is in a global economy, that very strength could end up being a weakness.
AWAD: Yes. What's going to happen we're doing well now, because of the consumption side of the economy. But that the export side has the potential
to get even weaker than what it is. And I'll tell you what the markets are worried about underneath it all. That if commodities keep going down as
they have been and you get a credit event somewhere in companies that have produced commodities borrowed in dollars but earn their money in their
local currency can't pay back the debt they have or maybe it is a small U.S. oil company or its a sovereign commodity country that their sovereign
debt.
But I think the markets worry about it and more the junk market, the junk - the low quality bond market has been eroding is people are worried that the
weakness overseas will create a credit event that could end up affecting the U.S. economy.
QUEST: So into this maelstrom, what does the Fed do? Do you believe that December, it's not - if not a done deal, is just about waiting for the ink
to dry?
AWAD: They absolutely want, they desperately want to raise rates.
QUEST: I mean they couldn't say it any clearer.
AWAD: Yes. Absolutely they want to raise rates for two reasons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[16:10:03]
AWAD: As an expression of faith in the U.S. economy and to get them to a level from which they can lower rates if there's a problem later on.
QUEST: But do you believe December will happen?
AWAD: I think - I think there are better than even odds. The only thing preventing it from happening is you keep having stocks go down like this.
If stocks are a thousand points lower, at the time of the meeting, that's the only thing that will prevent them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: You'll come back and talk more about it as we go through.
AWAD: You've got it.
QUEST: Thank you sir.
Staying with the U.S. economy and the head of America's biggest bank has a warning for Presidential candidates. Back off from attacking the big banks.
On the campaign trail, Democrats and some Republicans have repeatedly laid into Wall Street and its dominant players.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now JP Morgan Chase's CEO Jamie Dimon says cracking down on big banks may hold back economic growth. He spoke exclusively to CNN's Cristina
Alesci.
JAMIE DIMON, CEO JP MORGAN CHASE: At JP we've always try to do our part to make it better. In fact in the crisis we lent money to Californian cities
and schools and states and a lot of things about it was quite risky and scary at the time to you know help keep people alive and growing.
So I think a lot of banks are doing things that make it better. And yes of course Wall Street has done some terrible things like other industries that
you know it's been punished for but let's not punish them so much that we don't grow the economy.
CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What does the state of your mortgage business really say about the broader U.S. Economy.
DIMON: We'd give you a short term and a long run. In the short term, OK, U.S. economy is broad base growing 2, 2.5%. Consumers are in better shape,
the debt service - how much of their income go to service debt is back to where it was in 1985. Household formation is going up. Asset price is going
up. 401(k)s are going up. Small business, middle market, large companies are in very good shape.
If you look at America in long-term, we have exceptional universities. We have the best military on the planet. We will for a long period of time. We
have the best businesses, medium, large, and small. We have unbelievable innovation from Steve Jobs to the factory floor.
We've got a great work ethic, very low corruption. We have the greatest military barriers ever built called the Atlantic and the Pacific. All the
food, water, and energy we ever want. We are in pretty good shape.
You know conversely, I say this out of respect, you know China doesn't have enough food, water and energy and they are - you know they're surrounded by
Russia, Pakistan, India, Vietnam, China, North Korea, Philippines, it's a tough part of the world.
And even since World War II, they've had skirmishes with four or five of those nations. They don't have enough food, water and energy. They don't
have a lot of things going for us. So we have it -we're in really good shape.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Jamie Dimon, and you'll hear more from him later in the program.
Three little words, these words, made in Israel. They are at the heart after heated dispute between Israel and the European union. And we'll
explain why it's getting nasty.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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QUEST: Israel says it will urge European governments to stop an EU plan which will require new labels on goods being made in so-called disputed
territories.
The European Commissions decided on Wednesday that products from the territories taken by Israel in the 1967 six-day war can no longer be
labeled as being made or in Israel or product of Israel.
Many countries regard Israel's presence in those territories as illegal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now it's got a certain economic significance. EU is Israel's largest trade partner, it's about $13 billion worth of bilateral business.
The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision is shameful.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The labeling of products of the Jewish state by the European Union brings back dark memories. Europe
should be ashamed of itself. It took an immoral decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Yair Lapid is Chairman of the Yesh Atid party and a former Israeli Finance Minister Mr. joins me now from Tel Aviv. Good evening, sir.
The -- the Prime Minister says it's an immoral decision. But the European's know Israel's position and the Europeans still say that it is illegal
territories and therefore, that - the goods cannot be labeled made in Israel. It's as simple as that.
YAIR LAPID, CHAIRMAN, YESH ATID PARTY: Well, first of all, after two months of Jews being stabbed in the streets of Israel, the EU has decided it is
time to reward the terrorists and not the victims with this decision. This is not a legal issue. This is not a PR issue. This is political. This is
them trying to bend our arm. And you know what they are not even doing it the proper way because it's a bad decision all along.
First, they included in the decision the Golden Heights, there's not a single Palestinian living in the Golden Heights and you know what, let's
presume that Israel has decided to give back the Golden Heights as demanded. Whom are we going to give it back to to ISIS which are on our
border to Hezbollah or to Jabhat al Nusra which is an affiliation Al Qaeda? This doesn't make any sense.
QUEST: Now, the European Union Ambassador to Israel told CNN, the EU is not boycotting Israeli products it just wants their origin to be clearly
displayed. Have a listen to what he said, sir.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARS FAABORG-ANDERSON, EU AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: I would like to very clearly state that the European Union is against boycotts, against
isolation of ISIL or any form of sanctions. And I think this interpret rive notice that we have just introduced today is exactly the opposite.
Obviously it has nothing to do with the boycott since the products from the settlements are still welcome on the European market as they have been
before. The only requirement is now that they have to be under the correct indication of origin of the products.
QUEST: Isn't that the? The products are not being boycotted. You can still send as many products as you like from those places. The Europeans just say
they require, what they believe, is a more honest labeling.
ANDERSON: Well, you know it's interesting. What can you do with somebody who is taking up the positions against you and when you are telling him
there is something wrong with it and you know what it is not a real position and nothing really against you.
This is operated by the BDS movement, the Boycott Israeli movement. That has been demanding this from the EU for a long, long time, and now in the
terrible, terrible timing, what they wanted.
And the fact that they are pretending this is only a technical issue, you know what, let's say that they're trying to push Israel into negotiations.
Then the negotiations would be about what are the borders of the future. Israel and the future Palestine. Now they've predetermined what are the
borders and now you have to go into negotiation of something we have already decided for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: This is patronizing. This is trying to create reality while bending your arm and while doing all that, pretend this is not what they
are doing. Enough with the hypocrisy. This is EU hypocrisy, trying to tell us how to run our country. Can you imagine a situation like the United
States will say you cannot put made in USA labels on anything coming from Texas just because Texas used to be part of Mexico?
[16:20:12]
QUEST: But do you think -- I'm not sure I follow you, or go along with your point on that. But do you think that it helps Israel's cause or claim in
this when you sort of inflame the tensions by talking about labeling, as with yellow stars, before the second World War and making parallels and
analogies to Nazisism. Do you think that helps in any way or does it just simply turn it against you?
ANDERSON: No. No. No, this is bad enough without any comparisons to the holocaust. I said here publically that I'm against this because the
holocaust was a different planet and nothing should be compared to the holocaust.
It is an event that is unparallel to anything. But this doesn't make it any better. It's just - it's just bad as it is, because it is hypocrite,
because it is not useful, because it is technically wrong and because it's patronizing in ways that are beyond description.
You know what? It is part of a whole movement. I will give you an example. In the United Nation next to where you are staying right now. In the United
Nation, there's the U.N. Civil Rights Council. Since 2006, there were 62 resolutions which were anti-Israeli in the United Nations Human Rights
Council. This is more than the resolutions they had about the entire world combined. And then they tell us, no, it is not bias. No it's not against
you. This is us trying to make sure you understand our point. No we do understand the point but we are a sovereign country and we make our own
decisions by ourselves.
QUEST: Finally, do you believe this has any long-term economic damage or is it, as you have alluded to earlier, symbolic damage?
ANDERSON: Well, I think - I think it -- well, it has some economical damage. The export coming from the territories is approximately 1% of the
entire Israeli export. So it's not a blow to the Israeli economy and you know what there are a lot of good Jews out there who will buy from the
territories on purpose now trying to make a point. And they have a point.
And I want to say one more thing. I'm not a part of the Israeli government. I'm part of the opposition right now. And I am all for the two-state
solution. I've been pushing for it for a long, long time. And yet I'm telling you, this move of the E.U. is just wrong.
QUEST: Sir, thank you for joining us. We appreciate your time tonight. Late in the evening, joining us from Tel Aviv. It's kind of you to join us.
ANDERSON: Thank you, Richard.
QUEST: Earnings have just been released by the world's biggest maker of network equipment and they've beaten expectations. Cisco reporting revenue
of $12.7 billion, about $13 billion, 4%. The stock price is down in afterhours trading. But the CEO, Chuck Robins, has says it's aggressively
driving the cloud business.
It's also as you will be aware, because you heard about it on this program announced the partnership with Eriksson and you heard both CEOs earlier
this week.
It's "Quest Means Business" from New York. The summit on migrant -- the migrant crisis between the E.U. and Africa has come it an end in Malta.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Money is going to change hands. But what was actually agreed? And of course will it do any good? Its Quest Means Business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[16:26:26]
QUEST: That's the migrant crisis and nearly $2 billion has been pledged for Africa as E.U leaders offering funds to help the government in Africa
address the causes of immigration.
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QUEST: The package followed six summits which the E.U. have held aimed at stemming the migrant crisis. Now, the Africa will use the money to fight
poverty and pursue people trafficking, human trafficking. And has agreed some Africans who have made it to Europe can now be sent home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: African leaders are already saying the plan doesn't give them enough, though. Sengal's President, Macky Sall, said Africa would not need
the money if multinational companies stopped avoiding taxes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MACKY SALL, SENGAL'S PRESIDENT: (As translated) It is decidedly by acting around this question that Africa will have enough resources. We could do
absolutely without aid. If you take tax evasion and defraudment who are resources from Africa which is estimated at more than $60 billion a year,
taken just back 17% of debt resources, would enable us to avoid having to call for public development aid and would even enable us to completely
reimburse our debt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Let's show you in many ways what a parallel world we're living in. Because whilst talking and some (inaudible) was going on in Malta,
desperate refugees continue to arrive on the shores of Europe.
Arwa Damon now reports from the Greek Island of Lesbos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: One set of hands starts to wave, the team on land signals back. The volunteers have witnessed this
countless times before. The frantic dismemberment brought on the overwhelming emotions of having survived.
Just over 24 hours ago, 18 people drowned in these waters. A mother cradles her child who was handed over to medics. Relief etched on her face. It is
hardest on the little ones. Wrapped quickly to keep them warm. This group is from Afghanistan.
Greek lifeguard volunteers keep their eyes peeled on the horizon. As more arrive. These refugees fleeing war-torn Syria. Others wait for ferries to
the mainland. Exhausted children sleep anywhere.
2 year old (Ali) is in his favorite tigger outfit, the only thing brought to remind him of home. All his toys were left behind. (Ali) is from
(inaudible). His uncle the family says was one of the first five rebel fighters beheaded by ISIS, when they took over before (Ali) was even born.
We had to leave his mother says. It's only now that I was able to save the money, his father adds. Both want to remain unidentified, their own parents
are still living under ISIS.
The flood of refugees has not decreased with the coming of winter, and no crackdown on smuggling. No fences put up by European nations is going to
stop the most desperate of people.
The visuals do tend to speak for themselves. This massive pile of life jackets is just a fraction of what you will find littering the beaches, the
coastline of this island.
Each family, each person has a heart breaking story of leaving everything behind, knowing that their children may never see their homeland in their
lifetimes.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Lesbos Greece.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There of course is more "Quest Means Business" in just a moment when Narendra Modi's rock star reaches the
United Kingdom and Jamie Dimon tells us what he's going to do with his personal fortune.
Before all of that, this is CNN and on this network the news always comes first.
ISIS is claiming responsibility for two suicide bombings in Beirut according to a statement that's been posted online.
At least 41 people are dead, 200 others are wounded. Authorities say two attackers blew themselves up on a busy street during the evening rush hour.
The blasts happened just minutes apart in Beirut's southern suburbs which is a stronghold of Hezbollah.
The Pentagon says U.S. troops are behind the frontlines in Sinjar in Iraq calling in airstrikes. They're backing up thousands of Kurdish fighters
who are trying to take down - back the town - of -- from --ISIS after 7,500 Peshmerga fighters are taking part in the operation. As our senior (AUDIO
GAP?)
The European Council President Donald Tusk says time is running out for Europe to address its migrant crisis. Sweden is the latest European
country to bring in tighter border controls as it tries to cope with the big rise in migrants from the Middle East and Africa.
[16:35:00] Mr. Tusk said E.U.'s open border system is on the brink of collapse.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
DONALD TUSK, EUROPEAN COUNCIL PRESIDENT: Let there be no doubt, the future's shrinking (ph), it's at stake and time is running out.
Every week decisions are taken in Europe which testify to how grave the situation is. Reintroduction of border controls, technical barriers at the
borders, this is a clear demonstration that we need to regain the control of our external border.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: In Russia the Kremlin has admitted classified information on its nuclear submarine torpedo system was accidentally shown on two television
networks that it controls.
But these are the pictures of the secret schematics. A government spokesman said they won't make the same mistake again.
It's been called New York City's last big mafia trial and it's ended with a verdict of not guilty. Vincent Asaro, seen here when he was arrested, has
now been acquitted of being involved in the so-called Lufthansa heist, a robbery that took place in 1979 and which featured in the movie
"Goodfellas."
The trial involved more than 70 witnesses, most of them for the prosecution. A short time ago Asaro's note (ph) saying he was glad it was
all over.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
VINCENT ASARO, ACQUITTED IN "GOODFELLAS" HEIST TRIAL: I'd like to thank my two lawyers. Without them I wouldn't be here now.
I'd like to thank U.S. Marshal Service for treating me great.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now I think Mr. Asaro intends to go home and spend Thanksgiving with his family.
ASARO: I got three years here and I'm dying to get home.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: We return now to the deadly attacks in Beirut. Lebanon's declared Friday will be a day of mourning. At least 41 people were killed in two
suicide bombings.
The journalist Tamara Qiblawi is in Beirut and joins me now. We need some background first of all on where these bombs - where these bombs - took
place. Tell us about the area or the neighborhood what we know.
TAMARA QIBLAWI, JOURNALIST: So the twin suicide bombings took place in the very popular neighborhood of Borj al-Barajneh which is just outside a major
Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut and is in an area considered to be a Hezbollah stronghold.
So it's in the southern suburbs of Beirut where Hezbollah has a heavy presence. However, the bombings took place in a neighborhood that is a
mixed Sunni/Shia/Palestinian neighborhood and that's considered to be popular and working class.
QUEST: So who did it?
QIBLAWI: ISIS has claimed responsibility on Twitter, but we can't verify those of course. People on the scene believe strongly that it is ISIS and,
yes, that's all we can - that's all we know so far.
QUEST: Right. Come back to us when there's report on this.
QIBLAWI: We spoke - I spoke to -
QUEST: Yes, go ahead, please do carry on, carry on.
QIBLAWI: So I spoke to a member of Hezbollah when we arrived at the scene who said that the group was very surprised by the attacks and that they
were very unwilling to name the suspected groups behind the attacks.
QUEST: All right. Thank you very much for joining us. Tamara Qiblawi joining us from Beirut.
The U.K. has welcomed India's prime minister to London. There was a dazzling air display by the exhibition of the Red Arrows and Narendra Modi
welcomed trade deals with Britain worth billions of dollars.
The British Prime Minister David Cameron wants to cultivate closer ties with India with the idea of opening doors for British business.
On Wednesday Mr. Modi talked about a shared vision when he addressed the British Parliament.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER: Mr. Speaker, strong as our partnership is, for a relationship such as ours, we must set higher
ambitions.
We are two democracies, two strong economies and two innovative societies.
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I do not believe that we're realizing the true potential of this relationship, and that is what Prime
Minister Modi and I want to change.
We want to forge a more ambitious, modern partnership, harnessing our strengths and working together for the long term to help shape our fortunes
at home and abroad in the 21st century.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: Realizing the true potential of that relationship has been an ambition of the British government for some time. It' a case of the
cultural ties are strong, the economic ones if not strong then they could certainly be stronger.
So far this year, the U.K. exports to India are worth roughly $4.6 billion - that's exports to India a year to date.
[16:40:08] There's less than 16 other countries including Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands and exports four times as much to China and ten
times as much to the United States.
Which all begs the question - why - bearing in mind the cultural and historical times between India and the U.K., -- U.K. clearly doesn't
perform up to snuff and scratch when it comes to doing business there.
Richard Heald is the chief exec of the UK India Business Council and joins me now live from London. Richard, why does the U.K. - I mean, I'm sure you
can give me a raft of examples of big businesses and contracts signed and deals done.
But you would accept the U.K. vis-a-vis India is not punching its weight?
RICHARD HEALD, CEO, UK INDIA BUSINESS COUNCIL: Well I think you've got to look at how you measure trade.
If you look at the direct levels of trade, if - you've put the numbers up there on the screen and there's obviously - there's movement to the right
direction but there's a lot of - a lot of work - that still is to be done.
But actually if you look beyond that and say, OK fine, how much is being invested by the U.K. in India in the form of manufacturing plants, assembly
plants, and the U.K. is above Japan, it's above U.S., it's the largest G20 investor in India and has been for the past 14 years.
So I think looking purely a visible trade numbers which you have there, somewhat doesn't tell the full picture.
QUEST: But what does the relationship need between India? I mean, you've got a new reforming prime minister and government in New Delhi, you've got
a government in the U.K. that's just got a mandate of sorts following an election.
So what needs to happen now for the relationship - however you define it - to go to the next level?
HEALD: Well I think you're seeing the start of that movement to the next level today which is the start of building a personal relationship between
two prime ministers who have - who have majorities and who want to establish a good working rapport.
I think it's a question of focusing on shared priorities, defining what those are and meeting on a regular basis. I mean, this is the first visit.
They had been talking in the margins of G20 meetings previously. But this is the first visit in which they've actually met face-to-face.
And as we're talking now, Narendra Modi is off at Chequers having dinner and will be there overnight and they'll have a substantive discussion no
doubt over breakfast in the morning. So they're building their bonds.
QUEST: Sir, thank you for joining us. We appreciate you taking time this evening.
World leaders will descend on Turkey this weekend, and after the break you heard my last guest talking about the G20.
Well, I'll be looking at whether the G20 meeting will produce anything more than the customary communique which they probably could have written before
they even left home.
"Quest Means Business." (RINGS BELL).
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:41:01] QUEST: Turkey is hoping this weekend's G20 Summit will focus on boosting global growth. The talks may be overshadowed by issues of the day
- Syria and the migrant crisis for instance.
Now history tells us not all G20 gatherings are usually or may be possibly as productive as the leaders hope.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: To begin with, the G20 isn't a group of 20 at all. It's actually 19 countries plus the European Union and often an assortment of guest
countries invited along.
The idea of the G20 began in the late `90s when the Asian financial crisis rocked global markets.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT (IN 1998): I have been working as you know all week long with people from all over the world on the international
financial crisis.
QUEST: A meeting was called. But who to invite? Legend has it the Germans and the Americans scrolled down a list of countries, arbitrarily
picking and choosing.
The first G20 was held in Berlin in 1999 and consisted of finance ministers and central bank heads.
Then almost a decade later, the world faced a far greater challenge when the subprime crisis triggered a near total financial collapse.
HENRY PAULSON, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY (IN 2008): Instability (ph) of the financial system is of paramount importance and today there's a heightened
awareness of the fragility of the system.
QUEST: Fear was palpable and the G20 was turbo charged. Heads of government from the member nations were called to action and met at crisis
meetings in Washington, London and Pittsburg.
This was the golden age of the G20.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For a brief flicker of a moment, the world was experiencing such incredible instability - the worst recession that we've
seen since the Great Depression - that everyone wanted to at least show the public that there was a level of agreement.
QUEST: During the financial crisis, the G20 leadership pledged about $1 trillion in new stimulus. That goal was roughly met.
But other proposals went nowhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE 2: You have to be honest and say that it's a pretty poor grade over the last several years in terms of delivering on these
commitments that they've made.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From an effectiveness perspective, the G20 is as un- useful as the Security Council. You're not getting consensus on anything.
QUEST: There' s been a proliferation of Gs in global diplomacy. You've got the famous G7, then there's the G10, the G15 of developing countries,
there's even a G77, but frankly that's a bit big to be of any use.
In reality, the G20 is thought to be the most inclusive and perhaps useful since it represents around 90 percent of the global economy.
All in all, there is some merit in the G20.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE 2: It is in a way, as I call it, muscle memory. It is the countries meeting together, get that practice of working on problems,
and so should we have a major crisis again, that infrastructure will be in place and ready to be utilized.
QUEST: The G20 does do effective work at the finance minister level. But I'm a skeptic. Because if the recent past is any guide, expect little more
than that communique from this weekend's G20.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: And you'll have - we'll have -- full coverage of the G20 as it takes place.
"Quest Means Business." This man refused to let cancer beat him. Now the chief of JPMorgan Chase wants to tackle income inequality.
[16:50:00] Jamie Dimon opens up exclusively to CNN about his health, his fortune and his future plans. And you will see all of that after you've
enjoyed a moment of reflection when you can "Make, Create, Innovate."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Jamie Dimon says growing the economy is the key to fixing income inequality. The chief executive of JPMorgan Chase says for people to be
employable, education is a big equalizer.
He spoke exclusively to CNN Money's Cristina Alesci who asked him for his ideas on addressing inequality.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
JAMIE DIMON, CEO, JPMORGAN CHASE: I have three very basic ones, OK? Grow the economy more. Focus on growing the economy, get wage pressure and then
we'll all be sitting here complaining about too much wage pressure.
Second, skills training and education for both the education inner city schools and the proper training so when these kids graduate school, they
have a certificate that leads to a job and to a college down the road.
And I love the idea and I've heard it from both Republicans and Democrats - of a better earned income tax credit - so being paid to work.
So it's an incentive and, you know, I think people are proud when they work, so that working is a good thing to do as opposed to being paid often
not to work.
So, and I - and there are a bunch of ideas. But I would love to sit down around a table and say what will fix this? You know, it's not going fix it
just to point to people and yell at them and think that they are to blame.
CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY So you recently became a billionaire. What does that mean? Do you get some like text message? Does somebody? -
DIMON: I'm not going to confirm or deny that, and again, it doesn't mean that much to me.
ALESCI: Have you gotten the call from Warren Buffett? Has he asked you to give it away?
DIMON: I talk to Warren all the time. I'm going to give a lot of it away, yes. Whatever I have I'll be giving it away.
ALESCI: Are you going to sign the pledge?
DIMON: I don't know. I'm sure I'll do more than 50 percent when all is said and done.
ALESCI: What are your passion projects? What are you going to get into?
DIMON: I had a few but I think my wife may be the main determinant in that.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: Dimon also tells CNN he's doing well in his recovery from cancer.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
ALESCI: You had a major life-changing event. How are you doing?
DIMON: I'm doing fine, thank you. So far so good, I get tested all the time.
ALESCI: How has it changed you at all? How has it impacted you?
DIMON: You know, it didn't change my value system which I've always - literally family first, country and humanity second - because and they go
hand-in-hand to me but I think this country still is the leading beacon in the world.
If you actually travel around the world, you'd feel that way too. And, you know, third is the job. But this is the best I can do, you know.
[16:55:04] You know, so that if I do well here, I can help our employees, help our clients, help our communities.
And the only real change is that - which I think is just a good life lesson - is that I don't necessarily assume I'm going to live for ten years and
you want to live very deliberately. Like, why are you doing this? Because you want to end every day and say that was a good day.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: Jamie Dimon talking. I was trying to see who the statue - the little bust - that was at the back sitting behind him. It looked like
George Washington, but I couldn't be sure. I'll have to look again and see.
Maybe you've got some thoughts.
We'll have a "Profitable Moment" after the break. It's "Quest Means Business."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment." There's many things we can pick up on from Jamie Dimon's interview, not least of course his comments on the
economy, inequality and the like, but let's focus on what he said about his priorities - both post and pre his cancer treatments.
He said he had - his priorities were - family, and then of course it was humanity and country and finally it was the job - the work that he does.
I think we can all agree to live by those principles, but hearing them come from the man who runs one of the most profitable and successful banks in
America, perhaps gives it a certain impetus.
Because you think of these people as running nonstop. I'm still not sure who is the man - you know - the bust in the corner over there.
We still think it's George Washington, but it's a pretty odd one if it is. Any thoughts? @richardquest.
And that's "Quest Means Business" for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. I'm on assignment for the next week, so whatever you're up to in the
week ahead, (RINGS BELL) I hope it's profitable.
I'll see you when I get back.
END
