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Quest Means Business
Russia And China Vow To Join Forces And Even Drop The Dollar; Donald Trump Became President Not By Winning In The Big Cities People Know But By Winning In The Places Many People Know Little About; Mass Evacuations as Hurricane Florence Nears U.S. Coast; South Korea's President to Mediate U.S.-North Korea Relations; Trump Visits United 93 Crash Site on 9/11 Anniversary; Huge Rallies for Catalan Independence; Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Crash; Winklevoss Twins Launch New Coin Pegged to U.S. Dollar; Trump Meets with Officials on Hurricane Preps; Bob Woodward's Book, "Fear," Released Today as Publishers Print One Million Copies; Netflix Goes Nollywood, Buys Nigerian Film "Lionheart. Aired: 3-4p ET
Aired September 11, 2018 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: It's the last hour of trade on Wall Street and this is how the markets are looking. The Dow was down very
sharply at the beginning, but reversal of trend, now up more than half a percent. One of the big stocks on the move, Apple, up 2.5 percent, along
with other tech stocks. We will explain why because the markets are moving and these are the drivers of the day.
Russia and China vow to join forces and even drop the dollar. FANG stocks rebound on the eve of Apple's big announcement. Apple's pulling up all the
others. And the governor stays on. Mark Carney extends his term at the Bank of England. Live from the world's financial capital, New York City,
it's Tuesday, it's September the 11th. I'm Richard Quest. I mean business.
Good evening. Tonight, Beijing and Moscow are cozying up to each other, trying to fend off Donald Trump's attacks on their economies. In the
shadow of the largest war games since the end of the Cold War, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin kicked off the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
President Xi says the world has increasingly unstable factors and it's now up to China and Russia to keep things together.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (THROUGH A TRANSLATOR): Amid rapidly evolving global situations with increasing unstable and uncertain factors,
the joint efforts by China and Russia to maintain international just and fairness, as well as world peace and stability, are all the more important.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Matthew Chance is in Moscow. This is quite extraordinary in many ways. The Russians and the Chinese, are they ganging up on the Americans?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think to a certain extent they are. It was extraordinary listening to that sound bite from Xi Jinping and
worrying if we're depending on the Chinese and the Russians to ensure security and world peace, but what is being developed here is essentially
an anti-western, anti-US axis with one end being occupied by the Chinese and the other end being occupied by the Russians.
And from a Russian point of view, that all got, you know, into full swing back in 2014 after they annexed Crimea, after the relationship with the
West started to really sour after sanctions were imposed on Russia by the European Union and by the United States and by others, they decided to
pivot east and look for other partners and they embraced China, who previously had been a potential adversary for Russia. They've embraced
China. They've done hundreds of billions of dollars worth of trade deals with Beijing.
This is yet another sign that that relationship in the face of US pressure is getting ever stronger and it's transformed the geopolitics of that
region, the geopolitics of the world. These previous powers --
QUEST: Right.
CHANCE: -- his powers were previously as I say adversaries are now very much an alliance.
QUEST: OK. They're an alliance and we're seeing the commercial aspects of that. Alibaba is announcing that it's going to open up in Russia. Alibaba
shares were up over 1.5 percent having been down on the loss of Jack Ma. So the tentacles of this promise to be ever greater.
CHANCE: Yes, and that Alibaba deal is a great example of the kinds of deals that are being done because the Russians could have quite easily have
done a deal, you'd have thought with a Silicon Valley e-commerce platform, but it didn't, it did it with this Chinese rival to Amazon. They won't
give exactly just how much it's all worth, but it's several billion dollars; 52 percent of the new joint venture is going to be run by Russian
entities including Mail.Ru which has something in the region of 97 million users on its Facebook clone site, the Kontaktik (ph), and the rest of it
owned by Mega Font, which is a mobile service provider, which has something like 80 million users in Russia.
And so a really big market that this e-commerce platform, this new platform is going to be tapping into.
QUEST: Matthew Chance joining us from Moscow with the broader picture. Now, with the strokes of his pen in Washington, Donald Trump has made life
increasingly difficult for these two countries.
For instance, of course, there is the trade war with China, which promises to get each worse and exports are slowing and Donald Trump is threatening
even more tariffs on the way, hundreds of billions of dollars if it goes through.
The yuan is under pressure, the currency is in trouble and the People's Bank of China is willing to let it fall for now. Donald Trump is
complaining of manipulation, by the way, it doesn't seem to be the case and the market seems to be moving it at the moment, and Russia's western
sanctions --
[15:05:13]
QUEST: -- Vladimir Putin needs new economic allies as well as oil prices and the pressure of OPEC and wants oil lower prices from Donald Trump, but
that, of course, would hurt Russia. This is fascinating, Fareed Zakaria, joining me. It's fascinating because these two countries are not naturally
allies.
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN ANCHOR: They are not naturally allies, but the central issue on which they are allied is the out of control power and role of the
United States and particularly, the role of the dollar. Let's remember, the United States is the world's superpower now on two dimensions, military
and the role of the dollar.
The dollar has become the global currency. The reason when the United States pulled out of the Iran deal it cratered the Iranian economy is they
can't do business with Total. They can't do business with the South Koreans because everything gets priced in dollars. That has to go through
New York, it has to clear the Fed window.
What Russia and China are saying is, we want a new system. We don't want the dollar to be the supreme and here's the most dangerous part about it.
Because of the way Donald Trump has unilaterally and arbitrarily used the power of the dollar, the Germans, the French are sympathetic to this feud.
The German Foreign Minister said, "We need a European alternative to the swift payment system," which is essentially, again, the dollar-based
system.
QUEST: The dollar, I think you would agree, though, remains the world's major and dominant reserve currency as long as there is a single monetary
policy, you know, he Fed.
ZAKARIA: Well, here's the paradox. Every other area of the world we are seeing multipolarity. That is --
QUEST: Right.
ZAKARIA: -- more and more countries are growing. They are becoming more important, percentage of the global GDP; China has gone from 1 percent to
15 percent. The one area where even though America's weight in the world economy has actually decreased over the last decade, the dollar has
increased in power. The dollar has increased in power because you need a common currency.
QUEST: But you need a common currency with an element of stability and virtually total integrity.
ZAKARIA: Precisely.
QUEST: And you know, you've got - okay, so the Euro has been starting to get that to the ECB, but it's still a fragmentation of the various members
of the Eurozone. Nobody would suggest the ruble or the yuan has the level of integrity from an independent Central Bank.
ZAKARIA: So, you're pointing out all the reasons why the dollar has become dominant. But is also causing a great deal of unease. Give you an
example, when BNP Paribas gets fined by a local regulator in New York $8 billion, I think it was, they had to pay it because you can't operate in
global markets if you run afoul of the dollar. But people view this as arbitrary, capricious and Trump's pulling out of the Iran deal had a much
bigger effect than people realize.
The Germans are now talking about an alternative to the dollar. The Chinese and the Russians are. It's an uphill battle. I agree with you,
Richard, but should, you know - you shouldn't abuse your power in a way that invites people to start looking for alternatives. This is one of the
foundations of American super powers.
QUEST: All right, my enemy's enemy is my friend, we can arguably say with Russia and China, but do the two eventually come to blows or at least fall
out? And if they do, when would it be over?
ZAKARIA: I tend to think not, and I'll tell you why. They're no longer equal in any sense. China is vastly the most superior power. The Russians
realize that.
QUEST: Do they accept that?
ZAKARIA: I think they do. I think that they won't say that. They're a proud country, but if you look at the nature of the deals, it's absolutely
- look, China is now the largest economy in the world. The Russian economy is I think roughly the size of the Netherlands's economy. This is a
question of big brother eating smaller brother.
QUEST: Great to have you. Thank you, sir.
ZAKARIA: Pleasure.
QUEST: And the markets, the US markets, the Dow is hanging on to its gains during the final hour of trade. It's up 138 points. That low point at the
beginning by the way, it was down as much as 162, so you're looking at a point swing there of well over 260-odd points over the course of the day.
We're still about two and a third percent off its all-time high.
In Europe, only French shares managed to gain, slowly climbing higher. The CAC 40 was up. Everybody else was down. The FTSE traded lower, managed to
stem the losses by the close. The spirits were lifted by news from Britain's Central Bank where Theresa May maybe facing rumors of a
leadership challenge from Boris Johnson. There's no question of who will be leaving the Bank of England through the next - through Brexit.
[15:10:03]
QUEST: Mark Carney confirmed he's staying on as Governor until 2020. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond says that Carney will provide
some much needed stability.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILIP HAMMOND, CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER: I can now announce to the House that I have been discussing with the governor his ability to be able
to serve a little longer in post in order to ensure continuity through what could be quite a turbulent period for our economy in the early summer of
2019.
And I can tell the House today that the governor has agreed, despite various personal pressures, to conclude his term in June, that he will
continue until the end of January 2020 in order to help support continuity in our economy during this period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, the British government is painting the news as a victory, as you heard there, though as Bianca Nobilo told me on "THE EXPRESS" earlier,
Carney's commitment isn't as strong as some had expected.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, that is a little shorter than some were expecting and then this comes as a massive surprise because last week
in Parliament, Mark Carney said in a committee that he'd be willing to stay on to provide that much-needed continuity that the Prime Minister and the
Chancellor have been asking for.
QUEST: Bianca, why does it matter that he stays for an extra seven months? At the time when he announced the earlier date, there was a lot of fuss
about that, but he did say, "Look, I would have seen us through to the date which the country leaves and any transitional period comes into
effect."
NOBILO: Well, it matters because the word is continuity. In the choppy waters of Brexit, that is what the government is desperate for. Now, it
does put them in quite a difficult position that he's still going to be leaving many months shy of when the transition period actually finishes,
which is w the Treasury has said that they need to prioritize finding a successor more than they ever have done before.
But, Richard, also hot off the press just as Mark Carney has said that he's staying on, someone who has been vocally very negative about Brexit and its
consequences, the chief Brexiteers in Parliament have published a new report saying they think the British economy will benefit to the tune of
one trillion pounds over 15 years from a no-deal Brexit.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
QUEST: That's Bianca in London. President Trump's approval is falling ahead of the crucial midterm elections. Why the President's supporters say
they are sticking by him, and, look, I am ready. There we are. Look, there we are. All ready to go. Get your phones ready. You have got to be
careful when I do that . No messages, though it could be - well, you never know with these phones these days.
Anyway, you'll be joining in after the break with the question in a moment.
[15:15:16]
QUEST: Assuring sign for US President Donald Trump just weeks before the midterm elections. New polls show that his approval rating is falling.
Now, do you approve of Donald Trump's job as US President? Thirty six percent - but in August it was 42 percent. Now that's down six points in a
month.
The president earns his best marks on economic issues, where slightly more approve than disapprove of his handling of the economy. In fact, it's more
than slightly, it's 5 percent more, but it's still under 50 percent. That number hasn't really gone up even as American's perception of the economy
itself has.
Sixty nine percent of Americans at the moment now believe that the US economy is doing well, 60 percent. That is up 20 - some 20 points from
Election Day. Now, those are the numbers. Now, you can weigh in on what you think. cnn.com/join. That's - I'm just getting myself ready to vote
one way or the other, at least see the results. cnn.com/join. It's where you and I get a chance to dialogue in a different way. First time on
international television. Do you think President Trump is getting enough credit for the economy? Is this his economy? Is it Obama's economy? Is it
both men's economy?
So, Donald Trump's credit. Not enough, about right, too much. You can see these results coming in. They are, by the way, if you are voting at the
moment, you're seeing the result in real time. Absolutely in real time.
So there you go. More of you have just decided to jump in on the bandwagon. We'll show you and we'll talk about this in a moment and we'll
put the results to President Trump's former economic adviser in just a moment. Seventy percent of you do believe he's getting too much credit.
The President is very much on the ballot in the midterms, even if his name isn't actually printed there. Congressional candidates who are either
choosing to embrace the President and his agenda or they're vowing to reject it at every turn.
CNN's Martin Savidge been speaking to Donald Trump supporters to find out how their views on the president has changed.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The next president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump became President not by winning in the big cities people know but by winning in the places many
people know little about. The America in between the big cities -- Middle America, the heartland -- what people here call the forgotten America,
where people tell you they work hard, play by the rules, have faith in God and rely on their neighbors. Statistically these Americans are older, more
often white, less often college graduates.
The only thing globalization did for them, they'll tell you, is shut down the local factory. and as America's economy became more tech and service-
focused and its population more diverse and morally accepting, these Americans say they felt left behind, politically ignored, almost unwanted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK GREEN, IRON WORKER: The core foundation of our country is slipping away.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, it got to a point where I did not like the direction that my country was going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Then came Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are my exact words, I love all the people of our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Trump, a New York City billionaire, had the remarkable ability to relate with this very dissatisfied group.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORA DALLEY, SAFETY COORDINATOR: He seemed like he had the workers, the blue collar workers in his radar for helping them out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: They liked he was a businessman. His tough stance on immigration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIANO RODRIGUEZ, TRUMP SUPPORTER: It's not that I'm opposed to, you know, people coming over, but what I want is them to come over here
legally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: They liked he was pro-guns and anti-abortion rights. They liked him supporting and appointing conservative judges and his pledge to put
America first. They loved he was not a politician, not part of what they see as the dysfunction of Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT HILDEBRAND, MANCHESTER, OHIO MAYOR: The men in overalls built this country, the men in suits have tore it - destroyed it.
SAVIDGE: But he's a man in a suit.
HILDEBRAND: But he has touched the working people. He stood up for the working people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: But what about now after the Russia investigation, after the scandals, after the turmoil and turnover and all those tweets, how are
these voters feeling? Satisfied but exhausted.
They see a President who has delivered on many of his promises -- tax reform, a strong economy -- who ended the Paris environmental accord, the
Iran nuclear deal and cracked down on immigration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON NEIGHBOR, TRUMP SUPPORTER: That's exactly what I voted for. We wanted a little bit of a change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: They would like less turmoil, but the Russia investigation most blame on Democrats and Trump's opponents. Considering the whole thing a -
-
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Political witch hunt from the get-go. To be honest, it's a disgrace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[15:20:09]
SAVIDGE: As for the two women who were paid hush money after alleged affairs, these voters say that they're willing to accept some bad in the
man in exchange for the good they see in his policies.
Does it bother you that our President is not always truthful?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: not really.
SAVIDGE: they do have advice for the president --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wish he wouldn't tweet.
SAVIDGE: They're not always fans of his tweeting, believing it distracts from his accomplishments and could suggest a President who is vindictive,
compulsive, off balance. There is a sense of fatigue with the political brawling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KURT MUELLER, VIETNAM VETERAN: I think the man has a lot of capabilities, but sometimes he just let's his mouth overload sometime and it's very
unfortunate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Trump voters are tired of being blamed for being like Trump simply because they voted for Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WAQAS KHAN, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I had to receive comments like, "Oh, I never knew you were a racist, you're anti-Islamic, you're a traitor."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Many are swing voters who voted for President Obama not once, but twice. There is another "R" word that comes up a lot in our
conversations, "Respect." Trump voters remain bothered that those who didn't vote for the President have never seemed to accept that he won.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Do you think he's being treated fairly?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. No. I think it's awful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: In their minds, if you don't respect he's President then you don't respect the people who voted for him, and it was feelings of
disregard and being ignored that turned them to Trump. And now many still feel Trump was not just the right choice but the only choice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: How is he doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fantastic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Phenomenal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Better than I ever would have dreamt. I mean that sincerely.
SAVIDGE: Really?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes.
SAVIDGE: Show of hands who would vote the same?
(END VIDEO TAPE)
QUEST: When you put it like that, that's their view and this is yours on the question of the credit of the economy. Seventy five percent of you who
voted at cnn.com/join said that - rather, 74 percent said he gets too much credit for the economy. Let's stay with that result. President Trump's
former economic adviser Stephen Moore, who is just now a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation, Mark Preston is our senior political
analyst.
Stephen Moore, too much credit. Quite all right. It's a straw poll at best, but 75 percent say too much. You obviously wouldn't necessarily
agree with that.
STEPHEN MOORE, DISTINGUISHED FELLOW, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Well, Richard, great to be with you, by the way.
QUEST: Of course.
MOORE: If Donald Trump doesn't get the credit, who does? You know, we always predicted when Larry Kudlow and I were working with Trump on the
campaign, we predicted that we could get to 3.5 percent to four percent growth, that we could restore a lot of those middle class jobs. By the way,
that was an excellent segment. I liked that a lot, interviewing those folks in Middle America that felt like they were ignored and their
financial distress was ignored by Washington.
Look, this is an extremely strong economy right now. When Obama left office, the economy was really limping. We only grew at 1.6 percent,
Richard, in 2016. So the economy was in a downward slope and Trump comes in and within 18 months, we've got the strongest economy in 25 years. You
know, people may not like Donald Trump.
QUEST: As an economist, Stephen, you know that it takes awhile for their policies to hit effect.
MOORE: Yes, but you know what, Richard, let me take issue with that. Normally that's true but look at what happened to consumer confidence, to
the stock market, to the small business and investor confidence the day after the election. It didn't take - it didn't take much.
QUEST: Right.
MOORE: It didn't even take until Trump was inaugurated. You saw an instantaneous reaction from investors, business owners and consumers
knowing that a pro-business President was coming and I think that had a big effect.
QUEST: Right, Mark Preston, if it is true it's the economy stupid which goes back, of course, to the Clinton presidency. But if that is the case
and if Americans are feeling better, at least enough of them, then in these midterms - I mean the Democrats will do well but they could do better.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the Democrats could also do a lot worse as well. You know, I think and Stephen has hit upon this,
certainly when he was talking about Martin Savidge's package just before us, we're talking about people out in Middle America who don't feel that
Washington has their best interests at heart.
Now, having said that, you're looking at a political situation where Republicans in Washington, Republicans across the country, even allies of
President Trump would rather have the President out there talking about the economy, talking about this economic engine, you know, that is moving
across the country --
[15:25:08]
PRESTON: -- where we're seeing unemployment at historic lows, but what we are seeing instead is President Trump continues to muddle the message every
morning when he gets on Twitter. It could be about the Mueller investigation. It could be about his frustration with Republicans Capitol
Hill for another reason, but it really does come back to the Mueller administration - or rather investigation heading into the midterms right
now, Richard, these are not good times for Republicans in Washington.
QUEST: They're not good times for Republicans. Stephen Moore, the economics going forward, the Fed is obviously going to raise rates, maybe
once, maybe twice, it doesn't really matter, the trajectory is getting higher, although it won't get anywhere to the levels we've seen in the past
but rates are going up. Unemployment has hit probably as low as it can go.
But the trade battles, the President will not give ground on this.
MOORE: No. He will not. By the way, let me address all of those points. First of all, why is the Fed raising interest rates? I don't see any signs
of inflation out there or I mean, you look at the commodity index, commodities have actually been level or falling. So, I'm a hard money guy.
I like controls on inflation. I just don't see any inflation. I don't understand why you take the punchbowl away from the party just when it gets
going - just because we're having a party.
I mean, the idea that the economy can grow by three percent, four percent, or five percent I think is very real and it can be done in a non-
inflationary way. You're also right, Richard, you touched on an important point. The one big restraint we have on growth in the United States is
there are not enough workers to fill the jobs.
And everywhere I go, I go everywhere from Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine, and I hear that story all over again. We don't have the workers to
fill the jobs and that continues to persist, some of those jobs are going to move overseas.
QUEST: Mark, funny, these are extraordinary times. What's the now - I mean, what's the best guessing at the moment, the consensus for what
happens in the midterms? QAs we look forward, because night after night we were bringing more information to you about the midterms. So let's get a
consensus view, Mark, on where things all stand at the moment.
PRESTON: Well, right now if you are a betting person you would probably put your money on the Democratic Party to take back the House of
Representatives, that will have huge effects, not only politically here in the United States but will send shock waves around the world because then
it will put House Democrats in a position of being able to investigate the Trump administration in a way that the Trump administration has never seen.
In the United States Senate, it's a very good chance Republicans are going to hold on to the United States Senate, and, quite frankly, they may add a
seat or two. that is one bright spot for Republicans. But I will say this, across the country I know we're focused on the House and the Senate.
Let's look at these state legislative races and these governors races, there's a lot of economic decisions that are being made at the state level
right now.
Republicans have done very well since Barack Obama winning about a thousand more of these state legislative seats since 2009, but I'll tell you right
now, talking to analysts, they think that it's going to start turning back a little bit and Democrats are going to start taking back some of these
state houses.
QUEST: One thing I can promise you, Mark, you - go ahead, last word.
MOORE: Just a quick point. One of the things we've learned in the last 15 or 20 years in American politics is that anger and rage are very powerful
motivators for Americans to vote. We saw that with the anger and rage on the right against Obama, and now we're seeing a bit of that anger and rage
on the left. And so, it could be a tough cycle for Donald Trump in 2018, but don't forget, in all of those cases when people were angry at Clinton,
Obama and now Trump, remember, Clinton and Obama were both re-elected.
QUEST: Mark, you will always be with us to talk about the politics. Stephen, you will always be with us to help the views on economic matters
on these things. Gentlemen, to both, I say thank you.
The poll has closed and the results are in. If you look at the map over here, too much. The voting, Donald Trump's credit for the US economy, how
much did he get? You say, too much by 74 percent, and look at the rest, way, way back with not enough. We'll have other one - another question
which you'll want to join in on in just a moment, getting your views.
After the break, the cryptocurrency roller coaster. We will be on board with one investor went all-in on the digital currency and lost everything.
His story and your perspective after the break. This is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS live from New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:30:00] QUEST: Hi, I am Richard Quest, there's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment when fear is everywhere. But what does that fear
actually mean? A million copies, a million copies of Bob Woodward's new book are set to be sent to stores worldwide. A million, staggering.
And Netflix meets Nollywood. I'll speak to a director about Nigeria's first original film on the service. Before that, this is CNN and here on
this network, I guarantee you the facts always come first.
More than a million people have now been ordered to leave their homes and head for safer grounds as a monster hurricane barrels towards the U.S.
coastline. Officials are warning that Florence would deliver a direct hit to the East Coast, and according to an extremely dangerous and life-
threatening into category 4 storm.
South Korea's president says he's been asked to act as a mediator between the U.S. and North Korea. The talks between the two countries over
denuclearization have stalled. But Moon Jae-in says he will try to get them moving in to meet with Kim Jong-un for the third time next week in
Pyongyang.
President Trump honored the victims of United Flight 93 on the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. He went to Shanksville in Pennsylvania
where the plane crashed after passengers fought the hijackers. He called the crash site a monument to American defiance.
Stunning images from Barcelona in Spain where a million people took to the streets, called for Catalan independence. September 11th is Catalonians
national day. Polls show Catalans are almost evenly divided on whether they want to succeed from Spain.
It has been a brutal week for cryptocurrencies, bitcoin is down again and lost or has lost 15 percent of its value last week. Reports last week that
Goldman Sachs was ditching plans to open a cryptocurrency, that send prices dropping like a stone.
[15:35:00] Some seasoned cryptocurrency investors will be used to this stomach churning of fluctuations. Others have lost it all as the market
turns sour. Anna Stewart traveled to the north of England to hear one man's story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sean Russell was on top of the world, a month had passed and his $120,000 investment in bitcoin had
grown to nearly half a million.
SEAN RUSSELL, CRYPTOCURRENCY INVESTOR: I think yes, there was one morning I woke up and I pretty much made about $12,000 pounds.
STEWART (on camera): How did you feel?
RUSSELL: Actually fantastic, thinking wow, that's -- with this paid, that's holidays I've always dreamed of right there.
STEWART (voice-over): A British property developer based in Leeds, Russell had spent years studying the ins and outs of cryptocurrencies.
RUSSELL: Yes, is been like a detective, you know, doing a motive mystery - - right.
STEWART: It started with a few $100, then last November, he decided to go all in. Putting in his savings and tens of thousands of dollars from his
business.
RUSSELL: I look at how much it rocketed on that day. And I was literally --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even that, that's extraordinary.
STEWART: Russell said he rarely played the stock market, have little experience buying any financial products and just like that the price
started dropping.
RUSSELL: Suddenly, I realized I didn't have a button to just simply press and cash out. And in my brain was just, well, you've got such lots of
money in there, why on earth are you panicking? Look, it's going to be fine, just leave it there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You always have these expectations that the market would keep rising, since that has been happening so far. So then it would
be very difficult to get out --
RUSSELL: A neuroeconomist Benedetto de Martino says the human brain offers clues to how traders like Sean Russell may feel a bubble. This is an MRI
of a trader's brain in normal economic conditions, and this -- the brain trading in a bubble.
Those red spots, de Martino says that's signs that a trader is buying into the hype. He says it's up to regulators to curb those impulses. Sean
Russell chased his loss when bitcoin started dropping, he moved money into other digital currencies like Ethereum and Ripple.
RUSSELL: So as bitcoin fell more and more, literally, these are the coins just started to drop until the entire market was just absolutely tanking.
STEWART: He ended up losing 96 percent of his initial investment.
(on camera): I mean, how did you deal with that?
RUSSELL: Not very well. Yes, I would say more than devastating, probably, yes, quite traumatic really.
STEWART (voice-over): Despite the loss, Russell remained a believer, he still invested in bitcoin. Anna Stewart, CNN, Leeds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Ninety six percent, now that beats my falling and failing snap stock, which you know that I bought at the height and which you want to
know it's downright about 64 percent, but 96 percent. In a moment, a currency cryptocurrency expert will discuss exactly what the future is.
But there's something about cryptocurrency and we need to hear your thoughts. As bitcoin drives the cryptocurrency market, do you think
bitcoin is the future of money, a fad or in the words of Warren Buffett rat poison. The results as will be up live is throughout CNN.com-slash-join on
the fact phone, tablet and computer.
Cast the votes, we'll discuss the results as we get to the end in just a moment or two. Some of the victims of cryptocurrency community remain
undaunted. Famous bitcoin board, the Winklevoss brothers are introducing a new digital coin pegged to the U.S. dollar.
It's the stable coin designed to inject liquidity and stability into the market. Nolan Bauerle is here, the director of research at CoinDesk.
Ninety six percent --
(BELL RINGING)
NOLAN BAUERLE, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, COINDESK: It's a lot, it's a lot, but what is someone doing putting that much money into the top of the market,
that was after months and months of a run-up and an incredible ballroom. And one of the longest and largest in history of retail investing.
And when something goes up by several thousand percent over such a short period of time, it should give most people caution. And I think when a lot
of people -- when it reached those heights back in December, a lot of it was on news of the futures markets launching as if this was going to propel
a coin even further.
QUEST: Right, and we're having example of this with Goldman Sachs just this week having to clarify what they've said about making a futures market
in bitcoin which they basically have now put off to the future, saying they were studying -- with some wishy-washy words about studying the future.
BAUERLE: Well, they are offering it to certain customers now, so they are giving access to the futures contrast that are there on CME and CBOE. New
York Stock Exchange is going to be launching one as well.
So estimates are there, but what end up happening was back in December, you had just people holding bitcoin, buying bitcoin, and that's basically going
long, bitcoin hurdling(ph) as we say in the industry, holding bitcoin and hoping the money goes -- hoping the value of the exchange rate, U.S. stock
was that high.
When the futures markets were introduced, it actually was a really healthy injection of sobriety into the market because now people could short it.
[15:40:00] A lot of people who are looking at it closely didn't understand how it got that high. There's a lot of technology being developed around
it. No one ever thinks that bitcoin will reach the moon and has a lot of people stay in the industry just on speculation alone. It has to be on the
fundamentals.
It has to be because the thing is doing something that's so useful to humanity that is rising --
QUEST: But it's not at the moment, it's not --
BAUERLE: No, of course not, no. The Indina(ph) parties are there, we have created digital property, we have some that's uncounterfeitable and that is
decentralized and not controlled by a political entity. These are mature and qualities --
QUEST: But you want some control --
BAUERLE: Well, do you? I mean, what happens if you $10 trillion into debt, you print a ton of money and we didn't build anything with it, right? This
is what's happening in America. We embraced quantitative easing for a very short period.
If you look at Japan who has embraced quantitative easing, they are addicted to it, now they can't get out of this. They're printing more and
more and more money, so do you want control? Do we always want to be the victims of these bright ideas? Maybe not.
We're coming back to a point where --
QUEST: When your entire economy is resting upon it, yes, you want to have democracy requires that there'd be controls in place.
BAUERLE: So if you go back to the 1800s that far back --
QUEST: Yes --
BAUERLE: Before we had the monopoly on private money made by the central banks, we did have private currencies issued by certain banks. There are
reasons why we didn't want it, and there's reasons why it drifted to political money. But that's changing. That's changing.
QUEST: You are -- all right, so do you think bitcoin is the future of money, a fad or the words of Warren Buffett rat poison squared. Not
cryptocurrencies, bitcoin --
BAUERLE: Bitcoin. I would say the future of money and rat poison squared --
QUEST: Yes --
BAUERLE: Warren Buffett -- hold on, Warren Buffett invests in Wells Fargo, right? He has a ton of exposure to Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo is a bit of a
rat, bitcoin will kill it. So it is definitely rat poison if Wells Fargo is your definition of a rat in banking.
QUEST: Thank you very much indeed, good to have you on the program as always --
BAUERLE: Pleasure.
QUEST: Coming up, new book "Fear", who should fear it in an industry? Donald Trump should fear it at the White House, the publishing industry
said they don't fear it, they love it. It's already one of the biggest publishing hits of the year -- "Fear".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:45:00] QUEST: Pictures from the White House, Donald Trump discussing preparations for Hurricane Florence in the Oval Office. There's the
Homeland Security Secretary and the emergency FEMA administrator. We are monitoring the remarks.
The president earlier today said that everybody was ready, everybody was prepared. More than a million people have been ordered to leave their
homes as Hurricane Florence bears down on the United States, expecting to make landfall tomorrow on Thursday.
And there is the book of the moment, "Fear", Bob Woodward's book on President Trump, it has been out for less than a day and it's already the
fifth-bestselling book of the year on Amazon so far. And it's only one day. And thanks to pre-orders, a million copies have now been printed.
Skip, I would demand a million copies, and this is the most controversial so far, but there have been many in what we might describe as the
industrial-sized industry of Trump books. So you have "Fire and Fury", of course from Michael Wolff, then you've got those from journalists like
Major Garrett of "Cbs News".
You've got former administration and people from Corey Lewandowski, you've got just commentators borne of Trump, you're got both sides represented.
You've got Sean Spicer who was the first press secretary, he wrote "The Briefing", "Unhinged" from Omarosa, that's of course -- but look at that,
it's already 30 percent off.
In fact, even "Fear" is -- shortly has been reduced. This is a veritable library, and this is only part of it. So Donald Trump has clearly been
good for the publishing industry. But has there been a difference in the type of books that are coming out, particularly with "Fear".
Ron Charles is a book critic with "The Washington Post". I've grown off with the weight of books on Donald Trump. Is there some more remarkable,
Ron Charles, that so soon into the presidency we have such strong demanding words.
RON CHARLES, BOOK CRITIC, "THE WASHINGTON POST": It is amazing, and I think it's hilarious that you can't even hold all the books already
published about Donald Trump. He is probably the biggest thing that happened in publishing since 9/11.
QUEST: And are the advances that I've had to put them down, the weight of it, my sciatica won't stand. "Fear", is this also somewhat different,
because what we're seeing here is a book that's becoming a touchstone, a lodestar if you will, for criticism of the administration.
CHARLES: Yes, we have not seen numbers like this very often. As you said, it's already -- it's his first day of publication, it's in his sixth
printing, there's a million copies printed already, Amazon.com has already sold out, you have to wait at least a week to get a copy now if you want to
order one from there.
I just got a note from Barnes and Noble telling me they think this will be the biggest opening book of the year, this is just phenomenal.
QUEST: So when -- from your understanding, when a former administration -- now, let's face it, lots of people who were close by, nearby, once saw
Donald Trump on a bus and now want to write a book about him. What's the criteria that you need to have, bearing in mind, you know, Omarosa
basically spilled the beans from everything from the situation room.
And "Fear" is as gritty as it gets.
CHARLES: Right, well, for us, "Fear" comes from the world's most famous journalists, so that's a totally unique book. Omarosa is an interesting
case though, she doesn't have a particularly important government position before she was fired or resigned or whatever happened to her.
But she has been able to sell about 60,000 copies hardback which is pretty amazing. And what she's so good at is keeping her book in the news week
after week by releasing these little tit-bits, little bits of teeth, little bits of scandal, that's what it takes to keep the sales going or you need
Donald Trump to keep condemning you on Twitter.
Because he is regardless of what you think of him as a president, he is the world's greatest book publicist.
QUEST: Finally, do these books make money? I mean, the advancing -- look, the publishing industry is obviously loving it --
CHARLES: Yes --
QUEST: At one level, but with so many books, they can't all be making money, and you tell me the rate shows of books that do versus don't.
"Fear" will make money, will Omarosa?
CHARLES: We don't exactly what she was paid, so it's hard to tell. Sometimes the advances are very hard to reach because the advances are so
large. Other times, they get these books relatively cheaply --
QUEST: Right --
CHARLES: And they do OK, so it's a very hard calculation to make because we don't have all the information.
QUEST: Finally, and you can plead the fifth if you insist. How many of these do you actually read?
CHARLES: I read relatively few --
QUEST: Yes --
CHARLES: Of these, I intend to write about the news --
QUEST: Yes --
CHARLES: Around them or the sales, that sort of thing, but we can experts at the "Washington Post" to write about these political books, not me.
QUEST: Right, well, don't worry, when I have a few here that I can pop in the post, keep a lookout in the mail, we'll have cents sent down to you for
some weekend meeting --
CHARLES: Well, thanks so much.
QUEST: Thank you very much indeed. When I was in Nigeria last year, everyone told me, Nollywood was ready to go global. Now, Nigeria's movie
industry is about to get its biggest stage yet, in a moment, after I've read a few posts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Nollywood is coming to Netflix, Nigeria's massive film industry is known for cranking out low-budget productions, thousands of them. Now,
it's aiming for quality instead, and it appears to be paying off.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GENEVIEVE NNAJI, NOLLYWOOD ACTRESS: So given our current situation, can you tell us how bad the numbers are?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bad, Lionheart is in severe debt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nine hundred and fifty million naira.
NKEM OWOH, NOLLYWOOD ACTOR: What?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now it's time to pay up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly these or risk losing everything.
OWOH: If we have to fight this war, we have to fight it together, unless you want to lose.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Netflix bought the worldwide rights to "Lionheart"; a film about a businesswoman who must work with her rivals to save her father's bus
company. They premiered over the weekend at Toronto's International Film Festival, and Genevieve Nnaji is the director and the star and she joins us
from Toronto. Thank you for taking time to come and talk to us. Why this film, what is it about this film that Netflix or item loved that allows it
to become the breakout for Nollywood.
NNAJI: Hi, thanks for having me. I think the authenticity of the story and which is what I loved about it. It's provided an environment where I
could showcase the things that made me proud of our culture, out talents, our values -- yes, so it was really about our authenticity and the story
speaks for itself.
Plus, you know, we focused a lot on the quality this time.
QUEST: Yes, you know, let us delve into that. Because reading -- before speaking to you, time and again you hear about low budget, poor quality, a
couple of thousand films a year may be made, but frankly, tooting(ph) council and a piece of string would be better in terms of quality.
So where did you get the money and where did you get the expertise that was going to allow you to make a film that could stand on the world stage?
NNAJI: Expertise would be over two decades of experience in the industry. For money, we had to self-fund unfortunately. Unfortunately, we don't have
adequate funding for movies that we actually intend to go global.
There isn't that provision yet, so yes.
QUEST: Is there -- is there a market, do you think out of Nollywood for global films? I mean, it's taken -- it's taken Bollywood good few years and
each time everyone says, oh, this one is going to make it, you know, into the blockbuster or into the mainstream, and some do, but most don't.
The uphill struggle for Nollywood is going to be quite intense.
NNAJI: What I discovered was that everyone was able to relate to the story in the cinemas. I've realized that language is the only barrier we have,
we can all identify with culture, we all identify with pain and with love, our stories are both similar.
And I think it's important that we stay true to ourselves. It was amazing, we had a very diverse crowd and everybody was able to relate to it. I
mean, it was remarkable the kinds of accolades that I got for the film.
QUEST: Good to see you, thank you for taking time to join us this evening, I much appreciate it, thank you. As we continue, our profitable moment
after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's profitable moment -- I'll be honest, I'm looking forward to reading "Fear" by Bob Woodward. I'm making my own line up over exactly
what I think is going on in the White House. But the sheer number of books is really quite extraordinary which is healthy for the publishing industry,
healthy for democracy, healthy for the political process, healthy for just about everybody who is interested in these things.
Even the bad ones are good if for no other reason than they are informing the debate as to who comes next, now that is always the big question. A
bit of light reading for me in the hours ahead. And as we say tonight, with the market up a good day across the board, that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS
for tonight, I am Richard Quest in New York.
The closing bell imminently -- whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable. Trading is coming to an end.
(BELL RINGING)
END
