Speaker 1: Former mayor of New York, builde Blasio joining us by phone. Mayor,
Speaker 1: thanks for making time for us. We appreciate it.
Speaker 2: It's my great pleasure. What incredible week were.
Speaker 1: San It is a lot. We have been very impressed
Speaker 1: with everything that's been going on right now. But I
Speaker 1: will tell you, Mayor, I'd love to talk to you
Speaker 1: about the economic plan that was unveiled by Kamala Harris
Speaker 1: on Friday, so if I can get your thoughts on that.
Speaker 1: She unveiled a plan that would do several things. One
Speaker 1: she wants to create a federal ban on price gouging.
Speaker 1: She also talked about a program to give twenty five
Speaker 1: thousand dollars to some first time home buyers and talked
Speaker 1: about capping the price of insulin at thirty five dollars.
Speaker 1: I'd love to ask you about those policy positions and
Speaker 1: what you'd like to see more of in economic policy.
Speaker 2: I think it's extraordinarily helpful that she's moving in this direction.
Speaker 2: You know, Joe Biden to the State of the Union
Speaker 2: was plinty in some of the same directions, and then
Speaker 2: on the stopped talking about it, and I was perplexed
Speaker 2: that he did. I think the world of Joe Biden.
Speaker 2: I think he's been one of the best presidents we've
Speaker 2: had in a long time. But in terms of the campaign,
Speaker 2: he just stopped talking about the vision of how to
Speaker 2: address inflation and how to move us forward. I think
Speaker 2: that's part of why folks got frustrated. I think Kamala
Speaker 2: Harris has been really aggressive and keyed into her history
Speaker 2: as an Attorney general as a former prosecutor by going
Speaker 2: after the price gouging issue, which we're all seeing we're
Speaker 2: all experiencing now. I understand some of the critique out
Speaker 2: there about the nature of economics in a free enterprise system,
Speaker 2: but my answer to that would be, look, this is
Speaker 2: a broken reality right now. This level of inflation is
Speaker 2: not natural. It's not just normal market dynamics. We're seeing
Speaker 2: things double and triple and price in a matter of
Speaker 2: a few years. It's got to be rained in and
Speaker 2: some of it is just playing corporate greed. So the
Speaker 2: notion of putting some real limits on and even by
Speaker 2: the very debate over those limits, I think it's going
Speaker 2: to constrain some of the worst impulses we've seen in
Speaker 2: the corporate world to jack up prices while they had
Speaker 2: a chance.
Speaker 1: Does government spending play much of a role in your
Speaker 1: view on inflation?
Speaker 2: Look the whole picture and plays a role. Obviously, the
Speaker 2: supply chain issues were part of it. The stimulus played
Speaker 2: some kind of role, even though I'm very glad the
Speaker 2: stimulus was as aggressive as it was. Generally, it's a
Speaker 2: real question how the different pieces came together. But I
Speaker 2: would remind everyone, you know, even though way too many
Speaker 2: Americans are hurting, still, the big picture is, thank god,
Speaker 2: the American economy is one of the strongest in the world.
Speaker 2: Thank God, wages are going up, and you know, we've
Speaker 2: seen some real progress. I think the inflation issue is
Speaker 2: both the thing that's hurting people day to day, hour
Speaker 2: to hour, and also it's good thank you. Also that
Speaker 2: is profoundly, you know, confusing people because it's been demoralizing
Speaker 2: to see this kind of inflation, and it needs an answer.
Speaker 2: So I think, you know, what we're seeing is the
Speaker 2: Vice President actually key into what folks have gone through
Speaker 2: and speaking to their needs in a way that unfortune
Speaker 2: I don't think pleasident Biden felt he could because he
Speaker 2: was always having to defend the overall reality of the economy.
Speaker 2: So I think that and obviously the focus on prescription drugs, insulin.
Speaker 2: These are profound kitchen table issues, and you'll notice it's
Speaker 2: generally not where Trump and the Republicans go, So it
Speaker 2: just magnifies the competitive advantage of Kamala Harrison.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's why Biden's campaigns stumbled because the
Speaker 1: reality that people are living every day was not necessarily
Speaker 1: driving with the reality of markets doing really well right
Speaker 1: now and other indicators in the economy that are good,
Speaker 1: but people's kitchen table economics are not.
Speaker 2: I You're exactly right, you can't. You cannot tell people
Speaker 2: look at this wonderful statistical economy they feel great about
Speaker 2: when they themselves are hurting. Just that does not work.
Speaker 2: It comes down to what people are experiencing themselves. And
Speaker 2: I think Joe Biden was handcuffed by the overall challenges
Speaker 2: he was facing. And it's you know, look, we all
Speaker 2: watched the man who was incredibly vigorous in the State
Speaker 2: of Union and now you know, six months or more
Speaker 2: or later, was really struggling in that debate. He just
Speaker 2: wasn't in a position to be the strong, agile voice
Speaker 2: who could have said, I know you're hurting. Here's what
Speaker 2: I'm going to do about it, but Kamala Harris is,
Speaker 2: and I do think it added to the frustration. I
Speaker 2: think the profound frustration was that folks started to worry
Speaker 2: the president couldn't fulfill the role, even though his intentions
Speaker 2: were extraordinary and his accomplishments were great. But on top
Speaker 2: of that, he just wasn't speaking forcefully to the suffering
Speaker 2: and offering a vision. Now, ironically, the only person who's
Speaker 2: really talking about a way to a lower prices is
Speaker 2: Kamala Harris. After all the blusser from Donald Trump, the
Speaker 2: one thing he talks about is tariffs, and those are
Speaker 2: actually going to be additionally inflationary in a big way.
Speaker 2: If you put those tariffs on the prices of a
Speaker 2: lot of things that Americans depend on go through the roofs.
Speaker 1: What would you say to Americans? I mean, I'm a
Speaker 1: deficit hawk by nature. I've been a deficit hawk for years.
Speaker 1: I was very disappointed with the explosion of the deficits
Speaker 1: during the Trump administration. But what would you say to
Speaker 1: someone like me who hears a new spending plan twenty
Speaker 1: five thousand dollars for housing and I think, holy crap,
Speaker 1: how are we going to pay.
Speaker 2: For all this well, I think there's always a central
Speaker 2: question when it comes to definite spending about what is
Speaker 2: the revenue impact and what's the macroeconomic impact. And you know,
Speaker 2: I'm a kingsy in myself, so I would say, if
Speaker 2: if the spending will have those bigger impacts, and that's
Speaker 2: not always the case, but if it will, then you
Speaker 2: have to look at in that perspective. I think if
Speaker 2: you see a boom in construction and rehab of housing,
Speaker 2: that's going to trade a lot of economic activity, jobs
Speaker 2: and tax revenues. Also, let's face it, we are in
Speaker 2: a tenuous position where so many Americans are paying an
Speaker 2: unlordly amount of godly I should say, amount of their
Speaker 2: income in housing or just can't find housing anywhere near
Speaker 2: them their works. You're seeing it all over the country,
Speaker 2: especially out West, all sorts of places where people can't
Speaker 2: even find housing where the jobs are. So we got
Speaker 2: to address that fundamentally. I think what she's doing is
Speaker 2: the smart and responsible thing. It would probably get moderated,
Speaker 2: to say the least, in the congressional process, but right now,
Speaker 2: and I always tell this as mayor, when you see
Speaker 2: basic human needs going on, net on met like the
Speaker 2: fundamental need for people that have housing. You can't do nothing.
Speaker 2: You got to try and find a way that is
Speaker 2: not going to blow up a deficit but still addresses
Speaker 2: the issue.
Speaker 1: Or former Mayor build at Lasia of New York. We
Speaker 1: are out of time, but I very much appreciate you
Speaker 1: making time for us today and I hope you enjoyed
Speaker 1: the rest of the convention.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you, I will and said best to you.