Squawk Pod: Sen. Vivek Ramaswamy, Labor Day Gas Prices, & Rate Cuts A’Comin’ - 08/26/24 | Audio Only

bring in show music please hi I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer today on pod vivec ramaswami former presidential candidate turned Trump campaign surrogate we're counting down 70 odd days to the election he may not agree with the policies but at least he's given them to you and I think American voters deserve the same from kamla Harris and pain at the pump may be alleviated this holiday weekend Gas Buddies Patrick Dahan we expect by Labor Day other 7 Cent drop or so and it gets better we're already tracking seven states below $3 a gallon plus a rate hikes time has come the grocery store merger with one heck of a shelf life and the Boeing stumble that just may be spacex's opportunity Elon Musk has some plans for launches like three a week oh yeah wild it's Monday August 26th squawk pod begins right now stand by Joe in three 2 one his mic here good morning and welcome welcome uh to squawkbox here on CNBC live from the NASDAQ Market site in Times Square I'm Joe kernin along with Leslie picker and Mike Santo Becky and Andrew are off today no um big Banks right you're just here I'm here to see you that's amazing that's amazing cuz normally I'm like oh no it's not that I'm dreading Big Bangs but there are a lot of there a lot of really Arcane in the weeds info that you bring us with the big Banks there're a lot of metrics a lot a lot of she's not going to talk SFI in tier one and all that stuff right that's ratio all those no we're going to save that for and they're important they're important almost like on another Morning Show like the the ingredients that go into like a chicken k i don't talk about CH it's ke isn't it I guess so yeah it's chicken ke but we don't we don't mention that as much anymore but um that would be about the most complicated thing we we we touch on I think maybe some of Leeman once in a while starts I don't know when I hear like Pharma and semiconductors I feel like that's complicated so I guess it's all rela but see that stuff's interesting Federal Reserve chairman Jay Powell in remarks Friday at the central bank's annual confab in Jackson hle Wyoming made the clearest signal yet that a rate cut is coming this year the time has come for policy to adjust the direction of travel is clear and the timing and pace of rate Cuts will depend on incoming data the evolving Outlook and the balance of risks Howell didn't offer guidance on how big a cut to expect but after the fed's consistent March upwards on rate hikes to combat record high inflation after the pandemic policy makers held for more than a year the key borrowing rate the FED funds rate at 5.3% the highest level in about two decades the fed's rate setting committee meets again in September and Powell made it very clear that he thinks this strategy worked inflation has cooled the job market has stabilized The Landing was soft enough in his view let's get back to Joe big days on uh on Friday Dow rallied 450 uh points following fed chairman pal speech the S&P also uh climbing and is now less than 1% from its uh record high that was set mid July and the NASDAQ powered ahead adding more than 250 points uh on Friday and now the attention will turn to uh really the general the leader of of what we've seen in a lot of uh of tech and viia the AI chipmaker set to report uh results on Wednesday after the closing bell stock added 4% on Friday is now up over 160 uh% for the year and also near a high what we know it's a t a t word uh are we back 3.2 trillion or 3.2 yeah next stop I guess four we got three stocks around 3.2 at $3.3 trillion so it's n10 trillion in the top three stocks no problem and this is a big story today occupying the the lead article in Wall Street Journal lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal Kroger and Albertson's heading to court today to defend their merger the company's proposed what would be the largest Supermarket deal in US history back in 2022 saying it would help help uh them cut costs to better compete with the really the real leaders in in that space Walmart Costco um Amazon take your pick the Federal Trade Commission is sued to block the merg merger saying it would eliminate competition and raise uh grocery prices but it was pointed out at the time to to make the you know to make it so narrow and and how you're testing um you know whether there would be antitrust concerns has a lot of people pointing this is almost a one of the poster chots for maybe overreach for Lena Khan and and her FTC at this point look they they don't like horizontal deals remember remember that they judge blocked Staples Office Depot I mean kind of a Dying business didn't they block serus XM for a while too yes exactly and so they it almost as if it has to get to a point where the overall Market is so big relative to the two competitors that it's redefined the market right serus XM I once streaming came around was no longer dominant but it it is possible that this action has the the opposite of what's intended in the effect on prices for consumers you never know yeah I mean look they also haven't done that well in court that the government sometimes with these cases so doesn't stop from from trying them there are a lot of think pieces this morning on the CNS and kind of what that means cuz part of the deal has this remedy whereby they would sell 579 stores company no one's ever heard of it's a company nobody's ever heard of they own Piggly Wiggly and I guess a few other ones and they're part of the distribution aspect going to the Piggly Wiggly I I like that too wahah sounds better wahwah than the Piggly Wiggly CNS CNS and so I hear that what do you think when you hear CNS I think of probably like a software company or like a consulting firm central nervous system you don't think of that immediately I think Mike did what I really didn't know CNS I mean I I see it now but I didn't immediately immedi thought of it thought that's what it stands I mean I'm going back to nth grade bio for that yeah yeah same or college is that where you stopped more or less yeah more news on the struggle to sell Paramount Global Edgar bronfman reportedly has plans for the studio including a partnership with a tech giant such as Amazon or apple to improve its streaming service bronan put in a last minute bid for control of Paramount last week Bloomberg reports brontman believes Paramount needs more specific skills in terms of AD sales licensing and growing its customer base uh this has just been such a whirlwind I I believe that the special committee meets on the 28th so in two days to discuss whether this is a superior uh bid or not but I mean it's just like well and Sky Dan saying that this even considering this bid or extending the period was breach of contract it's kind of mess by the way nobody's raising enough money to buy the whole company no this is all what it all comes down to well we're going to take out this piece of the control shareholder and you know and and so public shareholders are kind of not sure yeah and this one reportedly has Fortress as one of the the backers too which has some foreign ownership in you know implications because it's owned not majority right isn't it like 40% by Fortress uhhuh Yeah I don't know UAE or something like that anyway uh yeah that's right definitely want to watch this just makes me nervous and I well the whole story makes me nervous then we'll talk about Polaris which is happening tonight but uh godspeed to these people they're still so brave the two astronauts are stranded on the International Space Station will be coming home now not until early 2025 and this at this point they're getting a ride from Elon Musk that NASA decided that Boeing Starliner capsule will return empty from the station after bringing the pair up there in June the test flight was originally intended for just nine days and this is a mark the dramatic about face for NASA and Boeing as the organizations were previously adamant that the C was the primary choice for returning the crew but starliners crew flight uh the test faced problems most notably with the propulsion system and helium and it's you wanted everything to be exactly right before you um try the Asters are now expected to return to Earth in February on spacex's Dragon capsule shares a lower of Boeing or lower this morning the morale at that company supposedly taking another hit down more than 33% and then tonight at 3 38 a.m. we're supposed to get this Polaris uh launch where it'll be the first uh commercial space walk uh they want to scale the um the space suits as well to test that that that was one of the problems compatibility with space suits one of the problems for why it wasn't going to be uh where they weren't going to come home uh with SpaceX but these guys uh I don't know if you read their names one guy's nickname is kid and another one was you know they're like test pilots and they're people that are really different from uh I don't know about you but totally different from me pilot Scott kid potit retired US Air Force Lieutenant who flew with the Thunderbirds um Mission specialist Sarah Gillis she's an engineer operations engineer um and I I don't want to worry I don't want to worry cuz they're really good at this now I understand that but I I can't help but worry be anxious not one part of it appeals to me the idea of going or you know taking that risk although maybe if you know that much about it if you're an engineer and you're like well we you know we know how these things work and it's not a problem I'm I'm just glad they have enough food they were supposed to be there for what eight days well the other ones yeah we're talking about the ones that are going up going yeah the highest Space Walk ever right have you seen the show for all man once you're certain High certain height yeah no no I I wonder if oh my God this is even whoa that looks even further uh For All Mankind on Apple you know I was to say seen the Apple show either I haven't seen it so they kind of come up with all it's basically if the US hadn't won the space race and kind of they would have kept up the space program and so they have all of these things that seem crazy for you know that happened astronauts up in space and then you read headlines like these and you think well sometimes uh the truth is Stranger Than Fiction I I don't have it in front of me but Elon Musk has some plans for launches like three a week or something isn't because it used to be like a lot of things always seems like they had to go right and I don't even want to think about the O-rings or any of those I mean it just seems like in a in a normal commercial flight you it's you can only have one mistake every nine billion times or something I don't know what it takes for this to be perfect but yeah good luck tonight absolutely all right coming up morning it's yeah te will be next coming up on sakp pod Trump campaign surrogate and former presidential candidate VC ramaswami he is weighing in on Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and her economic agenda so far if you don't want your opponent to tag you as a communist then maybe your first policy should not be a bunch of price controls welcome back to squawk pod this next conversation is with a one-time White House hopeful and now a Donald Trump campaign surrogate VC ramaswami an entrepreneur and financier turned presidential candidate in the 2024 primaries who like many on the right side of the aisle these last few weeks takes issue with a hot button idea of price controls on consumer goods and to set this up let's flash back to a discussion Joe had with Senator Elizabeth Warren on Friday you can find that in our last podcast before this one look at the Washington Post and if you lose the Washington Post as a Democrat you got some serious problems uh this is what they said about uh about the uh the price gouging or the price control legislation it was really pillared from from both sides of the aisle even uh Jason Ferman I don't know if you saw some of his comments he said uh it's it's not good policy and it could actually do more harm than good and I I can I can paint you a picture of how that would work and how it's worked in the past where we've tried to artificially hold prices down competition doesn't come in and people don't like if beef is tooo high people don't move the chicken the competitors don't come in to undercut where the beef prices are nothing works when you try to artificially control prices it's just a supply and demand issue it's a flawed idea so so did you have a question here yes why would you propose a flawed idea when when the real problem let me if you really want to help the middle class if you really sincerely want to help people having trouble at the grocery store it's not price gouging that's the the issue and and if you look at it seriously and really want to help them then let's do something about it together fine I I understand if you want to if you want to do a lecture about this but let's just start with where have you been for the last 30 years uh as three dozen states have price gouging laws and they have used them effectively Senator Elizabeth Warren on squawkbox uh last week sharing her thoughts uh on price controls our next guest says enacting uh price controls is a terrible idea joining us now Trump campaign surrogate former presidential candidate uh Vivic ramaswami uh got a big head start in life um from those crazy Jesuits uh I think in but from the salt of the earth from Cincinnati but from the good side of town right Vivic were you on theast side right were you on the east side of town grew up on the east side of I75 that's right yeah yeah that figures I'm over in Pete Rose uh country over near the west side of town but it's good to have you on been a while good to see you good to see you we we have we don't know a lot uh about the Harris wals economic plan but it's been trickling out and and it's almost a um to a free market uh person or or a I guess a classic conservative uh it's like watching A Clockwork Orange I'm I'm like this Vivic watching what's coming out whether it's raising the rate on on corporate taxes or uh going up to uh what 45% close to on on capital gains for certain individuals um it's a lot of populism but most people that defend it say ah she doesn't really mean it it'll never happen yeah so that's the irony here Joe and first of all I agree with my friends at the Washington Post who observed that if you don't want your opponent to tag you as a communist then maybe your first policy should not be a bunch of price controls in the United States we've seen price controls fail in every other major country that's tried it Argentina Venezuela under Hugo Chavez under Nicholas Maduro the irony in Venezuela is that you actually saw undernourishment increase tenfold over the same period where they enacted price controls in the food industry in the grocery industry yet that's exactly what they've proposed here and I do think that this the fact that this was her signature economic unveiling says a lot about where her vision actually is to borrow Tim walls' expression Joe if I may it is just plain weird for them to focus even on the grocery sector if they were going to implement price controls because this is a sector in which you look at the profit margins of Kroger or Albertson's you're looking at 2% 1% profit margins I saw that interview that Elizabeth Warren did with you and I respectfully disagree with her but she even brought up examples like craft Hines or Cal man the reality is their profit margins are lower today than they were in 2015 to 2016 so yes it is a just plain weird fixation and the reality is look at the defense of her policies what you hear across the board is it's not going to pass don't worry about it if it's the price controls don't worry Congress won't pass it if it's abolishing Private health insurance or Banning fracking which he supported before don't worry it just won't pass if it is the tax on unrealized capital gains which everybody understands is going to be a disaster what they Whisper back is don't worry it just won't pass and so the the irony of this is that even the leftwing intelligencia aren't defending the merits of her actual policies all they're arguing to the public is that the reality is they will never be in acted into law and I think that says a lot about the actual commitments of the Harris Walts campaign both sides uh I guess do it a little bit of Vivic and I think we're going to have Jason Ferman on a little bit later I guess people don't really believe but even did you see New York Times today this was I thought this was funny uh I guess uh vice president Harris really did grow up in Berkeley that's where addess is it's in Berkeley so I during the speech it was uh I grew up on the bay uh I grew up in Oakland I grew up by you know east of never so not saying Berkeley uh anymore at this point and I guess and not saying that her father would would have informed her opinions on anything but no longer a Marxist Economist uh what was he he's a post canian Economist that has some Kian and Neo ricardian influences but no longer a mark so it's being you know a lot of this we're supposed to think that our original opinion is not what is actually the case and it it's worked pretty well for the past 30 days Vivic you got to be you got to admit yeah look I think the the pr has worked outstandingly for them over the last 30 days the question is whether it can last through the election for my part Joe I'm never going to hold somebody's father's views against them or where they grew up against them what I hold against kamla Harris is her own stated policy convictions she when she ran for US president just four years ago said she wanted to abolish Private health insurance that means anybody who's watching this who likes their priv health insurance today I think I think all those are she's backed off on I'm reading she's backed off on all those but how would we know this is and I asked Mike Allen about this for for the mainstream media to not have insisted on a answering some extemporaneous questions not from a teleprompter this far into um the candidacy is is mind-boggling and it can only be a a a mainstream media that's complicit in in trying to help her look I think the mainstream media covered for Joe Biden's cognitive deficits for three years in much the same way that at least many are covering so far for KLA Harris's policy deficits but the reason we're having this conversation is I hope that that changes I think the American voters deserve better where whether you might agree with Donald Trump's policies or not but at least he's given you clear policies from everything from digital assets to cryptocurrency to health care that he would abolish or at least rep repeal and replace Obamacare to look at the what tariffs he would apply in particular part parts of the world how to resolve the Russia Ukraine conflict you may not agree with the policies but at least he's given them to you and I think American voters deserve the same from kamla Harris the other thing I'll say Joe is that have Republicans been perfect on issues like price controls no they haven't a lot of this came up not only under Carter but also under Nixon even in recent years you've seen some Republicans favoring price controls in different areas so I'm not going to be some partisan hack here but the reality is if you compare the Democrats to the Republicans it's not even close which one is actually taking the Venezuelan style approach to controlling the economy and the irony is that's going to be worse for even the very people they purport to serve when those supply shortages come in when those black markets emerge when you have a tax on unrealized capital gains that triggers a stock market crash and an asset price crash that hurts the people at the bottom the most so that's the reality that's what I and I started with Senator Warren about that I go why don't let's talk you know brass talks about how we can help with inflation instead of but this was on the same day that I did see a journal piece uh that talked about the foot soldiers of the democratic party are all fired up about price it just continues the same sort of anti-corporate rhetoric that we saw you know greedy corporations and we heard that again and again and again from the bid Administration but it fires up the base but what scares me Vivic and I think Ronald Reagan said it that every generation needs to learn this new that you end up you know eating your pets uh if you if you go down the path to socialism there's enough young people that don't know that right now where this could actually she could easily get elected Vivic so so the reality is of course she can easily get elected there's going to be a tight race through the very end but the reality is this could be good for Americans if we're able to have that policy debate Joe if this election is fought on personality I think the American public loses as a result when Tim Walls and kamla Harris have made it their signature campaign slogan EnV Vision to Donald Trump and 70 plus million Americans who support him just plain weird I think that divides Us in the end rather than offering an actual alternative policy Vision they haven't done that I think it's up to the media to hold them accountable if the media doesn't do it then I think Republicans need to bring kamla Harris's own policy prescriptions to the four when she ran for US president when she's proposed budgets including a 25% tax and unrealized gains when she has co-sponsored legislation with Bernie Sanders for Medicare for all single-payer Health Care when she has co-sponsored the green New Deal legislation that would abolish the coal industry that they said they would eliminate the filibuster to pass through that's the kind of policy debate we deserve to be having and for those who say we want to defend our democracy part of our democracy is actually having those open policy debates that at least so far in this race and it's only about 30 days since she's been the presumptive nominee but so far in those 30 days we have not yet been having and I for my part not as a repu Republican or Democrat but as an American want to see that change because that's how voters are best served so I challenge KL Harris to actually defend not just slogans like mind your own damn business right you heard that from Tim Walls my view is the government should mind its own damn business when it comes to taking gas stoves when it comes to intervening in the grocery market for price control measurements or taxing unrealized gains let's have that debate in the open and the country is going to be better off for it uh Vivic um former president Trump said we will Target everything from car affordability to housing affordability to insurance cost of supply chain issues to the price of prescription drugs I will instruct my cabinet that I expect results within the first 100 days or sooner than that what is that as an actual plan so look one of the things that President Trump has been clear about it's near and dear to my heart as well is taming the regulatory State cut down I I believe so actually you want to know why because we have a supreme court in the last two years that has given us history-making decisions overturning Chevron Defence and West Virginia versus EPA which I believe is the most important Supreme Court case of our lifetime in 2022 with the major questions Doctrine basically said that if Congress did not pass this through the front door then a regulation that deals with the major policy question is unconstitutional that is seismic in its scope Trump did not have that at his back in 2016 and 2017 so when you're talking about a new Administration and taming the regulatory State the Supreme Court has provided the toolkit to do it all we need is a president in an Administration that is willing to wield it so in 100 days frankly I'd like to see it in less than that ex fisal policy that caused the inflation not regulations I there's range of facts so it's not just inflation when you look at actually the the fact that prices have gone up at a faster rate than wages have that's really the Gap that Americans are left hurting for when it relates to inflation let's talk about energy abundance drill Frack burn coal use nuclear energy a lot of that is constrained through the permitting process in the department of interior as you well know that is the regulatory State when you look at permits for refineries permits for drilling or even offshore drilling which kamla Harris has previously favored a ban on the reality is that is the regulatory State we're record domestic oil production when prices are high that's when you get inclusive as you will well know of course inclusive of the Strategic petroleum Reserve which is operating at the lowest weekly production oil field production at a record now it is in the election the years that led us here as I know you well know but the reality is to your point does the regulatory State play a role in giving us in giving us supply shortages absolutely it does and can that be addressed yes it can the question is is the president willing to do it I believe Donald Trump is for KL Harris I believe the answer is no what about um the FTC with regard to the regulatory State I know uh we could debate the merits of price controls but does the Trump Camp believe that prices are too high for American consumers and if so is anti-competitive and uh you know ensuring kind of anti-m monopolistic Behavior part of the Trump campaign's platform to bring those prices down so this is one of the beauties of the current Republican party is we do have a what You' call a big tent on this issue I'll give you my own perspective is I think empowering those three-letter agencies including the FTC including with vaguely defined mandates like what KL Harris has proposed with respect to the price gouging proposal in the grocery Market is a mistake I don't think giving further authority to Len a KH to decide what does or does not count as Fair competition is a particularly pro-american thing to do competition is generally the way you look at segments like the grocery Market which is fragmented which is competitive we don't need the FTC empowered with further Authority and I'm consistent in my view on that I think that we have overpowered three-letter agencies across the board I think our Founding Fathers never envisioned it it wasn't that way for most of our national history and I think the right step is with it whether it's respect to the FTC or any other three-letter agency to actually constrain the scope of what they're able to do and if the American people want to impinge industry fine let them do it through the front door of Congress in the way that our constitution actually ordained not through backdoor rul making written by people who were never elected to actually make those rules in the first place that's the way I see it Z great good good to have you on this morning um hopefully won't be so long till next time we see each other um good to have you on see you later continue the conversation thank you you guys okay up next on squawk pod the road to Labor Day is paved with cheaper gas Gas Buddies head of analysis Patrick danan on crisis of the pump and demand despite Electric's rise Americans like the reliability of having a vehicle that they can both run on battery power for a certain amount of miles and also then have the Reliance of the massive fuel Network the 15,000 gas stations across the country you're listening to squawk pod from CNBC today with Joe kernin Mike santoli and Leslie picker here's Leslie according to Gas Buddy Labor Day travel forecast gas prices are expected to fall to $327 per gallon this holiday weekend or lower in some regions of the country that's down 133% from a year ago in the lowest Labor Day price since 20121 joining us now Patrick Dahan Gas Buddy head of petroleum analysis uh Patrick thank you for being here so what do you attribute these declines to is it weather is it geopolitics I mean why are we seeing a bit of relief this year well kind of a little bit of all of the above we haven't seen heat waves which last year knocked out refineries especially on the west coast and the Corn Belt that happened going into labor day that's why last year's national average was nearly 50 cents a gallon higher than this year as well as falling oil prices now some of that can be blamed on the slowdown in the economy the US and China both not seeing as much uh oil demand and gasoline demand uh compared to last year and so that breathing room has provided the room for gas prices to decline uh and it's going to get better here as we get into labor day prices are continuing to drop uh we expect by Labor Day another s Cent drop or so uh and it gets better we're already tracking seven states below $3 a gallon and 20% of the nation's gas stations already reporting a price below $3 and those numbers will continue to rise as we get into the fall I'm curious about the interplay between consumer Behavior with regard to EVs and gas demand and I ask because you've got Ford and GM recently kind of re-calibrating their EV Ambitions um and large largely that's due to just consumer Behavior and the decision by a lot of consumers to opt for a hybrid or just a traditional type of car uh how do you think gas prices play a role there and what does that mean for demand for gas if we are seeing such a a large scale recalibration relative to what we were expecting yeah that's a great question something we're talking about here at this convention is all of that talk about uh manufacturers that are moving back to hybrids kind of away from some of those EVS Americans in some areas just not quite ready and with lower energy prices Americans like the reliability of having a vehicle that they can both uh run on battery power for a certain amount of miles and also then have the Reliance of the massive fuel Network the 150,000 gas stations across the country that's part of the conversation that is limiting somewhat the return of gasoline demand to pre-pandemic levels but that's certainly something that Americans are looking more at that is hybrids rather than full-on electric vehicles and we're seeing manufacturers certainly result uh or change to Pivot to that result that Americans are looking for more of those mild uh hybrids I would say I never thought about that Patrick what what would you call it uh volt buddy.com uh electric and you I'm glad for you that it's I think you've got a lot of great ideas there you know on to something if you're looking at actually electricity prices you know I couldn't help but think though Patrick it it's a beautiful system isn't it the way the Dynamics of supply and demand uh kind of override everything else I mean if these companies decided $5 a gallon gas would be awesome yeah they can't do it you can't do it you can't put it at $5 we don't need control things happen based on do they I love that this is a supply and demand story and you know what we're going to hear more of it getting closer to the election we're going to have finger pointing but at the end of the day you know it's all about global supply and demand not just in the US the US certainly one of the bigger stories and China but this is good old econ 101 vote buddy what what amp buddy what do you think it's I mean I think fuel buddy still kind of covers everything not really if if you're plugging it in not really that these are some great ideas these are power buddy power power. I like that power pal you know what I think you have some time if you go with that good news is listen to all the ideas Ser I think you got some time before everyone well they built two charging stations I think with the IRA money didn't they how many they working on three I've tracked yeah well I like power pal with Patrick because it's got a nice alliteration there oh there you go thank you that one too that's the Pod for today thanks for joining us and for starting your week with us here squawkbox is hosted by Joe kernin Becky quick and Andrew Ross Soren big thanks to Leslie and Mike for sitting in today you can tune in any day to squawkbox on TV where on weekday mornings on CNBC at 6 Eastern get the smartest takes and Analysis from our 3-hour morning show right into your ears in an easy to listen to format when you follow squawk pod we're available on Apple podcast Spotify really wherever you like to listen and that's it have a great Monday we'll meet you right back here tomorrow now we are clear thanks guys