Lawmakers Question Big Banks Over Wokism; Facebook to Restore Trump's Account? | NTD Business

Thanks for watching NTD Business. Coming up, scrutinizing the country's biggest banks. Lawmakers question executives over how woke ideology is affecting their industry. And Facebook deciding whether to restore former President Trump's account. What does it come down to? And are there similarities between the inflation here in the US and Venezuela? A Venezuelan economist shares his personal experience and insights. That and much more coming up on NTD Business. Great to have you with us. Don Ma here for NTD Business. Wall Street's big bank CEOs in the spotlight today at an annual oversight hearing in Congress. Senators grilled the heads of Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, among others. Democrats focused on topics like racial equality and fraud, while Republicans were concerned about economics and how woke ideology is affecting their industry. Republican Bill Hegarty of Tennessee asked about large investment funds like BlackRock and Vanguard. These firms manage billions of dollars from typical Americans, such as teachers, nurses, and truck drivers. The firms buy a significant share of many large companies. Then, they try to sway the companies into achieving left-of-center goals. For example, those involving renewable energy, diversity, and equity. And many of those typical Americans, you know, teachers, nurses, and truck drivers, they may not agree with those goals, yet their money is being used to support them. Here's Senator Bill Hegarty again. And how does BlackRock or Vanguard decide how to vote the average American shares? They have what's called an investment stewardship team that makes those decisions for them. This is at the heart of a troubling trend in the financial markets of weaponizing unsuspecting Americans' voting rights, in the name of the Radical Environmental, Social, and Governance, or ESG, agenda. The left sees ESG, or Environmental, Social, and Governance, as a way for corporations to be responsible to society. The right, though, sees it, as Hegarty just said, as part of a radical leftist agenda. Here's the exchange between Hegarty and Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan. Most of your banks had to fight off activist proposals, including so-called racial equity audits, and the forced debanking of oil and gas companies. So Mr. Dimon, I'd like to turn to you. Do you believe that these activist shareholder stewards are accurately representing the views of the individual investors who actually own these shares? Yeah, so all of those investors have a fiduciary responsibility to do their homework and vote. I personally think it's disgrace when they rely on proxy advisors, and I think the proxy advisors are terrible. And I'm probably one of the few people who says that. I think it's a little bit worse than what you're saying, because we've gone from 7,000 public companies to 4,000 operating companies over the last 20 years or so, and that's a problem. We're driving them private. This is part of the reason. And one thing I want to add, they're starting to do this pass-through proxy voting so that your mother can vote her shares. I'm kind of in favor of that, but the way shares get voted today, if the person doesn't vote, it counts as a yes vote on all those proxies you're talking about. You've got to change that, and it's got to be a quorum of all those who vote. Hegerty says the Senate is working on legislation to address this issue, and that he supports it. Dimon added that woke shareholder activism is causing a lot of unease in corporate America. And Republicans pointed out that when it comes to controversial, sensitive social and political issues, banks usually side with liberals. Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana had some pointed remarks on that. You will never win. Never. The uber woke sweepstakes. I understand that the pressure to run that race is fierce. You will never win it. Nothing you do will never be enough. The scrutiny the banks are facing reflects pressures from politicians, activists, and investors. This is the final day of the bank oversight hearings, which are held once a year. Facebook parent Metta says it will decide early next year whether to restore former President Trump's account on the social media platform. Metta suspended Trump for two years after the January 6th incident. A Metta executive said they'll look at whether there's a risk of real-world violence if the account is restored. He did not indicate whether Metta was leaning one way or another on the decision. On Wall Street, stocks closed lower today. The Dow lost 107 points or 0.4%. S&P dropped 32 points or 0.8%. The Nasdaq fell 153 points or 1.4%. Central banks around the world are stepping up their fight against inflation. Just yesterday, the Federal Reserve raised its rate, and this prompted other central banks to do the same. Today, the Bank of England lifted its key interest rate half a percentage point. Norway, also the same. Switzerland, three quarters of a percentage point. So far this cycle, central banks in the 10 big developed economies have raised rates by a combined 20%. The chief of the International Monetary Fund says they have to do this. At this point, central banks have no choice but to raise rates. She says if they don't bring down inflation, it will be very difficult for poor people. I have a very simple message to people who watch monetary policy. No choice but to increase interest rates to tame inflation. The critical question in front of us is to restore conditions for growth. And price stability is a critical condition. The IMF chief also gave a warning. She said unless steps are taken to protect the most vulnerable from inflation, people around the world will take to the streets to protest. As for giving money to people, she says the IMF used almost all of it during the pandemic. What's left will have to be very well targeted. She said if you just simply give payments to everybody, it'll just make inflation worse. That's because it would increase consumer spending and push up prices. Meanwhile, Japan is defying the trend, the global trend, and keeping rates ultra low. The country's central bank says its economy still needs support to recover from the pandemic. Japan is the world's third largest economy. Now, it has much lower rates than many other major countries, and that is punishing the yen. The Japanese yen sank to a 24-year low against the dollar following today's news. Within hours, officials said they had intervened in the currency market by buying yen. It's the first time that's happened since 1998. And now turning to Turkey, its central bank actually cut interest rates today, despite inflation hovering above 80%. The bank lowered the benchmark rate by 1 percentage point to 12%. Traditional economic thinking says raising interest rates fights inflation. Turkey's annual inflation was the worst among the group of 20 major economies. Independent experts say the country's inflation is actually much higher than the official figure. Last year, Turkey's currency kept hitting record lows. And staying on the topic of inflation, hyperinflation in Venezuela is now over, but prices there still doubled in the past year. Are there lessons for the U.S. here? We spoke with a Venezuelan economist today about it. Here's Daniel DeMartino with the Job Creators Network. Here's what he said. Daniel, thanks for coming on the show today. Thank you, John. Let me start off with, we have recent data that Venezuela inflation is at 114%, very high. And here in the U.S., inflation is not as high, but still record highs. And you've lived through the Venezuelan economy going from okay to down the drain. So you have experience in that aspect. So do you see any similarities what's happening in Venezuela to the U.S. that's fueling inflation? Well, what fuels inflation in both countries is the same reason. The difference is in magnitude. What fuels inflation in the United States right now is really huge over demand, right? That's been pushed by government spending, that's been pushed by monetary easing by the Federal Reserve. And in Venezuela, it's been the central bank financing the government spending as well. And so the difference is that in Venezuela, we have been doing it for so much longer and in such greater amounts that, of course, inflation is much greater than in the United States, but the fundamental reason is the same. And can you tell us a little bit about your life, your childhood in Venezuela? What did you see during that period of time? Yeah. Well, we went from being a family that had cars, home, went to school every day as a kid, to maybe sometimes my class would get canceled because the teacher wouldn't show up, because teacher turnover was so big because people started leaving the country, because sometimes we would lose electricity, because sometimes there would be no water in the whole school or in my home. Because many times we would have in the middle of the class, the teacher dismissed the class because her friend called and the grocery store next door has chicken and she needs to go buy it because there's no chicken anywhere else in the country. And it's obviously bad for the students, but understandable as from a human perspective. But so the whole country was wrecked by the socialist policies that led to shortages, that led to inflation. And when I mean inflation, I don't mean 5%, 10%. I mean, it's so expensive so fast that you can't fit enough cash in your wallet to buy something in the school cafeteria. I mean, it's so expensive that people have to go with backpacks of cash to withdraw money from the ATM. And you would know when somebody withdraws money because they had backpacks in the street. And that's what hyperinflation caused in Venezuela. Now, why did this happen in Caracas? Why did this happen in all the cities of my country? It happened because we had a regime that initially wanted to give everything away for free. And maybe things were free for the end point, but somebody was paying for the food. Somebody was paying for the free houses. Somebody was paying for the nearly free electricity and utilities. Somebody was paying for the nearly free gasoline that Venezuelans were given. And that was a taxpayer. But because there was not enough tax revenue to pay for these things, because we had very little taxation in the country, the central bank printed the money to pay for these things. So we paid for it in the form of an inflation tax. So inflation went from 30 to 40 to 100 to a million percent. And it's actually come down to the number that you mentioned, 100%. That is actually very low. It's the lowest inflation we've had in years in the country. And it's still higher than the inflation the U.S. has ever had in its history. Doubling of prices within 12 months. That's crazy. Of course, that's why Venezuelans today are the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere when we were the richest behind the United States. All right, Daniel Demartino, thank you very much for coming today. Pleasure talking to you. And again, that was Daniel Demartino with the Job Creators Network. We also talked about other things like how Americans are changing their views about capitalism and socialism, and how socialism uses envy and resentment to divide our country. You can watch the whole interview soon on NTD.com. And Russia today pushed ahead with its biggest conscription since World War II. Protests in 38 Russian cities saw 1,400 people arrested yesterday. Meanwhile, flights out of Russia started selling out after Putin's announcement. More than a thousand people have been arrested at protests across Russia, and one-way flights out of the country have sold out in a wave of panic triggered by this moment. A speech made by President Putin on Wednesday calling up 300,000 conscripts to fight in Ukraine with immediate effect. Here and in 37 other Russian cities, demonstrations erupted. Protesters chanting no to war as police carried out arrests. On the streets, some residents were concerned. One told Reuters, Fears of not being allowed to leave sent one-way flights out of Russia skyrocketing in price, selling out soon after Putin's announcement. Kremlin declined to comment on whether the borders would be closed to those subject to the mobilization order, and asked people to be patient as the law is clarified. And still to come, Walmart getting a jump start on holiday sales, starting its holiday shopping season earlier than usual. Vertical farms sprouting up in the United Arab Emirates, helping the country rely less on food imports. That and more coming up on NTD Business. And welcome back. Better grab your wallets, because Walmart is getting ready for the end-of-the-year holidays. The retailer says it will start offering major discounts on popular items like toys, electronics and home décor starting October. Officials also say they've increased their supplies of usually hot sellers like TVs, phones and furniture. Walmart hasn't given any details on how big the sale will be, but they've made changes to the company's return policy, which will give you more time to return gifts. Some analysts say Walmart's earlier-than-usual holiday sales will likely cause other retailers to do the same. And pressure from drought has caused a poor U.S. harvest. This could make the global food supply crisis even worse. NTD's John Marshall looks into the drought and its effect on commodity investing. The United States and South America. Two of the world's major crop exporters faced persistent drought conditions this summer. The impacted states threw out the U.S. grain belt, which saw a major reduction in the harvest due to lack of water and a wet spring planting season earlier in the year. How do these droughts and supply shortages affect commodity investing? Spoke with Chris Raleigh, CEO of a farming investment marketplace. He says people are definitely investing in agriculture and farmland. I think we've seen the trend, personally, in our company, in our industry, has been going up the past several years, but especially this year, where people want to own farmland, people want to own access to the producers because they know that the prices are going to continue to escalate. And this is one sector of the economy that, even though there is inflation, is going to continue to grow with the pace of inflation. Common favorites like Italian risotto rice, U.S. corn, and Mexican chili peppers that go into the popular sriracha hot sauce have been in shorter supply. Hot commodities, coffee and chocolate, are also in the food shortage crosshairs, along with short-grain rice used for sushi. Ninety-nine percent of this rice comes from California. Commodities historically have better returns when prices rise, due to things like inflation and supply shortages. So I asked Raleigh if commodities have had better returns lately. Yeah, people that are in the commodity space have definitely seen, earlier this year especially, those prices inflate, and some of them made good returns. People that had access to agricultural investments and farmland have made good returns, and we can expect to see that going forward. At the U.N. Global Food Security Summit on rising food insecurity Tuesday, experts warned of a devastating crisis next year if the war in Ukraine continues. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres recently said that enough food is being produced worldwide, but the major problem is distribution. Sean Marshall, NTD News. And community gardens are sprouting up in the backyards of Australians. For modern city dwellers, these small spaces offer something more than just free produce. Let's take a look. Community gardens have been tucked away in Australia's cities and suburbs for decades, but concerns about rising food prices and the preservation of urban spaces are bringing them back. When I drive past, I see people in here chatting and gardening together, and yeah, that's what it's really all about. These little patches of earth provide not only free produce, but a place for interaction and connection. While some are kept under lock and key, others operate as free-for-all. Open to anyone, it's a safe space for everyone to come and mingle and join together. And it was really about bringing the community together and connecting people in a day and age when we're not as connected. More and more of these projects are emerging with support from local councils, charities and other organizations. This is a marvelous opportunity for people who might feel a little bit isolated in the city, that they can come down and meet their neighbors. Martin is a resident of Adelaide. He has helped run the first urban parklands community garden there for over a decade. Like him, a lot of gardeners start out with no idea how to use their space. I didn't know anything about gardening, but you come down here and you meet people who have gardened for 40, 50 years and are a wealth of information, so you learn a lot just by being with them. Volunteers are the key to the success of these programs. It's giving back to people. It's wonderful in this particular community to be able to come together. It's so lovely when you think about that all the people around here can come in, they can get something free. It takes hours of work to keep the garden thriving all year round, but for them, the payoff is worth the effort. And vertical farms in the UAE are helping the country rely a bit less on food imports. Grown locally, indoors and without soil, produce stays fresh longer and doesn't rely on costly shipping. NTT's Andrew Thomas has more. This indoor vertical farm in Dubai covers 60,000 square feet. Thanks to LED lights, the vertical farm produces a wide variety of crops hydroponically, meaning without soil. We built this high-tech farm with the aim to bring high-quality, fresh, nutritionally dense food to the UAE populace and the greater Middle East area. In the vertical farms, plants are growing in uncontaminated rockwool cultivation mats, so products are free from chemicals and pesticides. Also, 90% of the water irrigating the plants is recycled. Vertical farming may not be the end-all solution, but it's definitely a key component, which can provide hyper-local, very highly perishable and sensitive products to the local market. With severe challenges from climate change, the pandemic and disruptions in global supply chains, food security is considered the key national priority for the UAE. The country is trying to increase food production by 30 to 40 percent in the next 10 years. We control almost 18 different variables in the vertical farm. We're able to pump out an exact quality throughout the year without any seasonality. And definitely in terms of the price, we're also able to commit to a sustained price. UNS Farm began its project in September 2018. It's planning to expand more in the country and in the region. Andrew Thomas, NTD News. And that's all the stories from the NTD business team and myself, Don Ma. Follow me on Twitter too. If you have any news tips or feedback for the show, email us at business at ntd.com. That's all for today. Thanks for watching and we'll see you tomorrow.