Goldman Sachs CEO BREAKS SILENCE about ex-employee’s alleged Epstein ties

The economy is solid. Financial markets look like they're in very good condition. The labor markets look to be in pretty good balance. We've got some work to do on the inflation front. Prices are way down. Prices are coming way down and we're gonna bring them much lower yet. I want inflation to come down but we have a real problem and the problem is named Donald Trump. He keeps bombing over in Iran. It drives up the price of everything you buy. Well for a look at the U.S. economy during the war in Iran and how it's impacting everything here Goldman Sachs CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors David Solomon joins us here in New York. Great to see you. Great to see you Brett. Thanks for having me. First 30,000 feet. You see a lot. How do you see the U.S. economy? The U.S. economy is in pretty good shape and you know we certainly were operating in a complex environment. There's a lot of change going on. We have this technology super cycle and you know that's driving change in business and in business activities. Geopolitics are complicated because of the situation in the Middle East. Of course U.S. China but when you get out of that and you step back and you kind of look up. I'm a huge optimist on the U.S. huge optimist on the U.S. with a three five seven year view. I think that there are enormously compelling characteristics of our economy, capital formation, entrepreneurship, all the tech innovation that's going on here and we're at the center of accelerating all that right now and that's that's definitely an engine for real productivity gains you know in the coming years but the economy is solid. Are there headwinds? Are there you know some things grinding? Absolutely the conflict in the Middle East has been a little bit of a headwind but you know I still feel pretty constructive about where we are at the moment. So the inflation numbers for June, the PPI, the CPI were positive. They you know outperformed where people thought it was going to be. Do you think that that whips back because of renewed operations in Iran? I think the numbers were solid. I think we've got to wait and see and we need more data. You know the you know certainly the energy supply chains and some of the derivatives that come out of the energy supply chains have some sand in the gears because of what's going on the last few months but generally speaking with a strong economy those numbers are encouraging and you know we'll get the next reading and we'll watch and I think you've got to watch into the fall. I think it's I think it's fragile and what happens from here will have an impact on how it filters through into the economy from short. Goldman exceeded second quarter profit expectations, deal-making picks up, market volatility is obviously a part of that. There is this disconnect between sometimes the big companies, the big firms and the mainstream and you know that seems to be splitting and causing maybe some political friction including the rise of democratic socialism in some corners. Well wouldn't surprise you you know I am a full-throated capitalist. Yeah. Our system's not our system's not perfect but but it's a fantastic system and the innovation in the economy, the capital formation in the economy allows for new businesses, for entrepreneurship to really flourish and I think one of the things I'm excited about is I do think these new technologies can benefit and allow more participation over time. I know people are very nervous about the change that they bring etc. There's always disruption from technology but what these technologies do is they make us all more productive and I think that's something to be excited about but it's gonna take some time to filter it into the economy. Do you think that message is out there about AI? You wrote this op-ed about the AI job apocalypse is overblown and went into that. Do you think that that message that that AI could be the tide that rises that lifts all boats is being absorbed out there? It's not in my opinion it's not being absorbed as well as it should and you know the narrative is shifting a little bit. You know certainly there was a community, the tech community had some messages about AI and I think you're seeing those messages start to shift. I wrote the op-ed because I heard people talking about what was going on in the labor market here and what would go on in the labor market. It didn't make any sense to me and of course I don't know there will be disruption from this technology as technology has disrupted jobs for decades and decades and decades but we also create with new technologies many new jobs. You know just to give a simple example that I think Americans can really tap into if you if you look back at the Internet nobody knew when the Internet was created in the 1990s nobody really knew that almost 20 years later a company named Uber would be created or create 1.5 million jobs in the United States and so you know the economy is very nimble it's very dynamic new businesses emerge new technologies emerge but I don't think that message is out there it's one of the reasons why I'm so optimistic about the United States in the United States prospect when you look around the world our innovation our entrepreneurship the way we are leaders in these new technologies these things will accrue to benefits and I think you know people gonna have to be patient there's gonna be change there might have to be policy and from it you know policy you know intervention if some of the change is happening too quickly but when I look at five ten years I'm very very excited about the prospects of all this for the US for politics the low-hanging fruit of populism there seems to be this push against data centers New York Governor Kathy Hochul is is one of them who's put a moratorium on them President Trump says that's a horrible idea what's your message on that well I you know I do think the politics around all this stuff is very tough at the moment and that requires both you know business leaders and ultimately political leaders you know to help explain you know why these things are important what's going to be done and how it's going to be done in a right way you know my hope with the moratorium is that it is just a moratorium that allows for progress to be made in New York because I think having data center development in New York will bring more jobs to New York ultimately but it's got to be done in the right way it's got to be done with the right incentives the right benefits for average Americans across the state by the way this is going on in Texas it's going on lots of other places too so there is a you know a political narrative out there that that is wants to slow this down a little bit it's gonna take some time to work through it do you worry that some of that messaging is coming from China because they don't want us to succeed or I am you know I'm not the social media expert in the room yeah but but there there are lots of issues with misinformation you know in the marketplace but you're concerned about Chinese competition overall I'm absolutely concerned the world is a very competitive place and one of the reasons why I think it's important for us to continue to invest in and accelerate our leadership in these technologies is it because if we don't others will catch up and exceed us and we don't want to be in that position so this is true it's changed there's transition it's important for us to kind of stick to the long-term goals and try to explain and bring people along and help them understand why this is going to be good for economic growth why productivity brings more people along and why people can participate more broadly in this over time Treasury just announced that 6.5 million families have signed up for these Trump accounts that's more than 1.5 million children eligible for the thousand dollar pilot contribution from Treasury your company announcing you're gonna contribute to for your employees is how do you see this is this a way of educating kids what is your what's your thought about so Brad Gerstner you know who really was the guy behind this came to me a number of years ago and spoke to me about this and I said to him I love this I think one of the greatest ways to help people understand you know how participation in markets works is to have them participate in the young age his vision was to create a technology or an application that would allow them to watch and look real-time but what they owned and how it compounded and I just don't think people understand the power of compounding and so I think this is an incredible program a credible initiative to have so many millions of newborn Americans participate in this and start to save and can really see what compounding can be in the stock market over time I think it's fabulous and Goldman Sachs is proud to be one of a number of companies that are on board to support this for our employees do you think that it's a counter to some of the socialism messaging well I again I'm a capitalist I believe in the free market system one of the ways to help people understand the benefits is to try to do things to help them participate earlier sooner and see those benefits over time and look at the system's not perfect you know things there are things that that are wrong and need to be balanced but I think this is a great program and Goldman Sachs is very proud to be supporting I want to ask you about your formal former general counsel up on Capitol Hill today Democrats accusing Kathy Rumler of of lying about her ties to Jeffrey Epstein there on the House Oversight Government Reform Committee criticism for her as the this investigation just Jeffrey Epstein is continuing they questioned Rumbler's credibility and the nature of her ties to the late convicted sex offender obviously you've dealt with that I just want to get you to to weigh in and comment on that well I you know I know Kathy was testifying today about her association with with Jeffrey Epstein you know which all occurred before she joined the firm in 2020 I Kathy left the general counsel position on June 30th and I didn't see the testimony today and I haven't read through the testimony so I really don't have a further comment on it other than that she's leaving the firm she's going to leave the firm we she's still advising we have obviously big complex firm and we're in a transition we will see a new chief legal officer sometime in the near future she's continuing as an advisor until we get that chief legal officer seated because that's in the best interest of the firm in our shareholders to have that continuity but as soon as that person is seated Kathy will fully leave the firm I wanted to ask you about that today I really appreciate your perspective because you have a great insight into the economy David thanks for being absolutely delighted to be with you thanks very much for be sure to like and subscribe for all the Fox News latest on YouTube and catch full shows streaming now on Fox one