Yeah

... show up, and they're gonna vote for the Republican candidate.

And the thing that, that is tough for, for Block, and you really saw in that, that last poll, is that his support really is Republicans, conservatives, Trump voters.

He really didn't do well.

When you break down the presidential vote from 2024, um, he, he did worse than John Loughlin in the lieutenant governor's race among voters who voted for Kamala Harris for president, and that's, that math isn't gonna work for him because obviously more people in, in Rhode Island voted for, for Kamala.

So he's got a small...

He's, he's fighting for a sm- he, he needs that larger chunk to eat into what He- Helena has, 'cause he's gonna have, even the Trump vote, some portion of that is gonna go to Aaron Goukeian, even if he did drop out.

[laughs]

How can we tell the story the right way to these young adults who can't relate because they weren't even alive yet?

You're absolutely right.

It's one of the reasons why we started the Michigan Remembers Fund.

I was very concerned about 20 years ago that we'd start losing the firsthand knowledge.

We would forget what had happened.

And I was also afraid that we would allow for revisionist history to come in, where people would be saying, oh, 9-11 was really about this, or it was really about that.

No, it wasn't really about any of those things.

Kind of talk about why keeping their specific names and personal stories alive is so vital to counteracting the intent of that attack.

this, or it was really about that.

No, it wasn't really about any of those things.

Right.

September 11th, there's a simple and very, very painful truth to that.

You had terrorists, evil people who tried to kill Americans because they hated America.

These people that died were innocent.

They didn't do anything wrong.

Kind of talk about why keeping their specific names and personal stories alive is so vital to counteracting the intent of that attack.

What changes if this escalates to 50 percent tariffs on Canadian vehicles and auto

parts? You're right, Lloyd.

And let me just mention for listeners there, maybe look at the Anderson Economic Group analysis.

Here's what was actually in the list.

of uh the tariffs that went into place feathers feathers down hockey sticks honey high incense bulbs lily bulbs fishing rods that was the list it really wasn't even the 20 billion dollars that the administration announced it was less than that it's a tiny fraction of trade uh I'm not defending it in terms of saying, yes, we should have done it, but it definitely wasn't something that should have caused the Canadian prime minister to say we were attacked or the premier of Ontario to use the playground insult about the president.

Again, I want the trade war to go away.

Michigan would be better.

I guess on a scale of one to threat level midnight, where are we in terms of this escalating and, you know, potentially rupturing this relationship long term with Canada?

What changes if this escalates to 50 percent tariffs on Canadian vehicles and auto

parts? You're right, Lloyd.

And let me just mention for listeners there, maybe look at the Anderson Economic Group analysis.

Here's what was actually in the list.

of uh the tariffs that went into place feathers feathers down hockey sticks honey high incense bulbs lily bulbs fishing rods that was the list it really wasn't even the 20 billion dollars that the administration announced it was less than that it's a tiny fraction of trade uh I'm not defending it in terms of saying, yes, we should have done it, but it definitely wasn't something that should have caused the Canadian prime minister to say we were attacked or the premier of Ontario to use the playground insult about the president.

Again, I want the trade war to go away.

Michigan would be better.

I guess on a scale of one to threat level midnight, where are we in terms of this escalating and, you know, potentially rupturing this relationship long term with Canada?

Mon Dieu mes amis, what does it mean to all of us?

Well, for those of us in Michigan, it means a lot.

Michigan is very close to Canada geographically and very close economically.

Many of us are north of Canada, which I commonly, uh, remind people when I talk to them in Canada.

Uh, and we make the cars that the Canadians also make.

Uh, they accept our, our agricultural goods, although with some tariffs.

Uh, and we accept a lot of theirs.

What about the concept I've heard thrown around, too, that Canada, uh, uh, gets the benefit of being the 51st state without paying the f- their fair share?

I will take a pause there and I will hand it over to Patrick to talk more about key considerations.

Thanks, Geetha.

Patrick Anderson with Pertivity.

I run our Microsoft Frontier team, our AI ML dev team, our AI studios, which we have three of, Chicago, Houston, Milan, and our AI factory.

So thanks for having me, everybody.

We've covered the strategic roadmap, how to think about the maturity journey, the six plays to operationalize the frontier firm.

and the phased action plan to get you from concept to scale.

I hope that these demos and this content was helpful, and you walk away with some golden nuggets.

you ever go to live comedy?

I do.

I do.

And I love going to like them.

And it's really, and you know, you just sparked up somebody else who I think does that really well.

Matt, Matt Matthews, I think is his name.

He's a Southern, he's a Southern boy, lives on a farm, but he's also a great singer.

So what advice would you leave anyone, whether they're a Wu-based business owner, practitioner, or just maybe a consumer, just a normal person listening to this, for them to get to know their villain alter ego and maybe integrate it? What advice? success stories or proof points that you maybe already dredged up with your friend?

W- what do you make of Scott Bessent doubling long-term bond buybacks to push these, uh, borrowing costs lower? What are the, the ramifications of that?

Well, first of all, you are right to pay attention to this.

It is one of the most obscure policy things that can ever be thought of.

I mean, you gotta think twice about what's the Treasury buyback program? What even is that? Well, the Treasury buyback program is an effort to use taxpayer money to buy bonds that were issued to pay for taxpayer spending.

It is a very inside baseball type of thing, but it also signals a serious issue.

And, uh, you, Lloyd, you just mentioned it.

It's $40 trillion now in US debt, and a lot of that has been gained since 2020.

What does that mean for workers who have jobs and those who are really desperately trying to find one?

What do you make of Scott Besson doubling long-term bond buybacks to push these borrowing costs lower? What are the ramifications of that?

Well, first of all, you are right to pay attention to this.

It is one of the most obscure policy things that can ever be thought of.

I mean, you got to think twice about what's the treasury buyback program.

What even is that? Well, the treasury buyback program is an effort to use taxpayer money to buy bonds that were issued to pay for taxpayer spending.

It is a very inside baseball program.

type of thing, but it also signals a serious issue.

What does that mean for workers who have jobs and those who are really desperately trying to find one?

could do that.

You know, I credit my musical upbringing in this because I've had so many choral teachers and vocal teachers and coaches just say, what are you, you know, don't rest when you're not singing.

Like the music is still happening.

Don't rest when you're singing.

And one choir director I had said, that's not a rest.

That's not a stop in the music.

That isn't It is an artfully placed silence.

meant to defame or insult any one person, entity, anyone or anything.

From an economic standpoint, would the tariffs address the problem or potentially create some new ones?

I think it's the latter here.

I mean, there's an argument that other countries, when they have that kind of smoke going across or other things, Michael Prast- auto help or compensate in some manner, another country, but in this case, the tariffs, particularly the auto tariffs, the steel and the aluminum terrorists.

Michael Prast- have really hurt American workers and American consumers, the Anderson economic group estimate is in 2025 12 and a half billion dollars absorbed just on parts and cars from Canada and Mexico and that's absorbed by Americans so.

Our analysis has been that overall the Section 232 tariffs and steel-aluminum tariffs have been expensive for the auto industry, for auto consumers, and I wouldn't suggest making them more expensive in, let me say, a misguided attempt to punish Canada.

How difficult is it to claw back from these kind of losses?

Well, we are going to claw back from it.

I mean, $4 billion is $4 billion, but Michigan's economy is not done.

From an economic standpoint, would the tariffs address the problem or potentially create some new ones?

I think it's the latter here.

I mean, there's an argument that other countries, when they have that kind of smoke going across or other things, Michael Prast- auto help or compensate in some manner, another country, but in this case, the tariffs, particularly the auto tariffs, the steel and the aluminum tariffs.

Michael Prast- have really hurt American workers and American consumers, the Anderson economic group estimate is in 2025 12 and a half billion dollars absorbed just on parts and cars from Canada and Mexico and that's absorbed by Americans so.

Our analysis has been that overall the Section 232 tariffs and steel-aluminum tariffs have been expensive for the auto industry, for auto consumers, and I wouldn't suggest making them more expensive in, let me say, a misguided attempt to punish Canada.

How difficult is it to claw back from these kind of losses?

Well, we are going to claw back from it.

I mean, $4 billion is $4 billion, but Michigan's economy is not done.

What has been that effect on Americans and Canadians alike, for that matter?

In my career, I can't recall anything.

an episode of more strain on the U.S.-Canadian relationship.

And it is a great relationship.

Even you heard President Trump mention there.

But Michigan and Ontario benefit so much from it.

And we've integrated a lot of our automobile manufacturing, not just under NAFTA and USMCA, going back to the 1960s to an agreement called AutoPAC.

Convicted of these crimes is pretty unsettling, if you ask me.

Have you done some analysis on that? What do you estimate those damages to be to the state of Michigan?

We have done some work on that.

And as you know, Anderson Economic Group specializes in doing these kind of economic impact, economic benefits.

A lot of times we're looking at positive things.

And we've had some positive things in our state recently.

But this is a negative thing.

I mean, we are a state that has tourism, agriculture, we have outdoor activity, and we have people in manufacturing plants where air quality is important.

been successful

But financially, we're going to be feeling the impact for maybe a long time?

We're going to be feeling it this year.

We've had our economists look at this episode of And again, wildfires have occurred ever since we, you know, had forests and land.

So not everyone is a disaster.

But this last episode was very painful, particularly for Michigan.

And we had our Anderson Economic Group economists and geographers look at the evidence across the 10-state region.

that was affected.

He's had an interesting tenure as ambassador because of what we just mentioned, all these issues with Canada from the Gordiao Bridge to the tariffs, et cetera, and so forth, Mr. Anderson.

Well, Patrick, you know, a lot of listeners, I'm sure, are asking, you know, if inflation is coming down, why doesn't it feel like anything is getting cheaper? I mean, what's the difference between inflation slowing down and these prices actually

falling? Darn good question.

Inflation is a persistent thing.

growth in prices, and prices are just plain prices.

So gas prices probably, you know, along with the price of a loaf of bread and things like that, metrics that people use as a shorthand for prices.

And with gas prices, at least, you do see them come down.

You know, they are lower now than they were at other times.

Do you agree with that assessment that the economy is in decent shape? And then how do we defeat inflation at this point when there are so many of these variables that are swirling?

Do you agree with that assessment that the economy is in decent shape? And then how do we defeat inflation at this point when there are so many of these variables that are swirling?

I agree very much with Kevin Warsh's emphasis here.

It's the Fed's job to have price stability, as they call it, predictable low inflation, something along the lines of zero to 2%.

And we, in fact, enjoyed that for a great number of time.

That's one of the reasons why the United States economy has been so good, why the US economy has grown so much is because we essentially took out of people's mindset, constantly worrying about whether prices were going to be jacked up quickly, because We had a long history, you know, going 20 years of, of very low, very predictable zero to 2% inflation, even sometimes negative.

So Kevin Warsh's emphasis is, is completely correct.

And I give him a lot of credit for not jumping up and down with one month gas prices going down, because if you jump up and down, when gas prices go down, you're going to be jumping more when they go up.

with it properly.

Can you explain what that is and what the Trump administration wants to change about it?

It's not uncommon for there to be a part that's built in Canada that goes across the Detroit River into somewhere in Michigan, gets put in a larger assembly, goes back across.

So you have parts that go back and forth across the border two and three times and even more.

And the question of, hey, where's that car built is never an easy answer when you're looking at a vehicle from an American automaker here today.

So the rules of origin are very technical items.

You hardly ever see them in the newspaper, but they matter a lot for trade between the United States and Canada, and they're really important for the auto industry.

If automakers had to move more production back to the U.S., how difficult and how expensive would that be?

The answer is they're already doing it.

Can you explain what that is and what the Trump administration wants to change about it?

It's not uncommon for there to be a part that's built in Canada that goes across the Detroit River into somewhere in Michigan, gets put in a larger assembly, goes back across.

So you have parts that go back and forth across the border two and three times and even more.

And the question of, hey, where's that car built is never an easy answer when you're looking at a vehicle from an American automaker here.

So the rules of origin are very technical items.

You hardly ever see them in the newspaper, but they matter a lot for trade between the United States and Canada, and they're really important for the auto industry.

If automakers had to move more production back to the U.S., how difficult and how expensive would that be?

The answer is they're already doing it.

Do agreements like this, how far do they get the auto industry in being more secure, given these threats can come out of nowhere?

It can't prevent threats that come from nowhere.

And of course, as we're sitting here, we again have disruption in the Straits of Hormuz.

But contracts like this are really important in terms of identifying and contractually obligating two parties to buy a certain amount of quantity, to reserve certain quantities for major customers, to assure quality.

And it does reduce the risks to customers.

the manufacturers.

And because of that, it also increases the comfort that customers might have if they wanted to say, go order a Ford for delivery months from now, just a little bit more likely to have a Ford actually show up when a Ford Motor Company has made contracts with the major suppliers.

Any idea of what Micron or the chip maker in this scenario gets out of a deal like this?

Do agreements like this, how far do they get the auto industry in being more secure, given these threats can come out of nowhere?

It can't prevent threats that come from nowhere.

And of course, as we're sitting here, we again have disruption in the Straits of Hormuz.

But contracts like this are really important in terms of identifying and contractually obligating two parties to buy a certain amount of quantity, to reserve certain quantities for major customers, to assure quality.

And it does reduce the risks to the manufacturers.

And because of that, it also increases the comfort that customers might have if they wanted to, say, go order a Ford for delivery months from now.

just a little bit more likely to have a Ford actually show up when a Ford Motor Company has made contracts with the major suppliers.

Any idea of what Micron or the chipmaker in this scenario gets out of a deal like this?

I pray we're not going to find out that people had inside information and used all of these ups and downs, and there have been so many of them, with the whims and decisions being made in this so-called war.

I sure hope so, but I will say it's not as if this is easy stuff to trade, and you can sit in your basement and all of a sudden buy a tanker and then sell it tomorrow.

I haven't done that.

These are all kinds of really specific types of oil.

Dubai crude, Indian basket crude, Mexican basket crude.

WTI crude and Brent crude, and the ones to look at, of course, WTI is West Texas Intermediate.

So I always look there because that's basically American crude.

this war, firing back up again, affect the world's oil supply once again? Or did enough ships get through for the minutes seemingly they were allowed to get through there that we can hold off some problems for a while?

And there've been so many of them with the whims and decisions being made in this so-called war.

I sure hope so, but I will say it's not as if this is easy stuff to trade, and you can sit in your basement and all of a sudden buy a tanker and then sell it tomorrow.

I haven't done that.

These are all kinds of really specific types of oil.

Dubai crude, Indian basket crude, Mexican basket crude.

WTI crude and Brent crude, and the ones to look at, of course, WTI is West Texas Intermediate.

So I always look there because that's basically American crude.

this war, firing back up again, affect the world's oil supply once again? Or did enough ships get through for the minutes seemingly they were allowed to get through there that we can hold off some problems for a while?

And there've been so many of them with the whims and decisions being made in this so-called war.

I sure hope so, but I will say it's not as if this is easy stuff to trade, and you can sit in your basement and all of a sudden buy a tanker and then sell it tomorrow.

I haven't done that.

These are all kinds of really specific types of oil.

Dubai crude, Indian basket crude, Mexican basket crude.

WTI crude and Brent crude, and the ones to look at, of course, WTI is West Texas Intermediate.

So I always look there because that's basically American crude.

this war, firing back up again, affect the world's oil supply once again? Or did enough ships get through for the minutes seemingly they were allowed to get through there that we can hold off some problems for a while?