Feed Drop: Masters of Scale: President Bill Clinton in conversation with Reid Hoffman
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Hey, possible listeners, it's area today. We're bringing you a bonus episode from reads masters of scale podcast a few weeks ago, read SAT down with former president bill clinton at the masters of scale summit to talk about the current state of american democracy, polar ization, and what's at stake in this election. I was there in the room, and IT was awesome to hear.

We'll be back in your feet on wednesay like Normal with more possible. But for now, tune into here, reads full conversation with former president bill clinton. Thanks so much.

Hi listeners. Tomorrow is election day. If you haven't already cast your ballot via early voting, please make sure to go to the polls on tuesday. There is so much at stake. At the masters of scale summit, I welcomed a very special guest to the stage to share the gravity of this year's election.

The forty second president of the united states, bill clinton, offered his insights on how he came to this current moment of divisiveness in the us. And what could come next. The consequences couldn't be greater. And he landed on a message of hope. I hope you enjoy this special stage program from our summit presented in full, unedited here on masters of scale.

You've got to have incredible talent .

at .

every position.

There are fires burning when you.

and then you go back to, this is an amazing.

easy way.

So no a.

so mike, have the time.

right?

We have absolutely, ten years later.

you do. And we have.

scale.

Wow, it's the president. IT is a great hour.

So hope you heard this conference.

Thank you. I'm honor to bear. I'm glad to be around people who were happy.

I know that one of things that everyone here wants to hear about is kind of how do you see the current state of what's going on america? And what should we be thinking about? How should we be what we be doing to try to help? Well, first.

if you are confused about where we are and why we are here, I want to join your cry. But here, so thank you, should think about IT in a larger historical sweep.

We are in a period that is somewhere between the run up to the civil war, but earlier, like a ten years before, and president tailors and magistrates and the condition in the country after a rather for haze became president and bought his way into the electoral college by promising to withdraw all the union forces from the south. So we exposed all these cultural other differences, and we became father for those who could profit immensely by exaggerated differences and trying to rub salt in the wounds. And that's where we are in a modern sense.

We also have been building toward this for a very long time. I an when president ison hl family was able to dispatch jomo carty and whole everybody's a communist and all let's stuff, he said, presidents that we may be the longest lasting, continuous democracy and human history. But he wasn't sure we could continue IT because IT required so much mental disabilities and so much trust in our institutions and willingness to defend our constitution and the way things you're done, and the willingness thought to live under the same set of rules, even know the people who like to rules and enforce them, like all humans who show the error.

But we had to believe in, and he wasn't sure we could make IT forever. So we might have a very long time, but at least sense dog, that seventies there has been a fresh assault on the whole idea of government and an attempt to profit more from our differences and what we haven't common. And then when new language took over the house for different business, he made a decision to basically try to make a White working class outside the south, like the White working class in the south.

And IT was good at IT. And we talk about all time. And one of this sometime, alas, there was a senator from the southern states said, I said, I never been answering about, I said once I said, why you get thank you so much and I was out of the office at the time he said, oh, he said, those that sense to do you way more than obama and I said, why? Said, because you betrayed the culture.

You were a White, Christian, heterosexual southers who was pro game rights, pro civil rights, thought we could all live together in harmony like he says, that was really bad for our brand. And one republican center once said that may I said, usually Carry, are I did anything wrong and that what water deal? Not a legal, even wrong he said, oh god, no.

He said, anybody with the tea for ran and now you did he said, that's not the point for is my people think you did something all and he said, you know, I hate the way we treat you. I really like you, but if we fought you fair, i'd lose every time. So I mean, i'm been living with this not longer than many of you have.

And I think the consequences now will be grievous if we continue down the road. Because to use the terminal and common problems, there are no gardens. If you watch the vice presidential debate the other night, the twin jet baLance and ten walls, I almost had a ordinary, you know, we weren't there.

No fact checkers now got forbid we should have them. But vans actually said there was no big deal when trump got elected on affordable character. I mean, he actually helped to stay alive.

And I said, you're god. This, which is a few years ago when i'd try to repeal IT for the sixty something time with no consequences. You may think it's great deal, but they they did try.

And IT met the end of protections for people with resisting conditions from excessive rates. And only john mccain up. And I think it's one reason his wife and a lot, a lot of people in erazo a are supporting commoner haris.

The present drop said he was loser because the guy capture. But he stood up and the people noticed, and as like as two thousand and eighteen that gave the republicans the worst beaten in in midd terms that had one hundred years. Now that he loses many states as we did, obama had many four and two thousand and ten because of the radical Jerry managing, which this supreme court has now said is just found the the new gerry manner.

Will all of you guys paying attention to bay? Basically the judges said, yes, you have a right to vote. Yes, you have a right to vote.

You have your vote counted. Yes, you vote to count about as much as everybody else's. Much has always been some year remaining, and it's just impossible to tell how much is too much. And after all, the constitution gives authority to graduate class to the states. In other words, forget about the fifteen the moment ah got the four ten minute that makes unbelievable.

And elena kagan, who wants orchard by administration roto brilliant is sending opinion, said, this is the first time in american history ever that the supreme court has found a right that has no remedy. And california, we just finished with its computer bottles that gave the republican three more seats. And new york cat court, or do the same thing.

So it's okay if he goes a long way, but not the other right. IT bothers me. So that's where we are in history.

Now in this campaign, we have a specific set of chAllenges. About forty four percent or so other people really want trump to be election. And they were form all the time, all three times, and they believe this.

He does. But there are about five, seven of the voters that are genuinely, genuinely undecided about, you know, the mega issues and trump's arguments pretty straight forward and slick. It's basically, I was president for four years.

We had two really good years. I'm not responsible for anything to happen in the pandemic. And we didn't have this inflation and we are planning new jobs.

Then button gets in and we have inflation. So you got to vote against them. Inform me.

And it's basically and if you listen to people, and this especially affects millennial across racial lands and especially people with famous, they have a hard time and buying groceries. They have a hard time maintaining their consumption habits, even if they ve gotten pay rise. And there have been unusual increases in food, fuel and housing.

So what do we have to do? We have to massage, has to explain that without being defensive. Acknowledge, yes, Prices have gone out. And you know, over a year ago, head nine percent inflation, totally unsustainable.

And then they had to say, what happened? IT happened because we destroyed all the supply chains in the cover epidemic, and we had inflation in every advanced economy. Owner, that's a reason, not an excuse.

So then what happened as we rebuilt the supply change, inflation started to drop. Fuel Prices won't way up, aggravated by the russia ukraine war. But we kept on with our all of the above strategy, which is not quite all of the above is basically safer natural gas harvesting and all the Green oceans and efficiencies.

And a lots of people make that a mistake. But where in a perier transition, and we can't make IT all up, in theory we could, without any natural gas or any carbon, the energy, but in practice we can. And the third thing is housing.

That started with the crash in two thousand and eight. I just came from him out, and they were, they were the third heart to hit state. Then people fled the state and financial institutions.

Ans came in a bottle, police empty units and now they own them. And their rates of sqa a there's a shortage of thousand. So what I think we should do is IT in the truth to say this happen, and this is what we want to do. What if they want to do?

What we want to do is have a federal Price gouging law, which we should have and should have had years ago, because we don't want to set Prices, but we don't want to be gauged either, and we know how to enforce them because lots of states have. We should have continue our energy policy, and if all possible, accelerated, we have an unlimited potential to support solar. And when we're trying to improve batter technology, we do can do geothermal.

We can do all the other stuff we have now, small scale pellet nuclear technology, where you can protect the fuel with ceramic c bowls, which will give them a much longer have life before, will be dangerous. And we can dramatically improve the efficiency of fracking as the standard johana and regularly check and what's their policy. And on housing, SHE wants to build three more, three million more units and give people help with their downpayment nts.

And the reason plan, drop the Price. So what's their policy? Their policy is they say nothing about the Price scouting world.

They are down crop promised in a meeting with the all companies, which was widely purposive ed, that he would repeal every single clean energy reform measure that have been adopted by president bush. And the third thing is they said really nothing about housing. So I think commonly, Harris, i've got a more compelling case and think a formatively they're Better.

You know i'm saying bad about ropy just say this is what we're for and they are not for that and is actually promised to repeal a lot of what has given us cheaper power. Every guy, even on muscles, so determined to do IT. That is greatest public service, I think, was the tesla.

It's a great car. And the people in a pratic copy IT my daughter and son in law driven or grandkids to the house this weekend in a riving, and, you know, and now must likes me on the power size so much that is cancelled, all of recharging stations. And I have a friend is a more than connected abies that the neighboring college classmate of mine, and he's from the american republic.

You just want the contract to put up all the recharging stations in queens that are gonna, regularly recharge the new york city taxi caves because we're going to have we have to be all Green and just a few years, that's what I think I think we should run on. Yes, is a problem. Everybody had IT.

We're doing Better than most people and you will feel that they have you just hanging around here because what have the truth? thanks. You're gone to get a rerun of what happened in twenty sixteen.

We told us for a year the economy, two years economy was terrible under obama, and we were produce eight million job a year with no inflation. IT was not terrible. But get often takes three years before people were admit that things we're getting Better before they can feel IT.

So in twenty seventeen, when actually the write of new jobs started going down a little bit, people felt, and you know, the bone prop is a genius that claiming credit. And here he's good at. We had a really Sunny day today.

他 那个 IT rained yesterday。 If I had been president, never what I happened. I mean, that's that's the world we're living. So we're about to make a decision in election that will have massive consequences for at least thirty years based on people's perception. Are lack there of if you're getting bad.

There was a great article in that one of the publications about five days ago, which measured obama, mean, measured common Harris and other shop on eight former economic questions, undecided voters. And his positions were substantially more popular than this. But they don't know what yet, in spite of all managements spent. So if you are interested in this election, then you wanna have any impact on IT, I recommend.

We took this horns loud as we can for the thirteen days that I love, and other day, one time of them, as a group of one hundred and seventy economies from right to left, that had analyzed all of their proposals, including present trust proposal, or ten percent across the world, terrorists. And we know that if we buy things that we're not gonna start producing here, that IT just been an head under the Price. So IT amounts to a four thousand tax increase, the most families.

So I think it's a lay down. He is got a Better plan for the most people. Hence, plan cost seven and a half tray and dollars over a decade hours cost three and a high train.

So here's this, twice as expensive and health, less than half as many people. But IT takes time to get that out and to get people to absorb IT. And we're asking them for somewhat of a leap of faith because the only thing that I see people saying is they do notice when gas Prices can go down anyway.

So a lot of people said our gas Prices are done, but they haven't felt other stuff. So our job, those of us who support her, is to get out and make this argument then on the terms of the threat to democracy and a woman try to choose and all that. The real problem is that people invite all that in, but they think, well, IT won't so bad.

Last time the cae stopped, but there are no guard rails. Now the supreme court has literally said that the president can do anything to anybody at home in amErica if it's tied to his duty, Robert, and make a lot in my mind, I for, and those to preserve, protect and defend the constitution. I think bill cleans a real threat of that.

I mean, after all, he opposed me. And you know why for hand against me? How there? And so i'm gonna send into the color of of supermax what he can do any harm is the enemy within, their idea of the enemy within.

Is anybody disagreeing? Now you're laughing. But if you were me IT when we got so far, but I have done this little fort. I've gone a handy just for today and I look.

And my blood drawn and center. And can you please at least send me to jail in the cell somewhere? I'll even go to go time.

But I just want, want now we're laughing, but you shouldn't make you so we'll see what happens. And my god, as I think we'll eat IT out, but I have no idea. We can lose all these close states. We can win them all. But the fundamental problem is he remains unknown. Quantity to people, and they don't know a lot of people who we are still trying to make up for, man, don't know what he has plans to do and had been given a chance to compare IT to what he has. So in the last thirty days, whatever I can do to stop that, our close, that gap, i'm going to do IT.

We'll be right back .

after a break.

Welcome back to masters of scale. You can find video of this talk from our masters of scale summit and more at our youtube channel.

So as the president, I think you made the most compelling case and among other things you've demonstrated that um unlike uh foreign sight trump you can uh conclude in cohesive argument, coherent sentences right and and do a in death analysis early it's A I thought .

about trying to dancer around stage and I couldn't bring my we appreciate the intelligence and the honesty one .

of the thing I think is the only point i'd add to your amazing descriptions I can ask you as a question is, you know, he keeps promising to do these terf s what do you think the impact on the american people would be of trumps .

thefts that would cause them about four thousand book to year? The average family, yes, according to these studies that, you know, IT could be awful little bit. But if you ask them about IT, they dismiss IT.

Don't I said all there were a lot of economists that we're force before. Look at great. Our economy was when he just wrote on the back of obama's last two years.

And they think that you're gona give a time again this time influence coming down is gonna come down more. And we still got a lot of benefits to read from the f structure bill. There are sixty thousand projects more west under way.

They'll be one hundred thousand before you know IT. They both promise an infrastructure bill but only but delivered one. And they think they'll get credit for IT, that they'll be out of climate credit.

It's only because I got elected that all these people, the side to finished, that I come up for the money. Now that I come, they are not and I made, it's crazy and I think you'll get to benefit of the chips, bill. And that chips bill is really important because I think IT also IT finally make us more competitive. But if I think IT will way out, that gives us a chance to stabilize our relationship with china and the minimized the incentive I have to take over time one. But that's also relies to what we do in your cranes.

So will see I did so um because I think you so compellingly and decisively answered red the election question um i'm going to move to a silicon valley favorite which is how and we mention chips um what's getting you curious around artificial intelligence and how do you from your position how do you think we should think about IT?

Well, we talked about this little before I came in, but I I made three decisions when I was presented that I thought worked out really well. And I might, all of women, less than ten minutes, not all for its same time. But when I came on, the force was I made alone to mexico when they were about to go broke, and eighty cent of the public was against IT, and we had just lost the congress to the republicans.

And on the dia had a mike. The decision, to be fair, good finger ich and bob goal were both fork. And they were both told when I read the python that morning that eighty seven of people against IT that I would be deposed unless they were through their support.

So we had to do IT alone from a little known fun available for a currency stable station. I did that. And IT worked out great in mexico, paid alone back three years early, and we made six hundred million dollars more on the loan.

And we wouldn't have if the government money just put, putting the government bonds. The second was when I decided we needed to accelerate the human genome project, that we finish the first map, and we got the best return on that investment that you can imagine. This is, but hundreds of more people.

And the third was decided to put GPS in to the public moment nine. And it's hard to imagine it's not being in the public go right now. But at the time, I had to listen to a argument about how the government had paid for all this research, and I was a defense related.

And the national skirt is at vertigo. You cannot keep this genie in the bottle. So why don't we put IT in the places it'll do the most good and see what happens. And we all live with that without thinking about IT now, so that I think that whatever happens, we need to think about A I in that way.

For example, for me, you know, i'm on promoting cil, and I spent an enormous amount time when I was present trying to close the gap between the economic opportunities available to rich and poor communities, a rural and urban ones. And you're in a position now where you can take everything has been learned about this locally and nationally over the last thirty years and put them into a system that will give us feedback and figure out what we should be doing to harmonize the economic and social development of america. It's not so easy to do, but I mean, to what do extension do IT, you will be cutting down on the intensity of all the social conflict we got. So I wish I know enough about to know how to do that.

Well part of the thing that I going to test you personally is you have the depth of intellectual curiosity um that continues um for how to navigate these things. So we only have you basically couple minutes left. Um what would you say that people could do your spending time?

Um you know helping people understand, you know Harris a package. The policy is why the intelligent, why she's dedicated to all the american people, why they have a long term impact. Um what would you say to an audience of s and journalists and so forth about what they should be doing to try to get that message out? What's what's the what's the what's the thing that we .

can do to help about what I think and all the swing states, I would make sure that all the major publications understand why you think that would be Better for the economy if you want long term. Like I said, it's hard for you demanded that studies show up in people's lives. I mean, I I ran four times as long as told him in the primary in one thousand nine hundred and ninety two, and I was about to go to new york for the convention. And I got a survey that showed that a majority of american people didn't know hilly and I had a child, and that had been out there, you know, one, the nomination over. And they also thought we were both from wealthy homes because we've gone to all of schools .

and spoken complete sentences .

is a feature yeah so I I think anything you can do to get people who are business, particularly businesses they created themselves, to understand your perspective about who is Better and why is good. The other thing you can do is do what i'm trying to do on a on an individual scale. You can phone bank and the nava and arizona and the other close states that are further east. We do have pretty good time communications now um well.

mr. President, um I speak for the entire audience and thanking you for the presidency, for the clinton global initiative and for your work on this election.

Thank you 老师。 Thank you. thank. you.

I just want to say one other thing. For weeks, if you look at IT, what are you uncertain about and what are you certain about the future? Think, forget about party.

We don't know how long we have before we weep and even bigger horn win because of climate change. yes. Therefore, we should be less than tolerant of ourselves for delaying what things we know we can do.

That will also diverse a fine screen. But we do know one thing, there is no country on earth in Better shape. And we are for the twenty first station that as we have more people creating more things that are relevant our future, a lot of that happening up here like we have.

And contrary as a rhetoric, our diversity is an enormous advantage. And so but most americans and both parties are not anti immigrant or anti chaos. yes. And you can help people understand what happened when you reform the immigration laws.

In one hundred and eighty three, we had more people moving across the national borders, not just to america, but all over european, in the middle east and and in africa in the last few years. Then in eight, tencent were war two. And that's a lot for people to absorb.

So you need to explain that to people. We cannot give up on our diversity, and we cannot forget. And even more important thing about diversity, diverse groups make Better decisions than homage.

In this ones are one games, 一下 修。 And I want you to be to upbeat and optimistic, but the next few years be either quite chAllenging or a run away success for america, depending on what we do in two weeks. 88岁。

Former president clinton offers up his experiences as insight for the future of the presidency of the united states. He used his own party's chAllenges as substantial but mountable, and seized the path forward as one that must include a hopeful future for Younger people around shifting norms for climate, jobs and technology. Thank you for listening and vote this coming election day, tuesday, november.

Masters of scale is a weight. What original our executive producer is, eve true, our senior producer is a the production team includes tucker 的 Garcia， maria machain, a random kin and Timothy lui. Special thanks this week to jail on job e.

Jeff berman, jodie dora and the entire masters of scale. Our senior talent executive is tiffanie stern, mixing and mastering by iron bastin's and brian pew, original music by ryan holiday, our head of podcast as lee toma lod. The script innards of read, often used in this episode, was produced using repeater with four consent and permission. Visit masters of scale dot com to find the transcript for this episode and to subscribe to our news letter.