The Fed, A “Fool,” & College Politics 5/8/25

Squawk Pod

CNBC

Business News, News, Investing, Business

4.2 • 543 Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

President Trump has reached a trade deal with the United Kingdom, and the Federal Reserve is keeping interest rates steady. The decision prompted a post from President Trump calling Fed Chair Jay Powell a “fool,” but one that he likes. CNBC’s Steve Liesman breaks down Chair Powell’s commentary and the latest economic data. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) discusses US competition in AI ahead of his hearing with tech leaders including OpenAI’s Sam Altman and AMD’s Lisa Su. Sen. Cruz discusses the Trump administration’s tariffs and price controls on Medicaid drugs. Plus, Scott Bok was chair of the University of Pennsylvania’s board when the university’s president was pushed out after the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023. In this episode, he discusses the shifting culture and politics both on and toward U.S. college campuses. Sen. Ted Cruz - 22:42 Scott Bok - 36:10 In this episode: Ted Cruz, @SenTedCruz Steve Liesman, @steveliesman Becky Quick, @BeckyQuick Joe Kernen, @JoeSquawk Andrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkin Katie Kramer, @Kramer_Katie

Transcript

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0:00.0	Bring in show music, please.
0:03.0	Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer.
0:07.0	Today on Squawk Pod.
0:09.0	Senator Ted Cruz, leading an artificial intelligence hearing with tech leaders like Sam Altman behind ChatGPT,
0:15.0	it's a scary world, but we'd like to be first?
0:19.0	If we're on that path, if they're going to be killer robots,
0:22.9	I'd rather they'd be American killer robots.
0:25.0	I don't want killer robots,
0:26.4	but we're not going to suddenly stop progress just because we're scared of it.
0:30.6	And the political storm on America's campuses,
0:33.6	Scott Bach chaired the University of Pennsylvania board
0:36.0	at the time of the October 7th Hamas attacks in Israel,
0:39.3	and the wide response following.
0:41.1	He weighs in on the high stakes facing higher ed, now with or without the president's support.
0:47.4	Tax-exempt status is really the nuclear weapon.
0:50.0	I mean, if you have to start paying property tax and your donors can't get tax deductions,
0:54.2	I mean, I think it's sort of game over.
0:56.4	Plus, the U.S. Federal Reserve stays put on interest rates.
1:01.2	Today, the Federal Open Market Committee decided to leave our policy interest rate unchanged.
1:06.2	In spite of some name-calling, Chairman Jay Powell, but we do the math on the economy and the market
1:11.6	reaction to up and down tariff policy.
1:14.8	If the stag is more than the inflation, you would have cut.
	...

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