“Policy has taken a back seat. Now you're rewarded for how angry you are or how you can understand people's legitimate angst, rather than saying, here are a set of policies that if we fix this, your anger will subside because your life will be better.”
Jeb Bush is the 43rd governor of the State of Florida, serving from 1999 through 2007. He was the third Republican elected to the state’s highest office and the first Republican in the state’s history to be reelected. He was most recently a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Governor Bush offers his views on the current discord in American society and where he sees paths forward.
With Baby Boomers aging, younger generations have taken the reins of American culture. There is an erosion of shared identity that has led to more conflict and antagonism among people and their politics. "It's bigger than the current occupant of the White House. I think it is a cultural phenomenon." Gen Z and millennials will likely spark a change akin to other major American movements like the civil rights movement and the 19th century's Second Great Awakening.
Governor Bush also laid out policy initiatives designed to address key drivers of inequality in the United States where we see the gap between ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ widening. Some of the biggest items include education policies focused on universal pre-K and equitably-funded schools, as well as universal broadband Internet, made only more important during the work-from-home period.
LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE
SPEAKER
Jeb Bush
43rd Governor of the State of Florida
MODERATOR
Anthony Scaramucci
Founder & Managing Partner
SkyBridge
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
John Darsie: (00:07)
Hello everyone. Welcome back to SALT Talks. My name is John Darsie. I'm the managing director of SALT, which is a global thought leadership forum at the intersection of finance, technology and public policy. SALT Talks are a digital interview series that we started during this work from home period with leading investors, creators, and thinkers. Really what we're trying to do during these SALT Talks is replicate the experience that we provided our global salt conference series, which our guest today has attended in the past, I believe in 2017. Welcome Governor Jeb Bush to salt talks. Governor Bush was the 43rd governor of the state of Florida serving from 1999 to 2007. He was the third Republican elected to the state's highest office and the first Republican in the state's history to be reelected, and he was also most recently a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. During his two terms as governor, Governor Bush champion major reform of government in areas ranging from healthcare and environmental protection to civil service and tax reform.
John Darsie: (01:05)
Under Governor Bush's leadership, Florida established a bold accountability system in public schools and created the most ambitious school choice program in the nation. Governor Bush really presided over the economic boom that now defines the state of Florida. He's also known for his leadership during two unprecedented back-to-back hurricane seasons, which brought eight hurricanes and four tropical storms to the state of Florida in less than two years. Governor Bush previously served as a presidential professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania. He also served as a visiting professor and fellow at Harvard University and executive professor at Texas A & M university. Has been awarded several honorary doctorates from collegiate institutions across the country. Governor Bush currently serves as the chairman of Finback Investment Partners LLC, as well as of Dock Square Capital, both merchant banks, which are headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida.
John Darsie: (02:00)
If you have any questions for Governor Bush during today's talk, a reminder that you can enter them in the Q and A box at the bottom of your video screen on Zoom. Hosting today's interview is Anthony Scaramucci, you might've heard of him. He's the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge Capital. He's the chairman of SALT. He also helps support Governor Bush's nomination for president in 2016 before eventually joining the Trump campaign. Anthony, I'll turn it over to you for the interview.
Anthony Scaramucci: (02:29)
Jeb, I don't know if you caught that, "You might've heard of him." Okay. That was the first shot at me to get the SALT off started. Okay. Just want to make sure you know that Jeb. You're in the middle of a crossfire. Okay.
John Darsie: (02:40)
I don't know if it's famous or infamous Governor, but people have heard of him.
Anthony Scaramucci: (02:43)
Here he goes. Jeb, I miss you, man. I miss you. Those were good days back in 2016. So I want to go back, way back and we always ask this question about something we couldn't really find about you on Wikipedia or something that's been written about you, but just something about your life that you would like to share with us that we just wouldn't know. You have one of the more well covered families in the world for that matter. As an example, why did you go to the University of Texas? Many of your family members, went to... Your dad went to Yale after Phillips Andover Academy. Why did you decide to settle in South Florida versus staying in Texas? Tell us some of those things before we get started on some of the core policies stuff.
Governor Jeb Bush: (03:27)
Anthony is great being with you, and John. I look forward to the dialogue between you guys, but first of all, the Wikipedia thing is interesting. When I was running, I was at a rotary club in Manchester and this guy gets up and I went on Wikipedia to see if I had anything in common with our guest speaker. It turns out we do have two things in common. Like me, he's an avid rock climber and he just wanted to be a Hollywood movie star with his crew. So it turns out there's a game unemployed kids that have Cheetos stains on their t-shirts in the basement of their parents' home, play the game of how long you can keep something that's not a fact on someone's Wikipedia page and they play this game constantly and so that was somehow deleted later on. What my Wikipedia page probably doesn't say is that I fell in love with my wife now married for 47 years.
Governor Jeb Bush: (04:22)
I fell in love with her at first sight when I was 17 years old. I went down to Mexico as part of an exchange program when I was in high school and it changed my life. My life is BC before Columba, and AC after Columba. I didn't want to go to... I wanted to go back home, so I went to University of Texas because-
Anthony Scaramucci: (04:42)
Was she a Florida resident Jeb, or no?
Governor Jeb Bush: (04:45)
Mexico.
Anthony Scaramucci: (04:45)
You met her in Mexico, right?
Governor Jeb Bush: (04:46)
I met her in Mexico.
Anthony Scaramucci: (04:47)
So why did you guys settle in Florida?
Governor Jeb Bush: (04:49)
Well, first we got married in Austin, Texas, and we went to Venezuela. I worked for a bank. I was the youngest bank rep in Caracas, Venezuela. I was 25 at the time or 24, and when I came back home, I worked in my dad's campaign in 1980 and now Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the world, but back then it wasn't. My children did not speak English as their first language. They spoke Spanish and I felt more comfortable. I wanted to be out from my dad's shadow, which was a stupid idea. My dad's shadow didn't stop at the Houston city limits. I wanted to do my own, be my own man, of course, but I also wanted a place that was more welcoming for my multi cultural, bilingual family and so I picked Miami and I had a great partner and off I went.
Anthony Scaramucci: (05:47)
Miami for that matter is blessed to have you, so was the state of Florida. As John mentioned, I think these are just important stats. You reduced taxes by $19 billion in the state of Florida. You veto $2 billion in spending and then while you were doing that, you simultaneously increase the reserves from $1.3 billion to $9.8 billion. You were known as the education governor, while you were doing all of that. So lay the groundwork for us about that time in your life, where you were executing policy that was actually enhancing the quality of life of people and take us to where we are today in terms of the body politic and how do we get back to that time?
Governor Jeb Bush: (06:28)
You know, there were a lot of governors doing bigger things back then in the 90s and the early 2000s, for sure. Politicians were rewarded for advocating bigger ideas and then executing on them. When I campaigned in 1998, I laid out what I wanted to do in vivid detail. It was very controversial at the time, but it gave me a mandate to do it and as part of it, I went to visit 250 schools as a candidate. I was all in, I mean and now, policy has taken a way back seat. It's the total back of the bus. Now you're rewarded for how angry you are or how you can understand people's legitimate angst and anger in this country today, rather than saying, here are a set of policies that if we fix this, your anger will subside because your life will be better. That change, is a cultural change. It was a very different when I was governor and we need to get back to it. Our democracy doesn't work, if it's all about yelling and screaming at each other.
Governor Jeb Bush: (07:31)
The debate was a good example of it, maybe... I mean, I don't know. It was heartbreaking. I couldn't watch the thing. It's so sad that we've gone so far away from the advocacy of ideas that can make a difference in people's lives.
Anthony Scaramucci: (07:46)
Jeb, just more of a philosophical question for me, because I'm really trying to figure it out myself and I'm curious about your opinion. Is it a top down thing or a bottom up thing or a combination of the two? Would better leadership make the difference or would better policy or what's your sense of all that?
Governor Jeb Bush: (08:05)
I think a lot about this because I do think it's bigger than the current occupant of the White House. I think it is a cultural phenomenon. Two things are happening, our culture has changed, the baby boomer generation, which I'm a part of is kind of run its course. There is a new culture that is more vulgar, more hateful, I think. More antagonistic, less caring about our fellow man and then there's a lack of a shared identity that is... The shared identity that really is the glue that keeps America going, has eroded. The combination of those two things I think, create the political environment, not the other way around. Politics is a reflection of our culture, but it isn't a leading indicator of our culture. I think there's a cultural shift that's going to happen and it's going to happen now we're in the midst of it.
Governor Jeb Bush: (08:59)
Hopefully it'll be more unifying, more caring, more loving. I think gen Z and millennials will lead the way. They're much maligned, particularly by people my age. I don't think we got a whole lot to be bragging about, to be honest with you, I don't know why we're out there saying how bad the next generations are, we've we screwed it up and now we have the politics we have. The good news Anthony is, in my mind at least, culture isn't linear it doesn't... We're not going to march off a cliff. There'll be a spark as there has been in the 60s, and there was in the 19th century with the second grade awakening that created the beginnings of the prohibition movement, the abolition movement, the women's suffrage movement, the progressive era of the early 20th century all started in the 1830s.
Governor Jeb Bush: (09:49)
It was a religious revival that did that and it was a unifying thing for the country. We'll have something and well it may not be a religious revival, but we'll have something that I think will alter our course for the better.
Anthony Scaramucci: (10:00)
I just want to ask another question on this topic, because I think you very insightful. Your dad's generation, Bob Dole's generation, they all went to war. There was 40-ish percent of the country that was either tied to a serviceman. They were either, the service men and women, they were either in the war or they were tied to it. I mean, my grandparents had two children in the war. My uncle Anthony, who I'm named after was on Normandy beach. He survived it, thank God, but they then come home and they feel that connectivity, whether they're in North Dakota, Florida, Texas, or New York, they were tied to each other and there was espirit de corps there. There was a to use an old word, a forgotten word, noblesse oblige.
Anthony Scaramucci: (10:47)
Growing up where I did, I don't even know how to pronounce the goddamn word, but you get the point that I'm making. Do you think that we've lost that national community? Do you think there's a way to get people to do that again, it doesn't necessarily have to be, go into the military, but is there some kind of unifying thing that we should be thinking about that helps us re-establish that national identity again?
Governor Jeb Bush: (11:09)
Yeah. It's a great question. The greatest generation certainly had that and that has eroded. The shared identity that defines what it is to be an American has eroded. I don't think there's one thing that we can do. I think there's a multitude of things we have to do. One is to restore civics education in our schools. You don't know your past, it's kind of hard to know the present or what the future looks like. Two, in the political world, I think we need to support the candidates that are trying to find a common ground to solve problems rather than make a point. They have to be rewarded. You can't just punish, you can't defeat people that are focused on the shared identity. Three, I think it's really important to recognize that there are two Americas and it's based on, not based on race as much as it's based on class.
Governor Jeb Bush: (12:08)
If you look at the book, the Charles Murray's book Coming Apart, it's just breathtaking the changes that have taken place in the last 30 years. The halves, those that have intact families, those that are college educated, those that have higher incomes are living the best life ever in American history, but there are a whole lot of people that are being left behind right now and the acceleration of technology into our lives is creating massive disruption. Not all of it wonderful. Not all of it at all. We have to focus on that as well. The people that are doing well need to recognize and get to know the people that aren't.
Anthony Scaramucci: (12:47)
Well, I mean, this is something that it was one of the key hallmarks of your success as governor was re-engineering the educational system in the state of Florida and obviously we both agree on this, that we need to even the playing field, K through 12, because if you grow up in a certain zip code or a certain neighborhood, you're getting a better public school education than others. Is there a chance we can do that Jeb? Is there a chance to have that national movement or is that has to be done at a local level? What's your opinion of where education is K through 12 right now? What would be some suggestions if a governor called you or a president or somebody said, okay, we got to fix this. What would you do?
Governor Jeb Bush: (13:29)
I'm the chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, and that's what we do. We work in 40 States. It is a state policy drives education. It's executed at a local level, but it should be a national priority. Doesn't have to be a federal government priority, just a national priority to recognize that if we're concerned about these big gaps that exist in America today that are creating all sorts of friction, cultural, and political and economic friction, then we better make sure every child has the capacity to achieve earned success and not perpetuate this two Americas that is now becoming evident for everybody. The things that we should do is to have, I think, a command focus on pre-K to three, so that every child is functionally literate by the end of third grade, because that's when you start reading to learn in fourth grade, you're learning how to read until third grade.
Governor Jeb Bush: (14:33)
Ending social promotion, putting a real emphasis, particularly on low income families, being able to access a universal pre-K with a command focus on reading is really important. That would be step number one. Step number two is there should be equity and funding. Some States have it, many States don't. There should be access to high quality schools and they should be funded equitably. Then third, I think there needs to be a recognition that college should not be necessarily the aspiration for everybody. The focus ought to be on college and or career readiness for high school. We did those things and made it a real commitment and parents would be given more choices, particularly low income families. I think we can resolve this.
Governor Jeb Bush: (15:21)
The idea that somehow we are systemically incapable of allowing people to rise up that the challenges are just impossible, it's so self-defeating, it's so dangerous. I think we have to kick that out of our discussions. The left seems to be obsessed with this, that life's not fair, therefore we can't do anything about it and that is dangerously pessimistic.
Anthony Scaramucci: (15:53)
Oh, and I agree. I think that the... You and I are obviously Republicans, I guess I'm not really even sure what that means anymore. We'd have to have that, that would be a five-hour conversation with us, not a SALT Talk, what it means to be a Republican at this point, but we have to have a platform of equal opportunity for people. I'm all for unequal outcomes, pursuant to people's dreams and ability to risk take and invest in capital allocate, but we got to help people get to the starting gate, roughly in the same lane, if you will, or the same starting block. You were obviously amazing at doing that in Florida. Let's turn it now to the pandemic.
Anthony Scaramucci: (16:33)
Now we have this pandemic Jeb, that is exacerbating this issue. Some of the richer people are getting even richer. Some of the poor people are getting poorer. A lot of economists are calling this a K-shaped recovery, where some are going this way and the other part of the country is going that way. Do you think we're in a K-shape recovery? If we are, how is that going to affect your ability to invest? How is it going to affect your ability to think about public policy?
Governor Jeb Bush: (17:02)
I don't know where we're going to end up, the letter is work in progress. So it's part of the alphabet for sure, but I don't know how we... It could be a W, it could be a K, who knows. I think what we do know is that whatever the trends were prior to the pandemic, this massive disruption has only accelerated them. So the trends of unequal... Just the fact that high-income people have been doing better because of federal reserve policies and many other things, and low-income people while they were doing better prior to the pandemic, the gaps were growing. So yes, I think there's going to be post pandemic, there's going to be serious issues about who we are as a society.
Governor Jeb Bush: (17:48)
I think there's solutions to this, if we recognize this to start with, but it's a serious problem. From an investment point of view, I see the trends, I see a couple of things happening that are important. We've been investing in how do you deal with frail elders in the proper way? The pandemic made it clear that institutional care, while it may be appropriate for some, isn't inappropriate for a whole lot of families. We need to find a way to provide support, particularly for low income frail elders in their home or in their community. I think there's going to be a big trend towards supporting companies that are doing just that and do it at a lower cost with better outcomes than the nursing homes. I think there's going to be a focus on the home in general.
Governor Jeb Bush: (18:41)
People are going to work at home. People are going to learn at home. People are going to use health technologies to prevent illness at home. That's another trend I think, in our society where there's good investing opportunities. Then finally I'd say that digital infrastructure, which is becoming the new interstate highway system, there needs to be massive investment there because with 5G coming, there's just all sorts of billions and billions of dollars will be invested in the digital infrastructure space and right now, if you want to look at inequities, if you live in the rural areas, very few people have access to broadband. If you are poor, you don't have access to devices and so if there's going to be another stimulus cares package, I think there should be a massive commitment to building out the digital highway, the digital infrastructure so that we can create a quality of opportunity in that regard as well, because the home is going to be a place where people do business.
Governor Jeb Bush: (19:47)
When Google says they're not going to reopen their campus for another year and a half, and these kids maybe they go back home, maybe they go back to Nebraska or maybe they go back to Indiana and they can't access broadband from their homes, even if they would want to live back there with a higher quality of life, that's wrong. There's ways to solve this with philanthropy, with government, with business, making strategic investments to deal with it.
Anthony Scaramucci: (20:15)
Before I turn it over to John, because we've got a ton of questions coming in from the audience, I just have two more questions. I want to take you to your current business, where you're now the founding managing partner of Dock Square Capital, middle market private equity investment. You just mentioned the stuff that you're doing in elderly care. Tell us a little bit about your business. Tell us what excites you in the morning in terms of what you're doing and where do you see the future of your business?
Governor Jeb Bush: (20:41)
We're a merchant bank. We do two things, we have partnership arrangements where we earn up into people's businesses by helping them grow. For example, Ag America is the largest non-bank lender in the Ag space. They'll do $1 billion worth of loans this year. We're significant partners in that, we're partners in a credit fund. That's part of our business. We're working with Investcorp to do a GP staking business. To invest in private equity firms, which is very exciting. The second part of our business is we co-invest alongside private equity firms where we open up our network to help accelerate the growth of the businesses. We've done eight of those in the last four years, we've invested roughly $240 million in separate SPVs.
Governor Jeb Bush: (21:33)
We use our relationships to help accelerate the sales and market opportunities of these businesses. Thank goodness, all of them in the pandemic year, have done well and that's just pure luck because we weren't in retail or other things that have just been devastated. They're thriving in this business and what I've learned is, if you're investing, leadership really matters in business and in public life. We're blessed to have CEOs of these businesses that are phenomenal and rose to the challenge. A lot of people cower in the corner, in the fetal position when a crisis like the pandemic hit and the real leaders step up.
Anthony Scaramucci: (22:11)
Stop talking about my colleague, John Dorsey, Governor. You can't can't do that. I mean, there's just too many people on the call. You're embarrassing the poor kid when you talk about the fetal position.
Governor Jeb Bush: (22:22)
I'm glad he stopped sucking his thumb and came out from the corner. So yeah, I mean, this is a great time to be in business in many ways because people rise to the challenge. What I'm finding is that our investors seem to be more focused on social impact now too. Whereas that trend may have accelerated in the COVID era as well. People want to make money, they want to make a difference too. They're seeing the challenges our country is facing and they want their investment to be purposeful as well.
Anthony Scaramucci: (22:59)
Jeb, my last question then John, I'm going to turn it over to John. I want you to, because you're a very thoughtful guy, your policy walk, you're an entrepreneur, obviously a professor. I want you to imagine the best of America and where America could be in 10 years. If we start thinking about the better angels of our personalities and the better angels of our experience as Americans and the greatness of our natural resources and et cetera. Tell us a vision of America that you think we could have, if we start to go in that more unifying direction?
Governor Jeb Bush: (23:34)
You know, during this really depressing time where our politics... We're in a serious economic hardships for millions of Americans. We have a pandemic that's scaring everybody. Our public leaders, haven't been able to rise to the occasion like you would want in a crisis like this. All of this is going around and it's depressing, but I think it was in April. I don't remember exactly when it was, my vision of what America is and can be, is watching SpaceX go to the space station.
Anthony Scaramucci: (24:09)
Sure. Over Memorial Day weekend, right?
Governor Jeb Bush: (24:12)
Unbelievable. Really cool outfits, very 21st century space suits. Elegant design, flawless execution, done at a low cost with massive innovation. To me, Elon Musk is what the inspiring future for our country and we need more of them. We need to embrace entrepreneurial capitalism and risk-taking and focus on the positive aspects of how that creates more opportunity for more people than any government program ever created. We've got to get back to our roots and then we need to make sure that everybody has the capacity to rise up and not say the life circumstances make it impossible. If there are problems, fix them for crying out loud. Stop all of this, them and us, and start focusing on we. Look, I'm confident that, that's going to happen.
Governor Jeb Bush: (25:06)
I hope it accelerates after the 2020 election. I'm not smart enough to know what form this will take. It may not even be political. It might just be all of us kind of saying enough of this, we're going to begin to solve this at the local level. America's a bottom-up country. Maybe we start solving these problems and coming together community by community, and then the world... Washington changes because we've changed. That's my hope and I think there's enough goodness in America and there's certainly enough entrepreneurship in America to imagine a really bright future.
Anthony Scaramucci: (25:40)
Well, I appreciate all that. I appreciate that sentiment and I pray for that outcome Governor. I'm going to turn it over to John. We got a ton of people here that want to ask you questions.
Governor Jeb Bush: (25:51)
Okay.
John Darsie: (25:51)
Yeah. It's interesting that you brought up SpaceX because it was one of my follow-up questions I was going to ask is that not only is SpaceX taking people to the International Space Station and going into space, they're also launching thousands of satellites into space to build and basically blanket the earth in broadband. Lockheed Martin had a similar program that they shut down in 2001 because they didn't see a viable financial future for it, but what types of things can we do and what type of things are you doing in your business to create that digital highway infrastructure that you mentioned? Starlink from SpaceX as one example, first responders in Washington have been using it to get broadband in remote areas as they try to fight these fires, but what are initiatives that you're either investing in or that you've seen or observed that you think are particularly promising that we should put resources into?
Governor Jeb Bush: (26:41)
We've invested in the largest privately owned cell tower company in the United States called Vertical Bridge, that's expanding dramatically. A very efficient business. The amount of infrastructure necessary for 5G is exponentially more than what we have now and so small sales sites, as well as the traditional towers are going to be in high demand, irrespective of what SpaceX is doing with satellites, there's a need for all of that. I think there's a role for the federal government to, as Eisenhower did with the interstate highway system, to deal with the places where it is not economic. Particularly the rural areas where there's a need for major investment. This can be done in partnership. This can be done with private investing. It could be done in all sorts of ways with the government support.
Governor Jeb Bush: (27:37)
There's lots of philanthropy that's interested in this as well because of the education challenges. It is shameful that we have something like 20 million kids that can't access learning because they don't have either a device or they can't afford access to broadband. Hopefully, when we get to the point where there a consensus on how to provide support for people when they're hurting that this will be an integral part of it. I've been talking to lots of people around the country about this, and there seems to be a consensus that it's important to do it and accelerate it.
John Darsie: (28:12)
We're presenting this Q and A in partnership with strategic worldviews, Jeb, you might've met our partner, Robert Wolf at a recent SALT conference. Robert was an economic advisor under President Obama. He's a contributor to the Fox Business Network and he's hopped on, he's going to ask a couple questions. Robert, you want to introduce yourself to the audience [crosstalk 00:28:29]
Governor Jeb Bush: (28:28)
Hey, Robert. How you doing buddy?
Robert Wolf: (28:30)
Jeb, good to see you.
Governor Jeb Bush: (28:31)
Good to see you too.
Robert Wolf: (28:32)
God, even this Dem will say, boy, do we miss you?
Governor Jeb Bush: (28:38)
I like it. Your Room Rater, you got about a 9.2.
Robert Wolf: (28:42)
You know, because I'm on Fox, they don't even root rate us.
Governor Jeb Bush: (28:48)
You've noticed that there's bias even on Room Rater.
Robert Wolf: (28:51)
I'm telling you. It's unbelievable. [crosstalk 00:28:54]
Anthony Scaramucci: (28:54)
I'm very happy to tell everybody I got a nine out of 10. For some reason I was at a one over a Scaramucci, which was like 111, but then something magical happened and I'm now nine out of 10.
John Darsie: (29:05)
You've repented, that's why.
Governor Jeb Bush: (29:06)
That's because of your opinion on Donald Trump.
Robert Wolf: (29:09)
It's amazing, we always bring it right back to Anthony. I have two questions, one political and one putting your governor hat on. On the political one, it's just more of a question that I think a lot of us Dems, this Lincoln project has exploded where former Republican advisors are getting together and forming their own, we need to take our party back. The first way to do it is literally help Joe Biden win. I mean, theoretically, that's their first move and then that is, I guess, the transitional phase to go back to what would be deemed a conservative party again. That seems to be sane. One question is why aren't people like yourself and other former politicians, not like Lincoln project where it's more on the public relations advertising side, but why aren't some of the more sane, smart, intelligent ones coming together like military has or economists have to kind of say, hey, listen, this is not the right direction, how do we take it back? So that's one question I'm just curious why people and thought leaders like you and the GOP aren't kind of taking our party back. [crosstalk 00:30:31]
Governor Jeb Bush: (30:32)
There are a lot of people doing that. I'm at the stage of my life where I've taken a step back from politics. I'm disgusted by what's going on in Washington. It's heartbreaking to see, but I've got a business. In fact, a lot of our investors ask, are you going to get back in the fray because they don't want me to... I'm running a business that requires my attention and I have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that our investors do well. I call out the ugliness when I see it. I don't have to do it... I mean, I haven't been drawn into the thing like Anthony is doing. It's just because it's not helpful to get into that situation. Now, the question about the Lincoln Project, it' interesting.
Governor Jeb Bush: (31:26)
I think their ads are great. I don't like the fact that they feel compelled to take out all Republican senators along the way. I think we could be in a very dangerous situation if in the fact that vice-president Biden is not capable of saying, I can't tell you what I'm going to do as it relates to stacking the court. I mean, the simple answer would have been no. We're not going to do that, but he hasn't been able to give a yes or no answer on that. That's kind of disturbing. Eliminating the filibuster rule across the board could create some real problems. I'm a conservative, I believe in limited government. My party has abandoned those principles temporarily, but I can't embrace the idea of just massive power being shifted to Washington D.C. so I'm conflicted.
Robert Wolf: (32:19)
I would respond, but you're the VIP and people don't really care to hear me, so I'm going to. My second question is more I'm asking-
Governor Jeb Bush: (32:25)
I hope, whatever you were going to say, I hope you're right. I hope that you were going to say that Biden's not that kind of person, that he'd be able to withstand the pressures of the progressive wing of your party and he'll be back to trying to find consensus. That's my prayer.
Robert Wolf: (32:39)
I think he'd be the best unifier for our country without question. The difference is going to be more sad.
Governor Jeb Bush: (32:46)
From your lips to God's ears, brother.
Robert Wolf: (32:48)
Now Florida, so Anthony and I and John and [inaudible 00:32:52] we've recently had on both Ron Klain and Tom Bossert to really... We've actually had them on three times collectively to talk about COVID and everything that they said away from the PPE and the masks, I'm not talking to the healthcare side, but on the economic side, this is where I think Joe Biden's been right to get a real recovery it's predicated on reopening and getting our arms around COVID and the pandemic. We all are seeing every day what's happening in Florida. Where the current governor is reopening the state completely with many of us look at without any real protocol and actually we see a lot of the mayors just really disagree. We know that the numbers are going, the cases are going up and up and Florida. How do you see the right balance between the pandemic and reopen and getting the economy back, which is really the $1 million question that we all need to know and no one has solved for.
Governor Jeb Bush: (34:00)
It's been disappointing that this has become part of the hyper partisan, hyper political kind of environment. The president hasn't been able to do what you want a president to do in a crisis, which is to lay out the facts, show some empathy for the plight of a whole lot of people that are stuck in their homes and lost their jobs. Give people a sense that helps on the way, give people hope and constantly communicate where we are. In the absence of that, there's a lot of confusion. For example, Florida's infection rates are actually per a hundred thousand are now in, they're like at 11, which is nearing where New York. New York's bumped up to about five. The States with the biggest problems right now are in North Dakota, Iowa, they're all in the upper Midwest for whatever reason.
Governor Jeb Bush: (34:55)
I think the bias ought to be to take action, to open, to have schools open, but have a policy that you're constantly adjusting based on the conditions on the ground. If there's an acceleration of an outbreak, you... I mean, Florida's a big state, so Miami is very different than Jacksonville and if there's nothing going on in Jacksonville, we need to open up the economy. Think of all the people that can't get a job because they're stuck at home. Think of the amount of drug abuse, child abuse, domestic violence has increased during the pandemic. Now for some, in my life, I'm the healthiest I've ever been. I get to spend the night with the love of my life. I haven't traveled. Haven't left 33134 zip code and for a lot of people like me, this is the most productive time that we've been in, but there are tremendous number of people that have to get back to work.
Governor Jeb Bush: (35:51)
So taking all the social cost into consideration and explaining why it's important to open up and de-politicizing it, I think is important. Ultimately the answer to this is that we need a vaccine. I mean, this isn't going to go away. I think up North, there's going to be bigger outbreaks as people have to stay at home, right? Stay inside because of weather. We need a vaccine. Once again, there needs to be clarity about its effectiveness and how it's going to be distributed. There should be discussions about that constantly so that people have confidence that a vaccine is going to work. How's your business?
John Darsie: (36:39)
Robert, I think you're muted.
Robert Wolf: (36:44)
Jeb, business is going well.
John Darsie: (36:44)
There you go.
Robert Wolf: (36:44)
We'll take that off at another time, but we're kind of doing what you are doing, but it seems like you're doing that or bigger scale, but we're hanging in there. Thank you.
John Darsie: (36:53)
Governor, I want to talk about agriculture. You mentioned that Ag America, which you're involved in is one of the biggest non-bank lenders to the agriculture space. Obviously a lot of farmers have suffered as a result of the trade wars that we've found ourselves in and other factors as well, but what's the future of American agriculture and how do we get it back on track?
Governor Jeb Bush: (37:12)
Well, the future of American agriculture is full of technology, full of innovation, full of increased productivity. We've led the world consistently, and I think we'll continue to do so. I also think that the rural parts of the United States are going to be... Are going to have a renaissance. People are beginning to realize that densely populated urban areas with all sorts of challenges, crumbling infrastructure, increases in crime that have taken place may not be the best place to raise a family and so I think what will support agriculture is that there'll be in this vast country, you'll start seeing people moving to smaller towns and smaller cities and that'll support agriculture as well. The Trump administration has provided massive support, direct support to agriculture, which I don't even know if the money has been appropriate or it's just by executive order it's going out.
Governor Jeb Bush: (38:17)
That can't be sustained over the long haul. I mean, there has to be markets around the world that we regain. The Chinese, if they fulfill their commitment, that in and of itself will sustain major parts of Florida, the US agriculture. The protein increase in Asia by itself will create longterm stability. I'm pretty optimistic, but what we found is that land prices and in the agriculture areas across the country, haven't gone down. Farm income has, but it's been supplanted by government support.
John Darsie: (38:59)
We have a question that came in from a great friend of SALT, Steve Case who's the former founder and CEO of AOL. He now has a fund called Rise of the Rest that hits on some of the themes that you just mentioned. They're investing in secondary US cities outside of Silicon Valley, outside of New York. They're investing a lot in places like Florida. As governor of Florida, you help diversify that economy and you help turn into a startup state that's still perpetuated today as well. What were the key lessons that other States should consider, so the country as a whole can create more jobs and create more entrepreneurship and those sort of forgotten places where quality of life isn't rising quite as fast as in other primary US cities?
Governor Jeb Bush: (39:41)
Well, Steve could answer that question better than I for sure, because he's investing exactly in the kind of communities that have the potential to rise up and I admire him greatly for doing it and I hope he's making money along the way so it's sustainable. I think he will. Look, the first objective for any state or any community is to make sure that every person has the building blocks to be able to pursue their dreams. Not everybody's going to be an entrepreneur, but if you at an early age, you'd learn how to read, and then there's rigorous learning along the way, you have options that otherwise you won't have. First and foremost, in every corner of our country, there should be a command focus on raising the bar as it relates to education outcomes.
Governor Jeb Bush: (40:33)
Those are the places where you're going to find the talent to be able to create the startup economy. Secondly, I think it's going to become clearer and clearer that along with talent, you can't make it impossible for people to get the first rung of the ladder. Silicon Valley is a phenomenal place for the creation of businesses, but if you're a 25 year old kid, you may not ever be able to buy a home. The costs are so extraordinary and so I think business climate issues are really important as well and making life affordable for the next generation is hugely important. Florida's done a pretty good job on that. We have work to do as it relates to our K-12 education system.
Governor Jeb Bush: (41:24)
Our colleges, I think, are doing a very good job of affordability. There's room to go. Everybody can do better for sure, but I'm proud of the fact that our business climate is as good as any in the country.
John Darsie: (41:39)
I know you're focused largely on investing in the United States, but we have a question from, I think one of our members who's outside of the United States. Your brother certainly didn't believe when he was president in isolationism. He believed in going and helping solve issues related to disease in places like Africa, he believed in trying to spread American values around the world. As a country, how should we be looking at our neighbors in Latin America? Your wife, you met her in Mexico, she's Mexican American. You studied Latin American studies in college. How should we be thinking about Mexico and Latin America in general, how we can either from a public, government perspective, invest capital in those places to improve outcomes, to help address some immigration issues and asylum issues, how should we be thinking about that?
Governor Jeb Bush: (42:27)
Well, living in Miami where 60% of the three plus million residents were born outside the United States, most of whom were from Latin America or the Caribbean. In effect, we live in Latin America in many ways. I think the first step is to say Latin America is not the backyard, it's the front yard. That it's not a place exclusively, where there are problems and that we build a wall to keep them out, it's a place where there's huge opportunities economically for our businesses and opportunities for us. If you think about how the world is changing, one of the biggest change could be the de-linking of China and the United States, not just technology, but supply chain issues. Certainly politically that de-linking is happening. There's a broad consensus left and right, that we need to change our relationship with China.
Governor Jeb Bush: (43:26)
China is not waiting for us to figure that out, they're doing the exact same thing on their side. So re-shoring a lot of manufacturing will be a huge opportunity, and Mexico is poised to take full advantage of that. The United States should embrace that. We should have a North American strategy as it relates to energy, as it relates to all sorts of industries in our front yard, but administration after administration has kind of... Basically it's been benign neglect and it's too bad because it's South of our border and to the East of us is 600 million people with big opportunities to grow where the United States could play a constructive role in dealing with some of the social challenges, but also view it as a huge economic opportunity.
John Darsie: (44:21)
Governor Bush, thanks so much for joining us. I'm going to leave the last word to Robert and Anthony, if they have any parting words or thoughts for you.
Anthony Scaramucci: (44:29)
Jeb, in your honor, look what I got. I got the Key West mile, zero cup. I'm drinking my coffee from this morning. God bless you and the state of Florida. You're an amazing guy. I miss you Jeb. I hope I get a chance to see you soon.
Governor Jeb Bush: (44:42)
Yeah, let's go have a dinner somewhere where they allow us to do it.
Anthony Scaramucci: (44:47)
Yep. Well, I mean, we're going to go back to Rao's because I know you love that place. Jeb. I know you love the stories that are told up in Rao's. So I'm going to bring you back there, Jeb. I promise.
Governor Jeb Bush: (45:00)
All right.
Robert Wolf: (45:01)
We've chatted about it, but for the people who don't know this, and it's one of my most famous pieces of memorabilia, but your dad, when he handed Babe Ruth the book at Yale of his autobiography. 1947 or 48, when your dad, Papi was the captain of the Yale team, I have that signed by your dad and I think that is one of the best, maybe the best ever intersection of politics and sports. I remember you and I have talked about it. I think it's over your dad's fireplace at the museum. It's one of the great pictures and whoever has not seen that, it's worth looking up, but Jeb maybe end on, everyone loves the Babe and everyone loves your dad.
Governor Jeb Bush: (45:54)
Yeah, exactly. This was after he served in the military, went back to Yale, they had little George W. he was born in New Haven. The most Texan of my siblings was Connecticut Yankee. Babe Ruth was very frail, kind of on his last years. It was an amazing picture, who would've known. You're right, my dad was captain of the baseball team, by the way, they got to the finals, the NCAA finals two years running when he was captain. They lost to USC one year and I think University of Oregon or something, another West Coast school. Yale was a baseball powerhouse under the leadership of George H. W. Bush.
John Darsie: (46:40)
Fantastic.
Robert Wolf: (46:41)
As always, thank you.
Governor Jeb Bush: (46:42)
You bet. Thanks, Robert.
Anthony Scaramucci: (46:43)
God bless you Jeb, Okay. We'll see you soon.
Governor Jeb Bush: (46:45)
Yeah. Thanks guys.
