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Quest Means Business

Business Leaders Round on Trump Immigration Plans; Stocks Suffer September Sell-Off; Lego Chairman Explains Layoffs; Cantor Fitzgerald Raises Funds for Harvey Victims. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired September 05, 2017 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:00:00] RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: Closing bell ringing on Wall Street. Wells Fargo ringing the closing bell. Dreadful day on the Dow and in the

markets. The Dow is off more than 1 percent. We'll get into the details of what happened. A tepid perhaps firm gavel that's brought trading to a

close on Tuesday. It is today, 5 September.

Tonight, sad, cruel and self-defeating, business leaders are livid with the White House plans on immigration. As you've seen, markets are selling off

as President Trump prepares to talk tax reform. The chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald is on our program tonight.

And Lego hits the reset button, laying off workers. You'll hear from the companies chairman tonight.

I'm Richard Quest, live in the world's financial capital New York, where I mean business.

Good evening, tonight, an extremely busy day. As you can see the Dow has fallen more than 1 percent as we wait for President Donald Trump to meet

with top Republican allies on tax reform. We expect to hear and see that meeting during the course of this hour. And it all happens at some of the

country's top chief executives are showing their art wage at the President's decision to rescind the so-called "Dreamers" program. You're

going to hear from Mr. Trump and we expect he'll talk about the decision to rescind DACA. Will bring you his comments as soon as we have them.

We begin though with business leaders who have rounded on the Trump administration's decision to rescind this immigration program. With

today's announcement, President Trump pulled the rug out from under those youngsters who are part of the DACA program. He launched the grenade,

pulled the pin and through to Congress. Lawmakers there now have a six- month grace period, a window if you like, to replace DACA. The President outsource the announcement to his Attorney General, Jeff sessions, who gave

three reasons for the decision.

First, he said, that the decision by President Obama originally was to create DACA was unconstitutional. Bypassing Congress shows disrespect for

the legislative process. President Obama simply didn't have the authority to create DACA.

Second, the program is not in the interest of the United States and its citizens. He said the U.S. cannot afford to admit anyone who would like to

come to the country. And a humanitarian crisis setting up a program in the first place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF SESSIONS, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The affective this unilateral executive amnesty among other things, contributed to a surge of minors at

the southern border that yielded terrible humanitarian consequences. It also denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those

same illegal aliens to take those jobs. As a candidate, and now in office, President Trump has offered specific ideas and legislative solutions that

will protect American workers, increase wages and salaries, defend the national security, ensure the public safety and increase the general well-

being of the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: The business roundtable criticized the decision to end DACA without a legislative solution in place. Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan wrote, when

people come here to learn, work hard and give back to their communities, we should allow them to stay.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg called it a sad day. He said it was particularly cruel to punish immigrants who were encouraged to come out of

the shadows and trust the government.

And Microsoft's General Counsel President, Brad Smith, called on Congress to pass legislation that would protect Dreamers before taking on tax

reform.

Democrats and many business leaders are firmly in favor of defending DACA. Republicans are split. CNN's senior political analyst, Mark Preston, joins

me now. Mark, one question, this has bedeviled me all day -- if everybody agrees that Dreamers were brought to the United States innocently, there

are the innocent victims, that they have been here legally and so on and so on. What is preventing -- what arguments are preventing Congress from

simply passing a one clause bill making Dreamers legal.

[16:05:00] MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, we might actually see that. In fact, just about an hour or two ago we saw two

Senators come out, bipartisan, Democrat and Republican, Dick Durbin the Democrat from Illinois, and Lindsay Graham from South Carolina, come out

and reintroduce their Dream Act that would deal with the situation we're in right now. We also know there's another bill that is being introduced in

the House of Representatives. We expected to be introduced in the Senate that would deal with this issue. But I do think you take it one step

further, Richard, and say, why was this done today at a time right now where the United States has to get the funding so it does not default.

That it needs to put in place a budget. That it has North Korea to deal with at this point. And then we have emergency funding right now that is

going to be in the billions for what we've seen in destruction down in Texas, Louisiana and quite possibly by the end of the week down in Miami

due to hurricanes.

So, why is President Trump doing this right now? There is a lawsuit that was filed by state Attorney Generals that in some ways the White House is

saying prompted them to do this. But it really was not very smart in timing.

QUEST: so, Mark Preston, let's switch roles. Answer your own question. The word in Washington is what? Why do you think they did it today?

PRESTON: well they did it today because Donald Trump on the campaign trail said that he was going to do it and he did it. But he did it in a very

circuitous way. He punted. He handed the ball to his Attorney General, a hardline person on immigration, had him go out and deliver it. And by the

way, let's note, his Attorney General is not one of his allies right now. His Attorney General is very much estranged. And he kicked the ball down

to Congress. To your point now, is it going to be something that Congress can get done and get done cleanly in order to get this out of the way. The

only have six months. A lot of people think that's a long time. It's only six months.

QUEST: All right, but hang on. In the past hour President Obama's released a statement -- former President -- calling the decision cruel and

self-defeating. Kicking Dreamers out won't lower unemployment rate, or lighten anybody's taxes, or raise anybody's wages.

Now, the former president has been punctilious about not criticizing his successor. But he's left no doubt here. Cruel, self-defeating, no legal

reason. Again, Mark Preston, President Trump is right in one respect, you're knocking to get massive immigration reform in six months. But you

can get a one clause bill through legalizing Dreamers.

PRESTON: Right, no doubt. And look, there's an incredible amount of blame that needs to lie with Congress, both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol

Hill. They have failed to get any kind of immigration reform through. But for President Trump to do this right now at this point in time doesn't seem

to make any sense. And then of course, there is talk that Donald Trump might try to use this as a way to get funding in order to build a wall

along the Mexico U.S. border, which most people in Congress think is a waste of money as well.

QUEST: Mark Preston, thank you sir. Appreciate it as always.

Now the Trump administration's decision comes at a time when American businesses are struggling to find qualified workers. We're talking about

800,000 people here all either in their 30s or just now some in their 40s. There called the dreamers and they are now at risk of deportation. 75

percent of them are employed. And that means if you get -- if they are deported, the worst happens, then that would exacerbate the skills

shortage. It's estimated 30,000 a month as the their permits come up for renewal and are not renewed. 30,000 employees a month would be yanked from

the workforce. If all Dreamers stop paying federal taxes, then the federal government could lose some $60 billion in revenue. Remember, these are

people who have work permits. Who are working and paying taxes. Have no criminal record whatsoever, and were brought here not of their own

volition. According to the conservative Cato Institute, 60 billion. The economy will take a hit, $280 billion over the next 10 years.

With me now, Carlos Gutierrez, served as a U.S. Commerce Secretary and chief executive of Kellogg Corporation, also a founder of Republicans for

Immigration Reform. Mr. Secretary, always lo lovely to have you to put this in perspective. I'm going to ask you the same question that I asked

Mark Preston. It's a bedeviling complex issue with a very simple solution. Congress has to just pass a one clause bill making them legal.

CARLOS GUTIERREZ, FOUNDER, REPUBLICANS FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM: Well, that's true. Although, as we've known past these bills can get very large

very quickly. So, you're going to have to answer questions like, well if you have a Dream Act. For the Dreamers what happens to the parents? Do

the parents have to leave until the Dreamers become citizens so they can come back in? You know, there are details. In these things can get very

large very quickly. But if the congress focuses on one thing, the Dream Act, the very narrow part of immigration reform, we can do this. If we

start expanding it little by little, then I don't think we'll get it done and then will have a national tragedy on her hands.

QUEST: There was no need -- I know about the court cases and the attorneys generals suing. But most people suggest there was no need for the

President to launch this grenade to lob it today.

GUTIERREZ: Yes, I agree. Look, on one hand the official posture was that this lawsuit by the nine attorneys general was hanging over their heads and

they had to make a decision today. I think that's a bit of an artificial dateline because why should the president be worried about a lawsuit. I do

think that there something to this idea -- we have such a model congressional agenda. We've got the budget. We have Harvey funding.

We're going to have funding for Irma that's on her way. It's going to hit us this weekend. It's all going to get very modeled and this just throws

one more variable in. Perhaps the President is thinking about negotiating funding for the border wall. There must be a reason. I'd like to think

there was a reason and that it was thought through as to why they did it now.

QUEST: Let's be clear on this. If now that the Attorney General has rescinded be 2012 original instruction, DACA rule, if Congress does not

solve this in the next six months then in a rolling cascade of permit expirations these people will have to leave. We are talking here about a

cruelty of quite a magnitude for the U.S. government to impose.

GUTIERREZ: I agree, Richard. And this will be a stain on our reputation forever. You know, this will be talked about in the same breath as when we

said Irish need not apply. When we had the Chinese Exclusion Act. This is one of those big bad immigration decisions. Now, the thing is the

President has given us some room in a sense that he didn't just rescinded it. He said you've got six months to get it into law so that we don't have

to argue about whether it's constitutional, whether it's not. And that's an opportunity that we have to take up. The fact that Lindsey Graham would

say that he's behind this that gives me a lot of comfort.

QUEST: So, now where does the pressure on Congress come from now? Because obviously, the dreamers, obviously from the usual sources. But CEOs,

Zuckerberg, Pichai, all the major CEOs of all the major tech companies, Tim Cook and so. They are also putting pressure now on Congress to do

something. Look at all the comments today relate from CEOs telling Congress to do it. Is that strong pressure?

GUTIERREZ: Well, yes. On the one hand, you have CEOs and then you have Democrats. You have moderate Republicans and there are quite a few of them

who are outraged by the decision, see an opening in this six-month time period. It's hard to find people who are out there saying this is great,

this is great. You know, the thing here is, did we get rid of DACA? No. We've given DACA a six-month time period. And that's the important part.

So now, if people don't like that, then that means they didn't like DACA to start with. And you know, this idea of constitutional, maybe some people

believe that, Richard. But there are people who are nervous about the fact that there are kids coming into the country that will be legal who look

differently. Who speak a different language or whose family spoke a different language. There is xenophobia in this country and that's why

this is an important debate. Who are we as a nation? And how do we want to be perceived? And I think this Dreamer debate is perfect and this is

the time to have the debate now on a national level.

QUEST: Mr. Secretary, good to see you as always, sir, very grateful.

GUTIERREZ: Thank you, pleasure.

QUEST: Thank you, sir. To the markets. They fell out of the gate and they plummeted throughout the day. The last point was just after lunch

about 30 to 40 points or so. But rallied just a tad, down 234, almost the worst session since about May, down 1 percent. It follows North Korea's

most powerful nuclear test to date. Paul La Monica is here, our guru. I mean this was a horrible day whichever way you look at it. All right, so

Boeing, Goldman, UTX, United Technologies, they were the main protagonists in terms of the fall, but it was pretty widespread.

[16:15:10] PAUL R. LA MONICA, CNNMONEY CORRESPONDENT: It was very wide spread. I do think it's important to note a couple of things here,

Richard. September, for whatever reason, it is often the worst month for the stock market. We are off to an ugly start for this particular

September. We're still up 10 percent for the Dow and S&P 500, nearly 20 percent for the Nasdaq this year. So, is this a blip? Or is this the

beginning of a long overdue -- according to many on Wall Street -- correction. Not saying a bear market, but we've not had a noticeable pull

back in some time.

QUEST: Right. But if there is the possibility of a correction, what is it based on? Other than a whim a prayer. Is it based on fears of North

Korea? Is it based on the U.S. economy and worries about the U.S. economy? Is it based on the failure of an administration to get his policies

through? What is its base?

LA MONICA: I think it's probably one in three. North Korea, the threat of a nuclear attack -- I think people obviously, are worried it, but they're

not hiding in a bunker so to speak. I don't think that's was driving the market down. The economy is actually still in pretty decent shape.

Because consumers and corporations have been holding up their end of the bargain. I think it's number three. If President Trump and his own party

can't figure out getting a debt ceiling extension, if they can't get a budget approved to keep the government open, that's a bigger issue I think.

QUEST: And finally, briefly, today is obviously a grim and ugly day in the market. I'm guessing that the next two or three days are absolutely

crucial to see whether there's a bounce back or that there is a solidifying of this selling.

LA MONICA: Yes, I think it will be various, because we are in a bit of a news vacuum. We don't have a lot of corporate earnings. So, people are

going to pay even more close attention to these bigger picture geopolitical concerns that are out there.

QUEST: As always, sir.

LA MONICA: Thank you.

QUEST: Thank you. North Korea's belligerence is posing a threat to commercial airspace. After the break the head of the International Air

Transport Association, IATA, makes a plea to Pyongyang over the missile tests.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to say that the emergency is probably higher in this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: U.S. markets, taking a quick look at how the Dow Jones Industrials traded, down 234 points, to roughly 1 percent. All the other major indices

were firmly lower as well on the back of what we'd seen in North Korea and worries about the economy.

The White House says while all options are on the table with North Korea, talking to Pyongyang is not a priority. It just comes after the Russian

President, Vladimir Putin, said diplomacy was the only way forward. Now, he's in China, Mr. Putin, and he's warning that military hysteria would

lead to a global catastrophe. And that sanctions on North Korea are useless.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[16:20:09] VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The use of all types of sanctions in this particular case is useless and

inefficient. As I've told one of my colleagues yesterday, they would rather eat grass then abandon this program if they do not feel safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Jill Dougherty is in Moscow. Jill, clearly Mr. Putin is right in the sense of the North Koreans would rather eat grass then get rid of their

nuclear program. But talking hasn't worked so far. And hasn't got anywhere except to a nuclear North Korea.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Right. And I think you know, you've got a number of things going on. But I think what you are looking at is

Vladimir Putin positioning himself in the middle as a voice of reason on this. Looking on the one side at the North Koreans, condemning that.

Condemning any type of development of weapons, et cetera, and calling it provocative. And then on the other side, saying that, he called it

military hysteria, coming unnamed, but from the United States, is causing grave concern, a global catastrophe. So, what do you do? I mean, the

Russians and the Chinese have this idea, that's called freeze, freeze. The North Korean stop their development and the United States and their allies

stop these military exercises.

But so far, nobody except them, it seems, is really supporting that. So, you have to talk. And obviously, at this point, there's no talking. So,

he continues to push this, but -- you know, by the way, tomorrow, which is Wednesday, he will be in Vladivostok here in Russia, in the far east. And

he'll be meeting with the South Korean President. Perhaps they could come up with something. But it appears that their positions are quite far

apart.

QUEST: Jill, surely the issue here is that Russia and China are both allowing their -- to some extent -- domestic concerns over U.S.

encroachment towards their border. To sort of cloud their issue -- I could understand the legitimacy of their concern. But at the end of the day they

are allowing the North Koreans to get ever closer to an even bigger nuclear arsenal if something isn't done.

DOUGHERTY: That's true. But I mean, if you look at it from their perspective, it is worse to have North Korea collapse and create all sorts

of havoc than it is for them to have a bomb. And for the Chinese and also for the Russians, to have let's say, a reunited North Korea and South Korea

united in one country under the influence of the United States would be bad too. So, that is the way they look at it. Whether we agree with it or

not.

QUEST: Jill, longer-term here. President Putin has the same vested interest in North Korea not having nukes as just about everybody else. He

obviously realizes that. Is it realistic that he positions himself as a middleman, bearing in mind -- I don't want to say pariah, he's not a pariah

-- but bearing in mind the way in which he's viewed at the moment, say for example, by the G7?

DOUGHERTY: Well yes, I mean I take your point. But also, I think, you know, Mr. Putin is somewhat skillfully using and exploiting the policy of

the United States, which is very unpredictable at this point, very changeable. And he senses, you know, a weakness where he can present

himself as the adult in the conversation. He is doing in a lot of different places. He's done it in Syria where they now have had some

victories in Deir ez-Zor, and he is saying, you know, Russia is able to do that. We have this crisis and there are other crises where they are.

Whether the world necessarily agrees with it that he is that force, you know, for moderation. That is what his mission right now is to prove that.

QUEST: Jill Dougherty who is in Moscow. Thank you, for that.

Now earlier in the program I told you we would be watching for what the President Donald Trump is to say as he meets with top Republicans on tax

reform. And whether or not he makes any comments about the DACA rescission. Details which came out earlier today. We've now just received

the tape for what the President said as he met his colleagues.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much. I'm pleased to be here with majority leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul

Ryan, and the two leaders are our tax writing committees, chairman Oren Hatch and chairman Kevin Brady. Who have been working on tax reform for

months with our Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin and Gary Cohn, our National Economic Council Director.

Since the day I took office, we've added 1.2 million private sector jobs and a lot more than that if you go from the time we actually got elected

November 8. Including 125,000 manufacturing jobs and we just had another very good month for manufacturing and the jobs. You probably also that.

But if we're going to keep this momentum going and allow the economy to truly take off as it should, it is vital that we reduce the crushing tax

burden on our companies and on our workers. We pay the highest tax of any country in the world on businesses. And we can't keep doing that. Last

week I repeated my principals for tax reform. First, we must make the tax code as simple as possible. It's extremely complex. It's not fair and

it's extremely hard to understand. So, we want to make it as simple as possible.

Second, we must provide tax for middle-class workers and families. Third, we must restore a competitive edge which we've lost. We're doing fine, but

we lost the competitive edge. You see what's going on all over the world. So, we can have real job growth throughout America. We can't be the jobs

magnet of the world if we continue to tax our industries at rates 60 percent higher than companies in other countries. Can't do it.

And finally, we must bring back trillions of dollars that are currently parked overseas. We have in my opinion, $4 trillion, $4 trillion. Massive

amounts of money that can't come back to our country because of our tax code and because of the rates. And this is more than just tax reform, this

is tax cutting to put it in a very simple term. We're going to cut taxes. We're going to reduce taxes for people, for individuals, for middle income

families. We're going to reduce taxes for companies. And those companies are going to produce jobs.

Tax reform that follows these principles will create millions of new jobs and ensure that more products are stamped with the very beautiful letters

and words, made in the USA. It's time to lower our taxes. Bring back our wealth and make America the jobs magnet that it can become an pretty

quickly. It's really, in other words, an expression -- I don't know if too many of you have heard it -- it's time to make America great again. Has

anybody heard that expression ever?

So, that's what we're doing. We're making America great again. You see it in the numbers. You see it with jobs. You see it with companies moving

back in. There are moving back in at very, very big numbers. They're coming back into our country. And you haven't seen that for a long time.

So, we're very proud of that.

So, were now going to discuss tax reform and tax cuts and I appreciate you being here. Thank you everybody, very much. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, how much is DACA going change this country's heart?

TRUMP: Well I have a great heart for the folks were talking about. A great love for them. And people think in terms of children, but there

really young adults. I have a love for these people and hopefully now Congress will be able to help them and do it properly. And I could tell

you, and speaking to members of Congress, they want to be able to do something and do it right. And really, we have no choice. We have to be

able to do something. And I think it's going to work out very well. And long-term it's going to be the right solution.

Thank you, very much, everybody.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: There you have it. President Trump both on dreamers and tax reform as he's meeting leaders of Congress. We saw Mitch McConnell and Speaker

Ryan there with him. We'll talk about the issues that the president was talking about both on dreamer and tax reform coming up after the break.

Howard Lutnick, with Cantor Fitzgerald, good to see you, sir. We've got an extended session with you. We need your wisdom. Join me in the C suite.

[16:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There is more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment. The chairman of Legos tells me why the companies building a

reset button. And the chief exec of Cantor Fitzgerald tells me how his company is helping Houston recover from the devastation of hurricane

Harvey.

Before that this is CNN and as you would expect on this network, the news always comes first.

Hurricane Irma now has sustained winds of 297 kilometers per hour according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It means Irma is now tied to the

second strongest storm ever in the Atlantic. So, where is it going? It could slam into Antigua, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico by Wednesday.

Still not clear if and when it will reach the U.S. mainland of southern Florida.

Mixed messages from Russia on whether it will support further sanctions against North Korea. The Russian UN envoy says Moscow is ready to consider

a new resolution drafted by the U.S. Earlier President Putin said sanctions against the North would be useless and ineffective.

The Danish inventor accused of murdering a Swedish journalist aboard his submarine is to remain in prison for the time being, at least another

month. A court order on Tuesday came after Peter Madsen testified, Kim Wall died accidentally when a metal hatch hit her head. Madsen said he

panicked then dumped her body at sea. Wall's headless torso was found near Copenhagen last month.

President Donald Trump says he wants to make the American tax code as simple as possible. You just heard him talking about it. He's meeting

that the moment with cabinet members and leaders of Congress. He said he's going to reduce the burden on workers and families. Speaking a few moments

ago, he estimated $4 trillion needs to be brought back from oversea havens by U.S. companies overseas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We can't be the jobs magnet of the world if we continue to tax our industries at rates 60 percent higher than companies in other countries.

Can't do it.

And finally, we must bring back trillions of dollars that are currently parked overseas. We have in my opinion, $4 trillion, $4 trillion. Massive

amounts of money that can't come back to our country because of our tax code and because of the rates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:34:45] QUEST: Howard Lutnick is with me, chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald.

HOWARD LUTNICK, CEO, CANTOR FITZGERALD: Great to see you.

QUEST: Good to see you, sir, all right, let's start with tax reform. That's what the president was talking about. Easily said, difficult to do.

[16:35:00] Do you have any hope that there will be comprehensive tax reform this time around?

LUTNICK: I just think it's hard, permanent tax reform requires too many votes. So,

he can do the ten-year deal, as you remember, but he can't do permanent. He just won't have the votes, so, temporary can be done and the corporate

stuff can be done.

QUEST: The problem with doing the corporate stuff it that would be seen as just a bonanza for CEOs and Wall Street. And you have got to get both

sides, Middle America, after all, Middle America, the middle classes are the ones feeling they have been shafted.

LUTNICK: True. We agree, getting tax relief for Middle America is a great idea for Donald Trump and he should try his darnedest to do it. And he

should be able to get something done, it won't be permanent but he should get something done. But the idea that he was just talking that you guys

put on which is letting American companies bring back oversea money, bring it back to America and have it here will be great for America.

QUEST: Providing there are certain restrictions on what they do with that money, surely. Because what you don't want them to do if they bring

trillion of dollars is go in a share buyback bonanza or binge. Don't you think there has to be some restriction in terms of how that money is spent?

LUTNICK: I think when the government tries to be nuanced. Imagine those magic words, imagine the government came here and said, Richard, we are the

government, we are here to help. Those are the scariest words. I think the right answer is right now companies earn money overseas, leave it

overseas. So, they don't pay the higher tax rate here. If they just made it equal people would bring that the money here. And let them do what they

want with it in America, it would be better for America. He's right. Everyone agrees it would be better for America if the tax rates were

similar. It is not that hard think about.

QUEST: You have witnessed the difficulties of policy versus Wall Street, of government versus big business. Most of your professional life. It

never happens.

LUTNICK: True. True. The right idea is too difficult. Too nuanced. Think about this. They will cut the rate of taxes and they will get rid of

all of these deductions, and then another government will come in and say can you believe this tax rate is so low. Hike it back up. We know the ebb

and flow. The fact is that it would be better if he could reduce the corporate tax rate. It would be better if he could reduce the rate on

Middle America, it would be better.

QUEST: DACA, the decision today to rescind the DACA program, 800,000 people, I can see you are already, I mean, this is a nation of immigrants.

LUTNICK: It is a nation of immigrants, plus, you have got young people that have educated here. The concept of educating people and then saying,

well, you have done beautifully in your education, now leave. It's just not clever, our immigration policy is just not clever. If we educated you,

we should have you stay, have you pay taxes and have you part of our economy. Right? You want to change the rules going forward, change

whatever rules you want. But the people who have been educated here, we have to support them and we have go to make them part us.

QUEST: Can Congress do this in six months? It is back to your first answer, everybody, Howard, says, yes, we need to do something. But can

they, do it? And will business step up to the plate. I have seen lots of great chief executives' statements today but now will they follow through

with political pressure?

LUTNICK: No. They just won't. We know they won't. Because the fact is what looks good and what is good are two different things, and we have seen

it time and time again. What looks good and is good is two different things. We need to have a reasoned immigration policy that doesn't chase

people out when they have been educated here. It is dopey. We don't put people through our education system and raise them from children and say,

OK, now you should leave. This is dopey.

You want to stop them from coming in, fine. Make the rule a rule for tomorrow. Take the people here who are American and have been raised in

America and educated in America and embrace them. Make rules for them. Say, you know what, you want to stay, be a taxpayer, be successful here.

Work your tail off and we love you. Maybe you have a rule, small rules are OK, big rules, again, the government, it's dangerous. If they came in the

door and wanted to help, I'd be nervous.

QUEST: We'll talk about the government helping after the break. You are not going anywhere. Hurricane Harvey, devastating damage, you are helping

but it reminds you of a previous time of 9/11 and what happened. So, we will talk about that after the break.

[16:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: More than a week after Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc across Houston in Texas. The city is beginning the process of getting back to

work, 95 percent of the city is now dry in terms of the waters have receded. Major businesses and universities are re-opening today. Cantor

Fitzgerald is running a fund for the victims. A 100 percent of the contributions will go as direct financial aid to those who need it. And

will be matched by up to $5 million of donations made by Cantor Fitzgerald's leadership. Howard Lutnick is with me. Tell me about the

mode of this, 5 million from yourselves matched by other donations. What are you going to do with that money?

LUTNICK: We are going to fly down over 100 volunteers and adopt elementary schools. And these are poor elementary schools, they are in poor areas to

begin with, and they have been hammered by this flooding. We are going to give each kid's family $1000. We give them a prepaid Visa card. And we

give it to them, and we have learned let the families decide how to use the money the best. I don't want to go bring down water, bring down batteries.

I want to give them a $1000. If they need to buy a new bed or a new couch or buy their kid a toy. I don't want to be their parent. I want to be

their helper.

QUEST: I can understand the natural generosity of people wanting to help those in need but this is deeper for yourselves because of what happened

with your company in 9/11 when more than 60 percent of your company, your friends, your coworkers were wiped out in that sense. Tell me how that

dreadful event influenced you to do this over the years.

LUTNICK: We lost 658 of our 960 New York employees. And I pledged to give them 25 percent of everything we made. But what I saw was that the most

miraculous people were mothers with small children.

I will tell you a story, I called one of my, one of the widows. And I said we are having a memorial service, would you come and speak? And this was a

couple weeks after 9/11.

She said, I can't, I am going to Disney.

It shocked me. Disney! Her husband just got killed, she has got two small kids, and I said, Disney, how could you go to Disney? She said I have been

crying every minute of every day. And I need to suck it up and give my kids a happy life. So, I am going to Disney and I am going to cry on the

inside but I am going to smile on the outside.

And that is when you realize you got to out the money in the hands of parents. And let them decide. When you trying to be parental and buy

batteries and water, that is lovely, but let's give them money let them buy couch or a toy. Whatever they need. We give $1,000 to each family. A 100

percent goes away, we cover all expenses, we give away 100 percent of everything we raise.

QUEST: And in terms of the challenge of doing this of course is when you do it, and you have done it on several occasions now. Hurricane Harvey is

the next one.

[16:45:00] Are you ready to do something similar, god forbid, if it is as bad as

people think it might be, Hurricane Irma?

LUTNICK: Definitely. I mean look, when you have had your heart broken like we have, we know what it is like to feel absolute devastation, so,

when did this for Hurricane Sandy, we gave 10,000 families $1,000, $10 million we gave away, and you see these peoples' faces. I got to tell you,

it is the most uplifting thing that you can do. All they say, this is their paperwork. I was harmed by the hurricane. That's it. No paperwork,

no nonsense. We give them the money. We say good luck. Take care of your family, and that it's so we did it 10,000 people for Sandy, 2000 for

Oklahoma when the tornadoes came through. We want to be there when people are hurt, so we can be just show them that people in New York have been

through it, they love and they care.

QUEST: You are in an industry that prizes perhaps badly and erroneously and morally bankrupt money more than most things. I think we could agree

that financial world --

LUTNICK: The morally bankrupt stuff, but OK, keep going.

QUEST: What I am getting at here is that your perspective has rebalanced that moral compass, that barometer to what life is really all about. Would

you agree?

LUTNICK: I would agree, 9/11 made it crystal clear what is important in life. People you love is what's important in life. Caring for other human

beings is important. Cantor Fitzgerald survived because we wanted to take care of the families of the people we lost. You can't take care of 658

families. And do anything for them unless you have a real company. And so, we feel, OK, let's go back in. we are going to fly in hundreds of

volunteers, last time Jet Blue gave us a plane, and they flew us all down. And our volunteers just filled gymnasiums and we just we gave away the

money, and it was the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. And we just want to give money to people who have been hard hit just to show them

someone else in the world cares about you. And that is what we're going to do, and by the way, you guys were kind enough on CNN.com. You listed the

Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund if people want to give.

QUEST: Impact Your World.

LUTNICK: They can go to you. Thank you, my friend.

QUEST: Monday of course is 9/11to be a day of remembrance for you.

LUTNICK: We have our charity day, so all of my employees waived their day's pay. We ask our clients to do as much business as possible. Last

year, we raised $12 million, we gave it 150 different charities and that is separate from Hurricane Harvey.

QUEST: Thank you.

LUTNICK: Great to see you.

QUEST: As we continue tonight, we are going it talk about a different subject. But perhaps one that children will appreciate. A decade of

growth from one particular company that has now decided it needs its own reset.

[16:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Look at all of this. In the age of virtual reality in toys and artificial intelligence these little bricks have had a remarkable run. Now

LEGO might have hit a brick wall of its own. Profit and sales are down this year and it all follows ten years of growth. Let me show you. Back

in 2007, 4,200 employees in LEGO. But then it grew with factories in Mexico, Hungary and Denmark. There were movies, there was TV. There were

digital products.

All took it to 18,200 employees. That was then. It is a simple toy and LEGO says it all became too complicated, so now LEGO is cutting part at the

workforce and removing 1400 jobs. The company says it is simplifying operations and there is a new chief executive arriving next month. The

LEGO chairman Jorgen Vig Knudstorp joined me from Denmark. He told me with all of this, success, it is time to hit the reset button.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JORGEN VIG KNUDSTORP, CEO, LEGO: So, as you know, Richard, we have grown by double digits for more than a decade and as a consequence of that very

strong growth, we have moved ahead ourselves. The complexity inside the business has increased too much. And as a consequence of that we are

seeing that complexity is now hindering us in growing. It is not making us execute in an effective manner. So, we have struggled to grow in markets

where we have been highly penetrated but at the same time, I think it is important to stress that we remain at a very high level and our balance

sheet, our P & L remains really, really strong.

QUEST: Are you saying ere that this is sort of internal machinations and that when you look at your underlying sales, or when you look at your

underlying demand if you like, there is not a weakness in that? Because that would be far more serious.

KNUDSTORP: I completely agree with you. Our analysis there. we think this is mainly an internal issue that we need to shape up a bit and get

clear in our execution. We sort of made it too difficult for ourselves because we have grown so much. We added in a short space of time thousands

of new employees from all over the world and we need to retrench a little bit. We use the word that we are re-setting ourselves, so we can get a

clean start on 2018 on what would be a smaller and simpler organization.

QUEST: The numbers out today and the job losses. Does this now provide the justification for the change in chief executives from Padda to

Christiansen who is taking over? Is this the reason why you have got rid of one and are employing another?

KNUDSTORP: No, it is not. And as you can imagine, this issue that we are now tackling is one that has been building up over a couple of years. And

as you might recall at that time, I was CEO until the end of 2016. So, it is actually my responsibility that that complexity has building up. And

Bali Padda who has been leading the company in the interim phase up until now has together with me and the rest of the executive team done a really

great job of cleaning up that complexity and leading to those conclusions we are presenting today. In the meantime, we were lucky to find Niels

Christiansen as new CEO to the company. Someone who brings in 15 years of experience from other interesting companies that really benefit the LEGO

group. And he will start next month on the platform we are creating with this reset we are doing and announcing today.

QUEST: Chairman, last question, when Mr. Christiansen starts he has obviously got to sort out or at least finish off the sorting out of these

problems that you have just identified. But ultimately what have you set the new chief exec as his main task?

KNUDSTORP: The main task is to reach millions of more children all over the world. We already have a far reach in number of markets but we think

in North America, and Across Europe and certainly in emerging Asia including China, we have a lot

more opportunity to reach many more children. This will be his main task.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: The chairman of LEGO talking to me earlier. I was in the stock exchange, QUEST EXPRESS. European stocks ended the day with mixed results.

Concerns over North Korea's latest nuclear test weighed on the market. The German DAX edged higher. U.K. and France closed both in the red. You can

say two up and two down, The U.S. market, you saw the numbers there, the Dow Jones industrial off 1 percent and the other major markets were lower

as well.

Earlier in the program, we did promise you that you'd hear from the director general of IATA, Alexander de Juniac. Obviously, President Trump

spoke to us today. So, you heard him in our program early on.

[16:55:00] Alexander de Juniac, you will hear the interview in tomorrow's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS when he talks about Brexit and the implications of

Brexit for the airline industry and North Korea on the question of missiles, that is on tomorrow's program.

And you can download our podcast. It is available from all of the main providers. Of

course there is always CNN.com/podcast. I really don't like that picture of me. All grinning and teeth, a Profitable Moment after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Tonight's Profitable Moment. It was in 1986 that the United States last had full scale immigration reform. Ever since then, the attempt has

always foundered in Congress between the political battles of left and right, conservative and liberal. Well, today President Trump pulled the

pin out of the immigration grenade and lobbed it straight to Congress when he rescinded the DACA program. You are familiar with it, it is for those

children who were brought here when they were young and now are not allowed to say, no longer after six months if the plan go, its full fruition.

The reality is of course there is a simple and a more complicated way of dealing with it. Simply, Congress can in the next six months pass a

Dreamers act which allows those 800,000 youngsters to stay in this country. The more complicated one of course is that they attempt to do full-scale

immigration reform. Which frankly, honestly and truthfully simply could not be done in six months because of the political battles and the

philosophical differences between the two.

In the middle of it all, 800,000 people who are wondering what their futures are. Where they may live? Where they may work?

[17:00:00] And frankly, whether they have any future at all. Now that is something that Congress needs to think about. And that is QUEST MEANS

BUSINESS. I am Richard Quest in New York, whatever you are up to in the hours ahead, I hope it is profitable. I'll see you again tomorrow.

END