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Quest Means Business
1.3M Americans File Unemployment As COVID-19 Spikes; Some Workers Laid Off Twice As States Roll Back Reopenings; Tracking Wildlife With Technology; U.K. Hotel Hosts Outdoor Car Gatherings, Movie Screenings; Stocks Fall As Trump Slams Supreme Court Ruling On Tax Records; Joe Biden Releases Buy American Economic Plan; Emirates Airlines President Says Return Of Aviation To Pre-COVID Levels By 2022. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired July 09, 2020 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:19]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: With an hour to go before the closing bell, stocks are very firmly in the red. If you look
at the markets, you will see a sort of a -- it is that sort of day. They opened lower, and they went even further down.
They have had a bit of a pullback, but not much. I guess we are not going to see a massive buying spree before the end of the hour. But you never
know.
The reasons for what's going on in the market.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Donald Trump's tax records can be released, but not before the U.S. election.
Initial jobless claims remain stuck above the one million mark.
And workers at Disneyworld are upset over plans to reopen this weekend.
Live from New York. It is Thursday. It's July the 9th. I'm Richard Quest. And yes, in the living room, I mean business.
U.S. stocks are well and truly rattled, not only by the coronavirus, but also by what they see as the worsening political situation. The events in
Washington led to the market falling quite sharply. The gravity of November's election is rapidly becoming clear.
I want you to look closely at this, the way the market fell. But look even more closely and you will see a little touch of green. There was a little
touch of green at the beginning on the far left. Then the market fell after the Supreme Court ruled on Donald Trump's tax records.
There were two major decisions on the tax records that he is hoping to avoid having to release. One involved congressional subpoenas, the other
from the Manhattan District Attorney. It was a mixed result.
He sort of won one and he sort of lost the other. And the legal battles will now continue in the lower courts.
The returns were likely to go public before the election, which buys the President time politically. Our chief legal analyst is Jeffrey Toobin in
Connecticut.
Jeffrey, before we get enmeshed in the law of the law, let's do a little bit of basic voyeurism. Will we get to see the President's tax returns this
side of the election?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: No. Richard, that answer is clear. There is lot of mystery in these opinions, and the future course of these
events are not determined. But this much we do know, that there is no way the legal system in the United States will be able to force the President
to release his tax returns before November, which means that he will be the only person to run as major party candidate for President in the modern era
to fail to release his tax returns not once, but twice. And we'll see if that has any effect on the voters.
QUEST: Does his old argument of I'm under you audit and therefore no -- surely, it is nearly four years on. Surely, that audit must be over by now.
TOOBIN: I mean, that argument is just ridiculous. There is no possibility as you point out that an audit could have gone on. It is not really four
years, it is closer to five, because this question started coming up shortly after he declared his candidacy.
The reason is, he doesn't want to release the returns, and notwithstanding his failure to release the returns, he was elected President of the United
States in 2016.
So he figures, and perhaps with some justification, that the voters don't care, and he's going to continue fighting this fight.
QUEST: Right. Now, if the District Attorney gets them, we almost certainly won't know what happens because they are part of a grand jury, which is
highly secret. If the congressional committees were to get them, they leak like a sieve. So, then we get them.
TOOBIN: That's true. But if you look at the opinions, the District Attorney in Manhattan is much more likely to win, and win quickly, than the
congressional investigators.
The language in the opinion was very sympathetic to Cyrus Vance, who is the District Attorney in Manhattan and it will take some machinations in the
court, but it does seems very likely that those returns will have to be turned over.
As you point out, grand jury proceedings are secret. So unless there is an actual trial, which is way down the road, it is very unlikely that the
public will see those tax returns.
[15:05:26]
TOOBIN: The congressional, as you point out is a much more quasi-public enterprise, a much more chance of disclosure. But that opinion suggests
that Congress is going to have a tough time, even if this goes on to next year getting their hands on Trump's financial documents.
QUEST: Jeffrey, let's go off piece as the skiers would say. Lots of people are now talking about if Donald Trump were to lose an election, how he
could use the Constitution and the questioning of the validity of any result to stay in office. What are they talking about?
TOOBIN: Well, one of the curiosities of our political system in the United States is that the United States government does not run United States
elections.
Each individual state runs the election, and they do it in a rather haphazard and sometimes very politically contentious way. Many viewers may
remember the fight in 2000 which came down to Florida, between George W. Bush and Al Gore, and we learned, many for us for the first time, just how
shoddy and political a lot of our election operations are.
If the election is close, and if there are a number of votes that are -- a number of states that are close, it is possible that the President would
assert that the election is unfair and this problem is all compounded by the existence of the coronavirus and the fact that this election is going
to be different than many previous elections because there will be so much more absentee voting, which will lead to complications and delays in
counting the votes.
So there is the possibility that the President could not accept the results if he loses, and then try to use the courts or even Congress to extend or
change the results of an election. It's not likely, but it does seem possible.
QUEST: Just always, we have to put it out there, because before long, you and I will be talking about things that we never thought we would end up
talking about if history is anything to go by in the last few years.
Jeffrey Toobin, good to have you, sir. I always appreciate it. Thank you.
Now, the presumptive Democratic nominee -- we say that, but he is the man who is going to get it. Joe Biden has just started speaking in
Pennsylvania. Let's -- he's giving his economic plan. The first glimpse of it. Is called Buy American proposal.
He wants government spending on clean energy, infrastructure, and technology, and he wants to bring back jobs lost to coronavirus.
Matt Egan is with me. Matt has been listening to the early part of what he said. What's the headline here?
MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR WRITER: Well, I think, Richard, that the headline is really that Joe Biden is just not that scary to Wall Street.
President Trump had tweeted the other day that stocks and 401(k) plans are going to, quote, "disintegrate and disappear" if Biden and the Democrats
win in November.
But what's interesting is we are not seeing that play out in the stock market at all.
If you look, the S&P 500 has climbed pretty dramatically over the last few months even as President Trump's re-election odds have gone down.
Now, of course there is going to be winners and losers if Biden wins the election. That means that his plans to raise taxes, particularly corporate
taxes, his plans to increase regulation on energy companies, specifically fossil fuel companies -- that would be bad news for the energy sector. That
would be bad news for high-tax stocks.
But right now, investors seem to be betting that's going to be offset by some good news. He could be ramping up infrastructure spending. He could be
also less likely to get into trade wars. So, that would be good news for the market.
But I think at the end of the day, you know, the Federal Reserve is clearly running this show in the stock market and there is nothing about the
election that's going to change the Fed.
QUEST: At the end of the day, it comes really down to how appealing is a complicated Biden plan with nuance and policies versus a Trump plan of Make
America Great Again and continue to bash China and lower taxes.
[15:10:16]
EGAN: Right. That's right. I mean, I think that there are pluses and minuses to both of these scenarios. But what's interesting, Richard, is
that the conversation has shifted.
Just a few months ago, people really thought that the stock market's hopes were really tied to President Trump. But we have seen a divergence lately,
and that's because the Trump era has obviously come with negatives as well.
It is not just about low taxes. It is about the tariffs and the uncertainty. Lately, we have seen a lot of civil unrest, and that's not
good for the stock market either.
So, it does seem like at the end of the day, the market can live with a Joe Biden administration.
QUEST: Good to have you, Matt Egan, who is with us. Thank you.
Now, Tim Clark is the head of Emirates Airlines, one of the world's largest, only now just starting to get back into the air.
After the break, his forecast for the way things will go, and Sir Tim does believe we will all be traveling again soon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Barely 40 years, Emirates Airlines has gone from start-up to one of the world's leading carriers. Now, the President of Emirates, Sir Tim Clark
says that he is very confident that there will be a rebound in air travel and that it will get back to where it was.
At the same time, he regrets the way Emirates perhaps laid off its staff saying that they could have perhaps done better.
Sir Tim Clark joined me on the line from Dubai. A wide ranging discussion in exactly the way forward in the post-COVID world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TIM CLARK, PRESIDENT, EMIRATES AIRLINES: My own view is that, yes, by the summer of '22, we will see a restoration of normality. By that, I mean pre-
COVID levels. Not expanded as we were going, by seven percent or eight percent per annum, but it will be flat line to where we were at the end of
last year in 2019.
QUEST: I mean, I've heard some airlines, some of the carriers, talk about shrinking 20 percent, 30 percent.
CLARK: I think, to be quite honest, we will be between 10 percent and 20 percent in the end. We are probably not quite the same as many airlines
because, don't forget, most of our work force is expatriate.
Once they have left the United Arab Emirates and Dubai in particular, so it becomes far more difficult to get them back as quickly as we may need them.
[15:15:22]
QUEST: What was your worst cash burn?
CLARK: Oh, you have heard the same kind of figures, it's a million an hour, that kind of thing at one point. I think we were not dissimilar to
some of the other big legacy full service carriers, Lufthansa, Air France KLM. You name it. We were all in these rather difficult situations.
But we have arrested that. We've attended the costs in a very big way. Obviously, we don't face the operating cost of these aircraft, but by
speaking to the debt providers in some instances and others in the mix of debt provision, we have been able to lay off quite a lot of this.
So we are in good shape at the moment.
QUEST: People talk a lot about opportunities. You will have seen Alan Joyce when he did his capital raising, buried at the bottom of the
statement was, you know, we want to prepare ourselves for such opportunities that will arise.
I know you've said something similar. What are those opportunities to which you were referring?
CLARK: Well, I think you have to roll forward, Richard, until that time when the jury is out, or whether it's '22, '23,' 24, or '25. For a start,
we have to get through this horrifically tough time. Not all will get through that as we are already witnessing.
And in the absence of government support and bailouts, most of the airline industry today would be in bankruptcy. Let's be honest about it.
But going forward, if we can survive all of this -- I am not one of those people that believe that there is going to be a new normal. In other words,
that people will not travel or their incidence of travel, their frequency of travel, their capacity to pay for travel will be compromised.
I think it is a little bit of a wakeup call at the moment, but one only has to lock at what happened for instance in the United Kingdom last week or
the week before or during May, when they started to release the lockdown, 500,000 people headed for the beaches.
When they opened the bars and restaurants last week, so there were huge numbers turning out. The pressure to return to degrees of normality,
notwithstanding the point I made about the Science and Medicine, my own belief is that people will come back. They will want to restore the way it
was as best they can because they experienced it. They savored it. They enjoyed it.
And in the case of air travel, it had become very much part of their lifestyle and it wasn't so aspirational as it might have been 20 or 30
years ago. Now, it is the way it is and that's the way they want it back. That's the way I look at it.
Secondly, without being too predatorial about it, my view is there are going to be a significant number of carriers which will have difficulty
mounting long haul operations because of the risks associated with that, and therefore, you know, with the amount of debts on the balance sheet, the
concerns about cash, the risk averse nature of boards, I would suggest that there is going to be a reduction in capacity as compared to what it was a
year ago.
QUEST: Anybody looking at the current situation of aviation in the region, in your region, says it makes sense for you and your neighbor to
consolidate, to come together.
I know that this is above your pay grade. This is being dealt with at much higher levels, which is saying something bearing in mind how high you are
to start with.
But as an aviation man, you must surely see it makes sense for you and Etihad to merge.
CLARK: I think -- look, you are right about the pay grade. You are right about the decisions that we can take. But let's be quite honest about this.
Etihad has already contracted to a shape and size where they will be post pandemic, much more fit for purpose. At the same time, with what has been
going on in the last few months with this pandemic, Emirates is obviously adjusting what it is doing, the scale of what it does.
And I believe that by -- in a couple of years' time, both carriers will be well positioned to re-enter the market on the basis of what I just said a
few minutes ago and do this profitably, incisively with a high degree of focus and at the same time, keep themselves separate.
That's not to say that behind the scenes where we can, we don't contravene competition law in the west and everywhere else, that we do not work
together. And both Tony Douglas and I have had many, many chats about how we could share out the goods and services procurement into the business.
[15:20:12]
QUEST: Just give me a feeling, a thought, for what it was like in the midst -- you have just shut down the -- basically shut it down except for
freight, and you've parked the planes. You've got virtually no revenue coming in of meaningful amounts.
You look around and Tim Clark thinks what?
CLARK: So I -- you know, like everybody, rabbit in the headlights in the beginning, hoping that this would be going away in three to four weeks.
Here we are three and a half months and it doesn't seem to really be getting any better.
But I am glad to see that we are doing as much as we can, which is physically possible given the constraints that we face. So I am kind of
getting fairly philosophical about it now.
We are all working flat out, long hours to try and get this thing dealt with even though we don't have a meaningful passenger operation. We used to
have these planning scenarios where we would say what would be the case if we were shut down through no fault of our own for six months of the year?
Ha-ha.
But we used to plan that with regard to the cash management of the business. We never allowed us to go below six or nine months red lines, so
we always had that cash, and we stop the operation. Could we actually continue to meet our obligations both to the financiers, debt providers and
the staff?
Never did I believe in a thousand years that we would actually be facing that horrific situation that we face at the moment. But thank God, we did
that. Because we did actually prepare ourselves.
And in many respects, that has given us a breather to map out what we are going to try and do. So, it's a long winded answer to your question.
Emirates, with all of that in place, will be as good in the future as it has been the last 35 years. Take my word for it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Tim Clark talking to me from Emirates. Disneyworld is due to open this weekend. This is despite the rising surge of coronavirus cases
currently in Florida.
Workers and employees at Disneyworld are worried, and they say that the company has not put enough restrictions or precautions in place whilst
Disney says it is ready and prepared.
Cristina Alesci is with me. So, will it or won't it open? Why are they opening if the situation is getting worse in Florida?
CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN BUSINESS POLITICS AND BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's an excellent question, and it is a controversial decision, no doubt
about it, Richard.
And what we are talking about in terms of the workers who are speaking out right now, it is a union that represents about 750 performers in the park.
These are the performers who entertain guests while they are walking around, or they perform in live shows.
The union is saying that the company is retaliating against those specific workers, asking them not to come back to work because those workers asked
that the company do mandatory coronavirus testing.
Let me give you some background on this specific situation.
In late June, these workers did get recall notices, notifying them to return to the park for rehearsals. However, the union, two days later, put
out a notice saying, hey, Disney, we need mandatory coronavirus testing because our actors cannot rehearse in a socially distanced way. So one way
to keep them safe is to do this coronavirus testing.
At that point, the union is alleging that it -- that Disney told the union to not have the workers show up at the park. So, that in their minds is
retaliation.
This is just one instance of the complexities around businesses trying to reopen, and especially such a high-touch business like a theme park
reopening, in such a hot spot like Florida. And there is so much at stake, Richard, as you know, both from a public safety and health standpoint to a
profit standpoint for Disney.
I mean, its parks -- there were analysts earlier this year who estimated by keeping their parks closed that the company would lose a billion dollars.
Now, that was an estimate for all of its parks around the world. We are talking about the Florida Park. But still, it just underscores how
important these theme park businesses are to Disney.
QUEST: Okay. So I hear what you say and I can see what Disney is saying, but it's the old argument, isn't it? Business or worrying about the health
pandemic? I mean, if this gets worse, they are going to end up closing any way.
ALESCI: Richard, you are absolutely right. The nightmare scenario when I was reporting this story out that nobody really wants to vocalize is the
risk here is you reopen the park, a bunch of people get sick, and then you have to reclose the park again.
So you are no better off from a profit or revenue standpoint. But you've got a bunch of people sick. So, you are absolutely right. And that is why
Disney is taking some heat for its decision.
You know, I just want to put some more context around this. The service union that I spoke to yesterday -- these are the workers who operate trains
and boats and the concierge at the resorts, those workers are comfortable going back.
The union leader told me yesterday that they feel like, at least from a service standpoint, that the company has taken the precautions necessary to
protect those workers.
[15:25:45]
ALESCI: Richard, none of this is simple because Florida also -- the unemployment system there, you know, workers are complaining that it's
broken, that they are not getting their unemployment checks. So, it is a very complicated situation and there's no easy answer here -- Richard.
QUEST: All right. Thank you. Cristina Alesci joining us from New York talking about Florida, and we will watch closely as it continues.
The U.S. jobless numbers. Well, the claims continue to grow at a lower rate. There is a decline. But the continuing or the continuous unemployment
numbers are pretty bad.
After the break, we need to understand what is happening, whether or not we are starting to see yet the effects of the resurgence in lockdowns. In a
moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. Of course there is more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment. We will analyze the latest jobless claims
numbers in the United States. We have got the Chief Economist Glassdoor who will be with us.
The difficult numbers to understand and put into the wider context. We hope we will do that for you tonight. And then, you have got the hospitality
workers in America who were laid off, they were re-hired. Cases of coronavirus came back and they have been laid off again.
That in itself created an entire raft of new problems which have to be dealt with. We will deal with them after of course the news because this is
CNN, and on this network, the news always comes first.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:30:00]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: -- they were rehired, cases of Coronavirus came back and they've been laid off again. That, in itself,
creates an entire raft of new problems which have to be dealt with. We'll deal with them after, of course, the news. Because this is CNN, and on this
network, the news always comes first.
President Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, has been returned to custody for violating the terms of his early release from prison. Now,
Cohen was furloughed in late May over the coronavirus concerns. He was serving three years after pleading guilty to several federal crimes
including hush money payments to women who alleged fares with Trump. Now, Trump denied those affairs, and we're not entirely certain why, or how he's
believed to have violated the terms of his early release.
The CDC the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. is standing by its guidelines for reopening schools in the U.S. President Trump on Twitter has
called them very tough and expensive. And the President's called to reopen the country schools against the advice of top health officials. South
Korean police say the longtime mayor of Seoul was found dead today hours after he was reported missing. Search teams discovered Park Won-soon's body
on a mountain in the capital. There's been no cause of death announced. He's considered a likely candidate for the presidency in 2022.
Every Thursday, we get the numbers on U.S. jobless claims, the number of people, new people, who are claiming unemployment benefit in the U.S. For
the 13th straight week, the number did decline. So fewer Americans are claiming benefit. But the number is still staggering, 1.3 million Americans
still file claims last week. Add it up over the 16 weeks and it becomes 50 million. There's a number that you also have to look at. It's called
continuing claims at 18.1 million. Now, the layoffs have boomed and loomed with businesses reclosing. That's going to continue. The job searching site
Glassdoor lays out the current market situation. 4-1/2 million job openings. That is up from five percent this time last year. Up five percent
-- down. Most industries are seeing slow recovery.
Andrew Chamberlain is the chief economist at Glassdoor. He joins me now. The numbers are so prone and risky because of the resurgence in COVID, the
difficulties of various federal programs. Can we make intelligent prognostications as a result?
ANDREW CHAMBERLAIN, CHIEF ECONOMIST, GLASSDOOR: Well, when it comes to the economy, the Coronavirus is really in the driver's seat, and we are just
all along for the ride. So, in terms of the numbers, we've never seen anything like this with millions of Americans claiming unemployment
insurance, so you have to be careful about reading too much in but despite a surge of tens of millions of Americans filing for unemployment in March
and April, it's true that we have started to normalize and the new claimants have come down. However, they're still very elevated, five times
more than we saw before the Coronavirus struck.
QUEST: Right. But then you've got this problem of the continuing cases, and how they remain high at elevated levels. So, putting that into real life,
does that mean companies haven't called as many people back as we might have expected, and that's before, by the way, we even talk about which we
shall in a second, further job losses as a result of resurgence.
CHAMBERLAIN: Well, companies have recalled millions of temporary layoffs back. We saw in the June jobs report close to 5 million temporarily laid
off workers were put back into jobs. So, that is happening as some states have moved to reopen, perhaps prematurely as now we've seen outbreaks of
Coronavirus, again. But one of the big issues is that because workers are afraid for their health, and secondly, because unemployment benefits are
higher than they used to be, more workers are sitting on the sidelines. So, one of the interesting things we're hearing from employers is that they are
having trouble hiring for many roles that as economies are starting to reopen, because workers just aren't showing up for the jobs.
QUEST: That is grist to the mill of those Republicans who and the Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who believes that that 600 a week that they've
been getting extra needs to stop when it comes to an end at the end of the month. And perhaps like the UK has just introduced, some sort of bonus to
take people on is required. Do you think that would be beneficial?
[15:35:06]
CHAMBERLAIN: Well, part of the reason we're paying more in unemployment insurance is to get people to stay home, to try to control the pandemic.
The reality is the U.S. economy, the British economy, every economy in the world is not going to be back on track until the virus is contained. So,
it's not necessarily a bad thing that some workers are encouraged to stay on the sidelines. We might want that until we have better treatment or some
sort of progress on a vaccine.
QUEST: The -- we look at the unemployment rate, and I'm wondering what you believe it will be at the point of the election, and will it have come down
below eight, nine percent?
CHAMBERLAIN: The big lesson of the June jobs report in the U.S. was how quickly an economy can snap back during a pandemic. Once people believe
that things are reopening and it's time to go back to work. However, as we're seeing now, with resurging cases in many big states like Texas,
Florida, and California, that was probably premature, and we're likely to see the economy slow once again, as states shut down. It's very hard to say
what the unemployment rate might look like in November. What I will say is, it's not likely to drop below 10 percent unless we have significantly
contained the virus.
QUEST: And finally, it does occur to me, and why are we still seeing a million people coming -- new fresh people coming on? We're so far -- we
were so far into this, and that would suggest, you know -- what's the reason that you believe we're still at this elevated number of new cases?
CHAMBERLAIN: Well, to some -- when a worker gets on unemployment insurance, and then maybe temporarily recalled to their job, they disappear, but then
if they're laid off once again, as Coronavirus outbreak shut down their company, they have to refile again. So, some of these may be people just
returning to the roles, and that's very likely a large portion of it. But also, the standards, the criteria for who can claim unemployment insurance
is different today than during the normal recession. They've significantly broadened it, and it's for health reasons, probably a good idea, not
accounts for much of the increase.
QUEST: Andrew Chamberlain, grateful that you're with us. Thank you, Andrew, nicely takes us on (INAUDIBLE) Andrew was just talking about those
situations where you lost your job. You were furloughed during the crisis. You then got it back when the company reopened, and now the company has
shut down again, and you're furloughed once again. Vanessa Yurkevich now reports on the people who are facing that predicament.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: For over two weeks, Warren Koguc battled COVID-19 isolated in his apartment in Fort Worth, Texas.
WARREN KOGUC, FURLOUGHED TWICE BAR MANAGER: It was brutal. It was a constant beating on your body and --
YURKEVICH: He believes he got the virus when he went back to work mid-May, when bars in the state reopened nearly two months after being shut down.
KOGUC: I really thought we should have waited a couple more weeks you have to make that constant choice when you're -- when you're in this type of
business between your health and safety and working.
YURKEVICH: Now, bars in Texas are closed again. And Koguc is symptom free is out of a job again. He was one of 2 million Texans who applied for
unemployment from mid-March to mid-May. Weekly claims started to drop when bars and restaurants reopened. But now, like COVID-19 cases in the state,
unemployment claims are on the rise again.
KOGUC: I don't know if or when I'll be able to go back to work. I got about a month and a half, maybe two months before it gets super tight.
YURKEVICH: It's also getting tight for bartender Randee Heitzmann. She bought a brand new car in February and was just furloughed for a second
time.
RANDEE HEITZMANN, FURLOUGHED TWICE BARTENDER: Not what I would have done if I would have known I was going to go on unemployment and not have to work.
YURKEVICH: The extra $600 a week in enhanced unemployment expires at the end of this month, leaving her financial future in jeopardy.
HEITZMANN: If that $600 goes away, that is gone. Like I don't -- that doesn't even cover my rent. That's $200 to $300 a week. That's not --
that's not livable for anybody at all, let alone somebody that has bills that are for somebody that's used to making twice that in a day.
YURKEVICH: Omar Yeefoon reopened for just four days before closing Shoals Sound & Service.
OMAR YEEFON, OWNER, SHOALS SOUNDS & SERVICE: I knew that the flood was coming.
YURKEVICH: The risk of staying open as cases surge was too great, forcing him to lay off his employees for a second time.
YEEFON: How do you turn around and ask for someone, you know, here we go again, like I swear we're going to make it this time. You know, it's really
humbling.
[15:40:09]
YURKEVICH: Americans out of work have nothing but time. For Heitzmann, she's using it to watch how elected officials are responding to the health
and unemployment crisis.
HEITZMANN: We're sitting at home. So, the only thing that we have to do is to watch you. So, the decisions that you're making might not have
repercussions for you right now. But they will in November, and they will the next time we vote after that. Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, Dallas, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Breaking News for you on CNN, President Trump spoke a few moments ago. He was talking about the Supreme Court's decision concerning his
taxes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All over again, sending everything back down to the lower courts and you start all over again. And
so, from a certain point, satisfied. From another point, I'm not satisfied because, frankly, this is a political witch hunt for the likes of which
nobody's ever seen before. It's a pure witch hunt. It's a hoax. Just like the Mueller investigation was a hoax that I won. And this is another hoax.
This is purely political, and win at the federal level, and we won very decisively, and so they sent it into New York. And you know, what's going
on in New York, everyone's leaving, it's turned out to be a hellhole. And they better do something about it, because people are leaving New York.
This is a political witch hunt. It just continues. It's been from before it got here, when Obama and Biden and everybody else was spying on my campaign
illegally. They were illegally spying on my campaign, and that's a very grave crime. It's a biggest political crime in the history of our country.
And I want to thank the Hispanic-Americans for being with me, you're great people. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: President Trump talking about the Supreme Court decision, as we continue the art of tracking using technology to do so. How one man's call
to Earth is helping protect wildlife.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:45:04]
QUEST: Call to Earth is our call to action for the environment to share solutions to critical issues like global warming, deforestation or plastic
waste. Our long-term priority for CNN will work with you, our audience, and we drive awareness and inspire change, so we can engineer a sustainable
future. In this week's Call to Earth, report scientists Louis Liebenberg, a Rolex laureate, created free software used to track animals by monitoring
and gathering data. He and his team hope the CyberTracker will play a role in helping protect wildlife and ecosystems around the world. More now from
CNN's Rosemary Church.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: In Namibia's Kalahari, master trackers are hard at work, doing their part to help conserve the wildlife
that roams across these planes. Dum Debe has been tracking here since he was a child.
DAM DEBE, MASTER TRACKER: During my school days, in my holidays, I used to work with my parents. And while we're walking in the bush, they used to
read some tracks.
CHURCH: It's no easy task. And the art of tracking which goes back thousands of years is at risk of disappearing.
DEBE: It is very important because in our tradition, we are hunters and gatherers. So, if we leave our culture, then it will -- it will -- it falls
down. It's why we have to keeping on making use out from our culture, so that we can share to the younger to involve with our culture.
CHURCH: That's one of the reasons why scientists Louis Liebenberg developed this software more than 20 years ago. It's called the CyberTracker, and it
enables trackers to collect complex biodiversity data.
LOUIS LIEBENBERG, CO-FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CYBERTRACKER CONSERVATION: Purely from a cultural heritage point of view, I think it's
essential that we develop a program that will keep these skills alive. Combining those skills with the CyberTracker, enables us to capture data
that cannot be captured in any other way.
CHURCH: The CyberTracker software uses an icon interface to make it easier to use, designed for users around the world. As they track, Debe and his
team input data into this handheld device.
DEBE: So, as we found a track or a spawn, then we have to just make a discussion on the track, which animal is that one, and then as we get that,
as a group, then we put it in the data. And then, from the data, it will mark exactly the place where we have seen observing the track.
LIEBENBERG: Often this direction, you can see the track over here. They're looking at signs of behavior that cannot be seen. And in order to do that,
they have to visualize the activities and the behavior of the animal.
CHURCH: At the end of the day, they return to camp to enter the data into a solar powered laptop.
LIEBENBERG: With climate change endangering literally almost a million plant and animal species, there are enormous gaps in our knowledge of
biodiversity worldwide. And particularly in developing countries, these are the very areas where indigenous communities can make an enormous
contribution to monitoring biodiversity.
CHURCH: The free CyberTracker software has been downloaded almost half a million times across the world, spanning from Costa Rica to Mongolia.
According to its Web site, it's being used by trackers, scientific researchers, citizen scientists, environmental educators, and in forestry
farming, social surveys, as well as crime prevention.
LIEBENBERG: To actually solve these problems, we need more people on the ground to be able to physically do what needs to be done to manage
biodiversity and to bring biodiversity back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: We will continue showcasing such inspirational activities, and those who are doing such enormously good work. Let us know what you're doing to
answer the call, #CallToEarth.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:50:00]
QUEST: How's business from closure to reopening, to getting back to business? Tonight's guests on "HOW'S BUSINESS?" is a family-owned hotel and
restaurant in England. It's the Sharnbrook. It was closed for two months before turning to take away. Now, bringing guests together outside. Look at
that. Oh, I can't hardly wait to go visit it myself. Car gatherings, movie screenings, pizza making. Ciro Ciampi is the general manager of The
Sharnbrook. He joins me from Bedfordshire via Skype. And the story of what happened when the closure and the furlough, it's fairly similar to what
we've heard elsewhere, the hard work, the difficulty you've had, but I want to focus if I may, sir. You're back in business. You're doing delivery and
you're doing outside. So, how's business?
CIRO CIAMPI, GENERAL MANAGER, THE SHARNBROOK (via Skype): So, we reopened Saturday, the 4th of July last week. You guys have Independence Day. For
us, same Saturday. We reopened at 12:00. We were lucky enough to have one of our wedding couples celebrating their 10th anniversary. And they said
they (INAUDIBLE) cut the ribbon for us. Business on Saturday was slow. Clearly, customers have been wary about coming out (INAUDIBLE) restaurant.
However, we're pretty prepared and we had outside events, all in good thing, including the bride and groom have sold out and people were really
looking forward to just doing something. And I'll show you at Saturday.
QUEST: Right. So, you're clearly obviously not anywhere near back to the position where you were, and you put a lot of money into it. Can you keep
the business going until things get better? I mean, is it enough the business that you've got now, the people, the events, the movies, the
pizzas?
CIAMPI: So, we've run out (INAUDIBLE) Richard. Without weddings, without function, without our charity balls, that, you know, sell rooms up there,
celebrates at the bar, it's definitely bringing us down to (INAUDIBLE) with the current furlough scheme up to the end of July, it means that if it's
start to building up again, already we've seen an increase of people coming into the restaurant from yesterday, Wednesday. I think moving (INAUDIBLE)
restaurant reservations have increased. We're sold out with our Friday movie nights, Friday and Saturday. And we've got all our (INAUDIBLE) but
we're driving (INAUDIBLE) We've already pre-sold 750 pizzas this (INAUDIBLE) without taking to account takeaway and delivery business on top
of restaurant. Can we survive? We will survive. I've got that (INAUDIBLE) I've got the right team here (INAUDIBLE) to make it happen. We've gone into
a state of redundancy game but a lot of my staff are happy to reduce their hours while we start building the business back up.
[15:55:08]
I've got friends in the business back that honestly haven't been as fortunate, but we're trying to do everything we can to make business if
possible. Also, fortunate we've got fantastic customer base (INAUDIBLE)
QUEST: All right. Ciro, let me interrupt you here. Let me interrupt you. Finally, are you learning the lesson from Florida, from Texas, from Israel,
where reopening ends up being done -- and people have become overconfident? Are you learning the lesson to ensure you abundance of caution? Otherwise,
you'll end up closing down again.
CIAMPI: Richard, I definitely don't want to close down again. We have written our risk assessment. We're extremely serious about how we
implemented the (INAUDIBLE) there's a one-way system around the restaurant. Half the restaurant here has been reduced by 50 percent. The bar area is
reduced by 50 percent. The hotel-wise, we sanitized the rooms before use. We're doing everything possible with pre-booking events, so that we can e-
mail customers with the guidelines. I'm extremely conscious that I do not want to be closed down again. So, we're do everything possible. And so far,
in the first week, customers are taking it seriously, and they're respected that my staff are (INAUDIBLE) seriously also.
QUEST: I feel -- I feel a "HOW'S BUSINESS" promise coming along. I'm looking forward to coming for some pizza, and maybe a movie at the
Sharnbrook. It sounds like a good idea. Book the table, we'll be there at some point. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.
CIAMPI: Thank you, Richard.
QUEST: Now, poor Josh -- poor Josh has to start an entire new spreadsheet of promises for "HOW'S BUSINESS." We've gone from "VOICE OF THE CRISIS" to
"HOW'S BUSINESS." We'll take a "PROFITABLE MOMENT."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's "PROFITABLE MOMENT," you heard the Sharnbrook there. New dining room, different way of doing things. Bit by bit, slowly but surely,
life potentially is getting something -- I wouldn't say normal. Well, look, now, even I got a haircut. Remember, the last I've had -- I had two
haircuts during Coronavirus. Both of them were done by my partner, Chris, who gingerly took to the scissors and the comb, and did a very good job.
But now, got to grips again, and there you are (INAUDIBLE)
But every time, it's one of these things happen, I'm reminded of people like (INAUDIBLE) who didn't have any work for many, many weeks, now has to
be concerned about potentially catching viruses and getting back to normal. And the importance of making sure, we all do it properly. If we do it
properly, then it will continue. If we don't, we ended up like Texas, Florida, and arguably now Israel. Europe still has a lot to learn. And that
is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it is profitable. The bell
is ringing, the day is done.
END