Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend: March 6th, 2026
Hosts: Carol Massar & Tim Stenovec
Date: March 7, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode of Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend dives into the biggest issues shaping global business, finance, and policy from the past week. Focus centers on the first week of the U.S. war against Iran—why it began, the new "kill the bad guys" doctrine, impacts on alliances, and what this means for global order. The episode also explores persistent anxieties about private credit, the transformation of markets via artificial intelligence, and the evolving landscape of sports investment. Featured interviews include Ed Price (NYU, ex-UK trade official), Danny Moses (of "The Big Short" fame), Leanne Russell (BNY's CIO), and MLB legend and Minnesota Timberwolves owner Alex Rodriguez.

1. War with Iran: The U.S. Doctrine Shift and Global Consequences

(02:07–14:11)

Key Themes

• Why did the U.S.—under a self-proclaimed peace president—initiate war with Iran?
• New American doctrine: Target enemy leaders directly, abandon large-scale nation building.
• The perceived lack of support from traditional allies (notably the UK).
• Broader message sent to adversaries like Russia and China.

Major Discussion Points & Insights

• Doctrine Change: "The model this time is kill the bad guys and keep killing the bad guys until they do what they're told. If that sounds brutal, that's a model called terrorism which is a model that Iran perfected over the last fifty or so years—so they're getting a taste of their own medicine." — Ed Price (05:01)

• On Allies:
  "It would be wonderful if there had been a real coalition of the willing this time as we were promised last time and it's disappointing to me as a British American that the United Kingdom is not full square behind this." — Ed Price (06:01)
  Response to UK's refusal to allow use of bases for air support: “That was painful. That was embarrassing.” — Ed Price (06:18)

• On Deterrence and Signaling:
  “We want our adversaries to wonder in the back of their minds if they're safe. We want them on edge. … Iran and Russia have been in a covert war, undeclared, with us for years since Putin's been in power.” — Ed Price (06:58, 07:18)

• On Obama-era Caution:
  “Ask former president Barack Obama. The Russians walked into Crimea in 2014. We did nothing.” — Ed Price (08:03)

• Moral Calculus and Domestic Contradictions:
  "I am an opponent of the president and his domestic agenda and we should be a little nastier and a little cruder with our enemies." — Ed Price (08:40)

• On Human Rights and U.S. Role:
  “If the Iranian government is blinding women for daring to stand on a street corner that is the American business and that is what we should be in the world to prevent.” — Ed Price (12:06)

Notable Quotes

• “I will go to my grave wondering why after 2001 we went into Iraq ... and not Iran. Iran has been behind all of this and if we had done it differently 25 years ago we would be living in a completely different reality.” — Ed Price (13:06)

Memorable Moment

• The uncomfortable overlap between being a liberal and supporting tough intervention:
  “I’ve said this before small l liberal who is a voracious critic of the president...at the same time...the funding of terror...that is a bread and butter enemy.” — Ed Price (13:06)

2. Private Credit & Systemic Risk: Interview with Danny Moses

(16:36–36:35)

Key Themes

• The underestimated risk lurking in the $2 trillion private credit market.
• Parallels to past financial cycles and how this time is and is not different.

Major Discussion Points & Insights

• Parallels to 2008 Crisis:
  "The similarities are that the banks are lending to the private equity and private capital firms...They did the same to the mortgage companies in 2004, 5, and 6. ... As soon as Wall Street sees credit turn a little bit, they'll tweak it, pull some [credit] back, and then what happens? The real marks start happening when liquidity starts to dry up and it exposes the leverage." — Danny Moses (18:02)

• Asset Liquidity & Retail Exposure:
  "When retail investors get the opportunity all of a sudden to buy something...if I were a retail investor I would be buying Blackstone, KKR, Apollo...I can buy it and sell it in the same day...I wouldn’t be putting private credit funds in your 401(k)." — Danny Moses (21:40)

• Prediction Markets:
  Prediction markets are growing in popularity and influence institutional research: "I actually use them as a way to follow the news…Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, a lot of institutional firms [are] citing prediction markets in their research notes." — Danny Moses (22:30)

• On 'Bailing Out' Private Credit:
  “I believe it’s in the back of people’s minds—if private credit goes, the Fed is going to have no choice but to bail it out. And they’re probably right.” — Danny Moses (25:03)

• Inflation vs. Downturn: “If the Fed starts cutting in the face of inflation...the yields will start to move higher on the longer end...You cannot ignore right now that inflation has stopped going down and it's ticking back up.” — Danny Moses (26:07, 26:39)

Notable Quotes

• "Whenever liquidity dries up in any asset class, it exposes the leverage. And no good asset goes unlevered." — Danny Moses (18:02)
• On AI and Employment: "If you see the opportunity to do it [AI-driven layoffs], you’re not a non-for-profit, you’re going to do it…that’s even Jamie said it—they use it now." — Danny Moses (27:41)

3. Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services: BNY’s Digital Overhaul

(39:29–45:29)

Key Themes

• BNY's transformation: from chatbots to a platform of over 170 autonomous agents.
• Human+AI collaboration: AI augments, not necessarily replaces, knowledge workers.

Major Discussion Points & Insights

• BNY’s AI Platform ‘Eliza’:
  Internal platform named after Alexander Hamilton's wife, now a model-agnostic system powering 170 production use cases.
  "We have taken our KYC process...that would have taken a number of weeks down to 20 minutes." — Leanne Russell (41:07)

• Digital Workers as Force Multipliers:
  "We actually have digital employees—employees who are not human—who have a human manager, their own login, work in the ecosystem, and are doing tasks that are quite mundane and freeing up our employees to do much more interesting work." — Leanne Russell (43:34)

• Cultural Buy-in:
  Massive AI training push led by a tech-savvy CEO: "Almost everyone at the bank now uses Eliza. We did training last year...we gamified it...when people can see how to use this technology as a superpower, they're much more inclined to use it." — Leanne Russell (44:33)

4. Sports as an Asset Class: Alex Rodriguez on Investing in Teams

(45:35–52:02)

Key Themes

• The shift from family-owned teams to private equity and institutional investment.
• Why baseball might be today's best value bet in pro sports.
• Importance of global growth and media rights.

Major Discussion Points & Insights

• Why Now for Baseball?
  “I think baseball is the best opportunity to invest today. ... You can buy at very very attractive multiples...one that the CBA will get better not worse, and...baseball consolidates regional sports rights into national rights—then you get a multiple expansion.” — Alex Rodriguez (47:06)

• Labor Relations:
  On prospects of a labor stoppage: “I hope not...they are both dug in pretty strong. But if you can buy a baseball team at 4–5x multiples versus other sports in mid teens—I think that’s an opportunity.” — Alex Rodriguez (48:09, 48:27)

• Global Expansion, Scarcity Value:
  “If you’re a real estate investor and there’s only thirty beachfront properties in the world—you would do anything to own one. So scarcity is a big deal. ... The NBA’s global growth…twenty years ago less than 3% of the league were global athletes...today it's ballooned to 34–35%.” — Alex Rodriguez (51:01)

Notable Quotes

• “There’s [also] a lot of opportunity when there’s a lot of noise.” — Alex Rodriguez (50:16)
• “When you have the right product, the right market, the right superstars...baseball still works.” — Alex Rodriguez (50:50)

5. Memorable Quotes and Key Timestamps

• “We want our adversaries to wonder in the back of their minds if they're safe. We want them on edge.” — Ed Price (06:58)
• “No good asset goes unlevered.” — Danny Moses (18:02)
• “You can't even get on 47th Street—there's a line out the door.” — Danny Moses, on retail demand for gold (33:19)
• “Almost everyone at the bank now uses Eliza.” — Leanne Russell (44:33)
• “NBA's global growth...twenty years ago less than 3% global athletes, today 34–35%.” — Alex Rodriguez (51:01)

6. Episode Structure & Flow

• 02:07–14:11 — Iran conflict and the new U.S. foreign policy doctrine (Ed Price)
• 16:36–36:35 — Private credit market risk, AI's economic effects, prediction markets (Danny Moses)
• 39:29–45:29 — AI/deployment in financial services at BNY (Leanne Russell)
• 45:35–52:02 — Sports as investment, current and future trends (Alex Rodriguez)

This summary captures the core conversations, actionable insights, tone, and relevant timestamped highlights from Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend’s March 6th, 2026 episode, summarizing the content-rich discussions on geopolitics, credit risk, AI-driven transformation, and modern sports investing.