Governors Talk Affordability; AI Complicates Dating

Summary

Bloomberg This Weekend – Episode Summary

Air Date: August 2, 2026
Hosts: David Gura, Christina Raffini, Lisa Mateo
Main Themes: Governors on affordability & bipartisan cooperation, AI’s growing impact on personal lives and dating, evolving workplace dress codes, changing drinking culture, luxury water trends, and historic hotels.

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Overview

This episode of Bloomberg This Weekend explores:

• How U.S. governors are confronting affordability and policy challenges with a bipartisan approach
• The complicated impact of AI on daily life and relationships, especially dating
• Workplace fashion controversies, including "the case for shorts"
• Emerging consumer trends, from luxury water to sober curiosity and historical hotels

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1. Governors Discuss Affordability and Bipartisanship

Timestamps: 00:41–12:23

Key Points

• Participants: Governors Spencer Cox (Utah), Wes Moore (Maryland), Kevin Stitt (Oklahoma), Matt Meyer (Delaware)
• Bipartisan Initiative: Launch of a national governors’ task force to address immigration reform
• Laboratories of Democracy:
  • Governors emphasized learning from each state's successes:

    “If a blue state comes up with a new policy that solves a problem in their state, I’m going to steal that.” — Gov. Spencer Cox [01:42]

    • Examples: Universal adoption of Mississippi's improvement in third-grade reading scores
• Non-Partisan Priorities:
  • Focus areas include education, healthcare access, roads and infrastructure, utility costs, and creating economic opportunities:

    “Potholes aren’t partisan. We actually get judged by what we accomplish.” — Gov. Spencer Cox [01:03]
    “Best education for your kids, best opportunity, best access to healthcare, best roads and bridges and infrastructure, and utility cost.” — Gov. Kevin Stitt [02:59]

• Affordability Pressures:
  • Widespread concern around housing prices, rising energy costs, and overall cost of living.

    “The price of housing is, is a big piece of that…all of the consumer costs.” — Gov. Spencer Cox [04:32]
    “We wish we could control the price of gas…But we can control the things we can control.” — Gov. Wes Moore [05:16]

Specific Policies & Solutions

• Maryland: Banned supermarket price manipulation; invested $300M to cushion rising energy prices; historic childcare funding [05:16–07:07]
• Oklahoma: Passed bills for zero-interest loans to developers, and utility/infrastructure cost-sharing to boost affordable housing [07:33–08:52]
• Delaware: New laws require data centers provide local benefit and minimize impact before construction; promoting “bring your own energy” for new data infrastructure [09:15–10:31]
• All States: Emphasis on child care affordability and keeping consumer costs in check

Memorable Segment: Governors' “Put a Finger Down” Game [10:31–12:01]

• On Affordability: All express concern, showing unity regardless of party
• Running for President 2028: “No one committed,” as David Gura jokes [11:36]
• Election Pressure:

  “I am the only one of this group who actually has a reelection in less than 100 days. So I'm sweating a whole lot more than my friends are here.” — Gov. Wes Moore [12:01]

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2. AI Complicates Dating and Relationships

Timestamps: 12:23–20:15

Guest: Josie Cox

• Author of "Women, Money, Power," contributor to Bloomberg, discusses findings from her newsletter about AI and social divides

Key Points

• AI Adoption Dividing Society:

  “Interviews with skeptics suggest that for some people, AI use has become a proxy for values.” — Josie Cox [12:46]

  • Early gender gap in AI adoption; gap has narrowed but social divides persist [13:34]

• AI Skepticism as Identity:

  “A lot of people have different reasons for being anti-AI…but ultimately they tend to congregate around this idea of it being a bit of an identity…it was almost tribal.” — Josie Cox [14:21]

• AI in Communication & Dating:

  • Concerns about authenticity, especially related to AI-generated dating app messages and personal communication:

    “Communication is one of the most personal things… if we’re relying on a machine to do that, what does that tell us about humanity?” — Josie Cox [16:25]

  • Evidence: 64% of Gen Z and 56% of millennials would not date someone who uses AI for everyday decisions [16:57]

• Workplace Pressures:

  • Rise in companies incentivizing or mandating AI use, putting non-adopters in difficult positions

    “There are large companies...actively, almost forcing employees to use AI. That…becomes a productivity and engagement issue.” — Josie Cox [19:31]

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3. Lifestyle & Culture: Shorts in the Workplace

Timestamps: 20:47–25:59
Guest: Chris Rouser, discussing his data-driven survey on workplace shorts

Key Points

• Survey Results: 45% of Bloomberg Terminal users say shorts are appropriate for work (mainly qualified by role and environment) [21:10]
• Personal Story: Initial apprehension, being “scolded” for wearing shorts, but “powered through” as shorts use became more accepted [21:55–22:56]
• Fashion Evolution:

  “At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams was wearing stockings and showed his calves. So, like, you can do it.” — Chris Rouser [24:39]

• Design, Runways, and International Policies:
  • Men’s shorts featured on runways; Tokyo’s municipal workers allowed to wear shorts; municipal acceptance is growing [25:17–25:41]

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4. Notable Consumer & Culture Trends

Timestamps: 26:21–32:46 Host/Segment Contributor: Nathan Hager

Key Stories

• Changing Drinking Culture in China:
  • Young Chinese professionals shifting away from traditional heavy-drinking rituals (baijiu) to reflect generational and health preferences [27:24–28:57]
• Luxury Water Craze:
  • Lunin Water, $3.99/bottle, sourced from California, boasts filtration and minerals—"water is water," experts say [29:23–30:54]
• Hotels with Historic Value:
  • Renovation of government buildings (e.g., Old War Office in London, former prisons, ministries) into luxury hotels is the latest trend, combining history and hospitality [31:02–32:46]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Governors’ Practical Approach:

  “Let DC play politics. We're all Oklahomans. Let's make Oklahoma top 10.” — Gov. Kevin Stitt [03:23]

• On AI Skepticism:

  “It’s fascinating to consider…as AI continues to dominate…what that will ultimately mean for workplaces, families, relationships.” — Josie Cox [15:04]

• On Shorts and Office Fashion:

  “We think we've been wearing suits and stuff to work forever, and that’s simply not true.” — Chris Rouser [24:16]

• Hosts’ Humor on Luxury Water:

  “Water’s water… Even if there is a, you know, Evian or liquid Volvic, there is no evidence that any of these elite brands are going to give you any other water.” — Nathan Hager [30:47]

• On Historic Hotels:

  “I also do think it is nice to preserve these buildings that might otherwise not have a purpose.” — David Gura [32:25]

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Segment Timestamps Overview

• 00:41–12:23: Governors on affordability, bipartisanship, and policy innovations
• 12:23–20:15: AI’s social consequences, dating, and workplace integration
• 20:47–25:59: Shorts in the office—data, history, cultural attitudes
• 26:21–32:46: Rapid-fire trends: drinking culture, luxury water, and historic hotels

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Tone and Style

• The episode is conversational, engaging, and blends in-depth analysis with wit and real-world anecdotes.
• Hosts and guests employ humor and candidness to make complex issues relatable.

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Summary Takeaway

"Bloomberg This Weekend" brings a lively, insightful slate of topics—from pressing economic concerns at the state level, to the impact of rapidly evolving technology on our values and daily choices, to the surprising controversies and cultural shifts shaping how we work, socialize, and consume. The episode offers timely perspectives on both everyday challenges and larger societal changes, tailored for listeners seeking to make sense of the modern world.

Transcript

[David Gura]

Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio News welcome to the Bloomberg this Weekend podcast with David Gura, Christina Raffini and Lisa Mateo. Thanks for joining us for today's selection of conversations from the show.

[Christina Raffini]

You can listen to our favorite discussions right here on the podcast, but also make sure to join us live every Saturday and Sunday morning starting at 7am Eastern.

[David Gura]

We're on Bloomberg Television Radio and the Bloomberg Bloomberg Business App, bringing you unique takes and in depth interviews on news, politics, lifestyle and culture.

[Christina Raffini]

Now for our exclusive sit down interview with the heads of the national governors association, two Republicans, two Democrats, two 10 gallon hats between the four of them joining Bloomberg this weekend on Saturday to announce a bipartisan task force designed to tackle immigration reform.

[David Gura]

I will say they did share the hats in our previous clip. Governor Spencer Cox of Utah, Westmore of Maryland, Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma and Matt Meyer of Delaware. Take a listen.

[Governor Spencer Cox]

We get elected, we always say that the governors really can't be that partisan because potholes aren't partisan. We actually get judged by what we accomplish. We get held accountable for that. So unlike Congress, we, we have to do those things. And there's this cool thing, we're celebrating America to 50. But the way our country was set up, the most of the power was left to the states, not to the federal government. That certainly changed over the fortunately, we think that that's one of the problems. But, but here's, I think why this, this really matters and should matter to all Americans. That is that we are the laboratories of democracy. So if, if a blue state comes up with a new policy that solves a problem in their state, I'm going to steal that. I want, I want the best for my people. It goes the other way around. We were just talking about Mississippi today and their reading scores, the third grade reading scores, they went from 49th to top 10.

[David Gura]

Yeah, it was really remarkable.

[Governor Spencer Cox]

All of us looked around and said, hey, what, yeah, what is Mississippi doing? We should copy that. And so almost all of us, I think, have adopt some portion of Mississippi's policies around the science of reading. That's why, that's why governors and mayors are, I think, more popular, why there's a little more trust, although we're all struggling with that right now. But we're lucky to have these events where we can get together and learn from each other.

[Governor Wes Moore]

I can tell you I took it a step further where we saw what was happening in Mississippi. We didn't just copy the model. We, we actually stole their superintendent, who's now the superintendent in the state of Maryland So it's now becoming the Maryland model.

[David Gura]

If I want to encourage that. Governor. No, no poaching people, guys, everybody play nice in the sandbox. Governor said, when you talk to constituents, what is the number one issue, number one or two issues that they talk to you about? And have you found when you go to the nga, when you talk to your colleagues, that those are common pretty much about across all the states right now?

[Governor Kevin Stitt]

Yeah, I mean, I tell people all the time and every year I've been governor now for eight years and it hasn't changed. I mean, I believe that whether you live in rural Oklahoma or urban Oklahoma, you want the same thing. Whether you're Republican or Democrat, you really want the best education for your kids, the best opportunity. I want to make sure I put my kids in the best situation possible so they can chase their American dream. I want the best access to health care. I want the best roads and bridges and infrastructure and, and utility cost. And then I want the best economy. I want wages to growth. I want opportunities for upward mobility. And so those four things are non political. And I always tell Oklahomans, hey, let, let D.C. play politics. We're all Oklahomans. Let's make Oklahoma top 10. And so I focus on those things and I don't think it's any different when I meet with my colleagues around the country, they're doing that, they're dealing with the exact same things in their state. So it's those four things I always focus on.

[Governor Matt Meyer]

People are starving for government that delivers for people that delivers. There's so much nonsense out there, not just in, in politics and government, but everywhere. And I think people are just looking for people they elect to roll up their sleeves and get actual real work done to help educate their kids, deal with child care. The cost of three kids, one more on the way and the cost are skyrocketing. Making sure when you go and get gas, it's affordable. And so that's really what we're spending time on all day. You look at the national news and things people are fighting about. Most of what we do, our table, our kitchen table issues, just trying to make life a little bit easier for the people that live in our respective states.

[Governor Spencer Cox]

I would just add the price of housing is, is a big piece of that. That's when we hear you do energy to. Yeah, all of the consumer costs. That's, that's huge for all of us.

[David Gura]

That's, that's funny. I was actually just gonna say. So obviously I'm here in New York. I moved here recently And I talk about on the show a lot. Everything here is insane. But I grew up in Colorado, and I was talking to a friend who has a very different life than me earlier this week, and she was saying the same things I was dealing with. She was like, we've gotten to a place in our lives we always wanted to be. My husband and I are making the money we always wanted to, and we feel like we can't afford even the basic things. So, Governor Moore, I want to start with you, but what is your plan to tackle affordability? How are you going to tackle this? And then I brought it out to the group. What are you guys doing to bring these prices down?

[Governor Wes Moore]

Well, I think one thing that all the governors recognize is that, you know, we wish we could control the price of gas. You know, that. But that's not something that governors control. You know, we know we are seeing how nationwide, the price of gas has just skyrocketed over the. Over the past 12 weeks. We see how, you know, we wish we could control the price of groceries. Unfortunately, we're now seeing how inflation is the highest that it's been in three years. And so you're watching the price of groceries continue to go up. And so there are certain factors that, that as governors, we don't control the fact that things continue to rise, but we can control the things we can control. So, for example, when we're talking about best practices that we have seen and that as other states we've also brought on board, you know, we actually, in Maryland, we pass legislation that deals with the issue of price manipulation at supermarkets, where, you know, supermarkets and big supermarket chains cannot use your data against you when you walk into a supermarket and increase the prices because they know that you will pay for the increased prices. So we are the first state to actually ban price manipulation. That when it came to things like rising energy prices that we're all wrestling with, you know, in our state, and I know other states have done the same. We've now put hundreds of dollars back in the pockets of our people. In Maryland, you know, it's $300 million that we've now put back to the people of Maryland to deal with these rising energy prices. And so we, we're making sure we can control the things we can control. Making historic investments in child care as, as Matt was talking about, because that is one of the largest cost that families are dealing with, where they're now having to choose between, are my kids going to be okay or can I go back into the workforce? And so we're making sure as governors that while we cannot control a lot of the dynamics that are existing within our states, the things that we can control to make life a little bit easier for the people of our states. We can and we will.

[David Gura]

Does anybody else want to get anything, Any other specific policies that you all want to highlight that you are trying to do either on housing or. I know energy is a big concern, especially with data centers going in a bunch of places. Food costs, child care. Are there any other policies that come to mind that you're trying to enact in your states?

[Governor Kevin Stitt]

Well, I think we all want to jump in.

[David Gura]

Sorry. I'm trying not to keep going down the road. But you're, you're grown ups. You can figure it out. All right, thanks.

[Governor Kevin Stitt]

Good. Well, I would just say on housing, we're all dealing with affordability. We want, you know, home ownership is so important. My whole career has been in the mortgage business and banking and promoting home ownership and strengthening families and how important that is to own homes. And so when you see that cost rising and you see people delaying housing, purchasing the first house till they're in their 30s now, what is that? Well, if you believe in economics, I believe it's a, it's a supply problem. Right. So how do we get more houses built? Some of that is zoning problems. We're not allowing more developers. To me, it's always overregulation.

[Governor Wes Moore]

Right.

[Governor Kevin Stitt]

So we passed a bill to encourage zero interest loans to developers to develop more houses, and then for that they had to produce affordable houses for the working families. The build act that we did allows developers now to burden the cost of utilities, infrastructure as far as water, sewage instead of back on to the municipality. So we're doing everything we can to encourage more supply coming in, which already, we're already very affordable in Oklahoma. And we're getting tremendous economic development. But we want, we want more. We want to unleash the, the, the innovation of companies to go meet the demands of Americans. And I think that's the best policy. Just a free market approach.

[David Gura]

Governor Meyer, one of the big things that we were just talking about with the big costs is, is energy. And energy costs are really going up. And we're seeing that coincide, of course, with these big data centers that are going in all across the country. I'm wondering if you are hearing from your constituents that they are concerned about AI. They are concerned about the energy draw of these data centers and what you're doing about that in your state.

[Governor Matt Meyer]

I am hearing a lot. I think all of us are hearing a lot about data centers and the concerns about AI. They run the gamut from security concerns, private privacy concerns, environmental concerns and wealth inequality concerns. And I think each of us have a different approach. We're looking to attract employers in Delaware where we, in my first 18 months in office, we've been very successful doing that. But I've also been very clear that you're going to, if you're going to negatively impact our environment, if you're going to increase rate payers energy bills by a single penny, then we're not going to have you here. So we're putting in place rules. We're about to finalize, about to sign some legislation that does just that, that says, hey, if you want a data center or anything like that in our community, you have to come with benefit for the community. I think a number of us are doing behind the meter policies where kind of bring your own energy. If you, if you bring your own energy and you're not drawing from the grid, it's much easier to get a pathway. I think we also understand that data centers and AI at some level is a national economic and security imperative. We cannot let China win on this one. We have to make sure that our respective states aren't blocking each other and blocking things so that we as a country cannot move forward.

[David Gura]

All right, gentlemen, we're running a little short on time. I really appreciate you take the time before I let you go. I do want to play a game. So if everybody could please raise your hand like this. Wait, I have to find my camera here. Put your hand up. We're going to, we're going to do. Put a finger down. If I'm sure you have children or have been on the Internet and you understand how this works. All right, you ready? Please put a finger down if you are concerned about affordability in your state.

[Governor Wes Moore]

Put a finger down if you're concerned. Yeah.

[David Gura]

If you're concerned about affordability in a state. Put one of your fingers down.

[Governor Wes Moore]

Please.

[David Gura]

Put a finger down if you have released a book in the past year or are planning to release a book in the coming year. All right, that's. That's two out of the four. Put a finger down if you're going to Iowa this year or in the next cycle. Iowa.

[Governor Matt Meyer]

I think I might.

[Chris Rouser]

Oh, Meyer, he's getting the new guy.

[Governor Kevin Stitt]

Yeah.

[David Gura]

The gentleman from Delaware has. Put a finger down. And finally. Please put a finger down.

[Governor Spencer Cox]

We're just going to New Hampshire.

[David Gura]

New Hampshire also counts.

[Governor Wes Moore]

Okay.

[Governor Spencer Cox]

Okay.

[Christina Raffini]

My wife wants to get a drink.

[David Gura]

My final question of the day. Please put a finger down, gentlemen, if you are running for president in 2028. I'm looking. I'm looking. All right. No one committed.

[Governor Wes Moore]

No one committed.

[David Gura]

Thank you for being good sports. I appreciate it. Thank you again. Good luck with the task.

[Governor Wes Moore]

I have to say, though, I am the only one of this group who actually has a reelection in less than 100 days. So I'm sweating a whole lot more than my friends are here.

[David Gura]

That's right. If it's a little hot, maybe one of your new friends can let you borrow a hat. Gentlemen, thank you so much. Have a great time at the stockyards. We really appreciate you joining us today.

[Christina Raffini]

Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend, right after this. As artificial intelligence becomes ingrained in everyday life, disagreements over the technology are increasingly becoming disagreements over values.

[David Gura]

In the latest Bloomberg Forecast newsletter, Bloomberg News contributor Josie Cox explores how AI adoption is dividing friends, families and co workers. Writing researchers have only just begun to study AI social consequences, and there's little empirical work examining whether attitudes towards technology are becoming part of people's identities. I have opinions about that, but I will leave them to the expert. But interviews with skeptics suggest that for some people, AI use has become a proxy for values.

[Christina Raffini]

Josie Cox joins us now. She's also the author, I should say, of the book Women, Money, Power, the Rise and Fall of Economic Equality. Great to have you with us.

[Josie Cox]

Thank you for having me.

[Christina Raffini]

Let's start with this disagreement. We can maybe nod to how popular this has become and how we're all kind of fumbling through it. I think we can acknowledge that. What did you find as you dug into this in terms of what the personal or interpersonal ramifications of this are thus far?

[Josie Cox]

Yeah, it's so interesting. I mean, everyone is familiar, of course, with the headlines of just the meteoric rise of AI. It's doing everything for us. It's in our work lives, our personal lives, in our bedrooms. It's everywhere. But what I have generally found really interesting is the ways in which it's exacerbating divides. Initially, I was reporting on the gender gap that it was potentially exacerbating. So men were apt to use it. They are more apt to use it. And it is a story Bloomberg, a couple of years ago, really kind of in the in the sort of beginnings of AI dominance, showing that there was actually quite a stark divide between use rates among women and use rates among men. The gap has closed a little bit, but that really sort of planted the seed of interest. And since Then I've been interested in, you know, ways in which AI is not only uniting us but also dividing us. And so this was, this story really came from sort of anecdotal evidence and conversations that I was having with people in my life who were sort of vehemently anti AI. And I just thought it was really interesting because a lot of people have different reasons for being anti AI, for being sort of AI refusenics, as I like to call them. You know, be that the environment or ethical concerns or in the creative industries, a lot of people are concerned, concerned about copyright, things like that. But ultimately they all sort of tend to kind of congregate around this idea of it being a bit of an identity, right? And it's sort of a, you know, as I was reporting the story, I realized that it was. It was almost tribal. It was like us versus them.

[Christina Raffini]

Interesting.

[Josie Cox]

And I just think it's. It's fascinating to kind of consider as AI continues to dominate, continues to infiltrate our lives, what that will ultimately mean for, for workplaces, families, relationships, etc.

[David Gura]

I am one of those people who gets very surprised by the people in my life who have started relying on AI so quickly, especially people my age. I'm like, as we've managed to make it our whole lives without having your computer tell you how to get on the subway or what to order at dinner. And the people who adopt it, even people in creative industries, people who it's threatening their livelihood are, are adopting it in a way that I think counteracts all the rest of their values. But I personally get really upset. I was at dinner the other day and we needed to Google something, and my friend picked up his phone and said, hey, chat and just Google it. But like, why do I care? You know what I mean? Like, why is it so emotionally interesting?

[Josie Cox]

I think the reason, one of the reasons it's so emotional is because a lot of the uses of AI that we're resorting to are to do with communication, right? And communication is something that is so personal. One of the academics who I spoke to, who a sociologist and who kind of studies political divides, which is sort of a good corollary for this, said that there's a lot of skepticism around communications that should be personal. Like wedding vows, right? Like birthday greetings or dating apps.

[David Gura]

People are like, having their dating apps just talk to each other. The messages are completely AI generated, right?

[Josie Cox]

And communication is one of the most personal things that we rely on and one of the most sort of personal building blocks of our lives. So if we're relying on a machine to do that. You know, what does that tell us about the state of humanity?

[Christina Raffini]

Quite frankly, stuck with this agentic setup that's happening.

[David Gura]

Yeah, it's terrifying. They've, like, programs, you know, prompt responses because, you know, you don't have to go through this, but it is a quite exhausting process.

[Christina Raffini]

A lot. On the subject of dating, you cite in your piece here a survey by the dating app Hilly pronounced that right?

[Josie Cox]

I think so.

[Christina Raffini]

64% of Gen Z, 56% of millennial daters say they would not date someone who relies on AI for everyday decisions. Here we do have some empirical evidence, at least. There's a survey that's taken place here. We have some. Some data here. But what does that tell you? Just about the way that, like, lines are being drawn, even preemptively, I think.

[Nathan Hager]

Yeah.

[Josie Cox]

Well, I think, you know, to your point, empirical data is scant right now.

[Christina Raffini]

Even, you know, economic impact, all that. We're kind of.

[Josie Cox]

So I through all of this completely, I had to cast around for this. Right. But I thought this was a really interesting data point. The other thing I should say about it is that this is, of course, people who are saying, sure. That they feel this way about. Right. Whether they're actually acting on it is another thing. This is the same as, you know, the perennial issue with political polling. Right. But I think what it does tell us is that there is a bit of a backlash.

[Chris Rouser]

Right.

[Josie Cox]

Obviously, you know, as we were saying at the beginning of this conversation, the rise has been absolutely meteoric. And I think that there is a sort of hankering for personal connection amid this AI era that we're all finding ourselves in. So I'm hopeful that we'll get more empirical data on this. Stanford is doing some good research on this. We also had some. I came across some data for the piece showing that skepticism or lack of trust in AI is rising at a pretty rapid clip globally with some regional differences. But over the Last sort of three, four years, distrust in AI has actually risen by about 10 percentage points, which is a remarkable rate of increase for anything, really. So, you know, let's see what the next generation does and what the dynamics look like there.

[David Gura]

Well, quickly, before you let you go, I mean, I want to ask about that next generation because I was surprised. I don't know if there's. Again, research is scant, but is there an age difference with adopters as well? Because I noticed in my life, younger people have almost stronger anti AI feelings than some of the older people in my Life who are like, this is cool, I can do this thing. And then I noticed that this week LinkedIn now has an option where you can hit the little button and say this looks like a slop. Because I think they were getting bombarded with things that people didn't like and it was ruining the user experience.

[Josie Cox]

Yeah. I mean I think as ever with new technologies, it comes down to literacy. Right. And the younger generations are individuals who grew up with the Internet.

[David Gura]

Right.

[Josie Cox]

They don't know a time before the Internet. So maybe that sort of skepticism is a little bit more intuitive to them. But again, let's see.

[Christina Raffini]

I wanted to ask you lastly just about the difficulty of being a skeptic or a few snake as you put it. You cite in the piece, there are companies now that are incentivizing employees to use AI. And so even if you don't want to do it or don't, don't think that it's going to help or be a positive thing, there is pressure now being placed on people to use it in the workplace.

[Josie Cox]

Yeah, absolutely. There are large companies that are not only incentivizing employees to use AI, but actively, almost forcing them to write, mandating it. And I think those are the skeptics who were least willing to speak to me. Right. Because they think their job might be on the line.

[Governor Wes Moore]

Right.

[Josie Cox]

But I think that is where we see kind of that's really concerning. Right. If you're being forced to do something in your work that becomes a productivity issue, that becomes an engagement issue, ultimately that could become a workforce issue.

[David Gura]

It's a fascinating subject. I think it's one that we're all thinking about all the time. Especially when I don't have kids. But I know trying to parents in the water has to be especially, especially difficult. Like my dog doesn't know how to AI. So we're safe there. But thank you.

[Christina Raffini]

So come back as you get more empirical. Please let us know as well. I know we're see of the story as well. Nice, 100%.

[David Gura]

Nice to see you. Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend right after this. I want to start by saying the story is allegedly a data based analysis and I am now surrounded by legs. We've got David Gura and our friend Chris Rouser is here. Boys, you're showing a lot of leg. Is this office appropriate?

[Christina Raffini]

Showing a lot of leg. This piece we're going to talk about by Chris has caused more than a minor tempest in office towers across New York City and indeed in commercial capitals around the world. He not proposing that shorts be allowed in the workplace, but investigating whether or not there's an appetite for it. And Chris, to Christina's point, you did this in a very data driven way. You conducted a survey. Is now the time you didn't just

[David Gura]

say how you feel about it? There are facts here.

[Chris Rouser]

No, we had, we had the Bloomberg, Bloomberg Terminal People survey using one of their Market Pulse surveys, analysts and terminal subscribers and 45% of people, 45%, not a majority, said that it was suitable to wear shorts to work. Now, some of these people responded and said, yeah, oh yeah, it's, of course it's okay if you work at a surf shop. You know, people really do not support wearing shorts to work. However, I believe it's time.

[Christina Raffini]

You believe it's time you're going to take that position. I work near you physically in the office. You often do wear shorts in the summer. You have been, you've been taking the stand for a while.

[Governor Kevin Stitt]

I have.

[Christina Raffini]

Before you put pen to paper, I want you to go back to when you first did it. Were you apprehensive about it? What did you think the reaction was going to be?

[Chris Rouser]

Yeah, well, like a lot of people I talked to for this piece, I had at one point or another in my career been scolded for not being dressed up enough for work. And that's a real thing.

[Christina Raffini]

I mean, this is a guy who wears monogram shirts to work, Christine. I have to be clear about that.

[David Gura]

I find him very fancy, very fancy. He had some very chic linen pants on last time he was here.

[Chris Rouser]

But there are times, you know, when you're not dressed appropriately for a situation, if you're meeting with people or whatever. But if you're not, if you're just going to work, you know, you're just going to be a desk jockey for the day. My personal rule is that if it's over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, be allowed to wear Fahrenheit about 32 Celsius. You should be allowed for our listeners and other shorts. Now, one of the first times I did in this office, I was walking through the newsroom and the deputy editor

[Christina Raffini]

in chief of Bloomberg News yelled across, morning to you.

[Chris Rouser]

Yes, good morning. He said, what, are you going to the beach? And this is a scary story.

[David Gura]

Swiss.

[Governor Matt Meyer]

Yes.

[David Gura]

He's lovely, but very attached.

[Christina Raffini]

Yes.

[Chris Rouser]

So I thought, okay, this is maybe not super accepted. But I powered through.

[Christina Raffini]

Yeah.

[Chris Rouser]

And now I think it's a, it's a topic of conversation all over New York City.

[David Gura]

I will say, since I knew we Were doing this piece.

[Christina Raffini]

You didn't wear shorts?

[David Gura]

Forget my shorts. I'm sorry. I just came back from vacation. I did forget my shorts, ironically. But as I was looking around today on a Friday in the summer, there were quite a few pair of workshorts. Now, I've never done summer shorts, but I do have, like, the really long Bermudas that kind of go with the matching jacket.

[Christina Raffini]

Do we call those culottes? Clam diggers.

[David Gura]

And I've done winter shorts because you can wear them with tights. Because for me, the controversy here, especially on the women's end, is what length of short is workplace appropriate? Because we have varied hemlines on YouTube.

[Christina Raffini]

We wanted to show a little leg.

[Chris Rouser]

Yes.

[Christina Raffini]

Yeah.

[David Gura]

No, but I mean, is there a thigh? There are five thresholds for work appropriateness. Did you ask people about the length and kind of shorts?

[Chris Rouser]

People? You know, the thing is you. You think the longer, like, the more appropriate. But if you get shorts that are kind of below the knee, that's also a different look that can be like, let feel less tidy. So my feeling is like a 7 to 9 inch inseam. Anything shorter than that, usually my husband tells me what is appropriate for work. And one day he wasn't home, he was traveling. And I went to work and I immediately walked in the office and I was like, these are too short.

[Governor Kevin Stitt]

These are too short.

[Chris Rouser]

I made a mistake.

[Christina Raffini]

You dig into the history here. Look, during Revolutionary War times, the men in power were wearing, I guess not shorts, but breeches. Breeches.

[Chris Rouser]

Here's the thing. We think that, like, we've been wearing suits and stuff to work forever, and that's simply not true. No, it used to be that wearing clothes that recognize that you live in the world and you have to use your body for work was very like. Was very not fancy. Like, if you were an aristocrat, you needed to wear clothes like corsets and tight things and things that show that you didn't have a body or you could never possibly use your body.

[David Gura]

You didn't have to do labor.

[Chris Rouser]

You didn't have to do it, like, prove that you didn't have to do labor. But even then, men showed their legs. People wore breeches and wore tights. At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams was wearing stockings and showed his calves. So, like, you can do it.

[Christina Raffini]

Celebrate that 250th, Christina, right here, right now, can I ask you last. We have a minute left.

[David Gura]

Can I go home?

[Christina Raffini]

Can't go home. You know, you're paving this path. Are designers Doing it as well. Are we seeing this like on the runways that now when it comes to men's fashion, women shorts are there as well.

[David Gura]

There are suit short outfits more and more frequently that you can buy two pair.

[Chris Rouser]

There were two main pegs for this story, one of which was in Tokyo. There's actually like a government mandate that municipal workers are allowed to wear shorts. And that has caused a.

[David Gura]

Big and short sleeves. Yeah.

[Chris Rouser]

And has caused a lot of consternation. And then also on the, on the runs the runways at the menswear show in Milan and in Paris, there were a lot of shorts paired with blazers, suits and jackets. So like you know, Tom Ford, Louis Vuitton.

[David Gura]

Tom Brown has been doing this forever too. Like the short suits.

[Chris Rouser]

I meant Tom Brown. Yeah. Tom Brown has always been doing it. St. Laurent sent down a look on the Runway which was basically like a guy in a blazer with no bottoms. And that is like a nightmare that a lot of us have actually had had and what it feels like to

[Christina Raffini]

show up to summer of 27 maybe, maybe not here. Chris, thank you very much. Congrats on the controversy. Thank you.

[David Gura]

Thank you for breaking down borders and raising hemlines here in the office. We appreciate it. Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend right after this.

[Christina Raffini]

Welcome back to Bloomberg this Weekend. Bloomberg be this t weekend. Wbtw we say David Gurr with Christine.

[David Gura]

Tired to have this fight with you today.

[Christina Raffini]

Lisa Mateo, as you've ascertained out this week, Nathan Hager with us with some stories you might have missed. You've been mining The Terminal Mining bloomberg.com Mining outside sites as well. I should say it's an opportunity for us to look broadly at the news.

[David Gura]

Not using AI, using your brain.

[Nathan Hager]

Yeah. Can't do that critical thinking. We even do that this early in the morning and it's hard.

[David Gura]

It is a struggle.

[Christina Raffini]

There is coffee. There is coffee available.

[Nathan Hager]

Speaking of drinking, this isn't coffee. This is about drinking culture. Because I don't think there's it's any secret that the beverage industry has been dealing with the changes. 20 somethings kind of pulling back because of health concerns or the economy.

[David Gura]

Yeah. We just did the story at Jim Beam and they're, they're owned by this big Japanese conglomerate.

[Christina Raffini]

Remind me this because you said that they're actually getting into not a non alcoholic whiskey but like no, but Jim

[David Gura]

Beam, they're doing non alcoholic cocktails to try to, you know, get these young people who are not drinking alcohol to purchase some of their products.

[Nathan Hager]

Well, this isn't Just a Western phenomenon, or here in the States, it's even spreading to China. Although the reasons here are a little bit different. This is really about a generational divide. This was from the Wall Street Journal this week. A sober, curious generation is challenging the business culture of heavy drinking. Because you can see it right here for our listeners on radio, they do toasts. This has been a part of the culture for decades now. Some business leaders say that, you know, just you can tell whether a deal is going to go down based on how many toasts are in the deal. So an initial business deal isn't even about business. It's about just doing the toast. And this is around a national drink called baiju. It's actually $170 billion business. This is a clear spirit that's distilled from sorghum, and it's kind of the traditional alcoholic beverage that Chinese business people at social gatherings do to do these toasts. But only about a fifth of adults in China ages 25 to 35 name it as their preferred alcoholic drink, they say. At least one worker says it burns your throat and stinks. It is very terrible.

[Christina Raffini]

Yes, I have.

[David Gura]

Oh, I've had soju, but I've never had this.

[Christina Raffini]

It's extremely strong.

[Nathan Hager]

But would you say that the aftertaste is worse than a mix of funky cheese and fermented juice?

[Christina Raffini]

You know, I don't even know if I had time to process the taste because it was so powerful and strong. It reminds me of that now. I kind of want it. But Malort, isn't that the Chicago drink? It's like a very strong.

[David Gura]

I don't know what that is either.

[Christina Raffini]

Well, I will bring some in for you to have.

[David Gura]

But, I mean, I had moonshine once. It almost killed me.

[Christina Raffini]

Quite sweetened.

[Nathan Hager]

So the bottom line about how this is working in China is that it's not just about giving up alcohol necessarily. It's about changing the way that young people decide to drink and sort of rejecting or, you know, going a little bit against how the older generation have done it with their alcoholic spirits.

[Christina Raffini]

What else you got?

[Nathan Hager]

Well, you mentioned the must have summer status symbol.

[Christina Raffini]

Well teased.

[Nathan Hager]

Well teased.

[David Gura]

Hopefully it's not a tan, because we've all learned that's not happening for me.

[Nathan Hager]

Well, it's something in a bottle. It's not Sunscreen. It's a three $99 bottle of water. So, yes, you can forget your baiju flavored lattes or your bubble tea. This is Lunin water. It's showing up at bougie grocery stores, private Events here in New York City.

[Christina Raffini]

Christina must have seen it.

[David Gura]

And how dare you also. Yes, I have.

[Governor Kevin Stitt]

Oh, have you now?

[Nathan Hager]

And the way they sell this is it's sourced from a Southern California spring.

[David Gura]

Yes.

[Nathan Hager]

Stainless steel filtration, adding natural minerals like Celtic sea salt, magnesium, potassium and calcium. All this for the low, low price.

[Christina Raffini]

Yes.

[Nathan Hager]

Of $3.99. Now this was founded.

[Christina Raffini]

Co.

[Nathan Hager]

Founded last year actually by a woman named Clara Sieg. She's a former venture capitalist who, of course she is. When she was, you know, deciding to get pregnant, getting ready to. Decided to educate herself about microplastics and found that she says that the stainless steel filtration process gets out more of the microplastics. But when you talk to experts, they say, water's water, water's water. And even if there is a, you know, Evian or liquid Volvique, there is no evidence that any of these elite brands are going to give you any other water.

[David Gura]

And glass does taste.

[Christina Raffini]

Lunacy. It's called lunacy.

[Nathan Hager]

It's called Lunin.

[Christina Raffini]

Lunin.

[Chris Rouser]

Okay.

[David Gura]

Potato, potato.

[Christina Raffini]

What else? What else you got?

[Nathan Hager]

Editorialized.

[David Gura]

Any more drinking stories? Any more drinking stories for us?

[Christina Raffini]

Why would I editorialize? Never.

[Nathan Hager]

Never. So we're going to go from luxury water to luxury hotels here because this is a new trend across Europe. Actually, it's not just about the thread count or the buzzy. Restaurant history is the new amenity. This story is actually from Bloomberg this week. You can go to the Raffles London at the OWO and sip martinis in a basement that was once used by British intelligence.

[Christina Raffini]

Of course. Owo.

[David Gura]

You're speaking my language. History, nerd and bougie. Hotel quiz.

[Nathan Hager]

O.W.O. stands for Office of Wartime, along the lines Old War Office. War Office.

[David Gura]

Okay.

[Nathan Hager]

The Nomad London. You can tour old prison cells where Oscar Wilde once waited for sentencing. So guests are paying upwards of 13,000 or $13,000, 1300 a night. So you can see that were once limited to the most powerful. And like I said, this is a trend across Europe. There are old ministries in Paris and Lisbon that are turning into hotels. The former Italian central bank headquarters in Rome because they gotta offload some of these old buildings as the governments are modernizing and these hotel chains are saying, you know what, we'll go ahead and snap them up and give our guests an experience that they'll never forget compared to like the museum or the spa

[David Gura]

or whatever, you know, I understand there's an access issue here and it's not equitable. But I also do think it is nice to preserve these buildings that might otherwise not have a purpose. At least someone is paying to save them. And you know, you gotta buy a $14 martini to help an old post office keep the bricks stand up.

[Nathan Hager]

Yeah, well, there's a Waldorf Astoria now.

[David Gura]

It is now. It has a very nice bar. I've been there multiple times.

[Christina Raffini]

Nathan, thank you very much. Appreciate that. Thank you. Btw,

[David Gura]

thanks for joining us on today's Bloomberg this Weekend podcast. Don't forget to tune in live for the show show every Saturday and Sunday morning starting at 7am Eastern.

[Christina Raffini]

We're on Bloomberg Television, Radio and the Bloomberg Business App, bringing you unique takes and in depth interviews on news, politics, lifestyle and culture.