Slate Money — "The Down the IGWEL Edition"

Episode Date: January 13, 2018
Host: Felix Salmon with Anna Szymanski and Jordan Weissmann

Episode Overview

This week’s episode of Slate Money offers a deep-dive discussion on three major topics at the intersection of politics, technology, and society:

• President Trump’s surprise appearance at Davos and what it means politically and diplomatically;
• Huawei’s near-invisible but powerful global reach, and the complex reasons why the U.S. market resists its technology, despite its superior offerings and price;
• The growing concerns over smartphone addiction among children, activist investor pressure on Apple, and the shifting public sentiment toward big tech firms.

The tone of the discussion is quick-witted, skeptical, and irreverent, with the hosts blending personal anecdotes with global perspective.

Key Segments & Insights

1. Trump Goes to Davos: Airs Out the IGWELs

[00:27–12:45]

Main Discussion:

• President Donald Trump will attend Davos with a sizable delegation, marking only the second time a sitting U.S. President has done so (the first was Bill Clinton in 2000).
• The panel analyzes the motives behind Trump’s visit—ranging from intra-administration politics (e.g., Mnuchin and Cohn wanting to attend but needing Trump’s cover), to actual diplomatic opportunity, to a desire to grandstand in front of the world’s elite.

Notable Quotes:

• “If Donald Trump ever went to Davos, he would completely suck the air out of every room” (Felix Salmon, 02:56)
• “He’s going to get to be the skunk at the garden party, which is kind of the role he’s most comfortable in.” (Jordan Weissmann, 06:39)
• “He only respects billionaires; he only respects money... So it seems like he’d be much more apt to want to hang out with the other plutocrats as opposed to actual world leaders.” (Anna Szymanski, 08:38)

Key Insights:

• Davos is usually a venue for lower-profile but important diplomatic interactions, and Trump may leverage these high-level but informal “IGWEL” (Informal Gathering of World Economic Leaders) meetings for private summits not possible in the U.S. or U.K.
• Security and Trump’s own preferences may keep him insulated from the broader Davos scene, likely restricting his interactions to carefully selected elites.
• The extraordinary secrecy of IGWEL meetings is noted (“I’ve never seen an IGWEL leak…”), and the effectiveness of Davos in deterring protests through harsh measures is highlighted.

2. Huawei’s Technological Dominance and U.S. Anxiety

[12:45–28:20]

Main Discussion:

• Felix recounts his travels in New Zealand and Hong Kong, noting Huawei’s ubiquity and quality, especially with the Mate 10 smartphone.
• Despite its superior products, Huawei remains blocked from most of the U.S. market, largely due to national security concerns and lack of competitive reciprocity from China.

Notable Quotes:

• “The one thing that Huawei does better than any other telecommunications equipment manufacturer is make very good, high quality stuff, just way cheaper than anyone else.” (Felix Salmon, 14:32)
• “There are legitimate national security concerns... There is no strong wall between [Chinese companies] and the government.” (Anna Szymanski, 16:46)
• “At some point we’re just going to have to use Chinese technology because there is going to be no alternative.” (Felix Salmon, 25:51)

Key Insights:

• The AT&T–Huawei Mate 10 deal’s collapse is emblematic of the intractable market barriers for Chinese tech firms in the U.S.
• Security concerns focus on potential espionage and backdoors, with bipartisan Congressional opposition highlighted.
• Britain’s solution—allowing Huawei in but with constant national security scrutiny—is discussed as a cumbersome middle path.
• Higher U.S. telecom costs are partially attributed to the refusal to adopt Huawei’s cheaper infrastructure solutions.
• Debates ensue about the long-term economic and strategic consequences of shutting out Chinese technology, with Anna arguing China’s “Made in China 2025” policy is explicitly aimed at closing its own markets and dominating global technology supply chains.

3. Shareholder Activism and the iPhone Addiction Panic

[28:20–38:49]

Main Discussion:

• Activist investors Jana Capital and CalSTRS wrote to Apple urging them to investigate and mitigate iPhone addiction in children.
• Discussion extends into what responsibility tech companies bear for the societal impacts of their products, and how public opinion towards big tech has soured.
• Facebook’s recent move to deprioritize clickbait and focus on “meaningful interactions” is discussed as a similar attempt at damage control.

Notable Quotes:

• “Frankly, Apple, as opposed to like Facebook or Twitter, could potentially do this [add controls] without really hurting them because they’re not as dependent on hours of engagement.” (Anna Szymanski, 31:09)
• “I feel like there has been a real sea change in the way that the general public looks at big technology companies... now they’re big evil places you shouldn’t trust.” (Felix Salmon, 33:50)

Personal Moment:

• Felix shares that deleting Twitter during a trip left him “happy and relaxed”—a rare moment of introspective tech detox. (35:58)

Key Insights:

• There is both substance and self-serving strategy to these corporate moves—e.g., Apple has less to lose by curbing usage, as opposed to engagement-dependent companies like Facebook.
• The debate about harm is most acute around children (influence on self-esteem, growth, etc.), but Felix points out adults can be just as “addicted.”
• The segment touches on the historical cycle of moral panics over new media (e.g., parental advisory stickers in music).

4. Numbers Round: Highlights from Business and Policy

[38:53–46:34]

Key Numbers & Commentary

• 0.008: Price-earnings ratio for the Swiss National Bank, which is technically a public stock. (Felix, 38:53)
• 10: Number of states seeking to add work requirements to Medicaid—Trump administration is supportive, following a trend similar to 1990s welfare rollbacks. (Jordan, 40:41)
• 15: The year-gap in life expectancy between men in the top vs. bottom 1%—a stark measure of growing inequality. (Anna, 43:55)
• $37 billion: The accounting windfall Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway gained from the Trump tax cuts. (Felix, 45:22)

Memorable Moments & Speaker Attribution

• On Trump’s motivation for Davos:
  “This is sort of just a giant fuck you from Gary Cohn and Mnuchin to Steve Bannon on his way out the door.”
  Jordan Weissmann [03:23]

• On IGWEL’s secrecy:
  “I’ve never seen an IGWEL leak. For those of you who... forget previous Davos episodes, it’s my favorite acronym. It stands for Informal Gathering of World Economic Leaders.”
  Felix Salmon [10:16]

• On living without Twitter:
  “I basically spent three weeks without Twitter and it felt amazing... It’s only when you get rid of it that you realize just how kind of twitchy it makes you.”
  Felix Salmon [35:59]

• On Huawei and China’s strategic ambitions:
  “In China’s Made in China 2025 plan, they explicitly lay out their plan to gain total market dominance in these advanced manufacturing and specifically talk about strategic investments to gain more access to cutting-edge technology…”
  Anna Szymanski [24:05]

Conclusion

This episode captures the energy of a shifting global order, where politics, commerce, and technology collide. From the odd spectacle of Trump at Davos to the stealth dominance of Huawei and the rising backlash against tech’s impact on children, the hosts explore how today’s business news reflects deeper trends in global relations and societal anxiety.

Timestamps by Topic

• Trump at Davos: 00:27–12:45
• Huawei and U.S.–China Tech Conflict: 12:45–28:20
• Phone Addiction & Activism against Big Tech: 28:20–38:49
• Numbers Round (Swiss National Bank, Medicaid, Inequality, Tax Cuts): 38:53–46:34

Tone:
Direct, skeptical, witty, occasionally irreverent.
Best For:
Listeners seeking global perspective on business and finance, flavored with vivid anecdotes and clear-eyed skepticism about power, tech, and politics.