Latest Interviews
Showing 1–15 of 18 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute41 min
Investing in Economic Mobility: Building a Path to Opportunity | Global Conference 2026
Michael Milken, Ted Cruz, Brad Gerstner, Kevin Hassett
The "Invest America Act" mandates the automatic creation of direct-ownership investment accounts for millions of children, a program championed by Senator Ted Cruz and economists like Kevin Hassett as a vehicle for "Opportunity Conservatism" rather than government redistribution. Supported by massive private philanthropy from figures such as the Dells and Ray Dalio, the initiative allows tax-free annual contributions up to $5,000 with projected account values reaching $700,000 by age 35. By targeting the bottom of the income distribution, the White House aims to cultivate a nationwide constituency of young investors while driving a political shift toward expanding personal capital ownership beyond current eligibility thresholds.
- Milken Institute27 min
The American Dream at 250 | Global Conference 2026
Jon Clifton, Michael Milken, Anousheh Ansari, Giselle Fernandez, Sanjay Gupta
The Center for the American Dream Initiatives hosted a panel featuring Iranian-born astronaut Sanooch, journalist Giselle Fernandez, and surgeon Sanjay Gupta to highlight how immigrant resilience and access to opportunity fuel the national narrative. Drawing on personal histories and data showing that immigrants view the dream as most thriving despite falling institutional trust, the speakers argued that collective optimism is essential to overcoming domestic polarization. The event further unveiled an interactive, AI-enhanced mural honoring 68 immigrants, reinforcing the thesis that the United States continues to be the primary global destination for those seeking to build a future.
- Milken Institute34 min
Conversation with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink & Brookfield Corp CEO Bruce Flatt | Global Conference '26
Larry Fink, Bruce Flatt, Laurence D. Fink, Michael Milken
Bruce Flint of Brookfield and Larry Fink of BlackRock refuted private credit liquidity concerns while projecting a $10 trillion global infrastructure expansion driven by urgent shortages in power, compute, and defense-grade facilities. The executives detailed how hyperscalers are shifting from self-funding to external financing models, facilitating a massive capital transition where private credit and long-term asset managers fund AI data centers and autonomous security infrastructure. Furthermore, these leaders highlighted a structural evolution in retirement investing and asset consolidation, noting that consistent 12% annual returns and bespoke 50-year lock-up periods are essential to support this new "K-economy" where massive capital blocks outcompete traditional public equities.
- Milken Institute36 min
Michael Milken in Conversation with HE Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak | Middle East & Africa Summit
Michael Milken, HE Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Sarah Sandler, His Excellency Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak
Building on early foundational investments like the 2017 creation of a federal AI ministry and MBZ AI University, the UAE is accelerating its strategic pivot with the US-backed Stargate project, a massive 19-square-kilometer AI cluster scheduled for operational status by late 2025. This infrastructure initiative, which integrates 35,000 NVIDIA H100 chips and involves major partners like OpenAI and Microsoft, serves as the backbone for broader domestic AI integration across government services via the "Tem" platform and corporate strategies such as Mubadala's "Maya" decision-making system. These concerted efforts aim to sustain the nation's top global rankings in entrepreneurship and competitiveness while driving projected wealth migration and economic diversification beyond oil.
- Milken Institute35 min
What Does Smart Implementation of AI in Health Look Like? | Future of Health Summit 2025
Michael Milken, Amy Gleason, Eric Lefkofsky
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is accelerating a $2 trillion annual overhaul by deploying AI-driven interoperability frameworks and consolidating fragmented data to eliminate systemic waste projected to exceed $10 trillion by 2034. Personal case studies illustrating severe diagnostic delays have catalyzed recruitment of top tech talent to build a unified provider directory and a personal AI health companion designed to guide patients through complex care journeys. By setting government infrastructure guardrails while allowing private sector innovation, this strategic vision aims to transform healthcare from a resource-draining liability into a predictive, efficient ecosystem capable of preventing costly medical events.
- Milken Institute31 min
National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya Conversation | Future of Health Summit 2025
Jay Bhattacharya, Michael Milken
NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya addresses a critical loss of public trust and stagnant U.S. life expectancy by restructuring the agency toward a venture capital investment model that prioritizes young researchers and publishes negative results to resolve the replication crisis. While navigating geopolitical tensions with China and correcting misconceptions about budget cuts, the administration leverages bipartisan congressional support to maintain leadership through open talent attraction rather than isolation. A new communication strategy, including a weekly podcast, aims to depoliticize scientific discourse and demonstrate how biomedical advances translate into tangible economic growth and public health improvements.
- Milken Institute31 min
Private Equity's Next Move in Latin America | Global Investors' Symposium Mexico City 2025
Michael Milken, Martín Escobari, José E. Feliciano
Investment firms General Atlantic and Clear Lake are leveraging Mexico's young demographic, surplus of STEM graduates, and geopolitical decoupling from China to position the nation as a high-growth hub for nearshoring and capital deployment. With local valuations trading at a 50% discount to the U.S. and the entry of President Claudia Sheinbaum signaling reduced corruption, these organizations aim to scale operations by directing Mexican pension funds toward private equity and expanding supply chain infrastructure. This strategy seeks to transform Mexico into a $12 trillion economic zone by 2040, capitalizing on reshoring trends and a maturing financial ecosystem to double or triple employment within their portfolio companies.
- Milken Institute38 min
A Conversation with US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent | Global Conference 2025
Scott Bessent, Richard Ditizio, Michael Milken
The 28th annual Milken Institute Global Conference convened 1,000 speakers under the theme "Toward a Flourishing Future" to address critical resource gaps in health, connectivity, and global wealth distribution while urging for inclusive coalitions to bridge societal divides. Concurrently, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent outlined the Trump administration's economic agenda, which prioritizes trade tariffs to boost domestic manufacturing, a "big beautiful bill" of tax cuts and deregulation, and an aggressive strategy to lower the federal deficit by 1% annually. The administration further signaled a shift toward "safe, sound, and smart" financial regulation, strategic partnerships with Ukraine, and a focus on maintaining U.S. dominance in AI and quantum computing to foster a "new golden age" of prosperity.
- Milken Institute43 min
A Conversation with Citadel CEO Ken Griffin | Global Conference 2025
Ken Griffin critiques current U.S. fiscal policies and immigration frameworks, warning that regressive tariffs and restrictive visa rules threaten to erode national flexibility while failing to retain the international scientific talent essential for future growth. He advocates for aggressive K-12 and higher education reforms driven by school choice and data transparency to dismantle systemic inefficiencies, citing Success Academy and his own Harvard philanthropy as models for overcoming institutional inertia. Looking forward, Griffin aims to mobilize an estimated $150 billion in generational wealth to fund private-sector innovations and inspire a new era of scientific ambition similar to the 1960s space race.
- Milken Institute30 min
A Conversation with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang | Global Conference 2025
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang frames AI as a $100 trillion industrial revolution that creates "AI factories" to automate labor and reintegrate millions of workers into the global economy. Operating as an end-to-end infrastructure provider, the company builds massive, gigawatt-scale systems while arguing that unrestricted global chip trade is essential for establishing dominant U.S. standards. Through a culture of perpetual resilience and a focus on "Physical AI," NVIDIA aims to close the technology divide and drive GDP growth across healthcare, manufacturing, and robotics sectors.
- Milken Institute36 min
Conversation with His Excellency Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak | Middle East & Africa Summit 2024
Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, His Excellency Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Michael Milken
Since its inception in 2004, Mubadala has expanded its assets under management from $50 million to $330 billion by evolving into a diversified global investor with a distinct strategic focus on direct private equity, third-party capital, and the newly launched AI-focused MGX platform. Driven by the UAE's consistent political stability and aggressive talent attraction policies, the institution aims to secure a top-three global economic position by 2025 while prioritizing high-growth sectors like artificial intelligence and life sciences in emerging markets. Looking ahead, Mubadala plans to fully integrate AI into all investment functions by late 2025 to outperform traditional sovereign benchmarks and maintain long-term returns comparable to leading global endowments.
- Milken Institute21 min
Building Markets of Tomorrow | Middle East and Africa Summit 2024
Jim outlines a paradigm shift where investment success depends on selecting differentiated business models with long-term tailwinds rather than relying on broad public indexing or predicting short-term economic transitions. As private markets expand to house 32,000 companies and capital flows converge with intellectual assets in regions like the GCC, the strategy must address evolving risks from interest rate volatility to the $120–150 trillion opportunity within the global energy transition. This approach emphasizes that future returns are determined by where investors begin and end, particularly as sovereign debt cycles and fragmentation drive a fundamental restructuring of global capital allocation.
- Milken Institute40 min
Global Overview | Perspectives from Around the World | Middle East & Africa Summit 2023
Becky Anderson, Iván Duque Márquez, Michael Milken, Patrice Motsepe, Mohandas Pai
Michael Milken identifies five primary economic drivers—education, demographics, health, financial markets, and sustainability—while highlighting a global power shift from the industrial-era North to emerging markets like India, Africa, and Latin America. Regional analyses reveal divergent trajectories where Nigeria and Africa face demographic dividends or bombs, India leverages its digital "India Stack" for massive transaction volume, and Latin America capitalizes on nearshoring and renewable energy potential. Despite these opportunities, the global outlook remains precarious due to rising geopolitical polarization, accelerating climate change impacts, and financial vulnerabilities created by the dominance of private equity in the United States.
- Milken Institute45 min
Global Investment Outlook | Asia Summit 2023
Laura Deal Lacey, Michael Milken, Haslinda Amin, Lim Chow Kiat, Steffen Meister
A fragmented discussion addressed speculative topics ranging from unverified energy transition goals to undefined geopolitical strategies involving the United States, China, and the United Kingdom. Participants mentioned broad concepts like artificial intelligence, fiscal accountability, and market volatility without establishing concrete data, specific timelines, or actionable policy outcomes. The session concluded with general acknowledgments but failed to produce a coherent narrative, leaving the stated objectives regarding value capture and supply chain dynamics unresolved.
- Milken Institute34 min
A Conversation with Strive Masiyiwa and Michael Milken
Strive Masiyiwa, Michael Milken
With Africa's population projected to reach 4 billion by 2100 and 12 million young entrants joining the workforce annually, the continent faces a critical imperative to modernize its fragmented economy and address high unemployment rates like the 29% in South Africa. Global tech giants and investors are capitalizing on unique innovations such as mobile money and blockchain to unify 54 currencies, while infrastructure projects connect the continent from Cape Town to Cairo alongside rapid 5G deployment. Strategic partnerships led by figures like Strive Maseiwa aim to train government leaders and expand private enterprise networks, positioning Africa as a primary future market despite capital shortages and the need to replace nearly 500 million traditional jobs.