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America's Energy Problem: We Need A New Grid
David Ulevitch, Erin Price-Wright, Ryan McEntush, Aaron
This event addresses the critical ossification of the U.S. electrical grid, where aging infrastructure, severe transformer backlogs, and a dispersed skilled workforce have stalled megaproject development. Panelists argue that the solution lies in a decentralized "leapfrog" strategy combining on-site generation, Small Modular Reactors, and AI-driven management to bypass interconnection bottlenecks. The discussion highlights urgent investment opportunities in grid visibility software, industrial robotics, and supply chain diversification to meet the explosive power demands of data centers and EVs.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Strategies for Expanding Affordable Housing | Global Conference 2025
Jennifer Sondag, Stephen J. Cloobeck, Scott Epstein, Martin Muoto, Shane Phillips, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
A high-stakes panel on California's housing crisis converges on the conclusion that a five-million-unit supply shortage, exacerbated by regulatory burdens like CEQA and restrictive zoning, necessitates urgent legislative and structural reform. Key figures including developer Martin and gubernatorial candidate Stephen Zake advocate for dismantling bureaucratic barriers, citing cost disparities between inefficient nonprofit construction and private sector models, while highlighting successful precedents in Cambridge and New Zealand. The discussion culminates in a strategic pivot toward public-private partnerships and single-family upzoning, arguing that aligning private capital with social impact is essential to resolve the workforce housing mismatch and lower costs for essential workers.
- Milken Institute59 min
US Economic Competitiveness in a Changing World | Global Conference 2025
Stephanie Flanders, Gary Cohn, Kevin McCarthy, Peter Orszag, Ruth Porat, Glenn Youngkin
Panelists project the U.S. economy will maintain long-term resilience driven by global reserve currency status and corporate investment, despite short-term fiscal strain and a macro-resilience decline caused by supply chain diversification away from China. To address structural deficits, the discussion emphasizes accelerating GDP growth through aggressive AI adoption, a nuclear energy revolution to power digital infrastructure, and tax policy extensions that prioritize domestic manufacturing over antitrust enforcement. Simultaneously, the administration faces a critical tension between strict immigration enforcement and the urgent need to attract global talent, a challenge highlighted by Virginia's $100 billion in recent corporate commitments and its pivot toward non-traditional workforce development pathways.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Capital Markets 2025: Shaping and Scaling the Future | Global Conference 2025
Sonali Basak, Sumer Dewan, Jim Esposito, Viswas Raghavan, Seema Shah, Jeffrey Solomon
Panelists led by Seema Kenji analyze a structural macroeconomic shift where sovereign debt burdens have transferred to private sectors, creating a new environment characterized by the Trump administration's tariff and deregulation triad and a decade of anticipated high volatility. While market dislocations remain orderly and liquidity persists, regional dynamics are pivoting toward Asia as India and ASEAN emerge as critical growth engines and internal trading blocs. Looking forward, the consensus emphasizes corporate stress testing and long-term conviction in US assets, with technology and scenario analysis serving as primary drivers for navigating the upcoming period of fiscal dominance and reserve currency trust deficits.
- All-In Podcast1h 31m
Grok 4 Wows, The Bitter Lesson, Third Party, AI Browsers, SCOTUS backs POTUS on RIFs
Travis Kalanick, Keith Rabois, Chamath, Jason, Friedberg
Travis Kalanick unveiled his "Bowl Builder" robotic food assembly machine designed to slash labor costs to 10% of revenue, while Elon Musk confirmed ongoing discussions with Pony AI to license autonomous driving technology for both passenger and food delivery applications. These logistical advances align with Musk's announcement that Grok 4 has outperformed competitor models by scaling general computation and transitioning exclusively to synthetic training data. Amidst these technological shifts, Musk also proposed a new political party focused on fiscal responsibility to influence congressional races, a move supported by the Supreme Court's recent ruling granting the President broad authority to execute federal workforce reductions.
- Milken Institute58 min
Balance Sheet: The US Government Budget and National Debt | Global Conference 2025
Josh Barro, Maya MacGuineas, Steven T. Mnuchin, Paul Ryan, Alan Schwartz, Phillip Swagel, David Malani
A panel of economic experts and former officials projected that U.S. deficits will reach 8% of GDP within four years, driven by expiring tax provisions, rising interest costs, and an inflexible entitlement system facing insolvency by 2033. While policy proposals ranging from Value Added Taxes to sovereign wealth funds were debated, participants warned that political gridlock and current IRS reductions will likely delay necessary structural reform until a market crisis forces action. The discussion highlighted a potential erosion of dollar hegemony due to rising borrowing costs and foreign diversification, urging the creation of a bipartisan fiscal commission with enforcement powers to prevent a long-term debt spiral.
- Milken Institute58 min
Algorithms to Outcomes: AI's Impact in Finance | Global Conference 2025
Gregory Zuckerman, Andreas (Andy) Kreuz, Daniel Morillo, Katrina Paglia, Umesh Subramanian, Michael Zeltkevic
Representatives from Marsh McLennan, Citadel, Pantera Capital, Freestone Growth Partners, and Roquan convened to discuss how their firms are integrating AI into both quantitative and discretionary investment workflows. The panel detailed tangible efficiency gains, such as reduced due diligence times and enhanced unstructured data analysis, while cautioning against overfitting risks and the loss of junior talent development. Ultimately, the speakers characterized the current technology as merely the "base of the mountain," emphasizing a strategic shift toward "man-plus-machine" systems and robust operational controls rather than full automation.
- All-In Podcast6 min
"Harvard Is Cooked" Chamath Palihapitiya On Harvard’s Future
Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason, Nick, Freberg
Harvard faces existential financial pressure as the federal administration threatens to revoke its nonprofit status and cut funding over alleged Title IX violations, potentially creating a $1 billion annual deficit exacerbated by a proposed excise tax on endowment assets. Compounding this external threat, the university's heavy allocation to illiquid private equity assets risks forcing distressed sales at steep discounts if it must liquidate holdings to survive an 18-month funding freeze. This crisis serves as a catalyst for a broader dismantling of higher education monopolies, where shifting economic realities and AI-driven educational models are rapidly rendering traditional university structures obsolete.
- Y Combinator39 min
How to Spend Your 20s in the AI Era
The event critically examines how AI is collapsing traditional computer science career safety nets and redefining startup economics by shifting capital formation toward direct revenue generation rather than external validation. It argues that competitive advantage now relies on "forward-deployed engineering" and niche domain expertise, urging founders to build value through tangible utility rather than brand narratives or simulated success. Furthermore, the discussion outlines a preparation framework for entrepreneurs emphasizing frugality, co-founder synchronization, and the strategic use of proprietary data to secure moats in specialized markets before the potential obsolescence of human labor renders current wealth accumulation obsolete.
- Milken Institute57 min
Macroeconomic Outlook | Global Conference 2025
Gregory Zuckerman, Khalid Al-Falih, André Esteves, Karen Karniol Tambour, Kathryn Koch, Ron O'Hanley
Leading financial experts analyze the convergence of political volatility, trade uncertainty, and shifting geopolitical alignments that are driving a global reevaluation of U.S. exceptionalism and prompting investors to diversify into Asian markets, the UK, and the Middle East. The panel highlights critical macroeconomic headwinds, including a "baked-in" recession risk and a Federal Reserve constrained by tariff-induced inflation, which are forcing a repricing of Treasury yields and exposing vulnerabilities in risk assets. Amidst these challenges, private credit emerges as a vital, though stress-tested, innovation for risk dispersion, while advocates for conservative lending strategies and active management position themselves to capitalize on the expected rise in defaults and liquidity dislocations.
- All-In Podcast13 min
"What The F Are We Doing?" David Friedberg On BBB’s Deficit Increase & Trump vs. Elon
The White House and Treasury officials, including Scott Besson and Ray Dalio, are advocating for a "333" economic strategy to reduce the federal deficit-to-GDP ratio to 3% while stimulating 3% growth and controlling inflation. This approach relies on unproven variables such as tariff revenue and tax cuts, facing skepticism from economists who warn that current structural incentives in Congress and massive hidden liabilities make the target unachievable without monetary expansion. Concurrently, analysts project a strategic pivot for Elon Musk to leverage his $250 million in political expenditures to define a specific "America Pack" focused on balanced budgets and sustainable energy, aiming to influence policy without engaging in direct conflict with the Trump administration.
- Milken Institute20 min
Investment, Art, & Cultural Impact: Conversation with Babyface & Sherrese Clarke | Global Conference
Babyface, Sherrese Clarke, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Ayesha Rascoe, Aisha Rasko
Legendary producer Babyface and Harborview CEO Cherise Clark discussed a divergent investment philosophy in the music industry, contrasting Babyface's slow-growth instincts with Harborview's data-driven strategy that targets under-penetrated global markets and specific demographic segments. This approach prioritizes diversified, high-yielding assets across genres like Latinx streaming and legacy heavy metal to achieve double-digit returns while mitigating risk through quantitative analysis rather than personal bias. The panelists concluded that despite technological advancements in streaming and AI, long-term value remains anchored in the irreplaceable human emotion of creative works and the need to view genre labels as commercial rather than artistic barriers.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Green or Gray: What's Next for Transportation? | Global Conference 2025
Susan Li, Adam Goldstein, Nina Hachigian, Alex Israel, Mark Morelli, Will Thompson
Industry leaders including Mark Morelli of Circle K and Will Thompson of Barclays convened to analyze the severe financial and operational headwinds facing the U.S. mobility sector, such as projected tariff losses for Ford and GM and a critical $400 billion grid infrastructure gap. The panel debated divergent paths forward, ranging from China's state-subsidized pricing advantages to the necessity of multi-fuel strategies and a "technological war" for AI dominance in defense and electric vehicle manufacturing. While consensus emerged that autonomous fleet deployment and EV charging profitability will likely materialize within two to three years, stakeholders uniformly dismissed the 2035 total electrification mandate as unrealistic given current fleet turnover rates and transmission constraints.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
The Global Landscape and Opportunities for Medical Breakthroughs | Global Conference 2025
Usha Lee McFarling, Jay Bradner, Doug Drysdale, Neil Kumar, Alice Pomponio, Grant Verstandig
Biomedicine leaders from BridgeBio, Amgen, and Zephyr AI outlined a strategy to accelerate the industry from discovery to commercialization by leveraging precision diagnostics, population-scale genetics, and AI-driven protein folding to overcome the "valley of death." While startups like Saiban pioneer high-efficacy mental health treatments and the American Cancer Society launches "BrightEdge" to blend venture capital with donor funds, panelists warned that eroding NIH funding threatens this innovation ecosystem. The discussion emphasized that sustaining global competitiveness requires public-private partnerships to fund basic research and expand diverse genomic databases beyond Western populations.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
The New Age of Private Equity | Global Conference 2025
Dan Primack, Per Franzén, David Gross, Julia Kahr, Pete Stavros, Eric Wilmes
Leading global investors including GIC, Bain Capital, and EQT discussed a market defined by regional divergence, where US activity paused due to policy uncertainty while European and Asian deals accelerated. Panelists characterized the current environment as a buyer-seller dislocation rather than a collapse, highlighting the strategic shift toward AI integration, continuation funds, and diversified platforms to navigate valuation misalignments. Despite macroeconomic headwinds like potential tariffs and tax policy changes, the consensus views the present low activity as a strategic buying opportunity supported by record dry powder and resilient portfolio fundamentals.