Episode 13: Tom Steyer, Political Activist

The Accent Podcast

Tom Steyer is a Political Activist, Environmentalist, and Philanthropist. He is well known to the general public for his recent run for Democratic Presidential Nomination (2020 election), and for his career as a founder of Farallon Capital - a multi-billion hedge fund. Tom was recently appointed by the Governor Gavin Newsom to Co-Chair California Task Force on Business and Job Recovery that is focused on re-opening CA for business post-COVID lockdowns.

We spoke about BLM protests, COVID, Tom's run for Democratic Presidential Nomination, his childhood, lessons he learned from his parents, and philanthropy.

01:45 George Floyd and Black Lives Matter

03:20 Structural Racism in USA

07:12 Co-Chair of Task Force for reopening California after COVID

09:20 There is no going back

12:11 Reconciliation of the struggling economy and booming markets

14:20 Grade CARES ACT and Federal Reserve’s response to COVID

16:43 Administration’s response to COVID too bad?

20:25 How fun was the Presidential campaign?

23:30 Those arguments on the stage – are they real?

25:43 Childhood in New York

26:30 Tom’s Mother and what he learned from her

30:00 Philanthropy is a Rich person writing a check – it is not sustainable