Expanding Trump Accounts with IRS CEO & SSA Commissioner 07/16/26

0:00Robert Fishman:Your data lives everywhere. On-prem, in the cloud, across apps. Bring it all together with EverPure, the platform that acts like a living system, delivering the latest in data performance, security, and innovation without ever slowing you down. Sophisticated enough to anticipate your ever-changing data needs, yet simple enough to feel like second nature. Tame your data chaos with EverPure and make storage and data management the simplest part of your business. Visit everpuredata.com to learn more. This episode is brought to you by Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Join host Keith Lansford for this information-packed daily market preview delivered in 10 minutes or less, including projected stock updates, monetary policy decisions, and key results and statistics that may impact your trading.

0:47Robert Fishman:Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com slash marketupdatepodcast or find Schwab Market Update wherever you get your podcasts. Bring in show music, please.

1:25Frank Bisignano:the single stock focus.

1:28Robert Fishman:Streaming giant Netflix is poised to report latest financial performance. What its 300 million plus subscribers need to know, analyst Robert Fishman. We do think it's a good buy here, a great buy. And I think the attractiveness of the stock position today is this question, whether or not the growth is sustainable. Plus, new tariffs on Brazil, an Uber-sized deal, and watching the rock stars watching the World Cup. Did you see how perfect that? Oh, had the placement. That perfect. Yeah. It's Thursday, July 16th, 2026. Squawk Pod begins right now. Stand Becky by in three, two, one. Cue it, please.

2:10Robert Fishman:Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Squawk Box right here on CNBC. We are live from the Nasdaq market site in Times Square. I'm Becky Quick, along with Joe Curtin and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Meantime, the U.S. has levied 25 percent tariffs on most imports from Brazil, effective next week. It concluded a year-long investigation into alleged unfair trade practices, including ordering American tech firms like X, Meta and Google to remove certain political content and suspending accounts of U.S. residents of society of Brazil's preferential tariffs from Mexico and India, weak intellectual property enforcement and ethanol market barriers.

2:47Robert Fishman:Certain Brazil goods will be exempt from those tariffs. Those include beef, orange juice, aircraft, aircrafts and other parts and some energy products. In a statement, Brazil's president rejected the tariff decision as groundless and vowed to initiate countermeasures. Now, President Trump has been seeking to reassert his authority over trade. This, of course, after the Supreme Court struck down what was those previous tariffs, including a 50 percent tariff at that time on Brazilian goods. What we're now seeing, of course, is the administration going through the process of trying to evaluate each country on a country by country basis.

3:22Robert Fishman:That appears to have a more grounding, grounded legal basis. The question, of course, is there's questions probably within even even something like this on the grounding of some of those things and then what Brazil does to retaliate. And I guess we're going to talk about oil. We got to talk about what's happening in Iran. Early this morning, Iran warned that it would crush key targets in the Middle East if President Trump carried out his threats to target Iran's infrastructure. On Tuesday, President Trump said if a diplomatic breakthrough isn't achieved by next week, then the U.S. would target Iran's power plants and bridges.

4:02Robert Fishman:And speaking yesterday at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, President Trump addressed the impact of the war on the price of oil. A lot of people thought oil would go up to$350 a barrel, and today it's at$79. A couple of days ago, it was at$68. It went up a little bit because I had to take tough action, because they did not obey what they're supposed to obey. I mean, they just didn't do it. So we took a little action, but when that settles down, I think you're going to have$55 oil, which is all great for what you're doing, maybe less than that. Let's check out where crude presses are in 79, so below 80, which might be a little bit surprising, I guess.

4:48Robert Fishman:I was actually surprised to say that this morning. Yeah, a bit surprised it is. Uber buying a German food delivery company, Delivery Hero, for$14.8 billion. It's a big deal to create the world's largest delivery firm outside of China. Uber made that acquisition conditional on a minimum acceptance threshold of 50 percent plus one share. It's offering$47.58 per share in cash for that company, roughly a 34 % premium to the stock's three-month average share price. Now, as part of the deal, Delivery Hero will divest businesses in 14 markets where the companies overlap to U.S. investment firm SSW Partners.

5:27Robert Fishman:So that's interesting. Delivery Hero has a much larger area than just Germany where they're delivering. Yeah, all over. Yeah. All over. It's a big premium, too. So big conversation to understand sort of where Uber goes with all this. The New York Yankees earned advanced talks with Apollo Global Management to raise about$3 billion of financing. That's according to multiple reports that say the two sides are discussing a package that includes mostly debt and some equity. So we're seeing private equity world increasingly move into the world of sports. And in World Cup news, once again, Argentina really showing you how great watching soccer can be.

6:07Robert Fishman:Not if you're a fan of England, obviously. But Argentina defeated England 2-1 yesterday in Atlanta to advance to the World Cup final. Sunday at 3 p.m. England was ahead late in the game. I guess we're calling it the middle part of the second half. But Argentina scored two late goals to win the game. You could see Messi just, but once again, sort of just decide I'm not going to let this happen. Spain advanced Tuesday, defeating France. Spain only allowed one goal through the whole tournament. The final matchup, as I said, meant life, 3 p.m. in New Jersey. And 58 % of the people are actually betting on Calci on Spain, winning the World Cup.

6:50Robert Fishman:I don't know whether that's – it's tough to go back-to-back. That's what it would be for Argentina. and if you go on social media, the rage and just disappointment for the, I guess they're called the Three Lions or something, I don't know. I'm not a big watcher, but the Three Lions, this was everybody's chance that's a fan of English soccer. And they invented the game and haven't won, the sport haven't won since the early 60s, I think. And they really felt like they had it. in previous, I guess, matches, they've complained that they got too defensive, and that's what they're complaining about the coach yesterday.

7:34Robert Fishman:Three substitutions after they were ahead, the game sort of moved to their side, and they were, instead of attacking, they were trying to play not to lose instead of playing to win, and people are just furious at this coach. And he said, hey, look, whenever you lose, people are going to be mad you lost and I can take it and stuff like that. But it seems like it might be more than this. I saw some stuff on Twitter, people just cursing and, you know, on a podcast or something as it was happening, because it was one to nothing. I was watching the guy goes, no, no, don't substance, you know, don't do that.

8:12Robert Fishman:And they go, I knew it. You saw, I guess, I saw Mick Jagger. When Messi did the last assist that got knocked in, he went, oh,

8:22Frank Bisignano:Had the placement?

8:23Robert Fishman:That perfect, yeah. And the goal to tie it was like a bender. Yeah. That just made the corner. Can't believe I watched that. I watched the whole game. Cheese will be next. Coming up on Squawk Pod, the future of the safety net. We have the man who runs Social Security and also, coincidentally, the tax authority, the IRS, Frank Bissignano.

8:46Frank Bisignano:We don't have a funding problem, right? Like we have a get work done problem and you know me, you know my history, right? We know how to get work done. We can do more with less. But technology is a great enabler.

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10:06Robert Fishman:Good morning, students. Soccer teaches us teamwork, leadership, geometry, art, physics, and a lifetime of lessons we can take with us long after we leave the field. That's why Bank of America and U.S. Soccer are committed to helping bring soccer to every school. Soccer is officially in session. Raise your hand to help bring soccer to schools at bofa.com slash soccer at schools. This episode is brought to you by Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Join host Keith Lansford for this information-packed daily market preview delivered in 10 minutes or less, including projected stock updates, monetary policy decisions, and key results and statistics that may impact your trading.

10:53Robert Fishman:Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com slash marketupdatepodcast or find Schwab Market Update wherever you get your podcasts.

11:05Robert Fishman:You're listening to Squawk Pod from CNBC with Joe Kernan, Becky Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Stand by Joe. Here's Mike. Here. More than six and a half million families have signed up for Trump Accounts, which launched July 4th. Our next guest was just named to lead the expansion of the program. Joining us now, Frank Pizzignano, who also serves as commissioner of the Social Security Administration and the CEO of the IRS. You're sleeping at all, Frank?

11:34Frank Bisignano:Oh, yeah. Always. I have a few hours. Always up early, always ready.

11:39Robert Fishman:What is possible, in your view, if you're really successful with the Trump accounts? Where could we be a year or two from now in coverage?

11:47Frank Bisignano:I think, you know, it's very, very informative. Last evening, I had dinner with the CEOs of tax preparers and talked through their capability to distribute this product. And so you have to think about we have all types of distribution. We have the ability to enroll people very simply. And I think the objective is to have 70 million children under 18 and to have a Trump account. I mean, it's a great vehicle. It's generationally changing. It's bringing financial literacy to youth also. you know, we all can remember understanding a little bit about the market. Well, everybody has the opportunity, the fact that it's pro-family,$1 ,000 for a baby born, you know, for the next four years.

12:39Frank Bisignano:So I think we should have every family enrolled in a Trump account. I think that's the objective. And I think it's really capable. Financial planners, tax planners, right? The ability for us to distribute through banks, everybody. It's good for America, good for financial literacy, good for pro-family, landmark program for the secretary and president.

13:06Robert Fishman:The onboarding process, does that need to be made easier? Do you need more money? Does everyone need to step up corporate America and fund?

13:15Frank Bisignano:Well, you know, we have 50 companies. You know, Obviously, you saw what Michael Dell did and his family, and we're talking an hour a day on making that great and being the prototype for others. I think you're going to see a lot of philanthropists who want to do this and are waiting to watch how it rolls out for Michael. It's a startup business. Now, if you remember, I've run startup businesses. We built Clover to turn around first data, right? It's a technology business, really. And I think we're going to make it simple for people to enroll and simple for people to watch their money grow, invest in the S &P for young children.

13:54Robert Fishman:With the 50 companies that have given money with Michael Dell, with all the money he and his wife have given, how many kids do you cover versus all you're left?

14:03Frank Bisignano:Well, every one of these are different. Right.

14:06Robert Fishman:I know it's for certain kids in certain areas, for certain areas.

14:09Frank Bisignano:But I think you're going to end up with, given the order of magnitude, and many of these are$250, say, you know, celebrating$250, everybody has a different angle on it. I think this is why I'm so confident about the$70 million, ultimately. And we have lots of people standing on the sidelines prepared when they actually watch this for the next few months work very, very well. And, you know, I think I think we're in the startup phase. I'm on, you know, day two and a half.

14:41Robert Fishman:I love what it does about teaching kids about. I think it's great for long term to make sure you have something there when you retire. I mean, that that is something that's pretty exciting.

14:50Frank Bisignano:Yeah. I mean, it's a investment vehicle that, you know, donations can go into contributions you go into. I'm sure we all experienced at some point a niece, a nephew, a grandchild that you may have given a few shares of stock to. So they would learn here. America is doing it for these children.

15:10Robert Fishman:Frank, there's two questions. One about the recent effort. And this is we talked to Brad about this actually just two weeks ago. Gwen Shotwell gave her donation. The plan, at least as I understood it, was that that donation of shares in SpaceX would not just go into these funds and get turned into cash or get liquidated and turned into other mutual funds and the like. But the idea is that those kids who were getting those shares would ultimately keep those shares, hold those shares until they were 18 years old. there's something very attractive about that on one end but you know where i'm going to go because if you look at the law as at least it was written it seems to suggest that that is not what at least the intent of the law was there's some potential opening for the treasury secretary to give guidance and the like but it seems like the whole idea was to put people into diversified funds that also creates some uniquely strange incentives, because effectively, if you put, you know, if Warren Buffett were to put$100 billion of his shares, he could effectively park money, park those shares, rather, for 18 years without voting rights.

16:26Robert Fishman:I mean, there's a whole bunch. So I'm curious how you're thinking about that.

16:29Frank Bisignano:Well, how we're thinking about it. And of course, you know, there's the intent of the law, the law, and then there's always within that law, the secretary, who is my close partner in all these endeavors. Right now, we're working on getting the product launched and, you know, investing in the index fund for them.

16:54Robert Fishman:Right.

16:54Frank Bisignano:Right. That was the intent. You know how things are. Right. We're always working through details. This is this is fun seed money for youth with high finance on top of it. So stay tuned. But if you want to go to what we the intent is, the intent is to have them in a fund to be able to grow with the S &P. And you look at the 20 year growth pattern.

17:25Robert Fishman:But the whole effort to get a Warren Buffett or to get an Elon Musk or to get a Jensen or whatever to donate large swaths of their companies and then have those shares sit in those funds, is that is that the long term intent? Because that was at least as our understanding of the Gwynne Shotwell contribution, what was happening?