What Pablo Torre Found Out & Banning Artificial Superintelligence 9/4/26

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**SPEAKER_2** (0:29)
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**SPEAKER_3** (0:59)
Bring in show music, please.

**Katie Kramer** (1:02)
Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer. Today on Squawk Pod.

**Pablo Torre** (1:07)
Is anyone going to do anything about this?

**Katie Kramer** (1:09)
Pablo Torre did. The sports journalist who broke the salary cap scandal embroiling LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer in his pursuit to sign player Kauai Leonard, who got secret payments and settled with professional basketball.

**Pablo Torre** (1:22)
So in the NBA, arbitration is a function of the player slash his union and the league.

**Katie Kramer** (1:28)
Sports business professor Patrick Rishe says the lesson for the sport will be long.

**Patrick Rishe** (1:33)
All this evidence exists. They had to lay the hammer. So I love the accountability.

**Katie Kramer** (1:38)
Then the congressman who wants to ban artificial super intelligence, Texas Democrat Greg Casar.

**Greg Casar** (1:45)
Congress and the president have essentially done nothing to put some guard rails on this very powerful technology.

**Katie Kramer** (1:52)
How he thinks we can protect Americans from the dangers of advanced AI.

**Greg Casar** (1:57)
This could be as dangerous as pandemics, biochemical weapons and nuclear weapons. We should treat this the same.

**Katie Kramer** (2:04)
Plus, all the rest of today's news that got us squawking. It's Friday, September 4th. A long weekend approaches. Squawk Pod begins right now.

**SPEAKER_8** (2:14)
Stand Becky by in three, two, one, cue, please.

**Becky Quick** (2:20)
Good morning and 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 Andrew Ross Sorkin. Joe is off today, but happy Friday, everybody. Check out Energy Prices, because that has been the big issue. This morning, you're actually seeing a pullback in WTI, ever so slightly, down by about 24 cents to 91.06.
Brent's trading at 95.49. And we are watching fuel prices as well. Diesel actually hitting a record, $5.85 a gallon. That's according to AAA. Those higher prices generally factor into what consumers pay for goods that are delivered by trucks that obviously all run on diesel. National gas prices stand at $4.15 a gallon.

**Andrew Ross Sorkin** (3:02)
Meantime economist Mohammed Alarian is seeing a continuation in the sell-off of global government bonds. Alarian is speaking to CNBC at a year economic conference in Italy. He believes rates will see more upward pressure. Alarian was asked if he thinks the Treasury has lost credibility over its recent US financial market moves. Here was his response.

**SPEAKER_11** (3:22)
I think it's unfortunate, Kernen, to tell you the truth. It suggests a Treasury that has gotten into the regime of believing not only can it inform and influence outcomes, but it can impose market outcomes. And I think that's a step too far.

**Andrew Ross Sorkin** (3:39)
Alarian noting he doesn't see anything wrong with how markets are functioning, but said pressure is rising on, in his words, reliable buyers and holders of US. Treasuries. And this is, I think, the ultimate question about where we are right now in terms of what the credibility of the Treasury Department is and how people feel about it. And it's interesting, we talked about it yesterday a little bit. I alluded to it at one point. We're talking about how Besant has now referred to himself as the house, as if we are a casino and he is the house. And it's an interesting thing because for a very, very long time, the Treasury Department has basically thought about bond buyers as its customers.
And that there was a market that the customers were making, not that the Treasury was making for them. And it's an interesting thing to think about. I've heard this idea floated by a number of major hedge fund managers, institutional investors, about if the Treasury thinks about itself as the house, how does that change the dynamic of what's happening? Now, I understand the idea that he can control when bonds are sold and when, in this case, he wants to buy bonds. But it's a different thought process than before. And there's a question about respecting the customer.