Bloomberg Talks Vice Chairman at Goldman Sachs, Robert Kaplan, Talks Monetary Policy, Geopolitical Risk
Mar 26, 2026
Robert Kaplan, former Dallas Fed president and now vice chairman at Goldman Sachs, shares his take on monetary policy, inflation, and financial-sector risks. He discusses how geopolitical shocks affect rate-cut hopes. He urges boards to invest in AI cautiously, warns about private-credit liquidity and operational risks, and outlines early corporate AI strategies and M&A moves.
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Geopolitics Can Pause Fed Rate Plans
- Geopolitical shocks can quickly reverse Fed expectations and postpone rate cuts.
- Robert Kaplan says Middle East events forced the Fed to "step back" from anticipated cuts after a month of optimism about 2026 growth.
Keep Pushing AI Adoption Now
- Keep investing in AI adoption despite near-term uncertainty because it's driving productivity and scale.
- Kaplan urges firms to pursue use cases, scale up compute CapEx, and consider mergers to gain size and tech capabilities.
Widespread Skills Mismatch In Labor Market
- The labor market shows acute skills mismatches with many high-paying open jobs unfilled.
- Kaplan notes shortages from installers to assembly-line workers even as programmers remain in demand, creating structural employment gaps.