The Best One Yet - 🪙 “$1 trillion coin” — Debt default desperation. Peloton’s full rebrand. Pro Bull Riding’s team up.

Episode Date: May 24, 2023

We’ve got 1 week and 1 day left until the US defaults on its debt, so it’s time to talk about the craziest option left: The Trillion-Dollar Coin. Professional Bull Riding is creating 8 cowboy-powered teams — Because Wall Street is bullish on bulls (literally). And Peloton just completely changed its entire look, brand, and business model… it wasn’t a makeover, it was plastic surgery $PTON $EDR $SPY Want merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.com Follow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypod And now watch us on Youtube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, Cevice, Wednesday, May 24th. And today's pod is the best one yet. It is a T-Boy Day. Still not a thing, Nick. Still not a thing. No, but it could be a thing.

We're going to round up on this. By the way, I'm seeing you later today in Los Angeles. Here we go. I'm so excited to fly over there, man. Are you prepared for the datchelor party? What's the one thing you need to pack for a datchelor party? You got to be mentally prepared for the datchelor party, Jack. The answer is extra diapers.

Let's get to our first store. First story. What do we get? Professional bull rider. is about to make a big change with Wall Street money. Because Yetis, investors just got bullish on the Bulls. For our second story, we've now got one week until the U.S. defaults on its debt for the first time ever.

Jack, does this mean what I think it means? We've got to consider the trillion dollar coin. Trillion dollar coin. And our third and final story, Peloton. Peloton just completely rebranded the company from top to bottom. The Yetis, Peloton didn't get a makeover. Peloton just got plastic surgery. But Yeties, before we hit that fantastic.

mix of three stories. You're looking fantastic, by the way, Peloton. We usually do shoutouts at the end of the show. Yeah, but Jack and I got an engagement that we got a highlight right now. Congratulations to Jeff B. from Seattle who just got engaged. We're talking about Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, who just popped the question. Yeah, that guy. Yeah, Jeff Bezos is getting married to Lauren Sanchez, the Emmy Award winning journalist. Yeah, Lauren, we're not lawyers, but you should definitely not sign that pre-up. But can we sprinkle on some context to this proposal? Jack, I would love to help sprinkle on some contacts here. First, Jeff Bezos got down on one knee over in Cairns, France. Not too shabby. And he did it on his new $500 million yacht. Okay, not too

shabby. Which has a mermaid on the bow that happens to be shaped like his fiancee Lauren Sanchez. Are you serious? I'm serious. Not too shabby. Yes, Jack, and he did it all with a 20-carat, $2.5 million diamond ring. So we were curious on that last bet. Did Jeff Optimus prime this thing and order it on Amazon? Yeah, because last Jack and I checked, you actually can buy diamond rings on Amazon. That is a thing, Yeti's. You can order a diamond ring today. It'll arrive in two days on Friday at your doorstep. We're not kidding. Look it up. Toss it in the cart. We were also curious, did Jeff buy the one ring to rule them all? Because also last time we checked, Jeff Bezos has an affinity for Hobbit culture. But here's the best part

about the founder of Amazon getting engaged. Because when you propose on a boat, the shipping is free. And this explains why Amazon recently ended the free return policy. Yeah, final sale, no give back to Lauren. Please say yes, please say yes. Jack, let's engage our three stories. 15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea that's cost of cultural, but the best is a norm. It's 50%.

That's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more. So just start the show. Start the show. For our first. story. Professional bull riding has got some

Wall Street money, so they're making a major pivot. Because nothing lassoes a customer like identity. Jackie, say a little more gusto over there? Nothing lassoes a customer like identity. Straight off the ranch. Yet he's during the pandemic. Some families,

they literally grabbed the bull by the horns. They moved out west. They got some lands. Home, home on the range. People were craving open spaces. Yeah, and then you watched like 14 seasons of Yellowstone, because that was the thing to Those are the trends that explain that professional bull riding sold out every event during the pandemic. If you haven't seen professional bull riding, Jack and I have actually seen it. We went to an event at Madison Square Guard.

It's the toughest eight seconds on dirt you'll ever see. Yeah, it's actually a pretty simple sport. Can you break it down for us, Jack? Well, it's a simple goal. The goal is to get, well, no, you get on the bowl and the goal is to stay on the bull. That's it. And his bull riding, it ain't no pickleball tournament. And since 1992, professional bull riding has done a touring model. They travel from city to city from region to region like a circus. So you watch individuals compete at bull riding.

But this year, they launched a team series. They launched eight brand new professional bull riding franchises. So you watch a team compete at bullriding. There's eight teams. There's the Kansas City outlaws, the Dallas Rattlers, and the Oklahoma City Freedom. I mean, strap on your chaps and root for the home team, Jack. And Nick, they just had the first ever professional bull riding draft. Okay, who went number one?

Do we even know one number two? I don't know, but the best Wranglers in the business got snatched up by these eight teams. Yetis, this summer, each one of those new teams is going to host a three-day homestand. They're going to play in front of a home crowd. And it's all for the big trophy, a $6 million prize, and bragging rights down in the hodeown. And you're going to get a tin of whiskey, you're going to get by the fire, and you're just going to talk about the good old days, Jack. Now, Yeties, it's not just America's sudden obsession with Stetsons, aided by Kevin Costner. Here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story.

All this professional bull riding change, it's being funded by Wall Street and Hollywood. Because Yeti's PBR, professional bull riding, is owned by Endeavour, a publicly traded talent agency that's based in Los Angeles. And yet this, Endeavour, the talent agency, acquired professional bullriding for $100 million seven years ago. Not too shabby.

So Endeavor represents Ben Affleck and Wolfie Goldberg, but on the weekends, they run the biggest rodeo in the United States. Since America's interest in rodeos at its peak, Endeavor is going to sprinkle in a little Hollywood and a little Wall Street. Endeavor got Aerosmith Stephen Tyler to do a PBR anthem this year. And Endeavor got professional modeling ganks for the Cowboys. And Endeavor got a TV deal with CBS. For the first time since the stirrup professional bull riding

just got itself a little razzle-dazzle. A little sprinkled ankle. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in professional bull riding? Lasso's a customer like identity. Yet he's PBR professional bull riding. It's about to make a big change. Like going from a touring model to a sports league, that is a fundamental business change. And the owner of one of those teams, the Arizona Ridge riders, explained why they're doing this. Here's what he said. He said successful sports teams represent a city. They represent a culture. They create rivalries. So this bull riding pivot reveals a bigger branding lesson about identities and customers.

For consumers to care, they need to identify. with a brand. They need to see their unique culture and values reflected in the brand. And that is why professional bull riding is setting up teams in their eight top cities. Because nothing lassoes a customer like identity. Can you sprinkle on a little dud into that line, Jack? Here, how about this? That's the sound of me getting branded. For our second story, we are one week away from the United States defaulting on our debt. And desperate times call for desperate debt default dodges. So Jack and I found the two What would you say wildest options we've got left, Jack? I'd say. Yeah, it is. Whip open the calendars.

We are officially one week and one day away from financial D-Day. On June 1st, the Treasury Secretary says we'll be out of cash unless we raise the debt limit. Speaker McCarthy continues to demand spending cuts or we'll let our country default. President Biden is negotiating with Congress, but Wall Street is getting stressed. But bottom line here, if June 1st comes and a debt ceiling has not been raised, what's going to happen, Jack? Oh, you mean if the richest country in the world stiffs, It's lenders.

Yeah, well, when you put it that way, it sounds like we'll be facing some tough challenges. Yeah, I think it would hurt America's world status and its credit rating for sure. Yeah, yeah, it's, if we don't raise the debt ceiling next week, it's going to be harder for America to borrow money in the future. And it may trigger a financial crisis today. And then that could tank the stock market tomorrow. And it could lead to layoffs in an actual recession. Now, the way we see it, we should avoid that.

Yeah, let's try to not do all that stuff, Nick and I just said. So, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style, and we noticed that there are a bunch of of scholars out there who have some pretty interesting ideas. Because when you get desperate, you also get creative. The mother of innovation is being really scared. So the top wild idea to dodge this self-inflicted debt default. Yes, Jack. It's the 14th Amendment. Get this yeties. President Biden thinks that the 14th Amendment means that the debt limit is actually unconstitutional in the first place. Like, we shouldn't even be having this conversation right now. Let's flip it over to page 14 of the Constitution.

The validity of public debt shall not be questioned. Jack, can we get a translation on that constitutional language? It means we repay the debt. There's no question. So I geties, the government can keep just borrowing money technically and just ignore this whole debt ceiling debt limit stuff. Because the Constitution says we must repay our debts.

Basically, this argument is that we don't need Congress to approve the debt. Like we can just keep issuing debt. Like a Lannister, the U.S. always repays its debt. It's in our constitution. Now, Jack, I got to point out, that wild option does sound pretty wild, but let's just say it doesn't work. Do we got any wilder options out there? I'm glad you asked. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone in America?

It's time to consider the trillion dollar coin. Look, yeah, he's honestly, Jack and I hope we wouldn't have to discuss this idea. But since we are one week away, honestly, all options are on the table. We've considered covering the story for about seven weeks, and now we feel like we have to. Seriously, we did open the calendar today and we were like, oh, Jack, we should, we have to do this story now. We're going to consider the trillion dollar coin. Okay, yetis, here's how this goes down. Remember those state coins from the 1990s?

Like, remember when Delaware got like its own quarter? It was kind of cute. It was fun. Delaware got the first state quarter, but eventually all 50 states got their own quarter. Remember Vermont? There's like a maple thing? Shocker. Yeah, what else are we going to do?

Well, those commemorative quarters were made possible by a law passed by Congress. But Congress wrote the law so loosey-goosey back in the 90s that the Treasury can actually issue a coin not just worth 25 cents, but worth a trillion dollars if it wanted to. Boom, the Treasury could technically print out a $1 trillion coin, which means we would use that coin to pay back our debt. It's pretty silly, but it's legal. Silly but arguably legal. True.

Experts say that this trillion dollar coin, and the 14th Amendment ideas, they're just bad ideas. But these bad ideas may be better than a self-inflicted debt default. And the best choice is simply to avoid all of this and just raise the debt limit, but that might not happen. That's why we can't believe we're saying this. But it's time to consider the trillion dollar coin. For our third and final story, Peloton just did a complete overhaul of the brand,

180 degrees, totally different looking. But the real change wasn't to a. Look, it was to Peloton's purpose. Okay, Yetis, Peloton has had a rough 2021 and 2022, and Jack and I have been riding it down the whole way. In 2021, Peloton stock fell by 75%. Okay, that's not good. Then the next year, it fell by another 75%.

Yeah, because that's the funny thing about the rule of percentages. There's always more percentages you can go. This year, 2023, it's down another 11%. Well, clearly something needed to change. So last year, Peloton tried changing its diet. It changed its diet. The company tried cutting costs, let go of some employees. They even installed the new CEO.

And how did that work, Jack? None of it worked. Sales are still falling and it's still not profitable. Okay. So yesterday, Peloton announced that they're going to try a bigger change. Maybe the biggest possible change. A complete brand makeover. Yeties, we're talking a completely new look, a completely new brand,

and a completely new Peloton business model. Go to Peloton.com. It's actually one Peloton.com. The company is unrecognizable. Pause the pod. Go to the website. T-BoyPod. We want to know what you think. This does not look like Peloton. Because the classic Peloton red that defined the brand. Jack, it's gone. The new color palat, it's bright everything. And the ultra-fit aspirational athletes that sweated on top of that bike while you tried to. All those abs, they're gone. It's all regular folks sweating. Even the classic iconic Peloton $2,000 spinning bike. Yeah, if you go to the website, It almost looks like it's gone.

In the 90-second rebrand video, called Anyone Anywhere, the bike was only visible for four seconds. And that's not all. Not only did Peloton change the look, they also changed how they make money. Their whole business model. They're really pushing the app these days, and it has three tiers, one of which is free. Besties add it all up in Peloton. It is no longer a luxury fitness brand. Peloton is a 100% accessible fitness for all brand.

Jack, this is like an Audi shut down and then folded its cars into Volkswagen. Nick, this is like if Gucci unbuttoned itself and stepped into a pair of jeans from the gap. Yeah, and then the gap jeans stepped into the old Navy jeans. Yeti's what we're saying about this Peloton rebrand, it's more than a diet and it's more than a makeover. No, yet he's the way Jack and I see it, Peloton's business just underwent plastic surgery. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Peloton? The biggest change of all, Peloton went from anti-gym to gym dependent. Yet he's, the most interesting change Jack and I noticed was actually the most subtle. Peloton is no longer a hardware company. Peloton is now a software company.

They're not focused on selling you a $2,000 connected piece of equipment anymore. They're focused on app downloads now. If you look on their website, the number one product that they're promoting, it's their app. They say work out here, work out there, work out anywhere. You do that with an app. They even added a new feature within the app called gym to guide your workout while you are at the gym. Sprinkle on some context here. Jack and I were at the Peloton IPO four years ago. And their main value prop back then was that you don't need a gym. Yes, they were telling us instead of a $100 a month gym membership, buy a Peloton instead. But that vision is over. So Peloton, they just performed brand plastic surgery, but their biggest change was underneath. Peloton has gone from a hardware company to a software company. From anti-gim to gym dependent. Jack, can you whip up the

takeaways for us over there? National bull riding is trying out a league with eight teams this year. Because nothing lassoes a customer like identity. For our second story, in one week and one day, the U.S. will default on its debt unless the speaker and president reach a deal. We can't believe we're saying this, but it's time to consider the trillion dollar coin. Financially. And our third and final story is Peloton.

Peloton just unveiled their new brand yesterday, anyone anywhere. But their biggest change of all, from anti-gym to Jim DeM to Jim DeM. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Evan Gramis from lovely Fresno, California. Push and play. Here we go. Hey, Nick. Hey, Jack. I've got another mango fact for you. Did you know that Indian mangoes, including the highly sought after Alfonso variety, were banned in the United States from 1989 until 2007? It wasn't until a Pennsylvania dentist named Boscar Savani, whose father was caught smuggling Indian mangoes by customs officers at JFK, decided to begin working with the U.S.

India Business Council to lobby the White House for mangoes to be included in ongoing trade negotiations with India. At the same time, the U.S. was asking India to lift its ban on Harley Davidson motorcycles due to their emissions levels. After tasting one of the famous Alfonso mangoes at a trade summit, President George W. Bush negotiated a deal with Indian Prime Minister Manwan Singh to allow Harley Davidson motorcycles to be sold in India, and in exchange, the U.S. would clear the way for Indian mangoes to be imported to the United States. This is the beauty of trade. Pretty fair trade, Jack. I mean, some mangoes for some Harleys. That's pretty good. Some hogs

for some mango. Also, Jack, you know what involves mangoes? Saviche Wednesday. Yetis, you look fantastic today. And by the way, if you haven't checked out our Instagram page, we've got some new videos up there. They're pretty fantastic, right, Jack? It's pretty late. Go to Teaboy Pod. You're going to like what you see.

Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait. And before we go, a happy birthday, a legendary Yeti, Holt Kelly, who's enjoying some PJ masks over in New York City. And happy birthday to Rafe G in Boston, Mass. Just as I, Boston. And Cassie WorkCamp, enjoy the birthday down in Newport Beach, California. Happy birthday to Leo Rodriguez, celebrating on the way to school down in Miami.

And happy birthday to Swaya Tangeroo in California. And happy birthday to Kyle Nower in Gilbert, Arizona. And happy birthday to Ezekiel Hernandez in Jerupa Valley, California. And Steve Perrier, my dad would be proud of you because you are playing hooky today. for that big birthday, checking out the Minnesota Twins game in Target Stadium. You kind of want to catch a foul ball, but then you don't want to be caught catching a foul ball. You're home sick, right, Steve? Secret safe with us.

Get well soon, Steve. This is Jack. I own stock of Volkswagen, and Nick and I both own stock of Peloton. Can you sprinkle out a little dudden to that line, Jack? The duds are actually understanding. You see, you just proved to me that you haven't watched the show.