The Best One Yet - 🧊 “$17 per cube” — Glacial Ice startups. Bezos’ $20k electric car. California = 4th Biggest Economy.

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, April 28th, and today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-Boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. If you want to be the most interesting person in the room today, Jack and I have the three best stories for you, don't we, Jack? Yes, we do. Oh, yes, we do. What's on today's T-boy, man? For our first story, a Jeff Bezos-backed electric car company just launched. And get this, it's priced under $20,000. But here's the twist. This electric car brand was inspired by the Amish. For our second story. California just passed Japan to become the fourth biggest economy in the world. Cali is about to pass Germany for number three. But our story itself explains why California is so polarizing. And our third and final story. The newest startup trend is the oldest thing on earth. Glacial ice.

Starting point is 00:00:56 100,000-year-old ice cubes from glaciers are now a venture-backed business, baby. But yet it is, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I can only afford one cube. Great mix of stories. Great mix of stories. A couple weeks ago, we told you about recession brunette. Oh, the recession brunette, when you're usually blonde buddy starts looking more brunette. It's a bad sign for the economy.

Starting point is 00:01:20 But there's another recession indicator that's already red flashing. And it's flashing in your salad. Introducing the Bring Your Lunch to Work Index, aka the Brown Bag Indicator. The B.Y.O. Lunch instead of buying at the office? Yeah, that's an early sign of an economic problem. We call it the Brown Bag Recession Indicator. And right now, it's flashing red like a half-eaten burrito. Here's the data. More people are working from the office, but fewer people are eating lunch out. Get this. Sales at fast, casual restaurants across America fell 7% nationwide in Q1. Less Lenny's bagels, more leftover lasagna.

Starting point is 00:01:56 Saviche Wednesdays, maybe every other Wednesday? Because the lunch math, it really adds up. Yes, it does, Jack. Your average sweet green salad plus a drink, that's $21, my friend. And over the course of the month, if you do it every day, that's $441 for your eating lunch out budget. Well, since making a meal at home saves about 75% of the cause, 300 bucks a month you could save if you bring your lunch to work.

Starting point is 00:02:22 So besties, you're swapping out the sweet green for your homemade cob salad. The only drama is whether there's space in the office fridge. Jack, you better write your name on those noodles, man. It's the brown bag indicator. Let's hit our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm.

Starting point is 00:02:41 It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 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 to do.

Starting point is 00:02:56 First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story. A new electric car stealthily launched last week. It's backed by Jeff Bezos, and this is the most extreme concept in all of automotive. It's under $20,000. True story. It's anti-Tesla. And it's inspired by the Amish. Yeti as few actually know this, but there is a billionaire bingo card with all the billionaires competing against each other. You must own an artificial intelligence company. You must own a space company and a media company and an electric car company. Well, ding, ding, ding, because Jeff Bezos, the billionaire now has all four on that billionaire bingo card. And the electric car company that he invested in just finally launched last week.

Starting point is 00:03:52 It's called Slate. It's an electric truck and SUV that emerged out of stealth mode just on Friday. This super secretive company has been based in Michigan, and they're going to start producing soon in Indiana. I'm looking at this thing, Jack, and I've got to say, it kind of looks like, a toy. I feel like I'm looking at like a hot wheels for adults right now. Now Nick and I think this car was designed specifically for sinks. Ah, the sink. Single income no kids. That's who we think the target market is. Because this little pickup truck has only two doors and only 150 mile range. Yeah, so basically it's small enough to fit in your New York City garage. Basically Rivian's little brother, right? And it's priced at $25,000. That's almost half the price of the lowest price Tesla. And after the $7,500 federal tax credit,

Starting point is 00:04:37 This electric truck from Jeff Bezos would cost you just $17,500. EVs are known for being pricey, but $17,500, you can't find any other car that's that low-priced. But yet he's here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. We were curious, how did they create the cheapest electric truck in the world? By taking inspiration from the Amish. Yes, the Amish, that Amish. Because the brand slate, it stands for clean slate, because they stripped away every bell and whistle you could possibly imagine.

Starting point is 00:05:10 So just like the Amish culture rejects technology and electricity, this electric car is ironically the first analog electric car. It's basically an analog car. There's not a single digital screen anywhere in this view. Yeah, the first thing you're going to notice is that this car is B-Y-O screen. No screens. Where the infotainment screen usually is in a car, there's just a big holder for either your tablet or your smartphone.

Starting point is 00:05:33 In fact, we love this. At the launch event for this car, they announced that the air conditioning knobs are going to be old school plastic knobs, not like icons on a digital screen. And when the audience heard that, they applauded it. Yeah, they did. Because Nick and I both drive EVs, and we'll be honest, we miss the trusty old reliable knobs. Sometimes I'm like, why am I spending five hours moving my hands around an iPad right now just to turn the temperature up? I'm driving 72 miles per hour, and I need to like tap the screen to go to the home screen to find the HVAC button to turn the heat up.

Starting point is 00:06:04 Come on. Just give me my knob. Yeah, give Jack his knob. So, Vestis, here was the interesting insight from Slate. The main reason, electric vehicles are 20% pricier than your typical car is the technology. Yeah, an electric car is an iPhone on wheels. There's screens everywhere, it's self-driving capable, and it's got voice activation for all the controls. Most Americans don't need those things.

Starting point is 00:06:26 You gladly save 20 grand if you could go without the voice-activated butt heater if you could. And that's the real innovation of this car. stripping the car of all those techy features got the price all the way down to 25 grand. Yeah, it's a horse and buggy with a battery. Like we said, inspired by the Amish. And we think a bare bones EV like that actually has a lot of market appeal. Okay, but then here's the shocker. I gotta pause the pod jack.

Starting point is 00:06:50 Then Slate took this radical simplicity concept even further. The car has no stereo. Get this, it has no speakers. Get this, Jack. It has no paint. Like Henry Ford's original. Ford Model T. It only comes in one color. Oh, you want a different color? You're a yellow kind of gal. Well, they'll ship you something called a wrap. And what is rap, Jack? It's a perfectly fitted

Starting point is 00:07:14 colored sticker that you get to put very carefully on every panel of the car. So you can make it a yellow car. You just need to very carefully apply a giant sticker. You have to DIY it yourself. Now, we should point out, it does have cup holders. It comes with cup holders. And it comes with a speaker holder because they encourage you to bring your own like JBL portable speaker to connect to the phone that you also B-Y-Oed. Mom, you forgot the jawbone. Now, Yetis, we've said there is always opportunity in the extremes. Well, Slate is the most extreme electric vehicle yet.

Starting point is 00:07:46 So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies with the $20,000 Slate electric car? This car is Speard Airlines, but with JetBlue branding. Yeties, Spirit Airlines is bankrupt now. But it's no frills business model disrupted the entire airline industry. Like Slate, they sold you the most basic service, just to seat on the airplane for the lowest possible cost. Anything else beyond that? Well, you got to pay extra just like this car. The Slate car is modular. It comes as a base pickup truck model, but you can convert it to an SUV, but that costs more. Yeah, it's like a transformer.

Starting point is 00:08:22 So the base model is 25K, but then you have to choose from 100 optional add-ons if you want another feature. So while Slate's business model is Spirit Airlines, it's branding. is JetBlue. Because the branding is young, sharp, countercultural. It's basically targeting your surfer dudes over in Venice Beach. Slate's $25,000, Bezos-backed, Amish-inspired anti-tech EV is the most extreme car yet. Because it borrowed the business model from Spirit Airlines, but the branding from JetBlue. For our second story, Governor Newsom just announced that California is now the fourth largest economy in the world. We're going deep on California's economy because it

Starting point is 00:09:05 explains why the Golden State is so polarizing. And in order for us to explain it, we're going to have to turn to the artist and poet known as Tupac. Because California Love was published 30 years ago by Mr. Tupac himself. But California's not getting much love these days. No, Jack,

Starting point is 00:09:21 I'm looking at the corporate scorecard here, Toyota, Chevron, Chevron, Schwab, and all three of Elon's companies, where have they gone? They all left California for Texas since the year 2020. But man, Looking at the numbers, is the California economy strong right now, Jack? Here's the news. California just passed Japan to become the number four biggest economy in the world.

Starting point is 00:09:43 That's right. Ten years ago, California was the number seven economy in the world. Ten years ago, California trailed the United States, China, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, and France. But in the last decade, Cali has jumped from number seven to number four to quote the beach boys, Jack, who also inspired Tupac, California, picking up good vibrations. Now, if the growth rates of the past decade continue, then the state of California will pass the country of Germany to become the number third biggest economy in the world by 2028.

Starting point is 00:10:17 Not only is California right now bigger than Japan, it is twice as big as Russia and Canada. And it's four times as big as Saudi Arabia as measured by its GDP. Now we know what you're thinking besties. Nick, Jack, stop making these international comparisons. What about within the United States? Well, we did those numbers, too, and it turns out California is America's biggest sugar daddy. Get this. California makes up 14% of America's GDP, which is larger than its 11% population share.

Starting point is 00:10:48 Okay, Jack, could you sprinkle on some more context to the Golden State with those numbers, please? California contributes $83 billion a year more in federal taxes than it receives from federal benefit. It's an interesting, nuanced data point, but therefore, California is the biggest donor state in the country by far, according to the Rockefeller Institute of Government. That's why we call California a sugar daddy. California taxpayers pay more in federal taxes than they receive in federal benefits by $83 billion a year. And although Texas does have a strong economy, it is the opposite situation down in Texas. Texas receives more in federal money than it pays in federal taxes. By the way, in case you're curious, the third biggest state economy is New York.

Starting point is 00:11:29 and they break even on their federal tax situation. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in California? California represents American exceptionalism for better and for worse. Yeties, every major macroeconomic issue we had America faces good and bad is amplified in California. California has both the most wealth and the most homelessness. California is both the biggest innovator and it's the most powered by immigrants. California is the biggest producer of agriculture of the 50s. states, but it's also most susceptible to drought and climate change. Okay, Jack, California is

Starting point is 00:12:04 the creative capital with Hollywood and the music industries, but it's also arguably the creative crusher because it's the home of all the artificial intelligence companies. Ambasties, we just told you, Callie's economy is up to number four in the world, and yet what if it didn't have all that red tape it's known for? The red tape it's known for is why Toyota, Schwab, and Elon's companies left the state. It could be even bigger. Could be number three. The only thing California is not number one in is energy, finance, academia, and maple syrup. Which go to Texas, New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. I mean, Quebec. I mean Vermont. Sorry, respectfully.

Starting point is 00:12:38 Vermont has maple syrup per capita, okay? Besties, California is polarizing for all of these economic reasons. It represents American exceptionalism for better and for worse. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story to kick off the week. Startups are now harvesting ice from glaciers and selling it as luxury ice cubes for a hundred bucks a tray. Glacial ice reminds us of a little known passage from the philosopher Adam Smith. Yet is no country is getting more attention this year than Greenland.

Starting point is 00:13:19 President Trump wants to take Greenland for its natural resources and its strategic location. 90% of Greenland's exports are seafood, but there are untapped oil and rare earth minerals underneath this giant island. Greenland's most untouched resource. Maybe it's most abundant resource. Ice. Because they call Greenland Green, but they should call it Iceland. Great quote from Mighty Ducks, by the way. Just want to throw that out there.

Starting point is 00:13:42 Oh, by the way, I said land is the most valuable resource in the world because it's scarce. How about glacial ice? Ice Yeties. Eight percent of all the Earth's fresh water is locked up in Greenland's glaciers of ice. And that ice is gold. Because here's the news. Startups are exporting greenland's fresh water. Greenland's Glacial Ice as a luxury product at 17.

Starting point is 00:14:04 And selling it in American nightclubs for $17 a cube. But yet is here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. We have told you before about the power of story selling. Glacial ice is the ultimate example. Because according to the Wall Street Journal, in the last year, Greenland's government has approved 13 licenses to six companies to harvest their glacial ice. And one of those companies is called Arctic Ice. Here's what they do, Nick.

Starting point is 00:14:30 They capture car-sized icebergs that separate from glaciers each spring and then cut them up into tiny pieces with a chainsaw. Okay, but then what do they do with them? Because I still got to drink this stuff, man. Then they ship those ice containers 10,000 miles over the course of five weeks to sell them in restaurants and nightclubs in the Middle East to the United States. Now, your most basic marketer is going to market these as cleaner and denser because they've been compressed in a glacial fjord.

Starting point is 00:14:58 And, you know, that would be effective. But here's the story selling. That glacier is 100,000 years old. Yes. So that ice cube, it's made of virgin ice. This is why they're charging so much for the ice cubes. This is untouched ice. It's never passed through a human before in the state of water. It's older than mankind. Plus, they carve the cubes, not into cubes, into spheres. So they're ice spheres. And that story selling of these virgin ice cubes is how they sell six cubes for a hundred bucks a tray. That's $17 a cube. They turned a commodity into a luxury. Basically. Like the restaurants, they're using these ice cubes to justify inflated cocktails. Like, what do we see on the menu, Jack? There's a $218 glass of scotch on ice.

Starting point is 00:15:39 Not just any ice. Yeah. Glacial ice. And there's a vodka company whose liquid content in the vodka is the melted glacial ice. The only one not happy about this is Bobby Boucher, the water boy. Well, we should point out, Jack. There is a huge carbon footprint when it comes to shipping glacial ice from Greenland. Yeah, there probably were polar bears harmed in the making of this ice.

Starting point is 00:16:02 Yeah, this is more emissions emitted than your family over the course of an entire year. Shipping ice from the Arctic Circle made sense in the movie Frozen doesn't make sense in 2025 modern economy. And yet, despite the ethical issues and the abundance of water to turn into ice everywhere, the global ice market is expected to hit seven billion bucks this year. Ice, it's hotter than ever. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies? Sipping on global ice. Adam Smith wrote about this 249 years ago. Yeti's philosopher Adam Smith is the father of capitalism,

Starting point is 00:16:38 and his work is the basis of modern economics. In his famous 1776 book, The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith wrote about the diamond water paradox. Also known as the paradox of value. The thought is this. Water is more useful to us than a diamond is, and yet we value diamonds more than we value, Water. We need water every day, literally to survive. Literally. But we're willing to pay 10,000 times more

Starting point is 00:17:04 for a diamond than we are for water. His conclusion, value has two different meanings. The first is the value of utility. Which is the value we find from water. And the other is the value in what something conveys. Like a diamond, which conveys status and wealth. So not only is that detail from Adam Smith, an interesting observation, it also ironically relates to this story. Because 17 $17 per cube glacial ice. It's a rare example of both of those types of that. Yeah, it's the diamond of water we're talking about. It is both a utility and a signal.

Starting point is 00:17:38 $17 ice spheres from a glacier reminds us of Adam Smith. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Slate's new electric car comes in at $17,000 and a half thousand dollars after tax credits. But it's BIO screen and speakers. Amish style, baby. This car, it is Spirit Airlines and the business model, but the branding is JetBlue. For our second story, California just passed Japan to become the world's fourth biggest economy. Cali represents American economic exceptionalism, both for good and for bad.

Starting point is 00:18:13 And our third and final story, startups are harvesting ice from Arctic glaciers and selling them for 17 bucks a cube in New York City nightclubs. It tastes like polar bear. Adam Smith foretold of this back in his 1776 economic. classic. So Yetis, tell your buddies about the diamond water paradox. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, stocks actually rose consistently last week. In the five days, the S&P 500 jumped by over 6%. Which leaves the S&P 500 down just 10% from its all-time highs. Now, remember, stocks fell as far as 20% on Trump's Liberation Day tariff announcement. It got bad.

Starting point is 00:18:55 So the driver of the rebound? It's that Trump said he wouldn't fire. the Fed, and he said he might ease tariffs, but he hasn't yet. Yeah, the situation ship improved. And second, the city of Green Bay, which is the NFL's smallest city, hosted the NFL draft this past weekend. And on the first night, 205,000 fans came, according to the NFL. Jack, can you sprinkle on some cheesy context for us, please? 205,000 people is more than double the population of the entire city of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Starting point is 00:19:22 The airport terminal in Green Bay has only 10 gates. We don't know how they handled all these people. There are 10 gates within one gate at JFK. Just to point that out as more contact. Sure, there's like 13 ABCD-E-F-G-G-G-G. And finally, Adam Newman, the father of WeWork, just saw his new startup's valuation double to two and a half billion bucks. It's called Flow, and it's basically his concept he used to have of We Live.

Starting point is 00:19:47 It's like a subscription that gives you housing, food, camaraderie, I don't know, benefits, other stuff. kombucha. And Adam said he even wants to IPO. this new company, probably because WeWorks was canceled under his reign. And Dresen Horowitz isn't turned off by the debacle that was WeWork. Yeah, they're impressed by his dedication. And they now own 25% of the company. And time for the best fact.

Starting point is 00:20:13 Yeah, this one sent in by Dylan Steinfeld's legendary Yetty from lovely Atlanta, Georgia. Scientists recently discovered that K218B, not a Star Wars droid, but rather a planet orbiting a dwarf star in the constellation Leo is potentially teeming with life as the James Webb Space Telescope has identified two gases that are commonly produced on Earth by microbes like marine phytoplankton. Now, we're not going to be visited by any alien microbes anytime soon because K218B is 124 light years away or 732 trillion miles from Earth. Okay, so to start your week, yes, aliens exist and they're gases. Well, hold on, 124 light years away.

Starting point is 00:20:54 Yeah, yeah, it's pretty far. That's how far light travels in 124 years. Yeah, so when we see the aliens, they're just going to be so old. It's going to be hard to talk to the aliens. Where was that? Yadis, you look fantastic today. No matter what ice cube you are enjoying, remember to tap to follow us so you get T-Boy every single morning.

Starting point is 00:21:16 Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait. And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Nicholz Katuki, the king of KPMG from the island of Malta who's celebrating a birthday on the way to work. Happy birthday to Cala Luna from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Great name. And Pratima Nyack, also great name. 37 years old is a legendary Yetty

Starting point is 00:21:40 with the best birthday yet in Columbus, Ohio. Congratulations to Zach Mecher, who's a dinkwad moving to Wilmington, North Carolina for a new job. Get this, he hit his goal of making over a hundred grand a year before the age of 30. Congratulations, Zach. Celebrate the wins. And Anthony and Lisa Scorsese have, got a two-year anniversary, a beautiful anniversary down in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Starting point is 00:22:02 And a big shout out to Kelsey Black from Flugerville, Texas, who testified as an advocate at her state house in Austin, Texas. This bookstore owner is also a civic champion. Congratulations and thanks, Kelsey. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a tee boy. Celebrate the wins. And if you want to get a shout out or you have an audio fact for the pod, just click on one of the links in the description of today's episode. This is Jack. Nick and I both own ETFs of the S&P 500.

The Best One Yet - 🧊 “$17 per cube” — Glacial Ice startups. Bezos’ $20k electric car. California = 4th Biggest Economy.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.