The Best One Yet - 😈 “Evil Genius” — Hollywood’s 4 Tech Villains. Lacoste’s room service. Inflation’s rate-squatters. +Uber smells

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, September 14th. Today's part is the best one you had. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. The brightest show on business, Jack. What do we got on today's show? Well, first, we got a message from my mom.

Starting point is 00:00:15 Yeah, dear. She's on a biking trip in France right now with my stepfather. Good for Jennifer. And she just told me she's cycling with a couple who loves our show in Provence. Yeah, these are everywhere. We got to get him a shout out on the pod. But in the meantime, great work, Jennifer, by the way. Jack, three fantastic stories for today's show. What have we got on the T-Boy? For our first story,

Starting point is 00:00:34 Hollywood's new villains aren't big banks. It's tech CEOs, and four films are about to show it. Besties, say hello to the newest movie franchise. Evil tech genius. For our second story, there's only one way to buy Lacos's newest fashion line, hotel room service. Yeah, I'll have pancakes, mimosa, and a polo shirt. Yep, send it to room 512, please. And our third and final story, since inflation just hit another high, interest rates will probably rise again this week. So we need to talk about mortgage hostages and rate squatters. But besties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories. Love the mix to kick off the week.

Starting point is 00:01:10 Last week we warned you about pheromone maxing. Fairmone maxing. Young men aren't showering. They're thinking their natural sense will help attract women. But now we've got to warn you about another threat to your nostrils. We're talking Uber stench. Uber stench. The air freshener overload. in your next Uber or Lyft ride. And that smell is causing nausea, migraines, and a request to pull over right here, please.

Starting point is 00:01:32 Yeah, I'll just get out right here. Get this. Bad smell is now a top complaint of the ride hail companies. And the grievances have gone viral on TikTok. Because we've all smelled it and seen it. You know the usual suspects. They're hanging from the rearview mirror right now.

Starting point is 00:01:46 Like the very cherry fruit bomb freshener for the backseat. Or the Caribbean colada backseat-scented hockey puck, you know? How about the vanilla aroma one that sticks in the air conditioning vent? Jack, what's the deal with the classic black ice tree? You know what I'm talking about? Shaped like a pine tree smells like a chemical plant. What is black ice exactly, guys? I don't even really know that one. Wait, what exactly does black ice smell like? It smells like ice, which is nothing. But the worst part, besties, oh, the feedback. I mean, feed forward. If you tell Uber to try to fix this, it's probably going to make the smell even worse.

Starting point is 00:02:19 Because that driver's just going to buy a 10th black ice tree and then hang it from the dashboard. The situation has gotten so smelly, Uber's CEO. addressed it in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Uber might add an option in the app for fragrance-free cars. There's Uber X, there's Uber Black, there's Uber X-L, and there's Uber All-Natural. So, Messies, if it's not the overwhelming whiff of that driver's all-natural pheromones. It's the nasal punch of that febreeze. Just wait until the Waymo robots get hooked on Abercrombie cologne, Jack.

Starting point is 00:02:47 I think we could tweak the algorithm to avoid that, Nick. You know what? I'm going to bring my own Yankee candle into my next Uber ride. Jack, let's sit our three stories. years before this song two boys from the northeast met in the dorm they had an idea to cause a cultural storm it's the best one yet but the best is an norm jack nick that's it is 50% that's a fat tip tea boy city on your at list if you know you know cause we're ready to go we can't wait no more so just start the show start the show first a quick word from our sponsor for our first story four movies this fall and winter feature a very unique new villain, real-life tech CEOs.

Starting point is 00:03:43 Filmmakers are vilifying our tech leaders because power corrupts. Wow. Or does power reveal? Ooh. But yet is, you may have noticed the water cooler gossip last week. It was the surprise three-hour Elizabeth Holmes documentary. The comedian Nathan Fielder spent three days with convicted fraudster and former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes just days before she was sent to prison. What Jack and I find fascinating, it's not the memes that have spawned from that really wild, shocking surprise trailer, although those were hilarious.

Starting point is 00:04:13 Or the fact that Elizabeth Holmes can hold a stare without blinking for seven straight minutes. What fascinates us is the trend that that film solidifies. Because get this, over the next month, three movies will premiere in theaters featuring CEO villains. And a fourth hits theaters on Christmas Day with a CEO as the villain. By the way, shout out to our mid-classmate Alison Grant for spot on the trend in a LinkedIn post. We'll share a link to that post in the show notes. In the meantime, no spoilers, or Zuck will block us. But Jack, why don't we dive in T-Boystile and sprinkle on more context to this trend?

Starting point is 00:04:44 These four movies coming soon to theaters show that the newest franchise isn't Marvel. It's Silicon Valley. Yeah, it's Silicon Valley. And it begins with The Social Reckoning. The Social Reckoning is Andrew Sorkin's sequel to the Social Network, starring Kendall Roy. I mean, Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg. Real-life Zuck is probably having an entire division of meta tweaking the algorithm right now to suppress coverage of this film. by the way. Yeah, because while the social network was a takedown of Mark Zuckerberg himself,

Starting point is 00:05:11 the social reckoning is a takedown of Facebook. Ah, so that's the Facebook sequel. But the next movie is one single word. It's called Musk. Musk is a four-hour documentary about Elon by the Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney. You see, Ghibli did the OG documentary on Elizabeth Holmes and the famous documentary about Enron back in the day. And this documentary features two women who've had children with Elon Musk, one of whom says on camera that Elon offered her $40 million to not be in the documentary. Looks like she turned down 40 mil. The third movie we want to tell you about that was called artificial. This one's got Andrew Garfield as Sam Altman. This feels like the social network, but instead of chronicling Zuck's invention of social media, it's Sam Altman's invention

Starting point is 00:05:58 of artificial intelligence. Now, interestingly, Amazon was the owner of this movie just a few months ago, but then they dropped it. And why is that, Jack? Because Amazon became an investor in Open AI and didn't want to take down the leader with a movie they were producing. By the way, the final 10 seconds of the trailer of this movie that dropped last week, they look like they're out of a horror movie. These are all basically horror movies. Yeah, they are. But then, Jack, there is one final one called You Can See Everything with Elizabeth Holmes as Elizabeth Holmes. And Nathan Fielder as Nathan Fielder. Artificial premieres Christmas Day. The other three we just mentioned all premiere in October. But Jack and I gotta pause the pod and ask, why has tech become the new default Hollywood villain?

Starting point is 00:06:38 That's because of our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies looking at these wild four big tech movies? An even better villain than evil banks is evil tech geniuses. Yeties, we're going to remix Uncle Ben's famous line here. With great power comes great screen time. Big banks had the power to devastate our country in the 2008 financial crisis and the great recession that followed. So, 15 years ago, Hollywood raced to chronicle those crimes with a few big movies. Too big to fail, margin call, big short, they're all villainizing finance. But finance has limited villain potential because nobody knows who the CEO of Lehman Brothers was. Morgan Stanley, who? But everyone knows the CEO of Meta and SpaceX. Bestie's finance has handed the baton

Starting point is 00:07:23 of power to tech, from bankers to tech bros, from suits to sandals. And here's why the tech CEOs are better villains than bank CEOs ever could be. You see, tech has shown that it is vast more profitable and more powerful than finance ever was. Tech has given birth to ungodly riches and the ability to influence our elections with algorithms. Bank CEOs, yeah, they could be fired by the board, but tech CEOs, they own super shares that make them answerable to no one. Incredibly well-known, incredibly powerful, incredibly rich, and controlling our whole country. Yeah, in Hollywood, that's called a profit puppy blog. I was going to say a villain. Oh, yeah, yeah, both, both, five. Festies. In the 70s, the villain was Jaws. In the 80s, it was the

Starting point is 00:08:02 Evil Emperor, and in the 90s it was T-Rex. In the 2000s, it was bankers, but in the 2020s, it's tech CEOs. For our second story, Yeties, if you want to wear the newest shirts from LaCost, sorry, you can't, unless you're at a hotel and you order them through room service. LeCost's room service fashion line is trying to train people to pay more. But first, happy New York Fashion Week to all those who celebrate. Well, Nick and I have some fashion trivia for you. What's the first article of clothing to slap a logo on it?

Starting point is 00:08:35 Why don't we tell you the story of LeCost? Because before LaCost was a fashion brand, it was a tennis player. Not just any tennis player, the world's number one tennis player in 1926, the seven-time Grand Slam champion, René LaCost. And after the Frenchman, won Wimbledon, the French Open and the U.S. Open, he got the nickname Le Crockadile because of his relentless. What a great sports nickname. The crocodile?

Starting point is 00:08:57 What a great flex, Jack. Well, that name stuck. And so his artistic budget. but he sketched him a crocodile that he wore on his blazer as a stitching. And in the year 1933, when he teamed up with a knitwear company, Renee put that crocodile on a shirt and put it up for sale. Ah, voila. That is how LaCost was founded 93 years ago.

Starting point is 00:09:16 And how clothing got its first logo. True story. The vineyard vines whale. The Tommy Bahama Marlon. The Puma Puma. They can all thank LaCost for paving the way on your shirt. Even the giant Abercrombian Fitch Moose from 2006. All day.

Starting point is 00:09:31 It's back to the LaCost crocodile. Yeah, the crocodile walked literally so that that moose could run, Jack. Now, today, LeCost is owned by a Swiss fashion company, and it generated $3 billion in revenue last year. Three billion in revenue, that's more than Birkenstock sandals. It's almost as much as Levi's jeans. But if you want to buy the latest LeCost T-shirt, you got to call the front desk.

Starting point is 00:09:53 Yeah, because LeCost's latest collection is only available via hotel room service. It's a seven-piece collaboration with Los Angeles-based artist Michael McGreg. It includes polos, t-shirts, hoodies, pajamas, and a robe. The kind of stuff you'd wear at a hotel. Okay, but pause the pot, because it is only available at 19 Hoxton Hotels worldwide, the trendy goop-approved chain of hotels. But it's even more exclusive than you think, because they're not selling it to anyone in the hotel store.

Starting point is 00:10:19 They're only selling it on the room service menu. Besties, what we're saying is if you want that new Lacoste polo, you got to be back in the room, you have to have booked the room, and then you've got to call down to the concierge. Yeah, could I please have a burger, medium rare, truffle fries. You want a soda? Yeah, a soda.

Starting point is 00:10:36 And one of those Lacosz polo shirts in size medium. Yeah, room 603. This is the only shopping experience delivered on a silver platter where you could be naked when you open the door. Now, the irony here is that LaCas room service strategy is both exclusive and inclusive. It's obviously exclusive because you can only get the LaCas shirts at one boutique hotel chain. But it's inclusive because anyone can book a room in that hotel. So the result, well, these LeCost's room service. robes are now selling for four times the price on resale platforms.

Starting point is 00:11:05 Although if you buy it secondhand, beware, you might find a little torn open ketchup packet in the pocket. And someone may have worn that when they were naked. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at LaCost? Reframed the product to retrain the customer. Yeties, over the years, the polo shirt that's been devalued from fashion flex to cheap, every man attire. We've all got one. Every brand has a polo shirt. It's lost its cachet.

Starting point is 00:11:28 Plus, we grew up buying like 12 packs of Ralph Lauren Polos at TJ Max for 15 bucks each. Factory Allen. Well, that is bad news for LaCost as Polo is their hero product. If Polo shirts are considered cheap and abundant, it's tough for LaCost to charge a high price. But LaCost has recognized that if you reframe, you can retrain. Retrain the customer from thinking if polo is a $15 shirt to a $150 one. Because Besties, a room service only shirt, that is a premium product by association. You now associate Lacoste with a $400 a night awesome hotel, an indulgent meal, and that mimosa that came with it.

Starting point is 00:12:04 Yes, there's also some, if you know, you know, playing into this. And yes, it's a good story to tell how you actually got that robe when you were ordering room service. But LaCost is reframing the polo to retrain your price expectations. So we'll order a burger medium rare, and we'll see you after the break. A quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, Friday's inflation report means there's a 90-perate. percent chance that the Fed raises interest rates this week. Who does that affect the most? The tens of millions of Americans held hostage by their mortgage. Oh, yaddies. On Friday, we got the Celebrity

Starting point is 00:12:43 Inflation Report. It's the one everyone's holding their breath just for a picture of. But on Friday, this celebrity looked horrible. It was a good luck. The Consumer Price Index said that in August, prices rose 0.4% from the month before, 3.4% from the year before. Egg prices were dropping, but beef prices, oh, they were popping. But overall, this is an energy story. Gas, it's like $4.25 a gallon. Reminder, 2% inflation, that is healthy. But anything above that, like 3.4% inflation, that is bad.

Starting point is 00:13:11 But, Nick, on the day before that, on Thursday, the producer price index was even worse. It said that prices for companies and businesses are up 5.4% from the year before. And the key contributor? Again, energy. Diesel energy, because semis and freight trucks use diesel instead of gasoline. And the unrelenting Warner-on has diesel prices at $6 per gallon,

Starting point is 00:13:34 which is the highest of all time. Here in California, five stations have now maxed out their price sign, like physically maxed it out. They can't go any higher, Jack. You know the prices, they only have like four digits? $9.99.9. They're maxed out. They can't raise the prices unless they like put a cardboard box up there with Sharpie marker prices. And diesel? Yeah, that's the inflation you paid. The grocery store. not the pump. Because if trucking costs more, then tomatoes, tuna, and tortillas eventually will cost more, too. On Friday, Saudi Arabia shut down a pipeline after multiple attacks, and that's just going to send diesel prices even higher. Now, here's the problem with all that. We now have the

Starting point is 00:14:12 perfect storm of reasons for high interest rates to rise even higher. Actually, it's not just a perfect storm, Basties. We think it's actually a perfect cushion, and we'll explain. On the one hand, there's a whole bunch of reasons for rising prices that we just mentioned. And in addition to the Warren Iran messing with energy, you've got new tariffs on Canada that'll raise prices on things we buy from the Canucks. Well, last month in Jackson Hall, our new Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, said that he is committed to getting to a 2% inflation target. And he signaled that he would raise interest rates to help get inflation down to 2%. Now, here's where the cushion comes in, because even though prices are popping, so are jobs. Yeah, in August, 162,000 jobs were added.

Starting point is 00:14:52 Unemployment is down to 4.1%. The jobs market seems to be doing jobs. just fine. And that gives our Fed chairman the cushion he needs to raise interest rates and not worry about the jobs market right now. Raise interest rates to tame the monster of inflation. Because the Fed knows our jobs market is strong, it can handle higher interest rates. So add it all up as season, it's a no-brainer that the Fed's going to raise interest rates, and they will do it this week. On Wednesday, there's a 90% chance the Fed raises interest rates according to futures markets. It sucks, but the inflation situation has gotten more painful, so we're getting more high

Starting point is 00:15:24 interest rate medicine. The Fed's going to raise interest rates for the first time since 2023. Yeah, but Nick, let's check in on those hostages. Yeah, those hostages, they want to talk. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies staring at these epically high interest rates? Our housing market is held hostage by rate squatters. Our rate squatters. Yet these half of American homeowners have mortgage rates under 4%. Half of mortgage holders locked in low rates before all the rate started rising in 2022. This economy, having a mortgage rate under 4%, that's like living in a rent-stabilized apartment. Pretty good. Having a mortgage under 4%, you're never giving that up. No, a 4% mortgage for the median priced home in America is paying $700 less a month than the current

Starting point is 00:16:09 7.1% mortgage rate holders. That rate you locked in, it's so good, your mortgage means you're not leaving your home. Your mortgage is too good to sell. And that is rate squatting. Empty nesters, they now got a house that's too big, but they won't sell because they don't want a new 7% mortgage. Or new parents have a house that's too small, but they're making do with it because they don't want to switch to a 7% mortgage. Like Bessie's the size, the quality of your house, whether you own or you rent, these are huge determinations of your economic happiness. And yet, the housing market is collateral damage to the Fed's obligation to kill inflation. Tens of millions of us, we got a house that's too big or too small, but we won't sell it because we don't want to lose the low rate. Until interest rates come down, we'll have rate squatters.

Starting point is 00:16:53 Rate squatting. It's understandable and it's holding our housing market hostage. Jack, could you all whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week. Elon, Altman, Zuck, and Elizabeth Holmes are the villains in this fall's big movies. Evil geniuses are better villains than big banks ever could be. And that's the new Hollywood franchise. For our second story, Lacost's new line is only available at Hoxton Hotels through room service. because Lacost is reframing the polo to retrain our price expectations. And our third and final story,

Starting point is 00:17:25 there's a 90% probability that the Fed announces an interest rate increase this Wednesday because of high inflation. Which means the housing market will stay hostage to rate squatters. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Nintendo got a tariff refund that's so huge, Donkey Kong is getting pumped. Nintendo's turning it into a marketing moment. Now, ever since the Supreme Court overturned much of Trump's tariffs, businesses have been getting refunds, tariff refunds. Nintendo got a $300 million tariff refund, so it's running a two-week 30% off sale to give it back to consumers.

Starting point is 00:18:02 It's a me refund. Second, Anthropic says that Iran used its AI model to plan an attack on the U.S. Navy. That came out of nowhere. Apparently, it's part of a report from Anthropic on how enemies of ours can use our own American AI against us. us. Oh, and by the way, Yetis, all these scary AI headlines, they're actually resulting in some congressional action. The House and the Senate do have momentum right now, like never before, to put some guardrails on AI for the first time ever. And finally, the CDC has declared the cyclospora outbreak related to that Taylor Farms lettuce to be over. Thank you, CDC. Yeties, you can stop hoarding

Starting point is 00:18:41 toilet paper and you can eat your lettuce in peace. Date night at Taco Bell, it's back, baby. Oh, hang on a second, Nick. Yeah. The FDA actually says that the investigation remains ongoing. So you can go to Taco Bell, but only eat half as much guac? I don't know, Nick. The number of false endings to this explosive diarrhea lettuce syndrome, it's just, it's gotten me exhausted.

Starting point is 00:18:59 How exhausted, Jack, because exhaustion is a symptom of cyclospororor. Now, time for the best fact yet, which, because it's Monday means T-Boy trivia. This one sent in by Aaron McConnell from Mission Vieo, California. Last week, we did a story on Smar's, how Hershey's is capitalizing on the Smores brand and sold $250 million of chocolate just for smores this year. But do you know where the Graham Cracker in the Smoor actually comes from?

Starting point is 00:19:25 The Graham Cracker was invented 197 years ago by a minister. Minister Sylvester Graham. He created a cracker and he named it naturally after himself. But here's our T-Boy trivia. What was the purpose of the Graham Cracker? What was the purpose of the Graham Cracker? Jack doesn't know the answer, but here are the four options. A, was it to fundraise for the church?

Starting point is 00:19:44 Like Girl Scout cookies. B, was it to replace communion? Yeah, I wouldn't mind if it takes. tasted better. C, was it to create a new health food brand? I doubt that, because graham crackers aren't particularly healthy. Or D, was it to stop sinful desires? Like, have this gram cracker as a diversion from committing sins?

Starting point is 00:20:01 Exactly, Jack. Like, if you're feeling lustful, just have this box of graham crackers. Exactly, Jack. So which answer is it? A, B, C, or D? What do you think? What do you think? I mean, D would be hilarious.

Starting point is 00:20:12 So I'm going to go with D. Always go with the hilarious answer, Jack, because that is correct. Mr. Graham invented the graham cracker because, quote, whole grain foods would curb sinful thoughts. That is hysterical. And I'll never not think of that when having smores for the rest of my life. I mean, having a smore is a sinful activity. Yeah, that is. If you've got a buddy who's doing a little too much sports batting, you hand him a few graham crackers, maybe. We'll see how that goes. Yeties, you looked fantastic today. Jack, you smell fantastic today. And full disclosure,

Starting point is 00:20:46 I actually did have black ice air fresheners in my dorm room in college. Wait, our dorm room in college? Yeah, I don't think you noticed, Jack. But that's why we got so many people coming to hang out with this. I think it was the natural o de black ice. Would you put them in like your lacrosse shoes? No, no, I put them in the desk. That's a suspect movement.

Starting point is 00:21:02 But besties, next week is our live show in San Francisco, and we want to see you there. We still got some tickets available, so grab yours using the link in the episode description. September 23rd at the Palace of Fine Arts. Or go to T-boypodpod.com, if you know, you know. And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Eddie, Dan Tillman. Belated birthday for this helicopter pilot in the Marines. Thank you for your service, Dan. Happy birthday to Steph Winklowski, who celebrated number 33 on the weekend

Starting point is 00:21:33 with hikes, brews, and friends in San Francisco. And a boss who's saying, happy birthday in Chicago doing logistics. Happy birthday to Kyle Nolan Hill, turning 33 in San Diego. And Chase Knox, we see your birthday also down in San Diego. Happy birthday to Julian Ace Mail in Seattle. And a happy ninth birthday to Eli Burnett, their last birthday before double digits down in Texas. Congratulations to Amy Greenhut, who got a new job with the wearables team over at Meta in New York City. And Brooke Morgan is a new dog mom to a black lab named Huckle Burger in San Diego.

Starting point is 00:22:03 Congratulations, guys. And a shout out to Brett Corson, who noticed two subjects of TBIY episodes The Best Idea Yet, Michelin restaurants and their maze handbags, were both covered in this week's New Yorker magazine. Classy stuff. By the way, season two of the best idea yet, I'm feeling real. good about it. No spoilers, no spoilers. This is Jack. I own stock of lift.

The Best One Yet - 😈 “Evil Genius” — Hollywood’s 4 Tech Villains. Lacoste’s room service. Inflation’s rate-squatters. +Uber smells

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