The Best One Yet - 🍫 "M&Ms > Coke" — Mars' pet candy. The Great Latte House Lie. Russia’s debt default wingman.

Episode Date: June 28, 2022

The mysterious and private Mars Candy Company just shared its numbers with us for the 1st time: More M&Ms than you think… and more veterinarians. Have you heard The Great Latte Lie? If you’ve been told you can’t buy a house because you buy too many fancy coffees, we have an update for you. And for the 1st time in more than a century, Russia didn’t pay back its IOUs — Because it’s got wingmen.$HSY $Z $KO $MATFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeWant a Shoutout on the pod? Fill out this formGot the Best Fact Yet? We got a form for that tooLearn 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 Tuesday, T-Boy, Tuesday, June 28th, and today's pod is the best one yet. Today's pod is bad for... Wait, I know I can say that. I know why you're struggling to say it. It's because the inflatable pool. I can barely breathe.

I inflated an inflatable pool with my own two lungs for Wilder to swim in the backyard. We had to give, like, Jack, a remote heimlich via audio to get him going for today's pot. It's the red blood cells I'm short of right now. This pod literally runs on lung capacity. Jack, what's our first story today? Mars, the mysterious private family-run candy company finally told us how big they are. All right, here's the deal. They're not just making M&Ms.

They're making veterinarians. For our second story, are you familiar with the latte lie? The latte lie. If you just stop buying lattes every day, you could afford a house. Well, Yeties, if you were told that, we've got an update for you and home buying. For our third and final story, for the first time since the bullshit. Revolution 100 years ago, Russia has defaulted on their IOUs. But Jack and I have got to tell you about Russia's wingmen.

Before we hit that wonderful mix, though, Nick. A perfect mix for a T-Boy Tuesday, Jack. Yesterday we talked a lot about the word the. The word the, the Ohio State University trademarked the word the. Yeah, that word the. But we need to sprinkle a little more context on this one. Because besties, the isn't the only word you'd be surprised to know is actually trademarked. There's more incredibly common words out there that technically someone else owns.

Specifically, there are crazy copyrights on a whole bunch of colors. Exhibit A, T-Mobile has a trademark on the color pink. And not just any pink, just their brand's particular magenta pink, like not T-boy pink. Right, because back in 1965, the toy maker Mattel, which owns Barbie, trademarked Barbie's particular shade of pink. But then a few years later, Tiffany Jewel said, you know what? Why don't we trademark our textbook dual box blue? That better be Robin's Egg Blue because if it's Tiffany's blue, you're fired.

Well, then UPS got the memo and they trademarked their delivery truck brown. That's right. The socks the drivers get, those are legally protected brown socks. And Jack, can we talk about the Reese's peanut butter wrapper, please? This is the most conspicuous because it says right on the package. Yeah, if you use the orange from a Reese's, that's going to be a problem. They're yelling it at you. Orange background color is a registered trademark.

says right on the pack. Even Boise State's famous blue football turf. Jack, what's going on there? It's football field blue, a trademarked color. Yeties, we are running out of the rainbow, literally. I'm running out of breath, literally. Jack, what is Roy G. Biv gonna do? For T-Boy Tuesday, if you know any other tricky trademarks, let us know.

Got a crazy copyright, hit us up. At T-boy Pod, let's hit our three stars. 15 years before this song, two boys from the northeast met in the dawn. 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. For our first story, Mars is the sixth largest private company in the United States.

And they just shared with us finally their financial secrets. Mars is a bigger candy company than you ever imagined. But it's also not just candy. Jack, let's go back here. Mars, they have been pumping out candy since before the root canal. Forest Mars, that's his name, like Forrest Gump. Back in 1941, he invented the M&M and expanded the company out to Twix, Milky Way, Snickers, Skittles, Wrigley Spiramette Gum, and more.

I mean, Jack, this is like the All-Star lineup. This is the top shelf of candy, right? This is a Halloween hero. I just want to point out, if you haven't had the peanut butter flavored M&Ms, you haven't had M&Ms. Nick, there's an M on every M&M and M. there's an S on every skittal. Yeties, this company Mars, they are based in Virginia, and their company headquarters is so secretive that it's been nicknamed the Kremlin.

It's named after Forest Mars, and the descendants of Forest Mars, the family's worth $100 billion, placing them at the number three most wealthy American dynasty, trailing just the Waltons and the Cokes. But here's the problem, Bessies. This company, it is private, it's not public. They don't have to share their stock price

or the amount of money they're bringing in or any financials. But last week, the CEO of Mars stepped down. And Mars, the corporation, decided to humboldt brag their numbers for the first time ever. Okay, get this. Mars, the candy company, has annual revenue now of $45 billion. That means Mars, the candy company, is five times bigger than America's own Hershey's chocolate company. Which means that Mars, the candy company, has higher sales than Coca-Cola the conglomerate. Taste that rainbow.

Yeah. Wow. Put an ass on that candy apparently. But hold the snick-offs. Okay, please, Jack. Mars is the biggest U.S. candy company, but they don't just do candy. But yet, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. One fifth of their business is actually animals. It's not just kids trick-or-treating. They serve pets and animals, too. Yeah, like pet food and pet health care. Yep. They have 140,000 employees, and half of them are working with puppies and kittens and dogs and cats. And if you thought they had the top shelf All-Star Trick-or-Treat lineup of Candy, wait to hear what pet brands they own, too. Whatever dog food you just served your dog, it's probably Mars. Okay, Ims, which I can never pronounce correctly.

Yucaniba, never can pronounce that correctly. Pedigree. And then whisk us. Yeah, which is for the snobby kittens and the kids. All of that has been acquired over the years by Mars the Candy Company. And it's not just that. Mars owns 800 pet care clinics. It's one of the biggest veterinary chains in the world.

So when you took Pedro the pup to the vet, there's a high chance that it was Team Twix running the operation. Mars has become so big. So big. It has been under monopoly scrutiny by the FTC. They've gotten so big in pet care. They've had to sell off clinics in order to ensure there's still competition in the pet industry. We just learned a whole bunch about the sixth biggest private company in the U.S. Jack, how's this for an idea?

Eminem's dog food serve two dogs who then go to vet for kids. cavities run by Eminem's vets. Repeat. And repeat. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at candy company, Mars? There's diversification and then there's selectification. Yeti's PepsiCo, Unilever, Nestle, they're all big food companies and they all love diversification.

They sell ice cream, chips, soda, water, soaps, detergent, you name it's all about diversification. Coke has over 200 different diverse brands. Now, Mars did candy. and diversified, but to only one other vertical. Pets. Exactly. That's not broad diversification.

The way Jack and I see it, that's narrow selectification. Since 1941, Mars figured out food and distribution. So they expanded those core skills to one new thing. Diversification is probably the most used term we've seen in finance, but Mars is more strategic. Yeah. They didn't diversify into everything. They selectified into one thing. For our second story, the housing market, it is hitting one group the hardest right now, first-time home buyers.

Investment homes is the latest example that illustrates the latte lie. Jack, can we talk about just like the cruelest thing that's hidden millennials in the latest, I don't know, ever, ever? More people than ever want to buy a home right now but can't afford it. And at the same time, more homes than ever are being bought by people with no intention of living in them. And by the way, a lot of the people behind these homes, they aren't even people at all. Okay. Here's the news that confirms what Nick just said. A Harvard study shows that 28% of all the single family homes bought last quarter in America. 28% were bought by investors, not like families. When Jack says investors, we're not talking about your buddy who saved up for 10 years so we can stop renting with his roommates. We're going to miss you, Timmy. Right. The 28% of homes were bought by pro-airbean beers, pro-house flippers, and eye buyers.

We're talking about like the intense HGTV stuff, like selling sunset, kicked up a notch. We are talking about that, but we're also talking about mass eye buying, which is when Wall Street money buys homes in order to rent them out or eventually sell them for a higher price. Yeah, so like, picture this. You show up with a down payment check getting really excited. But you're competing with Zillow and Goldman Sachs who show up with a blank check. I did all cash, no contingencies. I wrote a letter to the seller and I got beat by an app. This is bad news for one group in particular.

It is millennials. Yeah, Yeti's first-time home buyers. We now face corporate competition along with four other problems, Jack and I should point out. If you've been trying to buy a house, first you've got to deal with mortgage rates, which have doubled in the past year from 3% to 6% to 6%. today. And because fewer homes are for sale, housing prices are still at record highs. So combine rising home prices with rising interest rates and the average mortgage payment for the average American home has nearly doubled in just one year. We repeat, you combine one bad situation

with another bad situation. It kind of multiplies into a third worst situation. Let's rewind the situation for millennials. We entered the job market during the financial crisis. Ironically caused by housing crisis. When we were finally ready, we had to compete with 15 bidders of remote workers during the pandemic. Which was too much demand. And then you couldn't even build your own house because of a lumber shortage. Which was not enough supply. And now we're competing for homes with record numbers of investor buyers. Which is just messed up. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone trying to buy a home right now? The latte lie sums up millennial home buying woes. All right, besties. Here's how Jack and I see it. During the

pandemic, the millennial generation hit peak home buying age. You know, having families should be buying first homes. Most homes in the U.S. right now should be millennial owned, but millennials are statistically behind older generations with homeownership. Now, Jack and I are proud millennials. We've been slicing avocados since 1988. And we're proud recent first-time homebuyers, too. But it's not because we stop buying lattes or quit the avocado toast situation. No, no, no, no, no, no. other generations get strange enjoyment from ripping on millennials for our brunch splurges. It's really annoying. Which has led to this annoying myth.

Just stop buying lattes, millennials, and then you can afford that condo. Nick and I did some math. If you stopped buying a $6 latte every day and save that money, you'd only save $1,400 a year, which is not going to buy you a house. Uh-uh. That latte line is a latte lie. It's not tiny things preventing homeownership. It's huge things.

Exactly. There's not enough homes on the market. There's not enough home building. And there's been no wage growth for the 10 years we've been working. And now we're competing with Airbnb, Zillow, and lots of other record investor buyers. And that's why more than half a millennial home buyers are getting help from parents. The latte line? It's a latte line.

It's way bigger than coffee. And now word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. Nick and I got to know Vladin Bayjou, the co-founders of Robin Hood when we worked there three years. And there's this one business principle we heard from them. And we just, we honestly loved it. A, B, L.L. Always be launching. That's what keeps customers engaged. It keeps investors happy. And it keeps competitors kind of concerned. Always be launching is also consistent with Robin Hood's mission to democratize finance for all. Yeah, not just stock trading. Also options, crypto, spending, wallets, and more. They launched a lot of stuff. And that's something we heard, we saw, and we adopted.

Yeah. This week, we relaunched the podcast as the best one yet and launched a very big. And launched a video pod right here, more to come. If you're not on Robin Hood yet, want to get started. Go to Robinhood.com slash T-Boy and choose your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Certain limitations apply. All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. By the way, Robin Hood is no longer affiliated with us or this podcast. For our third and final story before Jack and I go call our lawyers and trademark T-boy Pink, Slamming Slamming Slam and Semen. Slam and Semen. for the first time in over a century, Russia just defaulted on its debt. So what happens to Russia next?

Nothing. Because Russia has wingmen. Okay, Jack, let's set the scene here. 105 years ago, it is World War I. Let's roll with it. Russia is in the battle of its life against Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. But then we get a mid-war plot twist. Get this.

The communist revolution erupts. in Russia. Vladimir Lenin leads a bunch of revolutionaries who oust the capitalist czars. It's called the Bolshevik revolution. Now, Lenin said a lot of things. One of the things he said was, we're not Russia anymore. We're now the Soviet Union. He also said, hey, if you think I owe your money, I don't. Everyone who had lent money to Russia, domestic or international, didn't get paid back. It was 1918 and that was the default on Russian debt. Now, Besties, that was 104 years ago. A long time ago. But this week, it happened again. It was the first Russian default of foreign debt in over 100 years. But we should clarify, Russia doesn't have that much debt actually. It's only 17%

of their GDP. In the United States, we borrowed like way more money for that. Oh, like 10 times more than that. Like, like we owe a lot of money. We owe a lot of people money. We owe like a hundred times more debt, but only 10 times more if you size it to our GDP. But still, Russia had to make an interest payment to everyone who had lent it money on Sunday. And Jack, did they make that $100 million payment? On Sunday, the $100 million deadline came and went and Russia didn't make the payment. Now, Jack and I should point out, there are some financial technicalities here. Russia said they wanted to make that interest payment, and they tried to make that interest payment.

Yeah, Putin has plenty of cash, but that cash, he says, is frozen because of the sanctions. So it's an awkward Venmo situation. Your buddy said he tried paying you. He tried and tried and tried again. But Jack, I'm checking the app. And I'm not seeing an emoji showing any payment for that brunch here. It was a default. It's official.

By the way, the United States and its 200 plus year history has never defaulted on its debt. We're pretty proud of that. It's something we can brag about as Americans. Jack, we're basically like the Lannisters of international finance in the United States. We repay our debts. So, Jack, what's the takeaway? for all our buddies in the rest of the world.

This default won't hurt Russia because Russia's got wingmen. Look, just two months ago, Jack and I were telling you about the weaponization of finance. Western countries led by the U.S., froze Russia's bank accounts, sanctioned the oligarchs, seized the yachts to pressure putt. But here's the recent change. The West's cold shoulder is now completely offset by China's warm embrace. Look at this. This spring, the United States stopped buying Russian oil and Europe has worked to do the same.

Well, just last month, China bought more Russian oil than they ever have in their entire history. China's basically said to Putin, we got your back. So Russia's financial position, it is shockingly strong right now, despite all those sanctions and this new default. Here's more proof. Russian oil sales hit a record in the 100-day period after it invaded Ukraine. So whether it's IOUs or selling oil, Russia is aided by China, its biggest wingman. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? Mars is the third wealthiest U.S. family, six wealthiest private U.S. company.

And they're not diversifying from candy. They're selectifying into pet care. For our second story, a record 28% of U.S. homes are bought by investors. And your oat milk latte is not why millennial home ownership rates are low. It's way bigger than that. Our third and final story, Russia defaulted on its debt for the first time in over 100 years. But it's not going to hurt much because Russia's got. wingmen. Now time for the best fact yet this one sent in by Mike Martel from lovely Schenectady, New York,

and yeah, he happens to be my dad. This fact isn't verified, but Mike says it's true. Mike's been saying it actually for so many decades now. We're just going to round up on this one. Schenectady, New York, which is near Albany, and it's where Mike grew up and went to college, was number three on Germany's bombing list during World War II. So Germany was a World War II foe, infamous for its bombing campaigns. Thankfully, in America, we never suffered from German bombs during the war. But according to a Mike familiar with the matter, Germany prepared a list of what cities they would bomb.

Now, one and two, Mike didn't tell us who it was. We assume it was New York City and Washington, D.C. But allegedly, the number three city that Germany wanted to bomb was Schenectady, New York in upstate New York. Why? Because General Electric was in Schenectady, New York. And knocking out General Electric in Schenectady would have been a major blow to the United States industry and defense. Happy birthday.

Mike, that's a hell of a fact. The best unverified fact yet. Happy birthday, Dad. Yetis, you look fantastic today. And if you know a trademark that we should know about, hit us up at T-boy Pot. Have a fantastic day. We'll see you tomorrow.

T-boy Tuesday. And before we go, happy birthday, also by complete coincidence to my mother-in-law, Meg Dwyer over in Nantucket. I hope a birthday gazpacho is in your future, Meg. And a happy birthday to Kate Fisher

turning 26 over in Denver. Happy birthday. to Alex Kim in Irvine, California. And born Annie Versaer to Byron Lopez turn in 10 in Marina del Rey, California. And happy birthday to the one and only Adam Macias, our editor with an eye for audio. Adam Macias, the sultan of the soundwave.

The prince of podcast edits. The baron of broadcasting. If you like how we sound, or if you think we sound seamless, or if you like our outtakes, it's all Adam, baby. It's all out. This is Jack.

I own stock of Unilever, and Nick and I both own stock of Zillow, Robin Hood, and Airbnb. And now word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. Funny little thing about the Robin Hood logo. Okay, go look at it right now. Most people, you just see a feather. Robin Hood's feather and a cap. Pretty classic.

But it also looks like something else. If you look closer, closer, closer, you may see an arrow pointing up to the right. Yeah, the Robin Hood logo. Nice little Easter egg in there. It's not just a feather. It also symbolizes bullishness. There's a little arrow in there. If markets are up or down, it's nice to be optimistic.

We always love that little detail in the Robin Hood logo. Honestly, it's all about the little things in life. If you're not on Robin Hood yet, want to get started. Go to robinood.com slash T-boy and choose your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Certain limitations apply. All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member S-I-P-C.

By the way, Robin Hood is no longer affiliated with us or this podcast. Dude, I'm glad we have the same birth year. Oh, yeah. That makes it so much easier. An 87-88 thing would screw up everything. And then I'd be here of the dragon or you'd be year of the rabbit. It would just screw up so much if we were a different year.