The Best One Yet - 🌵 “Party on the Playa” — Burning Man’s biz. Reading’s 40% drop. Intel’s Uncle Sam-vestment. + Vacation Update

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, August 25th. 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. Yeti's full disclosure, our baby is due any day now. Any day now, right? Any now? Oh, wait, I'm checking my phone. Okay, we're good. We're good. We're good. So Yeties, our annual two-week summer vacation is also a paternity leave this year and it starts tomorrow. But besties, do not worry, Jack and I got you covered for the next two weeks. weeks. We've got exciting content planned and ready to publish for you every day right here on the T-Boy feed. So if you want to see our full schedule of bonus podcast for the next couple weeks, check out our Instagram at T-BoyPod. But for our last regular T-boy pod until Nick's second child is born, we whipped up three fantastic stories. Oh, these are so good. No one else is doing them. What have we got on the pod, Jack? For our first story, Burning Man began last night. It's the biggest party in the world for billionaires. But Burning Man's business is also burning. So Jack and I

Starting point is 00:01:05 got a plan to keep it afloat. For our second story, the most eligible bachelor on the stock market right now, it's Intel, the American chipmaker. Because the U.S. government is officially buying 10%. Congratulations. We taxpayers are now part owners of Intel. Intel inside. And our third and final story. We've been in a reading recession for the last 20 years. Pleasure. your reading is down 40% in America. And yet, CEOs are reading more than ever. In fact, Warren Buffett has read 100 books this year. Nick and I are going to share the books when we're reading right now in that story. And we'll tell you why you got to too. But yet he's before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, fantastic mix. Jack, I love this pre-vocation mix. Me too, Nick. But as we

Starting point is 00:01:51 mentioned, we're about to take our annual summer vacation, which coincides with Molly and I having a Baby. I'm going to do a staycation in Vermont and go to Kenny Bunkport, Maine, while Nick has his go bag constantly ready to go. The IBO jacket could come any moment. Like, it could even happen during a takeaway today. Yeah, the baby could come at any moment. But if it doesn't come during this podcast, Nick and Molly have a plan. Yes, we have a plan to induce labor with a hamburger. True story. There's a restaurant in San Francisco called Spruce, whose burgers cause babies. Yeah, I took Jack. Last time he was here, we ate at the bar, it was fantastic. Michelin.

Starting point is 00:02:29 Yeah, I didn't have a baby, but I did order the delicious $32 Wagyu Beef House Ground Cheeseburger. Expensive, but worth it. But here's the catch. You got to be careful if you eat that burger and you're eight months pregnant. Because it's a Michelin-starred pregnancy burger. Get this, Yet he's. According to Eater, this burger is known to make women go into labor.

Starting point is 00:02:52 Eight-ounce patty makes you pop out a person. There's no data to back it up. We checked. But Spruce claims its hamburger has, quote, unquote, stimulating powers. This is the thing. In fact, that burger is the top takeout order at hospitals in San Francisco. For real. Jack, did I tell you, Molly's OB told her to eat that burger if we go past the due date?

Starting point is 00:03:13 She said get a reservation. Instead of getting a membrane sweep, just get a burger. Now, when you and Alex were pregnant, what did you use guys to induce labor over there? The bird cage. Dude, two out of three times, the bird cage induced labor. Yeah, that movie's so funny, you will have a baby. You're laughing so hard. So best use, it's IVO time.

Starting point is 00:03:32 Nick's baby could come at any moment. But if that baby doesn't come, then you'll catch us over at Spruce with a bottle of ketchup and our go bag. Check, please! 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. It's the best one yet, but the best is the best. I don't even think they need to practice.

Starting point is 00:03:58 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. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story,

Starting point is 00:04:25 Burning Man is an insane crazy playground for artists, techies, and CEOs going on right now. But why is Burning Man? so much money. We'll explain, and we'll also tell you our radical solution to save the business of Burning Man. Ah, that is, everyone's got one buddy who went to Burning Man, but never really came back from Burning Man. We know, Timmy, you're a burner now. Burning Man, it's Coachella for capitalist detoxing. It's not a music fest, it's a desert quest. It is the Woodstock for Wi-Fi, baby. It's a nine-day event started yesterday. 80,000 semi-neutral. naked human beings have ventured into the desert, specifically Black Rock Nevada.

Starting point is 00:05:09 Ah, the pros, they call it the Playa. It's got a giant wooden Burning Man sculpture. Some artsy performances, there's drugs, there's parties, there's therapy, and apparently yeah, there's an orgy tent. I'm sorry, Jack, can you direct me to the symposium on mushroom philosophy? Now, this has become a rite of passage for techie types, a pilgrimage for programmers. For example, Dustin Moskowitz and Zuck went in 2012 because, as they said, It makes you grow as a person.

Starting point is 00:05:36 Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, picked a fellow burner to be the first Google CEO. And Elon and Sam Altman agree on one thing and one thing only, and what is it, Jack? This quote from Sam Altman, Burning Man is the most beautiful man-made thing ever. The best is, here's what we find fascinating about this story. For all these billionaires, the business of Burning Man is burning right now. Like burning through cash.

Starting point is 00:05:59 Yeah, burning through cash. The first Burning Man happened in 1986 on a beach in San Francisco. Francisco. They started a tradition that continues to this day, setting a giant human sculpture on fire. Well, 41 years later, they moved to the desert and ticket prices are now $575 per person. So they brought in $59 million in revenue last year. Pause the pot, $59 million in revenue, Burning Man should be a profit puppy. Not so fast, Nick, because last year, for the first time since 2011, Burning Man did not sell out. In fact, at the same time that hype for Burning Man is waning, costs, are rising. The result was that Burning Man lost $20 million last year. According to Bloomberg,

Starting point is 00:06:41 for just a nine-day event, Burning Man has a 140-person full-time team with a thousand seasonal workers. Burning Man's become a bit of a bureaucracy. And herein lies the key contradiction of Burning Man. What is it, Jack? It's both capitalist, attended by the billionaire titans of our economy, but it's also anti-capitalist because of its founding principles. Get this, the Burning Man Project is actually a mission-based 501c3. That's right. It's a non-profit. And they're financially handcuffed

Starting point is 00:07:12 by their own philosophy. Burning Man has these rules, like money cannot be exchanged at the Burning Man event, right? It's a barter economy. You can trade your hat for that dude's hot dog. Burning Man actually forbids itself from commercializing the 1.6 million followers

Starting point is 00:07:27 it has on its own Instagram page. Burning Man cannot seek a sponsor. It cannot. have advertisers, it's even forbidden itself from selling Burning Man merch. So add it all up, Jack, and with 59 million bucks in revenue resulting in a $20 million loss, even nonprofits can't last long if they're losing that much money. You know, I've been acting like I've been to Burning Man, Jack, and I actually have not been to Burning Man. I thought you'd have it. I wasn't going to out you. But I always see the cars coming back to San Francisco. They're covered in dust. It's a telltel sign.

Starting point is 00:07:56 So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in Burning Man? We have a wild solution. for Burning Man. Income-based ticketing. Yeties, Burning Man has had a huge influence on art and technology on the titans of our economy. Google, Tesla, SpaceX, meta, open AI. They were all inspired by Burning Man. That is gigantic value creation. And yet, Burning Man only asked to be paid $575 for a single ticket to attend? What if instead of charging a flat ticket price, Burning Man charged a percentage of your income. Yeah, like we bet Elon, Sam Altman, Sergey, they would pay more given the impact Burning Man has had on them.

Starting point is 00:08:39 I think they'd happily pay more. Think about it. Burning Man is all about radical mind-bending never-before-done ideas. So for Burning Man, making the rich pay more, that would be in line with their anti-capitalist founding principles. How's this for radical? Charge your attendees a percentage of their paycheck. To save Burning Man, if you're on the Forbes list, you should pay a fortune.

Starting point is 00:08:59 For our second story, the most valuable chip company in the world, NVIDIA doesn't actually make computer chips, but you know who does? Intel. And get this, Trump said on Friday that the U.S. government is getting 10% of Intel's stock. Yiddies, let's start by sprinkling on some context. Last week, NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Wang showered another company with more praise than a father. of the bride speech. Here's what he said. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:09:33 I think TSM is one of the greatest companies in the history of humanity. Okay, and then he went on. And anybody who wants to buy TSM's stock is a very smart person, the NVIDIA CEO said. Worth a reminder, Invidia, the legendary chip company worth $4 trillion doesn't actually make the chips. They just design them. It's TSMC who makes computer chips. the Taiwan Semiconductor manufacturing corporation, who NVIDIA's CEO was just talking about. NVIDIA's like Apple.

Starting point is 00:10:06 Yeah. Designed in California, but made in Asia for the most part. So, Yiddies, let's add it all up. Invidia is America's biggest chip company, but it's not our biggest chip maker. And who is Jack? Intel. Yeah. Intel produces one and a half billion units of chips per year in the United States of America.

Starting point is 00:10:25 Which leads to the news, Yiddies. Tom said on Friday that Intel agreed to give the American government 10% equity in the company? Sweet. Why do us taxpayers, though, deserve to own a chunk of Intel? Well, Jack, that would be because we gave Intel $8 billion. It sounds like I should spread lots of context. In 2022, the Biden administration passed through Congress, the U.S. Chips and Science Act. And why'd we do it? Well, we learned during the pandemic that we can't just depend on China for everything, especially. critical chips. Even not critical chips. Like, we were waiting two years for a new electric hair dryer

Starting point is 00:11:04 because it actually has chips in it and we didn't have any. China was hoarding all of them. Yeah, my hair is still wet. So Congress placed most of our chips into Intel's basket. Intel got $8 billion of grants from the U.S. government thanks to the U.S. Chips and Science Act. And that was the key. That $8 billion handout from the United States to Intel is for factories to make chips in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon. It was to make us less dependent on China for computer chips. But since then, besties, hasn't really been a happy ending.

Starting point is 00:11:35 Honestly, Intel is blowing it. Despite all that money, the stock's down 50% in the last five years. Despite all of that free money, Intel's business is declining because they just can't make top-notch chips that AI companies actually want. So I guess the government is intervening now.

Starting point is 00:11:51 It's not Uncle Sam. It's CEO Sam. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies is over at Intel. We've seen Uncle Sam own American companies, but we've never seen him run American companies. Yeties, last week, all the news was about the Trump administration negotiating a shocking deal with Intel. Here was the deal. You only get the rest of your $8 billion grant if the U.S. government gets stock in Intel in return. Okay, but before you get all shocked, Jack and I want to point out, there is precedent for this, right, Jack? Basically a bailout. Yeah. Like during the financial crisis, government bailed out a bunch of big financial institutions. Our government became the biggest shareholder

Starting point is 00:12:31 in Citibank with 34% of the company. Uncle Sam and us taxpayers, we actually owned 79% of AIG, the insurance giant at one point. The way we see it, makes sense that if the U.S. taxpayers put money on the line to save a company, we should take part in the upside. And we actually got a big return in our stakes in Citibank and AIG. But here's the big question. If President Trump controls 10% of intel, will he meddle with the mess? management? Will he push big tech companies to buy chips from Intel, the White House-owned chip company? And Jack, will big tech companies do that, even if Intel makes an inferior computer chip? Those are huge questions. Yeties, we've seen government bailouts. We've seen government's own

Starting point is 00:13:10 pieces of U.S. companies, too. But we've never seen the U.S. president run a private company, and we just may well. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, it's the reading recession. Reading for pleasure. Has fallen 40% in the last 20 years, and you can blame TikTok and busyness for that. But we're going to make a case for leisure reading. Actually, we'll let the billionaires and CEOs make the case. Yes, we will. But besties to tell this story, let's go back to 2004 when Zuck created Facebook. Or was it the Winklify? Never mind. Every year since then, the percent of Americans who read for pleasure has fallen by 3%. That is the one.

Starting point is 00:13:59 Wild finding from a study published last week by the University College of London and the University of Florida. Today, just 16% of Americans read for pleasure. That's down from 28% in 2004. Jack, we're in a reading recession right now. After those 20 years, it's a 40% decline in the number of American readers. I'm sorry, we're actually in a Dickensian Depression right now. And all the more surprising is that reading, according to the study, includes books, magazines, and newspapers, crucially in print, electronic, and audio. So, Jack, this is the first study to include e-books and audiobooks as a form of reading.

Starting point is 00:14:35 And even if you include those forms of reading, still, reading is down 3% every year for the last 20 years. So there are reasons for the reading recession? What are they, Jack? First, it's Facebook. Second and third, it's Instagram and Snapchat. Fourth and fit, it's TikTok and YouTube. I think Oscar Wilde is laughing at us right now. Another reason, though, is busyness. Yeah, the tech paradox. iPhone. It made us more productive, but it also made us more busy. But Jack, can I please quote Ralph

Starting point is 00:15:04 Waldo Emerson for a moment here? Oh, transcendentalist, huh? Yeah, it is. Do not go where the path may lead. Instead, go where there is no path and leave a trail. Very nice. We think, Yetis, that you should buck the trend and pick up a book because business leaders do. Yeah, trust us. We read about it. Warren Buffett once spoke before his alma mater, Columbia Business School. And one student asked him, what's the best way to prepare for a career in investing? Jack, what did Warren Buffett say? I read 500 pages every day. That's how knowledge works. It builds up like compound interest. Besties, we repeat, Warren Buffett rips through 500 pages of physical books between AAM and 8 p.m. every day. He went on to say, all of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will. In fact,

Starting point is 00:15:51 Warren Buffett reads 182 books a year. That's where his genius comes from. That's a book every two days, Jack. Mark Cuban reads 109 books a year. Bill Gates reads 50 books a year. Oprah Renfrey reads 36. So besties add it all up. And Americans, we're reading less.

Starting point is 00:16:09 But the billionaires, they're reading more. So Jack, from what I can read here, what's the takeaway for all our ambitious Yetis out there? Have one book you listen to and one book you read. Yenies, that's how Jack can I do it? And you know what? We're always excited to share with you what we are reading because it influences the show. I have an audiobook that I listen to in the car when I'm doing chores or multitasking. And I have a physical book for my bedside table for rest and relaxation.

Starting point is 00:16:34 Okay. So which, what are you into right now? What are you reading right now? The physical book I'm reading is Alex Carp's technological republic. Okay. I want to understand what's going on at Palantir and the way he sees the world and patriotism and technology. Okay, that's good to know. Good, good, good. On the audio book, I'm going full World War II. Franklin Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt during the war by Doris Kearns Goodwin. All right, Jack, I am reading Paris in Ruins, Love War and Impressionist Painting. It's an audiobook about the, uh, it's about the birth of Impressionist painting and how it was influenced by a bunch of different things going on in Paris.

Starting point is 00:17:06 Very cool. Okay, and then, as usual, every summer, I like to read a James Bond novel. Yeah, it is so much of the insights that we share in this pod come not just from the news that we read, but from the books that we read. In fact, Jack and I come up with creative takeaways, sometimes inspired. by the fiction books that we read. Yeah, fiction inspires our takeaways about business, finance, and economics.

Starting point is 00:17:28 Many of you DM us about how we develop storytelling skills. It's because we read stories. Books provide context that make what's happening today makes sense. So Yetis, we're about to go on our annual summer vacation, but Jack and I will be doing plenty of reading because the billionaires do too. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us before vacation?

Starting point is 00:17:49 Burning Man started yesterday, but they're in some financial trouble. partly because they're a non-profit. So to save Burning Man from burning through all its cash, charge tickets as a percentage of income. For our second story, Intel is now part-owned by the U.S. government, which demanded equity in return for government grants. Uncle Sam, his own parts of U.S. companies,

Starting point is 00:18:09 but we've never seen Uncle Sam actually run them. And our third and final story, reading for pleasure is down 40% in the last 20 years, but CEOs are reading more, not less. So besties have one book you listen to, and one book you read to. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today.

Starting point is 00:18:29 First, stocks surged at the end of last week. The S&P 500 jumped 2% to an all-time high. The reason? Jerome Powell. The Fed chairman gave his strongest signal yet that he's going to cut interest rates to boost the economy this September. Jerry wasn't explicit, but here's what our Fed share said. The balance of risks appears to be shifting.

Starting point is 00:18:50 He's less concerned about inflation, concerned about the jobs market. And second, Cracker Barrow lost a hundred million bucks in stock market value last week on a rebrand gone wrong. The down-home country chain cut the old man from its logo and conservatives weren't happy. Yeah, they say the store has gone awoke, so the stock fell down 10% on boycott worries. It's the same but opposite of the Sydney-Sweeney American Eagle drama. That is. Capitalist culture wars. And finally, big news for Jack. Delta and United just got sued for window seats without windows. Okay, is this a class action lawsuit? Where can I sign up? Okay, apparently these airlines showed you were in a window seat, but then there was no window for you to look out of that,

Starting point is 00:19:33 that window seat. Yeah, no kidding. I bought the ticket for 17A. I think I had to pay extra for it. Yeah. And then it was just a massive wall next. Jack, you deserve window justice. You should sue for the windowless window seat. I think you should. I don't like to play the victim, but for five hours from FFO to O'Hare, I was the victim. You know, Jack, you also could like, You could become an aisle guy. Like come become an aisle guy. We're great. Isle guys are fun.

Starting point is 00:19:57 We have space. We have freedom. We have access to the bathroom. Jack, in the aisle, sometimes I go to the bathroom just because I can. I don't even have to go. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and me

Starting point is 00:20:10 because this is some T-Boy trivia. Trivia. What state is best when it comes to vacation? What state is the best when it comes to vacation? What do we got, Jack? What state has workers that take the most PTO. It's not New Yorkers. New Yorkers leave so much PTO on the table. Oh yeah, it's negative. Like, New Yorkers are working 25 hours a day on this one. I mean, is it Hawaii? Like, you got so much

Starting point is 00:20:32 natural beauty you want to take your vacation days. Well, the answer actually is for the most vacation usage of any U.S. state. Colorado. It's Colorado. Good for Colorado. South Park, Crocs, and vacation. Congratulations to Colorado. Yetties, you look fantastic. today. Jack and I are going to miss you while we're off for the next two weeks for this IBO, but we're not going to leave you hanging, are we, Jack? No, we got a bunch of episodes. Check out our Instagram if you want to see the schedule or just come back to this feed because we're going to have something new pretty much every day the next two weeks. In fact, tomorrow, we're dropping a special episode of the best idea yet right here about Disneyland for you.

Starting point is 00:21:12 Disneyland? How could you say no? What a vacation theme? That is fantastic. In the meantime, we can't wait to see you celebrate the wins. And Jack, Check please. Before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Nicole Hude over in lovely Bellevue, Washington. And happy birthday to Byron Pitts in Westtown, New York, a Yeti since 2018. And a happy birthday to Fiona Chung over in Brea, California. Happy birthday to Sabrina Schlack, turning 13 years old in El Dorado Hills, California. And Lorraine Yoshida is turning 13 years old with the best birthday yet in Bocerita, Florida.

Starting point is 00:21:54 Happy anniversary to Christian and Michelle. in Likty. And Lolo Roli is turning nine years old and lovely Saratoga Springs, Utah. Congrats Lola. Happy birthday to Roka in Tustin, California. Who's a good boy? And Gus Castilla in Austin, Texas is a freshman at Alpha School. Oh, enjoy the AI teachers. Congratulations, Gus. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to Namtran in San Diego, California. And Andrew Marringer over in Chicago doing some birthday logistics. And congrats to Brooke Morgan in San Diego, who's celebrating their first day at the new job. And a happy birthday to Joey Hasty celebrating the best birthday yet in Woodland Hills, California. And a big shout out to Nick and Molly. So excited for you to have your second kid, dude.

Starting point is 00:22:35 Thank you, Jack. Big deal, the second pod child from the Martel family. You led the way. Very pumped. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Intel, although now we all do apparently. We all kind of do.

Starting point is 00:22:50 Because of the second story in our pod today. And Nick and I both own stock of Apple and ETFs at the S&P 500.

The Best One Yet - 🌵 “Party on the Playa” — Burning Man’s biz. Reading’s 40% drop. Intel’s Uncle Sam-vestment. + Vacation Update

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