The Best One Yet - 🍒 “Pop-Tart Problem” — Red dye’s food ban. JPMorgan’s overdraft idea. Job Referrals as-a-Service.

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, January 16th. And today's pot is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Oh, yeah, he's full disclosure. But Jack is podcasting today without a key asset. His teeth. I got my last wisdom tooth pulled this morning. Can you believe it? Take it like two decades. It's like you get a wisdom teeth pulled every four years that I've known you. It's like they're harvesting them. What's going on over there? It was just five hours ago. I'm actually recording under the influence of Nova Kane. Jack has been applying gauze all day like he's on Grey's Anatomy. It's wild to watch.

Starting point is 00:00:40 It was my last wisdom tooth. It was already impacted, so it was a pretty easy pull. I'm not going to get you a push present because you didn't have a baby jack. I'm going to get you a pull present, a teeth pull present. Yeah, it is. I posted a post-pull video on Instagram with my cheek all swollen. We want to hear your comments. How did they do?

Starting point is 00:00:56 Jack and I, we did some voice warm-ups. He sounded normal. So today's pod is the best one yet. Jack, three stories for today's show. What do we got, man? For our first story. From Pop Tarts to Peeps, the most controversial artificial food coloring

Starting point is 00:01:09 was just banned by the FDA. Red Three's been banned in food, so we're looking at the great American business paradox. For our second story, J.P. Morgan Chase just had its best quarter in over 200 years. With record profits and a record stock price, we think it's time to kill the most hated fee in banking.

Starting point is 00:01:28 And our third third, and final story. There's a hot new side hustle that's earning some people $30,000 a year. Job referrals. Get this. Referring strangers to your company is a brand new moneymaker. But yet, it is, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Three wild stories. Love the mix today, Jack. I taste a tiny bit of blood in my mouth. I think I need some more gas. No, that's iron. I think it's good for you, Jack. You should keep rolling. Keep the tapes rolling. We're going to pivot to the most controversial question in business right now. Here it is. Are women Instacart shoppers better than men Instacart shoppers? Bigger question.

Starting point is 00:02:05 Should you be able to choose the Instacart shopper by their gender? Yeties, this is the most viral debate raging on TikTok right now. It is. It's about Instacart shoppers. Yeah, like, why are the male shoppers so bad at buying groceries? It's a thing. One female Instacart customer ordered herb butter on the Instacart app. But her male shopper delivered canola oil butter instead.

Starting point is 00:02:28 Another female Instacart customer wanted to make hamburgers tonight. But her male shopper delivered beef chuck instead of ground beef. Yeties, there is a cultural stereotype that men struggle with grocery shopping. Honey, is that a white scallion or a white onion? Honey, is that a Shataki mushroom or a my tachy mushroom? Uh, honey, you asked for parsley, but I got you spinach. They smelled the same. Full disclosure, this is Nick, this is Jack.

Starting point is 00:02:53 We don't make those kinds of mistakes. No, because Jack and I love food. We love ingredients. and thanks to running a news show, we have strong attention to detail. Not only do I check the labels, I check the price per ounce so that I can compare differently sized products on the shelves. Jack checks other people's labels. They don't even ask them, but he grabs them at the grocery store when they're in line. I am this close to bringing coupons into the store.

Starting point is 00:03:15 But Basties, we were thinking about it, and it brings up a comically controversial question for the gig apps. From Uber Eats to DoorDash to Instacart. Should you be able to choose the gender of your grocery shopper? Because odds are, that dude doesn't know a cauliflower from the cabbage. Honey, what's a Korabi? If it's a male Instacart shopper, you might want to keep the ingredients list simple. Now, Basties, we know what you're thinking.

Starting point is 00:03:39 We're tone-aline on controversy right here, but we want to know what you think in the comments, so leave us one on YouTube or Spotify. We've got to pull on Spotify, actually. In the meantime, three fantastic stories, Jack, let's see him. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best one yet. That's an norm.

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

Starting point is 00:04:29 The FDA just banned red three. The most controversial food coloring in America. This is 40 years overdue. It is. So we're looking at what. really caused this huge delay. But yet he is first, before we tell you this story, you should know that you eat bugs.

Starting point is 00:04:49 It's true, because we all eat red dye number four at some point. And guess what red dye number four is made out of? It's made out of an ant-like insect called a cochineal bug that is typically found in South America. And we have it in most of our foods. Now, red number four is safe to eat. It is. Because the bugs that they're made from are natural.

Starting point is 00:05:07 Yeah, bugs, they're all part of this balanced breakfast. But there's big new. Wednesday about a different type of red dye. Red dye number three. Because red dye number three just got banned in all American foods by the Food and Drug Administration. Lots of foods in America used red dye until last year when the state of California banned them. But still today across America, Pez, Candy Corn, Betty Crocker's mashed potatoes. And what's in them, Jack? They've all got red three. Quick warning to our buddy Timmy who enjoys double bubble, double twist bubble gum every day. But now the artificial coloring red three is banned in foods and drinks across America

Starting point is 00:05:42 because red three is known to cause cancer in rats. Pause the pod, yeties. When we read that red three, a simple food die causes cancer in rats, like we assumed, yeah, that's a new finding, right? We'd be wrong, though, because we've actually known that red three causes cancer in rats for 40 years now. Which led to our big question, we were researching all yesterday, why did it take someone so long to ban something we've known for 40 years?

Starting point is 00:06:12 Well, to answer that question, we're going to go back to 1907. That's when big oil invented Red 3. That's right. Red 3, also known as Aerthrosine, was a byproduct of petroleum. It is an oil-based product. So when the FDA was established by Congress 20 years later, Red 3 was approved for use and foods. Yeah, it was approved for use and foods. Do you know, because food companies have a magically delicious history of private. prioritizing profits over pediatrics. But Nick, those Maraschino cherries, they make my Shirley Temple look so delicious. Honestly, if I don't have a neon red cherry in my drink, I'm not even going to finish that thing, Jack. But then in the 1980s, scientists discovered an inconvenient truth. Yeah. That red dye that makes our Shirley Tepples look so Instagramable. So beautiful. It gave rats thyroid cancer.

Starting point is 00:07:00 So Red 3 was banned in Australia, Europe, and over in Japan. But it wasn't banned in America. which leads to one of the wildest business paradoxes we'd ever seen. In the 1990s, we did ban Red 3 in the United States for cosmetics, but we did not ban it in food. So it's not okay to put Red 3 on your body, but it is okay to put it in our body? You can't put red 3 on lipstick, but you could put it in a strawberry-flavored peeps marshmallow? Here's an even wilder part of the story. We have to talk about the Delaney Clause, because it's little known, but it's a little known,

Starting point is 00:07:36 it has huge implications. Jack, the Delaney Clause, that's part of the FDA Act where if something is known to cause cancer in animals, it cannot be served to humans. But didn't we just say that studies showed 40 years ago that Red 3 causes cancer in rats? We did, Jack. So on Yetis, we were even more curious. Why did the world ban Red 3? And the U.S. ban it in makeup as well. But 40 years later, we finally banned it in food? Well, the answer's in our takeaway. So, Jack, What's the takeaway for our buddies over in the food industry? This story shows the difference between deregulation and fixing regulation. So, besties, why did it take so long to ban Red 3?

Starting point is 00:08:19 Well, experts give two reasons, and the first is lobbying. Get this, there's a lobbying group called the International Association of Color Manufacturers. Highly paid lawyers advocating for artificial food colorings. That's an entire lobby, and they helped delay this. entire ban. The second reason, though, is the FDA just blew it, because the FDA didn't have the resources that lobbyists have. Yeah, the FDA just doesn't have a clear process to reassess foods that have already been approved, like food dye red three. So right now in America, the political climate is all about deregulation to cut rules and regulations. But red three is an example that

Starting point is 00:08:58 shows it's not that simple. It shows the need to improve rules and regulations. This story shows that deregulation and fixing regulation are very different things. For our second story, J.P. Morgan Chase is now a $700 billion company after setting another quarterly profit record. So we think now is the perfect time to eliminate the most hated fee in banking. Oh, yet he's a fun fact for you. But Chase Bank actually started as a water company back in the 1700s. Wow, I didn't know that. Well, Jamie Diamond has been the CEO of that bank, America's biggest bank, since the year 2006. And Jamie Diamond just presided over J.P. Morgan Chase's best quarter in its 200-year history.

Starting point is 00:09:47 Get this. In just three months, $14 billion in profit. That's up 50% from last year. Get this. We jumped in, T. Boy style. We did. J.P. Morgan Chase holds $2 trillion of cash deposits. Not too shabby. And a trillion of those deposits are out in the economy right now as loans. Jack, when you're holding in London that much money, you can get a whole lot of revenue on that stuff. Not to mention the fees. Investment banking fees nearly doubled last quarter from the year before to $2.5 billion. And it's not just JP Morgan, right, Jack? All of Wall Street's looking good. Yesterday, we got the earnings from BlackRock. The country's biggest asset manager. And we got Goldman's earnings. The country's biggest pure play investment bank.

Starting point is 00:10:27 And both announced record profits and both are enjoying record high stock prices. But it is JP Morgan who is more valuable than both. of those banks. Combine. J.P. Morgan Chase is worth $700 billion according to its market cap. And that's 100 lifts.

Starting point is 00:10:46 Wow. The besties, here's what we found fascinating about this story. It's got a lot of people wondering about the S word. Succession. Succession. Like who is going to succeed and replace Jamie Diamond? You know what? We don't think anyone's going to succeed him. Yeah, we don't think anyone's going to. Kendall Roy,

Starting point is 00:11:03 he doesn't even want the job. Yesterday, highlighting the bank's outlook, Jamie Diamond mentioned two significant risks facing our economy. First, he said inflation may persist for some time. Have you seen the price of eggs lately? It's a frittata fiasco. And second, Jamie Diamond said that geopolitical conditions remain the most dangerous and complicated since World War II. Well, all that sounds a little bit scary from our uncle Jamie, Jack. Given that, we think he's going to stick around as CEO for five years or more. Yeah, after all, he's only 68. Yeah, it's going to be, at least. least a few more years before he leaves that banking job to become governor of the state of Greenland.

Starting point is 00:11:41 Entering this wildly uncertain period we have ahead, we think this elder statesman wants to stick around to be a force of stability. So, Jamie, since you're going to be sticking around for a while, and we know you're listening today, we have got an idea for you. And it's our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy Jamie over at J.P. Morgan Chase? J.P. Morgan Chase should eliminate the most hated fee in banking, the overdraft fee. Ah, the overdraft fee. Yettys, that's when banks charge about $30 each time your account dips below zero, even if it's just for an instant. Opponents of the overdraft fee call it a tax on the poor. It's taking excessive fees from those least able to pay them. Congress has been

Starting point is 00:12:23 grilling the banks on the overdraft fee, although we should point out that the overdraft fee is less than 1% of J.P. Morgan's revenue. So in this economy? Yeah. J.P. Morgan could turn that fraction of its revenue into a positive PR opportunity. Here's what we're thinking, Jamie. Eliminate it. Cut it. Just give customers a grace period or some other option. Basically say, we hear you. The money's tight. Don't worry about it. We're going to get rid of the overdraft fee because we care about you. We think a move like that could attract huge numbers to J.P. Morgan's 5,000 bank branches the most in the country. It'd be a do-goater move that pays for itself with the marketing boost they'd get from that pure PR. Pure PR. With record revenue profits and a record stock price, J.P. Morgan, they can afford

Starting point is 00:13:09 to put the overdraft fee out of its misery. It's time to eliminate the most hated fee in banking. The overdraft fee. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, there's a hot new side hustle for people with corporate jobs. And that's a lot of side hustle is job referrals. The job referral money-making side hustle shows the power of loose ties. Yet he's over 18 months, one single tech worker recommended 1,000 job candidates to his employer. And eight of those 1,000 referrals ended up getting hired. So he pulled in $30,000 in referral bonuses. But Jack, what is the wildest part of this surprise story we are telling right now? Every one of those 1,000 people he referred was a complete stranger.

Starting point is 00:14:05 He didn't know any of them. Now, that's all according to Bloomberg reporting. But yet he's job referrals are supposed to be a win, win, win deal. The candidate gets a better chance of getting a job. The referer gets a bonus and the company saves time and recruiting money. And the relationship you have with someone you refer, it can span a range of relationships. Yeah, it could be your best friend, or it could be your father's brother's nephew's former roommate. As long as you've spoken to the person and met at least once, HR tends to be cool

Starting point is 00:14:35 with anyone referring to anyone. Yeah, like, as long as you can vouch for them or like your friend who's a friend of theirs can vouch for them, that's all that they want to know. And in this economy, applying without a referral can feel like tossing your resume into a digital black hole. It massively increases the chances that your application actually gets read. But here's the funny thing, Yetis. Referrals are now so in demand that a marketplace for referrals has emerged, according to Bloomberg. Blind is a free app with 12 million tech workers who anonymously share their thoughts on their employer. So job seekers go on blind to connect with random people at the company they're applying to in order to get a referral. Glass door has

Starting point is 00:15:15 something similar, but they're even more explicit. There's an entire forum for referrals. Yes, you can find a stranger at your dream job and ask them to refer you. It'd be a nice favor. So in the finance and tech industry, workers are finding referrals online, despite having no previous relationship. But besties, wait, because this story gets even wilder. What do we got, Jack? A new company has formed just for referrals. It's called referming, and they'll connect you with a high-quality referrer at any company

Starting point is 00:15:43 you want to apply to as long as you pay the $12 a month subscription. So they will pair you with an employee who will, in this case, enthusiastically refer you because you're paying a fee. Add it all up. Right now, you can buy a referral to apply to a job at Goldman, Microsoft, Nvidia, Spotify, and they're just like $25 each. And the reason this entire referral market exists, it's because Google pays out a $4,000 referral bonus,

Starting point is 00:16:10 and META will pay a $5,000 referral bonus. There's big money in referrals, so a marketplace is building around them. Well, Bessie's, before anyone gets fired, we should point out that these banks and tech companies say that false referrals are against their policy. And even if you don't break policy, you could get a bad reputation at work

Starting point is 00:16:27 if people think you're handing out referrals willy-nilly. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies in the job market? You don't need a fake friend for a referral. You just need a loose tie. A loose tie. Yet is last year, we told you that job referrals are the greatest asset in your application arsenal. According to Bloomberg, the odds of getting a job are eight times better if someone

Starting point is 00:16:52 at the company refers you. But you don't need a best friend and you don't need to pay for a referral. referral in order to get a good one. What you really need is a loose tie, like a friend of a friend. A great piece by Adam Grant, a psychologist at Warden. He said that we underestimate our networks. Loose ties, we've got a lot of them, and they can provide big value in this kind of thing. Loose ties are huge value. You just don't think of them. And they're valuable for job referrals, biz development, sales, like the people you met once or occasionally or like just a friend of a buddy, those are loose ties. That guy you spent a couple hours with during that airport delay.

Starting point is 00:17:26 That's a loose tie. You guys exchanged numbers. You remember he works at ESPN? You can ask him for a referral at ESPN. Jack, my first two jobs were from weak ties, loose ties. Like, a friend of my wife's friend helped me get the first job in finance. You have authentic, supportive referers out there waiting for you. They're closer than you realize.

Starting point is 00:17:46 Besties, remember the power of loose ties. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Red 3. A petroleum-based artificial color. that causes cancer in rats is finally banned in the U.S. Red 3, it shows there's a big difference between deregulating and fixing regulation. For our second story, J.P. Morgan Chase is now worth $700 billion after scoring record earnings last quarter. And that's why it's time for Jamie Diamond to eliminate the overdraft fee.

Starting point is 00:18:19 The most hated fee in banking. And finally, one guy made $30,000 last year because he referred a thousand people to jobs at his company. Job referrals. They're now a side hustle. But instead, we think you should ask one of your loose ties. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, on the eve of a U.S. presidential transition, Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal. Both President Biden and President elect Trump are sure to claim credit for this. Actually, after all, they both had representatives working together to negotiate this deal. The ceasefire begins Sunday, and it includes prisoner of exchanges as well as more aid getting into Gaza. And second, TikTok update, because it gets banned in like

Starting point is 00:19:05 three days, competing platforms are welcoming TikTok users ahead of the Sunday ban. YouTube is expanding the time limit for YouTube shorts from 60 seconds to a more TikToky three minutes. And Substack is offering a $25,000 prize to whatever TikToker moves their whole audience over to Substack. But the big winner, it's probably going to be meta. Because Instagram and Facebook are expected to capture 40% of all the users and ad dollars that TikTok loses. And finally, Hershey's chocolate is about to make the biggest chocolate deal in the history of cocoa. Get this. Hershey just placed a chocolate order so big, they had to get government approval for it. The order is for nine times the limit on commercial chocolate purchases.

Starting point is 00:19:46 Yeah, there is a global shortage of cocoa, so it looks like Hershey found a good deal out there and is buying as much as they possibly can. By the way, speaking of Hershey, if you haven't heard the best idea yet our weekly show, we just did a whole episode on the Reese's Peanut Buttercup. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Christy March from a lovely Corrieville, Texas. We've told you about the invention of the snooze button by General Electric. But did you know that another company invented a second clock with two snooze options,

Starting point is 00:20:15 a snooze option for five minutes, and a snooze option for nine minutes? That clock failed. People didn't want to wake up and then have to decide how long do I want to snooze for. When you snooze, you're pressing one button. You do not want to have to math the math on that stuff. And that's why those old school alarm clocks had the biggest button on the clock was the snooze button. You could whack it. You punch that button.

Starting point is 00:20:40 Yeties, you look fantastic today. And if you haven't yet, because it's a new year, remember to tap to follow us on whatever app you're listening to. Because that way, you can get T-boy every single day. And if you got a buddy who needs a New Year's resolution, tell them to H-Y-H-T-B-O-I every single day this year. Have you heard the best one yet? That's how you do it. And finally, we got to know, male or female Instacart shoppers. Is this a thing?

Starting point is 00:21:05 I'm just going to hire myself, man. I'm going to hire you as well, Jack. Can I just point out amazing performance, considering you lost your final wisdom tooth like two hours ago? Wisdom teeth in the appendix. I don't need any of them. Yeties, forgive the blood on today's episode. Jack and I, we'll see you tomorrow. It's just a slight taste of blood.

Starting point is 00:21:25 It tastes kind of good. And before we go, a happy birthday to the internet, which was born on January 16th, 1986, with the first domain, Symbolics.com, which still exists today. And happy 40th birthday to Stephen Brody in Nashville, Tennessee, who's going cave diving in Mexico to celebrate. Take a big breath. And Con Lou in San Francisco, California, has got the first birthday of their life in San Francisco. Celebrate fantastically.

Starting point is 00:21:59 Some great restaurants for you. And a special Google Gar-Gra to Annie. fam of Irvine, California, who's celebrating one week on this beautiful planet. And Lisa Smith's got a 46th birthday in Potsdown, Pennsylvania. Happy birthday to Tammy Linares in Canton, Michigan, who just got promoted to engineer who's making vehicle safer. And Isabella Woods just got back from Thailand, but is celebrating a belated sweet 16. Congratulations to Mia LaRucci Flores in Tannafly, New Jersey, who's joining the College

Starting point is 00:22:29 Honor Society as a high schooler. And a huge thank you to Terry Lee in Miami, whose son is a firefighter who is in Los Angeles right now, taken on the blazes. We don't know this firefighter's name, but man, do we appreciate his service right? Thank you, Terry Anderson. And to anyone else, celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I'm on stock of Instacart, and Nick and I both on stock of Spotify.

The Best One Yet - 🍒 “Pop-Tart Problem” — Red dye’s food ban. JPMorgan’s overdraft idea. Job Referrals as-a-Service.

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