The Best One Yet - 🥔 “Proudly a Couch Potato” — La-Z-Boy’s Greek Mythology. Roku’s TVcommerce. Roe v Wade’s economics.

Episode Date: June 27, 2022

Shocker: La-Z-Boy jumped 11% on a record quarter because it borrowed a lesson from Ancient Greek mythology. Roku and Walmart just partnered up so you can watch “Yellowstone”… and then buy cowboy boots through your TV. And with Roe v. Wade overturned on Friday, we’re looking at what we know best: The economic impact. $LZB $ROKU $WMTFollow 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. Welcome back. It is Monday, June 27th, and today's pod, out of all the pods, is the best one yet. TbOI. Nick, did you know that stocks actually rose last week? I'm sorry, Jack. Was there a typo in your voice? Get this. Bitcoin actually rose last week. Ben, the Bitcoin. Welcome back, buddy. Where you been? Our portfolio seeing some green. This pod's seeing the best one yet. It's a Tblog. Jack. What's our first story today?

Even though your sofa is stuck on the Suez Canal, lazy boy, just. had a record court. Because lazy boy took a lesson from the ancient Greeks. Our second story on Friday, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to abortion. So Jack and I are looking at what we know best, the economic impact. Our third and final story is Roku and Walmart. They just partnered for a new thing, not e-commerce, TV commerce. All right, Yeties, the next time you're watching Yellowstone, you can buy those cowboy boots with your remote. But before we hit that wonderful mix, Mac, it's a fantastic mix to kick off the week, Jack. You know what day it is. Porter's Almanac Week 117.

Things were running out of because of the pandemic. Jack and I been keeping track for you. This week, we're running out of the. We don't actually have any more of the. Like the. Yeah, the. The word the. We're out of the.

Yeah, the, that the, that the is the problem. Literally the word the, the grammatical article, the, we're out. The word the, the word that mattifies the nouns, that word we're out of the. Yeties, besties. Here's the news. The word the was just trademarked. Someone now owns the. The Ohio State University, they have now trademarked the word the.

After the three-year fight, the United States Patent and Trademark Office is allowing Ohio State to protect the word the. The Ohio State University now owns the right to put the on t-shirts. I get this. The school makes 12 and a half million on gear with the word the. Well, now they're the only one who can sell t-shirts that just say the. Nick and I are one. wondering who's the loser here? We gotta think it's the Miami Hurricanes, because now you can't say you went to the you. You just have to say you went to you. Although the Ohio State trademark is

only limited to specific Ohio State merch. But we're not convinced because the word the is the most common word in the English language. Jack, I just counted, you said the five times in that one sentence. Now it's six. But here's the third problem, besties. This pod, it's the best one yet. Or is it? Can we say the word the? I don't know, Jack. I'm keeping track over here and we've said the 36 times on this pod for oh my god let's it three stories 15 years before this song two boys from the northeast met in the dorm they had an idea that caused a cultural storm it's 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 for the first story I'm sorry I mean for a first story lazy boy stock just jumped 11% last week. Lazy boy has record sales right now. Because Lazy Boy learned a lesson from Greek mythology. All right, Jack. I've actually been very curious about this. You just got your new patio furniture, right? Didn't this just come?

Yeah, this weekend, right? How to look? Deck furniture. It looks wonderful. Okay, okay. And we actually didn't order. We picked up something off the lot because the wait time was like six months. We had the doorbell ring the other day.

It was a CB2 side table delivery from 14 months ago. I wanted the Monterey line of deck furniture. I got the Miami one because it's what was available. I don't even remember ordering this, Jack. Yeties, the number one theme of your living room right now, it's waiting. Waiting for the Ottoman you ordered a year ago. Yeah, because supply chain delays, they hurt the furniture industry, like more than any other industry, because that's some big stuff.

From West Elm to Wayfair, long delays. So here was the shocker Jack and I noticed this weekend. Lazy Boy just had a sales record in 2021. Lazy Boy's 2021 sales are up 30%. They just hit a record 2.4 billion annual revenue. Honestly, in fact, don't even let the name fool you because lazy boy, it's not lazy boy anymore. It's proactive boy.

Lazy boy got an alarm clock. But here's what Jack and I found fascinating when we jumped in T-Boy style to the lazy boy earnings. It was the last thing the lazy boy CEO said on the earnings call. Here's what she said. People don't always think of themselves as a lazy boy kind of guy. Kind of a wild statement. Like, Lazy boy is a great name.

Like, I do love the name, Jack. It is a very good name. There's a couple hyphens in the name. It's lay, hyphen Z, hyphen boy. So that's one problem. The other problem is it kind of screams Couch Potato. When I picture Lazy Boy, I picture a recliner with a bunch of disgusting Doritos stuffed into the cushions. You know what I mean?

But here's the problem. Lazy Boy, they've evolved. Yeah. Lazy Boy's not just recliners that like your uncle spends a third of his waking hours. What's your theory again about Uncle Time, Jack? I love this Uncle Time. The average uncle spends about a third of their lives. yelling at the Mets with the Jets on TV while reclined in a lazy boy.

And that is a problem for lazy boy, because they're just not connecting with hustling millennials because that whole couch potato brand baggage. Nike, they're just do it. Exactly. And then they're lazy boy. Not exactly an aspirational brand. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies chilling over at lazy boy? They're taking a lesson from the ancient Greeks. Know thyself. All right, besties ancient Greek mythology. Let's head back to Mount Olympus, Prometheus wasn't a god, but Prometheus did get into an argument with Zeus, like the king of the gods.

And Zeus told Prometheus, uh, know thyself. You're not a god. So I wouldn't try picking a fight with me. I'm the king of gods. Well, the way Jack and I see this lazy boy earnings, the CEO just said that the brand's not for all. The CEO of Lazyboy is embracing the know thyself mantra. Lazy boy actually has a half dozen different brands and they keep them totally separate. Okay, Jack and I jumped in T-Boastout, Hammery, American Drew, England Furniture Company. They all look totally different. They're different brands, but they're all owned by Lazy Boy. They also required a direct-to-consumer startup called Joy Bird, which sells furniture to millennials.

It pairs nicely with a fig tree. But Lazy Boy is keeping Joy Bird's brand totally separate. They're not mixing it with the Lazy Boy brand. Because a fig tree is the polar opposite of a disgusting Dorito from six months ago. Oh, Jacks and my uncle, they shop at Lazy Boys flagship brand. you shop at the other brands. Lazy Boy recognizes how its different brands are interpreted. Know thyself.

For our second story, the Supreme Court has ended the constitutional right to abortion access. And we're looking at the economics. It shows that this will increase crime, poverty, and income inequality. All right, besties. On Friday, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. And the ruling says that women do not have the constitutional right to decide on abortion. So going forward, now the same. states will decide if women have that right or not. And about half of these states are expected to

illegalize abortion. Okay, so Jack and I have no idea how abortion bans are actually going to be enforced. But for women who can afford to travel for their health care, this may not have a big impact on them. And for the women who cannot afford to travel for their health care, this ruling could mean a huge economic consequence. So this is a huge story with so many angles and so much impact. And Nick and I were thinking, how should we cover this? So Jack and I both studied economics undergrad and we both studied economics and business school. So we decided we should stick to our wheelhouse and cover the economic consequences of this Roe v. Wade overturning. Yeah, we focused on the economic angle. And a fascinating economic thing actually happened in 1973.

When access to abortion became legalized, that had huge economic impact. And in the five decades since then, economists have studied the impact of that change to the entire country. Economist compared American society prior to 1973 with American society after 1973. And this is what's so interesting about this situation. The 49-year Roe v. Wade era has been like a real-life experiment. And it's pretty clear to compare the two different errors. If you're a good economist, you control for the variables so that you can zoom in just on the impact that Roe v. Wade had on the economy. And the findings show that legalization of abortion had a huge impact on the American economy.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies? Who are all of us in the American economy? 49 years of data show that this ruling from the Supreme Court will probably increase crime, poverty, and income inequality. Yeties, we can't predict the future, but we can look at the past for direction. And we can predict that the positive changes to our economy as a result of Roe v. Wade could be undone now that it's getting overturned. Maybe the most major study on this, 2001, Stephen Levitt and John Donahue, they determined that legalized abortion reduces crime by 50% in the coming years. You may know Stephen Levitt from Freakonomics, the famous behavioral economics book. And that study showed that Roe v. Wade didn't reduce crime immediately, but it did reduce crime 20 years later.

The reason Roe v. Wade reduced crime in 20 years is poverty. Which leads to a 2014 study by Bailey, Malkova, and Norling that showed that access to family planning, that reduces poverty. If women can control pregnancy, they're less likely to enter poverty. And then they're less likely to raise kids in poverty. And growing up in poverty, that's what tends to lead to crime. And the third reason this ruling will probably hurt the economy, it'll probably increase income inequality too. Women simply bear the majority of the child care burden in America. Yeah, and more unwanted births will lead to more women having to take more breaks from the workforce.

Now, this is so much more than an economic issue. We know that. There's way more here that could be unpacked. But just looking at the economics, this ruling will probably increase crime, poverty, and income inequality. And now worried about our sponsor, Robin Hood. We see ads all the time. All over the place, 10 bucks off this $5 promo code for that, Jack. You can buy three suits, you can get one free. But something we always thought was cool about Robin Hood, the free stock promo.

Yeah, this was wild. The promo isn't like some X amount of dollars, it's one stock. If you signed up for Robin Hood, they'd thank you with a single share in a publicly traded company on the house. And that free stock promo, it actually helped drive Robin Hood's growth and got new users in the stock market right away. One of the most creative moves in promotional history. So when Robin Hood became our sponsor, naturally, Jack and I said, we got to do the free stock giveaway. If you're not on Robin Hood yet, you want to get started, go to robin hood.com slash t-boy and get cash to select your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash TBOY. Certain limitations apply all investments involved risk.

Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC, Robin Hood is no longer affiliated with a us or the podcast. For our third and final story to kick off your week, Walmart is helping Roku create the new future of e-commerce TV commerce. TV commerce. TV commerce. Because TV ads are about to become shoppable with your remote. All right.

This story totally flew under the radar jack. And it's honestly probably because Roku is the little tech company that good. Roku is the Rudy of video streaming. It's five foot nothing. 100 and nothing. What are you doing, Roku? Get in there. Get in that. Go over the jab. Roku is a tiny, relatively tiny tech company that makes cute little dongles, but mostly these days, the software for smart TVs. Okay, but Roku is now in the starting lineup for Notre Dame because they're in 61 million homes, watching streaming TV apps through Roku. Not too shabby, Nick. That's a lot of homes.

It is a lot of homes. Well, $13 billion, Roku just announced a brand new partnership with $300. billion dollar Walmart. Roku is punching above its weight because of a new thing we call TV commerce. Here's the deal. Commercials are never going to be the same. And there is too much for me to say about this. Jack, can you finish the thought? Yeah. You're going to now be tempted to buy the thing you're watching because with Roku, you can click and Walmart will deliver that thing that's being commercialized. All right. Yeties, we'll sprinkle on a little context here. The goal of every new advancement in ad technology is to do one thing, eliminate the barrier to buying. So here's how the Roku Walmart TV commerce will go down. Jack, let's say you're watching Yellowstone. It's a nice evening night.

And there's that cliffhanger scene where, you know, John Dutton is on a horse like acting very ranch-e. Right. Ben, since it's a cliffhanger, you know an ad's coming. Boom. Boom. You're watching 30 seconds of a leather boot commercial. And those leather boots kind of look like John Dutton's leather boots. And you're like, all right, hey, Kevin Costner is probably the only guy who could pull off those chaps, but I want those boots. You can now buy them. And you can click with your Roku remote and Walmart will deliver them. But it's not just stuff that may remind you of like the TV show. Like this could be any ad. Right. Like Clorox ad could pop up. And you realize you just spilled like a hazelnut Lodge regular on your shirt. Your white shirt. So you one click, the Clorox bleach shows up at your

door in a couple of days. All right. You save the turtleneck. Now Roku stock when this news came out, it jumped because there is nothing better than a partnership with a way bigger company. Ku's just happy to be here. Thank you, Walmart. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Roku? The next era for TV is microtransactions. All right, yeah, it is this one-click Roku option to buy the product in the ad? That is classic micro-transaction.

And micro-transactions have become the financial foundation of video games today. Yeah, like, Fortnite makes all their money from micro-transactions. You want to buy that new outfit for your avatar. You're going to do it mid-game with a micro. Micro transactions have changed video games. And next, we think they're coming to TVs. Like, Jack, you were just watching Stranger Things Season 4, Episode 1. Let's say you like Eleven's outfit in that episode.

Right. A micro-transaction would let you, with one click on a remote, buy the entire outfit she's wearing from some retailer. Or for like 99 cents with one click, you could avoid all the ads for the rest of that smoothie. The next, next era for TV is microtransactions. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us? over there. Lazy boy has record sales despite the couch potato brand baggage. Just like Zeus,

it knows thyself. For a second story, we looked at the economics of the Supreme Court's Roe versus Wade decision. Yeah, and it's likely to lead to increased crime, poverty, and income inequality. Our third and final story is Walmart and Roku. They partnered for TV commerce. Yeah, micro-transactions. That's what's next for TV. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in from downtown by Ryan Van Vute from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Legendary basketball player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Yeah, Los Angeles Lakers. He is literally the leading NBA point score of all time forever.

He also won championships for the Milwaukee Bucks and three for the UCLA Bruins. But despite all that scoring, just regalness, there's one little surprise about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's power. He only made one-three. In his entire career, one-three-pointed. Now, for half this career, the three-point line didn't exist. We should clarify. clarification but still he had a few years to take a few shots from downtown and he only made one oh yeah but how about shack jack that shack tone this is a crazy coincidence he also only made one three-pointer

isn't his entire career in the same game that's not true actually no no no not in the same game but that'd be pretty cool yeties you look fantastic today and remember whatever you do don't put the word the on a t-shirt and try to sell it tomorrow we'll see it tomorrow for best one So, happy birthday to Nick Marino from the Upper West Side. If you need a restaurant recommendation or directions to said restaurant, Nick's got your back. And happy birthday to Daniel Olshansky from Russia and Toronto. And a happy 15th birthday to Google Street View. There you go.

We've been watching you grow up for 15 years. And happy golden birthday to Ryan in Marina Del Rey. And Jake Bass celebrating his 29th on the lake. And happy birthday to Ernie Pahlia in Oakland, California. And Arnold Shoe in Birmingham, Alabama. and Matthias Hamm in Stewardstown, PA. And Michael Prestoy, turned in 32 in Wayne, Pennsylvania. Happy 10th birthday to David Tripp in Scottsdale, Arizona.

And Zayev-Mohman, happy birthday down in Austin. Congrats to JJ for getting a new job at Chick-fil-A over in San Diego. And Wells Johnstone just graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. Congrats to Colin Sorensen, who just got his CPA license. And Alex Kuhnachinsky, who just got an internship over at Apple. Congrats to Everett, Tune, who just got a new job as an accountant. And Kate and Austin Liseau, they got their two-year wedding anniversary down in Louville. Congrats at Mazel Toff to Cecile and Danny Buckley, who just got married in Boston Harbor.

And Jennifer and Preston just got married on the ski slopes of Shelton, Connecticut. To anyone else celebrating something today, make it a tee boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon, Roku, and Netflix. And Nick and I both own stock of Robin Hood. And we both own some Bitcoin. And now a word from our sponsor, Robin Hood.

The first time we swiped up to buy a stock on Robin Hood, whoa. Yeah, Jack, you get like that. Like little vibration, boom, you've done a trade. It wasn't just an incredible app. Robin Hood added incredible resources too. It started with the Help Center. Everyone has that. Then came Robin Hood snacks, digestible financial news.

Then came the news feed, providing free third-party news from trusted sources. And then came Robin Hood Learn. A huge trove of articles explaining what the heck in the ETF is. Yeah, spoiler. It's like a stock smoothie. Jack actually wrote the article in that way. If you're not on Robin Hood yet, want to get a lot of it. started, go to robinode.com slash t-boy and choose a free stock.

That's robin hood.com slash t-B-O-Y. Certain limitations apply. All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member S-I-P-C. And by the way, Robin Hood is no longer affiliated with us or the podcast. Let's bleep that final, the best one. That's great. Dude, the bleeping is so much fun. We've used it just sparingly enough. We've used it. Oh, did you hear your baseball sounds. Oh, shoot, you don't have it. It's really funny. I don't like literally like a respond.

Is it funny? And there's like a crowd going. Oh, that's good.