The Best One Yet - ⛷️ “Ski guac is extra” — Vail Resorts’ “Epic” trick. Bitcoin’s El citizenship. Elon’s $0 tax.

Episode Date: June 10, 2021

Bitcoin’s price popped 10% Wednesday because it just became legal tender of El Salvador. Ski legend Vail Resorts dropped the price of its Epic Pass by $200, but guac is always extra. And a major leak of tax returns showed how much ultra-wealthy CEOs actually pay in taxes.$MTN $BTC $TSLA $AMZN $BRK.AGot a SnackFact? Tweet it @RobinhoodSnacks @JackKramer @NickOfNewYorkWant a shoutout on the pod? Fill out this form:https://forms.gle/KhUAo31xmkSdeynD9Got a SnackFact for the pod? We got a form for that too:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe64VKtvMNDPGSncHDRF07W34cPMDO3N8Y4DpmNP_kweC58tw/viewformLearn 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. And this is Snacks Daily. It is Thursday. New Friday, June 10th. Snackers. Yes, June 10th. We whipped up these takeaways together on a morning sunrise run.

It was lovely. We were glistening. It was hot. And this happens to be the best one yet. Did you enjoy the yogurt? Elizabeth's granola. You had been at Elizabeth. You can't go wrong with that granola.

Jack, first story. What do we got? The 25 richest Americans just got their tax returns leaked. Elon, Bezos, Buffett. Let's just say their richness grows faster than the taxes. Four seconds. story. Vale Resorts is actually a subscription business, and they cut the price of that subscription ski pass by 20% this year. Jack, it sounds fun, but guac is always extra. For our third and

final story, El Salvador is the new capital of crypto at least for a day. Bitcoin jumped 10% because it just became, congratulations, by the way, legal tender. Mazel tov. In El Salvador. Fantastic. But before we hit those three fantastic story snacks, Wonderful mix today. Summer 2018 was the summer of Rose. Yeah, whispering angel, Jack. Summer 2019 was all about the hard seltzer. You got White Claw Angel, Jack.

Summer 2020 was more hard seltzer. Four billion dollars in sales record for hard seltzer. But for 2021, the summer drink, Rosei Hard Seltzer, new thing. Take half of 2019, half of 2020, put it in a skinny can. Lovely. And it's best enjoyed shirtless. Jack, White Claw and truly are still like three quarters of hard. Seltzer sales, but this is different.

There's a new entrant snackers in the hard seltzer market, and it is the Hallmark Channel. Yeah, the Hallmark Channel created something called Cheers, which is a rosé hard seltzer. The company that makes your aunt's favorite greeting cards. The go-toes, they never get old. Brewed up an alcoholic concoction. It's a natural pivot. We've never seen this before.

It's not just a drink, though. It's a tear-jurker. Jack, grab a can, thrown a Christmas flick. Maybe something starring out of a child star, some kind of former. Who's trying to get back in the game. You got to get back in the game. 8.4% alcohol, just enough to make you realize there's no plot. It wasn't really a plot on this thing.

But for $16, all you get is the deals. Let's hit our three stories. You're tuned in the snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers and we got to get something legal out the way. The snacks about to hear ain't food. It's air candy. They don't reflect the views of the robberhood family. It's all informational just so you know.

We're not recommending any securities. No. It's not a research report or investment advice. Not an offer or sale of a security. Right. Snacks is digestible. Business news for you. Robberhood Financial, LLC, member FINRA slash SIPC.

For our first story, leaked tax documents just showed that America's richest CEOs legally paid absurdly shockingly low taxes. This is a reminder that ultra wealth gets taxed way less than normal income from everyday Americans. Can we talk about pro-public? Again, kind of needs a better name. ProPublica? Yeah. It's okay.

It's a little bit of moderation. It's a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. And ProPublica got its hands on 15 years worth of tax returns for the 25 richest Americans. This is a major leak. It's incredible they got this. Because like IRS documents, they don't leak often. It's not easy to get these things. And here's what ProPublica basically said is that we need specific examples to understand how the tax rate on paper is completely different than the actual tax.

is being paid by the ultra wealthy. Yes. So they published the personal tax info. They gave us some specific examples on the upper echelon of the Forbes richest people list. Jack, one second. Let me get the whiteboard here. Get these numbers. Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon, paid $0 in federal income taxes in the year 2007,

even though in the year 2007, he became $3.8 billion richer. Jack, how about legendary investor Warren Buffett also made? be part-time snacker from what we've heard. Warren Buffett paid $24 million in taxes over four years, while his wealth grew by $24 billion over that same time frame. So the taxes he paid was one, $1,000 of the growth of his net worth. Which was more than a lift. Let's flip over to a third extremely popular CEO, Elon Musk, who paid $0 in federal income

taxes in 2018. Now, technically, Elon's wealth comes from the growth in his stocks. And so when he sells his Tesla stock, then he's going to have a huge tax bill. And Nick, I'm glad you say that. It leads us to an important clarifier about how taxation works in this country. In America, salaries get taxed. That's the key. Wealth doesn't get taxed.

Exactly. So the ultra wealthy, they are technically subject to a 37% tax rate on their income. But thanks to accounting gymnastics, the 25 billionaires in this set, they paid only 16% taxes on their income over those 15 years. Okay, let's sprinkle a little context on it. That is just two percentage points higher than the average American households, 14% average tax rate. See, I might think the richest Americans pay 37%. Actually, the richest Americans pay 16%. So then ProPublica took this a step further and calculated what they consider to be the true tax rate. Yes, the true tax rate, they think, is taxes paid not as a percentage of income, but as a percentage of wealth that you gain.

So these 25 billionaires got $401 billion richer over. over four years as their stocks and as their properties gained in value. That's a pretty good four years. Very nice. And those 25 billionaires paid a collective 13.6 billion in federal income taxes over that period. And 13.6 is a big number. It's almost a lift. 13.6 taxes paid sounds pretty big.

It is. But it's only 3.4% of the wealth gains over that period, what ProPublica calls, the true tax rate. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are the entire tax system? For billionaires, taxes have become voluntary. Snackers, not our quote, but it's a pretty cool quote. It's from economist Gabriel Zuckman, and we believe it's pretty much true for the ultra-wealthy. I wasn't personally shocked by this ProPublica story. Right.

This is kind of what you expected. I've heard all about tax avoidance. But this really gave us clarity on how the tax system offers loophole to the wealthy to paying tax. So does Bezos get to expenses prime account? Is that what you're telling me? I think he would. He would. He would.

He would. He would. would. So Snackers, if you have vast portfolios of stocks and bonds and property, you can probably afford accountants and lawyers who can help you with. And those accountants and lawyers, they'll show you the playbook on how to sidestep and stiff on the IRS from paying taxes. But if your money is just income, like most Americans, it's a whole lot harder to pay less than the statutory tax rate. This story was damning. And it could affect investors and consumers' feelings about the CEOs of the companies that they love. And it could possibly alter the debate

among Republicans and Democrats on whether the ultra-wealthy, like business CEOs, should be paying more. For our second story, Jack, Northfacer Patagonia. I'm a fly-low guy. It's a trick question. It's Ark Terrics. That's such a cool fossil. Dude, I'm a fly-low guy. It's a neat little dinosaur, although it's unaffordable.

Vail Resort Snackers just whipped up its ski season final earnings report. So they drop prices, but they raised prices to unique situation, Jack. VAL Resorts, publicly traded ski company. Can we talk about the last three months? They didn't get the ticker symbol ski. Huge missed opportunity. They didn't get the ticker symbol turned. Another huge missed opportunity.

They didn't get the ticker symbol bumps. Oh, that's five letters. It's five. We'll drop the valet for you. But this spring, Jack, take off the top layer. We got spring skiing more sunscreen than eye black. It's June. So it feels like we're past ski season.

We're not. This earnings report was from the February through April period. Put on the aviators. Take off the goggles. $889 million in revenues up 28% from last year plus $275 million in profit. That is across 79 ski resorts that Vell has access to. Pure powder profit. This earnings report was colorful.

They're spending $35 million on mountain upgrades. Jack, if you're skiing Breckenridge, enjoy the new four-person high-speed lift must be nice. I see your four. I raise you six. They're upgrading the quantum lift over at Vermont So Kimo from four. people to six people and high speed. Bring the whole family, Jack. We could do a live podcast with the studio audience on that chairlift.

Did you hear that kangaroos ski? I had no idea. I was shocked by this. The most mentioned resort in the earnings report. I guess this is a growth area. This is wild. Australia, a resort called Falls Creek. 13 times they mentioned their Australian ski resorts.

We control after. In the ski veil earnings. But Nick and I noticed that the whole ski industry over the past few years has basically scriptified skiing and snowboard. And Vail Resortes is. using price as a weapon with their epic pass. We've all been there. Well, not all.

You're walking up in your fly low jacket and you try to buy a lift ticket and fail. It's $170 for one day. Or you get the Vail Resort season long epic pass from Vail Resorts, and that's going to cost you $1,000. The break-even, if you ski six days or more, you want to get the season pass. But get this. Vair Resorts just drop the subscription price for their annual ski pass by 20% percent to $800. They're basically going from experts only, proceed at your own risk to blue square.

So we know you're thinking, how did this affect things? Were they curious? Well, obviously, more people bought passes. But get this. Here's what we were shocked by, the number of more people. The number of passes sold so far is up 50% compared to 2019, the normal pre-pam which brought in 33% more revenue dollars, even though this pass is now priced lower. Now, the icon pass, which is the Uber to Epic's Lyft, which I've had the past few years.

It's from another company. I love the disclosure. They didn't change the price of their ski pass this year. So a bunch of people probably defected from the Icon Pass to Vail Resort's new, cheaper Epic Pass. Or occasional skiers who've never got a pass. They're like $800. I can handle that. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Vail Resorts?

Gwock is always extra. Snackers, Jack and I like to say that guac is always extra. because if you get the guac for free, you're paying somewhere else. Guac on top, that's free today. You're paying extra on the chicken below. So if you buy the Epic Pass this spring on the mountain this winter, you may see a surprise with the food and drinks at the lodge. The food and drinks at the lodge.

You're going to pay extra. By the way, ski school, the ultimate daycare. Absolutely. For parents, I'm a new parent. You should do that. Can't wait. On the call, Jack and I noticed something interesting, the CEO of Vail Resorts said they would get more aggressive

about pricing on ancillary businesses like, food and drink and like ski school. It looks like Epic is tempting you with a discounted ski pass this summer. Right. But it looks like you'll end up paying more when you actually go to the mountains this winter. Jack, you know a cheaper ski pass is going to be on the mountain. I do. I'm dreading it. More gibronies on the trails. And they're not going to realize that guacques is always extra. Yield. Gibronies yield. For our third and final story, two days ago, Bitcoin fell 10%. But yesterday, it surged 10%. For the first time ever, Bitcoin. was approved as legal tender by a country.

It's back, maybe. On this world. Were you in Miami this past week? I wasn't in Miami this past week. Jack Dorsey and his beard was. Yeah, he was. And he actually awkwardly said that Bitcoin was like his passion. Not Twitter, not square, the two companies he's CEO for him.

Bitcoin was his past. In his defense, he hadn't eaten in like six days. Snackers, this week, the Central American country, El Salvador, passed with a super majority, a bunch of laws embracing Bitcoin. A.k.a. The Bitcoin laws. these are unprecedented. Now, bear in mind, El Salvador doesn't have their own fiat currency. Right. They use the U.S. dollar right now as their currency. But in 90 days, there's going to be a bigger sister.

Three parts change to this law. Okay, the first thing that's going to change in El Salvador, first, businesses must accept Bitcoin. Even if it's just a Papusa stand at the end of the row. Second, you can use Bitcoin to pay your taxes, whether you're a person or a business. El Salvador's IRS better get a Bitcoin wallet. Even, even if you're just a Pupususus, even if you're if it's just a papusa selling business. Third, if you convert Bitcoin to another currency, you do not have to pay capital gains, taxes, and else. Add that all up.

Those are the brand new, unprecedented Bitcoin laws. How they're going to pull that off logistically is unclear. True. But why they pass the laws is very clear. A huge thing, remittance. Remittance is the key here. Remittance is the long-distance shipping of money. Basically, remittance is the global economy's great rebalancing act of money.

Remittance is when workers in like wealthier countries send back money to their family that's living in a poor home country. So like imagine a recent immigrant working hard in the U.S. sending cash back to their family in El Salvador maybe. Remittance is just crossing borders with money. Okay. Now, can we share these wild numbers that we found, Jack? Last year, $7 billion worth of U.S. dollars was sent home to El Salvador from El Salvadorians living abroad. Well, Jack and I jumped and snacks out. we noticed that El Salvador's GDP is $27 billion. Ipso facto, one quarter of the country's income.

True story. Is from money sent in from expats of this Salvador living abroad. That's a huge percentage of their GDP. The major issue is that a lot of those remittance payments sent by El Salvadorians is lost in fees paid to the gatekeepers of the remittance industry. If you're sending back U.S. dollars, you've got to pay some to Western Union. They take these huge fees. Fees, fees, fees, fees, fees. And the whole point of Bitcoin is the ability to transfer money cheaper, faster 24-7.

So this unprecedented move for a nation could have an unprecedented impact. It could save like a couple percentage points of GDP on fees. Huge deal. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Bitcoin and El Salvador and the world? For innovation in cryptocurrencies, look to the emerging markets, not the developed ones like the U.S. All right, Snackers, here's what Jack and I are thinking. Developed markets, they're concerned with regulating cryptocurrencies. But developing markets are eager to experiment with cryptocurrencies. The UK, the United States, the European Union, China, they've all been doing the opposite of what El Salvador just did.

So less developed economies, they don't have the stable currencies of their own necessarily, so they have more to benefit from a currency alternative like Bitcoin. Right. Making remittance easier offers bigger, more immediate potential benefits to El Salvador than it does to the U.S. where the dollar's doing pretty good. And developed countries like the U.S. have more. more to lose from a currency alternative like Bitcoin potentially. Right.

Because if every nation embraced Bitcoin, then the United States could lose their status as the world's reserve currency with the dollar. So developed markets like the U.S., they get the headlines for how they're like still trying to figure out crypto. But developing markets will start earning headlines for experimenting and embracing crypto. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us over there? A major trove of leaked tax returns shows that the wealthy pay just 16% income tax rate. For the ultra wealthy, taxes are voluntary. Vail resorts just dropped the price of the

Epic Pass. Yeah, they did. Which boosted sales the Epic Pass by 50%. But Guac, it's always extra. You're going to pay more for Guac in the ski lodge. Bitcoin just got El Salvador's blessing. For the most exciting crypto experimentation, look to developing markets. Now, time for our snack fact of the day. This one tweeted in by Daniel Modin from lovely Philadelphia. On Monday, yeah, planet Earth had four oceans. Great oceans. On Tuesday, it had five. It did. Yeah. First, you had the Arctic, Atlantic, Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian. That's what we grew up with. I know what you're thinking, North Atlantic, Pacific, South Atlantic. Don't do that. Put your compass away. But as of June 8th, 2021, there's officially a fifth recognized ocean, the southern ocean. It's the only ocean to

surround an entire continent rather than be enclosed by the southern ocean. I checked it out on map. National Geographic.com. Okay, Magellan. It hugs Antarctica like a donut. It's the ocean. We've always had, but we always ignored. We ignore it because it's like a degree over freezing. It's actually scary. Snackers, you'll look fantastic today. Jack, sleepover part two. I'm going out to Long Island to see the baby in the life.

I think you should. All right. Last night was great. The Don Angie Tortolini? Fantastic. New York knows food. That's the takeaway. Snackers, Nick and I'll see you tomorrow.

Can't wait. And before we go, happy birthday to Michelle in the West Village. Death, taxes, snacks daily. She loves all three. Happy birthday to Roberto Lopez in Key. Ecuador. And Abby Myers listening on the elliptical right now in San Antonio. And Pat Porter, snacking while eating sushi in the Upper West Side. Why not? And to Anita Itiman celebrating the birthday down in Tulum. And Victoria Alinas was born in Chicago, Illinois. Congrats to her and her parents.

Literal birthday. Congrats to Grace from Superior High School who just graduated with a 4.3 GPA. I thought it ended at 4, but you know, always round up. And Mid Panther, Victoria Chiang, just got a new job in Long Island City. Jack, Jamie and Ginny Klanbaum, anniversary down in Miami. Paul Miramantes, congrats on the first home in Riverside. And Kevin Morris, congrats on becoming a doctor of audiology at Syracuse. Grant Lawnergan, long-time snacker, now fully bexed in Annapolis, Maryland. Kevin Morris, how are the acoustics?

And to anyone else celebrating anything today, make it a deep-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon. The Robin Hood Snacks podcast you just heard reflects the opinions of only the hosts who are associated persons of Robin Hood Financial LLC and does not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets, Inc, or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. The podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a recommendation to buy or sell any security and is not an offer or sale of a security. The podcast is also not a research report and is not intended to serve as the basis of any investment decision. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member FINRA, SIPC. Yield, Jabronies.