The Best One Yet - 🥨 “The Calorie Curtain” — Fast Food quits Russia. VW’s electric Hippie Van. Crypto-Curious for Digital-Dollar.

Episode Date: March 10, 2022

McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Coca-Cola are dropping a Calorie Curtain by leaving Russia — Where there’s a Big Mac, there typically isn’t a Big Battle. Volkswagen just unveiled their electric Hippie Van, but the real surprise is who it’s tailgating. And The government’s executive order on crypto reveals it’s crypto-curious about a digital-dollar (Bitcoin likes it too).$MCD $KO $SBUX $PEP $BTC $VWAGYGot 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, the new Friday, March 10th. Wow. Are you feeling? Not good. Okay.

I'm not feeling good, but I am feeling loved because a couple snackers web-m-died this for me and recommended a particular tea. Oh, where they go with? Throat coat. The throat coat. There we go. A coat for your throat. So it's working. You know, we couldn't say, this is Nick.

This is Jack. This is laryngitis. I'm feeling better. Thanks. This pod's feeling better than yesterday. Yeah. That's the best one yet. As long as you gargle something, you're going to be fun.

TBIOI, for our first story, forget the iron curtain. There's now a calorie curtain. Snackers, McDonald, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, they all just pulled out of Russia. It's a fast food move. Our second story is Volkswagen. They just tossed on some tie-dye and threw on some Janice Jobs. Classic. Snackers, we got ourselves the first ever electric hippie van. It is here.

Our third and final story, the president of these United States, just issued an executive order on crypto. It turns out the government is crypto-curious, About a digital dollar. But snackers, before you get that wonderful mix. It's a fantastic mix for a Thursday, the new Friday. You won't proof the housing market in this country is pretty messed up? Jack and I jumped in Snacks down. The most expensive home ever just sold in the U.S.

Now, we do have an unaffordability crisis in real estate. We do. So the seller dropped the price by 50%. And it is still the most expensive home ever sold in the U.S. This estate owner wanted $300 million for a $100,000,000. square foot home zilla in belay and jack how much money did they end up getting 141 million and that's still a record home sale half off must be nice though the record setting house is known as the one in the hills of los angeles yeah because it's the one that someone definitely overpaid for now what's in this house

uh jack what isn't in this house okay what's in this house is a 30 car garage you could turn into a a Ford factory at this point there's 49 bathrooms when you gotta go you gotta go you gotta go there's swimming pools next. That's not a backyard. Jack, that is the Great Lakes. Marco! Polo? We lost Polo. There's no polo. I can't see them. Snackers, there's 21 bedrooms in this place. Come on. Yeah, you don't need a mattress. You need a mattress, mattress, mattress. If you need more evidence, the housing market's messed up, look no further than the one. When 50% off just isn't nearly enough. But it's also a steal. Let's sprawl into our three strings. You're tuned in the snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers and we got to get it.

Some illegal out the way. It snacks about the hair ain't food. It's air candy. They don't reflect the views of the robberhood family. It's all informational just so. We're not recommending any securities. 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, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and Starbucks all just closed their doors in Russia this week. The calorie curtain. Yeah.

Is the new iron curtain. By the way, Snackers, if you want to know what companies are in and out of Russia, there is actually like a live update Twitter feed going on right now, right, Jack? There's a professor named Jeff Sonenfeld from the Yale School of Management. Yeah. And he's tracking over 300 Western companies that have canceled Putin's Russia. Last week, the silicon curtain fell over Russia. Tech companies got blocked or bounced out of Russia.

Not the iron curtain, the silicon curtain. We're talking Facebook and Twitter. They got blocked. Netflix and TikTok. they pulled out of Russia. Now, this week, we noticed something different. There was a calorie curtain that fell across Russia. Physical fast food restaurants pulled out of Russia this week.

Jack, McDonald's is temporarily closing stores. Starbucks is temporarily closing stores. Coca-Cola is suspending operations. If you're in Moscow, you can't wash down a McMuffin with a venty-sized sprite anytime soon. The calorie curtain, though, it's more complicated than the silicon curtain. Yeah, well, put Jack, because it's a lot easier to switch off Instagram and like yank some cord out, then it is to shut down 100 kitchens with people.

McDonald's actually has 850 restaurants in Russia employing 62,000 Russians. And guess what? McDonald's has decided to keep paying all 62,000 human employees who they employ over in Russia. Sympathetic move. Yeah. Still makes a statement. Yeah. But it's a painful statement.

Because get this, Russia makes up a whopping 10% of McDonald's total global sales. For every month. that this boycott of Russia exists for McDonald's, they're missing out on $50 million of corporate revenue. That's $50 million lost every month, 10% of all their sales on one decision this week. So it's a painful statement for McDonald's, and that's why the stock is down 8% this week.

But Snackers, we know what you're thinking here. Because like, let's say you're checking out that list of companies that have canceled Russia. A lot of them did that like a week ago. Like, what took fast food so long? It took so long because McDonald's doesn't own all 850 McDonald's restaurants. in Russia. Keep in mind, these fast food chains, they typically only own a fraction of their locations out there. It's a franchise model. 16% of Russian McDonald's are owned by Russian small business people,

they're franchisees. So McDonald's, like, can't really push them around and tell them what to do because those McDonald's are owned by other people. And 100% of Starbucks in Russia is not owned by Starbucks in Russia. So McDonald's and Starbucks had to spend time uniting and convincing these franchisee owners of their businesses to stop doing business. in Russia. And there's also human concerns that complicated fast foods boycott of Russia. Jack, what's going on with Pepsi? Because Pepsi soda, you can't sell that in Russia right now. They decided to take their soda out of Russia, but they're going to continue selling baby food because babies need to be fed. Like we said, when it comes to the food, it gets complicated.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who have dropped the calorie curtain? No two countries that both have McDonald's in it have ever fought a war against each other. So that's a quote. And it's actually from journalist Thomas Friedman. And what he's saying is more Big Macs mean fewer battles. International trade is historically a great force for peace in the world. When countries trade, that's a bond. And it means they're less likely to fight a war against each other. So the exodus of American fast food brands from Russia, it may have the most symbolic impact of all.

Because the Golden Archers actually arrived in Russia when communism fell 30 years ago. It was a symbol. The first Russians sunk their teeth into a Big Mac at Pushkin Square right there in Moscow in In fact, the Soviet leader who tore down the wall by Kyle Gorbachev, he later appeared in a Pizza Hut TV commercial. That famous Coca-Cola logo, it's not just globalization. It's a recipe for international peace. But Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it is testing the McDonald's doctrine. For our second story, Jack, Crosby, Stills, Nash, or Young? Is Neil Young in the Our House song, or is it just Crosby Stills or Nass?

Well, the answer is all four. You've got to have all for it. The answer was all the above, but let's just roll with it. Second story, Snackers, Volkswagen, its stock just jumped 11% after unveiling. Get this, an electric hippie van. Because Volkswagen has quietly become the clear number two to Tesla. So sneaky, didn't see this coming, especially, Jack, if we go back 70 years ago. That's when Volkswagen's bus rolled off the assembly line over in Deutschland. Classic. This thing had like instead of a chassis, a pair of bell bottoms as wheels.

Today, they're mostly used by, ex-hippies and current surfers. Jack, actually, next time you're in San Francisco, we can do like a tour in one of these buses. Oh, van life? We'll experience van life together. We can do like a van life tour through the hate. It'll be fun.

Well, maybe it'll be electric because yesterday Volkswagen unveiled the ID buzz. Buzz. And buzz sounds like bus, if pronounced with a German accent. Snackers, we got ourselves the first ever all-electric van. It happens to be a hippie van.

It looks kind of like a bus, like the classic hippie van. It's the same bus that's Dooby-Doo and his crew drove. Totally. You can't make this thing in one color. It's got to have, you know, two color tones, right? There's like a bottom, a top. It's kind of like a minion.

You may remember this from that short period in Forrest Gump when Jenny was a hippie. Oh, she rode one of these two. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Jenny. Snackers, instead of hitting Woodstock with a hitchhiker in this van, you're going to be glamping with your Insta-famous puppy. Oh, yeah. This thing's pretty.

It's literally flower power, too. Yeah, it's literally flower power because you could be driving this electric van with electricity from the sun. Unprecedented. It can be powered by, not flowers, but the sun. By a sunflower. No, that's true. That's true.

That's fair. But Snackers, there's one catch that Jack and I noticed when it comes to the first ever hippie electric van. The ID buzz, it's only available in Europe. Yeah, Snackers, you can't buy this electric hippie van in the United States for not one, not one and a half, not for two more years. But when it comes in two years, it's going to have a third row. It will.

Because Americans roll deep. Remember, you're going to Coachella in this thing, not what. stock. But it's also part of a theme that Jack and I are noticing when it comes to electric vehicles. If you have a statement electric vehicle, you lead with big marketing. You do. And you lag with the actual car. Exactly. Like a Tesla's cyber truck, which was supposed to have arrived already and it's a cool looking truck. It's still MIA. Yeah. ETA, TBD. No idea do we have. And Volkswagen's electric van and Tesla's cyber truck, they look like cars both from like back to the future of Narnia episode You're staring at this thing. They look glorious, but you're like, do I have to believe in it in order for it to be real?

And that's the point. Right now for the electric vehicle industry, it's not about sales necessarily. It's about capturing the public's imagination. Yeah, you can't buy these cars yet, but you can capture imaginations right now. Anticipation is the marketing. Anticipation is the marketing. So, Jack, what is the takeaway for our buddies over in the electric hippie van? VW has quietly become the clear number two. to Tesla. Snackers, kind of a shocker, but when it comes to electric, Volkswagen is tailgating Tesla. They are bumper to bumper. Get off me, man. Back off. He's got on the Lovtap VW.

Last year, Tesla led in electric cars. They were number one globally with almost a million EVs sold. Well, Jack, Volkswagen was number two. How many electric vehicles did Volkswagen shockingly sell last year? About half? $450,000, but that's a lot. And VW sold 300,000 hybrids too. Okay, so we're looking at the numbers here.

Volkswagen's getting pretty close to Tesla. We almost got a Pepsi Coke situation. We didn't notice as much in the States because most of VW's EVs, they're sold in Europe. Including this new electric hippie event because Volkswagen is trying to become the Tesla of Europe. But Nick, now that Tesla's built a factory. No, a gigafactory in VW's backyard of Berlin. Yeah, it looks like Volkswagen needs to Mockensie Schnell. It better Mockenzie Schnau.

Now, time for our third and final story. The president of the United States just issued an executive order on crypto. And Bitcoin jumped. Yeah, Bitcoin actually jumped despite the word executive order. We know what this is by understanding what it isn't. We know what this is by understanding what this isn't. Jack, the rollout of the government's first major crypto move, can you describe the rollout in one word?

What comes to mind? Awkward. It was awkward. Let's go back to March 8 two days ago. On March 8, Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen posted a statement online about an executive order. She was pumped. She called this historic. She seemed to be celebrating.

It was a big deal. Big moment for crypto. Janet Yell and jumped the guy. Because the statement clearly said March 9th on it, but it was March 8th when she posted it. So she like, Control Zed this thing, had to reverse it, got it removed ASAP. It got taken down, but the internet doesn't unsee that which hath been posted. Beautifully put, Jack. The screenshots on screenshots happened and we know what was posted.

The Biden administration begrudgingly had to make an official. a day early. They posted the executive party. Yeah, they're like it accidentally leaked, so we may as well just tell everyone what we're doing with crypto. Here's the title of the executive order. Ensuring responsible development of digital assets. Which is funny because the word crypto is nowhere in there. Yet, it's all about crypto.

Yeah. And Nick and I read this thing. The government doesn't seem that pumped about crypto. Yeah, basically Snackers, the executive order outlines the risks of crypto to the financial system. As well as, and I use their words, the potential benefits. So what the government thinks is the risks are real, the benefits are potential in the eyes of the Biden administration. They didn't say the potential risks. Right. They did say the potential benefits. Now, the next

thing this executive order does is it basically gets all the government hands on deck ASAP. Yeah, Biden blew into a concorn and the DOJ, the central bank, the Treasury Department, Homeland Security, assemble agencies. And President Biden gave them all an assignment. Yes. I need you to write a report. It's due in six months. Yeah, I want to see the protections for consumers and investors when it comes to crypto on my desk by 9 a.m. in six months. The word protect, we control after this. It was in the executive order 23 times. Protect.

The most interesting part of a project like this is often the last idea. It's often the final bullet. Like on my resume, which says I won wine salesman of the month three times in a row and then retired. I've told you a thousand times, Jack, you lead with that bullet on the resume. I close with that. I close, baby. Cabernet crushes. And Joe Biden had a similar technique because he finished with the digital dollar.

The digital dollar. The final part of this executive order was to explore a digital dollar, a digital equivalent of the U.S. dollar. A blockchain buck. Basically, the administration wants, in their words, urgent research on whether a crypto dollar is in the nation's national interest. That's the executive order. you could sum it up as potential regulation. You assume cryptocurrencies are going to drop. Nope.

Bitcoin actually popped 10% on this regulation news. Rise and regulation seldom go together. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over with the crypto executive order? What this isn't shows what this is. I'm sorry, today's takeaway is brought to us by Mr. Miyagi. Snackers, this executive order. It isn't a ban on crypto. No, it's not a ban on crypto.

That's what China did. And this executive order isn't the crypto status quo either. Right, which is the weird situation we have right now where regulators are doing just about nothing with it. And it isn't letting states figure out how to handle crypto regulation on their own. That's the situation with self-driving cars. And it's a problem because the industry faces inconsistent patchwork of city and state laws. Now, what this executive crypto order is, is something else. It's the federal government taking crypto seriously. Yeah, the government wants to bring crypto into the mainstream financial system with an order like this. And that is why crypto advocates welcomed this news.

What this isn't shows what this is. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? McDonald's Coca-Cola and Starbucks have followed other Western companies out of Russia. The calorie curtain is testing the McDonald's doctor. For our second story, Volkswagen's electric hippie van. It's not here yet. It's in Europe. But Volkswagen is the shocking number two to Tesla in electric cars. And President Biden just ordered a government-wide report on crypto due in six months.

Yeah, what this isn't shows us what this is. Now, time for our snack fact of the day. This one sent in by Sean David in lovely New York City. In the film industry, there's a special piece of equipment often used to capture footage during like a wild action shot. This is like the Vin Diesel kind of a shot. It's a camera attached to a big crane attached to a moving car that Tom Cruise is falling off of. And there's this arm that takes the camera.

and gets it really close to another moving vehicle. Now, this is known as the Russian arm because the inventor took inspiration from the Russian tanks from the Soviet era. But recently, in the past couple weeks, the film industry wanted to change the name of the Russian arm. Yeah, Snackers, don't call the camera crane a Russian arm anymore. It's got a new name. It's called the Ukraine because it was invented by Anatoli Kokush, who is Ukrainian. We're talking about a crane that's invented by a Ukrainian. Naturally, it's called the Ukraine.

Snackers, you look absolutely fantastic today. If you haven't yet, you can click to follow us right here on Spotify or on Apple, and we'll hang out with you every day. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. We'll see you tomorrow with Coded Fronts. And before we go, happy birthday and mahalo to Joe Moore in Popu, Kuai, Hawaii. And happy birthday to Matt Y. Happy 23rd in Tempe, Arizona. And Michelle Benincorp enjoyed the birthday in Parkland, Florida.

And Simone, the Pai, the Pai, I'm a Pisces, too, in Brooklyn, New York. And Victor Moey, enjoy the birthday over in Brooklyn, too. Happy birthday to Matt Lancaster in Cleveland, Ohio. Oh, and Jack, Santiago Bustos, he's a snacker transferring to the University of Oklahoma to join their Navy ROTC. Congratulations. And congrats to Blake Arnette, new gig as the head of customer success down in L.A.

And Jack, legendary snacker, Kelsey Black, just had the one-year anniversary of opening her business, the Book Borough, down in Austin, Texas. Is this Kelsey the snack factor black? This is Kelsey the snack factor black. Hopefully we get a sequel store. And anybody else celebrating something today? Make it a T-Block. Celebrate the wins.

This is Jack. Nick and I both own some Bitcoin and I own stock of Volkswagen. And I own a Volkswagen. Robin Hood Snacks, Newsletters, and podcasts reflect the opinions of only the authors who are associated persons of Robin Hood Financial LLC and do not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets, Inc. Or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. They are meant for informational purposes only

and are not a recommendation to buy or sell any security, cryptocurrency, or investment strategy in any account. This is not an offer or sale of a security, not a research report, and is not intended to serve on the basis for any investment decision. Any third-party information provided therein does not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets Inc, Robin Hood Financial LLC, or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates.

All investments involve risk, including loss of principal and past performance, does not guarantee future results. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member FINRA, SIPC. You own two Volkswagons. You want to update that one? I do. I do.

I do. Yeah. I actually least one. Is that just Jack Clarifier?