Transcript
There it is. Come on, yeah. Oh yeah. Happy that live from an eerily quiet Target Newsroom. Yeah, it's an all new. Terrific Tuesday edition of business pants. Joined by analysts home at Mascari. On today's terrific Tuesday that smells like government mandated ESG. Oh, call January 13th. 2026. A good game. I don't know. We. Yeah, we do. We need a fast track, this because you was needed. Our show. Today is being sponsored by free flow analytics and free flow, analytics.com. The only platform measuring board power connections to Performance for free. I love them. I really do. I'm here in a lot of frustration from our some of our coders are complaining a lot this week about, Some new code for the platform. well, let's let's let's say that if you use AI for anything, it's not good to use it for anything. I like I've been you trying to use Chachi PT and Gemini so that you know you want to stay on top of the trends. You want to know what everybody's talking about you want to. So I use it for like simple tasks mostly code but also like, you know, like can you figure out here's a document, can you summarize it? And then I'll go and I'll read the document and see how it did talking to chat GPT and Gemini is like talking to two of the worst employees you could ever hire for anything ever. Chachi PT is like the worst writes a dissertation for every single answer and it's always wrong and Gemini doesn't tell you anything. It just gives you a like a quick succinct answer and makes its own version up. It's really it's really special where humanity is headed with with AI. I'm very excited. I tried to get you to use perplexity but you You're just. Yeah. You know, I just it's just another thing. I just I can't you like big companies that you can complain about. Yeah, it's easier. I like that. Speaking of which let's start with the before we get to the good game. Let's start with some maybe bad news. I'm not sure. I'll let you play a little game. It was this like a pure speed round good or bad. No, this is. Well, I don't know. I'll let you decide. This is how I spent my morning. I looked at 14. I actually did use AI to help me. Find 14 Fortune 500 companies headquartered basically in Minneapolis but but just in the state of Minnesota. This is based on a quip you made this morning. Wondering where the responses were to the horrific shooting of a young woman in Minneapolis by Ice. She was like murdered in her car and and there's been a lot of talk about how this is like a, I mean, a modern George Floyd moment, modern it was only a few years ago, right? There in my, in my city, probably in your city to probably being a lot of the blue cities. There are some pretty large protests going on Saturday. There were there. I saw them. Yeah, yeah. so, I decided, what is the current state of the For the 2026 Fortune. 500 investor relations team. The what kind of press releases are they putting on, what's their statement about about this shooting of one of their constituents customers in Minneapolis? Now, I'm not saying that I didn't look at all the entire Fortune 500 because despite the fact that the protests are Countrywide, this is a, this is a story that is really particular to Minneapolis. What Minneapolis is going through right now is is stressful at the least, right? So that's why I decided to focus on these 14 companies, believe it or not. There are 14, that's a lot more than I expected. But wait, like George Floyd. You could argue was not a national like thing, right? It was police killing a black man, right? Came, it became National just like the Easter story in American gestapo. Killing a white woman. You would expect Jamie Diamond to be kneeling outside of some JP Morgan Branch now. Right. Like, isn't there supposed to be? Yes. Sort of yeah. Like, isn't that what we're supposed to be doing? That's what I did. I mean, that I am not one of these people who I don't spend a lot of time looking at, I don't watch the videos of a lot of these things, but based on the reporting I've heard, yes I would agree. This is a I'm just a horrific, do it or horrific murder, you do it over here. That's all I'm saying I'm saying I'm saying corporate consistency. So there are some interesting companies in many apples, including Target US Bank or 3M Best Buy. Xcel Energy. I mean, there's, there's a lot of stuff going on there. I don't know why so many. But let's so, here's the game I created for you. I looked at all fourteen newsrooms from these companies, I looked at investor relations. I looked at media statement, I looked at everything, I I made sure. I click through at least five different parts of their website. Both the investor relations side and the customer facing size to, to gather the statement. And I Let me start with the easy question out of the 14 companies. How many Had statements about this. Well, so what I remember this is this is I'm saying that this is very specific to the Greek, The Grieving community of Minneapolis, right? All right, so sticking with Minnesota here, this is the highest probability group of people that I'm not going to companies in Boston. I'm not going to companies in Texas. I just went to the. So, what do you think? I think zero, I think zero is the number. okay, well, Yeah. Go ahead when I said in like pre-production like that, I was looking for Target particularly Brian Cornell who of Target who's now their executive chair pretended to step down from the CEO role but his CEO on the board. So he goes to less meetings and makes as much money. I specifically looked for his comments, because yeah, he said a lot of stuff after George Floyd. He said reams of stuff and launched all these things, you know, internally to Target, like, all sorts of stuff. So, I looked for him first, And so far I've seen zero words. Well, here's why I started with Target because I at a minimum I would have expected. Because the story affects so many of their their employees, right? And customers. So not only are they dealing with with all this going with ice, they're dealing with a with a US executive branch and government, that is They are reducing like Child Care funds to their state right there using them a fraught. The point being that this is really negatively affecting Target. Stakeholders. That's the point. Yeah, there are employee like their customers employees employee base and a bunch of their customers are directly affected by all the things happen, this? Yeah. Okay, so unfortunately, you're right about that. So let me ask you one more question before we move on to the good game out of these 14 companies. How many Mentioned at all. Some of the politics going on out of our executive branch does that count like in their, you know, 8K or 10K? They said, no, this is Chris releases. This is just a straight release. I'm gonna say zero again. Okay, good, I got you on this one. I got you on this one. A mirror prize Financial actually had a Blog article up as of yesterday called is Corporate America up for its first big test. And what it said was it says that geopolitical in Washington headlines. Have increased risk from developments have been as well to broader policy noise. Oh, Is the ice palsy noise. That's so, this is a closed and there's some other Financial, there's some US Bank course on this list. You know, Health Group. Thrivent financial, I mean there are some other companies that had an opportunity to kind of weigh in on this. This is as close as we get. I I mean, I can't even believe there's not a press release. That just says the murder of anyone in our community by a federal agent or the shooting of any. They don't even have to say murder that they the shooting of anyone buy a federal officer in our community is cause for concern, our hearts and prayers, go out to the family involved. And we're looking to, you know, promote unity in Minnesota and Beyond, like it's not like you have to say anything super deep here. You don't like, but we did have pictures of Jamie dimon kneeling at a Chase branch after George Floyd. We know what, he's just Jamie involved with all. That was not saying like, yeah, you're right, you're right. These executives are were incredibly performative. When it was politically expedient to be incredibly performative and the minute that they think, oh, well, maybe I could get on on some Venezuela oil and maybe I can get some more deregulation, or I don't want the, you know, Trump to, you know, I don't want Angry Grandpa to Orange Grandpa to focus on, on me and my company. So I'm just gonna stay, totally quiet have, isn't it over? Like there is no more. I honestly prefer the performative thing, because at least meant that they, there was some sort of, you know, human human issue when you're sticking holders were stressed and going through things collectively, they would at least respond like human beings. We're now literally at a point where no, it's everyone's so terrified to say anything or do anything. It's total counter, then good. Let's roll right into the good game with this first story. Then ready? Because we got a lightening up a little bit here. Are we going to? Here's the headline, the oil CEO who stood up to Trump Is a follower of a, the disciplined Exxon, way, with a history of blunt statement. So, they're talking about Exxon Mobil, CEO, Darren would to. So, Trump gather all the big oil Executives this week because they're trying to figure out how to get rich off of taking over the government of Venezuela. And Darren Woods pushed back basically saying that it's basically uninvestable at the moment. Trump got angry immediately according to reports and called Exxon 2q and said that we're gonna like exclude you from making a lot of money out of Venezuela. And the idea here simply is this, that Darren Woods is supporting his shareholders, over the stakeholders. So, we're so, I don't know if your head is spinning here. Where, where do you land on this one? This is Darren Woods. Is other than Uh Costco is he only the second CEO that has like stood? And and again like these aren't public meetings. We don't have the minutes from these meetings. Do we know if you actually stood up to him, we don't really know what really happened here. Maybe what he's saying is just a very shrewd I don't know. How is this not a public meeting? It's it's it's the president of the United publicly traded company. So wait, where do you fall on this one company. Are you suddenly Pro Darren Woods or or what? Like what where did you land on this one? If I have to I had to, I spent years making fun of Larry Fink and if I now have to defend Darren Woods, who sued all a shareholder? He didn't like, I don't know what the world. What, what happened? Like except that he liked. He famously doesn't care about stakeholders when it comes to the the possibility that the reality that his company is causing climate change, right? Those stakeholders doesn't care about We're not talking about that. We're not talking about that. Okay, let's talk about you but here's what I actually think about the show. There's no 8K filed. Yet saying Darren Woods believes Venezuela's uninvestable. Isn't that something that like you met with the president? The president sengled you you and your company out as not having access to someone he decided to take over and for a brief period on his Wikipedia page named himself, acting, president of Venezuela, right? Like you feel like you'd have an 8K on that, right? Like, I feel like there should be some sort of SEC filing, there's some history here because let's not forget the Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of X on joined. Trump's first administration had a falling out with Trump and basically ended up referring to Trump as a big idiot as it really as something. We all know. So there's an interesting history here with Exxon but I don't. The thing I don't buy is this is how do we know that shareholders would be pissed if x on one in to Chevron? Because I mean, how do we know this Venezuelan intervent as well? How do we know that that this is protecting shareholders? By that, that's the way it's being spun? Is that he, he's standing up to Trump because because he believes in his shareholders and, but that anyone standing at the Trump at all, is look a bit of a miracle. Yeah. Every one of the executives in that room should have been doing some sort of, political geopolitical, calculus and saying like that, there's inevitably going to be massive instability in Venezuela love for at least the foreseeable future all. So unless Trump fully I mean, he's like he's like 80% of the way there, but unless he fully negates the Constitution and all laws and you know, the United States of America, don't they recognize that like we might be eight months away from an entirely new Congressional, you know. Yeah. And three years away from a new president, right? And of course, and if that if that is the case, If everybody is in this country, right? Like if a word a flip, if you are if you like are Exxon and you go into Venezuela and immediately they're like we absolutely are not going to be in Venezuela. We are not protecting you and that's not forget, it's there. They have spent billions of dollars between now and then only to literally lose it all again, and that's the kind of shrewd calculus and you're giving the very kind perspective of that because there's a different part of this, which the different reality here is that this is known. To be absolutely the most disgusting dirty crude oil in the globe. It is really difficult to work with it is really gross and it's not like they probably have already would have been there. They would have already taken over the oil if they thought this was easy oil, I'm sorry. I am not giving Darren Woods credit. Give me a score. Is this good? It is 0. I'm not really what? I'm not giving him. He didn't stand up to Trump, he stood up for money and that is okay, but we've been problem, but we've been shouting at CEOs to stand, but but there have been countless opportunities for CEOs this year to stand up for money. Including things like how easily they all turn their back on Dei where when Costco's there was a business case for you know here and that actually is great great like juxtaposition because what it suggests is, if you are brown or have female genitals or are lgbtq you like anybody, you fall in love with somebody who's Not just heteronormative in some way. There's no money in you. They don't view you as actually having any power, they view the money like Venezuelan oil and he does a monetary cost benefit analysis, like I'm sure they did it. The minute they, they were prepared already done it, they were prepped before. Venezuela was invaded because they will because the CEOs were warned, they were warned before Congress. They were told which case Darren Woods has a, has a team working around the clock. It's there. They know what assets are there. They know what the oil looks like. And they say, you know what, it's not really actually worth it anymore. We are generating High cash flow over here. We don't need to worry about it over there. I mean just a massive investment. We don't know if it's gonna pay off, you're probably right too high. It's it's probably the same reason why someone like Tim Cook, you know, kissed Trump's ringers was just again it was a money decision, right? But but the juxtaposition with Dei is perfect because you do the same calculus with that. You look at that and you say what happens if we alienate every Brown person in this country, the cost benefit analysis of doing that. The CEOs are making. And I'm not saying this is the correct cost benefit analysis but the CEOs are sitting down saying, what happens if we cut all our Dei programs? Oh, Nothing like, literally not like people, like the people are outraged. The people have no power over. Like, we have so much money that people have no power. If we go into Venezuela, we lose money. That is a that that actually puts in stark contrast exactly why I hate this. All right, because Darren was like standing up Trump but he's fucking easy. He's doing the same thing. Every one of them is doing well, the cost benefit analysis, that is inhuman. Yeah, so zero zero. I thought that would get higher than 0. Let's move on. Next Microsoft pledges to pay more for electricity drunk. Praise from Trump. This is a reporting of the New York Times. So not so now big data is basically saying in Microsoft is kind of leading the charge here that we're going to ask utilities and public commissions to set our rates high enough to cover like the electricity cost for our data centers now This is a this is a fine statement and a great pledge and and it's nice to have approval from the president and it sounds good. But you know really electricity. Yeah, they actually just said well pay slightly more for it. Yeah, there is one again, they're asking they're they're asking for the utilities to set the right time. This is where I I already get like warning signs go off when when CEOs are dictating policy right? And saying because really they're they're there is a a bit of a kind of a murmur of a political kind of upswell coming against the some of the Big Data companies, some people from the left and right are getting pissed about these data centers and yeah, maybe they're trying to like maybe they're trying to add the title. A little early here at a problem. Is it that the date like that? They're paying too little for like electricity? The problem is they're using so fucking much electricity that we're burning through oil and gas and cold again. 2025 is the worst already, the worst year in US history for usage, it jumped because we use coal again. I mean isn't this why we're trying to take over Greenland? I'm sure for for more like burn some shit there and more stuff to burn. Yeah. And let's not forget the same old man, kind of famously said this past year. That. At a certain point AI is going to is going to represent over like 90% of all electricity usage. I think he said 99% Um, so anyways. So What do you think? Good. I know we're playing this game wrong, but I'm trying to pick stories that people might see as good. I mean, I I think people might see this, some people might see this a New York Times. I might say good for Microsoft. I see it as a as effectively a bribe. I see it like your dear bribing a local community groups actually going on. And this this year in the triple lot of companies, making these like kind of trump, it's real, it's it's like reduce to get you say, oh my God, that whole economy is built on greasing the wheel through bribery and we are that economy right now. I don't like it at all. I'm giving it a one. I'll give it up. That's plus one because I want you to feel like something about it is good. Us judge allows ousted, this is the Danish company I believe, or stitched to resume five billion dollar Rhode Island offshore wind project by Trump now. Okay? I can't believe this took so long. Do you realize that the interior secretary Doug burgum? Said that one of the reasons why they had to scrap this project was they worry about National Security because of radar interference risks. Now from a wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island. Can you believe that it's anybody bought this, but can you believe it that this ban lasted, even this long based on that radar interference risk, you gotta be kidding. What is the German? U-boats coming into like Block Island or something. What are we doing here? It's I just love that look Rhode Island. I'm in Connecticut the Rhode Island and I was born in Rhode Island. They've been working on this for like a decade and then Trump gets elected and decides to scrap it. Like like nine minutes into his term for make believe reasons and orsted stock crater's a big. This is just like they, this is just freakin doing what we said. We were gonna do and we're contracted to do, and that two states wanted to do, get the hell out. So it's hard to 10, finally does not finally something. But this whole like year of ESG, like government, like mandated ESG, it's just makes your head spin, right? Because all of it is like the personal whims of the president. Like he he hates one thing, he likes one thing, he hates one thing, he just makes these decisions, he makes these orders, just it's it's insane. Okay, let's keep going unfortunately, a little Trump headlines this week, it's been a really Be weak. I think he's been emboldened by its because there's no taking over Venezuela. The best thing about all of this is no one's talking about Steam, not a single word about the fact that they haven't released as the Congress is trying to, they're trying to hold of all people. Bill Clinton contempt to court for not showing up the testify about the FC. It's, I mean, every I don't know where I live. It's absolutely. All right, so this is the big one from the corporate governance perspective. I mean this is and this is where the joke government mandated. He is. She comes from I don't even know what to say. Trump tries to reduce CEO pay and halt, billions in stock BuyBacks at defense contractors. So, in a nutshell, he's pissed at some of the defense companies for, for what he says is, you know, not delivering on projects in a way that he deems fit, right? I don't even know how one would determine how to figure out because I'm sure there are, there are lots of projects in the corporate world that don't come in on time. And don't meet certain standards and still, you know, they negotiate through these things, but Trump is pissed specifically anything to do with government contracts. So again, he's a very Pro, stakeholder president, I guess. And what he wants to do is if they're not living up to these standards that they're going to set. Then when a band BuyBacks band dividends and he wants to cap CEO pay. And I guess I don't know what he means. I guess he means total summary compensation and the whole thing is just On clear. He wants to caps, CEO, pay either five at five million dollars. Which he says, he says, no executive should be allowed to make an excess of 5 million dollars, which as high as it sounds is a mere fraction of what they're making now. So, he's He's playing ESG, he's playing socialist populist. I mean this is just craziness, right? He's he's fighting back against share BuyBacks, which we, you know, many many in the corporate governance field of loathe forever. I mean, well, what do you make of? This is latest like pseudo-socialist ESG mandate. I mean, this guy, oh, it has nothing to do. Like I I'm not reading any philosophical principal underneath. You can't do that. Like there's we know that this is that they didn't give them something he wanted and he's being a big petty, man, baby. But the fact is, we don't make yeah, good, the CEO of a defense contractor incredibly unattractive, as a job. That's fabulous, but how the but then, but doesn't all the all the cases in Texas against like BlackRock and glass. Don't you have to throw all those out? Immediately, of course you do, but that this is the ESG thing. Like there's some sort of consistency here. There's no consistency. But this is this New York Times interview with Trump. Basically said, it's just whatever my morality dictates is what happens. Right? Like so we're not we're not talking about rules anymore. Okay. But if we're gonna talk about like the headline itself, great limit them all to a million. Well, I five, I mean, like 10 dollars. You know, is that you always label me as some kind of like a Democratic Socialist? And I I get laughed at by most corporate governments people for suggesting that we cap CEO pay. And now the great you know the great shiny capitalist he wants to limit CEO pay, that's fine, the king. I was a credit. If they if the king says that you celebrate it, I'm gonna give it a seven. What are we think? Even, you know, the Seven for being, an excellent ESG analyst. That's what I'm gonna give it. That's what do you think this? So maybe we should try to have some people on the show. We haven't had any guests in a while but I wonder what the like, the more left-leaning corporate governance analyst in our world like the Nels and Doug Doug Shaw and maybe Mick Ritchie. Like where do you think they land on this one? I mean, I think that everyone kind of shrugs because tomorrow it's gonna be off anyway, right? Like, do you think they would agree that should do? You think they would prefer that this happened through shareholders or do you think that they would, they would be okay with a government regulated caps on things like BuyBacks and? Oh wait, you see, this is where you get into Fantasyland, which is suggesting that this is some sort of government regulated cap and it's going to be consistent. Well, this is Trump picking on a few people that pissed him off about something. We don't know like and, and basically trying to say fine, you get no money. This is where I find it overwhelming. I it's over being run by an Administration that that uses misinformation to kind of write, to kind of set the tone and confuse people. And but but also was using like a full populace message while also lining the pockets of his billionaire, you know, like making the oligarchy stronger, it is Just mind-numbingly confusing. Well, I mean, the title of the executive order that he put out, which is what which what was prioritizing the war fighter in defense contract Warfighter? I mean already that, right, gas lady bizarre. Like, what is that? Well, this is the guy too, who ran on a platform of like, we have to stop these, we gotta stop. Yeah, we gotta be America first, you know, Obama Bush, Biden. They're all like warming idiots. So it is, it's just, it's a not that we're like, I know, we're not, you know, purely like journalists and then the newsfeed here, but it is just like I I have, it's just difficult to, to kind of wrangle any of this anymore, right? I mean, because this is like one of the most full-fledged leftist, ESG statements, I have heard and forever. Even again, even the the Lefty corporate governance analysts on our Side. Don't go this far. I honestly, as much as I would love it, I would love it. I would love to cap, CEO, pay it some multiple to worker, pay, I think it would be, I think it is like, just so simple. So just, But Here Comes the president capping CEO pay. I think, well, I look, I think we've talked about defense Contracting companies and oil companies now. And I think, if you are an investor, you have to recognize a new reality. And that is right now because Republicans are neutered, they're utterly and totally castrated and all ways that Trump says the thing, and it's becomes the policy of the day, the only Outlets is your vote. The only remaining Outlet is your vote like you, they're still legal, you know, constructs around proxy voting, and so far. None of you have done anything ever about your vote. No one votes down, pay, no one votes out. Directors, 0.2%, voted out. Here's the then. Here's an example. You know, here's a campaign for any, like shareholder group, right? Who wants to be active in their Investments or just wants to be active in American politics? Here's a perfect start to figure out a way to cap. CEO pay, right? Or to ask for like living wages for your, for the for the employees at Target, wherever go back to the first story. Home Depot is actively using its security cameras in in its parking, lots to take pictures of the license plates and give them to ice because a lot of undocumented workers show up in a Home Depot, parking lot to, for Contracting gears, right? So Home Depot is facilitating. Isis work. Where is the vote against the board of? Oh yeah. Saying now, now that now that you do doing, that is not facilitating, capturing undocumented immigrant or some, something like that. It is actually facilitating murder because when Renee, good gets shot the ice, the guy, the guy from ice on the video camera after he shoots her, Calls her a fucking bitch. She's dead and he and he says you fucking bitch. That's the level of remorse that you are enabling so shareholders. Where the fuck are you grow? Let's hair and vote grow up, grow up, you don't you? You're playing by a set of rules that the administration isn't the CEOs and Executives in the management teams aren't You have to do something. I don't, it's like, I'm breathless at this point. And this year, we're going to go through proxy season and everyone's gonna get voted back in. And I'm gonna Wonder, like, what is the point? Why have a vote at all? Everything's in autocracy. Now, I as you were speaking, I I use AI for this, so, I'm gonna guess this estimate is way off, but I plugged in the 14th that we started the show up from Minnesota and asked them how many employees there were in total they came up with about two million that seems low to me but here's the point, we're worried about the government. Reducing Child Care funding to States like Minnesota the There's so many employees coming from public corporations on America. We could go right to the corporations and be like, you know, you're going to help you gonna help. You have to solve this problem. He's the guy. If the president, Trump can tell the defense companies, this and that this and he can play ESG. We're gonna play ESG, too. That's right with you. I'm lost. This is supposed to be good but we're getting everything bad. Everything is bad right now. Let's go. It's Navy, gear kind of know about the good, um, but for that one I'm gonna I gave him a seven for being a good ESG analyst. That's what I get. Okay, these are going to get a little quicker us. Oil Lobby group backs, repeal of climate rule for vehicles. So this is the American petroleum Institute. So they're saying Yes, we're okay with the repeal of climate rule for vehicles, but not for power plants. Oh good. So there so is this good like I'm thinking like is it a victory in 2026 that American petroleum Institute is saying that the that they they still support the EPA having authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions when it comes to like stationary sources they're calling it which is things like you know factories, right? Yeah, industrial facilities. Except that they've already made all the changes to the factories and Industrial like take the filter off of the things now that they put it right? They might. But the vehicles problem is, they had to change, they have to change going forward for the radicals just make electric cars. This is basically them saying, we spent all this fucking money complying with the rules. There's no point in removing those are good. We have all the technology zero these are all. Okay? This is man. I tried. I thought I had some and these are All stories from since last Friday, by the way. Okay. This sounds, I mean, you're gonna call this reversing stupidity but a judge has ruled that Trump violated the fifth amendment by ending energy grounds, and only blue stages. I'm just gonna give the judge the 10, okay? So judge, who does something right for a change? I'm gonna give a 10. So I think this happened right? When the government shut down, Trump got angry at Blue States and he actually said out loud. Basically, I'm gonna end energy grants to any state that didn't vote for me which is, which is pure and saying. Yeah, yeah. So some of those stakeholders sued back in a judge and now saying that they're right and Trump violated the Fifth Amendment so okay. You giving this was I'll give that. I'll give it a 10 up to Trump so you still giving Darren was standing up to Trump, its judges. Now Justice is the last Bastion of resistance. All right, let's go back to Norway. We talk about Norway a lot. Norway is always confusing to me because this is a country that is so rich based off its a oil reserves, right? And they and you know, to be fair, they treat their people. Well, oh, there's not a lot of people. I think there's there's less people in Norway that I think in Massachusetts, I believe that's closed. Right. Yeah, but okay. So, this is a country built on oil wealth. And yet, here's the headline Norway pushes electric vehicles to nearly all new car sales in 2025, so 98% of new car sales in December, were electric vehicles in Norway. They're saying this is because of a mix of targeted tax relief and the rising price of gas. And they're saying that this is contrasting with the wider European union and the United States odd that where it's actually going on the other direction, right? And in fact, the EU is even rolling back on its pledge to have a 2035 banned on internal combustion engine Vehicles. So, the point being this, this is not just happening in the US. Europe is actually doing some of the crazy kind of right wing stuff. Yeah, go ahead, explain why like I don't cars are all again. Like I don't I don't get like I am not a car Enthusiast. I really I don't love to drive I don't like care. All I've ever driven is Subaru is but I said on the show before we just bought a all-electric Subaru. And we're just amazed. It's quiet. It doesn't smell. It's fast. It's we don't have to go to the gas station. It's beautiful. I don't understand. I don't get work. I don't get I just don't understand why anyone would be this is there's nothing political by any of this it's just a it's just a car people anyway I don't get how Norway is getting right? I'm gonna I don't know but I'm gonna give it a six. Um, I'm gonna give it a six because it is a petrol State basically with all its weird vehicles and I don't know how to gel that. All right, I feel like we need, I'm a, I'm a lurking for this next one. But here's the, the news that have Mattel, the headline is meet autistic Barbie. That's autistic. What is the newest Mattel? Look like the newest Mattel doll launched in line intended to celebrate diversity. Actually, I have some information about that. So here are some of the way. So Tim's credit, I guess they had a partnership with the autistic self advocacy Network, which is a non-profit organization. Some of the features of the autistic. Barbie are the its eyes shift slightly to the side to represent how some people with Autism, avoid direct eye contact. The doll also has given it has articulated, elbows and wrists to acknowledge stimming and hand flapping, and other gestures. That some remember, there is no one autistic person that the spectrum is so wide these days that it's hard to identify a single autistic person And they did, they dressed they they ended up dressing the doll in an a-line dress with short sleeves and a flowy skirt. That provides less fabric to skin contact. Because they're saying that a lot of artistic people have sensitivity to certain fabrics and the doll. All so wears flat shoes to promote, stability, and ease of movement, according to Mattel and each doll comes I'm not laughing, I don't know, I don't know what I'm laughing. It comes with a fidget spinner noise, canceling headphones. And a pink tablet model after the vices so autistic people use. Now, I don't know what to say about any of this. First of all the child does, it does a child recognize some of the things that like I don't even know that a child would understand that these things represent autism. But I don't know. Where do you land on all this? And this is not the first thing that Mattel has done recently that they I think last year, we talked about how they had a doll with Down Syndrome, right? Sure, oh, look, look, I'll say this, I am not the target demo and I don't care what they make to sell to who like I wouldn't buy a Mattel doll anyway but I wouldn't buy it all period. And but like if a child has a condition of any kind and or looks away is a way whatever. Well, whereas yeah, they want a doll that represents them. But Kid, Rock and Ruby Starbucks. I mean, this doesn't seem like too much, is that they should be Mattel, is in the business of selling dolls to you push. I don't like to be angry at. Somebody be angry at this if someone will be but I don't care about this at all. How do you like, that's the thing? How do you care about this guy gets angry. Once again, angry at trans, that I could be a great time. They got angry at a sign at Cracker Barrel. How do you get angry at this? If you're right. Robbie Starbucks. What's the is? This like the eye? Because you're grooming children to be autistic. I don't know. Like the thing I'm gonna give it a five like I just it isn't about me. I don't think it's like fabulous I think nothing about it. I just think like, good some cohort can buy a thing that they don't need and play with it if it makes them feel better. I don't. It's not about me, right? Like it's it's about somebody else and if it makes, if, it's if it's done, well, what do I know? I don't care. Good. My kid asked for one for Christmas. Yeah, fine. Elon musk's X under UK investigation. Over groks, sexualized. AI images. British Regulators are starting a formal investigation into the chatbot. Over the spread of Illegal images depicting what new children and women and whatever else goes on didn't musk's come out and say after the, like Brock was criticized that the EU shouldn't exist should be abolished but this is not you. This is UK. Oh not the UK should be abolished, I would give this one. This isn't what, this literally what they're supposed to do, like this is something that's true actually, right? They're not doing this in America, right? We live in such a sudo like, heavy Christian world now, right? We're even, like, even like, you know, NFL players are preaching, how, you know, women should be staying home and working. And, where's the, where the US Regulators on this one? This is pretty heinous piece of the Magna movement was about like Epstein and child, you know, trafficking and and pizza gate. Remember Pizza. Yes, of course, that was all like he went on conspiracies, around child porn and child trafficking on anymore. Yeah. Now literally Rock allows you to make child porn. Yeah. And because it's Elon Musk. There's no one in this country saying anything. Well, like, I don't hear about it anywhere. Like, I don't know. Us Regulators, or the Doge fire them all? I don't even know. Actually, I all I know that like, what's like the Fox News Talking Heads are out there talking about how Renee good was a left-wing socialists, you know, probably provocateur, but no one's talking about the fact that rock by saying, can you take the clothes off of This little child will take the clothes off the little child, so like, no, I don't. Where's that story? Not to mention that. Speaking of Fox News, Pete has guest who comes from Fox News. He's the defense secretary in the United States. Announcing in the last few days that they're there using grok groks AI, they're going to use it in the defense, probably to take the clothes off of other people in the department. Well, as he's trying now to, like, to drum up, he's doing his own ESG analysis to come up with a study that is going to restrict women being in combat, right? He's trying to take women out of combat now. They're, they're talking about actual war crimes because they're hiding the planes that they're using to blow up the Venezuelan boats. They're making them look like like passenger planes like like commercial airlines, which is a Warcraft. It's a black and white War crime. That's not like one of those like oh well is it a war crime? Isn't it? Not they are doing that, like, I gotta tell you. Now what's confusing to me is that Trump is railing against defense contractors for not being a plus at their job, right? And yet I've never seen a single report, there's so there's been a lot of studies about, you know, which is the best AI at this point, a lot of a lot currently leaning in the Gemini Camp. Alphabet alphabets market cap is now over four trillion dollars. They've just partnered with apple of all things of all Apple couldn't figure out AI for its stupid phones and now they're gonna have Gemini do it. And yet, we're okay with the Government Contracting with Elon Musk company, is there proof that Elon Musk company is better at something and to your point and in this world where we're kind of pushing these this Christian morality on all of us Pete has death being you know he's one of the people doing this. We're Contracting with a man who is who is putting out sexualized images of children. So I again I don't know what to say, where is Trump to say? We should restrict the pay going to Elon Musk, right? I mean because it's not okay it's not okay, what an extra trillion didn't pass the threshold, it was just the defense contractors like Who like RTX is CEO. Made 18 million. Yeah. Last year in, in summary pay and he's saying like, no, I should be five. Elon Musk. Just got paid back package worth and extra trillion dollars. And there's nothing, I'll give this a five. I look the British Regulators are doing what they're supposed to do. All right. So okay so let's let's move on. Then what about Malaysia and Indonesia? They are blocking musk's Croc over sexually explicit defects so they're they're just blocking completely. I better that's that actually seems better like because like while you're announcing some investigation like I don't like I don't know what that even means. But Malaysia's population is 34 million which is actually seven times the population of Norway and they just said you can't get rock. So I like that better. I'm gonna give that an eight. Okay, well if it makes you feel even better, Indonesia's, population is 280 million which is basically the size of the United States. It's closed. Right? You can't have that many people. Well, according to what I am looking at, you can look at it while I move on. Speaking of removing accounts they do, I don't know how you could hate this one. Meta, you know, we gotta have a standing ovation for Australia. Meta, removes, nearly 550,000, social media accounts under Australian age band. How about that? They were supposed to. Okay, but this I mean, come on, it's something right. Clapping is for Australia, yes, put up an age band and then meta take it down and then that had even 5,000, I'd be happy with but 550,000 is a great start. I mean, look at Australia world, let's look at them. What do you? Can you imagine though? Because that means that there were a half, a million people who shouldn't have been on there anyway, because it actually, yeah, like, age limits in their policy. I, I ordered this. I got this new e-reader either day, right? And I'm signing up, I'm starting my account on this this e-reader and it asks me, I think it was like alphabet to ask me because I think they're there. They run the operating software it says. Are you over 18 because Basically, you're not allowed to use this if you're not. And here's what it said. It said. Yes or no. That that was it. I hit. Yes. And that's it. That was it. So I want you to restart it. Hit no and see. How did this companies get away with this though? I mean I how is it possible? I'm so, what are you giving this car? I'm gonna give it a seven and I'm gonna give it like it because I like Australia. But met the headline is meta removes it and it's like medicine celebrated for doing, what? It's absolutely has to do to comply with the law. All right, moving on this. New speaking of ESG, this new credit, this is more. This is D, E, I D E, I crashed on me. This new crash test dummy. Could keep women safer and car accidents. So this is the first, I don't know how this is happening in the United States but this is The Regulators unveiled. Of course, they call it Thor. I don't seems like it's sad for a but it's called Thor. 05, F short, for test device for human, occupant restraint, fifth percentile, female the first crash test dummy specifically based on a woman's body. and they're saying that that women have faced a higher risk of death in auto accidents, partly based on the fact that there has never been Never think about this. I mean we we're talking about there are no CEOs and Corporate America. There's never been a crash test dummy, specifically based on a woman's body, think about that, it's mind-blowing. I mean. But anyway, what do you think about this? This is like Dei crash test dummy. I love it till the minute. That's like some trouble. Like Stephen Miller makes an announcement that it's illegal because it discriminates against white men, not men, white men, white men. Yeah. Like why is there not a fifth percentile white male version of the crash test dummy? I can't wait for that lawsuit out of Stephen Miller's, you know, like a law Foundation but otherwise for now it's great and it seems like one of those things that started probably 20 years ago, right? Because they finally figured out. They finally, at least it, I'll give it a nine. You know, I got in this horrible Rabbit Hole this morning, while I was looking at the company's press releases about whether they're talking about ice and Minnesota. About JD Vance supporting this article about how, basically, how like, white men are suffering in America and it was like a Robbie Starbucks, kind of a dude who he scalps tickets in La. His name is James Savage. Like this is his background. He's just, and he's, and he's railing against the fact that like, you can't find any. There are no white writers anymore. There's no white men writers anymore. Oh, yeah, I've never seen JD Vance. The vice president United States is citing, this deciding this guy's I just like, oh, but that seems like like you should be shocked though. We should stay shocks. Somehow, I don't wanna be, I don't want to get complacent with this shitt. I don't know. Don't want to get completed. This is how they flood the zone. Five years ago that we would have been railing on that for days. But now we want to say shop, we want to say so large that it's near impossible to deal with. Yeah. Well, I get that tonight. Here's a here's a weird one. Which side are you on this one? And I don't know if it matters anymore because the race for AI is just all over the world now but Elon musk's lawsuit. Accusing Chat GPT maker, open AI of betraying, its nonprofit Mission can go to trial judge rules. Now I love that. Let's not forget that. This is what one of the reasons why they try to the board. You know. They tried to fire someone they did fire simultane actually but then somehow yeah you go ahead. You're looking at the content of this which I also love sure but it's a judge that ruled it. Okay. I am now in judges, get 10, like you give me a 10? I'm giving it a 10 judging, right thing, gets a 10, only two more for the good game of January 13th 2026. We gotta think of something good to say about our current state of America, Trump, okay? Trump calls for one year. This is back to the foe populism foe. I know, economic populist and calls for one year 10% cap on credit card, interest rates. Now, the reason why I included this is because here's the first person who hates it. Is Bill Ackman calling it a huge mistake so maybe it's good if Bill Ackman hates it right man. Does anybody ask your opinion about anything? Yeah. Is that anywhere? Like what is Bill Ackman? Think about this specially. When it comes to protecting like the wealth of the average American family, do we want? Bill ackman's perspective on people living paycheck to paycheck. I literally, unless it's about an investment that Bill Ackman made, I don't want Bill ackman's opinion about anything. I don't know if he wants to go back to college. Like if you want to like re-enroll like Hampshire or something and and have a say in the administration there, I'll listen. But he's not currently a student at Harvard. I shut up forever. I shut up. Do not want. This is a problem with this is the billionaire problem. It's like you have money and you think everyone should talk to you. I don't want it. What? Any of you think about anything? I don't want your opinions. I don't, I just shut it down the. But in terms of the one year 10% cap on credit card, interest rates, I mean look I conceptually Fine, I guess. Isn't that anti-capitalist? I guess but I believe our time absolutely anti-capitalists parsing this thing because he, he demolished the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, which was the place where they held credit card companies accountable for fraud and overcharging. And then he comes in and says, I'm going to put a cap on it, which means he gets something out of it and its political Capital because, you know, Ford midterm elections political Capital, it's it. So and it's like easy Zero from that standpoint but giving the average person the ability to pay down their credit card is absolutely something that should happen. I don't know I'm gonna give it a four. I'm gonna go it's funny for you know I was thinking about and I have to is it is it clarina klarna is the yeah later. Yeah why don't we just go to a clariness system? Why don't we have? Because I think the way Clark know works is that Kirby from Railway know it's like but there's no there's no interest on the stuff, right? Oh of course you oh there's interest. So there's more interesting is it because I have good credit that I'm constantly getting these offers for big companies saying like you can pay this over three years with no interest rate. Is it? Because I'm already a good starter thing. Yeah, sometimes if you've got good credit but that how about we just let people buy stuff and pay it back without any interest. How would you go to the tariffs and the prices of things get cheaper? And then you can afford them or how about we live in a living wage where we basically say people need to have enough money to buy basic goods and not put it on credit cards. All right, let's let's end the good worst. Good game ever know. I don't come on. Let's see. Is it, do you think it's the word? I'm trying to think if Which I'm peeking at your score to see if it's as bad as you think it is. I'm pretty sure it's it's there are a lot of zeros up front. I yeah, it's a little, it's a little, it's a little less than usual. All right, I'm adding with a super nerdy. One that no one cares about except for maybe Cheryl primer. See the other one of the other shows in our Network activist, investors set record number of campaigns in 2025. So we've long said that this is the this is the one area. These are the one that this, the one successful area of investors who have somehow managed to capture the imagination of Cheryl holders and maybe stakeholders and there's actually some dissent when an activist gets involved which actually some investor descent. I don't know why, I don't know how. I don't, I don't usually do, do diligence. Okay don't do it. That's true but people don't usually like like corporate Raiders. They don't like people who come in corporate Raiders anymore. Now it's like like so so I Have you ever read the book? Dear chairman, which is the sort of history of activism going back to Benjamin, Grant is great book. In fact, the author was on shareholder Primacy. Okay. Sometime middle of last year which is where I heard of it and then bought the book and read it and it's super good. It goes through these periods of like, you know, the early shareholder. Investor activists were about unlock value investors basically unlocking value. The then there was the corporate Raider period. Then There was like the, you know, the big dick money period. Well there's the leveraged buyouts and then the corporate Raiders this period and this period actually seems to be the governance activists. These are people who are like this every single acting Nelson included including Nelson with this, but every single activist, you know, presentation deck. Yes. Just deeply about governance about how these people. What else did they talk about? How they're unqualified? What else? Like, they'll talk about like the underperforming stock of the company, but mostly what they're saying is things like this board, underperforms this structure of the board is wrong. This person, the wrong people, the wrong people in place. They don't have the right skills. There are interconnected, they're all like, like, it's like governance activists while I want to like this. It basically signals that after 30 years of Nell, and Bob monks and sort of corporate governance revolution in the 90s and early arts and the post Enron years Investors mostly regular investors, Pension funds and all the bigs, the index funds. They, they have totally give up on actual governance and let somebody reminds them that it's no job. We and that's what he do. Yeah, makes me depressed. We need a new wave of younger when he'd like gen Z and Millennials to recognize that this is an area to care about. They need to kind of carry the torch here, right? I mean Bob yes, at free float. Maybe we can help him do that, but I want to help them, but give me a score in this last one. I'm gonna give it a four. All right. Well, the tone has been set. This happened last in December. It's now the same score in January 2026. You famously. I think they covered this naxos. They cover this unfortunate famously. You hit a six on every good game for for months. Right. You fell to a 5.3 in December and you remain exactly at a 5.3 for January 2026. So you are, this is the, this is telling I think this data is telling, oh, I'm in a dark place. Yes. You, you are into, although, you know, the news headlines are, they're not, they're not so easy to grab with these are not cheerful. They're not cheerful. That's all we got. That's hazelnut so much too. It's hazelnut Ross. I'm gonna start a, we are free floats. We've got, are we doing a proxy countdown this week? I think, oh, yes, this Trump Administration, I think the Trump Administration said that we're holding free float BuyBacks, unless we do it. We got a Friday show coming up Cheryl primes tomorrow drops tomorrow. So get that until later. Good.