Transcript
All right, it's working. Everything's working. It's all good for now. Yeah, live. From a pile of anti Dei strawberries. Bleached white with Clorox. Hmm. Oh, it's an all-new terrific. Tuesday edition of business. Spanish joined by analysts Hall. Matt moscati On today's nomination, committee snooze Fest. That's a really. Weak. Sorry. Tagline called not great. May 5th 2026. The blame game. You're kind of trailing off there? Yeah like oh just going away tomorrow. So it's going to be you. Are you gonna do some solo shows? Get some gas. What are you doing? I have you decided. So I haven't decided first of all, I don't know anybody. Nobody listens simply not true and so guests are probably you know, in limited Supply. I might do a short proxy countdown, I can't do the things you do. Like I can't I'm not gonna 50008 K's exercise my OCD. Yeah. I'm gonna, I'm gonna do some analysis to break one so quick and then I might the Friday shows. I don't know what's going to be the Friday shows, just me ranting. Well you know what we are, we are tinkering with a new format and we've kind of sort of vaguely heard some positive feedback about it with Listeners audience numbers. So maybe you could work on that, try to get our board, you wanted to call it in and out game. Kind of make it better. Yeah. Okay. Hit the Sure, all right. Or could just cancel it, I could cancel my vacation, that would be preferable, which I don't even, I don't actually remember the last vacation. yeah, but really I've completely segwayed into not taking airplanes. Oh, I'm going to Canada, but I'm not taking an airplane. So, I feel like I've already won. I mean, I'm a winner, get back in the country or like, well, yeah, that was. That, is that the worst case? I mean, I could worst case scenario is civilized. Yeah, but they don't have computers. Do they know? I don't think so. They're, they're in a different time. Our show today is being sponsored by free flow analytics and free flow. Analytics.com. Only platform measuring board power connections performance for free now. Yes, that's right. I'm fixing the law. Yeah, a lot has been. I love it. I don't know. I don't know what else is coming, but enough has been fixed that. I'm fully using it. Now without any issues. Yeah. It's it's there's a couple of mismatched here and there and a couple little issues but like, oh, it's issues with all data providers. I mean, here's the thing, I know the people are free flow and they buy some data from other places, they've put together a lot of data themselves. But they have to keyway, massive corporations data sets because the data is like bad, like it just changes arbitrarily and, you know, like BlackRock and Vanguard and State Street and they buy the data from those institutions too. I don't understand how anybody gets anything done. Like there's just not that like half of it's not that good. Our data is like almost better than there. Isn't that why? Every company other than ours is trying to sell some kind of AI element. Yeah, yeah. Everything's everything which is implying to me. That people are stupid and let's rely on. Coding from like techno Bros right? Wait that's the part that imply. The people are stupid that part if they're selling a. Why would you sell AI instead of selling like subject expertise, why are you selling a technology? Just well, you're selling smell an LDS technology. So technology, so sell your deep knowledge of the subject. How about that? All right, speaking of deep knowledge, blame game. Yeah, you know. Again we've we throw a lot of games every week, we do like good game, bad game, nuggets have a new game in and out, but maybe it's maybe we should start to focus on the the games that people seem to like the most is that what? That would be none game. That would be the I guess that would be the blame game and maybe this new game where we help people Well, play out their Investments, I do like the blame game because it forces you to actually think a little bit and we can make jokes still. It's one of my favorite things too much. The only thing I hate about the blame game is it puts a burden on our writers and research stuff? It is a lot of work, it's a lot of work. I'm gonna start us off. These are headlines from the last two days. Coinbase Cuts headcount by 14% citing. AI acceleration. This is the headline. The shares are gaining That's the line of course they are. That's the thing. Say, AI say job Cuts. I love to the your you're making this announcement after weeks of reports coming out that all the CEOs are lying about the AI. They're just firing people. So what's good timing here? And I kind of broke this up into two parts in get those reports. Let's take this in two parts, let's start with cup coinbase, Cuts headcount by 14% setting axillary, who do you blame You got a good list here? This might be tough for you. Co-founder CEO chair, Brian Armstrong. He is the bald wonder. I call him. I mean I just made that, isn't it? A dual class company? Isn't it? He like near dictator to that, he's got nearly half half of the voting power 49.6 percent. We tell you something about Brian. During the, the can you believe there used to be Global protests for racial Justice and that was only like five years ago. There's not Astound. You. That is weird. Yeah. Yeah. That was Justice. Why would you let that one? Go to me. That's like the most fundamental easiest thing to protest like to to systematically hold people down, or to judge people, or whatever you're doing based on their skin color. That's something we can all get behind know. I mean, the, the Trump Administration sort of agree with me because they're fighting for white people's rights. But how come they're not black people's rights. I don't really understand why they've dropped that part of it or brown simultaneously. They are saying that certain industries are being discriminated against so I don't know that they totally like they're paying for wind farms to not happen. Like so I'm not sure they understand what discrimination is. So Brian Armstrong was on the Forefront of this movement when he said he I think he was actually the first CEO of his kind to do this. He effectively banned employees from discussing social issues or activism at work. Saying, quote, we don't advocate for any particular causes or candidates internally that are unrelated to our mission. Because it is a distraction from our mission. We won't engage in broader societal issues, so he was like no other Mission. Uh, that's a great question making like money, I mean, money money. They make believe money. They Monopoly money. That's the mission, what? Scares me even more about Brian. And this is something that I wish I hadn't found today, didn't know it exists. I didn't know existed. And this is a line with my fear about our future that CEOs, eventually going to be creating city-states with their own military's but he's a proponent of something called Freedom cities. Which are privatized zones bill on Federal Land, that would be exempt from the laws, that govern the rest of the country. Like, no, I'm serious. This is something that a lot of techno billionaires are into, is that They want to have. Areas that are completely free from all governance and laws and regulations so they can kind of what experimental public. I don't know. What would they be doing the thing? Whiskers off the bunny. Rabbits what is that? What are they? Can they do these people? Horrible people billionaires and now going on trillionaires in the world with ego, like what do you expect? You're going to be able to do in the world without the rules that you can't do now. You want to anyway? Yeah, just so, you know, their mission is to increase economic freedom in the world. That means nothing. The info I understand in the world. And I guess I understand, I kind of vaguely understand to increase isn't economic freedom. A societal issue, like freedom, but we don't advocate for any particular causes or candidates internally that are unrelated to our mission. Well, actually, I like that. I like that. It won't engage in broader societal issues. That is the broadest societal issue. So, the economic freedom is he helping that mission by firing 14% of his staff? Do they now have economic? They're free. You know, they're free. So that's Brian. Do you blame one of the directors at coinbase? That would be a Meta. Meta platforms director Mark andreasen. Your favorite Mark andreasen? Oh God, I don't guess, such a blow. I could go on and on about this guy but let's just start with this quote, from his Manifesto. Our enemies. This is all his words. Not my this is from last year or two years ago. Two years ago. Yeah, our enemies are Social responsibility. This is a medical kill it. This is a, this is a Platforms director. So there's some responsibility over there. Go get it. So anyone who just is like, you know, invests within in indexes that includes meta platforms. And you think that you're like, you're you're hands are free, you're not, you're not clean. You should talk to your broker, whoever you should get out of it. But anyway, yeah, here's a quote, our enemies are social responsibility. Stakeholder capitalism. Precautionary principle, sustainable development goals, social justice and ESG. These are all ideas that would lead to a stagnant decadent and ultimately dead Society. That's a tough words there. You know like what's amazing about that so there's like I know all those terms except for one that I had to look up at the time and it's precautionary, probably didn't know that either was, that was like not taking risks. Know that's how I think he wants you to read it. Here's the definition of it, according to like the European Parliament, okay? It's when decision makers, take protective action against environmental or human health threats. What? Oh, cuz he's like, oh, this is a God protects. Yeah, I don't, I don't. What do you opposing? How was how is protecting human threats? A no enemy. Well, it's funny because he also said that impeding the development of AI and anyway, is a form of murder. Yeah. No, I've murdered. I I actually I would murder Claude, if I could. Yeah, that's so that's the second guy. You could blame again director at coinbase and made a platform could and you refer to this before, could you could plan the Dual class share structure? This is what gives Brian all his power because his class B shares are entitled to 20 votes per share. Again, that's not a misprint that's a real thing. In our culture, 20 votes per share, Feeling it with just the 10 votes per share. That everybody else got, he needed the 20th. This weird person you could blame. So not only does he control 50% of the voting power in his own, but he also there's a trust Established by him, Brian Armstrong that represents an additional 19% of voting power, but he claims kind of a distance from it because it's controlled by an independent trustee named Jeffrey Billings. So could you blame Jeffrey Billings for enabling Brian to have even more secret power there? No this. What? Now we're stretching. I mean I remember that it was it was not talking about headcount, right? Let's move on. All right. What about the co-founder? Ah, this guy is also director co-founder Frederick Fred Ernest airsim the Third. he has sounds like, He has about 11% of voting power and let me tell you a few things about him. He's a co-founder in general partner of the crypto focused Venture Capital firm Paradigm. That already sounds kind of creepy, co-founder CEO of nudge, a neurotechnology startup developing non-invasive brain, computer interfaces Not the chip in the brain. This is a dude this is a Duke grad who started his career Goldman Sachs and now he's developing brain computer interfaces. This is all our culture needs critics of Clan that he's potentially even more dystopian than mark andreasen. Because again he's he's trying to program the human brain. I mean he's into some really weird stuff he wants to, I suppose he wants to a future where human systems are replaced by Cody. You know, he just wants to, I think he wants to engineer humans out of her world. He's also a major backer of the Prometheus Summit, which is a secret Gathering of tech Elites focused, on secret, longitude longevity, and assisted reproductive technology. This is all horrible to me. He was also a pointed to Trump's Council of advisors and Science and Technology. This is one of the guys on that counts all is it Mark Mark Andrews. All of this. Think about this board anyway, or finally could you blame. There are two women on the board, which seems very antimatter. Could you blame those two women? That's a lot of, first of all. Yeah, this is a what a shit show. I know that like on the conservatives and the dystopian, right? And like Tech Bros like they bring up George Soros is like the secretive evil billionaire. Evil Jew. I don't, I don't read about a lot of, like, secret liberal, Gatherings know. Well, you read about like, the Gathering of secret little parents billionaires, didn't George's parents, like die in the Holocaust. Is that the same thing? I don't think that is secret. Yeah, yeah. No, I don't think so, but like the Prometheus Summit. What fucking ego? Is it like that you call the summit after the guy who brought fire to humans? Like you billionaires are And then sacrificed himself, you know, all the Greek philosophers, write in. God's would hate these guys. They would hate them. What a bunch of blowhards. This is my one, I gotta say, this is the one reason why. This is the one area where companies like msci fail. Because if you look at their, the way that they analyze companies that they don't, they don't have a mechanism to, like cover. Like, there's no, they don't have like a, you know, how they have a key, indicators and things, and like key, weightings, and blah, blah, blah, all that crap. They don't have like an evil thing. Like they don't have like no domination. I think I, I think they got to work on the build that. Yeah, we got to build, why are there. But why are they afraid of that? Why aren't why don't they penalize companies? I was looking at Home Depot who they give like a double A overall. But it doesn't worse, but they suffer very well in governance and and companies like corn-based coinbase also suffer, you know, dual class dictator, like, how come they don't come down hard on these companies. I don't know. Anyway, I don't know. I just the the I mean I'm obviously going to blame the CEO co-founder chair, Brian Armstrong, like that. I mean like I'm sorry I know you'd like me to blame someone else. You have two members of Trump's what are they call it the presidential Science and Technology, there's no science on that console, by the way. So here's a side note on that like they first term Trump you know Council on science and technology or whatever included at least for academics people from you know Harvard Dow Chemical UC Berkeley HP just like And Bob Iger was on it. I don't know how we're out there but Bob Iger was on the first one because Pixar. Well, why Bob arguer, I don't know. But in this version here's the list of names. Marc Andreessen, Sergey Brin co-founder of Google alphabet Safra Catz the Larry Ellison Oracle CEO, Coco CEO, Michael Dell. Jacob DeWitt at okallo Fred. Ehrsam at coinbase, Freddie Freddie, Fred. Oh he doesn't go by Freddie Larry Ellison. Oracle like multiple Oracle people David freedberg who's the weird one because he's just like some guy. He's an angel investor. But he like, so how he got in there to be science. And technology means billionaires. Is that what I mean? It's just billionaires Mark, Zuckerberg's on it. Jensen Wang's on. Okay. Just check billionaires anymore. So you're picking Brian Armstrong. Yeah, it's Brian Armstrong. All right. All right, do one. I have one and then I have two kind of fast ones after. So I'll do the two fast ones together, but I'll do the real one first. Yeah, nobody cares about that. By the way, just do one. Ah, don't tell me what they care about. Yeah, I have no idea. Actually, we have no idea. We don't have any listeners. Um, all right. Here's the headline. Tone deaf Starbucks CEO slam. I saw justifying ten dollar coffee, as quote, affordable. Premium experience. This is The outcome, right? From a from a man who had an egregious utterly egregious, PayPal package when he joined this company. His first year, his CEO pay ratio was 6,666 to 1. This is where we get We could have we could have did this? I mean we could have in a satirical moment. We easily are riding staff easily could have predicted this right? We do. Yeah, I think we probably did. I don't know how I'm actually impressed that people still go to the place. I don't even know how they let. I don't know how they afford it, let alone support the, I mean, the corporation. Frankly, his payback is now looks cute. Compared to the pay packages. We're seeing still horrible. You know, like hock tan brought like broads. Got like like, yeah, but he does sell coffee. All right, so who do you blame? I'm gonna give you a bunch of people. Here we go, let's start with this group. Mike, sievert Jorgen nude store, Neil Moen, and Brian Nichol. Now, the first three are directors and nickel is the CEO of Starbucks. But the reason why I chose these first according to free float knowledge database. These are the only four directors on the board with base knowledge in marketing in their backgrounds. This is direct from the BIOS and their education. They have 46% of Starbucks influence wouldn't you say like the term affordable premium experience is such a memorial. He actually said that that was his quote he said a 10 dollar coffee was in affordable premium experience. Oh that's what he said. Was that how is it? That, you know, I went to the movies the other day for 15 dollars. I got like a two and a half. Our wonderful. I had to yell at three kids to put away their fucking phones during the movie. But what's Wild is that it was wonderful. Even in like my City's most hipster like, you know, the coffee shops that are like just the, you know, the most like handlebar mustache hipster whatever you want to call it like super comfortable, super beautiful with amazing pastries, even there you're not, they're not, there's no nine dollar coffee. So why would you place this smells like bleach with like roses floors like over the really comfortable premium experience, I don't it's not premium and many levels though but anyway, it's not affordable. I know that dollars a coffee. Is it like, so, your first option is the four directors, one of whom is the CEO, who have marketing backgrounds. This is the people in the database of marketing, backgrounds, right group. Number two, All these are groups. Richard, all of them are on the board. Richard Allison, Neal, Mohan, Andy, Campion bethford, and Mike, sievert, some of those names are doubles Mike. Sievert Neil Moen both in the first group, but these are the members of the pay committee that graciously granted, nickel 96 million dollars. Such that four nickel, a ten dollar coffee is Affordable, premium experience right now Nichols. So far out of touch. Maybe he literally thinks this is such a nice premium experience. Yeah, that's acceptable, right? That's just his perspective, that's just his perspective. Meanwhile, there there's other headline. You pulled CEO. Pace is a 11 percent while workers wages stagnate at 0.5% in 2025, right? Like so we are seeing we talked about on the show all the time we are seeing CEO pay explode. Yeah. And nothing happening here. In the last five years. Every director at on Starbucks, was tagged in the free flow database. As a bottom. Payer, a bottom pair is a director who across all their boards gets flagged for paying their their employees. The median employee in the bottom quartile of all peers, so we just flag them every time your media. Yes, that's something that was important to you. Simple. It's it's just saying like are you, do you pay the worst of all your peers as a member of that board? And every director on Starbucks has been flagged for being a bottom payer in the last five years at the same time? Starbucks. CEO pay was tagged as an atypical overpay meaning they're overpaying the CEO on, that's versus their peers. And the board average five years CEO, pay ratio is in the bottom quintile. These people like so it's not just that they don't pay their employees. It's that they overpaid the CEO and don't pay their employees and they do it everywhere. They go. Not not that one place everywhere. How typical drug Empires work? I mean, maybe maybe that's okay. Okay, whenever I watch shows like, you know, you watch the breaking bad or the wire, isn't that usually how the organization is run? The people at the bottom are Barksdale got all the money. Yeah it's not very glamorous at the bottom although the in those shows the Vos typically goes to jail or gets killed. Okay in this version, the boss typically ends up on boards after they retire and continues accruing, Capital, true forever. And there's no accountability for anything. So these are the four Richard Allison, Neil Moen and can't be on Beth for my sister's. The pay committee. Got it, who made him. So out of touch that. Ten dollars isn't affordable premium experience. All right number three How about Beth Ford Daniel serve Vijay and Neil Moen. Okay, who are they? According these are why that combination I should say, order to free float, deference numbers and deference numbers. They actually tagged whether these directors kind of rely on this CEO, and this company, for Prestige money, they have overlaps with the CEO. They have social ties to management. It's basically, how are these directors connected back to management? These are the only three directors on the Starbucks board who were tagged as deferential. They are on. And this is a, for instance, Neil Moen has a directorship at Chrome Holdings, which ones are bigger deal. His directorship at Chrome holding or the directorship at Starbucks, right? Like yeah, it's pretty simple. Do you mean Google Chrome? I mean, Chrome holding. Yeah, which I think makes like shiny car parts or something. I don't even know what they do. Pretty prestigious. But so these are the directors that have the most So far, I descending so far I'll keep going. Keep going. So that's that's three. Here's another group, you ready? Mike Seaver. Daniel, servicio, Marissa Mayer, Neal Mohan, and Brian Nichol. You know, there is one name I've heard on all four lists. By the way, I know you're catching on you're catching onto the way. This is working. The each of the net worth of these directors exceeds 100 million dollars. Is that right? That is serve Vijay is part of the nepo. He's a nepo baby. Part of the group groupo bimbo. Yeah, they make like, Wonder Bread, they make bread, like, bread and stuff. Yeah, he's worth over three billion dollars. No nutritional value times. We're some mayor is one of the only examples of a female not much she's worth more than 600 million dollars because of her time at Google and Yahoo and the amount of money she made a both of those places. Moen got 100 million dollar stock retention bonus, in 2013 alone. Yeah, and is the CEO of YouTube. Oh, it's the ultimate artist exploitation machine and drunk. I mean, an amazing drug itself, right? It's the best drug. Yeah, it's maybe better than every other drugs. Yeah, it's wonderful drug. Yeah. So that's another group. These are people who are so out of touch with what's affordable that how on Earth can they price? A cup of coffee to Niels to Neil's credit first place on every list but to his credit, if you get a subscription to YouTube, You know, to get rid of the ads. I think it's basically the same cost as that coffee. You're talking about per month. Yeah, per month, right? Right. It's a permanent. Yeah. It's your per month cost. Yeah, maybe experience. And the last two are number one, Neil Moen, who is, on every single list or Brian Nichol. Because even though Starbucks generated record profit in the last quarter, he's managed to avoid negotiating with the union and he just called ten dollars for a few roasted tree beans affordable premium. Well I can tell you one of the reasons why the prophet is because I have been reading noticing. I don't go to Starbucks anymore, but I used to use the app, they have basically eliminated all discounts and freebies and coupons like they've just gotten rid of all of it. Yeah, everything's got. So there's some extra money for their pockets, right? One little funny part of this that you missed, is that, you know, he really said he talked about the premium experience, their questioning that the cup was nine dollars. He said, yeah, but it's still less than ten dollars and I get a really premium experience, so, You know, you should be thankful. It's less than ten dollars. Less than ten dollars. Yeah. Until you're like, can I get like a chocolate chip on top of a weird thing to say he should have said it's less than 10,000 dollars. Then I would have been relieved then it would have been like yeah that's a premium experience. So just more options like a lot of options I kind of want to go right for Neil because We've talked about this company a lot. This is probably my favorite company from a corporate governance perspective, always has been and and it's still is actually even with this leadership shift. Because you know, mellody Hobson's gone, Howard Schultz is gone but then they, they come in with this new guy. With this incredible pay package is just an incredible Fu to workers. Remember, it's like asking people to come back to work in the office and yet he gets the fly private jet from California and he's just a big fat ego this guy but Neil I love that. Neil is a CEO of YouTube Andy's on a drug. I just think it's great. I mean, maybe he's The Mastermind here, maybe maybe he's the quiet. Oh, you know what? I'm gonna blame Neil. I'm just gonna blame Neil. I know. I know you weren't expecting it. I'm gonna do it well, so, I I'm gonna throw, basically, I'm gonna tell you that this whole thing, All of my options. Yeah, were basically a test and a misdirect and you failed. They real answers Andy, Campion because his 2026 proxy drink. Yeah, was a nonfat latte with sugar-free vanilla protein foam, which is a drink that cost, nine dollars. Oh, but you didn't so he knows what the premium waste of the probe. What is protein foam? Is that like they put like a hamburger in a machine and it comes out with a phone. I don't know how, I don't know how you foam a protein. I'm not really sure about that so that's why things are so expensive now because people are adding on like every stupid thing they can think. Yeah. It's like the 45 different, you know, like it's a 80 different. Yes. Things and you order that that drink has 27 grams of protein, it's a lot like a small is 300 calories. It has 34 grams of sugar in it. Four pumps of. I mean like four. This is the small. Okay. And really yeah this small one. Yeah I'm not kidding. That's like eight ounces of water. Yeah. Not only that but the the total cost to you if you actually bought this is it is seven dollar drink. It's and that's with no customizations and no tip either. Write those tip, no tip no. Customization is the small. If I customize one thing like I wanted instead of one shot, I wanted like the, the large and I wanted two shots up to, like 11 dollars almost. Yeah, it's not. You know what, The crazy outcome of all this too honestly. And I think a lot of people probably agree with me is that knowing about this world that exists with with the Brian Nichols making? So much money in the struggling Baristas and their fighting for contract. I now routinely tip basically everywhere I go it especially at a place like Starbucks I will absolutely, I will buy and I'm you know I'm like a black coffee kind of guy so I might buy, I don't know how much I'm spending three dollars but I'm giving it a premium of at least like 33% are. What is that 300%? How do you do the math on that? Yeah 33% for a dollar. Yeah I'm giving them adult. I am making up. For this horrible company the worst part because that's how it just, it's just in my system. I can't not do it. They guilt. Yes. The buyer in absolutely saying because these are nice people because they're nice. When you have been any time when they're, they're nice people. Because Brian Nicholas has the advantage of never meeting any of the people in the Starbucks that are go to. Or it doesn't have to care about them. He doesn't have to meet them. I have to stand in front of them and think to myself, if this is a unionized store, you're not getting bonuses. Because Brian nickel decided that. Yeah, sorry, the unionized stores, can't get bonuses. You have to look all these assholes in the face who are like, you know, demanding, their drink immediately, with their 17, you know, customizations and tell them, it's on its way. It's on its way as you're hustling around. I see your face and I have the guilt that is absolutely. You work too hard to not get the Stuff. Like I will give you extra of someone who got their PHD at Columbia for art, history, who has like 80,000 dollars in debt. Yeah. All right, how how gross it is? All right, I got that one wrong but I still like my choice, I this is not. You know what people don't talk about Neil Moen and if he hides because I know because YouTube is, you know, it's a part of alphabet. Yo yes, such a he's a drug. My next one is less fun. But actually I'll do my, I'll do one, we do my quick one, I'll do my quick one for the quick one. And then do the do the do? The other one? Diary of a CEO founder. I don't know what that is. I don't care. This is a guy who runs a guy, I don't know. This is a guy who runs a company, he's a CEO, whatever says, He hired someone with zero work experience because she thanked the security guard by name before the interview, who do you blame? here, the choice is the so-called meritocracy. That's the first choice, okay? That's it. That's all I have. Isn't that's the yeah. Isn't. Isn't this where we're basically at? Now this person had no experience seal know, the resume I guess was two lines long. It's exactly it is we're on guts fields and we're supposed to be feeling and we're supposed to be applauding this guy because, you know, he's like, oh what, ah, he's so emotionally mature, right? Because he rewarded her but but then Oh, how can anyone get ahead? We're now. Okay, we have established over and over, the boards are controlled by white men, the CEOs are white men. The chairs the source of money of VCS or white men. So we basically have to get in line and be approved by these people because it's we can't bring our degrees and our experience anymore. We can't bring our actual Merit because the marriage doesn't matter to go to school now, right? They're telling us not to go to school. So and everyone keeps like saying the mayor stalkers, the mayor talks the merchants and no one to finds it, but but we're rewarding but you can't win anymore. Basically, I don't like my head is spinning on us. You have to go around and learn every Hobo's name in your neighborhood. In case some white billionaire walks by when you're like hey gus. Here's a soup, you know that I made you today and they'll be like you're hired, you can run our analytics Division and you know like and the world is so turned around Twisted that now like every blow hard know is Blowing about meritocracy, right? And by doing so, there are equating women and people of color, which is a Dei thing as being underqualified. Like, that's the takeaway, because they're using meritocracy, as a way to come back Dei. So now, yes, I'm shit is that they don't have the qualification. So, I'm just saying, like, how do you win right? At least. How do you win this case? How do you waste in this case? He hired a woman. Not because of her breasts. He hired her because I don't know that the security guard's name. Yeah, that's true. You don't know. All right, that's my second one. Did you what was your answer by the way? My answer is Merit talking. Yeah, fake meritocracy. Yes, that's right. I mean, what are we doing? Yeah, I mean it's a good point, right? All these, all these guys, these all these dual class share, dudes, all these like founder, bro, modes, they're all telling you don't go to college anymore. It's a college student. Yeah. They'll how do you define Marriott? What? I don't. How do we get there? I don't, how do we get there together? I don't understand. Being educated is not married anymore. Having a great recommendation from your Dean because you're so hard working and you had like, no extra jobs for your scholarship. That's a that doesn't matter. Nobody, that's not what's going to get you a job anymore? I'm gonna move on knowing it's snowing. Carl, the security guard. I'm gonna move on my last one which is super horrible long and boring and dumb but I had to tackle it. It's kind of a two-parter. Yeah. Sorry, before you go on, I just found the CEOs. LinkedIn. Letter about this. He said that the lesson. He learned the lesson doing this. Yeah, was higher. The hard thing, the what higher the heart, the hearts Hard hard thing, which is what to be higher than people, the hardest hardest to teach. That's what he I mean we're we're this dystopian and we're we're this much of a black hole that we're shocked. That someone is kind to someone else just because it's not part of your. It's the hardest your value system. So hard is to teach someone to do a fist. Bump these days. Yeah, it's hard. Okay, congratulations. All right. Kind of a double headline, but I'm gonna tackle. I'm gonna try to go quickly because we're already over time. I love how we always think our shows are going to be short. We're gonna short one today, but then we battle on forever Elon, musk's SpaceX could be, are you covering this? Are you out now? But I don't like, it could be. The two-parter could be fast tracked into S&P. 500 after IPO under proposed rule changes and Same day, Elon Musk said that SEC lawsuit over Twitter purchasing agrees to pay one point one point billion dollars. Let's start with that one. Let's start a joke. Start with this stupid settlement. Let's not forget that musk, so, here's the background. There's an 11-day delay with musk, revealing his 5% stake in Twitter, which is, of course just blatantly illegal right illegal? Yeah, it's not legal. And, and that time. So he was able to buy up to a half a billion of shares of artificially low prices before he finally realized. Okay. So so understandably he was sued and the SEC came after him because it's just horribly blatantly illegal. Okay, but this is the Twist and I'm going to ask you. Who do you blame? Do you blame the SEC Commissioners? But here's the thing. That case was taken up and in January 2025 at the end of the Biden Administration where there were when they were still three Democrats on that Commission in two Republicans, which is normal, right? Usually a party usually is Flash for today where we now have so Gary. Gensler has gone. We have we have Paul Atkins his back. He's back from the W Administration. He's back. Um, we still have your favorite Hester Peirce, right? You love history here but we but we have three Republicans and two vacant. We don't even have any Democrats on the committee. How is this legal? How is this possible? Well, this is what they're doing, they actually what I just I just read that rather than stopping wind farms because they're losing legal battles credible. They're just delaying the applications, there's like, oh yeah, we're working through it and they just delay it until it disappears. So you blame this is the same thing. Do you play in this entire SEC, this 2026 version of SEC commission's? Which basically said like no, we're gonna rip up that we're not, we don't care. We're gonna we're gonna settle with Elon so that's their first race. Do you specifically blame, the chair, Paul Atkins. So again he he's back from he was the commissioner commissioner under George W. Bush he wants to argued that finding a company. For the sins of its executives. Just hurts the innocent shareholders a second time. Right, you're right, you're right. So he's saying that because the company pays the fine. Yeah. And they pay the fine basically to itself, right? Right. Like that's the joke of these finds. Like the it's not like shareholders get the money but they it's this sort of like this weird nebulous Zone. Yes, you're right. But yeah, that's the dumbest thing you could possibly say but because then the alternative is you find who no one? There is no law. There's nothing. There's actually another part of this too, which I didn't write down, which is that normally in this situation Elon could have been basically disbarred from running from like being a director. Yes, or an executive director which is normally what would happen in this situation, right? So it's not just about a fine Paul, but anyway, he's also heavily conflicted. He worked in the same Administration with musk when musk was part of a doge. And he, he just just blankly believes that the SEC over regulates and I mean, he's, you know, he doesn't believe in us. He says, anyway, so that's the first, you could play him. Could you blame your favorite commissioner Hester Peirce? Um in the past. She's argued that tech companies should be allowed to operate for three years without any SEC. Oversight to find their footing? That's her quote? Yeah. Yeah. How about that? Look for that footing? Well, it's not more. Isn't that the same thing I mentioned before about this guy? Was it Brian Armstrong who wanted a freedom cities privatized zones built on Federal Land? That would exempt them from laws that govern. That's what she basically saying. Like, give them three years to fuck around before we get involved or Mark Andrews. The new said, why protect humans and the environment at all? No precautionary principal don't like pre-protein. Anyone just just let us destroy stuff for a couple years and we'll figure it out after that. Yeah, she has longer the sec's disclosure requirements are bloated and material. So in her view what musk's did wasn't a crime. It was just a failure to comply with horrible bureaucracy, right? So you see how she does that there? She see ya. So who do you pay paperwork? Yeah, you blame the whole modern day. SCC Commissioners. All three of them. Do you blame specifically, chair, Pollock and dirty? Blame your favorite commissioner Hester Peirce. Why can't I can't blame Elon Musk for like, like, this is the same as you just file. You have 9,000 lawyers on Wheels along. You want to blame me on, blame me along. I'm gonna I'm gonna blame. Oh man. I'm gonna blame the SEC Commissioners today. I mean, as your peers has been beating the drum the whole time and Mark you ate the same? Yes. Um, but having Paul, I can come back and they feel incredibly emboldened to not do anything, right? Like they like between all of the, and it's all the crypto, all the crypto, they've dropped. They literally can't like they're, they're, they're gaslighting us into thinking, they can't do any of the work because they're overworked rather than actually dealing rather than building like a regulatory structure. All they do is avoid the one that exists. They're not building something new. There is no creation. There is no law. Making. This Congress has made the fewest laws in like the history of Congress and this is the whole Playbook which is don't do something. Do nothing practically, no one freedoms and then you don't have to, you don't have to deregulate you, just don't show. Up. Just don't go to work. Don't do it. Brilliant, I hate it. And then on this and I pull I can have hired Hester Peirce because she said thank you to the guards on her way out maybe. Yeah I think Paul Atkins actually is a big fan of our show. I've been told that that's true. Yeah, that's true. Let me end on this one. Unfortunately, it's a little boring, but I had to slip it in here. I just had to. Okay, so so there because it's just enraged me, they're the S&P 500. Which is managed by S&P global. There, they want to fast. They actually want to Fast Track SpaceX into the S&P 500. They want to change the rules for him. Yeah. For just Elon. Yeah. So this means, um, cutting the eligibility period from 12 months to six months. Eliminating, a minimal investable, weight factor for Mega cap companies wherever the hell that is, I kind of know what it means about. I don't want to spend too much time with it and then all so notably eliminating profitability requirements? This is the big one. Oh yeah. Because only find your footing baby because this is the most important one to me because, you know, there's no, I mean SpaceX probably won't be profitable for 500 years even though they'll be worth. The market cap will be like, 800, I thought it was already a profitable. Yeah. I think it's. But even though like what they're about to embark on the spending is about to go out of control? Yeah. Well, I don't know. We don't know. We don't know yet. So, who do you blame? This is a tough one. This is why I want you to wait on this because the S&P Global is just like a mystery to me, right? Because you look up for free flow analytics. It's just, it's kind of hard and just stand And in fact, no part of their board is responsible for these indexes. None of them have oversight for these indexes. In fact, I had to do a ton of digging to discover that one of the things you could blame would be the index committee. Which is called one of the most powerful and secretive groups and Global Finance because the meetings are completely confidential and the membership is not disclosed and they have complete discretion to change your mind. All they do is which they they're doing right now. Is they put up a consultation period and they pretend to ask people what they think it lasts a month, and then they change the rules they want. But you know and and our world it's a strange body. It's a strange committee because again, we don't really know who they are. Nobody has oversight of them, you know? Like I was thinking, like, do you blame us S&P Global? CEO Martinez Chung. Do you blame S&P Global chair in Livingston? Who's actually lowered. Livingston to parkhead. By the way. Whatever that means. Wow. Or do you blame like Frank Ocean, the third play, an index can be that. I may or may not know who's sitting on. I mean, how do you want to know or I had a fourth option here. Did you just blame the general concept of greed that the very philosophical concept of Group, but I don't know. Where do you land on this? How do you if you wanted to blame someone? How do you handle something like this? We don't talk about the S&P Global corporation, like ever, but what do you so here? Here's where I land. Where I land on is very, very simple. Okay. I, I don't actually care that much. What's on the index, I care that you have rights to everything. That's on the index. Whether you mean SpaceX is going to have 10 vote per share class and Elon Musk is going to control it. Yeah, Zuckerberg Spotify Snap Chat like the S&P 500 is littered with companies even Ford. Where they allowed dual class, shares and control family exists. So all of it is make believe like as soon as you've crossed the threshold into, you know, what as a shareholder investing in this index, there will be companies that you have right set and companies that you don't. As soon as you cross that threshold, what do I give a fuk if you put on a company right after an ipo's, or if it's profitable, or not. What I care about is, can I vote the CEO out when they suck? Can I vote against pay? These indexes have almost become like modern shields for your guilt, because you don't even because I think you, you pretend to not even know who's on these indexes, right? Because you would never, if you're like a moderate kind of, or like, even a liberal person, you would probably say, like, look, I don't want to invest in like Facebook or test love but I'm okay investing in these indexes, because that's fine, right? But I feel like it's almost like this. They're cheating or something. I don't know. There's something weird about these indexes. They're starting to bother the indexes. Like anything else are products there. They initially Who's involved? I don't know. It's like you initially were meant to give you a benchmark of some kind of I mean they as they as construction they were designed to give you a benchmark for what the markets doing. And what, what you include in the market is something you can actively trade that doesn't like, you know, like you're not going to trade it, and there's not going to be any shares left or anything like that. That you had some rights to mostly because dual class shares didn't quite exist in the way they do now. And, you know, like it gave you access to, you know, a very stable list at this point all they are is Tech bro. Heavy dual class. We want our index company to be the most profitable index company, right? We make the best lists S&P is just doing what everybody else has been doing a race to the bottom in which you have reading heavily texting rights for a list, that's what you traded. So where I come in in is not, who do I blame? It's like the whole system is designed. I didn't put that the general concept of greed, okay? That was your Other option. Yeah, I blame that. I'm also I believe I'm glad I included this because it's just a topic we never get at. Glaad is the wrong word but it's yeah, we don't, we don't actually even we don't talk, we don't really talk about msci. We don't talk about S&P Global, we don't like, we don't know, we were at msci. They did the the consultation about dual class shares and they said investors didn't care about it. I actually I'm like I'm a guy. I don't think I believe that but that investors want to know how they asked the question. Well, they got what on Earth is that David in a delicious bowl of Lucky Charms? So they didn't really know. They're being asked. Okay, well, it's finished, let me finish up. I got two quick ones. Number one, activists protest Jeff Bezos at 2026, met Gallo with symbolic urine bottles. Okay, No, one likes Uncle Jefe anymore as well. He's not, you know, he just sold. We like we joked about this for a while, you know, he sold. He had the biggest yacht ever and most expensive. Yeah. It was like a half a billion dollars, a member, and they built it in like the Netherlands, like a Rotterdam and they had mantle change. Yeah, historic Bridge because it wouldn't fit out of the heart. It wouldn't get out of the harbor. These guys a complete asshole, but, but he's, he's now is caught up in his realized that the Optics of it and the cost to maintain it is so much that he's sold it because he doesn't, he, it's just the cost. He's like, blame for nobody like, you know anymore and do you blame Zora mom? Absolutely? Because if there wasn't any, we wouldn't have this concept of like, taxing the rich. He's the one obviously who created it, right? He also skipped the Met Gala. He's right first one. Yeah. So he's a Subway, which seems wrong. Yeah, I mean like this was his chance to show that he loves Ken Griffin and he skipped it. He's just skipped right out and evidently he had a choice to be born white, and he didn't do that either. I mean, they failed miserably at that. Do you blame the workers, the workers as a at the Met at Amazon because Amazon. Okay, apparently well, first of all, if they just accepted that, they're all gonna be fired to replace by AI robots. And like, then we'll get the abundance that the tech billionaire overlords are say, they're going to give us, they just accepted that, it'd be easier. But in what they did was they put on their own Met Gala. This is the headline while billionaires. Get ready for the Met Gala, their workers walk, a different kind of Runway. It's a protest fashion show organized by the workers of Amazon Whole Foods Starbucks, Uber and organized by the SEIU and a Amazon. Labor union, where was that? That was held in New York, that was held in the meat packing District. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's kind of used to be kind of a fashion district down there. Yeah. It's can I tell you that when I first not to anyone wants to hear the story. But when I first moved to New York City, the I used to do a lot of PA jobs, you know, involved. Yeah. Like like for instance, in one of the things I did do was work a lot of events at the Met and you get paid like, I don't know, hundred dollars a day in the day is like 20 hours long because you're doing everything and it's the most soul-crushing experience because you're basically doing stupid things for people like Jeff Bezos and getting paid no money for it. And anyway so worst it's the worst. Yeah. Do you blame Lauren Sanchez? His wife profiled in New York Times saying the Uber Rich should quote stop apologizing and quote start enjoying themselves start enjoying themselves that's right they have not they have nots right? And now they are on these yachts and these Hawaiian match. What are the up to there? They they started. She actually said that he started feel guilty. Yes. Start. Wow. Or do you blame Amazon's Board of sick of fans? All. I mean, this is like, I don't even know need to go through the board but like every single one of them is like been there. Like half the board's been there for 10 or more years. It's, it's still on the board. That reminds me. The Netflix board. Almost? Yeah. Or do you blame Uncle Jefe himself because he seems to continually just think he can buy things and it will make people like him. Like he is, he the saddest billionaire like Zuckerberg and and Zuckerberg musk and Bezos seem to be in some sort of quiet competition for saddest billions used to care though. I so, I think he is, I think he cares the most. Yeah, Zuckerberg is like, like an automaton I think here he, I'm not sure he cares, but he wants to be cool, but he doesn't know anything about. He's like so outside being cool that it's like it's lame Bezos, I think wants acceptance and so does musk. I think they Desperately want people to love them just like they're really desperate, right? So those are your options. I'm going to go for some woman on woman crime and I'm gonna go because just because she's the the antithesis, she's a very opposite of Mackenzie, Scott who we talked about a lot on the show, right? Got to go, Lawrence Sanchez, I mean well blame the white blame the woman. Wow. All right, this is really just a nod to Mackenzie Scott who is doing the exact opposite of learning. I know it's really sad in contrast, right? All right, what we'll end on this one and I had to bring it up because it was it's big news and it's kind of a joke GameStop is preparing not offer for eBay. How does how does they have this money? I it's like a 50 billion dollars. What's going on 56 billion dollars. He they have nine billion dollars in cash, still a thing. Well this is the this is the greatest part about this is like, it's a failing. Yeah, it's been feeling from like the 90s. Wants to buy a semi failing. Yeah, 2000, internet Auction Company. Like, he's really hard like used tracksuits. Yeah. So who do you blame? You blame the TD Bank director's. On our soft Sherry Brandt Elio, Longo Keith Martell Frank. Pern Paul worth. They are the TD Bank risk committee directors because he offered and I guess so. Letter financing. 20 billion dollars for the purchase of eBay is Ryan Cohen, a Game. Stop, unbelievable, I haven't. We cited. I think in the past are you doing TD Bank and our populace math. Sections I think we've cited that 20 billion dollar figure is around the figure where we can start to make a real difference with like poverty and homelessness. I just what do we do? I don't know. Like, who on at the Bell? Not like you know that's an awesome idea that. Who else? What else? Let's let's hear else. Do you blame roaring Kitty? Oh yeah. Forgot about Jill. Yeah, isn't this? All the guy from like Boston? Yeah. Yeah, he's the last count. He had nine million shares of GameStop in 2074 he might still have them. Yeah, like that was all part of him. Who else? Do you blame CEO? Ryan Cohen. That's experience. Yeah. Deep experience selling pet food because shewee.com? Yeah. Um, and now video games has set them up to basically think he's got the ego to think he can run anything. Was he like anything? I can't run, didn't GameStop. Buy a lot of like crypto or was that chewy? Or I don't know Bitcoin. Or, I don't even know, right? I think GameStop. AMC, GameStop, may have bought a gold mine, okay, like it was like some or do you blame? Who cares? Why the fuck are we even talking about this? This is so dumb. Okay, you know what why we talking about just so we can wrap up. That is my okay, this is a convoluted answer because of this, I get to vote. So my vote is who cares, but because I vote who cares. It actually draws a direct line with an arrow right back to the, TD Bank directors, who should never who should never have been support. I mean, never write ever know Ryan Ryan needs a time out, he like enough. It's all so dumb stuff and like, I don't even know what he If Ryan Cohen buys eBay good, I don't care like I don't and if he doesn't buy eBay, great, I also wonder what you can do with 56 billion dollars. That isn't stroke some like 37 year olds ego because he thinks he can run it by BuzzFeed. He can go with someone like you, what are we even doing? So, that's all. We got. That's all 17 hours. I'm Yours told. Matt mascardi, we are free float. Damian's gone all the rest, it's time. So, who knows what we're gonna do? It will be a Mike and Anne show on Charles and see tomorrow. So go check that out. In fact, their line up interviews. Now they're good, they're lining up some interviews kindly next. Couple weeks, if you want me to do a show, hit me and tell me to do a show. I was just take a break, you got a lot of stuff to do, why not? I got other things to do. I'm busy. That's that's all we got until next time. Good. Bye.