Transcript
and, Oh, you're mic volume. Hey. What a mess? What? Yeah I'm gonna check my oh, it's fine. Live. Where are we live from? Oh, we're still here live from glass Lewis's. Favorite pair of off. Green Crocs. Green. Why is that part of the joke? Why is that even funny? Maybe it's not funny. I don't, is that enhance the joke, if they're off. I thought the Crocs were the joke part who wears Crocs, what about glass, Lewis, what about that? Anyone referring to Glass in the first person, It's an all-new terrific. Well it's not Tuesday, okay. It's a Wacky Wednesday edition of business plan mascardi on today's ESG spice kangaroo pouch. Called August 27th. 2025 the good game. So just for point of reference, yeah, did try to do the good game yesterday. Five times on Tuesday, five times and our, our platform podcast platform fell. So let's not play platform that sponsors are show, which is our show today, is being sponsored by fee floats analytics. Yes, they never fail. The only platform measuring board power connections performance for free. In fact, they don't fail, occasionally, when my computer has done some kind of updates or something or Chrome is done, something I do have to sign out and sign back in. That's it. There's yeah, yeah, I've had that ruin, your podcasting ability, that's true. And not only that's on your own, you'll do that on your own, you'll probably boring up. You're probably much mouth and you probably stutter like I do. So let me let's get to the good game. For for any new listeners, I hope we have a couple. This is how the good game works. It when you spend as much time in the headlines like we do, and we're not even looking purely political headlines, it gets a little depressing. Really? So, back in the day, my mom said, can you guys do anything? That's not horrible and terrible. It makes me want to, you know, off myself. I like we have entire game show for your mom. So we came up with the good game, I find headlines that seem good at their appearance, and then Matt Orbiter of Truth steps in and gives me a score whether they're actually good or not. You'll see, as the game goes on, you'll see It'll average out to a six in the end. Yeah. And there's some confusing ones this week so be interesting to see how Matt handles. These, let's start right at the top because this is the most confusing one. Probably that you'll face all week you US, senator Sanders. That's Bernie Sanders. You might probably heard of Bernie. Bernie verse Trump plan to take steak and Intel and other chipmakers. Here's the quote from Bernie. Whoa. If yeah, right. The left and the right coming together to have thing. If microchip, companies make a profit from the generous grants, they receive from the federal government. The taxpayers of America have a right to a reasonable return on that investment. And that's what Bernie. So is this good if birdie? Now originally, you know, all the like people on the left and the ESG world are upset about this move, but this does burning like it changes. It is a good now. Is it good now. Look what ever good was, it always good and there's a lot of layers right there, that's like an onion. I don't know if this is good, all I want is some consistency, because Trump is supposed to be all free market and it's not it is pay Trump to be in the market, right? Like So it's actually free market and soft dictator. So it's a, it's a difficult combination. I mean like effectively the Republicans would never call it a tax but that's all he's doing. He's taxing companies. He's taking 15% of Nvidia chips to China, that's a tax. That's a 15% tax on Nvidia. One company selling stuff to China, he's taking effectively and Equity version of a tax and Intel because he gave us money. But without voting rights right? Am I clear about that? It looks like there's no voting rights but in the the Nippon steel us steel combination they have a gold and share so he took that right? Like so you what? So your point everything is constantly being made up, we are literally making it up all I want is consistency so it's not that I disagree with Bernie. I would be fine if every company that took out like some level of the Grant from the US government had to give the government an equity stake in that kind of mean that Tesla. Allows the US government like 30% of Tesla, right? Because like the subsidies the Tesla got floated it SpaceX like they don't exist without us grants, they don't exist. In fact, in Muscat said as much so yeah, then we should have Equity stakes in them too, but that would take a lot of rule-making. That would take smart people. That would take regulations. I don't know if the Trump Administration has that in them. I don't I think it's easier for them to make stuff up as it goes, is it not? But either it ends up being like something that we do when we support a company or industry as a country, that we take a stake in that that companies outcomes or it's a bailout and or attacks. And it's just random. We're just throwing shit at the wall. Whatever. You know, what I can make a deal here. I'm gonna wheel and deal. Give me 10%, give me 12%. Give me one percent. 15 percent taxes. Give me gold chair but it's you're joking. But you're not joking. Stupid. It's so it's the Stupidest way to do business and as we fired suddenly. Now we know one thing that CEO and Boards will they won't fight for. They they're usually pretty good at remaining autonomous. They're usually pretty good at defying expectations. Stakeholder expectations. Suddenly now they kind of just do what the administration says. They don't really fight back about anything that to me. You're right. Is the weirdest part boards are about keeping the status quo. They keep their own power like they don't specially. If someone's telling them what to do and it's like, and like the market likes, the status quo like, like they like rules that they know they're gonna follow volatility, fine. We can, you know, like but that's market like volatility what they want is Rule status quo. We know who the rich people are, we know who the poor people are. We know how decisions get made, we know that this company is going to build things that, you know, like we that will get bought and we can trade on those. You know, Bill the things they widgets they build we like that status quo, but these boards are all bending over in capitulating because they think cheaper than fighting You know, I found the figured out a way to get rid of j-hope at Netflix don't have the shareholders vote amount. Repeatedly just have Trump call and then J will be gone call. He's got to be gone, what? Yeah but that is a that's the fundamental problem that's happening. So it's like this isn't a question of whether or not. I agree with Bernie that I will. Give me a score. Is this good five? I don't. What do I get possible to know like this? It's you can say that like I think if we give some money to these companies we should get a stake in them. Great then take stakes and fucking all of them, don't do it and the board that's willing to bend over, take them all of them then I think we should start by having a local municipalities take stakes in their sports teams and their stadiums. Well I mean think about the reality like where do you draw the line? So you build a road to go to the Intel plants, you know the Intel can't they would have to build that road themselves. Do we do we told that road? So we like this a steak. Right. This is actually a great analogy because I think actually Elizabeth Warren in the last few years actually made a similar proposal to take a stake. It, I think it was Intel actually, if I'm not mistaken and Elizabeth Warren's her great metaphor, she always uses is about the roads, right? She talks about who built the roads and how and who maintains the roads. And I actually saw I saw a conversation with the head of the libertarian party a woman whose name I'm forgetting. It was one of the most forgettable conversations that I've ever heard but she did. She won one of the parents macaron. One of the things she was complaining about was the argument of the roads and she was like we would build like the government builds roads incredibly inefficiently and I was like I'm sorry. Are you saying private markets? Build better roads than the government? Like I don't there's no evidence. Not the thing like there's not a little bit of evidence. Yeah go to Europe lady and you'll see that they build roads like overnight Road. Every time I go to Europe, I yell and scream. My family hates me. I'm always swearing because they build like Subway Lines, and like a month like their their infrastructure ability to create infrastructure, is off the charts and none of its private blew my mind because it was like, you know, that if you don't pay taxes to build the roads because you don't want to pay taxes, then yes, the roads don't get billed. And then you say, the government is not good at building roads. Like I'm not sure. But that was standing. This whole thing, we are talking about whether or not the market is nationalized. Effectively, it is the market of Donald Trump, doing wheeling and dealing at random companies when he feels like it or whether or not it is a rules based market and which we all know the rules and we can make trades and explore this growth and invest the way we want. I don't want to go off in a long tangent here, but this is why the fight in the South. And in red States against ESG data, this is why another example of why that's so it makes no. It's so Stupid. Because because it, once again, you're just making up things as they go as they go along. So why would one set of data not be important over another set? Why can he do this? Anyway, let's move. It's a five-time. It's a five doesn't feel good. I feel like the good games off to a bad start. Let's try out on this one. Mark Zuckerberg gifted right, gifted. That was a part that makes it good. It seems good noise. Canceling headphones to his Palo Alto neighbors, because of the non-stop construction around his 11. Oh no, how does that? That's you that you're putting that in there, ironically, right? Well, I don't know, I guess I do want to say no, I'm doing anymore. I saw this headline. And the first thing I did as an ESG, governance analyst was, I went to read Finn. And I looked up properly and Paula outdo next to you or in that neighborhood, it's like the crest Crescent neighborhood or something crested. There is a property for sale 1777 Woodland, Ave It is a 65 bedroom. 47, bath. Condominium like, like cold mass. Yeah. All separate units. It's a giant. Like it was a hotel or it's a massive Congress. It is going for 13.5 million dollars. It Zuckerberg could buy the whole thing. I don't understand and move his neighbor's there. Where it's quieter. You've lost me. Yeah, you're with me. You think it's a great idea. So you want him to move his neighbor's as opposed to just buying them Norse canceling headphones. I think Mark is a smart one. In this one. Well I well I think the noise canceling headphones is like an Fu to the neighbors, but he bought them a place to go be scored. This is zero. He's I know, I I realized the first few they get this game gets better later. That's why you see the way the first ones are confusing. This next one's gonna be confusing. Too based on how the story is already changed this morning. I'll deliver the story as it was yesterday, and then I'll update you as to what happened this morning. And of course, I should have predicted this Cracker Barrel Under Fire from Maga apologizes to fans but will not drop new logo. The statement says if the last few days I've shown us anything. It's How Deeply people care about Cracker Barrel? You've also shown us that we could do a better job sharing who we are and who will always be. I don't even crackers old guys in overall cheese sandwiches and And like Factory beef burgers. I don't even know but but then they said that they're not gonna change the the logo because to your point, Matt, you said on a previous show their their customer base is aging and they want to attract a new generation of customers. Which makes sense to me. Because if you're not in a pocket in the South or old, you wouldn't even want to go in there in the first place. Like, I see that sign and I see like the dust and the hay out front. I don't think that. I think it's not for me. I think it's like me, really not? You think not? Same reason why I don't want to go to Texas Roadhouse when it's like surrounded by like massive pickup trucks and there's like hey and peanut shells a long horn antler like their killing now front but anyway so I wonder if that's good that they're not they're not bad, they're not bowing under to Mega pressure but then this morning. Matt. The next headline is Cracker Barrel scraps. New logo. Rage from customers and Trump. So, they are going back to the original logo. They, and they, and of all things, they communicated to plan directly to the White House. Oh see this is what I'm talking about. This gets the first one, a rebranding exercise. And let's not forget another another little tidbit that we Unearthed here. And and this again, this is not how the good game is work. Like we're the good game is off the rails because this is not how I should be working, but this is not the original logo of the company. Let's can we at least establish that too? This is not the original. Can we establish that the logo redesign was not whoa, or not woke, it was literally taking an old picture of a guy that you could like, and and saying, like let's just use the words. We can put the old guy in the store everywhere. But does he have to be like? And the words is the stupidest thing to be outraged about. Here's the part. I hate the most about this story. This is again, the good game zero, and this is not my fault because I because, all right. Can you before you get to explaining your zero? What would have you given it as a score? I would give it a 10 if they kept the brand, if that's not fair. I am calling. This is not fair. You're ruining my game. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Like I would give it 10 and then I would have been apologizing on the Friday show because I gave it a 10, okay? Just get to your board. I would have been like that's who's gonna stand up Trump and instead what they're doing is they're calling Trump and saying we're gonna change it back, don't worry and then they're making a press release saying well change it back, here's the worst part of the story. This is what gives it a zero. On Wednesday. The 20th of August the stock was trading at 59 dollars, give or take They announced the logo. On the next day Thursday. The stock drops to fifty dollars and seventy six cents. It drops a full nine dollars. It's like 18 19 percent. It drops really they announced overnight that they're going back to the logo, the stock in pre-market hours, trading at 61 dollars trading at a higher number than before the logo. Changed in the first place. Nothing fundamental has changed about this company. Well, 0, fundamental thing, most importantly, and this is something that that Mega has missed. Is that the company They everyone wants to come to get back to its roots, the company has been struggling. And it has been under Fire from an active at one of its investors for about a decade. And as we have pointed out over and over and over one of the key Industries in America, that is failing, constantly is the restaurant businesses. Of course, restaurant chains, they are going bankrupt all the time. There's, there's nothing to recapture here, this this company, this restaurant needs to move into the future. It's it absolutely does need to change. So, do you know what you were going? Yeah, I looked this up the other day when the, when the, when the logo was changed. Do you know what a Cracker Barrel is talk about? I don't want to know. Again, it sounds like a hate crime for someone from the Northeast. It was a traditionally, a barrel full of soda crackers. Saltines, oh, like crackers. That literally, it was a barrel with Saltine crackers in it. And people would play checkers next to it. Like that was like, the two dumb to learn chess. You're saying, can we just admit that the days that anyone thoughts? All teens was a food and anyone played Checkers are long done can. All right, let's live in Century. I want a Cracker Barrel store. He is one of my favorite vote this entire world out. One of my favorite subplots of the American Christians is this is first of all, they they worship a Jewish, man. Jesus and a Jewish god, which is Jesus's dad, right? I mean that she pops. Yeah. The guy's name in this Cracker Barrel logo that they're all want to keep his uncle Herschel. Herschel's. That's a Jewish name. It's Yiddish. Partial that, that's that seems to be you. Apocryphal, Uncle Herschel is a Jew. Come on, what, what's wrong with you Christians? Why are you worshiping so many artists? Why do you care so much about a mustard colored logo? Fucking go out and do something in the world? it's I think the good game is going to turn a corner now, Mains, okay, I'm doing this mostly because I live in Maine, but I love this story. Mains populist, Senate candidate thinks we're in a new Gilded Age of 10. I loved it. His name is Graham planter, he's a oyster farmer. He's running against Susan Collins and he says, quote, I think the comparisons between the late 19th century and now we're apt. Vast amounts of wealth and regular territory structures that no way shape or form. Keep that well and check. He's pointing to the power of people like Elon Musk and other Silicon Valley leaders and he's talking about the power that they have over the current Administration. But basically he's talking about everything we just talked about with Intel. He's saying that it's all sort of bent to help this class. And you talked about this before, you talked about this like gilded. In fact, you didn't? You tell me recently to go watch some Gilded Age documentary PBS You can. Yeah. So you, you must agree with this sentiment and I can't believe that. I can't believe that he's being allowed to talk about this. Well, I can't believe you sent you sent in on our slack channels that screenshot of him on what I said, is that even better? And somebody asked just curious where you stand on lgbtq IA plus rights and freedoms and he responded. I stand right in the fucking way of anyone who's going to try to come after the freedoms of the LG. Look you. Yeah, I A Plus community. Yeah, so we this is something we've been struggling for in the show is like, why is everyone like, why are we stopping the fight? And how do we fight back? I think this guy's doing a pretty good job of it and just because that's exactly how you fight and before you think he's like some woke New Englander. He's a fucking oyster farmer, right? Like in a veteran, and a Veteran War veteran, or Worcester farmer. Like there's nothing woke about him. He's just a, get your shit out of my leave people alone. Get your shit out of their backyard, and wells, should not be accumulated. Let's be one place. I think he's fat fabulous. I don't want to get deep into the woke thing, but I mean, is an American itself kind of founded in a walkway. Isn't the whole thing woke up isn't our whole history world, but the conversation. Now, we literally are talking about, the, an old white guy in a logo. And like, that's what the conversation, this is, what's important? Yeah. All right. Is it? That's continued the game. Speaking of the woke Wars. This is a, this is a big. This is like a big, Mega signal of everything. We've been talking about in this show. The headline is Lisa Cook. Do you know Lisa? Cook is Federal Reserve Lisa Cook. Yeah, better reserve director. At least a cook says she will not step down from the FED board. She says quote I will not resign I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022. This is in response to Donald Trump who has tried to fire her by posting a letter on social media and just to be clear. Not only is she the only not only, she's the first black woman on the upper. She's the only black woman. I mean, this is again, we've been talking about how what a lot of the the new meritocracy is a lot of the anti-walk is is really just getting rid of women and people of color who were in leadership positions. I mean, Well, here's the confusing part did does Trump know that Philip Jefferson the vice chair of the board and Michelle Bowman, the vice chair for supervision on the board of the FED? Once a black man, and once a woman, she's a white woman, but a woman, is he just going for Lisa cook? Because she's a black woman first, she gets the two guys, the best Target. It's the easiest Target and then he works his way through the white woman and then, well, sitters tolerating the black guy. What's if you want to get deep into the ESG, you know, this is on this, they're actually has. I've seen a studies, I've seen research done about the people that he attacks on social media that's only place. I guess he speaks but he he does actually go after black women. The most and yeah of course and but also like a lot of the the cities that he's threatening to send troops to our run by black Mayors. I mean, this is his actual. The college is that he forced to capitulate were run by black or one by Women, or black women Harvard was a black woman or yeah, or Claudine gay or women. You're right in general, it's women. So yeah, and this is good old-fashioned ESG data and I know they love ESG data because you, you reported on the, how the White House is now, keeping a list of its favorite companies. It has a, yeah, they have a dog, they have scoring cards. They have an actual scorecard, they have a messaging scorecard. It's an ESG scorecard. Look ladies, we did research showing that black women of all cohorts on boards, currently have the most Merit on paper as in. They have the most experience of leadership experience. They have, you know, core knowledge deep, you know, expertise in the industries that they sit in they they are well connected with inside a board circles. They there's all sorts of elements here where you can show that black women are the most merited board seats. This black woman is not different. She on paper has everything you'd ever want in a federal. Serve person, right? Like there's nothing that she shouldn't no reason why she shouldn't be here but they're coming after you. I don't know what it's gonna take for everyone to kind of wake up and say we have to stop like talking about it quietly and back channels or like you know like this is happening what should we do? You have to fucking fight? You don't have a choice because otherwise you're all out in fact Christian nationalists are proposing now to get rid of the women's vote. Like the federal vote, the right to vote. Okay, now you're making the good game derail again. What's your score and Lisa Cook saying, no, I love that. She's saying no, that's all so a 10. She's say no forever. And if she needs money to help fund her. Say no, I don't care if she did low-level mortgage fraud, even like there's no evidence of it. I don't even care if she did, because Donald Trump is the president who did mortgage fraud. He didn't lose his job. She shouldn't lose her job. If he doesn't lose his job, before we move on, there's a post on the Harvard Law School Forum on corporate governance. This is from Ecuador, we're looking at new board appointments filled by women in the Russell 3000 in Q2 2024 last year. That's one of the proxy Seasons, really, you know, 36% of new border appointments were filled by women, Jump Ahead just one year Q2 2025. Down to 26% and one year. Unbelievable. That's, that's very important. That's a significant experience change. And this is something that we have anecdotally been trying to capture. And all of our shows on the proxy countdown, this is this is important. This is the, this is the quiet way that they're attacking. Yeah. Not, it's not the loud way that Trump misogynist Trump screaming at Rosie O'Donnell or whatever. This is the very quiet way that Corporate America and their boards and their their, their nomination committee chairs and their board chairs are all saying our tacitly agreeing saying. Yeah, I I think we don't we should stop appointing so many women. I think you're right. You know what, they're not even doing that. It's sneakier than that because and and of a majority of the cases. They are expanding the board by bylaw. There are allowed to expand and contract the board occasionally, they expand the board and every new seat goes to a man that's the way they're getting away with it. So even when they don't, Well, another woman that's a different way of getting away, right? Like it's all small ways to chip away at progress. So ladies I love you with your while you're busy like doing like lessons on how to be the better board person, which you are already overqualified. Trust me, when I tell you, when we look at boards constantly, you're already overqualified for the positions. They're taking away the seats like you'll be so well trained and there'll be no seats for you because they're using every possible way to limit the power of anyone who might come from. A different background might have different genitals moving on, the good game, August 27 game. I'm just, yeah, I know. Well, I think we're again, I think not turning the corner here. Let's focus on the good now. Here's the headline meta. Defector this is a weird way. Weird way to describe someone meta, Defector issues. Devastating psychological take down of tech CEOs, that's Nick, Clegg. We've talked about Nicole former meta, executive who left the company, the beginning of the year, the takeaway quote, his here is, if you're a custom to privilege, equality feels like oppression. Now here let me go a little bit deeper. So you understand the context of this quote, he says you'd think wouldn't you? This is, this is Nick collect talking and this is a guy who's from the conservative party, right? And yeah, he was, he was a buddy of in making Zuck more conservative, so this is what happens to you. If you spend too much time, I guess with the Zuck and the tech Pros, he starts to lose your mind. He said, quote, you think, wouldn't you? that if you were immensely powerful and Rich like Elon Musk, and all these other Tech Bros and members of that podcast community, that you'd reflect on your good fortune compared with most other people. Instead Clark, see they cry persecution. Yeah, they do that. He said, in Silicon Valley, far from thinking they're lucky. They think they're hard done by that. They think they're victims and they get into this incredibly deeply unattractive, combination of machismo and self-pity. Yeah, and again, the great takeaway quote here is man. Picked, if you're, you think, if you're accustomed to privilege. So, when you become a customer to privilege a quality, feels like a pressure. And that's right right this is this is the the manosphere circling back to this bullshit idea of a meritocracy which they don't back up with any data, there's no criteria to their meritocracy. This is what's happening. The equality feels like oppression. When this is why we're turning our our backs on Dei. Yeah. Because they feel I again, he sums it up way better than I do. I am I don't know. I love the idea of man, pity. I love it. I I'm sorry but I love this. I love this. I don't, I wonder where we'll go with this with Nick Clegg, but he think about this story? Well, where we go with it is they have all of the money. And all the man pity. If you maybe the market on money and man PD, you can do a lot of really heinous things. Well, maybe you can join challenge you Maybe Nick can join my intellectual fight for a few things. First of all, we can, we can ensure we can regulate, we can make sure that listening changes don't allow that don't allow companies with dual class shares with with voting Ottawa, voting, privileges one share. One vote persecuted with dual Clash shares and don't go. You can, we can also create Sunset Clauses for all these Founders. No CEO shouldn't be chairs. We can, we can work on this. Nick is what I'm trying to say. Nick come on the Pod, and I'll come up with a list of 10. Come on our podcast. I like this, but it's something we know so I can't give it like a tent. It's like a seven, it's good, it's nice that he's saying it because it might have a little bit more to it. Okay, but six minutes now he's gonna be out of the circle and no one's gonna talk about him again. Now I'm gonna present you the antidote to the Cracker Barrel story. This is at Red Lobster. The quote is Red Lobster is betting on you just knew England, Red Lobster, Red Lobster, I'm sorry. I'm gonna repeat this Red Lobster. Is betting on black diners with its brand comeback. Oh, so this is CEO demola and I'm a Lucan. Yeah apologize for screwing up that name. He is a nigerian-american. Who is credited with rescuing PF Changs? So he actually has a track record in This. I Gotta Wait, he rescued psdf change. Well I guess I guess, I guess he's like the Brian Cornell of Chipotle like he turned around PF, Changs know maybe right. Yeah. What did I say Brianna? Yeah, you got Target on the mind. So let me tell you a little bit about the background. Let me tell you about Red Lobsters, Roots. Red Lobster has been a part of America, so that days actually started the same time that Cracker Barrel. Did 1968 And just four years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, many restaurants in the South, many, the red lobsters were still segregated but Red, Lobster embraced diversity, opening his doors to Black customers, and hiring black workers. So. So I wonder Are we gonna be a backlash against this? I don't know. I think. Now I I captured the story when I thought that Cracker Barrel actually was telling people to screw off and they're keeping their logo. Here's my question, actually. Now I'm just confused by everything. Yeah, go. If they remove the lobster from the Red Lobster logo, is that woke? What if they made the lobster black if they make it black? That's definitely woke. That that's not a question. Yeah, the question is like if they were like, this is great what? And of course, it takes a black man to recognize the history. Why, why is this? Why is he allowed to do this? The woman, the female CEO Cracker Barrel couldn't get away with trying to move her company to the Future, trying to find more customers. Why does he get to find more? Okay. Well, have you ever seen a map of where Red Lobsters are versus a map of where Cracker Barrels are? Well, I've never actually, I I've seen Red Lobsters, I don't, I've never seen a Cracker Barrel. Correct? Red Lobster exists in all in, in places that you and I have been where Red Lobsters do not or Cracker. Barrels. Kind of the point, but she has, every right, forgive me. I forgotten the name of the woman to see, oh, at Cracker Barrel. But she has every right, To actually look for new customers. Wouldn't you say? I mean, do you want a customer base? That is just one specific type of southern white person. I mean, this is America, nobody's arguing that she doesn't have the right. Well, I think that Maga is arguing that she doesn't have the right, it ruins the heritage of their beloved companies. Yeah, there's that word again Heritage. She's like Heritage built in the world. It's, it's a, it's a company. It's a for-profit restaurant. I mean, it's not part of your hair just so, you know. Heritage Cracker Barrel lists. Oh no. I I brought it back to Kirker but I shouldn't have no you know you Cracker Barrel. Wants other people. All to eat there. That didn't grow up with crackers is the struggling, the company, no one eats there. And guess what? I average every going to eat there now, Matt discovered, what the the customers over 55 average, age of the customers is 55 years old. This is not gonna average gonna work. Most of the customers are dying right now. They've gone from 5% decrease in foot traffic to like 7%. They just nobody goes what nobody, what they want, what she wants. And what every restaurant wants is, is the scenario at my house, where I yell at my children, for constantly bringing home Chipotle, even though we have a packed fridge full of food that I just bought like that, that's what you want. You want me yelling at me like stop. Going to Cracker Barrel so much. I know you're just a teenager, but stop going to Cracker Barrel so much. That's what they want. Anyway, give me a score on Red. Lobster. This black diners. This one's tough. It's just so pissed about Cracker Barrel too because now get off of their fucking Crowing about it. Like the Republicans are out there being like see, we crushed this company. That was horrible. Nobody went I I love this and just for point of reference I did look it up. The there are roughly 20, cracker Red Lobsters in the New York City, greater New York City area. There's roughly one Cracker Barrel in New Jersey and that's the closest it gets to New York City. So, yeah. Well, so this guy's just doing the smart thing, which is saying, well, we've done more fucking Lobster. Well, to be fair. She was the, she did the smart thing and was trying to burst it. Reverse it. Why? Because the stock went down like, 18% on a logo, which six months from now. Well, the song, The People, what you're yelling at, you do not eat at Cracker Barrel. They go to Red Lobster. Give me a score. In Red Lobster. I'm gonna give it a seven. Moving on. Oh God, I don't know how you gonna take this one? This is a weird one. This the headline is the woke word that democrats should cut from their vocabulary. This is from, yeah. This is from a new memo from an organization called the third way that identifies 45 words and phrases for Democrats to avoid alleging that terms turned voters off. So, this is Democrat saying to other Democrats stopped using woke terms because we're losing elections because of it. They cover six categories. I'm gonna turn this in a little game. They cover six categories. Therapy speak. Seminar room language. Organizer jargon gender orientation correctness, the shifting language of racial constructs, and explaining away crime. I want to know these 45 words. How many words do I think that we've used in our shows out of the 45? Is that what I'm rating on Instagram? Yeah, I think we and then and then no, I want you to write. Do you think that should Democrats start to get rid of some of this work? No, I don't like it. Are we all? Because everyone's a fucking snowflake. We can't hear. How many of the 45 words. Do you think we've used how woke or we I'm gonna give this a five as a headline and how woke do you think we are? How woke do? I think we are? I'm 45 terms. What percentage? I'm sure we said some of them maybe 15%. Well, wait. Emma lurking included on the show? Like I don't know. We used to have a lurking was on the show. She's loved many years ago, know, we're talking about now. Okay, now, I gotta be honest with you, I I went to the walkus college in the universe Oberlin and I don't and I looked at this list, I was like, I don't recognize that I'm gonna say, like two of the 45 now studies. I was a black studies minor. I, I studied I took 15 quart hours of course, credits, in the shifting language of racial constructs. And, I don't know what the hell these people were talking. If I said something like, oh, that story really triggered you as a joke, okay. Yes, actually included. I included the word triggering because I think we've used trigger just say that we don't like things. I use that was a joke when you get all upset about what story. So here the three were. Okay, I'm gonna just reveal the answer this quiz. We've only used three words, three to 45%, I like that. So here are the words I think we've used we've used triggering I or some version of trigger I know we've done that we for some reason. Stakeholders is one of the words. What? We've definitely you like a daily basis. They call that organizer jargon, which is not, and the other word, I'm sure we've used is patriarchy, so I'm giving us three. I'm sure, we've used patriarchy before, that's three. So I guess we're not woke, right? We're not. I guess I feel disappointed by this, are we? Yeah, score of this, though, do you? It's a five. I don't, I, I don't know how I feel about like policing stupid terminology. First of all, the terms are dumb to begin with. So I agree that cutting some of them is not bad idea, but I don't do a super nerdy headline, Korea passes boardroom reform, curbing tribal power, don't tell me a more table and I don't need to know anymore. I'm just going to say it's a 10. Yeah, if you look, if you look, there's a lot to cover here, we're not going to do the whole thing, right? We should do it on the proxy countdown. We're gonna restart. Okay, next weekend. There, there are a lot of changes, but most of it is just getting some of the power away from the family owned conglomerates and making sure that shareholders and independent directors have more power, basically, creating a better counterbalance. I love it. It's basically basically exactly what I just said about the Nicole's story. It's, it's basically addressing some of those concerns because the Bros in Silicon Valley, they're basically family away at this point where they're fake public company. Recently families, they're like mafia families in the sense that. All right, let's move on that. You gave it a 10 speed. This show a little bit. How about this one? I don't know if this, you can call this green washing or not you United Health, forms new public response, ability board committee, oh really the board committee, it will cover areas where United Health is struggled or Facebook like ripping off with customers, including underwriting and forecasting regular tour relationships, reputational matters and m&a, that's a very that's a diverse set of things that are going to cover the The the woman Michelle Hooper who has been on the board since 2007. That's almost two decades. She will she's gonna step down as lead independent director. Yes, she was the lead independent directory though. She's been there for two decades and she's gonna chair this committee. So she's still on the board. But she's gonna shift her role to chair this committee so I don't know. Is that a? Do you want someone who's been there for two decades? This is this is the brilliant, the press release, right? Yeah, because they say the boards forming this committee and it makes you think this is great, they're starting to pay attention to these problems. However, on this board. The people have not changed, including Stephen Hemsley, who was the CEO of this company, then executive chair of this company for literally 20 years and now is the temporary interim. Quote unquote CEO. Again, they're propping up a public responsibility committee and they're making a big show out of it. When really what happened though really what happened is the lead independent director on the board? Michelle Wooper who is a black woman. Is moving from lead independent director to head of this committee leaving. No lead. Independent directors. They named a new leader. Okay, this is this is the other kind of funny part of this the new lead independent director who has been there for seven years is Mr. Passive investor himself. The former CEO of Vanguard, yeah. Billy McNabb. Yeah. So, yeah, just someone who's just gonna have no thoughts about anything and it just gonna let the board do what it wants anyway, because that's what Vanguard does. It's just Mr. Pass look. Nothing has actually changed. If you expect different outcomes because you have a new committee with the same, exact people who made the shit decisions that got you here. You're not gonna get different outcomes, a free Shuffle. And this is really fabulous. This is like you own a sneaker store and you have like some Nikes that are in the window that aren't selling and it's like oh let's move them to the other window. Maybe let's put him on the public responsibility committee and then try to sell them. Well, that this is how the good game work. To best because that headline seems good. Because I actually have been advocating a lot. I think that boards need to create new committees to address important issues of 2025. So that's why I thought maybe this is a good thing that they're forming a new board committee because this is what the boards here to do to provide independent oversight of important shit that comes up. But so the Arbiter of Truth stepson says, no, that's not actually. What's your story too? It's too awesome. Let's move on. We can go a little bit more quickly. Feel free the US EV fast. Charging network is seeking is seeing explosive growth. Despite Trump's policies, I like this one. Yeah because people like EVS even though you're trying to kill the entire industry, people like them. I'm glad I hate that they switch to Tesla Chargers mostly as an EV owner. Because now we're all at Elon musk's explain this to me explain this to me I just bought a TV our first EV car Subaru and no Tesla fired. Its entire like supercharging team and yet you're right. There are a lot of Tesla Chargers available but what's the deal with that? I don't is there. Yeah tell her that team Tesla Lobby in fought to get theirs as the standardized under Biden under Biden. But they with the companies actually like all the other EV companies they've sort of coalesced around, will adopt the Tesla charging charger, configuration as the standard for our cars. It's almost like the difference between like charging Android and Apple. Exactly. It's like USBC or lightning, right? Like it used to be right and now everything you see and and that's what they did with Tesla. And then immediately afterwards. Elon Musk went like red pill, nuts politics, no. I think fired his entire team. No, one wants a Tesla, they they're not building out. In fact, he got a government grant to build it out, and nobody knows what happened to it because he doesn't have a team to actually build it out well. So, how about a perfect a perfect real world? Example, of not capitulating to these Maniac CEOs, who were her, who this is a, this is a question for the talk about stakeholder question. You should be making these decisions for the stakeholders for the, for the customers, for, for the car drivers. Not for for Elon Musk because now we're in a situation where he's fired, the supercharger team, no one's buying Tesla's, not the road. So as a Subaru owner, I am now being my question is, do I buy this? I have to buy an additional adapter. To charge on a tell. I mean, there's a whole thing is stupid moronic, but the point is the, EV the network is growing despite the fact that Trump is trying to kill us. So what do you think about that? I think that's good. I'm gonna give it, I'm gonna give it a six, it does feel like a six. Here's another one that you can probably go quickly on because I feel like you're not gonna care companies, with climate targets, have more than tripled. I love a guitar since 2023. The number of companies worldwide with both validated near term and Net Zero. Sign space, climate targets as more than tripled since the end of 2020. According to the science based targets initiative. I find five I it's it's good targets. But you know, they know the change is literally killing us all. Now, like currently and all of these targets are in the distant future. Yeah. And there are no penalties if you don't reach these targets. Yeah. Because we found is on us. The people, we actually way back in the day when we did a different show called The Market medium. We've did a show where we covered basically climate restatements where people just like change their target numbers and not announce it like there was no nothing and that happens all the time so I guess she's fine. Fine, two more, the good game are Canada reaches a deal to end flight attendant strike. The tentative deal, Secours. Air Canada, flight, attendance, at least 60 Minutes of ground. Pay for their time before, each flight, and then also raising their hourly rate 12%. Isn't that crazy? That this is something I just learned over the past few years because hats off to the unions flight attendant unions. They actually they, they do, they're pretty strong, not just to Air Canada, other airlines, the flight attendance. Unless they fight for this, right? They're not getting when you see them doing stuff, greeting, cleaning making coffee, all the stuff they do. You know, like talking to people about their bags, all before the flight takes off like the collect ground time. They're not getting paid for that that Is insane how how I would actually, I would actually not how I would say, I am not on the clock until we're in the air. Figure your own fucking shit out, right? Like incredible. It's really not. What kind of speaking of like Korean cables? What's going on? I don't knows of the flood of the airline industry that they they colluded for this bull. We need. That's crazy. That's what happened. Like it's nuts. Not to mention that the amount of stories that we covering where people get agents flight attendants are getting just harassed. Oh yeah. Oh it's not all the air rage. This is not that they don't get paid for that. I don't know. Like I I don't want to go down a rabbit hole but like it does feel like they're there is a deep rage economy happening that I don't fully understand. Well once again a profession you don't want to be in a profession. That is a majority women. You don't want to be there because you're going to get shit rights and you don't want to be in a profession in which no one you're giving someone a service and And everyone's annoyed about your service. No matter what you do, it doesn't matter. Those people would get paid more like, I gotta give this a seven, I'm glad that they got something. But I I feel like such a job if they, if they agreed to it, it means they didn't get everything they wanted, but they got something? I don't know. It's if I let's let's just end on the. Let's just call this like rate this for how good he is as a brother. Let's just say that. Oh good. He is as a brother that you're trying to get a 10 out of this. I don't know. Yeah I don't have life for the good game. August 27th 2025, is this classic headline? I mean I I can't make this crap up. Kimball Musk. On elon's Tesla pay package. Now, let's not laugh at Kimball musk. Why is actually because somehow investors have allowed him to. He is a board member on, he's on the board. Kimball must. You want to somehow has the expertise to be a board member. One of the more complicated us companies. That does things like solar panels and not that they're good at anything, even a restaurant. Maybe, because Kimball is wasting his face on the board, but somehow he is actually a board member here. But here's what he says, Kimball musk on elon's Tesla PayPal package, which is they have a new one that's worth about almost 30 billion dollars. He says, quote, my brother deserves to be paid and quote. It's a quick side while you dope, you're such a dope. I was in, I went to a conference of my full Brother full of directors, like and investors. It was a director and investor these directors. If you think they don't know their investors, they want 100%, do they go to conferences together, they have calls together. They these people know each other, I was in a room with all of them and they know each other. And one of the questions that came up, it was like a closed room meeting was about Like the Kimball musk problem, like having the brother on the board. I had one tell me confident, like, like, confidentially they didn't want like to meet a quote them. And anyway, That the reason why they're okay with must be in the room is the thought was he's the only one who can control, elon's ketamine intake and talk to him know, I'm not the one, I'm not kidding. Someone, this is a massive. Something that's even true though. This is a massive institutional investigation but but where the where the facts for even that it doesn't matter what the facts are the facts are what that a massive Institutional Investor with hundreds of billions of dollars in allocation who votes on every director in the world. There are analysis of the Tesla board was not their performing. It was the only reason why this guy is there is because no one else can talk to Elon and that guy can keep him from doing too many drugs, so he can get through a meeting that was someone who legitimate analysis. Obviously, someone who didn't study at College because since when is it easy to control your family member? It's impossible. You ever thinks giving dinner in this country, special, your brother. Imagine just telling your brother what to do when they listen, I'm giving this a 10 for The joke of it. That's I, that's what it has to. Because you want a 10. I'm gonna give it a 10 for the gentleman. Nope, I'm mad or happy that the audacity that Kimbo musk refers to him as his brother. But really, he should be referring to him as the CEO. Yeah, he's a board at, which I sit where I'm a board member, providing independent oversight. Yeah. But but maybe I should be proud that he just says. Yeah. Is my brother like, I don't care my brother? I don't know. I don't even know why I'm here to pay the, that's a good game. That's what I'm most proud of is just a consistency of our scoring in this game, so in June, your score was a 6.3. In July, your score was just six point three and now in August, your score is 6.4. Wow, I'm getting happier. Incredible incredible. Because I'm getting happier. That's all we got that. We are free float. This is our Tuesday show on a Wednesday because the technical difficulties, but we'll be back on Friday to wrap the week next week. Everything starts up again. Shareholder, Primacy the podcast with Mike Levin and Lipton. Wounds back up next Wednesday, their new show. I think they're covering Intel actually and they're way smarter than we are. It's actually let's talk about Herschel of Cracker Barrel. Will they talk? I don't think Cracker Barrel come up. I'm hopeful but we're gonna start up the proxy countdown again, tis the season. If you haven't gotten our scene, we're getting Emails saying, I love the scene. Like this is the best way to consume this car. Would you not love the scene? It is. It is a tongue and cheek, shout out to punk, magazines fans in the 1980s and 90s. But it's all governance information, it's all headlines. Get on free flow, analytics.com, sign up with an email, you'll get the zine. 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