Episode 476: Neal and Toby discuss another overhaul project that may be on the Trump agenda during his second term – the United States Postal Service. Then, Germany seems to be on the brink of economic collapse as it continues to trend downwards, concerning world economies. Also, SoftBank’s CEO Masoyoshi Son pledges a $100B investment in AI jobs in the US. Meanwhile, Toby looks at the rise and continued rise of puritan-names. Lastly, biggest headline news you need to know. Build your Range Rover Sport at landroverusa.com Subscribe to Morning Brew Daily for more of the news you need to start your day. Share the show with a friend, and leave us a review on your favorite podcast app. Listen to Morning Brew Daily Here: https://link.chtbl.com/MBD Watch Morning Brew Daily Here: https://www.youtube.com/@MorningBrewDailyShow 00:00 - IMAX Re-Releases 03:40 - USPS Going Private? 08:10 - German Economic Turmoil 11:45 - SoftBank Investment 15:00 - Virtue Baby Names 18:30 - Headlines Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: Could the United States Postal Service be privatized?
Then Germany is riding das Struggle Bus after its government collapsed under the weight of economic turmoil. It's Tuesday, December 17th. Let's ride.
Have you noticed that people are randomly talking about Interstellar a lot, even though the movie came out in 2014? Well, it's probably because Christopher Nolan's space epic has returned to IMAX theaters for a few weekends now and just became the highest grossing IMAX re-release of all time, earning $17.4 million already in its run.
It started a bunch of chatter online about which movie or movies should be the next on the docket for an IMAX re-release. I know you've got some ideas, Toby.
I've got some ideas. One of my favorite movies of all time is Mad Max Fury Road, which would undoubtedly slap in the IMAX format. But also thinking of good movies to re-release in IMAX is kind of boring. So my mind went to what would be the worst movie of all time to release in IMAX. And I think the answer has to be Cats.
I mean, the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical that catified everyone from... Ja, ironisch gesagt. Hast du einen Film, den du rereleasten möchtest?
Die Filmkritiker von Variety haben eine Liste zusammengelegt und sie waren ziemlich gut, also sage ich nur fünf von ihnen. Pulp Fiction wäre großartig. Gravity, das ist ein anderer Spacefilm, den Leute sagen, ist noch besser als Interstellar. Das wäre also eine sensorische Überlösung. Fight Club könnte gut sein. Und dann Casino Royale, einer der besten Bond-Filme aller Zeiten. Und endlich Blade.
Siehst du, es ist furchtbar, gute Filme zu denken, weil natürlich sind sie gut. Ja, es ist nicht so überraschend.
Now a word from our sponsor, Range Rover Sport. Neil, one thing about the Range Rover Sport is you're going to get a machine with exceptional balance.
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Chapter 2: What are the implications of privatizing the USPS?
The USPS has to deliver to those because it is a government-funded organization and is required to go there as a loss-making entity. A for-profit business would never do that. So that's why the USPS is important to those communities. And if it were to be privatized, I mean, we live in New York City. If we want to order something from Amazon, it could get here prime two days or even same day.
If we lived in the boonies, then Amazon would probably take a lot longer to deliver. And if the USPS was privatized, that's probably what would happen.
Let's talk a little bit about Amazon. Amazon is the Postal Service's largest customer. It uses it. Remember, Amazon is constantly trying to figure out last mile delivery. The Postal Service is its biggest way. It fulfills that last mile delivery going from fulfillment centers to your actual home. So, you mentioned the e-commerce industry.
This would really disrupt it if you disrupt the Postal Service because it relies so much upon it. And so, yeah, I don't think that it's going to be popular with Amazon. Trump has in the past called out Amazon and said the Postal Service should double prices when it comes to Amazon because he had a feud with Jeff Bezos dating back to his last administration.
We'll see if he kind of strikes a similar anti-Amazon tone here. hier in dieser nächsten Iteration von potenziell, weißt du, versuchen, den Postal Service privat zu bringen.
Wenn du es als private Firma anschaust, würdest du sagen, dass diese Sache uninvestierbar ist. Sie sind eine Firma, die für die 1950er-Jahre gemacht wurde. Sie sind nicht für die 2024-Jahre gemacht worden. I mean, their biggest revenue source is sending mail. So in 2020, 2001, that's when mail peaked in the United States. 104 billion pieces were sent.
But it's just been absolutely plunging since then. In 2019, just 55 billion pieces of mail were sent. So it's got to find other revenue sources. It's done this business with Amazon. Democrats wanted to make it into a quasi-bank. So, you know, it's a tough business to be in the mail business. Right, your thank you notes, people. That's what I'm taking away from this.
Okay, big European country tried to have a functioning government challenge. With its neighbor France in its worst political turmoil in decades, Germany said, hold my Hefeweizen. Yesterday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence in Parliament, paving the way for elections in February, seven months earlier than originally scheduled.
The next German government basically only has one overarching New Year's resolution. Das ist ein Ausstieg in einer Ökonomie, die für die letzten fünf Jahre neutral oder schlechter geblieben ist. Das Land, die größte Ökonomie Europas, befindet sich in seiner größten ökonomischen Krise seit der Reunifizierung vor 35 Jahren.
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Chapter 3: What is the current state of Germany's economy?
Er hat gesagt, dass jede Firma, die ein Billion Dollar oder mehr investiert hat, in den USA, Fast-Track-Permittungen erhalten würde. Also geht es auch mit seiner Agenda zusammen. Also Sie können sehen, dass beide Agendas hier verabschiedet waren. Sie wollten ein Headline in diesem Erkennungsein machen. Up next, it's Tuesday, which means it is time for Toby's Trends.
Chapter 4: What challenges does Germany face economically?
Open up that Notes app on your phone where you keep track of baby names because today's Toby's Trend is all about the sudden resurgence of so-called virtue names. What are virtue names? Well, they're not Toby or Neil. Instead, think patience or prudence or chastity, you know, names that stem from traditional, often Puritan virtues. They used to be all the rage in the 90s.
There are more American newborns with virtue names than in the 1780s. But according to a Washington Post analysis, we're still riding a virtuous name wave to this day. U.S. Women's National Team Goalie Hope Solo, former Trump Press Secretary Hope Hicks, NBA Journeyman Justice Winslow. The more you look, the more they start popping up.
Originally popular in Puritan times, the more modern appeal of virtue names isn't reflective of a sudden renewal of religious vigor. Instead, the booms can be traced back to pop culture. The sitcom Will & Grace, which originally ran in 1998 to 2006, for instance, coincided with the rise in babies named Grace.
While names like Faith saw a boost after George Michaels' album of the same name sold 25 million copies. I know you like that. Yeah. Neil, any harmonies or serenities in your life?
No, but I will say there are a lot of graces. And it was very interesting tracing back the origins of the word grace. Because again, it was kind of like the pop culture of the 1840s. There was a girl in Britain who saved nine people from a shipwreck named Grace Darling. Und das war, glaube ich, ihr Sitcom, ihr seht, TV-Show des Tages. Also hat jeder angefangen, ihre Mädchen Grace zu nennen.
Und das, als sie alle in die Vereinigten Staaten kamen, dann haben sie die Grace-Phänomene in der 1850-Census weitergegeben. Eine in vier Graces in den Vereinigten Staaten waren britische oder irische Immigranten.
Also hat das eine Ereignis, das wahrscheinlich über und über wieder in den britischen Zeitungen gespielt wurde, lediglich zu einem Phänomen hier in den Vereinigten Staaten, als es um Babynamen ging.
Und dann kannst du es auch zu einigen moderneren Namen tracken. Ich meine, der Wachstum des Country-Singers Faith Hill hat viele Leute mit dem Namen Faith genannt. Es gab auch einen Charakter namens Faith in der TV-Serie Buffy, der Vampir-Slayer. Chastity hat sich eigentlich nach Sonny und Cher ausgelöst und hat es für ihr Kind gekauft.
Aber ehrlich gesagt, viele dieser Vertue-Namen können auch zu einer anderen Erklärung getrackt werden, und das ist, dass Namen, die in Y beendet werden, viel trendiger geworden sind. Also Harmony, Serenity. Die meisten üblichen Beendungen für Vertue-Namen sind in Y beendet, und die Namen, die in Y beendet werden, erleben einen der größten Boom in den Dekaden.
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Chapter 5: What is SoftBank's new investment strategy in the U.S.?
But yeah, you are right. And this is something that Amazon has been under intense scrutiny for years. There's another attorney from the Southern District of New York has been investigating allegations as well. So this isn't going away anytime soon. Apple thinks it's figured out a way to reverse flagging sales and it's origami.
Chapter 6: How is SoftBank's AI investment expected to impact the job market?
The biggest company in the world is reportedly developing two foldable devices. One, a giant foldable iPad that could unfold to the size of two iPad Pros. And the other, an iPhone model that would unfold to a size slightly larger than its current largest iPhone, the 16 Max.
Jetzt, Apple hat ziemlich langsam in diesen Foldable-Markt eingestiegen, aber die aktuelle Foldable-Technologie hat ein Handy zu dick für Apple-Standards.
Also hoffen wir, dass ihr slow und steady Approach mit einer geschlossenen Release-Date von 2026 bedeutet, dass ihr den Markt an der richtigen Zeit eingestellt habt, um seine Flaggen-Sales zu überwinden, die 2024 Revenue weniger als 1% erhöht haben. Neil, denken wir, dass Foldable-Handys Apple schützen werden?
Das war's für heute. You can't build a screen, you can't ship a screen that big. It just gets too expensive and unwieldy. So they're going to fold this iPad and hopefully have that crease removed. That's been the biggest technological blocker. I mean, I'm not an iPad user, but I could probably see someone liking this.
Yeah, they've for years tried to say you can replace your computer with your iPad, which is awkward messaging for a company that also sells, you know, laptops. I don't know. I mean, I think a lot of people have just been tired with Apple for not innovating enough recently. It's mostly been on the software side or when it comes to iPhones, just a camera update here and there.
So they are trying to take bigger swings now and say, hey, you want something different? Here's a foldable phone. Here's a foldable iPad. Didn't really work with the headset. Yeah. Oh ja, die Vision Pro, das war ein großer Schwung und ein großer Miss. Also, ich meine, ich glaube, es ist besser, dass sie Schwünge nehmen. Ich weiß nicht, ob Foldable die richtige Richtung für sie ist.
Apple hat dieses Jahr die Top 10 am meisten veröffentlichten Apps aus dem App Store veröffentlicht. Und die Nummer 1 für das zweite Jahr ist Taimou, der chinesische Shopping-Marktplatz. Taimou hat den Top-Spot von TikTok im letzten Jahr gezeichnet und hat sich darauf gehalten, wahrscheinlich dank der Popularität ihrer ultra-chefen Produkte und ihrer ubiquitösen Marketing.
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Chapter 7: What lessons can we learn from SoftBank's past investments?
Coming in second, Meta's Threads. TikTok is number three. We'll see how long that lasts. And four and five are ChatGPT and Google Search respectively. Tobi, people just love to shop like a billionaire.
They do love to shop like a billionaire. Also, you look down all around the list. Amazon is number 20. So Taimou is definitely, you know, leaving them in the dust as well. There's a few interesting things about this year's top 10 list. You mentioned ChatGPT as the fourth most downloaded app. It is ahead of Google Search App. ChatDBT didn't make the top 10 last year.
It only released in May on iPhone. So it is interesting to see how much that has shot up. And then one final name I want to call out here in the top 20 is Max. It's the only streaming service that made it on the list. Warner Bros. has low-key been having a really good back half of the year. I think it's on the back of the interest in Max. Only streamer in the top 20.
So that's a name that they definitely like to see in that top 20.
Erinnerst du dich, als Leute sagten, dass die Veränderung von HBO Max zu Max die Schmerze der Streaming-Plattform wäre? Ich denke, ich habe diese Worte gesagt. Du hast sie gesagt. Ich habe sie erstens verteidigt. Wir haben es auf der Tape. Also, Ray und Emily, bringen wir das auf, damit ich meine Verdächtigkeit haben kann. Okay, let's wrap it up there.
Okay, so it's Secret Santa season right now. So I want you to share the podcast with someone you definitely didn't forget to buy a gift for. Now you might think, hmm, a podcast as a gift. Well, to that I say, package it as giving the gift of staying up to date with the business world. Something that arguably is priceless and can even make you money. So maybe MBD for Secret Santa.
I'm telling you, it could be the move.
Let's roll the credits. Emily Milliron is our executive producer. Raymond Liu is our producer. Olivia Graham is our associate producer. Uchenwa Ogu is our technical director. Billy Menino is on audio. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays hair and makeup from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
Devin Emery is our chief content officer and our show is a production of Morning Brew.
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