The Best One Yet
🍑 “Colonoscopy Stock Market” — BTS trade war drama. Versace’s Prada acquisition. A Colon econ lesson.
Fri, 11 Apr 2025
Yesterday we covered the trade war pause… today the behind-the-scenes Trump drama.Versace was just sold to its Italian cousin Prada at ½ price… because time kills all deals.Nick just got his 1st colonoscopy… so Jack found our fave economics lesson in the exam.Plus, Google is now paying AI engineers to do nothing… no joke. $CPRI $PRDSY $SPYWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Peeps 🐣Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock’s sandal to Nintendo’s Susper Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What happened in the trade war pause?
It was actually two fellow New York-born financial billionaires, Bill Ackman and Jamie Dimon. It was the two six-foot men in finance who got Trump to stand down. Who also have blue eyes and also have trust funds. Of all of those who spoke out against the trade war, Ackman and Diamond caused Trump to blink.
Because Ackman and Diamond, these two New York financiers, they gave Trump some critical Wall Street perspective. And Jack, what did they tell him specifically? They told him what was happening in the bond market. The bond market. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies following the trade war drama?
The stock market represents America's wealth, but the bond market represents America's power. Yetis, for 80 years, the United States dollar has been the world's reserve currency. Everyone wants it. It's in high demand. And our U.S. government debt has been the world's financial safe haven. Everyone wants to invest in it across the world.
So those two things, Jack and I call that our financial soft power. But here's the key. Last week, investors sold more U.S. bonds than any week in 24 years. In other words, last week was the worst week for our financial soft power in 24 years. Yeah, listen to these examples. First, financial firms sold bonds to cover their stock losses happening all week.
Even worse, though, international investors across the world sold bonds to divest from the United States. Deutsche Bank saw all of that and said this wild line. The market has lost faith in U.S. assets. Bill Ackman and Jamie Dimon pointed to the falling bond market, and they told Trump, that's what you should fear.
Because the stock market represents America's wealth, but the bond market represents America's power. For our second story. Yesterday, we saw the biggest deal in Italian fashion since Zoolander. Prada is buying Versace for $1.4 billion. But inside this deal is the most important rule for negotiation.
Now, Yetis, in order for us to tell the tale of this deal, we're going to go back in history 165 years, when Giuseppe Garibaldi united Sicily, Naples, Milan, Rome, Venice, and all those Italian kingdoms into one country. He's basically the founding father of Italia. Yes, he is. Italy was unified and a nation was born. Oh, 165 years later, Italy's greatest assets are unified once again.
Prada is acquiring Versace for $1.4 billion. They thought they were ridiculously, ridiculously good looking. Now, stock in America's Michael Kors fell 10% on the news.
Yeah.
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Chapter 2: Why did Versace sell to Prada at half price?
So I actually also had to wake up at two in the morning to drink more of that secret liquid, which flushed me out again for the next few hours. So you didn't get great sleep. Oh no, no. And then at 5am I walked to the hospital. It was a couple of blocks away. 6.30am I was out cold on the table. Yep. By 8am I was finished. Molly picked me up.
By 9am I was on the phone with you preparing for this podcast. I can't believe the hospital was open so early. I know, it was really wild. Well, like, despite the 36-hour fast, the whole night in the bathroom, camera in my butt, I honestly, I could not be happier right now, Jack. To be clear, it wasn't a painful procedure, right?
No, no, you know, I was put under for the 30-minute procedure, and the scope that they put in you is soft, slippery, you know what I mean? Basically glides right in. Yeah, actually, the doctor asked me right before she put me out what food I was going to celebrate with after, and I was like, the burger at Spruce, and then boom, I woke up and the procedure was over. That was it.
It's like you woke up from a dream. Yeah, that was it. And the doctor said they didn't see any growths or polyps to be worried about, right? Yeah, clean bill of colorectal health. But we will tie this back to economics, we promise. Because the first thought I had on the table was a moment of clarity. I was like, oh my God, the stock market basically had a colonoscopy this week too.
I had tension, fear, and a lot of buildup prior to the procedure. So did investors on Monday. Wall Street was nervous. And then I got flushed out. So did stocks. They fell 20% from their all-time highs. I liquidated my intestines, literally. Investors liquidated their portfolios. And then markets bounced back a bit, felt better. And so did
lie, after the 20-minute procedure, I'm recording the podcast. Okay, great work. Again, we do have to tie this even further to economics, and Jack and I have an idea. Basically, Eddies, I was actually really young to get a colonoscopy. Nixon is 30s, but doctors pretty much make you wait until you're in your 40s to get one. Yeah. Especially if you want it to be insured by health insurance.
But I had a family history of polyps in their colon, so I begged my insurance company. I actually called them multiple times and demanded it. And they finally approved it? Yeah, they did. Which leads to these numbers. You're supposed to get a screening in your 40s, but only one out of seven Americans actually get a colonoscopy in their 40s.
We repeat, only one out of seven people in their 40s right now have done a colonoscopy. Maybe one of them is you, and you should probably get one. Because tens of thousands of new cancer cases could have been caught so early if more people had gotten colonoscopies. And Jack and I were talking, and we think there's actually an economic principle we know and we love. that can fix that problem.
And to be clear, this isn't an ad for the colonoscopy industry. No. I'm just grateful that Nick told this story on the pod. Yeah, I've actually got a picture. You want to see it? No. Okay, okay. I drew a picture. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies curious about economics? You don't have to make people do something. You just have to nudge them. It's the nudge rule.
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Chapter 3: What economic lesson can we learn from a colonoscopy?
Now, time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by my gastroenterologist this morning, Dr. Chetty. I love the colon takeover of today's episode. Yeah, right before they knocked me out, I asked them for the best fact yet, and here's what they told me. They told me about the Katie Couric effect. Katie Couric, the famous TV journalist, her husband sadly died of colon cancer in 1999.
Well, what did Katie Couric do? She did a colonoscopy live streamed on TV of her colon. On the Today Show, you could watch the camera colonoscopying Katie Couric. And what was the Katie Couric effect of all that, Jack? That year, there was a 20% increase in elective colonoscopies nationwide. The Katie Couric effect. Yetis, you look fantastic over there.
Jack, I'm sure you feel fantastic over there. I got to get four liters of water right now. I feel... You know, I'll show you some pictures. Just hold on a second. I'll show you some pictures. Yetis, drop down, give us five stars, rate and review the show, and check out The Best Idea Yet, our weekly show. This one is all about peeps. Nick, congrats. Let's celebrate the wins.
And Yetis, we'll see you Monday. All right, throwing the pics up on YouTube. Here we go, Jack. And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti Ben Einstein, born in Los Angeles but celebrating in San Francisco, pumped for dinner. And happy birthday to William Guillermo Warren. In San Francisco, this little boy is turning two.
And Ruchika Shah in New York City has been listening for three years and celebrating the best birthday yet. And Ruchita, we know we owe you two more birthday shout-outs, and we got your back. Happy birthday to Amy Betros in Buffalo, New York, who's the best grandma yet. And Gwen Ryan in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, studying poli-sci at West Chester University.
And there she's celebrating the best birthday yet. Happy birthday to Kate Hartnett in Brooklyn, New York, who's celebrating with a pint of Haagen-Dazs. And a congratu-gagement anniversary Eve to Jack and Alex, my co-hosts. No, no, not Eve. Seven years ago, I dropped down on one knee in Ann Arbor's Arboretum. propose to Alex. I was very nervous.
The ring was basically the most expensive thing I'd ever purchased. And so far, happily ever after. And Jack is recreating it all tonight in the same outfit. Unreal. Amazing. Alex, so pumped for you. Congratulations. Strike my so far. Let's just go with happily ever after.
And congratulations to Eddie's Drew and Vanessa Glapa down in Austin getting married and Evan is officiating the best wedding yet. Happy birthday to Elizabeth Carlson in Plymouth, Minnesota, who's celebrating with some sushi grade sushi. Nagiri for Elizabeth. And Miranda Fairbanks is running a half marathon this weekend. You got this, Miranda. fueled by goldfish.
And congratulations to Adam Katzenbeck, who's getting married in Chicago. Adam, we're pumped for both you guys. Celebrate the wins. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. Nick and I both own ETFs of the S&P 500. If you like the best one yet, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
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