FEAR & GREED | Business NewsDoes the election campaign have what it takes to topple Donald Trump's backdown as the biggest story of the week? Plus a remarkable decision by Macquarie Group, a new record for the Commonwealth Bank, and robots competing in a half-marathon against humans.
Sean Aylmer and Michael Thompson go head to head on the top business stories of the week, with Adam Lang picking a winner in a fierce debate.
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This is the weekend edition of Fear and Greed, daily business news for people who make their own decisions. I'm Michael Thompson, and good morning. Sean Ayleman.
Good morning, Michael.
Now sew on our weekend show. For anyone who hasn't heard it before, it is very different to the weekdays show. It's all about the two of us, each nominating what we think is the biggest business news story of the week, the most remarkable business news story, a mystery category that changes every week, and we've got a really good one today and then our favorite.
Gosh, it's just giving it away. Really. Michael likes the category. I wonder what it is. Go on we.
Shall I'm not going to ruin the suspense, but you do know any regular listeners will know that I have a very limited kind of field of interest and it might well fall into that space.
Oh maybe did I say space?
Anyway, it is a competition, of course, and we need a judge. Every week we have judge to pick a winner. That judge is, of course, our Fear and Greed colleague, Adam Lang Adam, good morning.
Hello Michael, Hello Sean, Hello Adam.
Can I start and I want to keep this very brief today, but I want to start with a question that came in from a listener and it came in via LinkedIn, and it was kind of posed as an Ask Fear and Greed question, which was the which is the bonus episode that we do a couple of times a week. Sean and Wesley wrote to us and said, Hi, Sean and Michael, a question for Ask Fear and Greed. Is the weekend edition of Fear and Greed based on the Harlem Globe Trotters and Washington General's basketball tour. Does Michael ever get a chance to be the Globe Trotters or is he destined to lose each week? And then he added a ps, there are people hoping you go on a streak, Michael, So Wesley, thank you for this, and because the Globe was like a winning streak of what twenty thousand games or something against the Washington Miracle. Yeah, yeah, the only one. I think the General's only one six times.
Which is right, yeah, one six times, yeah, which is actually better than you, which.
It seems unnecessarily harsh.
Now, hold on, you're on a streak, now, didn't you win.
One twice in a row?
Once twice?
He's on a streak of one and so yeah, I.
Have one twice before and that was a very very exciting day two days for me.
Look at the bottom line for this, Wesley Michael is not a Harlem Globe trotter.
No, he's not destined to lose. But the funny thing is just on form on the data probably does like the Harlem Globe trotters. I bring the showmanship to this technically, really, Sean here, Sean, Sean is.
The Washington generals. Here, he's just like just steady plodding along, and here I am doing all of the fancy stuff. Yet I'm still losing.
Okay, So just on form. Have you been a Reserve Bank economist?
No?
Have you been a journalist writing articles on business and the economy for decades?
I don't see why this is relevant, Adam.
Have you been the editorial director of like hundreds over a thousand journalists before?
Yes?
Oh no, that was a lie.
That was Sean.
That's done that, Okay, Bona fides could have something to do with it.
Well, to me, that's nonsense. In the end, it just depends on what you bring on the day, right, So bring the show to the show. What are you looking for today. I'm assuming mostly you're looking for a bit of razzled up.
It comes last, okay, but before that topicality, timeliness, and of course economic impact, and I do inescapably have a little bit of my subjective bias in the judging criteria, a little bit.
Yeah, okay, Sean, shall we jump in. You've been very quiet.
I'm a bit flabbergasted by the compliments from the judge and I it's mostly by this point of abuse him a few times so nice to me and like over egged my achievements without a doubt, and I'm just flabbergasted. I'm not sure what to say.
I love how he just rattled off all of your achievements and hasn't mentioned any of my Just round me into the floor.
Now, let's think of some of Michael's achievements, right, Yeah, anyway.
This is unfair.
You were head of content and use at one of the biggest radio stations in the country, and you you were the EP four, I would say, the most successful. If you're talking about radio radiation radiation in the country. You you you also kind of have a really good ability to be trivial about important stuff.
I do it in one published it written, a second book read nearly published coming out.
The third Yeah, not bad, I think in the fourth.
The generals and also forgot to mention dreamboat General self described tell you about the biggest story of the week, we'd like, that's.
Just ruined it for me. You wouldn't think that anything could really knock out an election. But Donald Trump, donald Trump, the great Man. Well I don't know about that, but the man himself has totally changed the rhetoric this week about tariffs, about what he thinks of Jeraan Powell, the head of the Federal Reserve, Elon Masks said on going back to my day job, enough so rather than putting one hundred and forty five percent tariffs on Chinese goods, Donald Trump's like, and people are saying you're going to go fifty to sixty something like that. We are certainly Earlier in the week, Donald Trump called j Powell, the Federal Reserve bys a loser. He said, what was it? He called him a mister too slow slow mon rate cuts. But what I loved about the tweet mister too slow was capital Mr dot capital t double capital slow, perfect punctuation. World done. Mister too slow, which suggested he puts a lot of thought into what he actually capitalized just building it out, he's actually doing it, and so he called him mister too slow and a loser. He then changed his mind. Is he not a bad like?
Can I ask when did Jerome Powell start being known as J Powell? I know that's his nickname, right or what.
He's always been J Powell? Because and then when he got the job, he became Jerome for a while, okay, and now after a couple of years we're back to j Oh.
Gotcha, which it would be hard for Adam because Adam has a real issue with nicknames.
Don't wrestle with that. So we talk about like ain Z Bank and Adam's like no, no, no Astral in New Zealand. Yes, banking group, Yes, exactly right. The point is Donald Trump backing down on Tariff's backing down on J Powell Elon Musk. Now, the fact that Tesla's had income felbow seventy one percent last during the March quarter, that probably, you know, added some sort of influence on him going back to his day job. The equity market surged on the back of this, right, we had oil going up, we had the US dollar going up, we had gold coming up. It totally re focused financial markets when Donald Trump said this, Now do we believe him? Dunam Danah, You know, like he could be loose with the truth. How can you lie straight in bed at night? Oh yeah, I just think that is the biggest story because it actually has real impact on what's going on in financial markets. Now, Michael loose with the truth? Thompson over to you please.
That is uncalled for character assassination, if ever heard one. I'm always honest. Sometimes I ambellish. Perhaps I'm always honest, and then you thought about it that one. Sometimes I do just kind of just just make it sound flashier than it is, though in order to win. I do not need to do that this week, though, because the biggest story is the same as it was last week, and it's well as I made the point last week, it should be the biggest story last week, the week before, it should be next week and probably the week after. Because this is a critical time for Australia right we are still in the midst of the federal election campaign, only one more week to go. This decides the fate of our entire country. Adam so write that down. Besides the fate underline it please. Campaigning was obviously paused at the beginning of the of the week following the death of the pope. The third debate then still took place, and arguably it was a bit more spicy than the previous two debates, and Peter Dutton I think did do a better job in that debate. I knew that it was in fact his best performance yet out of the three, and he may have done enough to actually win that debate. Actually, we've seen some more new policies this week. I could just go on and on. There was just such a big week in politics. I probably will Yes, we had Opposition leader Peter Dutton saying that he's going to fund a proposed twenty one billion dollar increase in defense spending through higher income taxes rather than spending cuts. So it's not a great look going into the election saying that he's going to hike taxes. But is it really a tax hike if it's just reversing something that was only recently introduced. We have Labor announcing a critical minerals reserve. Funding for that one. We had early voting start, so you know it should be the biggest story just for that right, because people are actually voting. This isn't the campaign anymore. The election is on. It is happening right now as we speak. People are lining up to vote. There were five hundred thousand people who voted on Tuesday, the first day of pre poll voting.
That is huge.
That is up seventy percent on three years ago. What this tells us, right, is that people aren't waiting to make up their mind. Australia has already decided. That is a big story. It is you're not even neither of you are actually looking at.
Her stuff going on. He's really interesting what I'm doing. You know what I'm responding to emails? Sorry, go on, this was the biggest story.
And you know what, you're being complacent about the biggest story.
About your confident of winning this, aren't you?
I certainly am, But I feel like you should be invested. I should see the fire of democracy in your eyes, shol oh.
Good and I do not the democracy.
That's democracy burning in your eyes. It is the biggest story of the week, of the month, of the year. Australia decides and Adam, now you have to as well close.
Sean wins there's only three working days in the week. There's really not a lot of electioneering was going on. I think, to the coalition's credit, the defense policy change is actually an announcement, a significant policy announcement.
Did Michael mentioned that one? I certainly did. I wasn't The debate was good.
I thought that nine put on a really good format for the debate, and I enjoyed that interesting, Michael, five hundred thousand people have voted already that that is a really important stat And I wonder just not only the timing of the election, obviously around Eastern school holidays is difficult, but did everyone get it right by leaving policies announcements so late in the piece.
It's a really good point. Actually, I wonder, I all mean, next time in the next election campaign, whether it is really kind of loaded into the first two or three weeks of the campaign. Everything is out there and then all of a sudden you kind of leave just some some handshaking, tight.
End baby kissing, handshaking. I wonder whether the opposition decided that they needed to do something big because it was all supposed to come out before prepoling, and then suddenly we had a defense twenty one billion dollars.
A housing policy came out pretty late.
But they all came out before Tuesday, the housing policy and cards and the twenty five cent x sis and all that. But the defense one just seemed to be trained. Who knows? Who am I to argue?
I think it could be an emblem of what might change next time.
A respect early prepolers don't like defense.
Stuff, Isn't it interesting?
It's an interesting suspicion, Sean. But Donald Trump, he has not only hit the handbrake, he's gone into reverse so quickly on this stuff rightfully, but the carnage that it's caused has been insane. And so I think this is the most significant story of the week. Definitely the biggest story for me is a reversal by Trump.
I love the fact that they I'm a master in most of his work's done, really finished.
I can go home now.
Your share price down fifty Yeah? Right? Okay here yep, heading back to California. So one nil.
Shall we move on to the most remarkable story of the week?
Yes, okay, for Michael, We'll go first.
What the heck happened to Commonwealth Bank this week?
In a good way?
Michael yes, Adam in a very good way.
Really well, yes, I love missing some conviction.
Well, it's only because he used to be like a banking reporter and an other thing. So whenever I start talking banks to Sean, I'm like, oh God, please don't let me get this wrong, because he doesn't waiting to pounds and go on anyway, But just cast your mind back to Tuesday. It's a pretty quiet day, really, wasn't it. It was sleepy almost off the back of the long weekend, much like your performance in this show that felt unnecessarily mean twice to crack me out. I'll hang on, hang on. It was Adam that had to go at me earlier.
Wasn't it. I done nothing wrong? You know what? I think.
I come into this sometimes with a slightly argumentative spirit.
Really yes, and I shouldn't do that.
An interesting observation.
Self reflection. Anyway, moved past that pretty quickly. Tuesday was a pretty quiet day after the long weekend. Not a huge amount happening for the banks, well for three of the big four banks. But but.
Watching you.
Must this story.
That's right, gig going, Well, tell me more, tell me Common Well Bank.
CBA, com Bank, that one that one, the yellow one.
Yeah yeah, yeah, surge surged more than four percent, four percent in one day. It's already Australia's biggest company share price hit a new record high. Why well, a bit of a mystery really, And this is why we love this story collectively.
It is Yes, I do too.
It is a great story. Get to the point that we're a lot.
Of chaos in markets. CBA scene perhaps is very safe forget gold. Maybe Comwealth Banker is the new kind of safe haven market cap around. Was it two hundred and eighty billion dollars? So much space between first and second BHP and the other three big banks combined, as you pointed out this week, Sean, and admirably and you really put a lot of kind of focus and attention on this because it was so remarkable that the other three big banks are only just bigger combined than CBA on its own, and that the stat that I saw in multiple places this week, which I just find remarkable, the fact that Comwealth bank can lay claim to what is an extraordinary title widely cited this week, the most expensive bank stock in the history of the world, in the history of the world, going all the way back to the Dark Ages to the Stone Age. The most expensive bank stock in the history of the world. Remarkable it is.
Do you know what I think is kind of the forgotten story in the Australian bankstock. Look, you're looking at me. The story's going so well, so far. Then I jump in with something really dull.
No, no, no, go for it.
I done. Pac twelve months ago was actually the dud bank stock foremost. Yes, it's now the second lundest bank. Fourth lunches happening is bigger the National Australia Bank. It's taken that title in the last week or so. Z has had a bit of a struggle co of BAK the standout. But actually Westpac's the other one that's done really well.
I was going to mention that, actually, so i'll it just makes sure you write that down because obviously Sean stolen my thunder with that.
It was my part two of the story. Westpac most remarkable. How Commonwealth Bank has done.
It's amazing And just this week the most expensive bank stock not just right here, right now, in the entire world and in the history of the entire world.
Talking Rockefellers, just we are talking like ancient run.
Yep, yep, Caesars Bank, whatever bank, where the whole bit?
Right, let me give you the most remarkable story. And this actually genuinely is remarkable as aosed to Michaels just yet another Now, this is amazing. Macquarie selling out of its entire North American and europe In public asset management business. I did not like the noise that Adam, Yeah, yeah, this is it. So they've been out there for fifteen twenty years buying up businesses, investing in North American and European equities, fixed income. It's been a real part of their kind of the quarry story. Two hundred and eighty five billion dollars in assets that they oversee in those economies. They've said, this is great, but we can't make much money from it, so we're out of here. And so they've just done the reverse ferret and they've sold. They've offloaded international equities, fixed income, multi asset investments to Japan's The Mirror for two point eight billion dollars. Well, I the thing is really interesting. Two point eight billion dollars, two hundred and eighty five billion dollars in assets, right, you would think when you've got that many assets, selling it for one percent of assets. In fact, a little bit less than one percent of assets isn't a great price. What it does show is the skinny margins in that type of business. Now, Macquary Asset Management is what it's known as. It's going to keep operating in Australia, so it'll still be investing in local equities and fixed income. But public markets in North America they're out. They're now dominated by really large low fee funds like black Rock, Vanguard active funds. Management in public markets in the Northern Hemisphere or particularly North America just isn't providing the returns that more Quarry wants. It's more interested in private market investing. So we have lots of guests on about private capital, private equity. We talk about infrastructure funds and those sorts of things, real estate funds they tend to fall into that market, but equities to fixed think kimc Quarry's getting out in the Northern hemrsehere that actually is truly remarkable. No matter what your judgment is on this, Adam, I think it's amazing that one of the leaders in that, one of the Australian companies that has really led that globally. Certainly for an Australian company going global, as just said, time to get out.
You know the other you mentioned Margins there and the other story that I was tossing up whether to go with was the she and the clothing retailer. The story and about the fact that they was at one billion one point two six billion dollars in sales and it was what fifteen million dollars.
It went from ten to fifteen or something.
Yeah, which is just fractionally yeah, Margets Yeah, anyway, that was what a landgrab in retail. Yeah, absolutely, really shaking up the retail space.
I reckon, because objectively my story is so much better than Michaels. I reckon. We should throw in the Shean story with the commonal Banks to two Michaels. Yeah, so Michael gets both those stories because the Common Banks story, I mean, remarkable. We're spoken about it NonStop, right, So let's make it common Bank plus She yeah versus Macquarie. Now that this is cocky, I agree, Yeah, And in my mind, I'm very confident obviously with the judge. He has a mind of his own. We have discovered.
Okay, Michael wins because of this like change marginally, so Macquarie asset management moving out of the US right.
And Europe sorry, and europe equities fixed income.
So so interesting given you know what the Trump disruption for one of a better name has caused around the world, and the prediction that the anchors may go on in America versus there may be some greater progress out of like Germany, out of Europe, and so they made a decision to get out of all those assets.
Adam is starting to sound like Elbow. The other night, you know, they asked Anthony Alberniasy what they they asked, Was it about airbnb or something to start about insurance.
And no, it started going on then about immigration. Immigration got quite less than immigration after an airbnb question.
Yeah, yeah, Adam, here is somehow bringing Trump into the quarry Sea, which I think is irrelevant, but.
I don't know. I think that the day are predicting they can make more money by putting their money elsewhere, and so that we're drawing out of those markets is massive, remarkable, and it is remarkable. But the combination of those two things, with Michael Commonwealth Bank being arguably overvalued so much, people seeking security so much that it's grew four percent in a day that it is worth more than almost the other three banks combined. Plus Shean, you know that land grab into virtual retail is incredible. So i'd say on remarkability the composite of the two stories, Michael, you just win.
Oh that's not really a moral victory though, is it.
I don't care.
It had to fall.
Flat, you know what, any victory for the Washington generals, right, I will take it.
So that's one all.
I thank you both for the for the generosity in allowing me to combine two completely unrelated stories together because I needed the two together in order to beat Sean's one excellent story. You know what, I'll take it, however it comes okay, one all, we're heading into halftime.
We'll take a.
Quick break and come back with the mystery category. All right, Sean, it is one all. We are now moving into the mystery category and the mystery category this week, there were some really good stories around that sound almost like science fiction, and so.
What what the smile in your voice?
Ye, Sean? Would you like to go first with your story? And then I'll bring it home with a good one.
Good nice sledge.
Well, my favorite science fiction story this week was something very tangible to all of us. It was that magnificent half marathon involving twelve thousand human runners and twenty one robots. Six of the twenty one completed. My favorite was the robot at the beginning. As soon as it was turned on collapsed, which is my time of running minile. I'm pretty happy about that. It turned up that the winner of the robot part of it was it was one point eight meters tall fifty two kilos, which is pretty tiny. I think we did it in the three hours forty minutes or something or other. Now, I don't know whether you saw the rabbit, but it actually had the singlet on the robot. It had its details, the number all that. The second robot was just one point two meters tall, weighing twenty nine kilos, wearing children's trainers to Oh.
That's creepy, I've been outrun by a child.
There's a female looking robot. The gun went just started walking as opposed to a runningone's trying to run around and then just fell over. There there was another one that was using fans to push it like we developed to use fans. That lasted about sixteen seconds I think, before it crashed.
Oh my.
The point of the story, well, there is no point of the story. It was just pretty funny to watch, sort of science fiction, not really eventuating in the end. The main person who won it, I think, with an hour and two minutes, the human runner. The best of the robots, as I said, was three hours forty minutes. You know, one robot's head fell off. I thought that was quite running at the end of the day. It's just a funny story and it just the science fiction wise, robots still have a long way to get before they get to a Dansky style.
I love the one whose head fell off, almost as though they put so much effort into making sure the legs were.
We needed some screws.
Have you seen the video of the really really sinister looking robot. I think it's like the a company called Clone Robotics, and it's I think out of Poland, and you google the video Clone Robotics, Poland Android. If you search those things, you'll see it. And essentially it's hanging up and it's quite like a humanoid shape, and it's got like like muscular kind of physique and when you watch it, the legs twitch and kick in a very human like way, and it is by far the most sinister thing you will ever see in terms of robotics. Doesn't help that the company actually puts sinister music behind the video as well. I think that's kind of figure that, Hey, if this is going to be creepy, we may as well lean right into it. We'll just go one hundred percent creepy.
Anyway, enough of that that, I'm adding that bit cl.
Yeah, yeah, clone robotics.
Poland we need to talk about K two one a B which Okay, it doesn't sound like much, but it might sit a new star, no adam more than that, it might just be the future and salvation of humanity, right, might be an overreach and claim I have been known.
It's the story of the week, maybe not the story of the month, but certainly the story of the week. The one saving humanity.
That's right, that's right, probably could have done this is the biggest story in that case. It is a planet. It is not a star. It is a planet eight point six times bigger than Earth orbiting a red dwarf star. So not so dissimilar to our own son, which is a yellow dwarf.
And so what's the red? Why are they called red dwarf stars.
Well, it's because it is small red.
Because yes, that you're right, aren't they Because they're a long way away, that's why they're reader.
No, no, no, no, it's it's actually based on these size and.
These elements that are burning.
And also because of their cooler surface temperatures causing them to emit more light in the red part of the electronomagnetic spectrum. Yep, that's not to do with the distance, making them appear ready to a ready to own to the human eye. Well why don't you say that before? When I asked, I.
Was trying to which wouldn't let me speak? I had that same explanation ready to go. But but this planet, right, forget the star that it's orbiting. We need to talk about the planet itself. Because this planet has in its atmosphere, and this was announced this week this week, in its atmosphere organic molecules, right, the kind of molecules that are found Oh wait a second here on Earth where life is right, So that is significant, and they are only produced by living organisms. So do you know what this is? This is life on another planet. Admittedly the scientists aren't yet saying that, but I'm confident that we are saying it here. Extra terrestrial life might be one hundred and twenty four light years away, but this could be it a planet with question teaming with life.
I have a question for you, Michael. Yes, sorry, yep. One hundred and twenty four light years away.
Yep, yep, yep.
So how did we get the data if it's one hundred and twenty four light years away telescope? Sean, we looked at it a big one.
And admittedly, because we are seeing something that is effectively one hundred and twenty four light years ago, you think that that planet now could be substantially more advanced. Cambridge University scientists say that the most likely scenario here, based on the data that they have, is a planet with an ocean teeming with life. That is just extraordinary, Sean, wins could be life granted. Great story compared to a robot whose head fell off, I know, doesn't it right itself?
It's hilarious. I love it. A running race where one of the robots just stops on the starting line and one has its headless. Great story, Sean, excellent.
Okay, let's go on to our favorite story. You want to go first?
Or life?
Yeah?
I will go for it. I will.
A massive week.
I feel like I used up all of my melodrama and my excitement and my passion in talking about life on another planet. But I do need to address the fact that it's been a massive week for evs as well. And I love this story because it just shows kind of the electric vehicle industry kind of takes kind of two steps forward, one step back, and just apend on what week it is. There's good news, there's bad news, and this week there was a mix of it, and this is one story with three dot points.
Don't say it.
It's not no ominous story, Sean. Don't look at me with that face.
I've said nothing, Michael. Yes, you've just said everything I wanted to say. You don't need to.
It is a one cohesive story with three bullet point blended bullet points all into one, and one of them, actually, Sean mentioned earlier with Tesla's seventy one percent drop in first quarter profit obviously more well, I've taken it. I don't need you to give it to me. Mask stepping back from dods should kind of restore a bit of confidence in that hybrids. Hybrids, Adam, let's talk about hybrids from hybrids for a moment. Obviously a lot of people buying them, selling huge numbers in Australia because obviously EV sales have been down, but hybrid sales have been up. Fascinating research this week that came out of Theustralian Automobile Association that shows that some of them, some of these hybrids actually use more fuel than internal combustion engines and in one case one actually used twelve percent more fuel on Australian roads.
That's extraordinary.
Don't shrug, well.
Two engines, it's going to have two engines instead of one, so it's no, it doesn't.
The whole point of.
The hybrid electric one.
No, I'm not arguing that the fact that it has have two, but the fact that it's using more fuel than just a straight fuel engine. The whole point of a hybrid is that should use less because the electric side of it's going to take some of the weight off it.
I agree, it's a fail.
Huge news.
This is part c of the one story point huge news from Chinese battery maker c at l or Cattle. We never quite settled. We shouldn't double check that one before I started a new EV battery that claims to be capable of one thousand kilometers of range from a single charge. Separately, you can also do five hundred and twenty kilometers of range in just five minutes of charging. Right, So there was multiple things that came out of this demonstration. That they did one thousand k's of range. Huge, that's enough to get you anywhere within one thousand kilometers. You can also charge it up in just five minutes and get five hundred and twenty ks like that is more than what we've seen from Tesla. It's more than what we've seen from BYD, which was the big announcement a few weeks ago. We thought that was the holy grail. This is an even hoier grail.
Now.
The fascinating thing is that CTL actually designs batteries for Tesla and for Volvo and for other EV companies. What it says is you've got BYD with its holy grail a few weeks ago. Now you've got this other company that makes it for its competitors. Wow. EV competition heating up.
What a story to the batteries getting charged at that point. That's a very good point shot. Not quite stable yet, but no, but.
I mean that again is a very minor detail.
That's right, What did you like this? That just went on forever and ever? Right, I'm going to be a really cool one. We had a story this week about thirty thousand businesses having a tax debt to fault with the at of over one hundred thousand dollars. Maybe you wouldn't think that's a great story. I think it is a good story because it just shows how tough small business is finding it out there, which I like the fact that the federal government and the opposition are doing jack all sounds like please please, This is a family shows for small businesses. I mean both of talking about extending the instant right off and the opposition or say they'll do it permanently. Permanently, but at the end of the day, right, thirty thousand businesses with the tax of one hundred thousand or more, they need help. So it's my favorite story because it actually in the figures from Credit to Watch, it demonstrates how tough it is out there for small businesses. And whoever wins on next week, whoever you are, helps more business. Yeah, I hover to you, Adam.
Both of them have elements of competition in the meaning that they both really highlight how much we need to have the settings right to have competition work well. And Seawan those numbers are incredibly distressing. Thirty thousand business as you imagine that debt, not just that it exists, but how people feel carrying it. It is I imagine crippling for them and their businesses, and settings do need to be changed. I think though Michael has to win this one. Two points one which you made one I think I would suggest as and an addition one is you know the fact that this market for hybrids and evs is moving so rapidly, but this technology is so locked in China. It's not happening in other places in the world. This isn't American technology pushing this forward. This is two Chinese companies byd c AT.
Give your mind.
You were thinking of this, Oh yeah, I thought I actually said it. I must must have just accidentally left it out.
This just happened.
But that China is again proving itself to be a force in the world economy, and so I just think that's an incredible story. So my favorite just has to be the ev story.
So what we have here is the Washington General's currently tied with the Harlem Globetrotters. Can they pull off that rare, rare, rare victory?
Have you won the last two? No?
I have not won for several weeks. Had I had a streak last month?
Two? Yeah?
Two wins?
Streak?
What have you got here, Adam? Have I done it today? Give us it so it's too old?
Give us so two?
All?
Is the story count? Sean eighty seven points, Michael eighty eight points.
Glorious, although although the shean thing, I think this will all have an asterisk on it.
So your generosity in allowing me to have that story actually had an ulterior motive.
Yeah, there'd been some codes. I'm thinking you think Rugby League, the NRL when salary campis Yes, there's always been just an asterix on those Melbourne storm win.
Just to be clear, though, this was a legitimate victory that I just had.
Yes, Yes, yes, Michael totally. Eighty eight to eighty seven to too Absolutely a clear cut ladslide to Michael, Tom J. Thompson.
My eyebrow is actually twitching with injustice. Thank you, Sean, Thank you Michael, and thank you Adam.
Thank you Michael, Thank you Sean.
Make sure you're following the podcast and please join us online on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X.
I'm Michael Thompson.
And that was fear and greed. Have a great weekend.
