
2025 marks the start of a new generation & conflict heats up over H-1B visas
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Neal Freyman
I'm Neal Freyman.
Toby Howell
And I'm Toby Howell.
Neal Freyman
Today, what you need to know about the MAGA versus Doge civil war over H1B tech visas.
Toby Howell
Then get ready to feel old. The start of 2025 also marks the dawn of Generation Beta. It's Thursday, January 2nd. Let's ride.
Neal Freyman
Good morning. We are so back. Hope you all had a relaxing holiday break and ready to hit the ground running in 2025. The US enters the new year on edge after at least 15 people were killed in New Orleans early yesterday morning when a man drove a white pickup through a crowd on Bourbon street in the heart of the French Quarter. The suspect was killed by police and we know he's a US Born citizen from Texas who flew an ISIS flag on the back of his truck. Authorities are calling this a terrorist attack and believe he's not the only person responsible, for the FBI said it's investigating all leads that will allow them to find his associates. New Orleans was full of people, not only for New Year's, but because college football's Sugar bowl was in town. That game between Georgia and Notre Dame was supposed to take place yesterday evening, but has been rescheduled for today out of security concerns.
Toby Howell
Separately, a few hours later, a Tesla cybertruck filled with fuel canisters and firework mortars exploded while parked outside of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, killing his driver and injuring seven others. As of right now, authorities are treating the two as isolated incidents, but President Joe Biden said in a statement that law enforcement is investigating whether there's any possible connection with the attack in New Orleans. One thread that does connect the two is that both drivers rented their vehicles off the car rental app Turo, sort of like this Airbnb platform for sharing cars. Though officials called it a, quote, coincidence, the investigation into both these incidents is ongoing and we'll keep you updated as more information rolls in. Now, on to the business news. 2025 isn't just the year where you're finally going to lock in. It also marks the dawn of humanity's newest Generation Gen Beta. Yep, While you're out there contending with lower back pain and the eggnog burps, babies born to your peers in the new year and onwards to 2039 are kicking off a brand new generational cohort. Gen Beta will be the second second generation after Alpha to have never written a 1 or a 9 in the date section of a test. Since they're born entirely within the 21st century and many of the youth born within the 14 year time frame will live to see the 22nd century. Now, obviously it's hard to predict what's in store for this generation. One thing is for certain, and that is Generation Beta will be big. Mark McCrindle, the demographer who coined the name Generation Alpha, predicts that Gen Beta will make up 16% of the global population by 2035 to reach 2.1 billion members. Gen Beta also enters a world of rapid technological change. If Gen Alpha has been dubbed iPad kids who grew up in front of screens, Gen Beta is likely to be similarly influenced by the rise of AI in virtual worlds. Neil, it is 2025, the dawn of a new generation. What is in store for Beta?
Neal Freyman
Well, one thing is they may think of Googling as something that we think of as using a rotary phone, just completely ancient. Thanks to the rise of generative AI and all of those search capabilities that they're allowing, they probably won't have to learn how to drive because of autonomous vehicles. Waymo has been expanding into multiple cities. Now I, you know, maybe, maybe they'll have to learn how to drive, but 16 years down the road we might have enough autonomous vehicles where they can just call an Uber a self driving Uber. And, and they'll never have to learn how to drive. They probably won't remember the first Mars landing that is slated for something like 2030 and 2031. And then when we talk about the pandemic like me and you, they'll just say let's get you to bed grandpa. That'll just be something they read about in the history books.
Toby Howell
And they could also potentially live in a post social media world. It's wild to think about now, but think about all of the pressure that legislators have been applying to these social media companies. TikTok could be banned in the US in less than a month. In Australia, they're rolling out the first social media ban for kids under the age of 16 that could be replaced by these virtual worlds that we've talked about before. The roadblocks is the Minecraft where kids hang out today. And then Obviously there is this rise of AI friends and boyfriends and girlfriends that could replace normal social interaction. Again, this is speculation we're speculating right now. But all these forces are coming to the fore as Generation Beta, you know, opens their eyes for the first time in this new world. So there is a lot of things that kind of demographers look back and say the only way you can really delineate between generations is through technological change. And it becomes more clear as you kind of progress through time. So we'll see what actually marks the difference between Generation Beta and Generation Alpha and Gen Z. But there's clearly a lot of forces kind of being applied to this generation.
Neal Freyman
Meanwhile, there's just been a surge in what's known as generational research and trying to figure out what millennials, how millennials are different than Gen Z, who are different than Gen Alpha, and how their consumption pat change and marketers and companies are all over this. I was watching football yesterday and I saw a Prudential ad that asked parents to put to open a savings account for Generation Beta. They explicitly use Generation Beta. They said, you can apply now and we'll get $150 for your generation Beta, kid. So there is a, you know, a lot of attention paid to these generational differences. There's also a lot of criticism toward people who use these generational differences because they, you are basically saying that people are born in a certain age group in a certain 15 year span. That's how long these generations are, are all the same because there's these certain external factors that weigh on them and, you know, influence them in certain ways. There's been a lot of pushback to that, a lot of criticism that generational research is kind of a sham and it's just, you know, basically a marketing ploy. But, you know, brands are absolutely so keyed in on these differences, whether they exist or not.
Toby Howell
And looking ahead a little bit, McCrindle, who is the man behind naming Generation Alpha and Generation Beta, he says that he's going to continue using Greek letters every 15 years to mark these new generations. So all those cool generations from the past think names like the Silent Generation, Gen X, baby Boomers. We're not going to have cool names like that. We're just going down the.
Neal Freyman
And the Betas is the worst, I know. Yeah.
Toby Howell
Not the best. I'd rather be an Alpha. A holiday dust up over immigration has put President elect Donald Trump in a delicate position as he tries to navigate two powerful factions within his base. The spat is centered on H1B visas which allow US companies to hire skilled foreign workers in specific industries, particularly for tech jobs. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy hold the stance that H1B visas are necessary to attract top engineering talent to the US given what is in their estimation a pretty paltry domestic supply. However, that pro immigration beat clashes with members of Trump's traditional base who criticized the H1B program for displacing American workers with cheap foreign talent and favoring corporations over American labor. To the surprise of some, Trump ended up siding with Elon in the tech faction coming out in support of the H1B visa program. So Neil, you have these two sides of the MAGA movement fighting a sort of civil war over the legal immigration of highly skilled workers with some very influential and important industries at the center of it all.
Neal Freyman
Yeah, and the, the industry at the center of the all of it all is big tech. They love H1B visas because they can bring in really smart people. They say that there's not enough American born programmers, software developers to fill their open spots. The company that was the largest sponsor of H1B visas in 2024 was Amazon with 9200 and Google, Metta, Apple, IBM, all are in the top 10. Elon Musk said that he himself was on an H1B visa at one point. And Tesla also approved or got approved 742 H1B petitions last year. Other big companies that use it are these IT providers like Cognizant Technology Solutions, Tata Consultancy Services in HCL America. The they're all in the top 10 as well. So big tech for years now, ever since H1B visas became a thing in the 90s, have been pushing on the government to expand the cap. The cap right now is 85,000. They think that's not nearly enough. They want more people to be able to come into the United States, mostly from India. You know this, the 72% of last year's visa H1B visas came from India. There was a lot of racial, the racist things going on as relates to Indian people because they, they account for the majority of H1B visas. But the tech industry for a long time has been pushing for an expansion of H1BS. So we'll see what happens.
Toby Howell
Yeah. Proponents of the system say that this is not meant to replace the American worker. It is just to be a stopgap. It plugs those gaps that the US workforce cannot satisfy in these very specialized field. I One thing that is true too is that Elon Musk feels extremely passionately about this especially I called it like the tech faction of the MAGA movement, they feel very strongly about it because they think that in order to make America competitive on a global scale, you need to hire the best global talent as well. So they're not saying this is not about replacing American workers, is about elevating America as a whole. Because if you're going to recruit the best people, you need to recruit from the world, not just America itself. Elon Musk tweeted, I will go to war on this issue, the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend. So he clearly feels very strongly about this, as do others in his his camp.
Neal Freyman
All I got to say now is get ready for the Popeye slasher flicks. That's because as of yesterday, the one eyed spinach fueled Sailor became one of thousands of copyrighted works to enter the US public domain, which allows a new generation of artists to adapt, share and rediscover old characters, books, music. It's an annual tradition. Every January 1st, the copyrights for works introduced 95 years ago expire according to the terms of US intellectual property law. So yesterday, art from 1929 came up for grabs. The first edition of Popeye entered the public domain along with Tintin, legendary books the Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms and a bunch more. The idea of the public domain is to unleash creativity by releasing locked up stories. And we saw this firsthand in 2024. The box office smash hit Wicked is a prequel to L. Frank Baum's the Wonderful wizard of Oz books and one of the most celebrated novels of the year. James by Percival Everett is a retelling of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Toby, Happy belated public domain day. It's a great day to be someone who's itching to write a Popeye musical.
Toby Howell
Yeah, or Popeye slasher film, as you said at the stop. It is interesting too, because when these works hit the public domain, sometimes it's not the work that you're imagining in your head. We made a big deal last year of Mickey Mouse are hitting the public domain, but it was actually Steamboat Willie who appeared in those animated shorts where he's whistling at the at the helm of a steamboat. Not the white gloved Mickey that you and I are probably or you're probably thinking about at home. Same thing with Popeye the Sailor. Is it the Popeye that we know with the, you know, the gravelly voice and eating spinach and that is a little bit up for Debate, because technically this is the 1929 version of Popeye, and it's not the one where he was eating spinach before he. He started eating spinach. This is a, this is a funny one. He got his superhuman strength from a weird source, the wifi, the whiffle hen named Bernice. So he survived like bullet wounds by petting Bernice, this magical hen. It was only until later that the spinach actually got involved. So maybe it's not the Popeye that you're thinking of, but it is still the sailor with the, with the bulging bison.
Neal Freyman
I'm not sure how often I think of Popeye, but I definitely do conflate him with spinach. So you mentioned the spinach doesn't come in until 1931 in that comic. But some sleuths at Duke University went looking for the copyright for the spinach version of Popeye and they found that it was not renewed. So actually, Popeye spinach is in the public domain now. So if you are considering writing a Popeye musical or a Popeye fan fiction or anything like that, you can legally, you know, have him getting, getting buff from spinach.
Toby Howell
And you mentioned that kind of jokingly, that someone might make a Popeye slasher film. That has become a very normal thing. As these beloved children kind of classics hit the public domain, people immediately jump on and make a horror movie out of it. In 2023, we saw Winnie the Pooh, Blood and Honey, which was this really horrible B grade horror movie. We saw the Mousetrap, which was a horror flick based off of Mickey Mouse. And then Popeye the Slayer man will be released in 2025. There's already a trailer out for that on YouTube.
Neal Freyman
Yeah. So this, we're making jokes about this, but this is actually a huge deal. As I mentioned, some of the most blockbuster works of this year are adaptations of old works. And you know, there are a lot of people who criticize U.S. copyright law, saying 95 years, that is intense. Right? Like copyright law is meant to protect artists and incentivize creativity because you don't want to spend years working on something only for somebody to rip it off after. But 95 years is much after. And it comes as part of a law that has Disney's fingerprints written all over it. Disney really wants to protect its characters, particularly Mickey Mouse. So it created, along with U.S. government this, this copyright law that extends protection for 95 years. But you can see how much creativity is unleashed when these works enter the public domain. I just want to get you a little excited about who's entering the public domain in the coming years. So we get Goofy in 2028, Mary Poppins and Donald Duck in 2030, Superman in 2034. These are not in the coming years. These are way down the line. Batman, but still you can get excited. Batman in 2035, Tom and Jerry and Bugs Bunny in 2036. That is going to be a big year. If we're doing if we're still podcasting in 2036, that's going to be a big deal. Wonder Woman 2037 Jan Beta is going.
Toby Howell
To have a field day with those. Up next, our winners of the long weekend.
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Neal Freyman
As per tradition, we typically do winners of the weekend on a Monday. But this Thursday is basically a Monday in disguise. So Toby and I decided to pick two things whose holiday break scored a 100% on the tomato meter. I won the pre show mini golf round with a score of 30 under par. So I get to go first. My winner is the victims of Bernie Madoff because somehow they've been made nearly whole. The 10th and final round of payments to people scammed by the notorious Ponzi schemer was sent out on Monday, bringing the Total recovered to 94% of estimated total losses. Officials called it an unprecedented conclusion to a a compensation process that will have repaid $4.3 billion to over 40,000 people in almost 130 countries. This final batch paid out about 131 million. So where the Fed scrounge up the money from most about 2.2 billion came from a settlement with the estate of Madoff investor Jeffrey Picker. While 1.7 billion was recovered from JP Morgan, which is the bank Madoff used to orchestrate his fraud. As for Madoff, he died in prison in 2021 while serving a 150 year sentence for conducting the world's largest Ponzi scheme, cheating investors, most of them regular people out of $20 billion.
Toby Howell
Yeah, I think that's the big takeaway here is that the Madoff victim fund says that a lot of people incorrectly assume that the victims were these big institutions, these big pensions or these high worth, high net worth individuals, which there were a lot of them that invested with Madoff. But a lot of the MVF victims were also these small investors. Relatively small.
Neal Freyman
And by MVF you mean Madoff victim fund made off is like the fund that they created to pay out the.
Toby Howell
Correct and those loss is averaged right around $250,000. So again to some people that is a not a small victim. But again in the grand scheme of this kind of world of high finance, that is a smaller investor and it did wreak a lot of havoc on people's lives. And even though that these, some of these big pensions were so called big investors, they are including charities, including schools. So obviously, I mean you don't need me to rehash how disrupting the Madoff, you know, Ponzi scheme was. But just remember that some of these victims were relatively small level investors.
Neal Freyman
And it's pretty remarkable. 94% is crazy that they're able to scrounge up the funds to pay these people back. And reminded me of a recent fraud RTX where they, the prosecutors and the people cleaning up this mess, we're able to do something similar and we were talking before the show, what did they, what did they were able to repay RTX like 98%. So these victims, you know, are made whole eventually by through all these asset seizures and settlement agreements. Takes took 16 years in the Madoff case. But you know a small bit of good news for, for this Madoff situation.
Toby Howell
My winner of the very long weekend is the entire stock market because it's 2024 was stronger than your last drink on New Year's Eve. Despite a bit of a wobbly December that saw the S and p close down 2 1/2 percent, the Dow slide 5%. It was a dang good year for stocks. The S&P 500 finished up 23%, a strong showing. A right on the heels of rising 24% in 2023. Those back to back gains of over 20% was the best performance for the index since the year I was born, which was, Neil.
Neal Freyman
1990, 1997.
Toby Howell
Good job. You know me so well. A combination of inflation, interest rate cuts and the promise of AI sent stocks flying. However, if you missed out on a few key companies, you whiffed out on a lot of these gains. The Magnificent Seven accounted for over 50% of the S&P 500 total gains this year with Nvidia coming in as the top performer in the S&P 500 once again with a nice 179% gain. Neil, if your portfolio ended up in the red this year, feels like you got no one to blame but yourself.
Neal Freyman
That's harsh, but also true. Let's do a winners, let's do a meta out winner segment. Who were the biggest winners of the winner? That was the stock market. Well, Palantir was the S&P 500 top performing component this year. It went up over 350%. This is the AI company that has a data analytics company that has a lot of clients in the U.S. government and the Pentagon, but it's expanding to have more private clients. So Palantir was a huge winner. Some other smaller companies that did really well sort of exemplify what's going on in the economy. New Scale Power, which is a nuclear power company focused on small modular reactors, rose 450%. And we saw a lot of big tech companies invest in those small modular reactors in order to power their data centers. Another company that did super well, Applovin, which is a mobile app development marketing company, shares were up more than 700% on the year. So those were a few of the outliers of overall a great market. Let's go to the losers here. I mean, I can think of three blue chip stocks that did really poorly and have engaged these big turnaround efforts to to turn around their businesses. Three are Boeing, intel and Walgreens. Intel and Walgreens, both shares were both down over 60%. Boeing, so many crises over the over 2024 was down 30%. So those big Dow stocks did not do well last year.
Toby Howell
And if you're wondering why we're celebrating when really the last week of the year was so bad was really red, a lot of kind of analysts are looking out of this and saying, all right, where do we see this next jump coming from? Can't really see it right now, maybe take some chips off the board, maybe take a little profits before the year end, which was a bummer because there's this thing called the Santa rally, which is like post Christmas there is usually a little bit of bump to end the year. Instead we got the reverse Santa rally, a little bit of red, but 2025, three years in a row of 20 plus gains. It has happened before in stock market history, but it is before you were born. Before. Well before I was born. Well before Generation Beta was even conceived of. So I won't speculate as to what's happened, but it is exceedingly Rare to see three plus years of 20 plus percent.
Neal Freyman
Well, there are people whose jobs it is to speculate. Those are Wall street analysts. They say on average that the S and P will rise about 10% next year. You have a lot of competing things going on. You have Trump's deregulatory agenda, but you also at the same time have his tariffs and perhaps another bout of inflation. And what really killed the stock market rally post election was Jerome Powell getting up there and saying that instead of four expected rate cuts in 2025, we're only going to have two. So interest rate cuts in the path of the Fed are really going to drive a lot of the stock market this year. Typically following the weekend, we give you a preview of the week ahead with this show coming after the longest weekend of all. Well, let's supersize this segment to give you a heads up about the major events of the year ahead. And we'll start right here in January with Dry January, the annual event when people challenge themselves to lay off the booze during the first month of the new year. Started by a UK charity in 2013, Dry January is more popular than ever with web searches for the term in the first week of 2024, doubling from 2023 to reach an all time high. But for many of you taking on the alcohol detects, Dry January may not be too difficult to pull off at all because you're drinking less as it is, per capita, pure alcohol consumption in the US has dropped to its lowest level since 20 2002. Toby, are you doing Dry January?
Toby Howell
I am doing Dry January. Part of it is. Also I have another marathon on the docket so those two don't really go hand in hand. But you're right, a lot of this drop is led by the youth, the younger people. The share of 18 to 34 year olds who say they've never, they, they ever drink has fallen by 10 percentage points in the last two decades, according to Pew Research. So this is clearly something driven from the use from the people who used to be, you know, kind of driving alcohol consumption. That has kind of started to change a little bit. Some of the beneficiaries from this has been the cannabis industry. As people indulge in January, cannabis shop operators anecdotally say, like they usually come in looking for, you know, a boost in edibles or those drinkable cannabis products as well. So it definitely is a vibe shift. So obviously 2024 was one of the biggest dry January on record. Let's see if 2025 exhibits a similar growth trajectory.
Neal Freyman
You only have to look a few weeks out for two other major events. On January 19th, Tik Tok will be banned in the US if it isn't saved by the Supreme Court, which will hear arguments on the case about a week before then. The next day, January 20th, is Inauguration Day. Donald Trump will be sworn in as the next President of the United States. Over break he urged the Supreme Court to hold off on a ban so he could have time to strike a deal that allows it to survive in the country.
Toby Howell
It's been interesting, Neil, though I have seen some Internet culture writers, Jules Turpak being one of them, that are saying a lot of TikTok users would actually be bummed out if it wasn't banned in the country. They're saying that deep down people want it washed from their culture. They're tired of feeling like their brains literally rotting away. We spoke about brain rot in our year end recap. People are just tired of that feeling. So there is this weird undercurrent of people saying, you know what, just get it off my phone, give me my screen time back a little bit. I don't know how big of a faction that is or if it's more just an online thing, but it is interesting to see that groundwell of support for the band as we kind of come up against that deadline.
Neal Freyman
Skipping ahead to the fall, which is when the biggest entertainment event of the year is slated to take place. Can you guess what it is? If you said Grand Theft Auto 6, you are correct. The video game, a decade in the making, will almost certainly be the biggest Entertainment launch of 2025, with projections that it'll bring in $3 billion in its first year and $1 billion in pre orders before it even comes out. Toby this property has broken more records than Mondo Duplantis. The previous edition, which came out in 2013, is the best selling entertainment product of all time. And the trailer for GTA 6 is the most viewed video game reveal ever, with more than 225 million views on YouTube since it was released December 2023.
Toby Howell
There is this joke that we got X before we got GTA 6 playing on the fact that it's been 12 years between releases now. You will not be able to make that joke anymore. So you got to find a new shtick. I do think this is going to be gigantic. I mean, all the way back in 2013, Grand Theft Auto 5 did 800 million in global sales on its first day. I think it's going to be even bigger now because of just all that hype that we spoke about.
Neal Freyman
The biggest film release of the year won't happen until December when the third installment of James Cameron's Avatar saga hits theaters. It won't be GTA 6 big, but it'll still be pretty massive. The first and second Avatar films both grossed over $2 billion globally, putting them among the top five highest grossing movies of all time. And the wild part is there are two more Avatars after this next one.
Toby Howell
That is hard to wrap my mind around. You know what, I'm just going to say it though. I'm tired of people saying that Avatar is this empty franchise with no cultural impact. I mean, I enjoyed the last film. Way of Water was great. The first Avatar is great as well. I think this next one is great. I'm tired of pretending that I don't like Avatar. I think it's a great series.
Neal Freyman
Okay, let's wrap it up there. Thanks so much for spending your morning with us and have a wonderful Thursday. Wow. Tomorrow is Friday. We really earned this weekend. Coming up, for any questions, comments or feedback, send an email to Morning Brew Daily at Morning Broadcom. If your New Year's resolution is to have smarter conversations with the people around you, well, I can think of nothing better than to share Morning Brew Daily with your friends and family so when you talk to them, they'll be just as up to date as you are on current events. If you don't like that idea, here's Toby with another sharing idea.
Toby Howell
It's a pretty similar idea. I just want you to share the podcast with someone who's looking for a new news podcast to start the year. New year, New podcast seems easy enough. Enough. Let's make 2025 the year ever.
Neal Freyman
The gang is all back, so let's roll the credits. Emily Milian is our executive producer. Raymond Liu is our producer. Olivia Graham is our associate producer. Eugenia oh is our technical director. Billy Menino is on. Audio hair makeup is in the public domain, so feel free to adapt and reuse this jokes to your liking. Devin Emery is our Chief Content officer and our shows are production of Morning Brew.
Toby Howell
Great show, Danielle. Let's run it back tomorrow.
Morning Brew Daily: Episode Summary
Title: Welcome Generation Beta & The Heated Battle Over H-1B Visas
Release Date: January 2, 2025
Hosts: Neal Freyman and Toby Howell
The episode opens with a somber note as the hosts discuss two tragic events that occurred on New Year's Day, setting a tense tone for the beginning of 2025.
Neal Freyman (00:35):
"Today, what you need to know about the MAGA versus Doge civil war over H1B tech visas."
Neal Freyman (00:54):
"The US enters the new year on edge after at least 15 people were killed in New Orleans early yesterday morning when a man drove a white pickup through a crowd on Bourbon Street in the heart of the French Quarter."
The suspect, identified as a U.S.-born citizen from Texas who displayed an ISIS flag, was killed by police. Authorities are investigating potential accomplices, with the FBI actively pursuing all leads. This attack coincided with the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, leading to the rescheduling of the game between Georgia and Notre Dame for security reasons.
Toby Howell (01:45):
"Separately, a few hours later, a Tesla Cybertruck filled with fuel canisters and firework mortars exploded while parked outside of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, killing his driver and injuring seven others."
While officials initially treat the two incidents as isolated, President Joe Biden has urged law enforcement to explore any possible connections between them. Notably, both vehicles were rented through the car-sharing app Turo, raising questions about potential links warranting further investigation.
Marking the beginning of a new generational cohort, Freshman Generation Beta is introduced, highlighting its significance and the anticipated impact on society.
Toby Howell (02:00):
"The start of 2025 also marks the dawn of Generation Beta. It's Thursday, January 2nd. Let's ride."
Generation Beta, spanning from 2025 to 2039, is poised to comprise 16% of the global population by 2035, totaling approximately 2.1 billion individuals, according to demographer Mark McCrindle. Unlike previous generations, Gen Beta will have never written a '1' or a '9' in any date, symbolizing their entirely 21st-century upbringing with advanced technologies.
Neal Freyman (03:39):
"One thing is certain, Generation Beta will be big. Mark McCrindle, the demographer who coined the name Generation Alpha, predicts that Gen Beta will make up 16% of the global population by 2035 to reach 2.1 billion members."
The generation is expected to grow up immersed in AI and virtual realities, potentially leading to significant shifts in how they interact with technology and the world.
The discussion delves into the technological landscape that will shape Gen Beta, emphasizing advancements like generative AI and autonomous vehicles.
Neal Freyman (03:39):
"They may think of Googling as something that we think of as using a rotary phone, just completely ancient. Thanks to the rise of generative AI and all of those search capabilities that they're allowing, they probably won't have to learn how to drive because of autonomous vehicles."
With companies like Waymo expanding their autonomous vehicle services, Gen Beta might never learn to drive traditionally, relying instead on self-driving rideshare options. Additionally, significant events like the anticipated Mars landing in the early 2030s may become mere historical facts to this digitally native generation.
Toby Howell (04:28):
"They could also potentially live in a post social media world. TikTok could be banned in the US in less than a month... there is this rise of AI friends and boyfriends and girlfriends that could replace normal social interaction."
Legislative pressures are mounting against current social media platforms, pushing towards virtual worlds and AI-driven social interactions, which may redefine socialization for Gen Beta.
A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to the internal strife within the MAGA movement regarding the H-1B visa program, highlighting the clash between pro-immigration tech advocates and traditionalist factions.
Toby Howell (07:06):
"A holiday dust up over immigration has put President elect Donald Trump in a delicate position as he tries to navigate two powerful factions within his base."
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy advocate for the necessity of H-1B visas to attract top global engineering talent, arguing that domestic talent pools are insufficient. Conversely, traditional MAGA supporters criticize the program for allegedly displacing American workers and favoring corporations over native labor.
Neal Freyman (08:10):
"Big tech loves H1B visas because they can bring in really smart people. Amazon was the largest sponsor in 2024 with 9,200 visas, followed by Google, Meta, Apple, and IBM."
Companies heavily reliant on specialized technical skills are pushing for an expansion of the current H-1B cap of 85,000 visas, primarily sourcing talent from India, which has sparked racial and political tensions.
Toby Howell (09:38):
"Elon Musk tweeted, 'I will go to war on this issue, the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.' He clearly feels very strongly about this."
The episode underscores the strategic importance of H-1B visas in maintaining America's competitive edge in the global tech arena, while also navigating the complex political landscape within the MAGA movement.
Marking the entry of numerous iconic characters and works into the public domain, the hosts explore the creative and commercial implications of this transition.
Neal Freyman (10:30):
"As of yesterday, the one-eyed spinach-fueled Sailor became one of thousands of copyrighted works to enter the US public domain."
Notable entries include the original version of Popeye, Tintin, The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, and Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. This influx aims to unleash creativity by allowing artists to adapt and reinterpret these classic characters and stories.
Toby Howell (11:40):
"When these works hit the public domain, sometimes it's not the work that you're imagining in your head. We saw Steamboat Willie instead of the modern Mickey Mouse, and the 1929 version of Popeye does not feature spinach as his strength source."
The hosts discuss how initial adaptations may differ from contemporary perceptions, but recent discoveries, such as the public domain status of the spinach-powered Popeye, open new avenues for creative reimaginations.
Neal Freyman (12:47):
"If you are considering writing a Popeye musical or a Popeye fan fiction or anything like that, you can legally have him getting buff from spinach."
This legal shift has already led to the creation of genre-blending projects like horror adaptations, exemplified by upcoming releases such as Popeye the Slayer Man slated for 2025.
The hosts commend the near-complete restitution to victims of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, highlighting the efficiency and thoroughness of the compensation process.
Neal Freyman (16:24):
"The final batch paid out about $131 million, making the total recovered 94% of estimated total losses. This includes $2.2 billion from a settlement with Jeffrey Picker's estate and $1.7 billion recovered from JP Morgan."
Madoff's victims, many of whom were small investors, have largely been compensated after a 16-year-long legal and financial recovery process. Neal draws parallels with recent cases like RTX, where similarly high recovery rates were achieved swiftly.
Toby Howell (17:41):
"A lot of the Madoff Victim Fund victims were relatively small level investors, averaging around $250,000 in losses."
The hosts emphasize the impact on individual lives and institutions like charities and schools, acknowledging the emotional and financial devastation caused by Madoff's fraudulent activities.
Celebrating a robust stock market year, the hosts analyze the factors contributing to the S&P 500's impressive 23% gain in 2024, surpassing the previous year's 24% rise.
Toby Howell (19:48):
"A combination of inflation, interest rate cuts, and the promise of AI sent stocks flying."
Key contributors to the market surge included major tech players collectively known as the "Magnificent Seven," with Nvidia leading as the top performer with a 179% gain.
Neal Freyman (20:23):
"Palantir was the S&P 500's top-performing component this year, rising over 350%."
Other standout companies included New Scale Power and Applovin, showcasing exceptional growth. Conversely, traditional blue-chip stocks like Boeing, Intel, and Walgreens struggled, highlighting a significant shift within the market dynamics.
Toby Howell (21:54):
"Three consecutive years of 20-plus percent gains is exceedingly rare."
The hosts note that while analysts predict a 10% rise for the upcoming year, multiple factors, including Trump's deregulatory agenda and potential inflationary pressures, could influence future market performance.
Looking ahead, Neal and Toby outline major events and trends expected to shape 2025, from cultural phenomena to political milestones.
Neal Freyman (24:59):
"On January 19th, TikTok will be banned in the US if the Supreme Court doesn't intervene. The next day, January 20th, is Inauguration Day, where Donald Trump will be sworn in as the next President."
This political shift accompanies significant cultural changes, including the anticipated ban on TikTok, reflecting broader societal movements towards reducing screen time and combating "brain rot."
Toby Howell (26:02):
"Deep down, people want TikTok washed from their culture. They're tired of feeling like their brains are literally rotting away."
The discussions hint at a growing public desire for digital detox and a return to more meaningful interactions, potentially leading to the rise of alternative social platforms and virtual experiences.
Neal Freyman (26:46):
"The biggest entertainment event of the year is Grand Theft Auto 6, projected to bring in $3 billion in its first year with $1 billion in pre-orders."
The highly anticipated release of GTA 6 is expected to break numerous records, maintaining the franchise's status as a cultural and commercial powerhouse.
Toby Howell (27:34):
"The biggest film release of the year won't happen until December when the third installment of James Cameron's Avatar saga hits theaters."
As the Avatar series continues, its cultural and financial impact remains significant, with plans for two additional sequels reinforcing its enduring legacy.
Neal and Toby wrap up the episode by reflecting on the dynamic and multifaceted landscape of 2025, from generational shifts and political battles to cultural renaissances and economic triumphs. They encourage listeners to stay informed and engaged with Morning Brew Daily to navigate the complexities of the new year confidently.
Neal Freyman (28:22):
"If your New Year's resolution is to have smarter conversations with the people around you, well, I can think of nothing better than to share Morning Brew Daily with your friends and family."
Toby Howell (28:35):
"It's a pretty similar idea. I just want you to share the podcast with someone who's looking for a new news podcast to start the year."
Notable Quotes:
Neal Freyman (00:35):
"Today, what you need to know about the MAGA versus Doge civil war over H1B tech visas."
Toby Howell (04:28):
"They could also potentially live in a post social media world... AI friends and boyfriends and girlfriends that could replace normal social interaction."
Toby Howell (09:38):
"Elon Musk tweeted, 'I will go to war on this issue, the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.'"
Neal Freyman (12:47):
"If you are considering writing a Popeye musical or a Popeye fan fiction or anything like that, you can legally have him getting buff from spinach."
Neal Freyman (16:24):
"Officials called it an unprecedented conclusion to a compensation process that will have repaid $4.3 billion to over 40,000 people in almost 130 countries."
Toby Howell (19:48):
"A combination of inflation, interest rate cuts, and the promise of AI sent stocks flying."
This episode of Morning Brew Daily provides an insightful overview of the pivotal events and trends shaping the early days of 2025. From geopolitical tensions and generational evolutions to economic triumphs and cultural renewals, Neal Freyman and Toby Howell deliver a comprehensive analysis designed to inform and engage their audience.