B (2:26)

Emily might have a point there. She knows how harmful wasting time is. Just like LinkedIn ads ads does and probably doesn't want to hear us yap about that Liverpool Newcastle game.

A (2:35)

LinkedIn ads can help you stop wasting time too. Plus stop wasting money, resources and effort like 71% of B2B ads and find the right audience for your brand.

B (2:45)

They've got over 130 million decision makers in 10 million C suite execs aka the people you need for your business on their platform. You can target by job title, industry, company and more.

A (2:56)

So try LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn will even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign so you can try it for yourself. Just go to linked.com/mbd. That's LinkedIn.com/mbd. Terms and conditions apply only on LinkedIn ads. Yesterday was the global release of Fed Wars Episode 2 the Central Bank Strikes Back Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, whom President Trump is attempting to remove from her role, said she would file a lawsuit against the White House in order to keep her job. President Trump has no authority to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, her lawyer said in a statement, adding his attempt to fire her based solely on a referral letter lacks any factual or legal basis. On Monday, Trump made the stunning move of telling Cook he was removing her from her role over allegations of mortgage fraud. She hasn't been charged with wrongdoing or convicted of a crime, but Trump thinks he has enough evidence to fire Cook for cause, which is the only way under law that he can boot her from her position under law. That's a phrase you are going to hear a lot more often now that this fight for the Federal Reserve moves into the legal realm. With Cook planning to sue, experts believe this clash will eventually make its way up to the Supreme Court, which has already heard many cases over Trump's ability to fire agency heads. At stake is only the global economic system. By design, the Federal Reserve is shielded by politics, so it can make the best long term decisions for the prosperity of the United States. And economists and business leaders across the political spectrum warn that political meddling could undermine the essence of America's economic success. The Financial Times has the context. The case of one Fed governor is not that significant on its own, but it is no exaggeration to say that the Fed's independence and role in the international financial system could hang on Cook's fate and experience with U.S. judges.

B (4:44)

Whoo. Yeah, this case could definitely become a landmark precedent on the legal side as well. That dives into what removal powers does the president have specifically when it comes to the central bank. For cause is just the phrase that you're going to hear so much because that is generally meant to mean Gross misconduct. That happens when during your tenure as a Fed governor, not necessarily stuff you did pre appointment. So that is where a lot of the nitty gritty is going to lie is hey, if Cook did something illegal before she was installed in this role, will that mean that she can be kicked out of a role currently right now? So I do think that is when they say that this is on a collision course to the Supreme Court, there will be some clarity around how much presidential removal powers President Trump actually has.

A (5:30)

And Supreme Court has weighed in on this type of thing before, not specifically a Fed governor, because to repeat, this is unprecedented. This has never happened ever in the history of the Federal Reserve since it was created in 1913 that a president has tried to remove a Fed governor. But the Supreme Court has weighed in on presidents trying to fire other agency heads before. And there is a 90 year precedent that allows Congress to make it hard to for president for the executive branch to fire the heads of independent agencies. In 1935, Franklin Delano Roosevelt FDR tried to fire a commissioner of the FTC, William Humphrey. Humphrey sued to keep his position similar to what is going on here with Lisa Cook. And the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the firing had been unlawful. Fast forward to this past few months. Trump has tried to fire a lot of agency heads, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and he's been far more successful, far more successful than FDR was. The Supreme Court has been sympathetic to the executive branches powers to fire independent agency heads. However, during those opinions where he's firing all these other guys and he's letting them, the Supreme Court is letting him, they said that the Fed may warrant special protection and they said they, you can't fire a Fed governor without cause.

B (6:50)

Yeah, Fed is definitely a kind of its own separate thing where it's been alluded to, but there's never been a distinct ruling around that. The market reaction yesterday was pretty fascinating because we did see yields for long term government bonds spike a little bit as investors say, like hey, this is another sign that the central bank's independence is eroding. So we did see those yields rise, but then stocks kind of held steady, which was very interesting. The market basically shrugged it off because they're not necessarily super sensitive to this stuff happening. In the near term, if long term, it looks like we will see more policy interference down the road. That is where the market gets a little bit nervy. So potentially it's just wait and see mode right now from the market itself. You might expect it a little bit of a sell off yesterday because this is on its surface an attack on Fed independence. But it is just kind of remarkable right now how stocks basically just took it in stride and said if it starts to look worse going forward, then we might see more of a sell off.

A (7:49)

I mean, some economists are like this, you know, I mean, some economists said that there should have been a sell off. Eric Winograd is the chief economist at Alliance Bernstein. Compared it to a fraud fog boiling in water and that, you know, there should be a little more nerves going on in the markets. But overall they're just looking forward to Nvidia's earnings later today, and that will drive the market far more than what's happening over at the Fed.

B (8:13)

After a string of disappointing releases, Apple is making sure its next iPhones will fall far from the tree Mark your calendars for September 9th. Yesterday, Apple announced plans to hold its annual fall product launch next month, where the company will roll out its iPhone 17 lineup. The tagline on the invite is all dropping, but the first product announcement is likely not going to drop any eyes. The new standard iPhone 17 will shocker look similar to the iPhone 16, but with a larger display and camera improvements, according to Bloomberg. But the star of the show is likely to be the iPhone Air, Apple's first wholly new design in years, which will come in about 2 millimeters slimmer than current models with just one rear camera and a shorter battery life. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, Mark Gurman from Bloomberg said that an ambassador's three year plan for an iPhone makeover is also likely to be announced at the event. Following the iPhone Air, Apple plans to introduce its first foldable phone similar to Samsung's design, resembling a foldable tablet. Then in 2027, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the iPhone, Apple will drop a curved glass iPhone 20, breaking away from the square slabs that have come to define smartphones as we know it. Neil Apple has come under a ton of fire for a glacial pace of innovation when it comes to the iPhone. Using a phone now feels a lot like using a phone from five years ago. We'll see if this event can bring back some of that wow factor.

A (9:37)

They seem to be ramping up their hardware innovation, and it's a zig where other tech companies have zagged. Last week Google had this big release of its Pixel 10. They really didn't focus much on the hardware itself. They focused more on all the AI features that were contained within the Android operating system that was the main focus of that presentation. Looks like Apple is going in the other direction because their AI push, whether it's with Siri or the broader Apple Apple intelligence features, has largely disappointed investors and consumers. So now they are going in on just making really cool gadgets again, hopefully, because you're right, we haven't seen a lot of, you know, whiz bang innovations in the past few years. So Apple just leaning into what it does best, which is make really cool hardware. We'll see whether consumers bite.

B (10:22)

This brings me back to 2014. Around that time Samsung was rolling out these big screen phones and Apple was kind of like lagging behind when it comes to how much screen real estate they had. They released the iPhone 6, which at the time was a very large phone, and Apple ended up winning that particular battle. But now it feels like we're running back that exact same rivalry Once more in 2020, 25 when it comes to foldable phones. And right now, Samsung has finally started to make some inroads, maybe on the backs of its foldable phone innovation. Its market share in the US jumped from 23% to 31% in the second quarter of 2025, Apple's market share slipped from 56% to 49%. So it is still the number one dog. But you are right, there is hasn't been that moment of lining up for the new iPhone. Most people buy a new iPhone because their old one got scratched or broke, not because it is this massive new form factor that gets people super excited. So two new form factors in the next three years, that is something that could bring kind of that pizzazz back to Apple's hardware.

A (11:24)

And investors are also coming back to this stock. I mean, going into August, Apple stock was down 17% for the year. There was a whole load of problems going on at Apple, from the lack of AI innovation to regulatory crackdowns to rising competition in China. But then Tim Cook goes to the Oval Office office with the, you know, the golden trophy, hands it to President Trump, kisses the ring, says they're going to spend.00 billion more on manufacturing in the United States. That was early August, August 6th. And then since then the stock is up nearly 9% on pace for its best month since June 2024. And then Apple also reported really solid earnings showing that maybe some of those, some of that hangover was wearing off. It reported its fastest quarterly revenue growth in more than three years and was rebounding in the China market. So maybe Apple getting its mojo back heading into this big September 9th iPhone unveil. Ever since ChatGPT was launched nearly three years ago, fears have grown that generative AI would replace human jobs. Turns out those fears were warranted. A first of its kind study from Stanford economists published yesterday found the first clear evidence that AI was eliminating job prospects. Until now, the automation scare had been anecdotal. This research brings the receipts, and here they are. For younger workers in industries vulnerable to AI automation, like software development and customer service, there's been a 16% decline in employment from late 2022 through the middle of this year. The researchers looked at data on millions of workers through adp, the largest payroll provider in the US for a much granular picture on employment than you could find anywhere else. So the bottom line, if you're a recent college grad and you're trying to get a position as an entry level coder, receptionist, translator or customer service rep, your job hunt has been made harder because of the chat GPT revolution. We've never been able to say that concretely before, but that's not the entire bottom line, because AI isn't impacting everyone the same. The study found that more experienced workers, even those in vulnerable industries, are getting better opportunities thanks to AI, while industries where humans are empowered to work in tandem with AI are also seeing higher headcount. The lead Stanford researcher, Eric Brynofsson was pretty shocked at his findings. And there's definitely evidence that AI is beginning to have a big effect. He said, this is the fastest, broadest change that I've seen. Buckle up.

B (13:49)

Yeah, poor younger workers. AI is very similar to new grads in the sense that it does really well with so and so book knowledge, but doesn't have the experience, doesn't have the so called tacit knowledge that older workers have. Older workers just have the tricks of the trade that you don't learn in school, you just learn by being on the job for a while. AI doesn't have that either. So you have a little bit of this paradox brewing in the early job market. If AI is wiping out all these junior roles, how do the newer workers ever gain that tacit knowledge that you need that makes older workers invaluable? So it's almost like a very slippery slope that we're just at the precipice at. And this was the first time that we actually got some numbers behind what that precipice actually looks like?

A (14:33)

Hence another big scare for the computer science profession. The computer science major, which has grown exponentially in the past few decades. Decades. Everyone you know, you've heard learn to code, learn to code. Everyone said that for during the 2010s, but now you're seeing that computer science majors aren't don't have great job prospects thanks to AI. There was this viral video of this woman who just graduated from Purdue University and she has been job hunting and she said I just graduated with computer science degree and the only company that has called me for an interview is Chipotle. And that jives with I think it was a Neil's numbers a few months back that among college grads aged 22 to 27, computer science and computer engineering majors have some of the highest unemployment rates of any industry, 6.1% and 7.5% respectively. That is more than double the unemployment rate for biology and art history grads at just 3%. So if you you know, I think a lot of people going into college will certainly reassess whether the computer science major is the one for them one term.

B (15:38)

I think you're going to hear a lot more going forward. That Bryn Olfsen kind of brought up is a centaur job where these jobs where humans and I can kind combined strength. I don't know who is who in the center analogy there, but you need that human judgment. You need that tacit knowledge that older workers have paired with AI's ability to rip things at scale, rip things very efficiently. They found that center jobs often outperform one or the other. So you will see some industries kind of go towards this let's augment our human workers. And then you'll see other industries go towards let's replace our human workers. And Olsen is arguing for the former, saying hey we they are better together. Let's just have these centaurs running around and just be more productive overall. Now let's take a quick break and Talk about Spotify DMs. This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. I'm a person who really appreciates simplicity and when it comes to credit card rewards, the simpler the better. That's one of the many reasons I have an Apple Card. The rewards are super straightforward. I earn up to 3% daily cash back on my everyday purchases. There are no points to calculate, no limits or deadlines. Plus it's super easy to access my card and make payments from the wallet app of my iPhone. If that sounds like the kind of simplicity you want in a credit card, apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app on your iPhone. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Brands terms and more@apple card.com Sometimes the best B2B marketing gets wasted on the wrong people.

A (17:09)

Tell me about it. I got targeted with ads for cross functional backend channelized SaaS architecture. Architecture when I only know what one of those words mean.

B (17:18)

Yep, that's the problem with a lot of ad platforms. When you want to actually reach the right professionals though, go with LinkedIn ads.

A (17:25)

LinkedIn's got a network of over 1 billion professionals and 130 million decision makers all in one place.

B (17:31)

And the targeting next level. You can get super specific on LinkedIn ads, down to job title, industry seniority and even specific skills.

A (17:39)

Don't keep wasting your budget on the wrong audience. Reach the right people on LinkedIn.

B (17:43)

LinkedIn will even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign, so you can try it yourself. Just go to LinkedIn.com mbd that's LinkedIn.com mbd Terms and conditions apply only on LinkedIn ads. Smooth operators just got another entry point in which they can slide into the DMS Spotify, the music streaming app, introduced a direct messaging feature yesterday that lets you send it new Taylor Swift albums or the latest episode of Me to your friends without leaving the app. The feature is not available in the US yet, and only to users aged 16 years and older, but will eventually roll out to premium and free subscribers in the next few weeks. You can see Spotify's thinking here. These types of messages were already being sent outside of Spotify, in texts, WhatsApp chats, and on social media. Now it wants to consolidate and augment those content wrecks under its own umbrella. Not just anyone can message you, only people you've already interacted with on Spotify, through things like jams, blends or collaborative playlists will be able to shoot you a dm. And if someone is being creepy or sending you way too many Benson Boon songs, you have all the same messaging controls other social apps afford you, like accepting and rejecting messages, blocking users, or opting out entirely. Still, Neil, not going to lie, it's going to feel a little weird messaging someone on Spotify at first, but you can totally see how it can make the app stickier and deepen its cultural heft if it finds a willing audience.

A (19:08)

Yes, Spotify really hasn't done a lot of social elements in the past. You were able to follow people, look at what they listen to, and I've used that because there's some people have amazing music tastes that are making amazing playlists and the ability to follow them and see what they're listening to has been huge. But now they've introduced this DM feature and previously they introduced a feature like comments on podcasts, which we scroll through and see what people are saying about our particular podcast. And the VP of podcast product also said that eventually they might introduce the idea of comments on music tracks. And I know when I go listen to a song on YouTube, the first thing I do is look at the comments or honestly watch any video is look at the comments. So introducing more of these social features could keep more people on the Spotify app, which is exactly the whole point of this.

B (19:55)

I think this is fascinating because it mirrors a very common text trajectory that we've seen where a platform just starts out as a tool. Spotify was just a tool for listening to music and then they bolt on this communication feature once they achieve scale. The question is, do users really want another inbox to check? Do they really want another vector for communication or do they just want to listen in private to the songs? Because, you know, music is a pretty intimate thing that you're doing. And then. But the other thing I can't help but think about is that all these other accidental dating apps that have arisen. I'm thinking about Strava where it was a run tracking app, then they added DMs and now you see someone running on the west side highway, maybe your. Your Strava runs sync up and you shoot them a message. LinkedIn has turned into from a job networking app to almost a dating app in some places. And now you have Spotify where people can spy on each other's playlists like you said, and then shoot them. A DM letterbox is another one. Yelp was another one. It's just fascinating to see how you have shared interests and then it leads to some low friction communication and suddenly these apps that were one thing become almost a more effective dating app. So I'm wondering if Spotify is going to go down a similar path maybe.

A (21:05)

Because I mean, who. Sharing music interests is a very important thing for love language. For a lot of people it is a love language, as you say. Let's check in on Spotify's business. It's doing pretty good. In its most recent earnings report, it said that subscriber numbers were up up 12% in the past year to nearly $300 million. Its stock price is also up over 100% in the last year. And that got a boost on a single day of 10% when exactly came out and said that we are going to raise prices again. Remember the first time that Spotify ever raised prices was two years ago and now they're saying they're going to jack up some prices in various markets. Investors love to hear that. They think that Spotify has a lot of pricing power. So that's another leverage that Spotify can pull to already to grow this already growing business.

B (21:52)

Now let's sprint to the finish with some final headlines. If at first you don't succeed, try again nine more times. After a string of disappointing launches, Space X's gargantuan Starship rocket finally made it all the way up to space and then all the way back down to Earth without blowing up. Last night, it was Elon Musk's 10th attempt at getting the rocket into orbit, which he hopes will eventually take people to Mars. The mission will also have both Musk and NASA breathing a sigh of relief as the US Space Agency is counting on Starship to act as a lander to put astronauts on the moon in the next few years. It wasn't a perfect mission. One booster engine shut down unexpectedly. Some portions of the spacecraft burnt up upon reentry. And once the craft did its vertical flip and simulated a landing, it toppled over into the Indian Ocean and eventually exploded. But it went a whole lot better than mission 7, 8 and 9, which all ended in midair. Fireballs Neil Progress.

A (22:47)

To borrow a sports cliche, this was a must win game. 7, 8 and 9 were really bad launches. 10 was much better. So you're right. NASA, Space X headquarters, they're all breathing a huge sigh of relief because NASA is relying on Starship to take astronauts to the moon. That's currently scheduled for late 2027. But that's just not going to happen. It's going to be 2028 or later. What they want Starship to do is take the astronauts from lunar orbit down to the lunar surface itself. And that's going to require multiple starships, not just one. And this is already the biggest rocket that's ever been made in human history because there's going to need to be refueling as it leaves orbit to get to the moon. So you need all of these starships coming together and refueling each other so it can reach the moon. It seems like a very intricate thing for what is an extremely powerful and complicated machine. At the same time, China is also aiming to go to the moon before 2030. So the race is on. The US government just took a 10% stake in intel, and it looks like that could just be the first round of drinks in an upcoming private market bender. Yesterday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the intel playbook could be repeated in other sectors, specifically defense contractors like Lockheed. There's a monstrous discussion about defense, Lutnick told cnbc, adding that Lockheed, which gets the bulk of its revenue from the Pentagon, is, quote, basically an arm of the US Government. President Trump also implied that the government will take stakes in other private companies, saying earlier this week he would make similar deals, quote, all day long.

B (24:20)

I mean, it is very funny that he just outright said it that Lockheed makes about 97% of the revenue from the US government, so why not take a stake in it? And I mean this comment just gives more fuel to the fire that Trump is looking to make similar deals in other companies. He thinks that the U.S. government should participate in the U.S. taxpayer should participate in the upside of these companies, not necessarily just hand out government contracts to them. So the fact that defense contracts are now on the line following on the heels of what he just did with intel, looks like more of these deals could be filtering down the pipeline. Moving on, Cracker Barrels executives finally cracked under the pressure, abandoning plans to adopt a new logo that the whole Internet hated. We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel. We said we would listen and we have. Our new logo is going away in our Old Timer will remain, the company said in a social media post. The criticism poured in thicker than a bowl of homestyle gravy after the restaurant unveiled a modernized version of its logo, which ditched the iconic Old Timer figure. The rollback also comes after President Trump jumped into the fray, saying in a post on True Social that the chain has got $1 billion worth of free publicity if they play their cards right. It then added make Cracker Barrel a winner again. So far it looks like the decision was a success. Shares of cracker barrel rose 7% in after hours trading yesterday.

A (25:39)

Everyone put on your tinfoil hat because here's a conspiracy theory for you. Was cracker barrel just playing 40 chess the whole time? Did they roll out this horrible new logo deliberately to just get tons of publicity? It wouldn't be the first time people have speculated about this because back in the 80s Coca Cola rolled out New Coke. There was flagging sales of classic Cokes, they rolled out New Coke and then they were getting so much backlash, 10,000 calls a day from very upset customers, that they introduced Coca Cola Classic again and removed New Coke and their sales went way up. So that sparked conspiracy theories that they were just doing that whole thing to drum up publicity for their classic product and to get people remind reminded how much they loved it in the first place.

B (26:25)

I don't want to rain on your 4D chess parade, but I think what's actually happening is that app design is taking over logo design because the Cracker Barrel app, it doesn't fit very or the Cracker Barrel logo doesn't fit very nicely into an app design. And a lot of these different restaurants are trying to, you know, make their online business greater, get people to sign up to their app program. So that is why we're seeing all these apps condense or geez, all these logos condense into little tiny packages that fit very well on an app design. That's what I think is actually going on, is that that's where the flattening and the blanding is happening, because they just want to make them look good on app logos.

A (27:03)

You're probably right. We all have that one friend who won't stop talking about how much they love Mediterranean food. We get it, Becky, you like hummus. But they may be onto something. A major new study added fresh evidence that the Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of chronic diseases. A large randomized trial in Spain found that older adults at risk of diabetes were 31% less likely to develop the disease by following the Mediterranean diet, in addition to cutting calories and increasing physical activity. It's a follow up to a previous study that found people who followed this diet and did Nothing else were 30% less likely to develop diabetes than those who just followed a low fat diet. Taken together, the studies offer a strong endorsement for eating more food associated with the Mediterranean, such as fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, nuts, legumes, olive oil, and fish. But I'm thinking the easiest way is just to take a vacation to Greece.

B (27:53)

I think you're right, Neal. That sounds absolutely delightful. Another study, also published yesterday in a different magazine, Nature Medicine, found that the Mediterranean diet was also linked to lower chances of Alzheimer's disease developing of those with high genetic risk. So this thing is basically the Wonder diet, the GLP1 drug of all diets. So all I know is I'm kind of hungry for some olive oil right now.

A (28:16)

Hungry for some olive oil.

B (28:18)

It sounds good. I love some.

A (28:20)

Maybe like an actual dish.

B (28:22)

Nope. Olive oil.

A (28:22)

Okay. That is all the time we have. Thanks so much for starting your morning with us. Have a wonderful Wednesday. If you have any thoughts or feedback on today's show, send a note to Morning Brew daily at Morning Broadcom. Let's roll the credits. Emily Milian is our executive producer. Raymond Liu is our producer. Our associate producers are Olivia Graham and Olivia Lake. Hair makeup is available to work weddings. If anyone who's planning one is listening. Devin Emery is our president and our show is a production of Morning Brew.

B (28:46)

Great show today Neil. Let's run it back tomorrow. If your investing platform looks like it was made during the dial up era, then it's time for a major upgrade.

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