Good morning, Brujalee Show. I'm Neil Fryman. And I'm Toby Howell. Today, meet the group of people going to bat in favor of data centers. Then, would you pay $500 for a Dyson toothbrush? It's Wednesday, September 2nd. Let's ride! Yesterday wasn't just any ole September 1st. It marked a major turning point, the official beginning of the late 2020s. If you break up the decade into three, the early 20s, the mid 20s, and the late 20s, the 1st of September, 2026 marked our entrance into the final 3rd, the 3rd period. Toby, getting a little nostalgic? Late 20s, not a bad place to be. A lot of good stuff happens in your late 20s, although there's a tad more back pain than expected. But it also has me thinking, how will the history books remember these 20s? Were they roaring Neil or were they more whimpering? I think we're somewhere in the roaring section of the woods. We'll see. We got three and a half more years to go, so I think this book is still being written. And now a word from our sponsor, American Express. Neil, where's the most memorable place you've ever made a business purchase? Business happens everywhere these days, like planes, trains, or even during your friends, really long wedding ceremony. Well, you should know that the American Express Business Platinum Card can reward your business journey. You can earn 5X membership rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels, book through mxtravel.com, and 2X points on eligible purchases and key business categories, as well as on eligible purchases of $5,000 or more, terms and cap apply. So you can earn points on business purchases you're already making, and redeem them for wherever your journey takes you. Learn more at go.amx/morningbrew and find out your welcome offer, which could be as high as 300,000 membership rewards points. That's go.amx/morningbrew, offer and benefit terms apply. These days, data center supporters are even more rare than genuine Stella lefty fans, but there is one group that's swimming against the current, and has recently spoken out in favor of data center construction, the blue collar workers who build the data centers. As political candidates on both sides of the aisle embrace anti-data center positions, blue collar unions and trade groups, powerful block of voters, are saying, hey, you do that. You want to block this kind of construction? We're out. According to the Wall Street Journal, the steam fitters U.A. Local 602, which installs mechanical piping systems in Greater Washington, D.C., wrote in a memo to its members that it's drawing a clear line and won't support candidates who oppose data centers, calling it an existential moment for the chapter. Another union representing HVAC and railroad workers, this one in Kansas, typically endorses Democrats. But for the upcoming election, they threw their support behind the Republican candidate because the Democratic one is anti-data centers. The data center backlash and the backlash to the backlash is scrambling traditional political alliances and is emerged as one of the key issues heading into the midterms in November. While much of the public has negative views toward data centers in their communities, these construction workers are using their political sway to remind everyone these facilities bring jobs, wealth, and economic growth to communities, and you'd be wise not to ignore that. There's also some tension between the federal government's position and maybe some more local governments. Trump called data centers a "golden goose" and said the only reason that communities throughout the USA should not want data centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. The federal government's argument mostly centers around the fact that one, they do not want to lose the race to China and two. They think it is going to bring economic prosperity to big parts of America. But there is some nuance to this jobs argument. Again, these unions are saying that we need these high paying good construction jobs. We are blue collar workers. This is like the new factories, essentially. And yet, if you look at what happens to a data center, yes, a large number of skilled workers are required when you are building the thing, but it actually doesn't take a lot of people to keep these things running once they are finished. So the argument then shifts a little bit more to long-term tax revenue that these projects might bring in. But again, that's usually offset by a lot of the tax breaks these companies are getting. So it's not just as simple as you are anti-jobs if you are anti-data centers because it's mostly concentrated in that initial build-out period. They still want it. If you hear the unions, they're calling it a once in a generation opportunity for their members to get into the upper middle class, the best opportunity in generations to achieve the American dream. Someone from the international brotherhood of electrical workers, local 26 in the DC region said that a decade ago, their members worked about 14 million hours annually. In 2025, they worked 28 million hours. So double that. And then this year, because of the data center build-out, they're most likely going to top 33 million hours. And the wages are pretty high apprenticeship. You get to $28 an hour. Experience electricians earn $62 an hour plus 30 an hour in benefits. So when you hear a once in a generation opportunity to break into the upper middle class by these blue collar workers, that's exactly what they're talking about. But again, you are seeing some tension between white and blue collar worker unions because white collar workers are saying like, "Hey, we are a lot less enthusiastic about data centers because there are fears that AI could eliminate our job." So that's another interesting, volume back and forth between white collar unions and blue collar unions. So just fascinating how nuanced this has all become and how backwards it's become that you are seeing unions that traditionally endorse one party, switching parties because of this data center issue. So you are absolutely right to say that the job's portion of this is the latest battleground in a wider data center fight. And it's just ironic because in the past couple of years and decades when manufacturing was hollowed out in the rust belt in parts of America, you heard politicians to a TSA, we want to bring back blue collar jobs to the United States to re-industrialize the heartland. It's happening right now with data centers, maybe to a lesser degree than something like an auto plan or something like that. But that's what these unions are saying. It's like, "Hey, you said you wanted re-industrialization. You said you wanted blue collar workers going back to work with high wages." Well, this is exactly happening. And yet you have this anti-data center position. And that is because the majority of Americans, a strong majority, 60 to 70%, including more than 50% of Republicans, do not want data centers in their communities. Moving on, the bond route has gone global. Yields crashed through historic milestones yesterday as investors across the world sold bonds in a rejection of countries spend like there's no tomorrow policies, despite drowning in debt. In Japan, the rate on a 10-year government note breached 3% for the first time in 30 years. In the UK, 30-year yields hit their highest points since 1998. Germany's 10-year bonds are at a 15-year high. And the US 10-year treasury note, the most important interest rate in the world, is at its highest level since November 2023. Rising borrowing costs have profound impacts on the global economy, jacking up borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, while making it even more expensive for governments to service their interest payments. The causes of the sell-off are not exactly a mystery. One is that major governments are being viewed as fiscally irresponsible, so investors are demanding greater compensation to buy their debt. Another is persistent inflation due to the war in Iran, which has pushed up oil prices 30% this year, and will likely spark a Fed rate hike. And finally, government notes are facing unprecedented competition from a corporate world that's riding a bond bananza to build AI infrastructure. This week's renewed bond jitters arrive as Treasury Secretary Scott Besson hosts global finance ministers at the G20 summit in Asheville, North Carolina. And it tastes even more bitter than a wicked weed IPA. And yet, you look at the stock market, and it's doing all right. The MSCI All-Country World Index is near an all-time high. The SAP 500 is up 11% this year, which begs the question, rising bond yields are normally bad for stocks. Because, again, bonds become a more attractive alternative investment that higher those yields are. And you have to basically calculate how much risk do I want to take on by investing in stocks versus this risk-free rate of return that I can get from bonds. So why aren't they crushing equities? And the big reason is that corporate earnings have been super strong. The underlying data has been outrageous. S&P 500 profit growth is 33% year over year in the second quarter. So the underlying fundamentals are just too good to ignore, which is why equities have still got people in their corner. And then, too, you have to actually look about why yields are going up. Are they going up because of runaway inflation expectations? Are they going up because the economy is shaky on shaky footing? And that hasn't necessarily been the case. The economy has been a little bit stronger than expected, which means that inflation is set to be elevated because, you know, strong demand gives businesses more ability to raise prices. That means wages go up as well. So it's not necessarily runaway inflation. It's inflation that's maybe caused by a pretty hot economy underneath. That is partly why investors in higher yields reflect a strong economy, not some of these other worse factors. But the proximate cause of what's happening this week, why bond yields are going up, you know, from Monday to Tuesday and now Wednesday, the global route continues. Is the prospect of
higher inflation from the war in Iran. There was a month of relative comm over there, but recently, Iran has attacked some tankers and the U.S. responded with attacks on Iran over the weekend, and then yesterday we had Iran reportedly attacking Kuwait, Jordan, and Bahrain. So U.S. allies in the region, they shot down those attacks, but still looks like there's another flare up in violence, which means oil prices are back on the rise. The U.S. crude is above $90 Brent crude, which is the international benchmark, is up above $94. That's a big deal for the global economy, because the oil prices filter into everything. And we've seen these inflation reports come out month after month, and we have to say, look, oil prices, gas prices, fuel prices are on the rise. That's rising, that's bringing inflation up across the board, and it's leading Fed Chair Kevin Warshu, really does not want to raise interest rates to say, okay, look, I think we probably have to take action here, and there's rising bets on the Fed, raising interest rates at its next meeting, which happens later this month. And I think the big note to make here is it's not just the United States, pretty much every central bank that's going to meet in the next week, two weeks, three weeks, alongside the Fed is expected to raise interest rates, which is one reason why you're seeing these bond yield sore. - Let's move on, GoPro stock is going up after getting acquired for $285 million. Yesterday, the action camera company announced that it agreed to merge with a little known starman optical, a private company that focuses on making photonics technology for AI data centers. GoPro is a very recognizable name for consumers, but its business has stagnated in recent years. The company never quite figured out how to expand beyond making cameras that take footage of your very middleing skiing abilities. After hitting evaluation of nearly $12 billion soon after it went public in 2014, its market cap has shrunk to just over $100 million while its debt pile grew to nearly that big. Enter the starman optical deal, which promises to wipe away that debt while also giving GoPro a chance to break into new markets, supplying technology to AI data centers and defense contractors. The consumer camera business isn't going anywhere, but founder and CEO Nick Woodman said, he wants GoPro to play, quote, an important role in America's future. But that's not all there is to this story. The other GoPro subplot has to do with a YouTuber named Markiplier, who you may remember from the indie horror movie he self-produced earlier this year called Iron Long. Markiplier has over 40 million YouTube subscribers, and often encourages indie filmmakers to try their hand at making their own movies, which led him to accumulate a nearly 10% stake in GoPro to become one of its biggest shareholders. Together, Markiplier's disclosure and the acquisition announcement have driven shares of GoPro up over 110% in the past two days. Neil, sort of an interesting, maybe related, maybe unrelated, one to punch that has brought back this beleaguered stock from the dead. - I wish GoPro wore a GoPro this week, because there was so much action. Let's talk about the YouTuber Markiplier of it all, because that is very intriguing. What do you mean a YouTuber is now the largest shareholder in GoPro, but what happened was, first of all, this guy has made a lot of money. Before there was back rooms, before there was obsession, there was Iron Long Markiplier's movie that grossed $51 million from a budget of just $3 million. So he's got some money to spend, and he is just a fan of GoPro and their cameras, and he's a fan of democratizing filmmaking, which he demonstrated by his own film. And what he said that is that he saw this new camera from GoPro that would really elevate cinematic movie making, and said, typically, I try to use GoPro cameras on this movie, but they just weren't there. So I had to use other cameras, but I use them for behind the scenes footage, and then he got his hands on this new camera, and was like, okay, this unlocks a whole new thing, and I think I just like the stock. He went full-roaring kitty in comments to Bloomberg. He said, I saw the stock, and where it was, I was like, that seemed undervalued. It's just something I've been cooking in the background. I want the company to succeed. There's a little controversy, because at the same time, he was accumulating tens of millions of dollars in GoPro stock. He was also sponsored by them and talking about them on his YouTube channel. So some people were questioning whether that was ethical or not, but this is some guy who really liked GoPro, really liked the company, he saw that it was undervalued, and then became the largest shareholder. - Let's talk about the Starman optical of it all, considerably less well known than a GoPro and Markiplier. It is a privately held US optical photonics company. Basically, it makes these high-speed transceivers that turn light back into data and data back into light. It's kind of a burgeoning technology in the AI data center race and GoPro says, wait a second, we're actually pretty good at optical stuff as well. What if we started to expand our market to get into data centers, to get into some of those government in defense contracts, maybe aerospace as well? So it's part a story to show that hey, this is finally us spreading our wings and expanding into new markets. It was part the fact that GoPro was probably gonna be delisted at some point because its market value had dropped below a critical threshold. Also, it just had this debt concerns. Their founder actually lent the company $20 million to keep operations afloat. So it was not in a good spot whatsoever. The wrinkle to this deal is the fact that GoPro shareholders will still own 10% of the newly combined company which keeps them listed on the public markets because Starman is a private company. So that's another thing that they're probably thinking that we have this very recognizable name. Let's keep trading on the public markets. So just a crazy rise and fall of this company. Now they're making much less sexy technology but hopefully making sexier business decisions for their shareholders. - And making a market supplier a lot of money. 'Cause if he bought it for less than $1 shared all these accumulated, all these stock and then they just sold it literally two days later after he announced this, then that guy just made a lot of money in just a few days. - All right, we're gonna take a quick break and talk about a toothbrush right after this. Toby, you sure seem chipper for someone who stayed up till four. That's because despite a couple long Island ISTs, I took Zbiotics pre-alcohol. It produces an enzyme that helps break down the toxic byproduct alcohol and creates in your gut that leaves you feeling less than fresh. - It was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. - I owe those scientists my life. Head to zbiotics.com/mbd and use the code mbd at checkout for 15% off. That's zbiotics.com/mbd. - Cybersecurity as we know it is dead. It's a figure of speech, but the truth is the old model was built on protection. Safety nets recovery plan systems designed to withstand the last era and maintain the status quo. - The AI era demands confidence that you can secure and accelerate your business operations. So nothing stops your momentum. Rubric can give you that confidence. - Their singular platform is designed to secure your data, control your AI and protect your identity built as one architecture, not stitched together after the fact. - To learn more, head to rubric.com/mb that's r-u-b-r-i-k dot com slash mb. - Every year during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, e-commerce stores welcome a wave of first-time buyers. - But how do you keep those first-timers coming back all year long? - Woo, commerce brought together marketing leaders from Clavio, Sephora, and fanatics answer that question. In a recent webinar, they discuss how to build loyal customer relationships during the upcoming holiday season. - They also share why trust matters more than discounts about first-party data, power's meaningful interactions, and more. - You can watch the on-demand webinar and download the free modern customer marketing playbook at woocommers.com/loyalty. That's woocommers.com/loyalty. - Dyson makes vacuums. It makes hair dryers. And now it makes a $499 AI-powered toothbrush. The camera jet is the latest fever dream to come out of the British gadget maker. What could possibly justify a toothbrush costing half a thousand dollars? Well, just look to the name. The camera jet comes equipped with both a 100,000 pixel camera that scans your mouth at 28 images per second, and a precision jet that fires short bursts of a mouth rinse at spots that need some extra cleaning. The target audience is people who show up at the dentist and lie about their flossing habits. A machine learning algorithm trained on 470,000 dental images identifies the specific areas non-flossers tend to miss, then lets the jet do the rest. The company recommends brushing your teeth for three minutes instead of two to let the brush work its magic, and also recommends a less foamy toothpaste so the camera can see your mouth more clearly. Now the question is, do people actually want this? Smart toothbrushes have been around for years at this point, but one survey found that 85% of participants were still unfamiliar with the category. That could be a blessing or a curse for Dyson depending on how you look at it, but making bold bets is something this company has never shied away from. Dyson has, over its history, tried to make washing machines, a car, even an air filter headphone combo headpiece called the Dyson Zone. All were pretty massive failures, but all were big swings. The camera jet is the latest in that lineage, and Neil, I can't lie. Flossing a while brushing my teeth, I'm intrigued. That is what they're betting on. According to a survey, 59% of Americans do not floss daily and 20%.
20% don't floss at all. You have to think those numbers are probably bigger when you get down to the nitty-gritty of what's actually happening. What's funny about this is not that many companies are getting into oral care because according to the Wall Street Journal, it is a large market. It is saturated. It's dominated by these companies that you all know and it's not really expected to grow at any fast rate as well. So when you talk to James Dyson, he said, look, yeah, I know. I have no idea of the market size. I have no idea how many will sell. We don't really structure things on a business plan. So he just made a $500 toothbrush on vibes. And I have to say that the vibes are pretty great after this was released. The online hordes were like $500 for this toothbrush that also flosses for me and gives me mouthwash. Like I use a toothbrush twice a day. This is probably investment worth making. - You use a toothbrush twice a day? I'm a once a day kind of guy just once at night. But I feel like he's kind of underplaying some of the business decisions in here as well 'cause I want to talk about the toothpaste of it all. Dyson recommends using an SLS free toothpaste. SLS is the common foaming agents that creates the lather that you expect in most toothpaces. But the foam obstructs the view of the teeth. The camera needs to see the teeth and shoot these precision jet beams at it. And so naturally Dyson is launching its own SLS free toothpaste alongside the toothbrush. So it's kind of like the Apple accessories play where let's broaden the ecosystem here. One reason why it may not sell, the dock is massive. Like this thing is $500. There's a lot of horsepower in it. And the docking station that charged the toothbrush refills the mouse and stores the toothbrush. A lot of people in the early reviewers say, it's just not gonna fit and a lot of people's bathrooms set up. So that's the one thing you probably need. I mean, if you're buying a $500 toothbrush, you maybe have a little bit more space than normal people when it comes to your bathroom set up. But still, that could be the biggest knock against it is that it's just too dang big. - So I was curious about what actual dentists thought about this. The telegraph talked to one who writes an electric toothbrush guide, Dr. Tilly Houston. She was like, this is pretty cool. The live camera feedback quote, is the standout feature for me. Letting people actually see what they're missing is a brilliant piece of behavioral design. Like having a dentist insight in your hand every morning. So that live camera is pretty cool. And the fact that it's there is reflects that they worked on this for six whole years to design this toothbrush. She was a little more skeptical of that three in one. Designed the fact that it's a mouthwash, flossing and toothbrushing all at the same time. Like how effective is that? You are in their late 20s. We've talked about late 20s. That's kinda when you move from the two in one conditioning and shampoo to them both separately. It's like a sign that you're growing up. So the fact that you're smushing all three of these into one device is not concerning some dentist, but it makes them somewhat a little skeptical. - I'm a Dr. Bronner's guide, 24 and one. I brushed my teeth with the same soap, I washed my dishes with with the same soap, I washed my body with. - All right, let's switch to the finish with some final headlines. Angels fans, your prayers have been answered. Real estate mogul Stan Kronke has agreed to buy a controlling interest in your baseball team. The second surprise sale of Los Angeles sports franchise in less than a month. This year, amid another losing season, whatever fans remain in the stadium have been chanting sell the team directed at longtime owner Arty Moreno. Despite a few years of success in the 2000s, the Angels have been one of the worst performing clubs in Major League Baseball for over a decade with much of the blame heaped on Moreno. And in Kronke, the Angels are getting an owner who collects sports championships like Infinity Stones. He is a two-time Super Bowl winner with the Rams, two-time Stanley Cup winner with that Colorado Avalanche, NBA champion with the Denver Nuggets, MLS champion with the Colorado Rapids. And earlier this year, his Premier League club Arsenal won it all in England. Could he be the Angel in the Outfield? - I mean, if Arsenal can win a championship, the Angels have got to be dreaming big at this point. I think it's very funny that obviously Kronke is this massive sports owner, but the one piece of the puzzle that was missing was baseball and it's very interesting. The Wall Street Journal pointed out that he's been linked to the sports sense birth. He was born Enos Stanley Kronke. His namesakes were St. Louis Cardinals players. Enos slaughter in Stan Musiel. So he has been connected to baseball from the very moment he was born and yet fine in that it was the one piece of his portfolio that he didn't have. He is the largest sports team owner at this point. His empire totals over $25.2 billion. Truly an empire. Kind of fun too, that all his teams seem to win. Let's see if the Angels can break or make that streak. Moving on, Mr. Beast has spent his career getting people to stare at screens. Now he's attempting his craziest stunt yet, getting them to read a book. The YouTube King with more than 500 million subscribers. Mr. Beast has dropped his first novel, The Most Dangerous Games, co-written with The Mr. Beast of Authors, James Patterson yesterday. Now unfortunately for the Books Publisher Report from Semaphore said the most dangerous games is on track to be quote, a historic bomb with pre-orders numbering in the measly four digits. But Mr. Beast has a trick up his sleeve. The book contains hitting clues that can help readers compete in a real life challenge for a chance to win a $1 million prize. He might need to jack that number up though because I checked this morning, the book is only sitting at number seven on Amazon's new releases. Neil, The Beast machine can sell chocolates, it can sell burgers, it can sell an Amazon reality game show, but can it sell a book? - TBD, I mean many were noting that the vent diagram of Mr. Beast YouTube subscribers and people who read may not overlap as much as one might think. But if there is anyone who can help a celebrity or an influencer do well in the publishing world, it is James Patterson because he has worked with Dolly Parton. He's worked with Bill Clinton. They have co-written novels together. Both of those reach the top of the New York Times bestseller list based on early tracking. Doesn't like Mr. Beast will reach those heights, but I would say it's still early because it just went on sale yesterday. - I think he drops one YouTube video or just one comment on YouTube video and this thing will reach the top of the charts. It's still early. - All right, we close every Wednesday show with suggestion box. The segment where Toby and I share a recommendation to help you get over the hump of the week. My rec is a short one sentence quote from the Olympic gold medalist Eileen Gou, who was speaking on J-Sheddy's podcast about her mindset as an elite athlete. And she said, "I train like I've never won and I compete like I've never lost. Just kind of fires me up and hopefully it gives you a kick in the butt this morning too." - Can we apply that to podcasting? - Of course. - I prepped like I've never spoken and I pod like I've never stumbled in my life. It doesn't quite work, but I like that a lot. Bringing that to all aspects of my life. My recommendation is what to do if you feel like your life is passing you by. This comes courtesy of the retired brain surgeon, Dr. Brian Hufflinger. He wrote in an ex post that repetitive daily routines stop the brain from recording clear detailed memories. If nothing new happens for days, months and years start to blur together. This is known as time compression. When life lacks variety, your brain compresses past days together, making it feel like time has sped up. So, how do you stop this time compression? It's pretty easy actually. You just do new stuff. You schedule small trips or you plan new adventures your day stop blending together. You recommend something as simple as taking a different route to work. And my addition to that recommendation is no phones while moving because so many times I've walked around New York City. This beautiful place and I have my head on my phone. I wake up, I teleported four blocks. So, now when I'm on the subway or walking, I do no phones. But I also think doing a daily show sometimes makes us victims of this time compression. So, it's a reminder to all of you all and also to myself and Neil here to break up the monotony wherever possible. - So, that's why you missed my call. - Yeah, exactly. I wasn't looking up my phone anymore. I have a moment, Neil. - I like both the bars. They're a little more self-help-y than usual. But sometimes that's probably the best-selling category of books speaking of. All right, that is all the time we have. Thanks for starting your morning with us. Have a wonderful Wednesday. Another big event announcement from MBD. We are hosting a run club alongside Noble. Whether you're training for a marathon like Toby and me or just want to get in a quick sweat before work, come out on September 16th at 7am. - Beautiful time to run as well. September 16th, a crispiness in the air. So, truly runners know like that's when you get over the summer heat, you get into the fall weather. So, please come out and join us. - Oh my God, I ran yesterday. It was 100% humidity. - It's awful right now. - It's disgusting, September 16th, 7am. We're gonna take over the West Side Highway of Manhattan. You can sign up and find out all the details at the link in the show description. To share your thoughts on the episode or anything else, send an email to
[email protected] or DM us on Instagram at MBDailyShow. Let's roll the credits. Emily Milliron is our supervising producer. Raymond Loot is our senior producer. Our producer is Olivia Graham and our associate producer is Olivia Lake, technical direction by Nina Miller, hair and makeup, never skips, flossing. Devon Emory is our president and our show's a production of MorningBrew. - Great show day, Neil. Let's run it back tomorrow. (upbeat music) The following is a paid advertisement. Toby, do you have a personal-
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