Got a number of emails responding to yesterday’s FaceTime, in which I took MNB’s audience with me in a Waymo autonomous vehicle.
One MNB reader wrote:
I was in Phoenix 2 weeks earlier for a concert and decided to use Waymo to try it out as you did. My takeaways were:
Cars were extremely clean and comfortable/new. I did not have to worry about either interacting with a driver nor about them listening to our conversation and with the initial price being comparable to Uber/Lyft, not having to tip actually made the ride much more economical.
After the concert was over, I would estimate around 75% of the concertgoers opting for rideshares to get home were using Waymo. I don’t see it replacing Uber/Lyft in the short term but I wonder what they are doing to keep themselves relevant as the market shifts and more players enter the field either with their own tech or if Alphabet starts offering 3rd party licensing.
Exactly.
Another MNB reader wrote:
My wife and I had the chance to ride in a Waymo last month while in San Francisco. It handled the heavy traffic very well. I concur with your thoughts regarding Waymo. Very cool and somewhat weird to see the driver’s seat empty as the car turns, starts, stops, yields, etc. My wife was reluctant to try it, but I felt we had to and am glad we did. Very cool experience!
MNB reader Julia Ann Mataras wrote:
You are a brave man. God bless you! Thank you for swallowing a bullet for us.
I’m a very nervous passenger in a human driven car- let alone a car that’s driverless.
Stay safe.
After a few moments, it felt as safe or safer than a standard taxi or Uber/Lyft. I’d do it again in a moment.
Yesterday we took note of a Washington Post story about how, even as the avian influenza outbreak has resulted in more than 120 million hens being slaughtered and egg prices rose to record levels. However, the Post wrote, “for some corporate egg companies, these are good times.
“On Tuesday, the nation’s largest egg producer, Mississippi-based Cal-Maine, announced quarterly profits of $509 million, more than three times what it made in the same period a year ago, and capping three years of extraordinary earnings, which have surged since the avian flu outbreak in 2022 … the outbreak also has driven up prices enough for some companies to recoup losses and, for Cal-Maine, to record substantial profits. Cal-Maine’s financial reports show it has been able to more than triple its price for a dozen eggs, from about $1.30 a dozen before the outbreak to as high as $4.06 a dozen, while their feed costs to produce an egg have been relatively stable.
“At the same time, Cal-Maine and other large egg companies have received tens of millions of dollars from the USDA, which has been doling out relief payments to help egg companies restock after the virus strikes.”
I commented:
This is the kind of stuff that gives the food business a bad name, and creates a high level of cynicism among consumers. I’ve been arguing that retailers should be transparent about why egg prices have been rising, and I think to some extent that includes explaining that some suppliers are exploiting the situation for their own gain.
MNB reader Clay Dockery wrote:
While I can’t argue your perspective that Cal-Maine’s tremendous profit gains are a negative for the food business, I also would suggest that “receiving tens of millions of dollars from the USDA [AKA the taxpayer]” is certainly a DOGE worthy call out as well!
If you are looking for me to defend those kinds of subsidies, you’re going to be disappointed. I’m no DOGE fan, largely because I don’t trust Elon Musk’s judgement or temperament; I find his whole chainsaw approach to government cuts to be offensive, and insulting to many good, talented and dedicated civil servants. (See my review of Michael Lewis’s new “Who Is Government?”)
But, if they want to take a look at what people and companies get subsidies to see if maybe they could get along without public support, I’m all for it. Interestingly, it took me about 10 seconds to find a website called Subsidy Tracker, which says it “brings together subsidy recipient data from more than 1,000 state, local and federal economic development programs and other forms of financial assistance to business.”
All of which may be a good thing. You judge:
Amazon, according to SubsidyTracker, has gotten close to $6 billion in government subsidies. Tesla has gotten close to $3 billion. Now, Jeff Bezos is worth close to $200 billion, and Elon Musk is worth close to $400 billion (though their bank accounts probably took a hit this week – though not a great a hit as the vast majority of Americans who have retirement accounts on which they are depending).
Let’s be clear. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of these numbers, but if they are even close, I think this is the kind of stuff that taxpayers maybe ought to be outraged about.
That said, subsidies can make sense. If taxpayer investments can lead to the development of new technologies that are good for society in any number of ways, then that can be a good thing. However, “investment” would suggest that the investor could see some returns; I’m not aware of Amazon or Tesla or Cal-Maine sending US taxpayers a dividend check. (If they have, please correct me.)
I agree with you about Cal-Maine not getting money from the USDA … and if they’re making bigger profits because of a) subsidies and b) high egg prices, I think we all have legitimate questions to ask. At the very least, we deserve a dividend. Or some free eggs.
All of which reminds me of this joke from “Annie Hall.” (It isn’t politically correct to quote Woody Allen anymore, but this a funny joke.)
“A guy walks into a psychiatrist’s office and says, hey doc, my brother’s crazy! He thinks he’s a chicken. Then the doc says, why don’t you turn him in? Then the guy says, I would but I need the eggs.”
Finally, this response to my tariff coverage:
If tariffs work out exactly as Trump believes they will and all the industry comes back to the U.S.; who exactly is going to work at these factories? I cannot fill the help needs I currently have vacant, hard to believe in 2 to 5 years there will be enough workers to produce everything we need.
Fair assessment.
Just one of many things about the administration’s tariff strategy that defy belief, let alone logic.
Lest I get more emails accusing me of having Trump Derangement Syndrome, I want to just say that this is business, not political. I simply don’t know how any business can develop a business plan, or make decisions about investments in people or infrastructure, in this current environment.
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