The Daily Valet. - 4/18/23, Tuesday
✔️ Have You No Loyalty?
Tuesday, April 18th Edition
By Cory Ohlendorf, Valet. Editor
What’s your go-to pizza topping? I’m a classic pepperoni guy, but I mess with sausage and peppers, too.
Today’s Big Story
Pizza’s Race to the Bottom
Turns out, Pizza Fans Aren’t as Loyal as We Thought
You have no doubt heard by now that food prices are high. But we're not just talking about raw ingredients and grocery bills. According to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “food at home” costs are 8.4% higher than in 2022, while “food away from home” is 8.8% more expensive than last year. And it sounds like pizzerias are really the collateral damage in this price war.“The pizza battle is on, and grocery stores are winning,” one client strategy director told the trade publication Restaurant Business. “Consumers are shifting to at-home pizza.” That means that more people are simply picking up frozen pies instead of ordering delivery or going out to eat.A recent survey found that a whopping 69% of U.S. shoppers who used to regularly frequent pizzerias have shifted to frozen pizza from the grocery store. But even those freezer case favorites aren't immune from downgrades. Tasting Table surveyed their readers and almost 75% said they were switching to private label grocery store brands rather than buying name brand pies. A Reddit thread from earlier this year even asked what people stopped buying because of inflation, and DiGiorno was the most-named brand.Simply put, discounts are now the name of the game. The Takeout reports that even when people do go to (or order delivery from) a pizza restaurant, 40% of consumers no longer have a preference when picking a place. Instead, it's all about choosing the most reasonably priced option.And here I thought your go-to pizza of choice was more of a Coke/Pepsi divide. But maybe that old saying that “even bad pizza is still pizza” really rings true.
Taste Test:
The gourmands at Tasting Table ranked the 30 most popular frozen pizzas, from worst to best.
The U.S. National Debt Is Big
House speaker McCarthy plans vote to raise debt ceiling into 2024
Headlines about the debt ceiling have brought renewed attention to the U.S. federal debt, which is currently ringing in around $31.5 trillion. The national debt is composed of distinct types of debt, similar to an individual whose debt may consist of a mortgage, car loan and credit cards. And like when you've spent more than you can pay, America will default on its debt this year if Congress doesn't raise the nation's borrowing cap.While Congress sets the nation's annual budget, the Treasury Department actually manages trillions of dollars beyond that, with millions of payments flowing in and out of the government's accounts each day. And just like an everyday checking account, cash flow varies: Sometimes the government gets a flood of dollars from tax receipts, and other times it needs to pay the bills. According to Politico, those dips and surges add another wrinkle to a political drama that threatens to tank the global economy.Fiscal spending by the government increased by around 50% from the fiscal years 2019 to 2021, mostly due to pandemic spending programs. And ProPublica points out that the tax cuts passed by the Trump Administration in 2017 contributed to the growing federal debt because they reduced tax intake by an estimated $1-2 trillion. But on Monday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said House Republicans plan to pass legislation raising the debt ceiling through 2023: They want Congress to place limits on federal spending, claw back COVID aid and require Americans to work to receive federal benefits.
FYI:
Ten cents of every taxpayer dollar the federal government collected last year went toward paying the interest on the debt.
Stuffed Bird Drones Are Real
If you see a flock with a bird that doesn't look quite right, it might be a robot
Remember the whole Birds Aren't Real parody conspiracy theory? Well, wait long enough and any crazy idea eventually becomes real, right? Case in point: A mechanical engineering professor in New Mexico is leading a unique project, fitting taxidermy birds with drones.Why, you ask? Well it's to study flight patterns of real birds. The goals of the project involves keeping an eye on birds as they migrate and while drones were considered along with mechanical birds, neither seemed to work. So the professor and his students reverse-engineered the problem and calculated the weight, flapping frequency and flapping angle the bird had while it was alive to create something similar.The taxidermic bird drones are now being tested at the university in a customized cage, reports Reuters. Currently, the prototype can only fly for a maximum of 20 minutes, so the scientists are working to develop a drone that can spend more time in the air and perform tests among live birds.
Apple’s Latest Product? A Savings Account
Apple Card users can have their Daily Cash automatically added to their savings
Do you have one of those fancy Apple Cards? If so, you got access to an exciting new feature on Monday: a high-yield savings account from Goldman Sachs that you can be linked to that sleek titanium card. And what's more, it comes with an annual percentage yield ten times higher than the national average.CNBC says that the tech giant may be looking to get “top of wallet status” by offering a 4.15% interest rate. Savings interest rates of 4% and above were basically unheard of as recently as one year ago. But that was before the Federal Reserve launched a series of interest rate hikes aimed at tamping down historic high inflation. According to their research, Apple's rate is good but not the best. The highest savings yields in the Bankrate database right now are more than 5%, according to Rossman. That includes UFB Direct, which is currently offering 5.02%.But as Robb Report points out, those who already have Apple Cards will be familiar with one more aspect of what makes the savings account really attractive: the opportunity to put Daily Cash into an interest-generating account right away, rather than letting it accumulate in Apple Cash. Apple Card users earn cash back on every purchase as 'Daily Cash' (between 1% to 3%) that could be used to pay for Apple Pay purchases or transferred to another account. Now, Apple Card users will automatically have their 'Daily Cash' earnings added to their savings account, where that cash back can start generating interest immediately, as well as creating a simple, set-it-and-forget-it way to start saving.
Meanwhile:
Apple's batteries will use 100 percent recycled cobalt by 2025.
In Other News
“There was a racial component to this case.”
Have you heard about ...
Worth a Listen
A modern Philosophy podcast
Sure, you've got your Platos and your Nietzsches, there's Socrates and Confucius—those great thinkers are still famous long after their deaths. But most philosophies remain pretty obscure to everyday people, right? Have you had any substantial chats about the importance of metaphysics lately? Or considered how we, as a society, solve the question of collective self-government by citizens? Probably not. But if you listened to this surprisingly engaging British podcast, you absolutely would. Philosophy Bites hosts Nigel Warburton and David Edmonds invite guests for great intros to the debates and deeper thoughts that have shaped (and are currently shaping) our world.
Listen:
Shopping
What We’re Buying
Raw Denim
Levi's reproduction of 1944 501 fit feels like you're stepping back in time. These came out during WWII and are made without the watch pocket rivets and the back waist cinch to conserve raw materials for the war effort. Classics only get better with time, and these are proof.
Get It:
1944 501 jean, $295 by Levi's
Morning Motto
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