Thanks @DreKnott for coming and trying our pizza!

People need to stop overreacting about Kamala’s plan to reduce food inflation, as if it would lead to communism, mass starvation, and the end of America. I worked in M&A in the food industry. Here’s a step-by-step summary of what would actually happen: 1. The government announces that grocery retailers aren’t allowed to raise prices. 2. Grocery stores, which operate on 1-2% net margins, can’t survive if their suppliers raise prices. So the government announces that food producers (Kraft Heinz, ConAgra, Tyson, Hormel, et. al.) also aren’t allowed to raise prices. 3. Not all grocery stores are created equal. Stores in lower-income areas make less money than those in higher-income areas, as the former disproportionately sell lower-margin prepackaged foods (“center of the store”) instead of higher-margin fresh products like meat (“perimeter of the store”). Because stores in lower-income areas aren’t able to cover overhead (remember, even if their wholesale costs are fixed, their labor, utilities, insurance, and other operating expenses aren’t fixed… yet), grocery chains start to shut them down. Food deserts in rural areas and in low-income urban areas alike become worse. 4. Meanwhile, margins for food producers are also quickly eroding. Their primary costs (ingredients, energy, and labor) aren’t fixed, and their shrinking gross profits leave less cash flow available to cover overhead, maintain facilities, and reinvest in additional production capacity. 5. Grocery chains, which have finite shelf space, start to repurpose their stores (those they didn’t have to shut down, I should say) to sell more non-price-controlled items—everything from nutrition supplements to kitchenware to apparel—and less price-controlled food products. Your local Kroger or Safeway starts to look and feel more like a Walmart. 6. Food producers stop making products with lower margins. Grocery chain start competing with each other to secure inventory. Since they can’t compete by offering stronger prices (remember, producers aren’t allowed to raise prices here, and, even if they could, grocery chains no longer have the gross profit to bear price increases), they compete on things like payment terms. 7. Small grocery chains start to shut down entirely, or get sold to larger chains like Kroger. In addition to not being able to cover fixed costs, a major reason for this is because they can no longer reliably secure delivery of products, due to producers prioritizing sales to larger customers, which are able to leverage their stronger balance sheets to offer superior payment terms. 8. Smaller food producers—which typically sell via distributors, rather than directly to grocery chains—start to go out of business. Because these producers have an additional step their value chains, and because they have lower volumes over which to spread their fixed costs, their cost structure is inherently disadvantaged compared to major food producers. When grocery stores aren’t able to raise prices, cutting product costs becomes all the more important, and deprioritizing purchases from smaller producers is an easy way to do so. 9. As supply chains break down, lines start to form outside grocery stores every morning. Cities assign police officers to patrol store parking lots, and food producers draft contingency plans to assign armed escorts to delivery trucks. 10. The federal government announces a program to issue block grants for states to purchase and operate shuttered grocery stores. The USDA also seizes closed-down production facilities. 11. The government announces that prices for all key food costs—corn, wheat, cattle, energy, etc.—are also now fixed, to stop “profiteers” from gouging the now-government-operated food industry. 12. Shockingly, the government struggles to operate one of the most complex industries on the planet. The entire food supply chain starts imploding. 13. Communism, mass starvation, and the end of America quickly ensue. Hey wait a second

I remember when @AkronJackson made podcasts. I looked forward to them. I miss those days.

If you want a truly bespoke espresso machine, we've got you covered! Introducing the Whole Latte Love Interactive Espresso Machine Builder, an immersive 3D product customizer enabling you to design your perfect home #coffee bar. Try it now! wholelattelove.com/collectio…

I’m ready. Let’s do this. I can hand off to Chubb and throw sceeens all game haha

Everybody stop what you are doing and watch this video regarding Covid. If you want to know how important it is— Facebook and Instagram are already censoring it. Real doctors and scientists are being censored because real evil is taking place.

VINYL PRESSING DAY!!!! They’re almost here. Order yours today. Link in bio. @gottagrooverecs #vinyl #newmusic #cleveland @ Gotta Groove Records instagram.com/p/CJ_HbUkgtxe/…

Get your copy of “The Natural Way of Things” today! Link in bio. #newmusic #houseshow #cleveland #elyria #vinylrecords instagram.com/p/CJ9F5P0gO5G/…

I was 14 the last time this happened. #browns @clevelandbrowns #playoffs #win #byesteelers @ Elyria, Ohio instagram.com/p/CJ5Kmbcg92d/…

Horrible call for the @BuffaloBills. @NFL officiating continues to be utter garbage. No other job in the world are you allowed to be this bad and keep your job. #nfl #NFLPlayoffs

Please just sell the @Indians.

Just posted a video @ Elyria, Ohio instagram.com/p/CJPD48MgErY/…

So that was a first down eh? Got it.

My daughter Nyah is a little TikTok famous and she’s helping spread the word of my album that releases on Christmas Day. Pre-order today!! #newmusic #fatherdaughter #girldad #cleveland #vinyl instagram.com/p/CIRR3GHAuJd/…

New music video coming soon! Preorder your copy of “The Natural Way of Things” today! #newmusic #houseshow #elyria #cleveland @ Elyria, Ohio instagram.com/p/CGcwzJKA9t6/…

The @PFF Draft Board ranks of the Browns draft picks: 11. Jedrick Wills Jr. 15. Grant Delpit 23. Jordan Elliott Only team to take 3 top-25 players on our board

We need to study this for the future and learn from it. We allowed a virus that may well turn out to be a fraction as deadly as the flu to shut down the global economy. There may well be a deadly virus in the future that threatens our way of life, but this isn’t it.

We still need randomized testing of people across the country and we also need antibody testing to see how prevalent exposure already is, but we need to get Americans back to work. And soon.

Italy’s total new cases and deaths declined for the third time in four days and stock market is up another 1100 points today. I think smart people are starting to realize we’ve wildly overreacted to the coronavirus.