EU Wages and the Queen
Believe it or not, minimum wage debate is not exclusive to the U.S. Europe, it turns out, has their own set of issues, so it's no surprise European Union lawmakers have adopted new legislation aimed at guaranteeing “decent” minimum wages for all workers across the 27-nation bloc. The boys discuss and come up with a variety of angles to view the challenges faced by the EU. Then it's Buy-or-Sell with Benivo, MVP Match and GoJob (spoiler alert: things get pretty ugly). And how could be not talk about the queen the week following her passing ... we just do it in a way only The Chad & Cheese Podcast can.
PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION sponsored by:
INTRO (12s):
Hide your kids! Lock the doors! You're listening to HR’s most dangerous podcast. Chad Sowash and Joel Cheeseman are here to punch the recruiting industry, right where it hurts! Complete with breaking news, brash opinion and loads of snark, buckle up boys and girls, it's time for the Chad and Cheese podcast.
Joel (31s):
Oh Yeah. Germany's chancellor says they must become the best equipped, armed force in Europe. What could possibly go wrong? You were listening to the Chad and Cheese podcast does Europe. I'm your cohost Joel "Barbosa" Cheeseman.
Chad (45s):
I'm Chad, "when they Zig, you Zag" Sowash.
Lieven (48s):
And I'm Lieven "in control of the buttons today" Van Nieuwenhuyze.
Joel (53s):
And on this episode, the EU gets serious about minimum wage, a game of buy or sell. And of course the Queen. Let's do this. Chad, what's the Zi and Zag.
Chad (1m 5s):
Well talk about it. This is, you know, I'm leading up. This is
Joel (1m 7s):
A tease, the tease. Okay. My bad, my bad.
Chad (1m 10s):
It's all the teases, all the tease. So Lieven. How do you feel about being in control?
Lieven (1m 14s):
It's a big responsibility. I mean, it's stress and there's so many buttons I want to push and I'm not allowed to push him because it's not the time had to push him. I would like to do the applause, for example.
Chad (1m 25s):
Yeah.
Lieven (1m 25s):
I not supposed to do the applause, but you get a point it's stress. Totally stressed out.
Chad (1m 31s):
Totally stressed out.
Joel (1m 33s):
You look stressed, Lieven. You look really stressed. Yes.
Lieven (1m 35s):
I know. I know. My glass is empty.
Joel (1m 40s):
Will some shoutouts relax you a little bit? Would some shoutouts ease your mind?
Lieven (1m 46s):
Shout your way.
Chad (1m 47s):
Excellent.
Lieven (1m 47s):
Chad.
Chad (1m 48s):
First shout out, goes to my wife. That's right. Happy sixth anniversary to Julie on this 21st day of September.
Lieven (2m 3s):
Really don't get on fire.
Chad (2m 5s):
The name of the song is September, which is what we are. And they talk about the 21st of September, which is the day we were married. And the day this podcast comes out.
Lieven (2m 15s):
Okay. So romantic.
Joel (2m 16s):
Was that done on purpose? Like when you were thinking about dates to get married, did you say Earth Wind and Fire inspired let's do the 21st of September.
Chad (2m 23s):
We actually met on the 21st of September.
Joel (2m 28s):
Wow. That's pretty romantic Sowash. I like that.
Chad (2m 30s):
That's what I got.
Joel (2m 31s):
And you know what else is romantic? David Beckham's love of the Queen. That's right. My shout out goes to the England footballer and pop icon David Beckham. He talked to CNN last week and revealed that he had spent over 12 hours waiting in line to pay his respects to her majesty. He told CNN quote, "something like this today is meant to be shared together. So, you know, the fact that we've been here, we're eating Pringles, we're eating Sherbert, lemons, whatever the fuck that is, sandwiches and coffee" Pringles by the way, is proudly made in America. So I'm glad that the Brits are eating Pringles, Posh Spice, however was not in line with her man like your woman would be with you Chad.
Joel (3m 15s):
Posh had better things to do. She shared her love for the Queen on Instagram. Kept it simple. But I regardless, no one Royals like the Royals and no one Royals like David Beckham, shout out to Becks.
Chad (3m 29s):
We're giving a shoutout for a guy for finally being able to be a regular human being and stand in fucking line. I mean, that was a shout out. David Beckham way to go. You're acting like you all the other citizens.
Joel (3m 40s):
Just wasted everyone's time with your anniversary. I can waste everyone's time with a Pringles reference.
Chad (3m 45s):
That's not a waste. Everybody wants to know when you know, we have little things.
Joel (3m 50s):
I wanna know what Lieven's is, cuz he didn't have one when we talked about shout outs two minutes ago,
Lieven (3m 56s):
Not gonna waste anyone's time with shoutouts. That's go to the topics.
Joel (4m 1s):
Where are we going next month? Chad?
Chad (4m 4s):
Oo? Well we're actually, I think we're actually gonna see Lieven this time around when we go to Paris on September 12th and 13th.
Lieven (4m 12s):
Yep!
Chad (4m 12s):
Are you in Lieven? Are you finally locked in?
Lieven (4m 15s):
I'm totally in. Even though those people from Unleash, they keep ignoring me, but I'm totally in.
Chad (4m 20s):
I told you, we got you covered, man.
Lieven (4m 22s):
Don't worry about it. No, no. You got me covered.
Chad (4m 24s):
That's that's what? This is all about family. We got you covered.
Lieven (4m 28s):
That's nice.
Chad (4m 28s):
You gotta, you can also catch the Vonq with Chad and Cheese in Paris. We're gonna have a rooftop pre-conference party overlooking the Paris skyline and we'll have more details coming your way. If you do not have a ticket, what's your problem. It's Paris. It's Unleash. Go to Chadcheese.com, click on the events in the upper right hand corner. You go down to Unleash Paris, click on that. And we have a 20% discount link kids go there, get some money off.
Lieven (5m 1s):
I pressed it, right.
Joel (5m 2s):
I was really pushing for a party at the top of the Eiffel Tower and calling it just the tip with Chad and Cheese. But unfortunately Eiffel Tower's way too expensive for our budget. So we can't do that,
Lieven (5m 13s):
But we are going to the Moulin Rouge. Aren't we?
Chad (5m 17s):
We are.
Lieven (5m 18s):
We are! I'll already made reservations! We're going to have dinner in the Mullan Rouge and that's why we're going.
Joel (5m 22s):
I don't really know what to expect. Is it just dancing women?
Chad (5m 26s):
Yeah. Well, first off you haven't been there before, so we can't tell you because this is a surprise.
Lieven (5m 31s):
I've been there tons of times.
Joel (5m 33s):
Well, I can Google it.
Chad (5m 34s):
Why would you do that? Just enjoy the experience.
Joel (5m 39s):
You want me to go in totally blind.
Chad (5m 40s):
Of course, of course I can do that. Like most of what you do.
Joel (5m 45s):
Like the Americans on Dday we're going in blind people. We don't know what we're gonna find.
Chad (5m 48s):
That's right kids it's time for topics.
Joel (5m 52s):
All right. Topics. You wanna do that one? Chad? I gotta get in the mood, man. Give me a topics.
Chad (5m 55s):
Okay, give a second. I got to, Lieven's got the news thing there. You have the sound effects?
Lieven (6m 1s):
Do we have the sound effect for news?
Chad (6m 3s):
I think so. Yeah.
Lieven (6m 4s):
No, I don't think so.
Chad (6m 5s):
Okay. We'll just go without it. TOPICS!.
Joel (6m 10s):
All right. All right.
Chad (6m 13s):
There we go. That'll work.
Joel (6m 16s):
All right guys, the European Union or as the kids call it, the EU, their lawbreakers have adopted new legislation aimed at guaranteeing decent in quotes, "minimum wages for all workers across the 27 nation block," minimum wage across the EU varies widely. The highest minimum wages are in Luxembourg, Ireland, and Germany with the lowest in Bulgaria, Latvia and Estonia. And the EU 21 out of 27 countries have a statutory minimum wage while the other six Australia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Italy, and Sweden have wage levels that are determined through collective pay bargaining. Under the new law member, companies will have to guarantee quote "that their nation minimum wages allow workers to lead a decent life, taking into account the cost of living and wider pay levels"
Joel (7m 6s):
end quote. Guys, what do you think about the EU getting tough on minimum wage? Chad?
Chad (7m 13s):
I think they've been very tough, not all countries, but most, most countries have been much more tough on minimum wage than the United States has. If you take a look at the Intelligence Group, they just did a survey of like over a hundred thousand people or close to a hundred thousand people through, through all the European countries and go to intelligence group, look at their surveys. For the most part, I was astounded by the parody that was happening in some countries around wages. You know, the big question is what's the definition of a decent wage, according to the new rules, you know, EU members, state that they have to measure the existing lowest wage that provides a decent living wage.
Chad (8m 0s):
The hard part about this is? What about the countries that voted against it? You know, does the EU have to provide manpower to audit and enforce this? If the company doesn't enforce it, or if the country doesn't enforce it, who's going to enforce it. I think it's great. And I think the EU is well beyond some of the things that we've done here in the US, but I, I just don't know of those countries who didn't vote for it, how they're going to audit, manage and enforce.
Joel (8m 29s):
Yeah. There's to me, a lot of politics in this, I mean, look times are tough in Europe. Apparently they're gonna get really bad here in the coming months as winter overtakes the continent. And when that happens, politicians like to say shit and pass shit that makes them sound really good. That makes the people happy and gets them votes. And to me, this sort of reeks of politicization of minimum wage. Like you said, Chad, what exactly does a decent living mean? I think it's very subjective. How are you gonna gauge this? Is it gonna be left up to the countries? Is Sweden gonna be able to tell Estonia that they're not paying enough and is Estonia gonna give a shit what Sweden thinks about their wages?
Joel (9m 16s):
I mean, it's very similar to the US where Texas says, you know, they're a sovereign nation or what you make in Mississippi isn't the same as you're buying power in California. This is this just so politicized. I mean, they've given the themselves two years to pass this. I'm guessing that in two years, one, the economy is gonna be better. And number two, all these people will have won reelection and more or less will kind of forget about it and times are good and whatever. So sounds great. A lot of politics. Yeah. Let's wait and see in two years, if anything actually gets done.I was surprised to see the big spreads between the lowest and the highest minimum wage.
Joel (9m 59s):
I mean, if you look at Bulgaria, there's like 363 Euro a month. That's the minimum wage, 363. And in Luxembourg, it's 2,313. So that's quite a big spread. And with travel agreement everyone can travel around. So I would expect people from Bulgaria, be happy to move to Luxembourg. Of course, if they would find a job there, But it costs more to live in Luxemburg. I'm guessing.
Lieven (10m 26s):
Definitely, but still I think the spread is too big to make up for that.
Joel (10m 31s):
Do you bring Luxembourg's you set the floor. So now Estonians are gonna make the base level that a Luxembourgian makes?
Chad (10m 39s):
No, they're not, they're not talking about going base across all the EU they're talking about in the different countries having set up a system that's fair in that country, right?
Joel (10m 50s):
As long as Estonia or whatever can say, Hey, we're paying a decent wage. It's subjective. And so
Chad (10m 56s):
It's like in the states, you look at a living wage is much different in San Francisco than it is in Omaha, Nebraska, right? But we know what those living wages are just the mean in itself. So I would assume the EU said they actually have that they're putting in place controls and fueled inspections to ensure compliance and address, you know, abusive subcontracting, bogus self-employment, non recording overtime, increased work intensity, those types of things. So it sounds like they're going to try to manage and enforce this. But man, that sounds like a lot of manpower.
Joel (11m 31s):
I think you have to set a base and then increase it for inflation year over year. Cause if the US just said, Hey, Texas, pay your people, a living, a decent wage. There's no enforcement there. I don't know how you would.
Chad (11m 43s):
Well, they, they know how to calculate it. We already know how to calculate what a living wage is. It's being able to enforce that it's actually happening. That's the hard part from country to country. It might be easier here from state to state, but they know how to calculate what a living wage is.
Joel (11m 59s):
For that state. Yeah.
Chad (11m 59s):
Oh yeah. For, well, not just for that state also for the Metro. So let's say for instance, Austin versus Dallas versus Omaha, Nebraska, right? Yeah. So the question is Lieven. You guys have, I think there's a hell of a lot more transparency in Europe than there is in the us. So to be able to set those living wages, decent wages, do you think that is something that could be fairly transparent and everybody could see fairly easily.
Lieven (12m 28s):
If you wanna see it, you can see it, it's published, but I guess most people will never even try to find out. But if you look now, there are three groups and you have group one with a minimum wage above 1,500 euros. And Belgium is a proud part of it. You have Luxemburg, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany and France. Those are the sixth biggest paying countries. You have group two over 1000 euros, but lower than one thousand 500 with Spain, with Slovenia and the others are below. And I was surprised the see the United States, they would be in group two on average. I'm not sure if you even know it, but at federal level, apparently I just read it.
Lieven (13m 9s):
There is 1,210 euros a month is the minimum wage in the United States. I thought it would be much more. I mean, living conditions are at least comparable with Western Europe. I guess it's more expensive in some ways with a minimum wage like that. It's not like you have a fairly decent living, I guess.
Chad (13m 28s):
Well, and those people generally who are living off that minimum wage don't have healthcare either. So, I mean, you're talking about an entirely different set of problems.
Joel (13m 37s):
Now, the good news is the market dictates that most salaries are above the $7.50 or whatever it is in the US. But $7.50 is miserably low. I think the last time we moved, it was what the Obama administration. Chad. Yep. 2010 or 11, somewhere around there.
Chad (13m 53s):
2008, I think.
Joel (13m 54s):
Okay. Like, come on.
Lieven (13m 55s):
I know, sorry. I was thinking Europe. The good thing is that the economies who are growing the fastest are the small ones, the ones who are paying the least now. So probably within the coming 10 years, those average wages will grow to each other, but still the gap is huge. It's not really fair.
Chad (14m 14s):
Again, we see it here in the US so I'm not really surprised that it's happening in Europe. Although once again, you know, just the transparency, there's more transparency in Europe than there is here in the US, which means you guys can move the needle much faster than we can.
Joel (14m 30s):
Put the needle on the record. Put the needle on the record. All right, guys. How about a little buy or sell?
Chad (14m 35s):
Why don't we take a break first?
Joel (14m 36s):
All right. Let's take a break and we'll play a little buy or sell. All right guys, listeners, hopefully know how this works. We have three startups that have gotten money. Recently we do a summary and then each of us buys or sell that startup. Are you ready to play buy or sell?
Lieven (14m 55s):
Yes.
Joel (14m 56s):
First up is Benivo. The London based company has raised $12 million in a funding round led by Up Data Partners. This brings total funding to $25 million founded in 2010 Benivo is an end to end employee mobility management platform. Benivo will use the funds to grow their teams in the US, UK, Armenia, and India, and continue to expand their unified mobility solution to address customers in key pain points. Benivo employs 94 people. Chad, are you a buy or sell on Benivo?
Chad (15m 31s):
Am I getting this right? A pivot from apartments to global mobility? Is that where we're going right now? How do these people get money? Seriously? Are they holding investors over a barrel saying that the either give us money for a pivot or your initial investment is gone. The CEO has no experience in this space. And the pivot happened because at least this is what was actually in a story. The CEO said, quote, "it was a chance meeting with a Google HR person", not in depth market analysis or an understanding of the industry. This feels more like a money laundering scenario than anything else.
Chad (16m 13s):
So I can't sell this one fast enough. This is horrible.
Joel (16m 18s):
Horrible, but you love the name, right?
Chad (16m 20s):
Oh Jesus Christ don't even get me started on anything like that.
Joel (16m 23s):
Something for my prostate. Sounds like something to shrink my prostate. Well, Chad, you know that I usually like waves that are strong and I'll take, 'em, a mediocre surfer over with, on a good wave, better than a pro surfer on a shitty wave. And I'll give them this, they're on a good wave. However, I'm kind of with you on this man. I tried really hard single platform. They're saying some right things. What really makes me wanna sell this company though, is that they literally have an explainer video on the homepage about how they raised money. I've never ever seen that before the entire above the fold of their homepage aside from like one little snippet of what they do is how they just raised money.
Joel (17m 8s):
They have the TechCrunch article. They have their press release. I mean that just screams of like, don't look at our stuff. We just made money or we just raise money so, give us your business. The single platform is hot, but this just reeks of like, our investors need a new, a reason to give us more money. We need to stay alive. We're gonna sell them on this one platform, mobility, whatever. And I also love the fact that they call automation of repetitive tasks, auto magic. So they literally have 'auto magic' on their homepage to sell this shit that they're trying to put a lipstick on I'm with Chadman sell, sell, sell Benivo and shrink your prostate in the process.
Joel (17m 58s):
This is a bad company.
Lieven (17m 60s):
Yay. I'm always happy when I come to the soundbites. Okay.
Joel (18m 3s):
Nice explainer video by the way, there it is. Say it.
Lieven (18m 6s):
Yeah. I, I know for the people watching the video.
Joel (18m 11s):
12 million. Yeah.
Lieven (18m 12s):
Cool. Okay. I was kind of surprised when I was looking for a company and I first saw this Benivo cruelty, free pet foods. So I thought this is kind of weird, but then I noticed it's Benivo with I and not with E Benivo. So we got to the right platform and I must say, I like colors. I mean the magenta and the midnight blue. It's interesting. I liked it. I saw the scheme and I thought, okay, this looks interesting. And I actually read it for the people watching the video right now and bottom left now, right of your screen, you can see what I'm looking at right now.
Lieven (18m 52s):
And I read everything and I read it to interest and then I decided to sell anyway. That's about it.
Joel (18m 59s):
Even though you like the colors.
Lieven (19m 0s):
I did like the colors. Yeah.
Joel (19m 1s):
You're a stronger man than I am.
Chad (19m 5s):
Hit the Boo button.
sfx (19m 6s):
Boo.
Lieven (19m 7s):
Okay. Where's booers boo. Yeah. Boo.
Joel (19m 8s):
There it is. There it is. All right.
Lieven (19m 12s):
No, buy for me. No. Sell.
Joel (19m 15s):
Double boo from Lieven. All right. Go Job a recruitment firm based in France announced a Series B round of financing to the tune of 23 million euros this week, that brings total funding to just over 40 million euros. With this new fundraising GoJob will accelerate its R and D investments, as well as the growth of the US and French markets. The group, which describes itself as a workforce, as a service platform, aims to achieve more than 60% growth by the end of the year and profitability by 2023. Founded in 2015, the company says it has more than 1000 customers.
Joel (19m 56s):
Chad, are you a buy or sell on, GoJob?
Chad (20m 0s):
I don't see the connection. It's like France and the US. Okay. We'll get to that. So Lieven this looks like a digital staffing company. Am I right?
Lieven (20m 9s):
I think it's even just a staffing company, not even very digital.
Chad (20m 14s):
This is a staffing company who needs additional funding after one of the best markets in a generation. So Lieven you're in the staffing sector. So does this sound kind of fishy to you? I mean, this is been a killer market and it sounds weird.
Lieven (20m 29s):
If they wanna grow, they can grow probably anywhere. Today they're just active I think in France, as far as I know, it's just France, their major are there spreading all around Europe, I'm not sure. I know them from France and they claim to have 500,000 people under contracts or temping, which is quite a lot. Okay. France is big 67 million people, something like that, but still it's a growing market. It's a good market. And they want to invest in education and training people and having people, reentering markets. So people who are struggling with whatever people struggle with.
Joel (21m 5s):
Is this a buy or sell Chad? Yeah.
Chad (21m 6s):
Well, I'm trying to, I'm trying to understand it cuz it just doesn't make any sense
Joel (21m 9s):
To me. Well then it's a sell. Cause if you can't figure it out, it's a sell.
Chad (21m 14s):
Whole, the total Tam from France to the US seems like bait and no, I'm not taking a bait. It's a sell for me.
sfx (21m 29s):
Booo.
Joel (21m 29s):
Chad, you know, damn see it's addictive.
Lieven (21m 32s):
Buttons are addictive.
Joel (21m 33s):
You know, buttons are addictive. So Chad, Chad, you know, I talked a lot of the show about the clock that ticks when you take money. And what stood out to me was these guys launched in 2015. So they're getting on that eight year mark. Maybe they're getting a little pressure from the past investors to make money. So now it's like, Hey, we're gonna grow in America. The biggest economy in the world. Well, America's not exactly clamoring for our French digital staffing agency. Okay. It's not like we're lining up like we're buying baguettes or croissants from France. So, so here's, here's some French.
Joel (22m 13s):
I do know. Fuck a you okay? This is a bad idea. No one good ever makes it in the US hardly. Definitely not. Yeah. What's their name again? GoJob. Yeah. Okay. GoJob go home. I'm a sell.
Lieven (22m 30s):
And I think already said so. I think entering in France is something House of HR should buy. So if you don't buy them, we will someday. Someday we will buy them.
Joel (22m 43s):
There you go.
Lieven (22m 43s):
Yeah. But we won't let them go to United States. I realize you're not waiting for just not a company trying to sell interim and US, but we'll keep them in France. Everyone happy. So we buy and no, I can push the applause, but where is the applause here? Yeah, we buy, we buy, we buy.
sfx (23m 1s):
applause & cheers
Joel (23m 1s):
And the good news. If they're 10X, then 400 million is nothing to House of HR. So that's pocket change. They'll be able to pick them up pretty easily, pretty easily. All right. Well, we've been lukewarm on the first two. Let's see how we do on the third company. That's MVP Match. The Berlin based provider of a marketplace and community for matchmaking companies with vetted tech, raised 5 million euros in seed funding. MVP Match is a marketplace for companies to hire vetted tech design and product talent globally. If we're being specific, the company intends to use the funds to expand operations with a talent pool of over 6,000 professionals. MVP Match says they're working with more than 100 companies, including tech unicorns, global enterprises and leading professional services companies Chad are you a buy or sell on this MVP or are you trading it?
Chad (23m 54s):
It's developers, designers and project managers so very focused. About 3000 designers, 170 projects completed 1200 positions filled still small. Still small for even for just Germany, but from TechCrunch, quote, "MVP Match plans on using the funding to grow its reach with a new hub in Egypt that MVP Match will use to tap talent in Africa with the aim of creating more networks in the region. The hubs, which include the existing ones in Lisbon, Portugal and I've gotta say this right Tbilisi, is that it? Is it, did I say it right Tbilisi? Tbilisi, that's it Tbilisi, Georgia.
Chad (24m 34s):
We gotta get these right, right? And are intended to help. It's more than 100 clients hire local talent without having to establish operations in those jurisdictions" end quote. First off, I love the focus on developers, designers and project managers. Second building a hub in Egypt and then expanding into Portugal and Georgia is incredibly smart. Plus, those are two great wine countries, by the way. Anyway, we're always saying that when your competition zigs, ya zag. So this isn't the common coming to America's Zig, which everybody's saying they're doing in their bullshitting with their total addressable market.
Chad (25m 16s):
This is something that I can get behind. So MVP Match is a match and a buy for me.
sfx (25m 27s):
applause
Joel (25m 28s):
Yep. So yeah, I talk about waves a lot. I just talked about it five minutes ago, the whole wave of vetted tech talent that can be employed all around the world is a wave that I love. And I love Touring. I love Mandela, which are companies that we talk about on the show that are doing some of the same stuff, high demand for what they're selling, sprinkle it with some German engineering and attention to detail. It's a small amount to raise. I gotta think that a Series A is coming early next year to the tune of 20, 25 million euros. But this is a JV. I think they're gonna move up to the varsity soon and start competing with the big boys at Turing and Andela.
Joel (26m 8s):
And some of the others MVP for me is a MVP in training. I'm gonna buy it.
Chad (26m 16s):
There it is.
Lieven (26m 17s):
Yep.
Chad (26m 18s):
What do you think Lieven?
Lieven (26m 21s):
I'm gonna follow. I'm gonna buy also. German, 6,000 people already working for them, going to the right markets. It's a buy. You already said everything. I'm not going to repeat it again. So I'm following you. Just because I'm following you, boo. No, I just pushed. I pushed the wrong button. I was supposed to push applause. Yeah. Oh yeah. There we go.
Joel (26m 46s):
Lieven. I'm curious. Are they, to me, they look primed. Although they're looking at Africa and middle east, I mean they seem primed to really have a nice footprint in Europe. Agree.
Lieven (26m 57s):
Yeah. But the choices they made, aren't the most easy, I mean, middle east, it's always risky because it's not the most stable place in the world. Egypt is middle east, maybe a real choice. But then again, those are the growing economies.
Joel (27m 12s):
It's also where a lot of tech talent is
Lieven (27m 16s):
Sometimes.
Joel (27m 16s):
And a lot of those sometimes.
Lieven (27m 19s):
But no, no, it depends. But I was looking of course, Lisbon and Portugal are of course, they make sense, Georgia and Egypt? It's yeah. It's not the most common choice, but maybe that's why they're interesting to me because it's a place where growth, potential is still big, already working with more than a hundred companies, tech unique unicorns. It sounds good. It sounds good. And I didn't need more today to buy. I was in a buying mood.
Joel (27m 44s):
They need, they need more money, which I'm sure they're gonna get here soon. Did we take a break before the last story or not? I forget. Go and roll right into it. All right guys, let's talk about the Queen. While parts of the world are morning Queen Elizabeth's death. A few are thinking about the economic impact her death has and will have Queen Elizabeth's state funeral will close businesses, cancel sporting events and redirect flights. And the estimated hit to the British economy has been reported to be 2.3 billion euros. That's $2.6 billion for our US listeners, even orientation week at Prince William and Kate's Alma mater St.
Joel (28m 25s):
Andrews has been canceled, which reportedly will hurt universities bottom line's from a loss of liquor sales at the student union. This of course with an already ailing British economy and impending energy cost this winter is gonna be additionally painful. Tourism however, is expected to increase in light of the Queens' passing. But I have my doubts. Guys what are your thoughts on the Crown's impact and the British economy? Yeah,
Chad (28m 53s):
I say a week of being down is worth, is gonna be worth it. I think we're gonna see months of individuals coming back and not just back for the funeral like today, but in waves. Right? So I, I think personally the week that let's say for instance, the premier league isn't playing, they come back, the stadiums are gonna fill up the flow into, the UK itself, I think is going to be at a much larger level than it would've been in the first place. So I think this is you give away a week and you gain months.
Joel (29m 25s):
This was great for me because I've heard anecdotes about, you know, it's worth it. It's not worth it. And I've never really sort of dug into the numbers. And although some of the numbers are pretty subjective. I may go to London, not for the Queen, but I'm going. And then I go visit, you know, the artifacts or whatever while in there. So costs to Britain, it costs Britain around $120 million yearly from what I researched, which comes out to about two or so dollars per resident. So if you ask most residents, is it worth two bucks a year to have the monarchy? I think most would say probably yes. So what does it bring in to the monarchy?
Joel (30m 7s):
The monarchy itself is reportedly worth $73 billion. That's all the gold and shit that they have. That's a huge amount. You could sell that shit off and make a good profit. The Queen's net worth as a individual is 370 million pounds. A campaign group called the Republic asserted that the full annual cost of the British monarchy, I saw 120 million, $120 million to $345 million or yeah, $ million per year. The annual income from the monarchy is estimated at 1.76 billion pounds. So if we're doing the math around this, it's roughly five X, the return on what it costs to have the monarchy.
Joel (30m 52s):
That's a pretty good return. So whereas the American in me can't understand the monarchy and thinks it's incredibly stupid. The capitalist in me says it's a good business and they should keep it around. I'm not sure how good the prince or the King Charles reign is gonna be. He seems fairly lame and boring to me, but I do think the king, the King William era will be a huge moneymaker for Britain. There's my take. It's worth it. It's a good investment Brits keep doing it.
Lieven (31m 24s):
And I think she behaved better than most of your presidents.
Chad (31m 27s):
Easily.
Lieven (31m 27s):
Easily. No, no. And you were talking about the gold and you
Joel (31m 34s):
Her Twitter account sucked.
Lieven (31m 35s):
Probably, but you should look at the real estate. I mean, when I was in Scotland this summer and did I already mention, I left Scotland when I was in Scotland this summer, I went to visit Balmoral just a few weeks before she arrived and died. I mean, it's a coincidence of course, but still touching, but they have so much, they have the gold we're talking about, but also all those castles, the heritage, I love it. I'm sucker for all school monarchy. I think it's totally undemocratic. I mean, my kids could never become kings so they should marry a princess. They'll never become Kings. It's old school. It's outdated, but it's tradition and we in Europe love tradition.
Lieven (32m 16s):
So is it? Will it have an impact on the economy? Probably not. I mean, it's just a protocol. I'm still, it's the end of an era. I'm sad. She's gone. Not really sad, but it's she's old enough, 96. I'm sure she had a good life, but anyway/
Joel (32m 34s):
Think of all the shit she's seen, man, World War II, cold war
Lieven (32m 39s):
Churchill, Churchill
Chad (32m 39s):
Knew Churchill fucking Churchill. Yeah. Churchill. I mean, God, come on, man.
Lieven (32m 42s):
Those are the days. Yeah, of course. I'm sure she had an opinion on it, on everything.
Joel (32m 47s):
Can you name the only us president she did not meet with?
Chad (32m 51s):
Oh,
Joel (32m 51s):
Lindon Banes Johnson, random American quiz. There you go.
Lieven (32m 53s):
Who was in rain when she was, because there were so many presidents she didn't meet
Joel (32m 59s):
That she was alive for obviously.
Lieven (33m 0s):
That's what of course she met. Okay.
Joel (33m 3s):
The only one she never met is queen was LBJ.
Lieven (33m 5s):
Okay. And why?
Chad (33m 6s):
Was that a Vietnam issue? I mean, did she not meet with them?
Lieven (33m 10s):
Hey, Hey LBJ. How many kids did you kill today? Something like that.
Joel (33m 13s):
Knowing LBJ is, I know from history, I'm not sure he would've cared a lot about meeting the queen and I'm not sure she would've cared much about meeting him, but yeah, I'm sure Vietnam had something to do with it. Civil rights. I don't know. Maybe just she didn't have time.
Chad (33m 30s):
She's busy. She's a busy lady.
Joel (33m 32s):
He's busy. Anywho guys our first video podcast. How do we feel about it? Little rough.
Lieven (33m 37s):
I think we could do better. I'm really sure we could do better.
Chad (33m 40s):
It's our first time. Come on, give us a break. We're used to this audio thing, this video thing's new. It's okay.
Lieven (33m 48s):
Someday, we're going to look at this and say, damn we sucked. But by then we will be so good that we won't mind.
Chad (33m 56s):
Go back to our very first podcast.
Lieven (33m 58s):
Oh yeah.
Chad (33m 58s):
And listen to that one versus the ones that we put out today and you'll say, okay. Yeah.
Joel (34m 3s):
I will say that this is better as a first than our first podcast was as a first.
Chad (34m 10s):
Easily,
Joel (34m 15s):
Easily. I'll let the listeners and the viewers decide.
Chad and Cheese (34m 20s):
We out. We out
OUTRO (35m 8s):
Thank you for listening to, what's it called? The podcast with Chad, the Cheese. Brilliant. They talk about recruiting. They talk about technology, but most of all, they talk about nothing. Just a lot of Shout Outs of people, you don't even know and yet you're listening. It's incredible. And not one word about cheese, not one cheddar, blue, nacho, pepper jack, Swiss. So many cheeses and not one word. So weird. Any hoo be sure to subscribe today on iTunes, Spotify, Google play, or wherever you listen to your podcasts, that way you won't miss an episode. And while you're at it, visit www.chadcheese.com just don't expect to find any recipes for grilled cheese. Is so weird. We out.