Notes From All Over -- Pre-Market Edition -- Monday, March 21, 2022

Mixed messages: despite high inflation, eating at a restaurant roars back from the Covid-19 pandemic. Link here.  

Without question, the fastest way to cut costs: quit eating out. I can fix a $15-restaurant breakfast for about 55 cents. Keurig coffee at 25 cents and two eggs at 15 cents are the most expensive items. A dozen eggs in north Texas still cost about $1.29 / dozen or about eleven cents apiece.

Pork chorizo, toast, butter, diced potatoes, almost inconsequential. My wife enjoys eating out, and we now go much more often than before the pandemic. When I see the lines of folks waiting at the door and realizing that most probably really can't afford to eat out but do, I'm reminded of what I often say: there's a lot of money out there, and folks are willing to spend it. 

We have completely eliminated our once-a-week sushi at our favorite Japanese restaurant -- too far to drive. That one meal cost us about $60 which included the  $10+ tip.

Sorting out the carnage: Monday morning sports-talk shows reviewing first round/second round of March Madness and the "Sweet Sixteen."

For investors: about a week ago I posted an essay about the value of financial statements for investors. Last night a reader sent me a long note discussing his thoughts on Engine No. 1. Coincidentally, Charles Kennedy just posted a note on the activist group, also. My thoughts and links:

• a great example of what I'm talking about -- activist investor Engine No. 1:

• not one person on this team seems to have much of a resume;
• now, after disrupting XOM, urges more Permian production.

Too big to fail: China quickly re-opens Shenzhen. Link here. From what I can tell, AAPL operations were minimally affected, if at all. 

MLB: still has a problem. 

Canada won't allow unvaccinated players into the country to play the Toront Blue Jays. Among all professional athletes, the baseball players were most resistant to getting vaccinated. Imagine: a jab in the biceps of their batting appendages. Could the Toronto Blue Jays win every game at home this season?

Only problem: reading English headlines from a German newspaper --

Heating up in the Mideast:

• Saudi won't take calls from the US president, but
• the US military-industrial complex eager to take calls from Saudi
• US sends Patriot missiles to Saudi Arabia, filling urgent request to counter drone / missile attackes by Ian-backed Houthi rebels
• US ready to take Iran off terrorist list
• US ready to lift sanctions on Iran as soon as possible

California dreaming:

• Chevron pulls union workers from California refinery ahead of strike
• time for Chevron to leave California
• I wonder if Governor Newsom is still studying why gasoline prices are so high in California?

Media: Fox Business calls Starbucks founder a "labor foe."

• oh, I get it: he's a foe of unionized labor
• but, he's not a foe of his labor force;
• he has probably done more for his labor force than any other company in the US (don't take that out of context) and this is the thanks he gets: they all want to unionize
• if / when they go on strike, it will take an individual employee one to two years to recover financially;
  
• my hunch: unions will only hurt the company; customers won't notice; there are too many alternatives these days;