Dynamic Food Pricing, Stock Trading Ban & Buc-ee's Pays $275K

Good morning, happy Sunday. Top off that mug — vindication's coming.

Five cups of coffee a day could protect your heart and cut stroke risk. Five. Ignoring your doctor was the right call. Just don't turn your Keurig into a full-time job.

Drink up. Politics, markets, and business are waiting — and none of it's explaining itself.

Congress finally did something about insider trading — sort of. The House passed the Stop Insider Trading Act 232-198, banning lawmakers and their families from buying new stocks while in office. Thirteen Democrats crossed over to help it pass. Lawmakers get to keep every stock they already own, and the bill exempts the President and Vice President entirely. Congress just voted to hold everyone accountable except themselves and the guy at the top.

New tariffs are landing Friday. A 10% to 12.5% rate hits imports from 60 countries, including Canada, Mexico, India, and the UK, as the temporary global tariff window closes.

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani called Netanyahu a "war criminal" who "belongs in the Hague," citing his ICC charges. Predictably, the internet did not respond calmly.

Tehran put up a billboard in the middle of the city taunting the US, referencing Lindsey Graham and dropping some very suspicious capitalization aimed at "D" and "T." Subtle as a brick, as usual.

Trump reversed course on TikTok being allowed on government phones. No further explanation offered — just a quiet, dramatic U-turn.

And in New Jersey, Gov. Mikie Sherrill revealed that a DMV software glitch registered roughly 6,600 noncitizens to vote, with about 400 of them actually casting ballots. The error dates back to 2023-2024, under her predecessor. She says there's no evidence it swung any elections — but "trust the system" is a tough sell when the system just admitted it can't tell who's allowed to use it.

Florida's economy just hit $1.8 trillion, making it the 14th largest in the world — bigger than Australia and Mexico. It grew 6.3% over the past year and only needs about 2% more to pass South Korea. Meanwhile, states like New York, Illinois, and California keep hiking taxes and watching people leave. Florida isn't guessing why they're winning.

Cathie Wood is standing by her SpaceX bet, calling it possibly "the most important company in global history" even with the stock sliding and a $116 billion share unlock coming. ARK has $80 million riding on it. Confidence or coping — you decide.

Spain took home $50 million for winning the 2026 World Cup, and the IRS wants a cut — up to 30% of it. Even Congress thinks it's a little much. "I think it's a rip-off," said Rep. Tim Burchett. Rare moment of bipartisan common sense.

Grocery shoppers, take note: Kroger came out on top in a new store-brand price comparison, beating Walmart, Aldi, and Albertsons with a $30 basket of 15 everyday essentials. Small win, but we'll take it.

And mortgage rates ticked back up, with 30-year fixed rates now averaging 6.69%. Yet purchase applications still rose 6% for the week — proof buyers are done waiting for the "perfect" rate and just getting on with it.

Google's profits jumped to $112 billion, and the company is crediting AI, Gemini, and YouTube's World Cup traffic. Fine print: a big chunk of that windfall came from Google's own stock holdings in Anthropic and SpaceX going up in value — not just people clicking ads. Still a good quarter. Just maybe not the one they're advertising.

Remember the Taco Bell lettuce scare that made headlines? Turns out it was a false positive. The FDA now says the Taylor Farms sample never actually tested positive for Cyclospora. No word yet on who's paying for the reputational damage already done.

California Pizza Kitchen co-founder Rick Rosenfield says if he were starting the chain today, he'd pick Florida over California. His reasoning: California just isn't business-friendly anymore, and it shows. Take note, Sacramento.

Red Robin is closing dozens of underperforming locations, including a longtime North Carolina spot, as part of what it's calling a turnaround — not a shutdown. Up to 50 stores could go.

Frontier Airlines is finally adding high-speed Wi-Fi fleet-wide, powered by Elon Musk's Starlink, starting in 2027. The ultra-low-cost carrier is trying to keep up with bigger competitors offering actual amenities. Welcome to the current century.

Mars Wrigley is packing up its Newark headquarters and moving to Chicago, cutting 307 jobs in the process. Another New Jersey business heads for the exits.

And Icahn Enterprises is selling Pep Boys to Mavis for $700 million, adding nearly 800 locations to Mavis's network and pushing it past 4,400 service centers nationwide. Consolidation continues in the auto repair world.

Last Week:

We asked if MAGA is still alive and kicking, or just running on fumes. 58% of you said it's alive, well, and still the only game in town.

Honestly? We expected higher. Either some of you are feeling shy, or the coffee hadn't kicked in yet when you voted.

This Week:

Congress actually passed a law banning in-flight phone calls back in 2018. The FAA just... never got around to writing the actual rule. Eight years later, a new bipartisan bill called the Quiet Skies Act wants to force their hand, giving the FAA 180 days to finally finish the job. So while D.C. sorts out its homework, we want to know where you stand.

The biggest IPO in history is live — $1.75T valuation, $135 open, $75B raised. And history says the retail investors who chase day-one hype are the ones who get burned.

The SpaceX run created thousands of new millionaires. But it wasn't the people buying at the open. It was the ones positioned early, in the names set to ride the wave.

Our analyst pinpointed 3 stocks positioned to ride the SpaceX wave — with entry guidance and price targets, a bonus 4th pick (the most undervalued name in the sector), and a 3-phase playbook for when to buy and when to sell.

Over 2,500 investors have already read the report. Claim your free copy here.

Get the Free Report

Winners:

FIFA:
The 2026 World Cup just became the most lucrative sporting event in history, hauling in approx. $15 billion in revenue. Spain took the trophy. FIFA took the bank.

Airport Travellers:
Dubai International just rolled out AI-powered facial recognition that clears passengers through border control in 6 to 14 seconds — no passport, no boarding pass, nothing to dig for. Beat that, TSA line.

Losers:

NYC Offices:
Miami just overtook New York in the return-to-office race, ranking No. 1 nationwide for office recovery in five of the last six months. Companies keep expanding their South Florida footprint while NYC watches from second place.

Sunny Hostin (Yes, from the View):
The View's own "no one is above the law" co-host got caught on police bodycam name-dropping her job title and Harvard-grad son to get him out of a trespassing ticket. The internet did not let this one go.

Consumer Reports just caught Instacart charging some shoppers 23% more — same item, same store, same minute. No coupon. No loyalty card. Just an algorithm deciding you can afford it.

And it's spreading. Walmart's rolling digital price tags — ones that can change six times a minute — into all 4,600 US stores by year's end. Kroger's already there in one in four.

Same milk. Same store. Different price. Welcome to grocery shopping now.

IRS sent Wilson Perry Kirby a $20,000 refund by mistake in 2022. He tried to return it immediately. Four years later, they're charging him $2,575 in interest and threatening his $930,000 Tennessee farm. His wife fought beside him until she passed in 2024. He's alone now. "They made a mistake," Kirby said. "Not me."

Translation: Man does the right thing. Government punishes him for it. Never change, IRS.

Under Trump's fraud crackdown, Treasury screened over 885 million federal payments worth $2.77 trillion and flagged nearly 4,900 payments — almost $99 million — headed to deceased individuals. All of it got pulled back before a dime went out. Secretary Bessent says the GAO estimates improper government payments could total $500 billion a year, or 1.66% of GDP.

Translation: $99 million caught before it went to dead people is great. $500 billion still leaking out to who-knows-where is the real number to be mad about.

One year in, the National Association of Manufacturers says the "One Big Beautiful Bill" is working — 100% expensing on new factories, immediate equipment depreciation, jobs and wages protected nationwide. California topped the list: 708,000 jobs, $134 billion in GDP, $67 billion in wages saved, per NAM. CEO Jay Timmons says it gave manufacturers "the confidence to invest, hire, raise wages and expand facilities."

Translation: This report comes from the group that lobbied for the law. Doesn't mean they're wrong — but grading your own homework tends to come back with good marks.

An open-source project called DeFlock has mapped over 117,000 automated license plate readers nationwide, quietly logging where cars go, when, and how often. California leads with more than 16,000 readers, followed by Florida, Georgia, and Illinois. Flock Safety devices make up nearly 83% of the total. Police say it helps catch criminals. Privacy advocates say it builds a searchable record of every innocent driver's daily movements — no warrant required.

Translation: You don't have to be doing anything wrong to end up in the database. That should bother more people than it does.

Jerri Roby, 69, got life in prison for murdering her 42-year-old son, John Gaither. When family reported him missing, she claimed he'd Ubered to Louisiana — but his account showed no activity. Family later got texts and calls from his phone they didn't believe were really him. Police searched her Gulfport home and found a fake wall hiding his body. He'd been shot in the back of the head.

Translation: She didn't just kill her son. She spent weeks pretending to be him.

A venture capitalist in his 30s says his patchy "baby face" beard was quietly costing him at work — passed over for a client-facing role, judgment questioned more than older-looking colleagues. So he paid $10,000 for a beard transplant. Six months later, he says the jokes stopped and colleagues started telling him he looked "sharper" and more confident.

Translation: Man spends five figures growing facial hair so grown men will stop treating him like a kid. Somewhere, an entry-level employee is Googling minoxidil right now.

A viral photo of a Buc-ee's employee pay sign shows starting wages of $20/hour for cashiers and stockers, food service managers pulling $150K–$200K, and general managers earning up to $275,000 — all without a college degree. The sign sparked a debate online, with some pointing to it as proof six-figure careers don't require a diploma, and others noting the pay reflects the grind of running one of the chain's massive stores.

Translation: Somewhere, a kid with $80K in student loan debt is staring at this sign and rethinking every decision he's ever made.

In 2006, only Denmark and Finland matched the US passport for global access. Twenty years later, Henley's anniversary report shows the US sitting at 10th place — but because of tied scores, that actually means 36 countries now offer more visa-free travel than America does. Singapore tops the list with visa-free access to 192 destinations, and the US remains one of the few top-ranked passports whose citizens still need a visa to enter China.

Translation: The passport that used to open every door now needs to knock first. Nobody voted on this, but everyone's feeling it at the airport.

No state income tax was supposed to be Florida's ace card. But soaring property taxes, insurance premiums, and everyday inflation have pushed the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Palm Beach "Gold Coast" 5% above the New York metro area in overall cost of living, per a Bloomberg analysis of federal data. South Florida prices have jumped 36% since 2019 — the second-highest spike in the country, behind only Tampa.

Translation: People fled New York for Florida to escape high costs. Florida raised its costs to catch up. The math that used to make sense doesn't anymore.

Christopher Hellenthal, 20, was still in his Spider-Man costume from a superhero event at a trampoline park when he spotted a man struggling to cross six lanes of traffic in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He jumped out of his red Jeep, ran to the man, said "I got you," and pushed his wheelchair to safety seconds before the light changed. Traffic cameras caught the whole thing.

Translation: Turns out the suit doesn't need to be bulletproof to make someone a hero. Just quick reflexes and zero hesitation.

Morning Brew delivers the biggest stories in business, finance, and tech in about 5 minutes — with just enough personality to keep things interesting.

Join 4,000,000+ professionals who start their mornings a little smarter.

Check it out

FOMC Meeting & Rate Decision
Tuesday, July 28 – Wednesday, July 29
The Fed's rate decision drops Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET, followed by new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's first press conference. No fresh projections this time — just the statement and the mic.
Why You Should Care: Every mortgage, credit card, and savings rate in the country takes its cue from this. New Chair, new tone. Everyone's watching.

Congress Heads Home for August Recess
Ongoing through late August
The House is already out — no votes until August 31. The Senate hangs around one more week, then joins them.
Why You Should Care: Nothing moves in Washington while everyone's home campaigning for the midterms. Whatever didn't get done is officially on ice.

Big Tech Earnings Cluster
Wednesday, July 29 – Thursday, July 30
Microsoft and Meta report Wednesday, the same day as the Fed decision. Apple and Amazon follow Thursday.
Why You Should Care: Four of the biggest companies on earth, back-to-back, with a Fed decision sandwiched in between. If your 401(k) is tech-heavy, buckle up.

Some of you have been here since day one — one guy, a newsletter, 6 people at 2am. Now we're at roughly 20,000. (Would be more, but 30 days no-open and you're cut loose. No lurkers.)

A few updates:

Haven't checked out the podcast yet? Now's the time.

Next week: the RSF Community launches. Talk with us, talk with each other, get the digital vault, member discounts, more.

And the store is still open, still shipping.

Congress just passed the Stop Insider Trading Act — 232 to 198, a rare bipartisan win, banning members of Congress and their families from buying new stocks while in office. Great. Took them long enough.

Except there's a catch. There's always a catch. The bill exempts the President and Vice President completely. So while your average Congressman can't buy a single share of Apple, the guy at the top of the ticket faces zero restrictions whatsoever.

THE CASE FOR A BAN

Republicans spent years hammering Nancy Pelosi over her husband's suspiciously well-timed trades. "How does a Congressional salary buy that portfolio?" Fair question. But let's be honest: Trump's net worth has nearly tripled since he took office, driven largely by crypto ventures tied to his own family, while he simultaneously shapes the regulatory policy that decides whether those ventures succeed or fail. Whatever you think of Pelosi's trades, they don't touch this. Not close.

If this bill is supposed to be about ending self-dealing in Washington, it's writing an exception for the biggest example of it currently on the board. Lawmakers — and the President — have access to information the rest of us don't. Classified briefings. Advance knowledge of legislation. Regulatory decisions before they're public. That's an unfair edge, and the fix seems obvious: if you're in office, you shouldn't be trading individual stocks. Full stop.

THE CASE AGAINST A BAN

Here's the problem nobody wants to say out loud: how do you actually enforce this?

A lawmaker doesn't need to personally trade a stock to profit off inside information. They can tell a spouse. A brother-in-law. A donor. You can ban the Congressman's name from the trade confirmation, but you can't ban a phone call. Unless you're wiretapping every family member of 535 lawmakers, "banning" the trade just moves the behavior one degree of separation away, where it's functionally impossible to prove.

And if your fix for that is "make them give public notice before they sell," you've created a new problem. Now every hedge fund in America knows exactly when a sitting Senator is about to unload a position — and can trade ahead of it. That's not eliminating manipulation. That's outsourcing it to Wall Street with a calendar invite.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Personally? Full blind trust, no exceptions, no carve-outs — and that includes the President. If you're serving the public, your assets go into a trust you don't control and don't see, run by someone with zero connection to you, for the entire time you hold office. Not "you keep what you already own." Not "except the guy at the top." Everyone, blind trust, day one. If that's too inconvenient for public service, maybe public service isn't for you.

Is that perfect? No. People will find workarounds — they always do. But right now we don't have a real law. We have a law with a hole in it big enough to drive a golf cart through.

What do you think — should lawmakers be banned from trading entirely, or is this whole thing an overreaction? And if you were writing the rules, how would you actually police it? Hit reply and let us know.

Common Sense Is Back. Let's hear yours. 🇺🇸