Speaker 1: This is what the flux.
Speaker 2: I'm justin and I'm harsh Deep and it's Wednesday, the
Speaker 2: fifteenth of May.
Speaker 1: HD. It is great to have you back on the pod.
Speaker 1: Looking forward to you dominating in the hot seat over
Speaker 1: the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: So excited to be back. It's going to be a
Speaker 2: fun few weeks.
Speaker 1: Now. It seems like me Maynia at the moment. Maybe
Speaker 1: back because the US gaming company game Stop has jumped
Speaker 1: over seventy four percent.
Speaker 2: It's great to be back, and what a day to
Speaker 2: be back, especially after last night's budget. And while we'll
Speaker 2: be touching on it on the pod today, we'll have
Speaker 2: a deep dive on all the federal government's key initiatives
Speaker 2: in the.
Speaker 1: FLUSAT three Educational stories today. HD, let's get into it
Speaker 1: for our first. The Labor government has dropped this year's
Speaker 1: federal budget with more than nine billion dollars in surplus.
Speaker 1: And this year the budget is all about cost of living.
Speaker 2: Second successive surplus. It must be high fives all around
Speaker 2: Parliament House. What's the story here?
Speaker 1: Does well? HD? Every year, the federal government delivers its budget,
Speaker 1: which tells us how much money government is collecting and
Speaker 1: where it's spending it and.
Speaker 2: Most importantly, how it'll impact us in our daily lives.
Speaker 1: Now. One of the big focuses in this year's budget
Speaker 1: was to address the cost of living but.
Speaker 2: At the same time not give away too much money
Speaker 2: to drive inflation.
Speaker 1: So as part of this budget there are some modified
Speaker 1: Stage three.
Speaker 2: Tax cuts which will mean higher tax savings for low
Speaker 2: and middle income earners.
Speaker 1: There's three billion dollars of hex debt relief coming from
Speaker 1: three million Australians.
Speaker 2: Eleven billion dollars allocated towards building one point two million
Speaker 2: new homes by twenty thirty and.
Speaker 1: The healthcare sector which will be getting eight and a
Speaker 1: half billion dollars over the next four years.
Speaker 2: But Jazz, despite this spending, the government's budget is in
Speaker 2: surplus of nine point three billion dollars.
Speaker 1: RICHI what is the key learning here?
Speaker 2: A budget surplus may be good news, but it doesn't
Speaker 2: paint a full financial picture.
Speaker 1: You see, when a government delivers its budgets, one of
Speaker 1: the biggest things it needs to consider is how the
Speaker 1: budget will impact government debt.
Speaker 2: At the moment, Jazz Australia has close to one trillion
Speaker 2: dollars in government debt, a lot of which was racked
Speaker 2: up during the pandemic.
Speaker 1: That debt could buy about twenty thousand. Now.
Speaker 2: While that sounds like a gigantic number, Australia's debt levels
Speaker 2: are pretty stable compared to other countries.
Speaker 1: In fact, Australia's debt levels are sitting below fifty percent
Speaker 1: of out GDP.
Speaker 2: Compare that to the US, which is almost thirty four
Speaker 2: trillion US dollars in debt, which is around one hundred
Speaker 2: and twenty one percent of their GDP.
Speaker 1: All about Japan, which has a whopping two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty five percent of their GDP in national debt.
Speaker 2: But even though Australia's debt levels are stable, they're not cheap.
Speaker 1: This the government currently spends sixty million bucks a day
Speaker 1: on the interest repayments on its debt.
Speaker 2: In fact, interest repayments are among the top five things
Speaker 2: the government spends.
Speaker 1: On, and that's money they can't go to other initiatives
Speaker 1: like healthcare or infrastructure.
Speaker 2: And while the budget isn't so plus this year, it's
Speaker 2: expected to be in deficit next year and beyond.
Speaker 1: Which likely means even more debt and more interest repayments
Speaker 1: in the future.
Speaker 2: For our second story, open AI has released the most
Speaker 2: advanced version yet of its chatbot, chat GPT that can
Speaker 2: see here and talk look like a real person.
Speaker 1: Starting to feel like we're properly in the movie Heir HD.
Speaker 1: It's kind of creepy, so tell me more so, Jazz.
Speaker 2: We know. Open Ai first launched chatjubt publicly in November
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: It's fair to say the world has not been the
Speaker 1: same ever since.
Speaker 2: You want to make a recipe with only the remaining
Speaker 2: ingredients in your fridge, asks chatty g.
Speaker 1: You want to give feedback to your friend without making
Speaker 1: it sound too harsh yep, CHATJBT.
Speaker 2: Since then, it released chatjubt four, and now it's launched
Speaker 2: the latest iteration called chatjebt four.
Speaker 1: Oh, the O stands for omni. In other words, chat
Speaker 1: jiput can now hold conversations across different formats of texts,
Speaker 1: of audio, and video in the same conversation, and it
Speaker 1: will literally respond in milliseconds.
Speaker 2: Wow, that makes Siri look like she's stuck in the
Speaker 2: stone age.
Speaker 1: Interesting to say that, HG. Because Apple is actually in
Speaker 1: talks with open Ai about rolling out chat jipt as
Speaker 1: a replacement for the untrusty old SII.
Speaker 2: So I'm wondering, Jazz, what is the key learning move
Speaker 2: Ever hardware.
Speaker 1: The phones of the future will appeal to customers based
Speaker 1: on their software.
Speaker 2: We know that each year, Apple, Samsung, Google roll out
Speaker 2: new phones.
Speaker 1: And each year they are for slightly better cameras or
Speaker 1: slightly more powerful computer.
Speaker 2: Chips, and maybe they're a bit thinner if you're.
Speaker 1: Lucky, but HG. These mini upgrades have left many consumers
Speaker 1: with little incentive to actually upgrade.
Speaker 2: In fact, smartphone sales contracted for twenty seven months in
Speaker 2: a row until late twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: And now the most exciting upgrades aren't happening in the
Speaker 1: physical space, They're happening with the software.
Speaker 2: Now, Samsung has already bought Google's Gemini into its newest devices.
Speaker 1: Google's obviously also got Gemini in its new smartphones as well,
Speaker 1: which leaves Apple who first launched Serea in twenty eleven
Speaker 1: and hasn't changed much since.
Speaker 2: So it's only a matter of time before Siri gets
Speaker 2: rebranded or fully replaced.
Speaker 1: For our third and final story, Crocs has stomped on
Speaker 1: their quarterly growth expectations after selling thirty two million ugly
Speaker 1: shoes in just three months.
Speaker 2: You'd think the ugly shoe craze would die down, but
Speaker 2: not for the big sea tell me more.
Speaker 1: Okay, So CrOx is the footwear equivalent of a mullet,
Speaker 1: not particularly attractive, but extremely populars that's.
Speaker 2: The comfort element which has seen it regrow its cult following,
Speaker 2: especially since the pandemic.
Speaker 1: Yeah, CrOx was down and out until it started investing
Speaker 1: in collabse, which turned its fate around.
Speaker 2: And now Jazz. CROs has beat its quarterly growth expectations
Speaker 2: with its sales jumping fifteen percent. But Jazz, there is
Speaker 2: one part of the business that is dragging its feet.
Speaker 1: Big timet me through it.
Speaker 2: Crocs acquired another brand called Hey Dude for two point
Speaker 2: five billion USD in twenty twenty two, and.
Speaker 1: I'm going to put it out there as she I
Speaker 1: reckon they're uglier than Crocs themselves.
Speaker 2: And it seems like people agree with you, because Hey
Speaker 2: Dude's sales fell seventeen percent last quarter and.
Speaker 1: CROs is expecting Hey Dude's revenue to decline a further
Speaker 1: ten percent this year.
Speaker 2: So it seems like not all ugly comfy shoes can
Speaker 2: perform the same way as Crocs.
Speaker 1: And this diversification strategy hasn't quite worked out to plan.
Speaker 2: So tell me Jazz, what's the key learning.
Speaker 1: Diversification is a common strategy for companies looking to expand
Speaker 1: their market presence and reduce dependency on a single product line.
Speaker 2: CROs knows all too well what can happen when your
Speaker 2: on trend brand isn't popular anymore.
Speaker 1: They suffered the fate in twenty sixteen before rising from
Speaker 1: the ashes.
Speaker 2: Which is part of the reason why Crocs acquired Hey Dude.
Speaker 1: It was a move to diversify their brand portfolio.
Speaker 2: But diversification comes with risk.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, functional footwear like Hey Dude was booming during
Speaker 1: the pandemic. Not all of these brands have continued to
Speaker 1: see success.
Speaker 2: Yep. Think about All Birds, another comfy shoe that was
Speaker 2: less ugly, which has seen its market cap drop from
Speaker 2: four billion USD to just one hundred million USD.
Speaker 1: So now it's g Crocs will have to work extra
Speaker 1: hard to bring Haydude back to its former glory. Flux s'am,
Speaker 1: if you want to know about the federal budget that
Speaker 1: you can't be bothered reading all about it through the newspapers.
Speaker 1: We have you covered in the Flux app. HD's delivered
Speaker 1: a whole range of under sixty second videos on everything
Speaker 1: in the budget and how it might impact you. Make
Speaker 1: sure to download the Flux app and check it all out.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on Friday.