Conservative Pundits To Young White Men: "Go Work At Panda Express"

Back To Politics

Our recent posts, including Thursday's ("The End Of The 60/40 Portfolio") were actionable ones about investing...

But politics shapes the world we invest in, and politics beckons once again. 

From "Learn To Code" To "Go Work At Panda Express" 

Readers may recall the backlash Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy faced over Christmas when they called for importing more H-1B workers. 

The biggest flashpoint in that conflict was a post by Vivek Ramaswamy suggesting that Americans deserved to be replaced by foreign workers, because didn't study hard enough--he said they spent too much time idolizing the popular characters on the TV show "Saved By The Bell" instead of the nerd. 

Needless to say, this didn't go over well, and Vivek was roundly mocked for that, most recently by the popular podcaster "Bronze Age Pervert". 

The Latest Rift On The Right 

The latest rift on the right is essentially an extension of that Christmas conflict, with an even odder twist. This time, right-leaning pundits and activists are suggesting that even if young white men studied science or engineering, they shouldn't feel entitled to entry-level jobs in their field of study. Instead, they should get a job at Panda Express. The post that sparked the backlash this time was from Christopher Rufo, the famously successful anti-DEI activist. 

Other pundits chimed in, including blogger Mike Cernovich, suggesting that young men expecting decent jobs when they graduated college were acting entitled. 

Objections Abound

Double Standards For Young Men

Scott Greer pointed out that no one on the right talks this way about young women. 

Consistent with Greer's point about double standards for young men versus women, others recalled that rather than hiring a young man as an investigative reporter last fall, Christopher Rufo hired a woman who used to be a porn star. 

And others noted that while Mike Cernovich suggested young men should pull themselves up by their bootstraps, Cernovich himself reportedly made most of his money from his divorce settlement. 

Full Employment Ignores Underemployment 

A number of commenters pointed to recent STEM graduates who were working low wage jobs despite Rufo's "basically full employment" economy. 

Young Men Don't Have An "Entitlement Mindset"

Rachel Bovard argued that it's not an "entitlement mindset" to expect your government to put its own citizens' interests ahead of those of foreigners.

Maybe Drop The Ukraine Flag Before Calling Americans Entitled

Ukraine advocates calling American young men entitled rubbed some people the wrong way. 

Even At Panda Express You'd Have To Compete With H-1Bs!

Jack Posobeic was one of a number of commenters who pointed out that even Panda Express is hiring H-1Bs.

Panda Express Isn't The Way To Compete With China

Fast Food Management Is Not A Great Career Track, Actually

Someone who spent three years managing a Chik-Fil-A restaurant, in the hopes of becoming an owner, wrote a detailed thread in response to Rufo's blithe suggestion about the fast food track. 

It's a 13-part thread, but the gist of it is he wouldn't wish it on anyone but his worst enemies. 

Back To Investing 

Last night, we posted our top ten names for this week, and we showed how our top ten names from six months ago did since. 

A rule of thumb looking at those stock returns is that a double digit return in an underlying stock can lead to a triple digit return in options. For example, we have an open trade on Robinhood (HOOD 0.00%↑) that is up about 626% so far. That’s why we place options trades on our top names.

We have an options trade on one of this week's top names teed up for later today. If you'd like a heads up when we place it, you can subscribe to our trading Substack/occasional email list below. Before we get to that, a warning. 

Stocks Might Fall 30% to 40% This Year

That warning was from volatility trader Cem Karsan yesterday. Ordinarily, we’d take these sorts of warnings with a grain of salt, but Karsan recently predicted to the day when the post-election gap up in the market would get filled (on January 13th).

In light of Karsan’s warning, it may be prudent to add some downside protection here. A simple way to do that is to take the dollar amount of your stock portfolio, divide it by the current price of SPY 0.00%↑, round that number up to the nearest hundred, and enter that number in the “shares owned” field on the Portfolio Armor hedging app. Then you can enter the maximum drawdown you’re willing to risk, tap “Find Optimal Hedge”, and you’re on your way.

You can download the Portfolio Armor optimal hedging app by aiming your iPhone camera at the QR code below (or by tapping here, if you're reading this on your phone). 

If you'd like to stay in touch

You can scan for optimal hedges for individual securities, find our current top ten names, and create hedged portfolios on our website. You can also follow Portfolio Armor on X here, or become a free subscriber to our trading Substack using the link below (we're using that for our occasional emails now).