🍋 IRS Down Bad

Author

Short Squeez
January 11, 2022

Together With

"People think I'm an overnight success. No. It's just that you all found me overnight." – Leslie Jones

Good Morning! Nasdaq staged its biggest intraday comeback in 2 years. At one point it plunged 2.7% but bounced back to end the day in positive territory as investors bought the dip. Take-Two Interactive is buying mobile gaming company and maker of FarmVille, Zynga for $12.7 billion as video game M&A heats up. In supply chain shortage news, Gristedes CEO John Catsimatidis, is warning of meat and egg shortages over the next few weeks. The price of beef rose nearly 21% in November year-over-year. December inflation numbers drop tomorrow.

Skillful is where top talent goes to launch and accelerate their careers in the tech industry. Their Core Sprint kicks off on January 22nd and there are only a handful of spots left. Submit your email here to receive a priority application link.  

Forwarded email? Subscribe here.

1. Story of the Day: IRS Down Bad

IRS is down bad. The tax-collecting agency is short-staffed and underfunded. Getting a call through to its customer service has lower odds than getting accepted into Harvard.

Its budget has been cut 20% over the last 10 years and pushed the agency to its limit. Its workforce has shrunk 40% during the same time. It is also struggling to fill its positions in the ongoing labor shortages.

The backlog is several times bigger than in previous years. Covid-19 brought extra work as it was the agency tasked to give out stimmies. Last season's call volume was 4x what it was in 2018. At one point, the IRS was receiving 1,500 calls per second!

Apparently, no one wants to work at the IRS either. It's worse than working in the fast-food industry. An IRS customer service employee in Austin makes a starting salary of $37k, which includes a 2.57% raise. (truly wild in a time where inflation is greater than 6% and freshly minted grads are making >$200k in industries like finance and consulting)

Will it get better? Maybe. The "Build Back Better” bill includes $80 billion for the IRS over the next 10 years to support hiring and new technologies. It might take a lot more than just a budget increase though.

Short Squeez Takeaway: 2021 is not looking great either. IRS has already pushed back on the date it will start accepting 2021 returns to January 24. Refunds are expected to be delayed and Americans will need to reconcile their child tax credit payments, which complicates tax returns and will generate a lot of calls. The only way we can fix this is if Elon Musk is appointed head of IRS.

Source: Axios, Bloomberg, Washington Post

2. Markets Rundown

S&P 500 extended its losing streak with worries about Fed's policy reverberating in financial markets.

Movers & Shakers

  • (+) Zynga ($ZNGA) +41% after Take-Two Interactive revealed plans to buy it for $12.7 billion.

  • (+) Apria ($APR) +26% following news it will be acquired by health-care equipment company Owens & Minor for $1.45 billion.

  • (–) Cardinal Health ($CAH) -6% after it provided a full-year 2022 update saying it expects to see more inflationary impacts and lower volumes as a result of global supply chain problems.

3. Top Reads

  • Sports betting headed for record month (Axios)

  • Mortgage rates just jumped again. Here’s what that means if you’re buying a home (CNBC)

  • Fanatics: The everything store for sports (FS)

  • Pfizer CEO says two Covid vaccine doses aren’t ‘enough for omicron’ (CNBC)

  • The 3 biggest risks to the market right now (AWCS)

  • iCapital network valued at $6 Billion in latest funding round (RI)

  • Apple implies it generated record revenue from the App Store during 2021 (CNBC)

  • Why Tesla soared as other automakers struggled to make cars (NYT)

  • 5 questions to consider before changing your investment portfolio (WCI)

  • Jamie Dimon sees the best economic growth in decades, more than 4 Fed rate hikes this year (CNBC)

A Message From Skillful: Launch Your Career in Tech

Trying to break into tech or level up your current role? Let 2022 be the year you make it happen.

Skillful is where top talent goes to launch and accelerate their careers in the tech industry (think roles like: Chief of Staff, Strategy & Ops, BizOps, Product and more). 

By joining Skillful you get access to mentors who live and breathe these jobs daily. And you’ll learn things like product strategy, SQL and more. Basically whatever you can think of that will help you land a new role or become a better operator.

You also get access to a community of mentors and alumni from top companies like Stripe, Google and TikTok, as well as earlier-stage startups. 

Their Core Sprint kicks off on January 22nd and there are only a handful of spots left. Submit your email here to receive a priority application link.

4. Book of the Day: Tireless: Key Principles that Drive Success Beyond Business School

What is it that makes someone a success in business? What drives an individual to create success? Is it being hit by a “lucky stick” or is it something else?

Lorenz started from nothing, a common theme, but founded two companies, ran them successfully and sold them to Fortune 500’s. Through thought-provoking, insightful and engaging stories with real world examples Lorenz provides intuitive practical advice on the fundamentals of life success: seek and seize the opportunities in front of you. Your eyes will be opened to new possibilities at every turn of the page.

Your next decision could dictate the trajectory you take. How you spend your time, and the decisions you make all matter. You will enjoy learning how to see business and life differently, the opportunities that so many others fail to see.

Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Tireless is a testimony to those who strive to seek opportunity. It is a must-read for everyone that is determined to win.

“It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.”

5. Short Squeez Picks

  • Winnie the Pooh should have been free decades ago

  • Brett McKay talks with Thatcher Wine, the author of "The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better." Podcast

  • The safest airline is...

6. Daily Visual: Monthly Unemployment Rate

Source: Axios

7. Daily Acumen: Quitting

 "The word quitting has negative connotations that might make us feel like we’re not “gritty” enough. So instead, frame it as pivoting. Every now and then we all need to pivot After all, if you’re setting ambitious goals, you’re clearly approaching your life with vigor, and you should feel good about that. Every time you engage in optimal quitting, you’re pivoting to something better. To do so should not be branded as losing—it should be viewed as winning a different game."

Source: FarnamStreet

8. Crypto Corner

9. Memes of the Day

Join the conversation

or to participate.