AI transcript
0:00:02 There’s a lot nobody tells you about running a small business,
0:00:08 like the pricing, the marketing, the budgeting, the accidents,
0:00:13 the panicking, and the things, and the things, and the non-stop things.
0:00:17 But having the right insurance can help protect you from many things.
0:00:20 Customize your coverage to get the protection you need
0:00:22 with BCAA Small Business Insurance.
0:00:28 Use promo code PROTECT to receive $50 off at bcaa.com slash smallbusiness.
0:00:32 Welcome to Office Hours with Prop G.
0:00:34 This is the part of the show where we answer your questions
0:00:37 about business, big tech, entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind.
0:00:40 If you’d like to submit a question for next time,
0:00:43 you can send a voice recording to officehoursofproptimedia.com.
0:00:46 Again, that’s officehoursofproptimedia.com.
0:00:49 Or post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit,
0:00:52 and we just might feature it in our next episode.
0:00:58 The first question comes from Star Hardgrove on Reddit.
0:00:59 They say,
0:01:04 Student loan debt in the U.S. has ballooned to $1.8 trillion,
0:01:07 and I personally carry $145,000 of that burden.
0:01:12 Estimates suggest that it would take anywhere from $50 billion to $680 billion a year
0:01:13 to make public college free for all.
0:01:17 What’s your honest prediction for the future of student loan debt in this country
0:01:19 for those of us earning a moderate salary?
0:01:22 Is there a smart, realistic way out of this hole?
0:01:25 Okay, I think a lot of people are dealing with this.
0:01:28 The Trump administration resumed collections in May of this year.
0:01:31 According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,
0:01:32 in the first three months of 2025,
0:01:36 2.2 million student loan recipients saw their credit scores drop by 100 points,
0:01:40 and an additional 1 million had drops of 150 points or more.
0:01:43 Delinquencies are spiking as of March 2025.
0:01:47 One in four people with student loans were over 90 days late in payments.
0:01:50 Okay, so I may not have the answer you want here,
0:01:54 and I find there’s a lot of populism around student debt and let’s cancel it,
0:01:56 or a lot of empathy, which I understand.
0:02:02 I think the president’s plan to reduce substantially student debt,
0:02:04 I think it was going to cost $600, $700 billion.
0:02:05 I thought that was bad policy.
0:02:10 I don’t think you can offer that kind of unilateral executive action
0:02:14 that’s going to cost that much money without it being an investment, not a bailout.
0:02:17 This was a bailout, and it was a bailout of the third of America
0:02:22 that was fortunate enough to go to college being paid for by not only them,
0:02:25 but the two-thirds that didn’t have the opportunity to go to college.
0:02:29 So I think it creates a situation where there’s moral hazard,
0:02:34 and that is right now young people don’t feel as if they need to pay back their student loan debts,
0:02:38 and I wonder if it means they think they might not have to pay back their credit card debt
0:02:39 because they signed this paperwork,
0:02:43 and basically for three or four years now they haven’t had to pay it back.
0:02:44 So what to do?
0:02:48 In some, I think that student loan collection should begin again,
0:02:51 and I think the real culprit here is universities
0:02:56 where some nice woman in a pantsuit with a big university logo over her head saying
0:03:02 you should always invest in yourself is willing to issue paperwork on cheap credit and student loans
0:03:06 such that she can cash your $72,000 tuition check to NYU
0:03:09 and give you a philosophy degree at the end of four years
0:03:13 that you can’t get a job that helps pay back your student loans.
0:03:15 And NYU is actually one of the better places
0:03:17 because the majority of people who come out of NYU can find a job
0:03:18 where they can manage their student loan debt.
0:03:22 And the vast majority of people can manage their student loan debt.
0:03:24 I think the average payment is $200 or $220.
0:03:27 So what do we do moving forward?
0:03:30 One, if you were going to spend that kind of money, it would need to be an investment.
0:03:34 And I think the investment should have been something along the following.
0:03:37 Say to our five or 700 biggest public universities,
0:03:43 which educate two thirds of our students will give you a size adjusted a billion dollars.
0:03:47 So UCLA gets $5 billion, Cal State Northridge gets $200 million and say,
0:03:50 all right, in exchange for this grant, you’re going to do three things.
0:03:54 One, you’re going to reduce tuition 2% a year through scale.
0:03:59 You’re going to expand your freshman class 3% a year through use of technology.
0:04:05 And you’re going to offer 20% of your certificates are going to be in non-traditional degrees,
0:04:11 nursing, specialty construction, cybersecurity, because there’s a lot of jobs in the real economy
0:04:13 that don’t require a four-year liberal arts degree.
0:04:16 And there’s a lot of people, young people, especially young men,
0:04:20 who don’t have the inclination, the money, or the desire to go get a traditional liberal arts
0:04:21 college education for four years.
0:04:22 Where does that get us?
0:04:24 That means on an inflation-adjusted basis in 10 years,
0:04:28 we double the number of freshman seats at colleges, still think it’s a fantastic on-ramp
0:04:29 to the middle class.
0:04:33 We reduce costs on an inflation-adjusted basis, we cut them in half.
0:04:39 And we have more formal on-ramps into the middle class using the infrastructure of our great public
0:04:40 universities.
0:04:45 This is a forward-leaning investment that helps all youth and takes us back to where we were
0:04:48 in the 90s in terms of cost and admission rates.
0:04:54 My colleagues have become drunk on the self-aggrandizement and exclusivity and rejectionist culture.
0:04:58 of artificially creating scarcity around freshman seats.
0:04:59 It is immoral.
0:05:03 It’s tantamount to the head of a homeless shelter bragging that he or she turned away 90% of the
0:05:07 people last night by saying we have an admissions rate of 10%.
0:05:09 Now, there’s some losers here.
0:05:15 There’s some people who, in my opinion, were sold a bill of goods around taking on too much
0:05:15 student debt.
0:05:18 But look, I’m a bit of a hard-ass here.
0:05:19 I think it sucks to be a grown-up.
0:05:20 You took on the debt.
0:05:21 You owe it.
0:05:22 You need to pay it back.
0:05:26 Programs to help you work it down for certain industries.
0:05:29 Absolutely dischargeable in bankruptcy.
0:05:34 And schools need to be on the hook such that they stop loaning money to people who they know
0:05:36 will have a difficult time paying it back.
0:05:39 Very much appreciate the question.
0:05:42 It’s a difficult and nuanced problem.
0:05:46 Our second question comes from BitterSample7760 on Reddit.
0:05:53 They ask, hey, Scott, how do you go about not comparing yourself to others as a young male
0:05:54 in your 20s?
0:05:58 Look, I was very insecure.
0:06:03 I think I was more secure than most 20-something-year-old males, and I was highly insecure.
0:06:11 I struggled with my professional success, even though I had registered more than most people.
0:06:16 I really wanted to be perceived as professionally successful and was constantly insecure about
0:06:16 that.
0:06:20 I was very insecure about my economic background.
0:06:23 I was raised, I was sort of upper-lower middle class, single mother.
0:06:28 I remember someone, this is probably too much information, someone complimented me on my teeth.
0:06:29 I have nice teeth.
0:06:35 I have probably spent $100,000 or $150,000 on my teeth.
0:06:37 I grew up with really bad teeth.
0:06:38 My parents are British.
0:06:40 Dental care was not a big priority.
0:06:44 While my friends were getting braces, it wasn’t even a conversation in my household.
0:06:47 My mom couldn’t afford braces, and my mom had bad teeth, and my dad had bad teeth.
0:06:48 I just didn’t even notice.
0:06:52 And I literally looked, I wasn’t a freak show, but I had bad teeth.
0:06:57 And it was always for me a constant reminder, when I looked in the mirror and then I smiled,
0:07:02 that I wasn’t worthy, that I came from a lower-income background.
0:07:04 And it made me feel very insecure.
0:07:06 And so when I was in graduate school, I got braces.
0:07:08 That’s fun, to be in grad school and have braces.
0:07:09 That was a real good wrap.
0:07:13 And then I still didn’t like my teeth, so I got veneers.
0:07:19 I have spent so much time and money on my teeth because I’m very insecure about my teeth
0:07:21 and what it says about my economic status.
0:07:25 I also had body dysmorphia when I was in my 20s.
0:07:28 I grew up very skinny, painfully skinny.
0:07:29 I had bad acne.
0:07:35 And when I joined crew at UCLA and I put on a bunch of weight, all of a sudden I started
0:07:36 getting attention from women.
0:07:39 My skin cleared up thanks to this wonder drug called Accutane.
0:07:46 And for the first time in my life, it wasn’t just my humor that got me social capital.
0:07:50 And that was such an unlock for me that for the rest of my life, I’ve always conflated
0:07:55 being bigger or having some muscle with really good things happening to me.
0:07:59 So when I look in the mirror, and I’m 6’2″, 190, when I look in the mirror, I see someone
0:08:00 who’s emaciated.
0:08:01 I have body dysmorphia.
0:08:06 So, and by the way, I talk about this transparently because I don’t think I’m that fucked up.
0:08:09 I think all of us have this shit that we deal with.
0:08:11 And how did I deal with it?
0:08:12 I worked on it.
0:08:14 One, I talked about it.
0:08:15 I understood it.
0:08:18 I understood there is something called body dysmorphia.
0:08:23 I understood the link between feeling bad about my teeth and economic insecurity.
0:08:29 And the moment you sort of understand something and feel like you can address it, either by
0:08:34 getting braces or understanding it’s normal or developing other skills or feeling bad about
0:08:36 your body so you start working out.
0:08:41 You know, my means of trying not to compare myself to people was, yeah, I think over time
0:08:44 maturity and people who love you will help you get past that.
0:08:48 But my way of addressing it was to just try and be a better version of me, to work out,
0:08:51 to be more economically successful.
0:08:56 One of my unlocks as I’ve gotten older, and I think this is hard for people in their 20s,
0:09:02 but one of my biggest unlocks around comparing myself to others and being disappointed, I’m
0:09:03 worried about being shamed by people.
0:09:09 I hate being wrong or saying something stupid and being called out or not being liked.
0:09:13 And as I’ve gotten older, I’m much less sensitive to it for the following reason.
0:09:15 I’m going to be dead soon, and so are you.
0:09:20 And that, when you’re in your 20s, for good reason, you can’t wrap your head around your
0:09:21 mortality.
0:09:24 You literally don’t believe you or anyone in your life is going to die.
0:09:29 And the first time that you start to believe that, in fact, is a reality is when you lose
0:09:29 a parent.
0:09:34 That was sort of an awakening for me, the brutality and finality of that.
0:09:38 And also, as I’ve gotten older and have lost a couple of close friends, I am now squarely
0:09:40 in touch with the finite nature of life.
0:09:45 I’m an atheist, I believe at some point I’ll look into my kid’s eyes and know our relationship
0:09:46 is coming to an end.
0:09:52 But it’s a huge unlock, because if you can establish a sense of the finite nature of life in your
0:09:58 20s, what you realize is that as embarrassed as you are about your teeth or not being a size
0:10:03 two or not having the professional success of your friends, you’re mostly embarrassed.
0:10:06 You might be disappointed a little bit in yourself because you need to make a certain amount of
0:10:10 money, but most of the shame comes from your perception of other people’s perception of you.
0:10:15 And what has really helped me, I went to dinner last night with a bunch of impressive people,
0:10:17 and I remember thinking, the guy next to me, I really wanted to like me, and I could just
0:10:18 tell he just didn’t like me.
0:10:23 And that would have rattled my world 20 years ago.
0:10:27 And now it’s sort of like, he’s going to be dead soon and so am I.
0:10:30 And it just doesn’t, I mean, it’s meaningful, but it’s not profound.
0:10:35 And if there’s anything I would want to give someone in their 20s is a sense of their mortality
0:10:38 responsibility and just how fast it’s going to go.
0:10:42 And you’re going to realize like, do your best, work hard, work out, try and look good.
0:10:47 I think it’s important to be mindful of your dress and your aesthetics and feeling strong
0:10:53 and wanting to look good naked and wanting to dress well and wanting to be smart and wanting
0:10:54 to make money.
0:10:59 I think those are wonderful things to aspire to, but also a recognition that the people you’re
0:11:02 doing this for are going to be dead soon.
0:11:08 And it really does in three, in 30, 40 years, none of them are going to be around or three
0:11:09 generations.
0:11:10 No one’s going to remember them.
0:11:11 No one’s going to remember you.
0:11:13 So this is how you win.
0:11:19 The best means of achieving self-esteem, the best means of revenge, if you feel people have
0:11:22 wronged you, is to just live a fucking amazing life.
0:11:27 And that is to try and express your emotions with abandon, to try and be nice to yourself, to
0:11:32 forgive yourself, to appreciate the good things you have going for you, to tell people how
0:11:37 much they mean to, to embrace shit, to say yes, to go out, to laugh out loud, to enjoy
0:11:41 friendship, to tell your friends how much you’re enjoying their friendship, to tell your parents
0:11:42 how much you love them.
0:11:46 And also just let the other shit just go away.
0:11:47 Because guess what?
0:11:48 Guess what?
0:11:53 Anyone you’re worried about, what they think of you, anyone who doesn’t return your affection,
0:11:58 your romantic interest, any business that fires you, any investment that goes wrong, guess
0:11:58 what?
0:12:00 They’re all going to be dead or meaningless.
0:12:03 So why not just enjoy it?
0:12:06 Why not just look at the glasses half full?
0:12:07 Do your best.
0:12:08 Wake up every morning.
0:12:08 Create a list.
0:12:10 Make progress.
0:12:14 Success is a small set of disciplined actions every day.
0:12:16 But for God’s sakes, forgive yourself.
0:12:20 At the end of your life, at the end of your life, you’re going to look back and think in
0:12:23 your 20s, you know, I was better looking than I gave myself credit for.
0:12:27 I was trying harder than I gave myself credit for.
0:12:30 I was more successful than I gave myself credit for.
0:12:33 And you’re not going to be upset about the things that happened to you in your 20s.
0:12:36 You’re going to be upset at how hard you were on yourself.
0:12:38 Forgive yourself.
0:12:41 We’ll be right back after a quick break.
0:12:50 Support for the show comes from SoFi Small Business Lending.
0:12:51 You’re a small business owner.
0:12:53 You need capital to find new opportunities and grow.
0:12:56 And you can do that with help from SoFi.
0:12:59 You might know SoFi for student loans and high interest savings.
0:13:01 But now they help small businesses, too.
0:13:03 No more chasing bankers or wasting time in a branch.
0:13:07 SoFi Small Business Marketplace is your new go-to fast and digital solution.
0:13:12 In one single, simple search, SoFi matches you with vetted providers for your business in
0:13:13 just minutes.
0:13:16 You can discover options that meet your specific needs.
0:13:20 And if you find a quote that works for you, you may receive funds as soon as the same day
0:13:20 you’re approved.
0:13:25 Say it’s working capital you need or a line of credit or an SBA loan or equipment financing.
0:13:28 SoFi’s Marketplace can help you find all of the above.
0:13:32 It’s already helped thousands of small businesses find the funding they need.
0:13:37 SoFi also offers business owners curated tools, vetted business bank accounts, business credit
0:13:41 card recommendations, and a ton of resources to help you scale your business like a boss.
0:13:44 SoFi, now helping you get your business right.
0:13:49 Visit SoFi.com slash PropGPod and see your options in minutes.
0:13:52 It’s Today Explained.
0:13:54 What’s going on, my boys and in some cases, gals?
0:13:57 Recently, one of you emailed us with this request.
0:13:58 You’ve got mail.
0:13:59 Hello.
0:14:04 I’m an avid listener, and I strongly believe you should cover the story of Curtis Yarvin.
0:14:09 It’s important to explore who he is and how he has influenced the MAGA and the tech bros
0:14:09 movement.
0:14:16 Curtis Yarvin is a very online far-right philosopher whose ideas include the fascinating, the esoteric,
0:14:19 the absurd, the racist, and so on.
0:14:23 Six months into the Trump administration, there’s evidence that he is influencing the MAGA movement
0:14:25 and even President Trump.
0:14:25 J.D.
0:14:27 Vance knows him and likes him.
0:14:30 Elon consulted him about this third-party idea.
0:14:36 Yarvin can take some credit for inspiring Doge, and as you’ll hear ahead, one of Trump’s most
0:14:42 controversial, doesn’t even begin to cover it, ideas may have come from Yarvin or someone
0:14:43 who reads his substack.
0:14:46 I can almost guarantee you that Trump does not.
0:14:47 Everything’s computer.
0:14:49 Today Explained, weekday afternoons.
0:14:58 Hey, this is Peter Kafka, the host of Channels, a show about media and tech and what happens
0:14:59 when they collide.
0:15:05 And this may be hard to remember, but not very long ago, magazines were a really big deal.
0:15:10 And the most important magazines were owned by Condé Nast, the glitzy publishing empire
0:15:13 that’s the focus of a new book by New York Times reporter Michael Grinbaum.
0:15:19 The way Condé Nast elevated its editors, the way they paid for their mortgages so they
0:15:24 could live in beautiful homes, there was a logic to it, which was that Condé Nast itself
0:15:28 became seen as this kind of enchanted land.
0:15:33 You can hear the rest of our chat on Channels, wherever you listen to your favorite media podcast.
0:15:39 Welcome back.
0:15:42 On to our final question from CookingWithFire2030 on Reddit.
0:15:44 God, I love these titles.
0:15:50 What would it take to change your mind on a fundamental idea you have when presented with
0:15:52 information that contradicts the old data?
0:15:55 How do you balance between recency bias and traditionalism?
0:15:57 I’ve tried to get better at this.
0:16:03 If I find, when I go into conversations with people, I just did a podcast called Lost Boys
0:16:08 with Anthony Scaramucci and he had a friend of his, I forget her name.
0:16:09 She was, oh, I know she was a real housewife.
0:16:13 That’s our recruiting pool now for podcasts as we bring on real housewives.
0:16:17 Anyways, we were talking about men and women and she was saying the patriarchy has hurt everybody
0:16:19 and she and I just have a different view on this.
0:16:28 But when I do go into these situations, I do try and listen and I find that the key, one of
0:16:33 the keys are things are zeitgeist or themes I want to promote moving forward in my life
0:16:36 is the restoration and refurbishment of alliances.
0:16:42 And I think a good way to establish common ground is to acknowledge good points on the other side.
0:16:46 And even I’ll even say sometimes in a podcast, like your takes better than mine.
0:16:50 You’ve changed my mind or you’ve influenced the way I look at this.
0:16:57 And I also think it’s important that we do have something resembling a truth that Jim Barksdale,
0:17:02 the CEO of AT&T, and then went on to be the CEO of Netscape, said, if we’re going with opinions,
0:17:03 let’s go with mine.
0:17:05 If we have data, let’s look at the data.
0:17:08 One of the things that worries me about our society is the intersection between our perceptions
0:17:10 and information.
0:17:13 And that is none of us are willing to acknowledge when actual data comes in.
0:17:17 The Congressional Budget Office is saying that the big, beautiful bill will add three and
0:17:19 a half trillion dollars to the deficit.
0:17:19 And what happens?
0:17:26 The Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, comes out and says, oh, no, that’s traditional
0:17:27 Washington insider scoring.
0:17:32 So let’s shitpost the experts and diminish the government of which we’re a part of and say
0:17:33 that the scoring is wrong.
0:17:37 It used to be that when the CBO weighed in, both sides would acknowledge those are the numbers.
0:17:39 That’s it.
0:17:40 We got to acknowledge those are the numbers.
0:17:46 And now we’ve decided we don’t even want to try and develop something resembling a truth
0:17:48 between our perceptions and the data.
0:17:54 So when I hear really compelling data, I think it’s the right thing.
0:17:59 And I think it means you’re evolving as a human to say, I didn’t know that.
0:18:00 That is super interesting.
0:18:06 And, you know, my general sort of view was, oh, the poor pay too much in taxes.
0:18:10 I was very much a, you know, I believe I’m an income inequality guy.
0:18:14 And the reality is the bottom half of our population in the United States pay almost no federal
0:18:14 taxes.
0:18:15 That’s just not true.
0:18:21 And I saw the data on the near wealthy or the kind of workhorses that is people who make
0:18:23 between, say, $200,000 and $2 million a year.
0:18:26 They pay more than their fair share of taxes because it’s all current income.
0:18:31 It’s the people that are the super owners that make the majority of their income from buying
0:18:33 and selling assets that pay the lowest taxes.
0:18:38 25 wealthiest Americans in America is supposed to pay about a 6% income tax rate.
0:18:43 Anyways, I find comfort and resolution in the data.
0:18:48 And I think at some point, one, we need to restore trust in institutions.
0:18:54 And two, our role in that is to acknowledge when we see data that contradicts our own beliefs,
0:19:01 to acknowledge the point and even acknowledge that that data or that individual has influenced
0:19:01 you.
0:19:05 And what I find is that’s an effective way to restore alliances because they’re willing to
0:19:06 give a little bit too.
0:19:12 The fastest way to diffuse an argument, I find, is to acknowledge the other’s points to some
0:19:14 degree and see if there’s some middle ground.
0:19:23 I find that we have this unfortunate zeitgeist in our society where you say something stupid
0:19:26 and you feel like you have to double down and keep going as opposed to saying, you know,
0:19:29 I’ve said a couple of times in conversations, I’m like, I would draw the comment.
0:19:30 I don’t know where I was going with that.
0:19:31 And you’re right.
0:19:32 Your data is better than mine.
0:19:33 And what you’re saying makes a lot of sense.
0:19:39 And I find when you say that, it disarms them and they’re much more likely to agree with
0:19:40 you and come together.
0:19:42 Anyways, appreciate the question.
0:19:44 That’s all for this episode.
0:19:49 If you’d like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to officehoursofprofgmedia.com.
0:19:51 That’s officehoursofprofgmedia.com.
0:19:55 Or if you prefer to ask on Reddit, just post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit
0:19:58 and we just might feature it in an upcoming episode.
0:20:04 This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez.
0:20:06 Drew Burrows is our technical director.
0:20:09 Thank you for listening to the Prof G Pod from the Box Media Podcast Network.
0:20:12 Thanks for listening to the Prof G Pod from the Box Media Podcast Network.
0:20:14 Thank you for listening to the Prof G Pod from the Box Media Podcast Network.
0:20:16 Thank you for listening to the Prof G Pod.
0:00:08 like the pricing, the marketing, the budgeting, the accidents,
0:00:13 the panicking, and the things, and the things, and the non-stop things.
0:00:17 But having the right insurance can help protect you from many things.
0:00:20 Customize your coverage to get the protection you need
0:00:22 with BCAA Small Business Insurance.
0:00:28 Use promo code PROTECT to receive $50 off at bcaa.com slash smallbusiness.
0:00:32 Welcome to Office Hours with Prop G.
0:00:34 This is the part of the show where we answer your questions
0:00:37 about business, big tech, entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind.
0:00:40 If you’d like to submit a question for next time,
0:00:43 you can send a voice recording to officehoursofproptimedia.com.
0:00:46 Again, that’s officehoursofproptimedia.com.
0:00:49 Or post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit,
0:00:52 and we just might feature it in our next episode.
0:00:58 The first question comes from Star Hardgrove on Reddit.
0:00:59 They say,
0:01:04 Student loan debt in the U.S. has ballooned to $1.8 trillion,
0:01:07 and I personally carry $145,000 of that burden.
0:01:12 Estimates suggest that it would take anywhere from $50 billion to $680 billion a year
0:01:13 to make public college free for all.
0:01:17 What’s your honest prediction for the future of student loan debt in this country
0:01:19 for those of us earning a moderate salary?
0:01:22 Is there a smart, realistic way out of this hole?
0:01:25 Okay, I think a lot of people are dealing with this.
0:01:28 The Trump administration resumed collections in May of this year.
0:01:31 According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,
0:01:32 in the first three months of 2025,
0:01:36 2.2 million student loan recipients saw their credit scores drop by 100 points,
0:01:40 and an additional 1 million had drops of 150 points or more.
0:01:43 Delinquencies are spiking as of March 2025.
0:01:47 One in four people with student loans were over 90 days late in payments.
0:01:50 Okay, so I may not have the answer you want here,
0:01:54 and I find there’s a lot of populism around student debt and let’s cancel it,
0:01:56 or a lot of empathy, which I understand.
0:02:02 I think the president’s plan to reduce substantially student debt,
0:02:04 I think it was going to cost $600, $700 billion.
0:02:05 I thought that was bad policy.
0:02:10 I don’t think you can offer that kind of unilateral executive action
0:02:14 that’s going to cost that much money without it being an investment, not a bailout.
0:02:17 This was a bailout, and it was a bailout of the third of America
0:02:22 that was fortunate enough to go to college being paid for by not only them,
0:02:25 but the two-thirds that didn’t have the opportunity to go to college.
0:02:29 So I think it creates a situation where there’s moral hazard,
0:02:34 and that is right now young people don’t feel as if they need to pay back their student loan debts,
0:02:38 and I wonder if it means they think they might not have to pay back their credit card debt
0:02:39 because they signed this paperwork,
0:02:43 and basically for three or four years now they haven’t had to pay it back.
0:02:44 So what to do?
0:02:48 In some, I think that student loan collection should begin again,
0:02:51 and I think the real culprit here is universities
0:02:56 where some nice woman in a pantsuit with a big university logo over her head saying
0:03:02 you should always invest in yourself is willing to issue paperwork on cheap credit and student loans
0:03:06 such that she can cash your $72,000 tuition check to NYU
0:03:09 and give you a philosophy degree at the end of four years
0:03:13 that you can’t get a job that helps pay back your student loans.
0:03:15 And NYU is actually one of the better places
0:03:17 because the majority of people who come out of NYU can find a job
0:03:18 where they can manage their student loan debt.
0:03:22 And the vast majority of people can manage their student loan debt.
0:03:24 I think the average payment is $200 or $220.
0:03:27 So what do we do moving forward?
0:03:30 One, if you were going to spend that kind of money, it would need to be an investment.
0:03:34 And I think the investment should have been something along the following.
0:03:37 Say to our five or 700 biggest public universities,
0:03:43 which educate two thirds of our students will give you a size adjusted a billion dollars.
0:03:47 So UCLA gets $5 billion, Cal State Northridge gets $200 million and say,
0:03:50 all right, in exchange for this grant, you’re going to do three things.
0:03:54 One, you’re going to reduce tuition 2% a year through scale.
0:03:59 You’re going to expand your freshman class 3% a year through use of technology.
0:04:05 And you’re going to offer 20% of your certificates are going to be in non-traditional degrees,
0:04:11 nursing, specialty construction, cybersecurity, because there’s a lot of jobs in the real economy
0:04:13 that don’t require a four-year liberal arts degree.
0:04:16 And there’s a lot of people, young people, especially young men,
0:04:20 who don’t have the inclination, the money, or the desire to go get a traditional liberal arts
0:04:21 college education for four years.
0:04:22 Where does that get us?
0:04:24 That means on an inflation-adjusted basis in 10 years,
0:04:28 we double the number of freshman seats at colleges, still think it’s a fantastic on-ramp
0:04:29 to the middle class.
0:04:33 We reduce costs on an inflation-adjusted basis, we cut them in half.
0:04:39 And we have more formal on-ramps into the middle class using the infrastructure of our great public
0:04:40 universities.
0:04:45 This is a forward-leaning investment that helps all youth and takes us back to where we were
0:04:48 in the 90s in terms of cost and admission rates.
0:04:54 My colleagues have become drunk on the self-aggrandizement and exclusivity and rejectionist culture.
0:04:58 of artificially creating scarcity around freshman seats.
0:04:59 It is immoral.
0:05:03 It’s tantamount to the head of a homeless shelter bragging that he or she turned away 90% of the
0:05:07 people last night by saying we have an admissions rate of 10%.
0:05:09 Now, there’s some losers here.
0:05:15 There’s some people who, in my opinion, were sold a bill of goods around taking on too much
0:05:15 student debt.
0:05:18 But look, I’m a bit of a hard-ass here.
0:05:19 I think it sucks to be a grown-up.
0:05:20 You took on the debt.
0:05:21 You owe it.
0:05:22 You need to pay it back.
0:05:26 Programs to help you work it down for certain industries.
0:05:29 Absolutely dischargeable in bankruptcy.
0:05:34 And schools need to be on the hook such that they stop loaning money to people who they know
0:05:36 will have a difficult time paying it back.
0:05:39 Very much appreciate the question.
0:05:42 It’s a difficult and nuanced problem.
0:05:46 Our second question comes from BitterSample7760 on Reddit.
0:05:53 They ask, hey, Scott, how do you go about not comparing yourself to others as a young male
0:05:54 in your 20s?
0:05:58 Look, I was very insecure.
0:06:03 I think I was more secure than most 20-something-year-old males, and I was highly insecure.
0:06:11 I struggled with my professional success, even though I had registered more than most people.
0:06:16 I really wanted to be perceived as professionally successful and was constantly insecure about
0:06:16 that.
0:06:20 I was very insecure about my economic background.
0:06:23 I was raised, I was sort of upper-lower middle class, single mother.
0:06:28 I remember someone, this is probably too much information, someone complimented me on my teeth.
0:06:29 I have nice teeth.
0:06:35 I have probably spent $100,000 or $150,000 on my teeth.
0:06:37 I grew up with really bad teeth.
0:06:38 My parents are British.
0:06:40 Dental care was not a big priority.
0:06:44 While my friends were getting braces, it wasn’t even a conversation in my household.
0:06:47 My mom couldn’t afford braces, and my mom had bad teeth, and my dad had bad teeth.
0:06:48 I just didn’t even notice.
0:06:52 And I literally looked, I wasn’t a freak show, but I had bad teeth.
0:06:57 And it was always for me a constant reminder, when I looked in the mirror and then I smiled,
0:07:02 that I wasn’t worthy, that I came from a lower-income background.
0:07:04 And it made me feel very insecure.
0:07:06 And so when I was in graduate school, I got braces.
0:07:08 That’s fun, to be in grad school and have braces.
0:07:09 That was a real good wrap.
0:07:13 And then I still didn’t like my teeth, so I got veneers.
0:07:19 I have spent so much time and money on my teeth because I’m very insecure about my teeth
0:07:21 and what it says about my economic status.
0:07:25 I also had body dysmorphia when I was in my 20s.
0:07:28 I grew up very skinny, painfully skinny.
0:07:29 I had bad acne.
0:07:35 And when I joined crew at UCLA and I put on a bunch of weight, all of a sudden I started
0:07:36 getting attention from women.
0:07:39 My skin cleared up thanks to this wonder drug called Accutane.
0:07:46 And for the first time in my life, it wasn’t just my humor that got me social capital.
0:07:50 And that was such an unlock for me that for the rest of my life, I’ve always conflated
0:07:55 being bigger or having some muscle with really good things happening to me.
0:07:59 So when I look in the mirror, and I’m 6’2″, 190, when I look in the mirror, I see someone
0:08:00 who’s emaciated.
0:08:01 I have body dysmorphia.
0:08:06 So, and by the way, I talk about this transparently because I don’t think I’m that fucked up.
0:08:09 I think all of us have this shit that we deal with.
0:08:11 And how did I deal with it?
0:08:12 I worked on it.
0:08:14 One, I talked about it.
0:08:15 I understood it.
0:08:18 I understood there is something called body dysmorphia.
0:08:23 I understood the link between feeling bad about my teeth and economic insecurity.
0:08:29 And the moment you sort of understand something and feel like you can address it, either by
0:08:34 getting braces or understanding it’s normal or developing other skills or feeling bad about
0:08:36 your body so you start working out.
0:08:41 You know, my means of trying not to compare myself to people was, yeah, I think over time
0:08:44 maturity and people who love you will help you get past that.
0:08:48 But my way of addressing it was to just try and be a better version of me, to work out,
0:08:51 to be more economically successful.
0:08:56 One of my unlocks as I’ve gotten older, and I think this is hard for people in their 20s,
0:09:02 but one of my biggest unlocks around comparing myself to others and being disappointed, I’m
0:09:03 worried about being shamed by people.
0:09:09 I hate being wrong or saying something stupid and being called out or not being liked.
0:09:13 And as I’ve gotten older, I’m much less sensitive to it for the following reason.
0:09:15 I’m going to be dead soon, and so are you.
0:09:20 And that, when you’re in your 20s, for good reason, you can’t wrap your head around your
0:09:21 mortality.
0:09:24 You literally don’t believe you or anyone in your life is going to die.
0:09:29 And the first time that you start to believe that, in fact, is a reality is when you lose
0:09:29 a parent.
0:09:34 That was sort of an awakening for me, the brutality and finality of that.
0:09:38 And also, as I’ve gotten older and have lost a couple of close friends, I am now squarely
0:09:40 in touch with the finite nature of life.
0:09:45 I’m an atheist, I believe at some point I’ll look into my kid’s eyes and know our relationship
0:09:46 is coming to an end.
0:09:52 But it’s a huge unlock, because if you can establish a sense of the finite nature of life in your
0:09:58 20s, what you realize is that as embarrassed as you are about your teeth or not being a size
0:10:03 two or not having the professional success of your friends, you’re mostly embarrassed.
0:10:06 You might be disappointed a little bit in yourself because you need to make a certain amount of
0:10:10 money, but most of the shame comes from your perception of other people’s perception of you.
0:10:15 And what has really helped me, I went to dinner last night with a bunch of impressive people,
0:10:17 and I remember thinking, the guy next to me, I really wanted to like me, and I could just
0:10:18 tell he just didn’t like me.
0:10:23 And that would have rattled my world 20 years ago.
0:10:27 And now it’s sort of like, he’s going to be dead soon and so am I.
0:10:30 And it just doesn’t, I mean, it’s meaningful, but it’s not profound.
0:10:35 And if there’s anything I would want to give someone in their 20s is a sense of their mortality
0:10:38 responsibility and just how fast it’s going to go.
0:10:42 And you’re going to realize like, do your best, work hard, work out, try and look good.
0:10:47 I think it’s important to be mindful of your dress and your aesthetics and feeling strong
0:10:53 and wanting to look good naked and wanting to dress well and wanting to be smart and wanting
0:10:54 to make money.
0:10:59 I think those are wonderful things to aspire to, but also a recognition that the people you’re
0:11:02 doing this for are going to be dead soon.
0:11:08 And it really does in three, in 30, 40 years, none of them are going to be around or three
0:11:09 generations.
0:11:10 No one’s going to remember them.
0:11:11 No one’s going to remember you.
0:11:13 So this is how you win.
0:11:19 The best means of achieving self-esteem, the best means of revenge, if you feel people have
0:11:22 wronged you, is to just live a fucking amazing life.
0:11:27 And that is to try and express your emotions with abandon, to try and be nice to yourself, to
0:11:32 forgive yourself, to appreciate the good things you have going for you, to tell people how
0:11:37 much they mean to, to embrace shit, to say yes, to go out, to laugh out loud, to enjoy
0:11:41 friendship, to tell your friends how much you’re enjoying their friendship, to tell your parents
0:11:42 how much you love them.
0:11:46 And also just let the other shit just go away.
0:11:47 Because guess what?
0:11:48 Guess what?
0:11:53 Anyone you’re worried about, what they think of you, anyone who doesn’t return your affection,
0:11:58 your romantic interest, any business that fires you, any investment that goes wrong, guess
0:11:58 what?
0:12:00 They’re all going to be dead or meaningless.
0:12:03 So why not just enjoy it?
0:12:06 Why not just look at the glasses half full?
0:12:07 Do your best.
0:12:08 Wake up every morning.
0:12:08 Create a list.
0:12:10 Make progress.
0:12:14 Success is a small set of disciplined actions every day.
0:12:16 But for God’s sakes, forgive yourself.
0:12:20 At the end of your life, at the end of your life, you’re going to look back and think in
0:12:23 your 20s, you know, I was better looking than I gave myself credit for.
0:12:27 I was trying harder than I gave myself credit for.
0:12:30 I was more successful than I gave myself credit for.
0:12:33 And you’re not going to be upset about the things that happened to you in your 20s.
0:12:36 You’re going to be upset at how hard you were on yourself.
0:12:38 Forgive yourself.
0:12:41 We’ll be right back after a quick break.
0:12:50 Support for the show comes from SoFi Small Business Lending.
0:12:51 You’re a small business owner.
0:12:53 You need capital to find new opportunities and grow.
0:12:56 And you can do that with help from SoFi.
0:12:59 You might know SoFi for student loans and high interest savings.
0:13:01 But now they help small businesses, too.
0:13:03 No more chasing bankers or wasting time in a branch.
0:13:07 SoFi Small Business Marketplace is your new go-to fast and digital solution.
0:13:12 In one single, simple search, SoFi matches you with vetted providers for your business in
0:13:13 just minutes.
0:13:16 You can discover options that meet your specific needs.
0:13:20 And if you find a quote that works for you, you may receive funds as soon as the same day
0:13:20 you’re approved.
0:13:25 Say it’s working capital you need or a line of credit or an SBA loan or equipment financing.
0:13:28 SoFi’s Marketplace can help you find all of the above.
0:13:32 It’s already helped thousands of small businesses find the funding they need.
0:13:37 SoFi also offers business owners curated tools, vetted business bank accounts, business credit
0:13:41 card recommendations, and a ton of resources to help you scale your business like a boss.
0:13:44 SoFi, now helping you get your business right.
0:13:49 Visit SoFi.com slash PropGPod and see your options in minutes.
0:13:52 It’s Today Explained.
0:13:54 What’s going on, my boys and in some cases, gals?
0:13:57 Recently, one of you emailed us with this request.
0:13:58 You’ve got mail.
0:13:59 Hello.
0:14:04 I’m an avid listener, and I strongly believe you should cover the story of Curtis Yarvin.
0:14:09 It’s important to explore who he is and how he has influenced the MAGA and the tech bros
0:14:09 movement.
0:14:16 Curtis Yarvin is a very online far-right philosopher whose ideas include the fascinating, the esoteric,
0:14:19 the absurd, the racist, and so on.
0:14:23 Six months into the Trump administration, there’s evidence that he is influencing the MAGA movement
0:14:25 and even President Trump.
0:14:25 J.D.
0:14:27 Vance knows him and likes him.
0:14:30 Elon consulted him about this third-party idea.
0:14:36 Yarvin can take some credit for inspiring Doge, and as you’ll hear ahead, one of Trump’s most
0:14:42 controversial, doesn’t even begin to cover it, ideas may have come from Yarvin or someone
0:14:43 who reads his substack.
0:14:46 I can almost guarantee you that Trump does not.
0:14:47 Everything’s computer.
0:14:49 Today Explained, weekday afternoons.
0:14:58 Hey, this is Peter Kafka, the host of Channels, a show about media and tech and what happens
0:14:59 when they collide.
0:15:05 And this may be hard to remember, but not very long ago, magazines were a really big deal.
0:15:10 And the most important magazines were owned by Condé Nast, the glitzy publishing empire
0:15:13 that’s the focus of a new book by New York Times reporter Michael Grinbaum.
0:15:19 The way Condé Nast elevated its editors, the way they paid for their mortgages so they
0:15:24 could live in beautiful homes, there was a logic to it, which was that Condé Nast itself
0:15:28 became seen as this kind of enchanted land.
0:15:33 You can hear the rest of our chat on Channels, wherever you listen to your favorite media podcast.
0:15:39 Welcome back.
0:15:42 On to our final question from CookingWithFire2030 on Reddit.
0:15:44 God, I love these titles.
0:15:50 What would it take to change your mind on a fundamental idea you have when presented with
0:15:52 information that contradicts the old data?
0:15:55 How do you balance between recency bias and traditionalism?
0:15:57 I’ve tried to get better at this.
0:16:03 If I find, when I go into conversations with people, I just did a podcast called Lost Boys
0:16:08 with Anthony Scaramucci and he had a friend of his, I forget her name.
0:16:09 She was, oh, I know she was a real housewife.
0:16:13 That’s our recruiting pool now for podcasts as we bring on real housewives.
0:16:17 Anyways, we were talking about men and women and she was saying the patriarchy has hurt everybody
0:16:19 and she and I just have a different view on this.
0:16:28 But when I do go into these situations, I do try and listen and I find that the key, one of
0:16:33 the keys are things are zeitgeist or themes I want to promote moving forward in my life
0:16:36 is the restoration and refurbishment of alliances.
0:16:42 And I think a good way to establish common ground is to acknowledge good points on the other side.
0:16:46 And even I’ll even say sometimes in a podcast, like your takes better than mine.
0:16:50 You’ve changed my mind or you’ve influenced the way I look at this.
0:16:57 And I also think it’s important that we do have something resembling a truth that Jim Barksdale,
0:17:02 the CEO of AT&T, and then went on to be the CEO of Netscape, said, if we’re going with opinions,
0:17:03 let’s go with mine.
0:17:05 If we have data, let’s look at the data.
0:17:08 One of the things that worries me about our society is the intersection between our perceptions
0:17:10 and information.
0:17:13 And that is none of us are willing to acknowledge when actual data comes in.
0:17:17 The Congressional Budget Office is saying that the big, beautiful bill will add three and
0:17:19 a half trillion dollars to the deficit.
0:17:19 And what happens?
0:17:26 The Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, comes out and says, oh, no, that’s traditional
0:17:27 Washington insider scoring.
0:17:32 So let’s shitpost the experts and diminish the government of which we’re a part of and say
0:17:33 that the scoring is wrong.
0:17:37 It used to be that when the CBO weighed in, both sides would acknowledge those are the numbers.
0:17:39 That’s it.
0:17:40 We got to acknowledge those are the numbers.
0:17:46 And now we’ve decided we don’t even want to try and develop something resembling a truth
0:17:48 between our perceptions and the data.
0:17:54 So when I hear really compelling data, I think it’s the right thing.
0:17:59 And I think it means you’re evolving as a human to say, I didn’t know that.
0:18:00 That is super interesting.
0:18:06 And, you know, my general sort of view was, oh, the poor pay too much in taxes.
0:18:10 I was very much a, you know, I believe I’m an income inequality guy.
0:18:14 And the reality is the bottom half of our population in the United States pay almost no federal
0:18:14 taxes.
0:18:15 That’s just not true.
0:18:21 And I saw the data on the near wealthy or the kind of workhorses that is people who make
0:18:23 between, say, $200,000 and $2 million a year.
0:18:26 They pay more than their fair share of taxes because it’s all current income.
0:18:31 It’s the people that are the super owners that make the majority of their income from buying
0:18:33 and selling assets that pay the lowest taxes.
0:18:38 25 wealthiest Americans in America is supposed to pay about a 6% income tax rate.
0:18:43 Anyways, I find comfort and resolution in the data.
0:18:48 And I think at some point, one, we need to restore trust in institutions.
0:18:54 And two, our role in that is to acknowledge when we see data that contradicts our own beliefs,
0:19:01 to acknowledge the point and even acknowledge that that data or that individual has influenced
0:19:01 you.
0:19:05 And what I find is that’s an effective way to restore alliances because they’re willing to
0:19:06 give a little bit too.
0:19:12 The fastest way to diffuse an argument, I find, is to acknowledge the other’s points to some
0:19:14 degree and see if there’s some middle ground.
0:19:23 I find that we have this unfortunate zeitgeist in our society where you say something stupid
0:19:26 and you feel like you have to double down and keep going as opposed to saying, you know,
0:19:29 I’ve said a couple of times in conversations, I’m like, I would draw the comment.
0:19:30 I don’t know where I was going with that.
0:19:31 And you’re right.
0:19:32 Your data is better than mine.
0:19:33 And what you’re saying makes a lot of sense.
0:19:39 And I find when you say that, it disarms them and they’re much more likely to agree with
0:19:40 you and come together.
0:19:42 Anyways, appreciate the question.
0:19:44 That’s all for this episode.
0:19:49 If you’d like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to officehoursofprofgmedia.com.
0:19:51 That’s officehoursofprofgmedia.com.
0:19:55 Or if you prefer to ask on Reddit, just post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit
0:19:58 and we just might feature it in an upcoming episode.
0:20:04 This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez.
0:20:06 Drew Burrows is our technical director.
0:20:09 Thank you for listening to the Prof G Pod from the Box Media Podcast Network.
0:20:12 Thanks for listening to the Prof G Pod from the Box Media Podcast Network.
0:20:14 Thank you for listening to the Prof G Pod from the Box Media Podcast Network.
0:20:16 Thank you for listening to the Prof G Pod.
Scott breaks down his thoughts on the student loan crisis. He then offers perspective to a young man in his 20s struggling with comparison, and closes with thoughts on how to stay open-minded while holding onto core beliefs.
Want to be featured in a future episode? Send a voice recording to officehours@profgmedia.com, or drop your question in the r/ScottGalloway subreddit.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Leave a Reply