0:00:03 Support for Prop G comes from Crescent Family Office.
0:00:05 As an entrepreneur, you spend a lot of time
0:00:06 in energy building your business.
0:00:08 And chances are, you’ve been so busy,
0:00:09 there hasn’t been a ton of time to think about preparing
0:00:13 for an exit, tax strategies, and wealth management.
0:00:14 Crescent is here to help wealth creators
0:00:17 and families like yours streamline complexity
0:00:18 and invest for the future.
0:00:19 Crescent was built by entrepreneurs,
0:00:22 for entrepreneurs with financial advisory teams
0:00:23 who embrace the fiduciary duty
0:00:26 to place the client’s interests first.
0:00:28 You can learn how to optimize your life
0:00:29 by scheduling a call with a Crescent founder
0:00:32 at CresitCapital.com.
0:00:33 We are not clients of Crescent.
0:00:34 There are no material conflicts
0:00:36 other than this paid endorsement.
0:00:39 All investing involves risk, including loss of principle.
0:00:41 (upbeat music)
0:00:45 – Hey, what you doing?
0:00:48 – Programming our thermostat to 17 degrees
0:00:50 when we’re out at work or asleep.
0:00:51 We’re taking control of our energy
0:00:54 this winter with some easy energy saving tips
0:00:55 I got from Fortis, BC.
0:00:58 – Ooh, conserve energy and save money?
0:01:00 – Maybe to buy those matching winter jackets?
0:01:02 – Uh, no, we’re also getting
0:01:04 that whole matching outfit thing under control.
0:01:07 – Discover low and no cost energy saving tips
0:01:11 at fortisbc.com/energysavingtips.
0:01:12 – Matching track suits?
0:01:13 – Please no.
0:01:17 – It’s Donald Trump’s first week in office again,
0:01:19 and it sure feels like it.
0:01:21 – There is a great deal of, as Heather said,
0:01:23 a great deal of anger about oligarchs,
0:01:25 about rich people controlling everything.
0:01:27 – I’m Preet Bharara,
0:01:29 and this week I’m joined by Kara Swisher,
0:01:32 Astead Herndon, and Heather Cox Richardson
0:01:34 for a special inauguration week episode
0:01:36 of Stay Tuned with Preet.
0:01:38 The episode is out now.
0:01:40 Search and follow Stay Tuned with Preet
0:01:41 wherever you get your podcasts.
0:01:47 – I’m Scott Galloway,
0:01:49 and this is No Mercy, No Malice.
0:01:54 America has put out a for sale sign,
0:01:57 America for Sale, as read by George Hahn.
0:02:08 – Speculation, a phone call that could happen.
0:02:12 Scene, a top secret communications room in the White House.
0:02:14 Time, next week.
0:02:18 National Security Communications Officer.
0:02:20 – Secure satellite phone connection
0:02:22 via Starlink established and confirmed.
0:02:23 Sir, the next voice you hear
0:02:25 will be that of President Putin.
0:02:27 Go ahead, please, Moscow.
0:02:29 – Donald.
0:02:33 – Vlad, it’s great, really great to hear from you.
0:02:35 – Same here, and may I congratulate you
0:02:37 for your total and complete victory.
0:02:42 Your digital coin, very interesting development.
0:02:45 – Vladimir, nobody’s ever seen anything like it.
0:02:48 The most successful coin in history may be ever.
0:02:51 People are saying it’s tremendous.
0:02:54 We have interest in large purchase.
0:02:56 Very large, but don’t know.
0:03:00 Situation with NATO, it complicates things.
0:03:03 – Horrible organization, NATO.
0:03:06 Horrible, they’re not paying their fair share, never have.
0:03:10 These European countries, they’re laughing at us.
0:03:12 – If you publicly question Article 5,
0:03:16 perhaps we discuss bigger coin purchase, much bigger.
0:03:18 – The biggest, and you know what?
0:03:21 NATO’s obsolete always has been.
0:03:22 We’re looking at all our options,
0:03:25 and people are gonna be very happy
0:03:28 with what we do, very happy.
0:03:29 – Good, Donald.
0:03:31 We start with 50 million coins,
0:03:34 maybe more after NATO’s statement.
0:03:36 – Beautiful, just beautiful.
0:03:38 You’re gonna love these coins,
0:03:40 everybody loves these coins.
0:03:43 – You have to give it to the President.
0:03:46 This is 3D grandmaster chess corruption
0:03:50 versus the checkers corruption Democrats have been playing.
0:03:55 More speculation, a call that could have happened.
0:04:00 Scene, phone conversation at 1236 Longworth, HOB.
0:04:05 The office of Speaker of the House Emerita, Nancy Pelosi.
0:04:08 Time, last week.
0:04:09 Nancy Pelosi.
0:04:12 – Paul, that firm you mentioned last week,
0:04:15 the healthcare AI one, what was the name?
0:04:17 – Paul Pelosi.
0:04:20 – There’s a few, the one that’s received the most press
0:04:23 is Tempus AI.
0:04:25 I was in a Medicare briefing today,
0:04:28 and they are planning on pouring substantial resources
0:04:31 into AI-driven diagnostics and care management.
0:04:35 I believe Tempus was on their list.
0:04:37 Understood, I’m on it.
0:04:43 It was disclosed on Tuesday, January 21,
0:04:46 that Representative Pelosi and/or related parties
0:04:51 had purchased between $50,000 and $100,000
0:04:55 of call options on Tempus AI Inc.
0:05:00 That day, the stock registered the biggest one day gain
0:05:03 in its history, surging 35%.
0:05:07 These are each their own flavor of corruption.
0:05:10 I respect the Trump grift more than the plain vanilla
0:05:13 trading on material non-public information.
0:05:16 It’s more creative, and if you’re gonna abuse
0:05:18 the public trust, you should do it
0:05:20 for billions versus millions.
0:05:25 America has just put out a for sale sign,
0:05:28 and every corrupt government and company
0:05:32 around the world has taken notice.
0:05:34 Instead of Russia offering Trump cash
0:05:38 for abandoning Ukraine, it might be one side
0:05:41 in Sudan’s civil war, which, though you don’t hear
0:05:44 about it much here in the US, is the bloodiest
0:05:47 ongoing conflict in the world.
0:05:49 Or maybe one of the makers of Red Die #3,
0:05:52 recently banned for use in food by the FDA
0:05:55 after it was found that high exposures
0:05:58 caused cancer in rats, will offer to put some money
0:06:02 into Trump coin if the president finds his veto pen.
0:06:07 During his first term, Trump owned a hotel in DC
0:06:08 that was patronized by rich people,
0:06:11 governments, and businesses who wanted something
0:06:13 from the federal government.
0:06:18 Trump coin is more elegant, a vehicle that gives parties
0:06:23 a discreet, easy way to pay off the president of the US.
0:06:27 Think of the coin as a price discovery tool for bribery,
0:06:31 a mixture of eBay and PayPal for corruption.
0:06:35 Trump coin and Melania coin are such obvious grifts,
0:06:38 they embarrass one of the most shameless communities
0:06:40 in our economy.
0:06:44 The crypto bros who backed his candidacy.
0:06:48 CNBC host, Rand Neuner, accused the presidential family
0:06:53 of “grifting at the expense of the entire crypto community.”
0:06:55 Unquote.
0:06:58 It’s likely that as the grift dust settles
0:07:01 into a category five hurricane of indefensible losses,
0:07:06 like Melania coin shed two thirds of its value in five days,
0:07:09 Congress will be less amenable to the legislation
0:07:12 the community has been advocating for.
0:07:15 Just as my generation has pulled future generations
0:07:19 prosperity forward for our benefit via deficit spending,
0:07:23 Trump is borrowing massively against the increasing
0:07:26 credibility of the asset class to enrich himself
0:07:29 and light the sector on fire.
0:07:32 We shouldn’t be surprised.
0:07:35 The US has been on this road since the Supreme Court’s
0:07:37 2010 decision on Citizens United,
0:07:40 which took limits off campaign spending
0:07:42 by corporations and other groups.
0:07:45 The court held that existing restrictions violated
0:07:48 the First Amendment, equating the ability to spend money
0:07:52 on campaigns with the right to free speech.
0:07:56 The result has been a deluge of corporate cash
0:07:59 into our elections.
0:08:03 Any small inhibitions or shame politicians may have felt
0:08:08 about selling themselves to the highest bidder disappeared.
0:08:12 Trump is doing loudly what other politicians do quietly.
0:08:16 Now that he’s being reelected, he’s not even pretending.
0:08:21 The Washington Post claims that democracy dies in darkness.
0:08:25 Maybe what’s more apparent is that capitalism,
0:08:28 competition, rule of fair play, trusted markets,
0:08:32 dies in the full light of day.
0:08:37 As Dylan sang, money doesn’t talk, it swears.
0:08:40 Right now, it’s telling the American public
0:08:42 to go fuck itself.
0:08:48 Last year, Trump decided to ignore the real national
0:08:52 security concerns that had been voiced about TikTok.
0:08:54 TikTok became politically useful to him,
0:08:57 and Jeffrey Yass, one of the biggest shareholders
0:08:59 of its Chinese parent company, Bite Dance,
0:09:03 gave $100 million to GOP groups.
0:09:07 TikTok now has about two billion global users
0:09:11 and about 170 million in the U.S.
0:09:15 Bite Dance is required by law to turn user data over
0:09:19 to China’s Ministry of State security on demand.
0:09:23 According to Pew Research, about 40% of young Americans
0:09:26 now get their news from TikTok.
0:09:29 The app is a neural jack, connecting Beijing
0:09:31 with the wet matter of America’s youth.
0:09:35 A 14-year-old American spends approximately
0:09:39 14 hours a week on the platform.
0:09:40 Think about this.
0:09:45 A full day every week on a platform influenced by the CCP.
0:09:51 Would we have let the Kremlin own CBS, ABC, or NBC
0:09:52 in the ’60s?
0:09:58 When Trump’s efforts to make Bite Dance sell
0:10:01 during his first term failed,
0:10:04 he signed an executive order banning TikTok,
0:10:07 which was later overturned in court.
0:10:09 He needed a law.
0:10:14 Last year then, Congress debated and overwhelmingly approved
0:10:18 and President Biden signed the Protecting Americans
0:10:22 from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,
0:10:27 which gave Bite Dance until January 19th of this year
0:10:30 to sell to a non-Chinese buyer.
0:10:35 Bite Dance fought the law in court and lost.
0:10:39 On January 17th, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0
0:10:41 that the law was constitutional.
0:10:47 Then January 19 came and TikTok shut down in the U.S.
0:10:49 for a few hours.
0:10:53 TikTok returned from the dead almost immediately
0:10:56 as ardent TikTokers with the aid and encouragement
0:10:59 of Bite Dance posted and protested
0:11:03 that a ban would deprive them of their free speech rights
0:11:05 and/or their livelihoods.
0:11:09 This is ground zero for why we should ban it.
0:11:14 A social media app used by half of Americans
0:11:17 and controlled by an aggressive foreign rival
0:11:21 just confirmed it can spin up millions of citizens,
0:11:23 particularly young people,
0:11:27 to influence important government policy.
0:11:32 TikTok, i.e. the CCP, will do this again.
0:11:36 If China invades Taiwan, TikTok is the propaganda tool
0:11:38 Radio America never dreamed of.
0:11:42 It’s much easier to fool Americans
0:11:44 than to convince them they’ve been fooled.
0:11:48 On his first day back in office,
0:11:50 Trump signed an executive order
0:11:53 delaying the ban for 75 days,
0:11:54 saying he wanted to engineer a deal
0:11:57 that would give the U.S. half ownership of the app.
0:12:01 Quote, “If I don’t do the deal, it’s worth nothing,”
0:12:05 he said, “If I do the deal, it’s worth a trillion dollars.”
0:12:09 This is not a new concept.
0:12:11 There’s even a word for it.
0:12:12 Socialism.
0:12:17 Socialism is when the state controls
0:12:19 the means of production.
0:12:23 America has proven in spades
0:12:25 that the full-body contact of competition
0:12:27 creates more economic growth
0:12:31 than the government cosplaying a business.
0:12:34 Whether it’s the UK investing in DeLorean
0:12:37 or Obama propping up Cylindra,
0:12:39 it usually doesn’t end well.
0:12:44 One of my favorite moments in succession
0:12:47 was when Logan Roy told his children,
0:12:49 “You are not serious people.
0:12:52 “He knew his kids were expectant
0:12:55 “and lacked the real-world skills and backbone
0:12:58 “to make good on their threats.
0:13:01 “We risk our allies, adversaries, and trade partners
0:13:04 “sensing that we, too,
0:13:07 “are not a serious people.”
0:13:12 I’m not entirely sure how we got here,
0:13:13 but I think it has something to do
0:13:17 with the way money and business success
0:13:19 have become so venerated in our culture.
0:13:23 More money used to mean a better meal on a plane.
0:13:28 Now, it’s a much better life.
0:13:32 Just as we always find uses for additional bandwidth
0:13:35 and energy, our consumer economy
0:13:39 never runs out of incentives to amass more money.
0:13:42 I’m taking my son on the EuroStar,
0:13:45 which has three ticket classes,
0:13:48 to see a Paris Saint-Germain FC game,
0:13:52 where there are the seats we bought, 220 pounds,
0:13:55 plus 11 higher categories,
0:13:58 including ones with access to an indoor restaurant,
0:14:03 heated seats, and a player meet and greet before the game.
0:14:06 That’s 3,500 pounds.
0:14:11 My first real date with Maureen Burke
0:14:13 was in the 11th grade.
0:14:17 I took her to see Springsteen at the Great Western Forum.
0:14:19 Nosebleed seats were $12,
0:14:24 and seats in the front five rows on the floor were $48.
0:14:26 We sat in the $12 seats.
0:14:31 One, I had no money, and two, I thought it was super cool.
0:14:32 Look how high up we are.
0:14:36 More recently for Taylor Swift’s Aeros Tour
0:14:39 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles,
0:14:42 the It’s Been a Long Time Coming VIP package
0:14:46 would set you back $899.
0:14:50 However, it did include a VIP parking pass,
0:14:54 merchandise, and a dedicated entrance.
0:14:58 For perspective, on an inflation-adjusted basis,
0:15:02 premium tickets to Swift cost five times
0:15:05 what Springsteen did 42 years ago.
0:15:08 This is all to say that not only is our government
0:15:13 increasingly corrupt, but also being a teen in 1982 was better.
0:15:17 But that’s another post.
0:15:21 The most disappointing thing about our elected officials
0:15:25 is not that they’re whores, but what cheap whores they are.
0:15:30 For his $250 million investment in Trump,
0:15:32 the wealthiest man in the world
0:15:37 was able to increase his purse by $140 billion.
0:15:42 $506,000 ROI.
0:15:47 The increase in wealth had nothing to do
0:15:49 with the performance of his businesses,
0:15:53 but the market’s belief that we are now in a kleptocracy,
0:15:56 and the distinction between winners and losers
0:16:01 is no longer about innovation, but proximity to power.
0:16:05 The polar vortex of corruption is here.
0:16:08 As greater incentives, fewer guardrails,
0:16:13 and the sense that character is no longer valued in America
0:16:16 have cast a chill across capitalism.
0:16:21 Money has not washed over just our government,
0:16:23 but also what has traditionally been
0:16:27 a power check on corruption, the media.
0:16:33 ABC’s Bob Iger sold out and settled,
0:16:35 rather than fight a lawsuit Trump brought
0:16:38 over George Stephanopoulos’ on-air remark
0:16:42 that Trump had been, quote, “found liable for rape,”
0:16:47 unquote, a suit that looked very winnable for ABC.
0:16:49 Jesus, Bob, really?
0:16:55 FYI, the judge in the case also used the R word.
0:16:57 Many are now afraid of confronting Trump
0:16:59 and First Lady Ilania,
0:17:01 but not because they think they might wrong them,
0:17:04 but because they are worried about the aggravation
0:17:06 and expense of being sued.
0:17:09 In the end, the media and the citizenry
0:17:11 are making a money choice
0:17:15 when what is called for is a moral choice.
0:17:17 See above, Bob Iger.
0:17:21 For people who are not economically secure,
0:17:24 it’s upsetting, but understandable.
0:17:29 For Bob Iger, it’s shareholder value colliding with cowardice.
0:17:35 Last year, the Disney CEO made $41 million,
0:17:39 but I’d argue he is increasingly impoverished.
0:17:43 The latest race to the bottom is blanket pardons.
0:17:47 After Biden preemptively pardoned his family,
0:17:50 Trump granted, quote,
0:17:55 a full, complete, and unconditional pardon, unquote,
0:17:58 to all January 6th defendants,
0:18:00 including Enrique Tarrio,
0:18:03 the former national leader of the Proud Boys,
0:18:07 who was convicted and sentenced to 22 years in prison
0:18:10 for seditious conspiracy,
0:18:12 and Julian Cotter,
0:18:14 who pleaded guilty to pepper spraying
0:18:18 Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick in the face.
0:18:20 Sicknick suffered several strokes
0:18:23 and died the day after the attack.
0:18:28 There’s a rumor on Reddit
0:18:32 that I’m running for president in 2028.
0:18:34 That fits, I do possess the key attributes,
0:18:37 wealth, narcissism, outdoor plumbing.
0:18:40 Should I be victorious,
0:18:44 I pledge to the American people the following,
0:18:46 a full and unconditional pardon
0:18:50 to all UCLA alumni, great Dane breeders,
0:18:54 and owners of damn the torpedoes on vinyl.
0:18:59 Together we will make America Tom Petty again.
0:19:05 Life is so rich.
0:19:07 (gentle music)
0:19:10 (gentle music)
0:19:12 (gentle music)
0:19:15 (gentle music)

0:00:07 Make memories, not medical bills, with travel insurance from BC’s health experts, Pacific Blue Cross.
0:00:12 Their flexible travel plans are perfect for British Columbians on extended stays abroad.
0:00:19 Get protection from unexpected travel costs, like medical emergencies, trip cancellation fees, baggage issues, and more.
0:00:22 Plus, there’s no deductible in the event of a claim.
0:00:25 Buy worry-free travel insurance in minutes.
0:00:28 Visit pac.bluecross.ca.
0:00:33 Want to know what helps keep Wall Street Pros ahead?
0:00:35 Level 2 market data.
0:00:40 And Trading Platform MooMoo gives it to you for free with a qualified deposit.
0:00:47 Plus, MooMoo offers zero-commission stock trading, pro-level tools, and seamless trading from your desk or your phone.
0:00:52 Right now, open an account and get up to 15 free stocks.
0:00:57 Head to MooMoo.com, use code PROFG, and take charge of your trading.
0:01:01 Terms and conditions and other fees may apply.
0:01:06 Product and services are provided by MooMoo Financial Incorporated, members FINRA and SIPC.
0:01:11 Please visit www.mooMoo.com for full disclosures.
0:01:24 In a darkly comedic look at motherhood and society’s expectations, Academy Award-nominated Amy Adams stars as a passionate artist who puts her career on hold to stay home with her young son.
0:01:31 But her maternal instincts take a wild and surreal turn as she discovers the best, yet fiercest part of herself.
0:01:37 Based on the acclaimed novel, “NightBitch” is a thought-provoking and wickedly humorous film from Searchlight Pictures.
0:01:42 Stream “NightBitch” January 24 only on Disney+.
0:01:44 Episode 333.
0:01:52 Episode 333 is a major North-South highway in the U.S. In 1933, the first Krispy Kreme opened in Nashville, Tennessee.
0:01:55 What did the coffee cake say to the donut while they were having sex?
0:01:58 Oh my God, you’re gonna make me crumb.
0:02:06 I like that. Dad joke and pornographic. Little dad porn.
0:02:09 Go, go, go!
0:02:20 Welcome to the 333rd episode of the Prop G-Pod. What’s happening?
0:02:26 The dog is back home in London, so I’m dealing with, okay, first off, I’m running on empty.
0:02:30 I got back here, I’m jet lagged. I’m a night person to begin with, so I typically stay up till four.
0:02:38 And unfortunately, I am with, or fortunately, I’m with my 14-year-old who has to be up at seven for this whole just awful shitty construct called school.
0:02:44 And I get up with him and I make him a bagel, which he doesn’t eat. He doesn’t like my cooking.
0:02:49 And then we hang out for a little bit and then he’s off and I’ve been up too long to get back to sleep.
0:02:52 And then it is chaos in my house with the dogs, the dog walkers.
0:02:58 I moved into basically home that is, we’re redoing and it’s not done, so I’m literally running on empty right now.
0:03:02 Like, I cannot, I can’t see anything. I’m so, I’m so tired.
0:03:13 Anyways, in today’s episode, we speak with Dr. Ryan Martin, an anger expert, psychology professor and author of How to Deal with Angry People and Why We Get Mad, How to Use Your Anger for Positive Change.
0:03:20 We discussed with Ryan why we get mad, how to deal with anger in a better way, and how to model healthy emotional habits for the next generation.
0:03:30 Okay, moving on and just a reminder that we recorded this on Tuesday, Tiktok pulled a dramatic disappearing act this weekend and just as quickly came back.
0:03:33 Let’s break down what happened. Tiktok shut down lasted about 14 hours.
0:03:38 During that time, users couldn’t access the app or download it from Apple or Google Play stores.
0:03:44 The app showed a message that it was offline due to a law banning Tiktok unless it sold to a non-Chinese owner.
0:03:48 Tiktok posted a pop-up message asking users to stay tuned.
0:03:55 Then, early Sunday, Trump announced he would issue an executive order delaying the enforcement of the ban once he takes office.
0:03:58 Within hours, Tiktok was back online.
0:04:08 Tiktok welcomed its 170 million American users back with a message that read, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, Tiktok is back in the U.S.”
0:04:12 Okay, great. So what’s going on here?
0:04:21 So first off, I think this is kind of a part of a much bigger picture and what I loosely refer to is we are no longer a serious people.
0:04:27 So the ban, they had six months to try and figure out what to do or come to some sort of accommodation.
0:04:29 You know what they said to us?
0:04:31 “Hold my beer. We don’t believe you.”
0:04:34 So what did we do, the most powerful nation in the world?
0:04:36 We blinked.
0:04:42 Instead, just kidding, just kidding, we’re going to give you another 60, 75, 90 days.
0:04:44 Folks, what do you think is going to happen now?
0:04:46 Now that we have even less credibility.
0:04:49 Oh, and by the way, by the way, what is evidence?
0:04:55 What is the best piece of data I can give you for why Tiktok should be banned?
0:05:01 In the last 24 hours, they were able to rally, inspire, light up, on demand.
0:05:08 Tens of millions of people within the U.S. to apply political pressure that resulted in the President of the United States going back on a law.
0:05:10 A law upheld by the Supreme Court.
0:05:11 Why?
0:05:17 Because whether it’s Tiktok, a Singapore-based company, or the CCP, which legally mandates any company in China,
0:05:25 or give its data over or comply with Chinese interests, essentially they were able to spin up propaganda
0:05:30 and inspire action to put political pressure on the President and the administration of lawmakers,
0:05:34 which is exactly why it should be banned.
0:05:36 What happens when they invade Taiwan?
0:05:39 What happens when they think of issues that divide us even further
0:05:43 and they can just spin up and elevate content such that we either divide each other
0:05:46 or do things that serve their interests and not ours?
0:05:53 For God’s sakes, would we let the Kremlin control CBS, NBC, and ABC in the ’60s?
0:05:54 What’s Trump’s plan?
0:05:58 He floated the idea of a 50-50 joint venture between ByteDance and American owner,
0:06:01 though it’s unclear if that would satisfy lawmakers.
0:06:02 So there’s a term for this.
0:06:04 I know Tiktok’s an amazing company.
0:06:06 He said it’s worth a trillion dollars.
0:06:09 The U.S. is going to be a joint partner with Tiktok.
0:06:12 We’re going to own 50% of it, said President Trump.
0:06:13 There’s a word for that.
0:06:17 There’s a word for that public-private partnership in business.
0:06:19 Socialism.
0:06:25 That’s literally the definition of socialism when the means of production is owned by and controlled by the government.
0:06:29 And we have decided through centuries of capitalism,
0:06:34 and it has been proven over and over, that the government is shitty at owning businesses.
0:06:37 They’re okay at running the Navy and the National Park Service
0:06:40 and running operations where there’s no profit incentive.
0:06:42 That’s where traditional media come with a profit incentive.
0:06:45 When the government gets involved, it’s just not a good idea.
0:06:50 It wasn’t a good idea when the U.K. decided to invest in this hot new automobile company.
0:06:51 Was it Tesla? No.
0:06:52 It was a company called DeLorean.
0:06:55 Was it a good idea when Obama invested a ton of money in Ceylandra
0:06:57 or gave low-interest loans to Tesla?
0:06:58 Probably not.
0:07:02 Generally speaking, the government is not good at running for-profit enterprises.
0:07:04 And we’ve come to the conclusion that in America,
0:07:09 we let the full-body contact violence of competition decide who the winner is
0:07:12 and hopefully implement a progressive tax structure, which we have not done,
0:07:15 as corporations are paying the lowest taxes since 1939,
0:07:19 such that we can pay for our Navy and our seniors and food stamps.
0:07:21 But instead, we’re going to have ownership.
0:07:24 We’re going to do a deal of 50% with TikTok.
0:07:27 That just makes absolutely no sense.
0:07:29 We are not a serious people here.
0:07:32 Between the kleptocracy of the Trump meme coin,
0:07:35 where now basically anybody can transfer money to the president
0:07:38 without anybody knowing, without any SEC filings.
0:07:40 Hey, here’s an idea.
0:07:42 This is Vlad, Dear President Trump.
0:07:44 Congratulations on your victory.
0:07:48 What if I bought 600 billion rubles worth of the Trump coin,
0:07:50 which would make you one of the wealthiest men in the world?
0:07:55 And by the way, in unrelated news, could you please seize arms shipments to Ukraine?
0:07:56 That is literally where we are.
0:08:00 We’ve decided that on certain issues, the government, we’ve embraced socialism,
0:08:03 but at the same time, we’re just with this weird fucking mix,
0:08:07 this soup, if you will, this melange, this palate cleanser.
0:08:10 Although it’s not a palate cleanser, it’s more like indigestion.
0:08:12 It’s more like swallowing a big jagged pool.
0:08:15 It’s more like an awful peanut, rancid peanut butter,
0:08:17 and the worst fucking chocolate you’ve ever had,
0:08:20 combination of a kleptocracy and socialism.
0:08:22 We are not a serious people.
0:08:25 We’ll be right back for our conversation with Dr. Ryan Martin.
0:08:30 This week on ProfG Markets,
0:08:34 we speak with Andrew Ross Sorkin, editor-at-large of Dealbook at The New York Times
0:08:37 and co-anchor of CNBC’s Squawk Box.
0:08:40 We discuss the key economic trends he’s watching for Trump’s second term,
0:08:42 the evolving landscape of the AI market,
0:08:46 and the rumors that China is considering selling TikTok to Elon Musk.
0:08:51 If China is prepared to sell to Elon Musk and only to Elon Musk,
0:08:56 what does that say about the leverage and influence that China must think
0:09:02 that they have over Elon Musk by dint of his factories and Tesla business
0:09:06 in the nation state that is China?
0:09:11 You can find that conversation and many others exclusively on the ProfG Markets podcast.
0:09:15 Support for the show comes from Nerd Wallet.
0:09:19 Listener, a new year is finally here, and if you’re anything like me,
0:09:21 you’ve got a lot on your plate.
0:09:24 New habits to build, travel plans to make, podcasts to host.
0:09:28 Good thing our sponsor, Nerd Wallet, is here to take one of those things off your plate,
0:09:30 finding the best financial products.
0:09:33 Introducing Nerd Wallet’s Best of Awards list,
0:09:37 your shortcut to the best credit card savings accounts, and more.
0:09:39 The Nerds at Nerd Wallet have done the work for you,
0:09:44 researching and reviewing over 1,100 financial products to bring you only the best of the best,
0:09:49 looking for a balanced transfer credit card with a 0% APR, they’ve got a winner for that.
0:09:53 How about a bank account with a top rate to hit your savings goals?
0:09:55 They’ve got a winner for that too.
0:09:59 That way you can know you’re getting the best products for you without doing all the research yourself.
0:10:03 So, let Nerd Wallet do the heavy lifting for your financial future this year
0:10:08 and head over to their 2025 Best of Awards at nerdwallet.com/awards
0:10:10 to find the best financial products today.
0:10:23 [Music]
0:10:24 Welcome back.
0:10:26 Here’s our conversation with Dr. Ryan Martin,
0:10:29 an anger expert, see above my views on TikTok.
0:10:31 Jesus Christ, little angry?
0:10:33 How about a little dog with your anger?
0:10:36 Psychology professor and author of How to Deal with Angry People
0:10:40 and Why We Get Mad, How to Use Your Anger for Positive Change.
0:10:43 Professor Martin, where does this podcast find you?
0:10:47 I am in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in my office.
0:10:49 Let’s bust right into it.
0:10:53 In your book Why We Get Mad, How to Use Your Anger for Positive Change,
0:10:58 you broke down all things anger, including how to both cope with and use anger to your advantage.
0:11:00 So, let’s start there.
0:11:04 What is anger and how does it affect us and the people around us?
0:11:08 Yeah, so anger is an emotion.
0:11:15 It’s everything from the mild frustration we feel when we can’t find our car keys in the morning
0:11:23 to the intense rage we might feel when we are treated just truly, truly terribly or poorly.
0:11:28 And as an emotion, though, it, of course, affects our behavior.
0:11:35 It encourages us to do, you know, sometimes positive things but also sometimes negative things.
0:11:41 So, the way it affects the people around us is that, you know, we can end up hurting people when we’re angry.
0:11:44 We can end up criticizing people when we’re angry.
0:11:50 We can end up engaging in dangerous behaviors that either may accidentally harm us or someone else
0:11:53 or just are unhealthy, right?
0:11:58 And people use, you know, alcohol and other drugs when they’re angry and so on.
0:12:01 So, it affects people in all those ways.
0:12:07 So, I often say that I’m, I struggle with anger and depression and I’m curious,
0:12:13 well, I’ll describe how I register anger, maybe I’m mislabeling it, but something triggers me.
0:12:20 Something dumb, sometimes it’s something on social media or, I don’t know, something upsets me.
0:12:24 I get so pissed off.
0:12:28 And oftentimes, I’d say most of the time, it’s anger at myself.
0:12:32 And then it’s like my blood turns to acid.
0:12:38 And I know this burning sensation and then it stops and I’m exhausted.
0:12:43 And then I go into this depression, like, like acid has run through my veins,
0:12:50 tired me out and now I’m just down. It goes from anger to depression.
0:12:55 You know, I think that what you’re describing is a relatively common phenomenon
0:12:59 that, you know, our emotions don’t happen in a vacuum.
0:13:02 We have a tendency to talk about them individually.
0:13:05 And I think because that’s the simplest way to think about them.
0:13:09 But the truth is that we are angry at the same time.
0:13:14 We’re sad or depressed or scared or guilty or a host of other things.
0:13:19 And so what ends up happening is moments like what you’re describing.
0:13:21 We come across something.
0:13:27 We don’t like it either because we find it to be unfair or we find it to be, you know,
0:13:33 poor treatment or because it gets in the way of our goals and being able to achieve those goals.
0:13:38 And so we react negatively to that.
0:13:41 Now, of course, if you just take one of those types of provocations,
0:13:46 I just meant, you know, not being able to achieve our goals or having our goals blocked.
0:13:50 Of course, that’s going to lead to feelings other than just anger, right?
0:13:57 And it makes sense that another emotion that can stem from that is sadness or depression
0:13:59 or fear or some other feeling.
0:14:03 And what was interesting that he said there too is that in, I don’t know if this is what you meant.
0:14:05 So if you meant something different, definitely correct me.
0:14:11 But, you know, this idea of acid running through your veins for me and for a lot of people when they’re angry,
0:14:15 it becomes this lens that they’re looking at the world through, right?
0:14:23 And so all of a sudden a lot of other stuff that happens in their life is interpreted in a very negative way, right?
0:14:24 It’s that sort of phenomenon.
0:14:25 I’ve had a bad morning.
0:14:29 And because I’ve had a bad morning, all of these little other things that are happening
0:14:32 are sort of filtered through that experience.
0:14:37 And this sort of negativity begets more negativity and more negativity.
0:14:39 And it just kind of keeps going that way.
0:14:44 And so, yeah, it makes sense that there’s this sadness or depression that follows.
0:14:47 My father used to say that anger is fine as long as it’s planned.
0:14:52 And it reminds me of that photo of Khrushchev at the UN banging his shoe on the table.
0:14:56 And the photo is the aperture on it.
0:14:59 The perspective is broad enough that you see he’s still wearing two shoes.
0:15:02 So he brought a shoe with a plan to bang it on the table.
0:15:03 What are your thoughts?
0:15:08 And it leads to, in your book, you discuss the concept of good and bad anger.
0:15:10 Say more.
0:15:14 Yeah, I mean, anger can absolutely be used for good.
0:15:19 I mean, ultimately, if we think about emotions from an evolutionary perspective,
0:15:22 how I tend to think about them, then they exist in us
0:15:25 because they solved some sort of adaptive problem.
0:15:31 And the same way sadness alerts us to loss and fear alerts us to danger,
0:15:34 anger alerts us to injustice.
0:15:39 And it provides us energy that we can use to confront that injustice.
0:15:45 And I think that the question of whether or not your anger is good or is bad
0:15:49 in some ways has to do with the consequences of how you use it.
0:15:53 And so if I get angry over, let’s say, politics,
0:16:00 and because that anger drives me to drink or be depressed
0:16:04 or do a host of negative things, things that are bad for me,
0:16:07 well, then those consequences, that anger isn’t healthy in my life.
0:16:13 If that anger drives me to work towards particular social change,
0:16:16 works towards particular positive outcomes,
0:16:21 then that anger, we can think of that as being healthy in my life.
0:16:24 You recently wrote a Huffbo’s piece where you discuss how the state of politics
0:16:28 evokes feelings of anger, especially in men.
0:16:32 Can you break down what you meant by that?
0:16:37 Yeah, and I should actually credit you with this in some ways,
0:16:40 that ultimately, maybe the day after the election
0:16:43 or two days after the election, I was scrolling through TikTok
0:16:48 and I saw a post from you where you were talking really about how this election
0:16:54 might have been influenced by male anger more than I guess I was expecting it to be.
0:16:57 And it really gave me pause.
0:17:01 It helped me realize some things that I hadn’t necessarily been thinking about.
0:17:05 And then coupled with that, I was at a basketball game,
0:17:09 my son’s basketball game in a relatively small town in eastern Wisconsin.
0:17:14 And a stranger came up to me, said they’d seen me on Theo Vaughn’s podcast
0:17:17 and he wanted to talk to me about his anger.
0:17:23 And this was a person who I suspect is very different from me politically,
0:17:25 if I’m just guessing based on demographics.
0:17:29 And the two of us had a really thoughtful conversation.
0:17:35 It got me thinking about all of the ways in which I need to be talking to
0:17:39 and engaging with young men in particular
0:17:41 who might be really angry about the state of affairs
0:17:44 to help them work through that anger in a healthy way.
0:17:47 I dug a little deeper into the research after that
0:17:52 and what I saw is that men are reporting getting angry almost twice as much
0:17:54 as women in their day-to-day lives.
0:17:58 They’re experiencing more negative consequences as a result of that anger.
0:18:02 And when you look at why they’re getting angry, it’s a host of reasons.
0:18:09 But one of the biggies is feeling like they didn’t get what they wanted, right?
0:18:13 That they’re not getting something that they are desiring
0:18:16 or having their goals blocked in a significant way.
0:18:19 If you’ve decided you have too much anger in your life,
0:18:22 I really go down a rabbit hole.
0:18:25 I role-play in my mind confrontations with people or topics.
0:18:27 It’s unfair to them.
0:18:31 I imagine myself in an argument with somebody.
0:18:33 And that’s unfair to them.
0:18:36 I don’t know if you’ve ever woken up and your partner is angry at you
0:18:38 because of the way you behaved in their dream.
0:18:40 It’s just not cool, right?
0:18:41 It’s not fair to them.
0:18:43 So say you decide for whatever reason with you.
0:18:45 It’s your own mental health or the way you treat other people
0:18:47 or it’s reducing your productivity
0:18:50 that you want to reduce the amount of anger in your life.
0:18:54 Across all of the different practices and behavioral therapy,
0:18:57 what do you find are the two or three most effective ways
0:19:01 to try and address your anger other than pharmaceuticals?
0:19:05 I start with a real big picture look at this
0:19:09 and understanding, okay, so why am I getting angry?
0:19:12 What are the patterns here that we’re seeing?
0:19:16 And anytime you feel something, you kind of map it out.
0:19:20 I sometimes diagram this the way my diagram a sentence or something.
0:19:22 It includes really three things.
0:19:25 There’s some sort of provocation.
0:19:29 There’s some sort of thing that happened, unfair treatment,
0:19:32 you know, injustice or goal blocking.
0:19:35 Then there’s my mood at the time of that provocation.
0:19:37 You know, was I stressed?
0:19:39 Was I whatever?
0:19:45 And then there is my interpretation of that provocation.
0:19:47 Like how I, what I thought it meant,
0:19:49 what I decided it meant to my life.
0:19:52 Did I think I could cope with it and so on.
0:19:56 Once you figure that out and you can see those patterns,
0:20:00 then there’s actually sort of infinite ways you can intervene.
0:20:04 We can be more aware of what provocations we’re inviting into our life.
0:20:08 We can manage our stress, make sure we’re staying hydrated.
0:20:12 We can exercise, do a host of things there.
0:20:15 We can think about how we’re interpreting those things
0:20:17 and focus on the appraisal.
0:20:21 And then ultimately we can try and deal with the emotion itself
0:20:23 when we experience it.
0:20:27 And so through deep breathing, through meditation,
0:20:30 those things like that, to try and bring it down.
0:20:33 As far as what do I think are the best things,
0:20:37 I do think that focusing specifically on that appraisal element.
0:20:41 I think what people need is to figure out how to have
0:20:48 a realistic understanding of the consequences of a particular situation.
0:20:52 And we find all the time, we’ll use driving as an example.
0:20:56 You get cut off, you get angry,
0:21:00 and your interpretation of that is sort of like
0:21:03 you shouldn’t have done that, or they shouldn’t have done that.
0:21:05 That was unsafe, that was dangerous.
0:21:08 And all of that may be true, but then the next question is,
0:21:10 okay, so what were the consequences?
0:21:13 The consequences are that this person cut me off now.
0:21:15 What do I do next?
0:21:19 And so often people switch into like sort of vigilante mode
0:21:21 and it’s like, why need to get revenge in some way?
0:21:25 But we know that that doesn’t actually really help or solve the problem.
0:21:27 Oftentimes it makes it worse.
0:21:31 And so I think thinking through, okay, how bad was this?
0:21:32 Can I cope with it?
0:21:34 What do I do next?
0:21:37 Is a good sort of problem focused way of dealing with it?
0:21:40 So I’ll just go for it a thesis and you tell me,
0:21:41 and I think you’ll agree with it.
0:21:44 But I find that I’m much less prone to anger the more social I am.
0:21:46 What do I mean by that?
0:21:50 When I’m around coworkers or in the office and I say,
0:21:52 oh, this was a shitty job.
0:21:54 They or people around them have a chance to go,
0:21:58 well, it was shitty because we didn’t get this edit done in time
0:22:02 because the power went out or I get angry at my partner
0:22:08 and they will remind me, well, actually, no, this was your responsibility.
0:22:13 Or the more I’m around people, I hang out with Republicans
0:22:16 and instead of getting angry about, well, how could you elect this guy?
0:22:21 I sort of get some context for why they think the people I’m supporting
0:22:23 make no fucking sense either.
0:22:27 It just helps me to be in the company or the presence of other people
0:22:29 and to have those guardrails.
0:22:31 It’s almost like a solvent for my anger
0:22:34 because it helps me have different perspectives
0:22:37 and realize a lot of times my anger is more about my gut
0:22:40 or that I didn’t have lunch or some weird chemical running through my brain
0:22:44 than anything I should actually or that justifies my anger.
0:22:47 For me, the key is human contact.
0:22:49 That is my neosporin for anger.
0:22:51 Yeah, I think that’s fascinating
0:22:54 and it’s really part of what I was trying to communicate
0:22:59 in that HuffPost piece too is this idea that interacting with other people
0:23:01 who see the world differently from us
0:23:06 can help provide different ways of interpreting those provocations.
0:23:10 And so if I’m only looking at the world through my lens
0:23:17 and I’m not listening to other people to try and understand that broader context,
0:23:19 yeah, I’m likely to get angry
0:23:23 because I’m doing probably a lot of mind reading about it.
0:23:25 I mean, it goes back to what you said before about, you know,
0:23:28 you sort of role play those interactions with people.
0:23:31 If you could actually have those interactions with someone,
0:23:35 they would probably surprise you as far as how they react to things.
0:23:38 Or maybe they would surprise you about how they react to things.
0:23:43 So those conversations that we have, that human contact,
0:23:46 it really does shift two things.
0:23:50 One, it shifts that what we call the pre-anger state, right?
0:23:54 Your mood at the time of the anger of the provocation.
0:23:56 It also shifts your interpretation.
0:24:02 It gives you a new way of thinking about whatever this provocation is
0:24:04 and helps you see things a little bit differently
0:24:06 in a way that might lead to less anger.
0:24:09 We’ll be right back.
0:24:15 Want to know what helps keep Wall Street pros ahead?
0:24:17 Level two market data.
0:24:22 Real-time NYSE and NASDAQ data usually costs hundreds,
0:24:27 but trading platform MooMoo gives you access for free with a qualified deposit.
0:24:30 MooMoo also offers zero commission stock trading
0:24:36 plus pro-level tools that let you trade seamlessly from your desk or on your phone.
0:24:40 Open an account now and you can get up to 15 free stocks.
0:24:46 So head to MooMoo.com, use code PROFG and take charge of your trading.
0:24:50 Terms and conditions and other fees may apply.
0:24:53 Product and services are provided by MooMoo Financial Incorporated,
0:24:55 members FINRA and SIPC.
0:25:00 Please visit www.mooMoo.com for full disclosures.
0:25:08 You had said in a conversation with Theo Vaughan
0:25:10 that the golden rule of emotion in parenting
0:25:13 is kids tend to express emotions the way their caregivers did.
0:25:20 So how do you, to me, a basic parenting or a basic truism
0:25:23 is your kids will model your behavior, right?
0:25:27 So what advice do you have for parents in terms of raising resilient kids
0:25:30 and how to leverage good anger and discern between good anger and bad anger?
0:25:37 First of all, I do think you have to decide how you want your kids to emote
0:25:39 and then you have to live that.
0:25:46 And so if that means you want them to handle their anger in a cool, calm matter,
0:25:48 well then you have to live that, right?
0:25:53 So yelling at your kids for being angry isn’t going to get you where you want to go.
0:25:55 You’re just modeling that behavior
0:25:58 and you’re probably really scaring them in the process.
0:26:02 I used to think about this when my kids were young.
0:26:09 I never wanted them to see me scared of anything that I didn’t want them to be scared of, right?
0:26:11 So that’s how you teach them.
0:26:14 So I’m not a great flyer. I haven’t been.
0:26:18 And so I find myself anxious when I fly a lot.
0:26:21 And so one of the things that meant is that when I get on a plane with them,
0:26:26 I can either let them see me scared or I can just fake it.
0:26:30 And even if I’m scared, I’m just going to have to sort of hold that in.
0:26:34 Now that my kids are older, they’re 13 and 14, I can kind of communicate,
0:26:37 hey, I’m not a great flyer. I don’t necessarily love this.
0:26:41 It’s totally safe, but I find myself a little anxious about it.
0:26:43 We can do the same thing with anger.
0:26:45 There are times when we’re really angry
0:26:49 where we just need to sort of fake that and hold me.
0:26:51 I mean, we can still communicate that you’re angry,
0:26:56 but find ways to sort of channel that into healthy behavior.
0:27:03 So they see and understand things, understand kind of healthy ways of coping and communicating.
0:27:07 The other thing, and you use a really important word in that question, which was resilience.
0:27:10 So how do we teach our kids to be resilient?
0:27:18 I think one of the things we have to do is help encourage our kids to engage
0:27:21 and actually step into some emotional discomfort.
0:27:25 So one of the things I heard you say on the Ovan is that you won’t let your kids back in the house
0:27:29 unless they talk to someone, right, when there is something along those lines.
0:27:37 And I think that’s, you know, in some ways, that’s about encouraging them to step into some emotional discomfort.
0:27:40 Like, hey, you got to do a difficult thing here.
0:27:44 You got to communicate with someone that you might be a little shy around.
0:27:46 I do something similar with my kids.
0:27:50 We were at a basketball game over the weekend, my son.
0:27:53 There was another boy about his age there.
0:27:56 He was a little uncomfortable interacting with this kid.
0:28:01 And so I tried to give him some clues like, hey, these are things you have in common.
0:28:05 Let’s practice how you can talk to him about those things, how you can communicate with those things.
0:28:12 Stepping into some of that discomfort so that they learn that the emotion itself probably isn’t going to harm them.
0:28:16 They learn to do those kind of emotionally difficult things.
0:28:22 Where is the decision point of framework for communicating anger versus occasionally just not communicating anger?
0:28:26 I find a lot of times that I need to take a deep breath and not communicate my anger,
0:28:30 recognizing that it’s more about what’s going on with me than necessarily what that person has done.
0:28:36 Do you have any sort of rules of when to express anger and when to kind of keep it to yourself?
0:28:45 Yeah, I do. And I think sort of my internal algorithm there is to think about what my goal is.
0:28:48 What is the outcome I’m looking for?
0:28:57 And if my outcome is, or the outcome I’m looking for is, I need this person to maybe do things differently,
0:29:00 or I want this person to do things differently.
0:29:06 Well, then I think about, okay, so what’s the best way to do that? And that might be for me to communicate to them that I’m feeling frustrated
0:29:11 and that I’m angry with them and that I want to work through that.
0:29:15 There are times though where I think, you know what, this person isn’t going to change.
0:29:17 That’s not going to get me the goal I want.
0:29:26 And so maybe it’s better for me to just kind of hold this in, find another way to channel and find another way to deal with it and move forward.
0:29:36 So I tend to focus a little bit on those outcomes and think about, okay, so I want X. What’s the fastest way to get there?
0:29:40 I’m really fascinated. You’ve done a great job of sort of branding yourself.
0:29:46 I think Professor Angela Duckworth is the grit professor. You’re sort of the anger professor.
0:29:48 I love the way you’ve branded yourself.
0:29:59 Can you give us a little bit of background on how you got to where you are and when you decided to sort of focus on anger and, you know, where, other than teaching, is it books?
0:30:04 Is it also speaking? Just describe the business of Ryan Martin.
0:30:13 Yeah, so I started studying anger officially in 1999 when I went to graduate school at the University of Southern Mississippi.
0:30:20 I’m originally from Minnesota, but I was, you know, unofficially studying anger way before that.
0:30:29 So I was raised in what we, I think, I’m always a little anxious about giving people this version of it because I think it sounds worse than it was.
0:30:32 But I was raised in a relatively angry household.
0:30:39 Now, it was a loving household like we all get along, but we referred to this thing called the Martin temper.
0:30:49 And in particular, the men in my family, so I have two brothers and a sister and then my dad was a relatively angry guy.
0:30:55 And the interesting thing is very rarely was that anger taken out on each other.
0:31:01 I mean, it was usually, you know, my dad, I can count on, you know, just one hand how often he was angry with me.
0:31:07 More often than not, he was angry at coworkers. He was angry at service providers and so on.
0:31:12 And so I became really intrigued by this emotion at an early age.
0:31:19 In college, I worked with at risk kids quote unquote at a shelter in St. Paul.
0:31:27 And I noticed that, you know, difficulty controlling anger was a pretty salient common problem for those kids.
0:31:35 Now, these were kids who had a lot to be angry about the world had not treated them fairly at all, but consistently those challenges were there.
0:31:45 So I went to graduate school with the goal of studying this and was researching that at a certain point realized I was less interested in clinical work than I was teaching.
0:31:56 So decided to be a professor and came to UW Green Bay where I taught courses on psychopathology and emotion and so on.
0:32:11 And I think during that time, I became really aware of the fact that I thought the world had didn’t necessarily understand anger the way it did other negative emotions or perceived negative emotions like fear and sadness.
0:32:25 If you just look at the research, there’s tons of research on depression, tons of research on anxiety disorders, tons of research on aggression and violence, which, you know, I’ve already sort of highlighted is a little bit different, but not much on anger.
0:32:34 And so I really decided to go down that rabbit hole to study why people get angry and started writing books and doing talks on it.
0:32:39 Any thoughts on what role, if any, anger played in the election?
0:32:48 I think it played a considerable role. And so, you know, I’ve heard you talk about this a little bit. I mean, I think that it informed people’s votes.
0:32:57 I think it encouraged a lot of people to, I mean, I think it plays a role in every election. But I think it informed a lot of people’s votes.
0:33:14 We also have evidence that, I mean, we have evidence, for instance, that making people angry is a good way to spread your message virally on the internet, that you’re more likely to click on political ads if they make you angry.
0:33:20 We also know that angry people are more likely to believe conspiracy theories.
0:33:33 Anger is the most viral emotion online, that people are much more likely to share things that make them angry than they are to share things that make them happy, especially if they don’t know the person who shared it.
0:33:39 So if I’m scrolling through Facebook and I see something that makes me happy, I might share that, but only if I know the person.
0:33:50 You know, I’m like, oh, this person’s got good news here, let me share it. If I see something that makes me angry, I’m much more likely to share that thing, even if I don’t know the person who shared it.
0:33:58 And so, all of these things that we’re seeing are really driven and motivated by people’s rage.
0:34:11 Yeah, it feels as if it’s been incredibly weaponized by technology that, from kind of the end of World War II to the introduction of Google, we thought that the ultimate branding strategy was sex cells.
0:34:16 You know, show hot people playing volleyball, and if you drink this beer, you’ll be hot too.
0:34:32 And then we figured out that actually, we found something better than sex, not as rage, and that we have these algorithms that find incendiary content, elevate it algorithmically, and we’re all sort of in a state of like near rage all the time.
0:34:43 You know, I think I would add to that too, that the part when we go back to why we get mad and we talk about, you know, those provocations and we talk about our mood at the time and our interpretations.
0:34:57 The part we haven’t really focused on yet is the role that misinformation plays and all that, and that misinformation both informs the lens through which we see those provocations.
0:35:04 But it also informs our interpretation or our appraisal of those things when they happen.
0:35:23 And so, when we have leaders who are perfectly willing to lie to us, to make us angry, and then continue repeating that lie over and over and over again to motivate people to the polls, to motivate people to share that misinformation online.
0:35:34 I mean, there is a very, very, very clear incentive for our leaders and not just our leaders, but others who are marketing to us to make us angry.
0:35:37 And it’s hard to combat that.
0:35:40 It’s hard to fight back at that.
0:35:47 Are people who have a greater tendency to be angry generally, professionally speaking, more or less successful?
0:35:54 Great question. And, you know, this is one of those cases where it depends a little bit on some other factors.
0:36:08 So one of the things we know is very clearly tied to both success and anger is, you know, the type A personality, right, people who are competitive, people who are driven, motivated, focused.
0:36:11 They tend to be aggressive and they tend to be angry.
0:36:23 And so from that perspective, yes, like we see that we also see that that I mean, ultimately, when you’re that goal driven, one of the consequences of being that goal driven is that it’s easy to have your goals blocked.
0:36:26 And when you have your goals blocked, you get angry.
0:36:42 So we’ll definitely see that some of the confounds here is that we tend to see anger or the interpretations of a person’s anger are impacted by their race and their gender.
0:36:51 And so some people have more of a license to be angry outwardly and publicly, typically white men who can be angry in that way.
0:37:00 And when they are there, it was historically they were perceived as competent and motivated in all sorts of good things.
0:37:12 When women or when non whites or other marginalized groups express their anger outwardly, they tend to have their qualifications minimized.
0:37:18 So they’re thought of as too emotional, too sensitive, unprofessional and so on.
0:37:30 Because I’ve read that more actually young women are triggered by today’s politics, but you’re saying that it’s actually men who are more easily triggered.
0:37:40 I see it as white dudes are basically feel more entitled and have less, less downside. And it sounds to me like you’re saying the incentive system is to just let your anger flow.
0:37:48 And I find, I mean, I’ll use an example. I’m not proud of this up until maybe 10 years ago.
0:37:57 I found it was really important for me to express my displeasure with service employees if I didn’t get upgraded at the Delta counter or I didn’t like my room at a hotel.
0:38:05 And then I realized, okay, that’s not effective. And I’m channeling my anger to the wrong people. I’m being heavy-handed with the wrong people.
0:38:20 But I definitely think it came from a sense of entitlement. And I don’t know if it was about gender or race, but in the U.S., I think there’s a, it was so consumer or customer obsessed that we’ve sort of given license to anyone who’s paying someone else for something.
0:38:29 The right to be angry at them. Should there be any misstep or the service isn’t right there or your wing stop doesn’t get there in the 20 minutes it was promised.
0:38:37 Or the matriot or the waiter doesn’t show you the respect you think you’re entitled to because you’re now royalty as you are a customer, so to speak.
0:38:42 Is our service mentality leading to people’s entitlement around being angry?
0:38:51 Yeah, so one of the, one question I recently asked participants in the study was, you know, which of these things is going to make you the most angry?
0:39:03 How likely are you to get angry over these things? And the options were experiencing or witnessing an injustice, witnessing or experiencing poor treatment, or three was having your goals blocked.
0:39:13 And what we saw is that men were more likely to be triggered by the unfair treatment or having their goals blocked.
0:39:20 What they said was like not getting what they wanted, basically. Women were more likely to be triggered by injustice.
0:39:29 And now the biggest gap though, and this goes to your point about entitlement, the biggest gap there was not getting what I want.
0:39:37 Men said that, you know, that there is that was sort of the biggest difference between men and women was that when men don’t get what they want, they were much more likely to get angry.
0:39:48 Now, the big question what’s missing from that data is, is it something that people actually deserve? Or is it just something they want?
0:39:58 And I think that’s that there’s an interpretation there. Is this a thing that I deserve because I paid all of this money for it, or is it just a thing I really want?
0:40:08 And I think what we’re seeing, and anecdotally, I can tell you what one of the things we’re seeing in my experience has been that there are a lot of men who interpret something they want is something they deserve.
0:40:17 Dr. Ryan Martin, known as the anger professor as a psychology professor and the Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay.
0:40:32 Let’s talk about opportunities to get angry. Faculty leadership role. Oh my God, that would drive me batshit crazy. He’s an expert on anger and the author of how to deal with angry people and why we get mad, how to use your anger for positive change.
0:40:39 He joins us from Green Bay, Wisconsin, where is a negative six degrees. Professor really enjoyed this conversation. Thanks for a good work.
0:40:41 Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
0:41:03 Algebra of happiness. The light at the end of the tunnel. I remember those cartoons where a character would go into a train tunnel and there’d be a light at the end of the tunnel except it was an oncoming train which we had bigger and bigger and bigger.
0:41:14 And that’s how I feel about what I’ll call the scarcity of my relationships with my boys and that is I know I’m going to spend a lot of time with my friends the rest of my life.
0:41:28 I know I’m going to spend a lot. I’m going to have a lot of opportunities to spend a ton of time with family and my partner and just do amazing things where the light of scarcity is just getting bigger and bigger and it’s becoming so obvious to me that I just don’t have that much time left.
0:41:42 I have 14 and 17 year old boys which sounds wild even saying it. I remember like it was yesterday, the nurse putting this weird stuff in their eyes when they were born and just them kind of opening their eyes.
0:41:51 I mean I just remember their birds like it was yesterday mostly because I was incredibly nauseous and don’t think men should be allowed in the delivery room. Is that wrong?
0:42:06 Anyway, back to the algebra of happiness. The fact that these relationships are coming to an end and I say that not that I’m not going to have a relationship with my boys when they leave the house but there is such a weird time right now.
0:42:13 They are independent and yet kind of withdrawing from me on some ways but have never needed me more.
0:42:24 I find that I’m adding more value or believe I can add more value to my boys’ lives now than I was ever able to given I just relate to them, understand what they’re going through.
0:42:40 When I talk about my experiences as a teenager I know they kind of perk up whether it’s how I was dealing with asking girls out or acne or sports or growth spurts or lack of a growth spurts or just all the things.
0:42:47 I don’t tell them what to do. I just talk about my experiences and I can just see them really registering it.
0:43:02 I’m spending a ton of what I call or what Ryan Holiday calls garbage time with them. I get up in the morning. It’s just so rewarding because just to see the way their brains as they go through puberty and they kind of discover the world.
0:43:15 My oldest is so chill and quietly confident and my youngest is so funny and so I mean you’re going to see with your kids you’re just going to be fascinated by how different they are.
0:43:25 But every day it feels like that one, that 15 year old is just no longer the 15 year old. He’s a 16 year old and in a couple of years they’re going to be gone.
0:43:36 And so that big light of scarcity is coming at me and something I’m happy about. I get very majestic, sad when I think about this.
0:43:43 But something I am really happy about is that when I was younger and when they were younger I did not give into my selfish instincts.
0:43:51 I like to go out with friends. I like to do my own thing. I like to work out. I like to kind of you know me be me do my own thing.
0:43:59 I’m a selfish person and I did make a real effort to just have a lot of time with them and I’m just so grateful now.
0:44:09 And some of it I didn’t enjoy but I’m just so grateful now because that light is just right in my face, that light of scarcity, that light of finite time.
0:44:15 And I’m never going to have these kids again. They’re going to be adults. They’re going to be in college and they will not be the same person.
0:44:21 They’ll be you know hopefully have some of the same values but you can just see day by day how much they’re changing anyways.
0:44:28 Long-winded way of saying the additional time you spend with your kids. I’m not saying be bad at work. I’m not saying be responsible.
0:44:37 But occasionally trading off some of that me time whether it’s working out or time with your buddies and just having that garbage time of doing nothing with your kids.
0:44:44 Trust me on this. You’re not going to regret it. That light is going to come at you and it’s going to get so big so fast.
0:44:52 This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez, our intern, Estan Shalon. Drew Burroughs is our technical director.
0:44:56 Thank you for listening to the Prophecy Pod from the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:45:00 We will catch you on Saturday for No Mercy, No Malice as read by George Hawn.
0:45:06 And please follow our Prophecy Markets Pod wherever you get your pods for new episodes every Monday and Thursday.
0:45:06 Thursday.
0:45:16 [BLANK_AUDIO]

0:00:01 [MUSIC PLAYING]
0:00:04 Want to know what helps keep Wall Street pros ahead?
0:00:06 Level 2 market data.
0:00:08 And Trading Platform MooMoo gives you
0:00:11 a TU for free with a qualified deposit.
0:00:14 Plus, MooMoo offers zero-commission stock trading,
0:00:16 pro-level tools, and seamless trading
0:00:18 from your desk or your phone.
0:00:23 Right now, open the account and get up to 15 free stocks.
0:00:26 Head to mooMoo.com, use code PROFG,
0:00:28 and take charge of your trading.
0:00:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
0:00:32 Terms and conditions and other fees may apply.
0:00:34 Product and services are provided by MooMoo Financial
0:00:37 Incorporated, members FINRA and SIPC.
0:00:43 Please visit www.mooMoo.com for full disclosures.
0:00:46 Support for the show comes from Delta Airlines.
0:00:49 No matter who you are or where you’re going,
0:00:51 Delta believes that you deserve to fly
0:00:53 in the utmost comfort and style.
0:00:56 It’s about more than just getting you from point A to point B.
0:00:58 Flying with Delta means you get a curated experience
0:01:01 both on the ground and in the sky.
0:01:04 From planning to arrival, the Fly Delta app
0:01:06 is your ultimate travel companion,
0:01:08 with AI-powered capabilities coming soon
0:01:10 for maximum efficiency.
0:01:12 And stay connected at every stage of your journey
0:01:16 with fast, free, Delta Sync Wi-Fi presented by T-Mobile,
0:01:19 available to SkyMiles members on most domestic flights.
0:01:22 Go to deltaunlocks.com to learn more
0:01:25 about the future of travel with Delta.
0:01:28 Make memories, not medical bills,
0:01:30 with travel insurance from BC’s health experts,
0:01:32 Pacific Blue Cross.
0:01:34 Their flexible travel plans are perfect
0:01:37 for British Columbians on extended stays abroad.
0:01:40 Get protection from unexpected travel costs,
0:01:43 like medical emergencies, trip cancellation fees,
0:01:44 baggage issues, and more.
0:01:48 Plus, there’s no deductible in the event of a claim.
0:01:50 Buy worry-free travel insurance in minutes.
0:01:54 Visit pac.bluecross.ca.
0:01:56 Welcome to Office Hours with Prop G.
0:01:58 This is the part of the show where we answer your questions
0:02:00 about business, big tech, entrepreneurship,
0:02:01 and whatever else is on your mind.
0:02:03 If you’d like to submit a question,
0:02:04 please email a voice recording
0:02:06 to officehours@profitmedia.com.
0:02:08 Again, that’s officehours@profitmedia.com.
0:02:10 So with that, first question.
0:02:14 (phone ringing)
0:02:15 – Hi Scott, I’m currently working
0:02:17 for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
0:02:18 as a regulations manager
0:02:21 for the Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water.
0:02:23 My office is responsible for regulating contaminants
0:02:26 in drinking water, such as lead and PFAS.
0:02:28 While the EPA has been in the news quite a bit
0:02:30 over the past few years, mostly for good reasons,
0:02:33 I’ve discovered firsthand that the federal government,
0:02:35 specifically the civil service,
0:02:38 is not very good at brand strategy.
0:02:39 I’m taking steps to pivot towards
0:02:42 an external communications role within the agency,
0:02:44 because I believe there’s a lot more
0:02:46 that the EPA can do to show Americans the value
0:02:49 of our work beyond getting the occasional headline
0:02:51 in the New York Times or something
0:02:53 when we finalize a big regulation.
0:02:55 My question for you is, how would you change the way
0:02:59 the executive branch agencies engage with the public?
0:03:02 And of course, thank you for your continued wisdom
0:03:03 and sialis jokes.
0:03:06 Take care, Scott, from Ethan Schwartz in Washington, D.C.
0:03:10 – That’s a super interesting question.
0:03:12 Essentially, the government, I mean, you could argue
0:03:17 that a key component of winning hearts and minds is branding.
0:03:19 One of the reasons the United States
0:03:22 has had the best economic growth in the world
0:03:26 is that because we have kind of a risk-taking culture,
0:03:29 because we have a multicultural culture.
0:03:32 Multicultural culture, and that makes no fucking sense.
0:03:35 We have people from different places in the world,
0:03:37 and as a result, we’re able to build global brands.
0:03:39 How many global brands have come out of China?
0:03:42 How many global brands have come out of Japan?
0:03:44 A decent number have come out of Japan.
0:03:47 But the majority of really great kind of global brands
0:03:48 come out of the US and Europe.
0:03:51 And I would argue part of that is our culture,
0:03:53 at least in the US of risk-taking.
0:03:55 And in Europe, it’s because I believe
0:03:58 that multicultural society just has an easier time
0:04:01 understanding and appreciating different cohorts
0:04:03 and how to market to them.
0:04:05 I also think, and this sounds a little weird,
0:04:06 I think we’re more in touch with our emotions
0:04:10 and more encouraged to express communication
0:04:11 that creates emotion.
0:04:16 Branding is essentially unearned margin or a shorthand.
0:04:17 And I stay at the Four Seasons
0:04:19 or the Ritz Carlton or the Mandarin Oriental,
0:04:20 ’cause they always do an eight,
0:04:22 and I don’t have time to look at it for hotels.
0:04:24 Now granted, the importance of branding is declined
0:04:26 because now you have your social graph
0:04:27 or trip advisor to kind of tell you,
0:04:29 well, no, this is the hotel you should stay at.
0:04:33 You should stay at, you know, the Fayena and South Beach.
0:04:34 Anyways, don’t know how I got here.
0:04:37 The government is losing and corporations,
0:04:39 one of the reasons corporations have overrun Washington
0:04:43 is that Washington has done a pretty piss-poor job
0:04:44 of branding themselves.
0:04:46 And that is they’ve let these billionaires,
0:04:48 they should stop playing in the identity politics
0:04:49 of billionaires.
0:04:50 I’ll just say assholes,
0:04:52 assholes who tend to have a lot of money
0:04:54 and maybe own a platform and can communicate.
0:04:57 But a lot about branding is just controlling the message
0:04:59 or just awareness.
0:05:01 Something that really upsets me right now
0:05:04 is the poor branding of the Biden administration.
0:05:04 I mean, for God’s sakes,
0:05:07 who the fuck exactly is president right now?
0:05:10 It appears to be the president-elect is now president
0:05:13 and his vice president is First Lady Alania.
0:05:15 They are totally controlling the narrative
0:05:17 because we have a president that for some reason,
0:05:19 people around him thought it was a good idea
0:05:21 that he should run again.
0:05:25 And quite frankly, comes across as just feeble
0:05:27 and the people around him aren’t willing for him
0:05:28 to be in anything that’s not scripted
0:05:30 where he’s wrapping a medal around Bono.
0:05:33 And as a result, they are controlling the narrative,
0:05:34 they are controlling the branding.
0:05:37 In addition, I think you’re right.
0:05:38 – I don’t think they do a very good job
0:05:41 of communicating how important the EPA is
0:05:44 and the importance of clean drinking water
0:05:46 and managing the messaging such that people say,
0:05:48 you know what, the EPA are the good guys.
0:05:50 Instead of having these people whose financial interest
0:05:53 is to position them as the bad guys.
0:05:55 So the fight of branding, if you will,
0:05:58 the importance of branding plays a critical role,
0:06:00 not only in developing shareholder value,
0:06:04 but also in ensuring that our fantastic agencies
0:06:05 and government agencies,
0:06:07 I just never understood how people are so comfortable
0:06:08 shitposting government.
0:06:10 It’s shitposting yourself, folks.
0:06:11 We elect these people.
0:06:15 We make the decisions around who represents us in government
0:06:18 and they make the decisions around these agencies.
0:06:21 And the notion that we don’t have a vested interest
0:06:23 in all of these things and they don’t represent who we are.
0:06:24 I find it just fucking hilarious
0:06:27 that the majority of people who hilarious is the wrong word,
0:06:29 who shitpost the government are the ones benefiting
0:06:30 most of them in the government.
0:06:33 We need great agencies like the EPA to identify
0:06:35 what is their brand identity?
0:06:37 How can they position it against two things?
0:06:39 Where is the market and what are their strengths?
0:06:43 And then specifically do a better job of using platforms
0:06:44 and spokes people to get out there
0:06:47 to respond quickly to misinformation
0:06:49 and craft their own message.
0:06:50 Thank you for the question.
0:06:52 Question number two.
0:06:53 – Hi, Prof. G.
0:06:55 My name is Xavier and I’m a 23 year old
0:06:58 from Goodall, Appalachia with a political science degree
0:07:01 from a no-namer school in the middle of nowhere.
0:07:02 Over the past three years,
0:07:06 I’ve worked as a PR, IR and events professional
0:07:09 specifically within the indie video game industry.
0:07:11 With the state of the video game industry
0:07:12 in a constant decline,
0:07:15 I’m starting to get spooked as even my current company
0:07:18 announced layoffs this past week.
0:07:22 I’m wondering if you have any advice on pivoting careers
0:07:24 specifically when my hard and soft skill set
0:07:28 is so pigeonholed in this specific industry.
0:07:29 Thanks for your time.
0:07:32 – Okay, so spooked is a term,
0:07:34 when I think of the term spook,
0:07:38 it’s a horse gets spooked and makes an irrational decision.
0:07:39 Are you making an irrational decision
0:07:40 by getting out of this industry?
0:07:43 Because I think of the video gaming industry
0:07:45 as just an enormous industry.
0:07:48 And it’s right now, it’s in what I’d call cyclical decline.
0:07:51 I think video games are likely gonna continue
0:07:52 to thrive in some format.
0:07:55 It’s just such a big business.
0:07:58 And this is pulse marketing, but Jesus Christ,
0:07:59 I think about the amount of time and attention
0:08:04 my fortune old son spends on Fortnite or UEFA
0:08:08 or whatever it is, Madden, soccer.
0:08:10 I just think that’s a big business
0:08:12 and probably a pretty decent industry.
0:08:14 Let’s look at some data here.
0:08:16 After a huge boom during COVID,
0:08:17 the video game industry has shrunk.
0:08:21 In 2020, the gaming industry grew over 23%.
0:08:23 That’s not a big base.
0:08:25 However, that boom quickly turned to bust.
0:08:28 So layoffs in the video game industry by year.
0:08:33 2022, 8,500 people, 2023, 11,000 and 2024, 12,000.
0:08:36 And you’re right,
0:08:38 people are just simply spending less time gaming.
0:08:43 But I mean, there was a bit of a sugar or an anomaly high,
0:08:45 a sugar higher in anomaly during COVID, right?
0:08:48 Where people were trapped at homes.
0:08:49 The first quarter of 2021,
0:08:51 average play time has dropped a whopping 26%.
0:08:55 But again, that’s off of an unnatural base.
0:08:57 I would suggest that if you like the industry
0:08:58 and you’re good at it,
0:09:01 I don’t think you wanna sort of ping from industry
0:09:03 to industry when it starts going down.
0:09:05 I think you need to decide,
0:09:07 is this decline cyclical or structural?
0:09:09 Because every industry is gonna have cyclical declines.
0:09:11 And if you try and hopscotch from different industry
0:09:13 based on cyclical declines,
0:09:15 you’re just gonna be moving around
0:09:16 and kind of starting over.
0:09:18 If you’re a letter E in video games
0:09:19 and you’re good at and you like it,
0:09:21 if you go somewhere else that’s growing,
0:09:23 if you go into AI, you’re gonna start a letter C.
0:09:27 And trust me, AI is gonna have cyclical downturns.
0:09:29 So I would suggest a couple of things.
0:09:33 One, determine if this is a cyclical or a structural decline.
0:09:35 Obviously, I’m putting forward a comment
0:09:36 and a viewpoint there.
0:09:39 And two, I would assemble a kitchen cabinet of people
0:09:40 that know you, know how good you are,
0:09:43 know your seed, know your skills.
0:09:46 What are you bringing something
0:09:48 that is truly differentiated to the industry
0:09:50 that foots to your skills
0:09:52 as opposed to getting spooked and moving out?
0:09:55 So one way to know that an industry
0:09:56 is probably about to go into decline
0:09:58 is to look at the most popular industry
0:10:01 out of amongst second year business school students.
0:10:03 Why is that?
0:10:04 Because they’re going,
0:10:06 typically second year business school students
0:10:09 are rear view looking, rear view mirror looking.
0:10:11 And that is they look at what’s hot now.
0:10:12 Well, okay, when something’s hot now
0:10:14 that means it’s probably peaked
0:10:17 and may eventually go into its own cyclical decline.
0:10:18 It’s hard to do,
0:10:19 but the best or the most fortunate way
0:10:21 to go into an industry is to go into it
0:10:24 when it’s at a trough and it’s about to come back.
0:10:26 But no, this is an amazing industry.
0:10:28 And I think over the medium and long term,
0:10:30 this industry, whether it’s reshaped,
0:10:33 is going to continue to thrive.
0:10:35 I appreciate the question.
0:10:37 We have one quick break before our final question.
0:10:38 Stay with us.
0:10:45 Want to know what helps keep Wall Street pros ahead?
0:10:48 Level two market data.
0:10:52 Real-time NYSE and NASDAQ data usually costs hundreds,
0:10:55 but trading platform MooMoo gives you access
0:10:57 for free with a qualified deposit.
0:11:00 MooMoo also offers zero commission stock trading
0:11:03 plus pro-level tools that let you trade seamlessly
0:11:06 from your desk or on your phone.
0:11:10 Open an account now and you can get up to 15 free stocks.
0:11:14 So head to MooMoo.com, use code PROFG
0:11:15 and take charge of your trading.
0:11:20 Terms and conditions and other fees may apply.
0:11:21 Product and services are provided
0:11:25 by MooMoo Financial Incorporated, members FINRA and SIPC.
0:11:29 Please visit www.mooMoo.com for full disclosures.
0:11:33 (upbeat music)
0:11:36 Support for the show comes from Vanta.
0:11:38 Trust isn’t just earned, it’s demanded
0:11:40 whether you’re a startup founder navigating a first audit
0:11:42 or a seasoned security professional
0:11:44 scaling your GRC program.
0:11:45 Proving your commitment to security
0:11:48 has never been more critical or more complex.
0:11:50 That’s where Vanta comes in.
0:11:52 Businesses use Vanta to establish trust
0:11:55 by automating compliance needs across over 35 frameworks,
0:11:59 including SOC2 and ISO 27001.
0:12:01 They also centralized security workflows,
0:12:03 complete questionnaires up to five times faster
0:12:05 and proactively manage vendor risk.
0:12:08 Vanta not only saves you time, it can also save you money.
0:12:11 A new IDC white paper found that Vanta customers
0:12:14 achieved $535,000 per year in benefits
0:12:17 and the platform pays for itself in just three months.
0:12:19 Join over 9,000 global companies
0:12:22 including Atlassian, Quora and Factory
0:12:23 who use Vanta to manage risk
0:12:25 and prove security in real time.
0:12:29 For a limited time, our audiences get $1,000
0:12:31 off Vanta@Vanta.com/PropG.
0:12:36 That’s V-A-N-T-A.com/PropG for $1,000 off.
0:12:43 Support for PropG comes from Domo.
0:12:45 Some businesses thrive on data,
0:12:46 but sometimes all of those numbers
0:12:48 can seem like a maze to sift through.
0:12:50 What if you could simply ask your data a question
0:12:52 and get a quick answer back?
0:12:54 Questions like how are sales is quarter
0:12:56 or how’s the new marketing campaign performing?
0:12:58 Or what does the overall health of the company
0:12:59 look like?
0:13:02 With Domo’s AI and data product platform,
0:13:04 you can get answers right away, packed with charts,
0:13:06 graphics and actionable information.
0:13:09 Domo simplifies data exploration and analysis,
0:13:12 intelligently guiding you at every turn.
0:13:13 Domo says that anyone across your team
0:13:16 can use it to easily prepare, analyze, visualize,
0:13:19 automate and distribute data using simple natural language.
0:13:21 And while you can maximize every minute
0:13:25 with Domo’s AI agents, it can go way beyond productivity.
0:13:27 It’s designed to transform your processes,
0:13:29 helping you make smarter and faster decisions
0:13:31 to drive real growth, all powered
0:13:34 by Domo’s trust, flexibility and years of expertise
0:13:36 in data and AI innovation.
0:13:38 Some of the world’s best companies rely on Domo
0:13:39 to make smarter decisions.
0:13:42 See how Domo can help transform yours.
0:13:47 Learn more at ai.domo.com, that’s ai.domo.com.
0:13:57 Welcome back, question number three.
0:13:59 – Hey, Scott, I hope you’re well.
0:14:02 – My name is Patrick, I’m 28 years old from the UK.
0:14:04 Thank you so much for all your work
0:14:06 and for your constant inspiration.
0:14:08 My question is related to something
0:14:09 that you’ve mentioned before,
0:14:11 which I believe is where you sit down with your partner
0:14:14 and you discuss your goals, either for the coming year
0:14:16 or for the five years coming.
0:14:19 And you work to support each other on those goals.
0:14:21 I’ve entered a fairly new relationship
0:14:23 and coming up to the new year,
0:14:24 thought it would be a great opportunity
0:14:26 to have one of these conversations with my partner.
0:14:28 And I was looking for some structure
0:14:30 on how you have those conversations.
0:14:32 Thank you so much for the work that you do.
0:14:34 I must have fun with your work
0:14:36 and please keep it up, the dog.
0:14:37 Thank you.
0:14:39 – Dude, how dreamy are you, British accent?
0:14:41 You’re thinking about investing in your partnership
0:14:42 even though you’re a year in.
0:14:43 When I was a year in, I was like,
0:14:46 hey, do you wanna go to St. Bart’s?
0:14:49 I mean, I was not thinking the way you were thinking.
0:14:53 So kudos to you and your partner’s very fortunate.
0:14:56 I’ve given several best man toasts
0:14:57 and I always give the same toasts
0:14:58 and it slightly horrifies and delights everybody.
0:15:01 I think there are three things to remember in a partnership.
0:15:04 One, put the scorecard away.
0:15:07 And that is decide what kind of boyfriend, husband,
0:15:10 lover you wanna be and just be that person.
0:15:12 And stop thinking, well, her parents were in town
0:15:13 and I was really nice to them.
0:15:16 So when my mom comes to town, she needs to be really nice.
0:15:19 I mean, I’m not saying get walked all over,
0:15:24 but decide what kind of partner you wanna be
0:15:26 and try and hold yourself to that expectation.
0:15:27 And if you’re on the plus side,
0:15:31 if you’re offering more than your partner is, you win.
0:15:32 That’s great.
0:15:37 That surplus value, which I think is one of the key metrics
0:15:41 to masculinity, you give witness to people’s life.
0:15:42 You notice them.
0:15:44 You absorb more complaints than you give.
0:15:46 You create more tax revenue
0:15:49 than you absorb of social services.
0:15:53 I think surplus value is a decent metric for masculinity.
0:15:58 Also recognize that you’ll likely naturally inflate
0:16:00 your own contributions and diminish theirs,
0:16:01 even if it’s unintentional.
0:16:03 So as a result, if you keep score,
0:16:05 it just, you end up frustrated and anxious.
0:16:08 So I stopped keeping score across my relationships
0:16:10 and it’s been a big unlock.
0:16:14 Two, a year in, I would try and express
0:16:16 as much physical desire as possible.
0:16:20 I think affection, not just sex, but affection and sex,
0:16:25 say I choose you, I think women wanna be wanted.
0:16:28 And I think that that it’s fun, it’s nice when you’re young
0:16:32 and I think we’re meant to procreate and be physical
0:16:33 and it’s what separates you
0:16:36 from being romantic partners from friends.
0:16:40 So anytime you feel, you wanna hold her hand,
0:16:43 you wanna, you know, lie on top of her
0:16:46 and express affection while you’re watching TV.
0:16:49 You know, I think these things are wonderful.
0:16:50 I think that’s what you’re supposed to be doing.
0:16:55 And then third is, never let your partner be hungry or cold.
0:16:58 I have found that probably 50% of my major blow-ups
0:17:01 with my partners have been, when I look back on it,
0:17:02 that they were either hungry or cold.
0:17:04 Always have a PageMean and a PowerBar.
0:17:07 Wherever you are, wherever you are.
0:17:10 So one of my methods is, or what I talk about
0:17:11 or what you’re referring to,
0:17:14 when you’re sitting down and talking about goals and unlocks
0:17:16 is more for, I think, a relationship
0:17:17 that’s a little bit more mature.
0:17:19 You’re still in an exploration,
0:17:21 getting to know your kind of phase a year in.
0:17:24 But I think more just specifically,
0:17:25 when I think of partnership,
0:17:27 you’re giving witness to their life.
0:17:31 You’re, Mel Robbins, who’s on our podcast,
0:17:33 consideration and admiration.
0:17:36 You recognize that they’re into something
0:17:37 and you go out of their way.
0:17:40 You go out of your way to get tickets for it.
0:17:42 You know she likes a certain meal,
0:17:44 so you go ahead and you order that.
0:17:45 You admire them.
0:17:48 You want them to occasionally be on a stage
0:17:49 where they get claps from strangers
0:17:51 or you brag about them behind their back
0:17:53 or in front of people.
0:17:54 Mine is a little bit, I think,
0:17:57 what I do with my partners, not every year,
0:18:00 we sit down and say, okay, all costs, logistics aside,
0:18:01 what would be really cool to do?
0:18:03 That’s why we moved to Europe.
0:18:07 But I think the fact that you’re even thinking this way
0:18:11 means you’re in the top 1% of boyfriends.
0:18:13 Most men do not think this way.
0:18:15 Thanks so much for the question.
0:18:16 That’s all for this episode.
0:18:18 If you’d like to submit a question,
0:18:19 please email a voice recording
0:18:21 to officehours@proptimedia.com.
0:18:24 Again, that’s officehours@proptimedia.com.
0:18:33 (upbeat music)
0:18:36 This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez,
0:18:38 our internist and shoe-lawn Drew Burroughs
0:18:39 as our technical director.
0:18:41 Thank you for listening to the PropG Pod
0:18:43 from the Vox Media Pocas Network.
0:18:46 We will catch you on Saturday for No Mercy, No Malice
0:18:47 as read by George Hahn.
0:18:50 And please follow our PropG Markets Pod
0:18:52 wherever you get your pods for new episodes
0:18:53 every Monday and Thursday.
0:18:59 – Support for the show comes from Delta Airlines.
0:19:00 Delta believes that every journey
0:19:02 should be as unique as you are.
0:19:04 So they’re leveraging digital tools
0:19:05 to put you and your preferences
0:19:07 at the center of every trip.
0:19:10 Delta is evolving the in-flight entertainment experience
0:19:12 with new partnerships, features and functionalities
0:19:15 unlocked by your SkyMiles membership.
0:19:16 With fast, free Delta Sync Wi-Fi
0:19:19 presented by T-Mobile on most domestic flights
0:19:22 and personalized seatback entertainment,
0:19:25 there’s always something new to discover on Delta.
0:19:27 Go to deltaunlocks.com to learn more
0:19:29 about the future of travel with Delta.
0:19:31 you

0:00:01 – Nice.
0:00:03 – Support for the show comes from Nerd Wallet.
0:00:05 When it comes to finding the best financial products,
0:00:06 have you ever wished someone would do
0:00:08 the heavy lifting for you?
0:00:10 Take all that research off your plate?
0:00:13 Well, with Nerd Wallet’s 2025 Best of Award,
0:00:14 that wishes come true.
0:00:16 The Nerds at Nerd Wallet are on it.
0:00:19 They have already reviewed more than 1,100 financial products
0:00:22 like credit cards, savings accounts, and more
0:00:25 in order to highlight and bring you the best of the best.
0:00:28 Check out the 2025 Best of Awards today
0:00:30 at nerdwallet.com/awards.
0:00:36 – Support for the show comes from Delta Airlines.
0:00:38 No matter who you are or where you’re going,
0:00:40 Delta believes that you deserve to fly
0:00:42 in the utmost comfort and style.
0:00:45 It’s about more than just getting you from point A to point B.
0:00:48 Flying with Delta means you get a curated experience
0:00:50 both on the ground and in the sky.
0:00:53 From planning to arrival, the Fly Delta app
0:00:55 is your ultimate travel companion,
0:00:57 with AI-powered capabilities coming soon
0:00:59 for maximum efficiency.
0:01:02 And stay connected at every stage of your journey
0:01:05 with fast, free, Delta Sync Wi-Fi presented by T-Mobile,
0:01:09 available to SkyMiles members on most domestic flights.
0:01:12 Go to deltaunlocks.com to learn more about the future
0:01:13 of travel with Delta.
0:01:17 – Thumbtack presents the ins and outs
0:01:19 of caring for your home.
0:01:23 Out, procrastination, putting it off,
0:01:25 kicking the can down the road.
0:01:29 In, plans and guides that make it easy
0:01:30 to get home projects done.
0:01:35 Out, carpet in the bathroom, like why.
0:01:41 In, knowing what to do, when to do it, and who to hire.
0:01:45 Start caring for your home with confidence.
0:01:46 Download Thumbtack today.
0:01:53 – Welcome to Raging Moderates, I’m Sky Galloway.
0:01:55 – And I’m Jessica Tarlove.
0:01:57 – Jessica, I’ve decided after this,
0:02:01 kind of two week free trial of 2025, I want my money back.
0:02:02 I’m-
0:02:03 – Are you gonna do this every week?
0:02:04 But I get the joke now.
0:02:07 – Oh, did I use it every cycle of my stuff?
0:02:10 So by the way, when your kids are a little bit older,
0:02:13 especially your son, a decent means of-
0:02:14 – I don’t have a son.
0:02:16 – You have two daughters, I knew that.
0:02:17 – Yeah, sure.
0:02:18 – And they’re lovely.
0:02:21 – Yeah, no one cut this, by the way.
0:02:22 – Oh my God, yeah.
0:02:23 You have kids?
0:02:25 – They’re so cute, they look just like you.
0:02:25 – You have kids?
0:02:26 – Mm-hmm.
0:02:27 – Let’s start rumors.
0:02:28 – I am a birthing person.
0:02:31 – So one of the great, I guess you could do this
0:02:35 for your daughters, decent education and power
0:02:37 and history and politics and culture.
0:02:41 And also oddly, sex education is to have your
0:02:44 16 year old boy and I’m about to do it with my,
0:02:46 I did it when he was 15, but I did it two years ago
0:02:48 with my 17 year old, I’ll do it in a year
0:02:49 with my 14 year old is to watch
0:02:53 the entire Game of Thrones series.
0:02:57 It just touches on everything and it’s very bonding.
0:03:01 And in one of the episodes, Stannis Baratheon
0:03:05 decides to burn his daughter, Shireen, at the stake.
0:03:09 And it is so incredibly uncomfortable.
0:03:11 And I decided for my mental health,
0:03:13 going through the second run through of it
0:03:15 ’cause we’re watching it again together.
0:03:18 I would not watch that scene.
0:03:21 Yesterday was Shireen Baratheon being burned at the stake.
0:03:22 I didn’t watch it.
0:03:23 So you’ve got to carry this show
0:03:25 ’cause for my own mental health,
0:03:27 I just couldn’t watch this shit.
0:03:29 I just, I couldn’t do it.
0:03:33 So you tell me, what happened yesterday real quick?
0:03:37 – Like the inauguration or in my toddler’s life.
0:03:40 – Let’s start with the important stuff,
0:03:41 your toddler’s life.
0:03:44 – Well, I don’t know actually
0:03:45 ’cause I was at inauguration.
0:03:48 So all roads lead to Donald Trump’s secondary.
0:03:49 – You went to the inauguration?
0:03:52 – Yeah, have you even looked at the script?
0:03:54 I have two daughters and I went to the inauguration.
0:03:56 – You went to the inauguration as part of Fox?
0:04:00 – Well, yeah, I mean, we weren’t in the Capitol
0:04:02 because there were very few people in the Capitol.
0:04:03 We had reporters there,
0:04:07 but we had two gorgeous sets that were built.
0:04:10 One looking at the Capitol, one looking at the White House.
0:04:15 And yeah, it was there Sunday and Monday doing coverage.
0:04:16 And it was wild.
0:04:17 Yeah, it was pretty cool.
0:04:19 – Give us a sense for the vibe.
0:04:22 Like what, give us some on the ground, same vibe check.
0:04:23 You said pretty cool.
0:04:25 So immediately I disagree with you
0:04:27 ’cause I can’t imagine anything about that would be cool,
0:04:30 but I’ll defer to you ’cause you were there, I wasn’t.
0:04:35 – Yeah, it was like a maga polar vortex
0:04:41 with the wind chill and the Trump enthusiasm bottled up.
0:04:43 When I say pretty cool,
0:04:47 I think if something’s only happened 47 times
0:04:50 in our history, there’s something cool about it.
0:04:53 And I definitely felt the gravity of the moment,
0:04:54 how important it is.
0:04:58 And watching the peaceful transfer of power
0:04:59 go off without a hitch.
0:05:01 When everything got changed, you know,
0:05:02 just three days before– – When it’s us
0:05:04 transferring it, I’m sorry, go ahead.
0:05:07 – 100%, and that was a major theme of the day
0:05:11 that obviously January 20th, 2021,
0:05:13 looked nothing like this.
0:05:17 And a lot of people, even folks who liked Donald Trump
0:05:20 more than me, if that’s possible,
0:05:25 were citing how gracious now former President Joe Biden
0:05:28 and former Vice President Kamala Harris were about this,
0:05:30 and have been in the, you know,
0:05:32 since the transition started with Biden,
0:05:34 having Trump over right away
0:05:37 and saying to him, welcome home,
0:05:40 which seems pretty above and beyond,
0:05:42 considering the level of vitriol
0:05:43 that’s been spewed between them,
0:05:45 the level of I’m gonna jail you,
0:05:47 no, I’m gonna jail you.
0:05:49 And then everyone’s having tea and crumpets,
0:05:51 which probably says something terrible
0:05:52 about our political class,
0:05:54 that they make us think that everybody
0:05:56 is an existential threat to the Republic.
0:05:58 And then actually, they’re just pretty chill.
0:06:01 And I wanna hang out with them at Jimmy Carter’s funeral.
0:06:05 But, you know, some things are bigger than politics
0:06:09 and being able to cover inauguration like that,
0:06:13 and to have the kind of access that we had,
0:06:15 and to be able to walk around a city
0:06:17 that was totally shut down for events
0:06:18 that didn’t end up happening,
0:06:21 but filled with tens of thousands of people
0:06:22 that came from all over the country
0:06:24 and all over the world.
0:06:26 It was obviously a foreign influence problem,
0:06:28 but this is the first inauguration
0:06:32 to have foreign dignitaries there like this,
0:06:36 you know, hoping to sit next to Bezos and Lauren Sanchez
0:06:38 and her bra and get some business done
0:06:40 and get access to the Trump family.
0:06:41 – I won’t even go there.
0:06:42 Anyways.
0:06:43 – No, you won’t?
0:06:44 – No, yeah.
0:06:45 – Feel free.
0:06:46 – I mean, it was a story point.
0:06:47 – I think that could save America,
0:06:48 and I’ll come back to that.
0:06:50 But as Jess is talking about,
0:06:52 we’re gonna cover Trump’s inauguration,
0:06:54 we’ll come back to this Biden’s 11th hour legacy
0:06:57 and TikTok’s ban reversal.
0:06:59 So I did see, I have seen some clips
0:07:01 and my favorite one is all of your colleagues
0:07:06 going insane over Michelle Obama not showing up
0:07:09 about how selfish and outrageous it is.
0:07:12 And rumor is that Trump didn’t show up
0:07:15 to Biden’s inauguration and maybe even inspired–
0:07:15 – I wrote that somewhere.
0:07:18 – Maybe inspired kind of duck dynasty insurrection
0:07:21 that was a low point in our nation’s history.
0:07:23 But yeah, Michelle Obama, first lady Michelle,
0:07:26 not showing up, that’s really outrageous.
0:07:28 So, all right, let’s bust right into it.
0:07:31 Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 47th president
0:07:32 of the United States in a ceremony
0:07:34 at the Capitol in Tunda.
0:07:36 Wasting no time, he signed a flurry of executive actions,
0:07:39 including revoking 78 of Joe Biden’s policies
0:07:41 with drawing the U.S. and the Paris Climate Agreement
0:07:42 and the World Health Organization
0:07:45 and ending birthright to this agenda.
0:07:48 He also issued sweeping pardons for over 1,500 January 6th
0:07:50 rioters, including members of the Oath Keepers
0:07:54 and Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy.
0:07:56 For supporters, it’s the fulfillment
0:07:58 of bold campaign promises for critics.
0:08:02 It’s a troubling start to a presidency pushing the limits
0:08:04 of executive power.
0:08:07 – So, it feels like you were excited and caught up
0:08:11 or appreciate the majesty of the moment.
0:08:15 Any surprises or anything that you found sort of
0:08:17 out of the ordinary or interesting
0:08:20 in your couple days in DC?
0:08:23 – Well, the whole thing was, excuse me,
0:08:24 I also lost my voice there
0:08:27 to make millennial vocal fry even worse,
0:08:28 so I apologize for that.
0:08:29 The whole thing was out of the ordinary
0:08:31 because it was inside.
0:08:33 I was talking to Mark Teeson,
0:08:35 who is a Washington Post opinion columnist
0:08:38 and was a speechwriter for George W. Bush.
0:08:40 Now is the greatest Republican president
0:08:44 in everyone’s eyes ’cause he does oil paintings, right?
0:08:46 And doesn’t start wars anymore.
0:08:47 He was saying that he didn’t think
0:08:50 that we would ever have it outside again
0:08:54 because there’s just no way to secure the perimeter
0:08:55 to make people safe.
0:08:58 And that’s a massive change in the way
0:09:00 that this is going to happen.
0:09:01 Obviously Reagan went inside
0:09:03 because of freezing temperatures.
0:09:06 This was a combination of, it was cold though,
0:09:08 around the same as Obama’s inauguration,
0:09:10 which was outside with two million people,
0:09:13 but people are very clear about the fact
0:09:15 that there was a real security threat,
0:09:16 which I completely believe.
0:09:18 There’ve already been two assassination attempts
0:09:19 that we even know about.
0:09:22 I’m sure lots of plans that have been foiled.
0:09:25 So yeah, I’m sure he was in part concerned
0:09:27 about crowd size, real security threats,
0:09:29 and then cold temperatures,
0:09:31 especially with an older base of people
0:09:35 that were going to come for the inauguration.
0:09:37 And they did a beautiful job.
0:09:38 I don’t know if the clips that you saw
0:09:41 were of the inauguration itself or kind of the stories
0:09:44 that were going along around on the sidelines of this,
0:09:47 but it looked unbelievable.
0:09:48 And they had the overflow room,
0:09:52 which was filled with people like governors of major states,
0:09:57 like Texas, so they could fit our new kleptocracy
0:09:58 in the main room.
0:09:59 – Hedge fund managers in Texas
0:10:02 has bumped out or pushed out shoved governors.
0:10:03 – Well, they’re also government officials now,
0:10:04 a lot of them.
0:10:08 But that was, there’s something,
0:10:12 I don’t want to say beautiful because it breaks my heart,
0:10:16 but there’s something refreshing in,
0:10:19 I guess about the fact that Trump and Co.
0:10:20 don’t hide anything.
0:10:21 – Agreed, yeah.
0:10:22 – Right?
0:10:24 It’s just like, hey, I’m going to stab you in the front.
0:10:27 And when I do, it’s going to have Mark Zuckerberg’s perm,
0:10:31 or I’m going to have the CEO of TikTok
0:10:34 sitting next to our new director of national intelligence,
0:10:38 like Tulsi Gabbard just sitting next to the CEO of TikTok.
0:10:40 And we’re going to talk about TikTok later in the show.
0:10:44 But I went to the free press party,
0:10:45 which everyone wanted to go to
0:10:47 because Jerks Bentley was performing,
0:10:50 saw a lot of interesting people there.
0:10:52 But these guys from the Norwegian embassy came up to me
0:10:56 and they were like, oh, we love watching you.
0:10:59 And it’s amazing also how much of our cable news
0:11:00 is consumed abroad.
0:11:03 That was a theme I met an Israeli reporter
0:11:05 from Tel Aviv in the train station.
0:11:07 I took the train back and forth,
0:11:09 who was like, we watch the five every day.
0:11:11 And I’m like, are you guys busier?
0:11:14 And he was like, well, this is agenda setting, right?
0:11:16 Especially when it comes to what’s going to happen
0:11:17 with the ceasefire deal.
0:11:21 And hopefully that continues to go through as planned.
0:11:23 But the Norwegian embassy guys came up to me
0:11:25 and I was like, what are you guys doing here?
0:11:27 They’re like, oh, well, you know, we want to go to the party.
0:11:31 And I said, are you trying to just not end up like Greenland?
0:11:34 And obviously Norway is a much bigger country
0:11:37 and has a lot more going on there.
0:11:39 And they said, everyone is just trying to figure out
0:11:41 how to navigate, right?
0:11:43 Everyone needs to be on the right side of this.
0:11:45 So he doesn’t wake up one day and say,
0:11:49 hey, your natural resources are very appealing to me.
0:11:53 Hey, you’re in great strategic position, right?
0:11:56 To counter Russia and China.
0:11:57 Let’s work a deal out, right?
0:11:58 I know you’re a sovereign nation
0:12:00 and I know you pay your bills on time,
0:12:03 but I really like what you got over there.
0:12:06 And that was a major theme of the weekend.
0:12:08 I mean, all of the enormous sponsorships
0:12:12 from big tech companies that didn’t even do this
0:12:13 when their candidate of choice,
0:12:17 ’cause they were liberal leaning until 20 minutes ago,
0:12:18 was getting into office.
0:12:22 You know, everything was sponsored by X, Google,
0:12:25 Metta, TikTok, that really stuck out to me.
0:12:27 – How do you get 100 drunk Norwegian fraternity guys
0:12:28 out of your pool?
0:12:33 – Oh, I don’t drain it.
0:12:36 – Hey guys, would you please get out of the pool?
0:12:38 I mean, Norwegians- – Oh, ’cause they’re so nice.
0:12:39 – They’re just so nice, get it?
0:12:42 Anyways. – Yeah, and follow directions.
0:12:42 – That was, I thought,
0:12:44 one of the weirdest parts of his inaugural address.
0:12:48 He made statements about expanding America’s borders
0:12:50 and bringing our flag to-
0:12:52 – Gulf of America. – To new, yeah, but even,
0:12:53 that’s a renaming thing.
0:12:56 That’s just a weird, I don’t know, whatever that is.
0:12:58 That’s his rebranding, let’s call it,
0:13:01 I don’t know, let’s call it Altria instead of Philomorus,
0:13:04 whatever, that I think is unimportant.
0:13:08 But when he says, it strikes me that his role model here
0:13:09 hands down as Putin,
0:13:12 both in terms of his kleptocratic inclinations,
0:13:15 but also this sort of new,
0:13:17 we want to withdraw from the world in terms of military aid,
0:13:19 but we might invade you if we can raise a flag.
0:13:23 It’s very, well, who does he have designs on?
0:13:25 Well, okay, he has designs on Greenland,
0:13:29 like who’s next, we’re gonna start invading other nations.
0:13:31 I don’t, that I found very strange,
0:13:35 but it’s striking how much he seems to be parroting
0:13:38 or kind of mimicking what I would call Putin’s
0:13:40 sort of approach to governance, if you will.
0:13:43 We will start no new wars,
0:13:46 but also we’re an imperialist nation,
0:13:48 is an interesting contrast.
0:13:53 But I mean, this leads me to the broader thought process
0:13:57 that I was going through over the course of the 48 hours.
0:14:01 And I’ve been thinking a lot about what we did wrong
0:14:05 in terms of liberals when Trump got into office
0:14:09 and all of the capital and mental health
0:14:12 and wellbeing that we wasted, right?
0:14:16 On freaking the fuck out about absolutely everything.
0:14:18 And then this election came around
0:14:20 and a lot of people told us,
0:14:22 it’s just not that serious, right?
0:14:23 So do you remember,
0:14:24 and I don’t know who originally said it,
0:14:28 but when it became the talking point
0:14:31 that you had to take Trump seriously, but not literally.
0:14:36 And so I thought, okay, I’m gonna try to take him seriously,
0:14:41 like think about what undergirds what he’s saying,
0:14:44 like the imperialist machinations
0:14:47 that he’s clearly got in all of this.
0:14:50 And maybe he’s not gonna actually take over ex-country,
0:14:52 but what could he do in reality?
0:14:55 Or the number of inaccuracies, right?
0:14:58 In his inaugural address,
0:15:01 then the speech that he gave in the overflow room,
0:15:03 which got progressively more like a rally speech
0:15:05 where he starts talking about,
0:15:06 jailing Liz Cheney,
0:15:09 though I assume he was off script,
0:15:11 but it was amazing in the inaugural that he was like,
0:15:13 you know, I think actually, you know, we won California,
0:15:16 I’m gonna have them look into it.
0:15:18 Like he’s so high off his own supply
0:15:20 or whatever you’re supposed to say.
0:15:22 And I mean, he did become president again,
0:15:23 so I guess it’s a big day.
0:15:28 But if you try to take him seriously and not literally,
0:15:33 how do you square that with like the first flurry
0:15:35 of executive actions,
0:15:40 which are literally the bad stuff that he said.
0:15:45 Right, this isn’t, I’m not coming after Obala, don’t worry.
0:15:47 I’m just coming after the criminals.
0:15:50 Or why is your hair on fire?
0:15:54 Like my hair is on fire because you just tried
0:15:56 to take away birthright citizenship
0:15:59 from the vice president’s wife, right?
0:16:02 Or from Kamala Harris,
0:16:03 if this was actually to be implemented
0:16:06 and it’ll be challenged in the courts.
0:16:10 But I don’t know how to do this yet.
0:16:12 And if it’s gonna be a long four years,
0:16:14 it was always gonna be a long four years.
0:16:16 But what do you think about that?
0:16:18 Take him seriously, not literally.
0:16:22 And how to navigate this in a sane way
0:16:25 that doesn’t make you personally crazy,
0:16:27 but also doesn’t continue to alienate people
0:16:30 who might wanna be part of your coalition.
0:16:32 I think a lot of us are struggling with,
0:16:34 so do we sort of come together
0:16:39 and recognize the election has been decided.
0:16:43 It’s time to all be Americans versus an inclination,
0:16:45 I think I lean on in that as,
0:16:47 I just sort of refuse to normalize this shit.
0:16:52 I don’t, I can’t kind of come together around a guy
0:16:57 who inspired people to attack Capitol Police
0:16:59 and refuse to show up at the last inauguration.
0:17:02 It doesn’t believe in the peaceful transfer of power.
0:17:04 I don’t, you know, I’m just sort of, look,
0:17:07 I purposely didn’t wanna watch the inauguration
0:17:11 ’cause I wouldn’t be able to resist shitposting it online.
0:17:13 And I thought, well, at least give them 24 or 48 hours
0:17:16 of grace, but I do struggle with the tension
0:17:19 between being more graceful and trying to come together
0:17:22 and also thinking, you know what, I’ll do about,
0:17:25 I’ll show half the grace they showed us,
0:17:26 which is none.
0:17:27 Well, anything times zero.
0:17:28 Which is none.
0:17:28 Yeah, half of zero.
0:17:31 I’m thinking back to my math days.
0:17:35 And then the thing that was on display
0:17:37 that I saw these pictures of that was so disappointing
0:17:41 for me was the kind of the knee bending
0:17:43 of all these tech billionaires.
0:17:45 And I know what they’re thinking.
0:17:46 The smartest thing to do, this guy’s pretty easy
0:17:48 to manipulate and that is if I show up
0:17:50 and I give a million bucks to an inaugural committee,
0:17:52 it’s worth tens of not hundreds of billions of dollars
0:17:53 to my company shareholder value
0:17:55 ’cause I’ll stay in his good graces.
0:17:57 This is just a good trade.
0:18:00 At the same time, you know, where are the Americans?
0:18:01 Where is the fidelity to competition?
0:18:03 These guys don’t like him.
0:18:04 They don’t like each other.
0:18:06 They don’t want to sit next to each other,
0:18:08 which brings me back to who is the most powerful person
0:18:10 on the planet right now and stick with me here.
0:18:15 I think Lauren Sanchez, I’ve met her two previous husbands
0:18:16 and they’re both amazing guys.
0:18:18 One, I think his name’s Tony Gonzalez.
0:18:19 He’s a SFL player.
0:18:21 I met him in F1 Vegas.
0:18:23 He’s tall, he’s handsome, he’s super funny.
0:18:26 He’s just, seems like a wonderful guy.
0:18:28 Her second husband was a guy named Patrick Weitzel
0:18:30 who’s like 6’4″ handsome.
0:18:33 He’s kind of the Ari Emanuel that’s lower key.
0:18:36 He’s this super agent, incredible businessman,
0:18:38 you know, the guy you want to be.
0:18:41 And then her third husband, Jeff Bezos,
0:18:42 is obviously a very impressive guy.
0:18:44 So this, Lauren Sanchez, I would argue
0:18:47 is one of the most skilled people in the world.
0:18:49 I don’t entirely know what those skills are.
0:18:50 I think she’s got a magnetic personality.
0:18:52 Everybody I know says she’s,
0:18:55 she’s just got to be a captivating person.
0:18:58 When I saw the Zuck staring at her chest,
0:19:01 it dawned on me that if she really wants
0:19:02 to do the world of solid,
0:19:06 she should give her fourth husband should be the Zuck.
0:19:10 And then Priscilla Chan would get half the voting shares.
0:19:13 And I think you’d see a dramatic spike in mental wellness
0:19:15 and trust in our institutions.
0:19:18 So I think Lauren Sanchez is the leader we need right now.
0:19:20 Your thoughts on the impending divorce energy
0:19:22 of Mark Zuckerberg.
0:19:24 Well, I was actually surprised
0:19:26 to see Priscilla Chan was there.
0:19:28 She didn’t get to be in the room.
0:19:31 It was only Lauren Sanchez that I got to see.
0:19:31 You’re kidding.
0:19:36 So Bezos, Bezos’s wife or girlfriend got in
0:19:39 but not Zuckerberg’s wife?
0:19:40 Yes, exactly.
0:19:44 Which supports your argument
0:19:47 that she’s the most powerful person in the world
0:19:51 or that Jeff Bezos is more valuable to Trump
0:19:53 than Zuckerberg is at this point.
0:19:56 So he’ll have to continue going on Joe Rogan.
0:19:59 I guess ’cause Trump likes her look.
0:19:59 But anyways.
0:20:01 I mean, who doesn’t like that look?
0:20:06 I didn’t think the look for the inauguration was appropriate.
0:20:07 I thought she looked great.
0:20:08 You don’t, you don’t.
0:20:08 Well, yeah, she looked great.
0:20:11 But I don’t think you should have your bra out
0:20:12 in the rotunda.
0:20:16 I mean, listen, I was probably not the target audience
0:20:21 for it that felt like a straight eyes look at me look.
0:20:23 It was also high fashion.
0:20:25 But I think it was Alexander McQueen.
0:20:30 But I should note as well, the fashion was incredible.
0:20:32 And I brought this up on air.
0:20:36 It is very meaningful that all the big fashion houses
0:20:41 have now signed on to dressing the Trumps and the Vances.
0:20:44 And clearly Ushavance is the star of all of this.
0:20:49 Her, her fashion coming out, seeing her all done up
0:20:52 and how much she was reveling in this
0:20:55 and the sweet way that she was looking at her husband
0:20:56 with the little kids.
0:20:57 I don’t know if you saw the daughter,
0:21:00 the three-year-old toddler had band-aids
0:21:02 on all of her fingers.
0:21:04 Did your kids love band-aids when they were little?
0:21:05 It’s funny I said that.
0:21:06 I would have liked,
0:21:08 that’s one image I would have liked to have seen.
0:21:09 That sounds really adorable.
0:21:10 I’ll send, I’ll text it to you.
0:21:12 It’s very cute.
0:21:16 And the young family energy being back at 1600,
0:21:18 Pennsylvania Avenue or, I mean,
0:21:19 they live in the Naval Observatory,
0:21:21 I think is very good for the country.
0:21:23 I mean, he’s the first millennial vice president.
0:21:24 It’s a big deal.
0:21:27 She’s the first South East Asian second lady.
0:21:27 Yeah.
0:21:28 I don’t think it’s fair.
0:21:29 I think there’s a lot of family energy with Biden.
0:21:33 These great, great, great, great grandkids are everywhere.
0:21:34 Get it?
0:21:36 Great, great, great, great grandkids.
0:21:37 I do.
0:21:38 And also, I mean, there’s an implicit joke in there about–
0:21:40 My humor is not landing.
0:21:43 My humor is not landing.
0:21:45 There was another way to go with the joke though as well
0:21:48 because there was the Hunter’s kid
0:21:51 that they don’t recognize that lives in the South
0:21:53 and doesn’t get to be part of the Bidens.
0:21:54 I thought you were also making that joke.
0:21:55 I didn’t know about that.
0:21:56 But no, it was just an old joke.
0:21:57 Wow.
0:21:58 But Trump was the one who was falling asleep
0:22:00 at the Capital One arena.
0:22:03 Later in the day, Biden looked alert, perturbed,
0:22:06 and then on his way as he left on Marine One,
0:22:08 and then Trump loaned him Air Force One
0:22:10 to go out to California for a vacation.
0:22:12 Okay, that was the positive stuff.
0:22:14 No, I generally agree with you.
0:22:17 I think that the tech billionaires
0:22:19 and really just the billionaires writ large.
0:22:20 I mean, this is–
0:22:23 In the administration, there’ll be, I think, 13 billionaires,
0:22:25 which is the most there’s ever been.
0:22:27 And I hear from my colleagues, like, oh, are you
0:22:29 going to say you don’t like rich people?
0:22:31 No, of course we like rich people.
0:22:33 But at least we have the decency to just make them
0:22:37 an ambassador and not the head of a department
0:22:38 that they have no business running.
0:22:40 Or put them in the rotunda versus someone
0:22:42 elected to be governor of a huge state.
0:22:45 Watching, because Trump had this whole long exchange
0:22:47 with Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas.
0:22:49 And he did make a joke, because everyone was standing.
0:22:50 And then Greg Abbott’s in a wheelchair,
0:22:52 so he obviously doesn’t stand.
0:22:55 And Trump had a little funny back and forth with him about it.
0:22:59 But he spent 10, 12 minutes talking to Greg Abbott.
0:23:03 Greg Abbott was front lines of the border crisis, right?
0:23:05 And you can’t get that guy in the rotunda,
0:23:09 but Lauren Sanchez can be in there, or the CEO of TikTok.
0:23:12 Well, they do understand optics, so I’ll give that to them.
0:23:14 The thing that kind of summarized what’s happened here,
0:23:16 and that I found incredibly discouraging
0:23:20 and the most underreported story of the last few days,
0:23:22 was that the day before he was inaugurated,
0:23:24 he launched the Trump coin.
0:23:27 And this is essentially a meme coin.
0:23:30 It’s a means of supporting the president.
0:23:31 On its first day at Randall,
0:23:34 I think 11 or $12 billion in market cap.
0:23:36 And I don’t think I’m being an alarmist here,
0:23:40 but the conversation I see will happen or may have already
0:23:42 happened is something along the following.
0:23:46 President Trump, congratulations on your great victory.
0:23:48 This is your buddy, Vlad.
0:23:52 Just FYI, I’m thinking about putting 600 billion rubles
0:23:57 or 10 billion US dollars into your amazing Trump coin
0:23:59 as a means of stabilizing our currency outflows.
0:24:02 We want to have more crypto.
0:24:04 And my economists have done the math, and guess what?
0:24:06 If based on the limited amount of float,
0:24:10 if I just put $10 billion in, which is nothing for me,
0:24:13 controlling the 12th largest economy in the world,
0:24:16 I think it’ll take probably the price of the market cap
0:24:18 of the Trump coin to 50 billion and based on your stake.
0:24:21 This would make you one of the five wealthiest men in America,
0:24:22 just FYI.
0:24:24 And oh, in unrelated news,
0:24:28 could you please seize arms shipments to Ukraine?
0:24:30 I mean, the potential here,
0:24:34 we thought Donald Trump media was a conflict and a bad idea,
0:24:36 but they have to file forms of the SEC,
0:24:38 making it sort of transparent when they sell shares
0:24:40 that would crash the stock,
0:24:42 all sorts of conflicts of interest.
0:24:43 He’s tried to distance himself by that,
0:24:45 by putting into a trust controlled by his sons,
0:24:49 which makes no fucking sense as if he doesn’t control his sons.
0:24:52 But now they’ve figured out the ultimate grift,
0:24:56 and that is a meme coin that they can basically say to,
0:25:01 say they need another vote to have a federal ban on abortion.
0:25:04 And a few, Susan Collins or whoever it is,
0:25:06 or holdouts pretending to be moderates,
0:25:07 you can call them and say offline,
0:25:10 say by the way, I can put $10 million in your account
0:25:12 for your campaign or your personal account,
0:25:13 and nobody even knows,
0:25:15 ’cause I can do it with the Trump coin,
0:25:18 which by the way, has a $12 billion market cap,
0:25:20 although it lost half its value yesterday.
0:25:24 The level of like frictionless grift
0:25:26 that was slipped on under the cover of night,
0:25:28 the day before the inauguration,
0:25:30 while the news cycle would squeeze it out.
0:25:33 I mean, it feels to me that this is a full,
0:25:36 the shape-shifting of America from a platform
0:25:38 for among other things, prosperity, economic growth,
0:25:41 all great things, producing very wealthy people,
0:25:44 also I think a wonderful thing.
0:25:45 But it also used to be a platform
0:25:49 for rule of fair play, civil rights,
0:25:52 a lack of corruption, an electoral process
0:25:54 that sent people that were supposed to think about
0:25:56 preventing a tragedy of the comments and think long-term,
0:25:59 and deny the rights of special interest groups,
0:26:02 specifically corporations and rich people, such that,
0:26:04 we didn’t end up with such great income inequality
0:26:06 that it leads to revolution,
0:26:08 that we projected democracy and women’s rights
0:26:12 and freedoms and humanity and no, you know,
0:26:14 no forced weddings or honor killings
0:26:16 that we would project that power around the world.
0:26:19 It feels like all of that is now an asterisk
0:26:21 on a giant fucking dollar sign.
0:26:24 And that is we are now a full platform
0:26:26 for figuring out a Hunger Games economy
0:26:28 where you can take the most prosperous platform
0:26:29 in the world, the United States,
0:26:32 and either figure out a way to make the jump to light speed
0:26:34 to become very, very wealthy,
0:26:36 at which point you have political power,
0:26:38 the power to get wealthier and wealthier,
0:26:42 and everything else has been crowded into a small corner
0:26:45 that occasionally gets a nod, but we’ve gone,
0:26:47 I mean, we have gone, and to your point,
0:26:50 I sort of admire how brazen and upfront they are
0:26:51 that we are now a kleptocracy.
0:26:55 But the Trump coin for me and the Melania coin
0:27:00 perfectly embodied that we no longer seem to care
0:27:02 that, okay, the U.S. has been for sale for a long time,
0:27:05 including Democrats through Citizens United
0:27:06 and healthcare lobbyists who have weaponized
0:27:10 both people on both aisles, but now the world is for sale.
0:27:14 And effectively, he could call,
0:27:17 he could get the warring parties in Sudan.
0:27:20 I talked to Ian Bremmer and he said,
0:27:22 the way Trump gets a Nobel Peace Prize,
0:27:23 and he’s supposedly obsessed with getting one,
0:27:28 would be to go in and solve the civil war in Sudan.
0:27:30 More people are dying in Sudan every day
0:27:33 than in Gaza or Ukraine combined,
0:27:35 but no one gives a shit, right?
0:27:37 But what I don’t see him trying to solve it,
0:27:39 I see him calling both parties and say,
0:27:40 who’s gonna buy more Trump coin?
0:27:42 And whoever buys more Trump coin
0:27:45 and takes my wealth up one to $10 billion,
0:27:49 I’m gonna weigh in with U.S. military intelligence,
0:27:52 some heavy equipment, and this side is gonna win.
0:27:55 It’s gonna be like eBay hits geopolitics.
0:27:58 Who is the highest bidder in an elegant,
0:28:00 non-traceable, totally opaque method
0:28:02 through this new vehicle they have figured out?
0:28:05 And it’s sort of, there’s an insidious genius around this
0:28:06 called the Trump coin.
0:28:08 And I just didn’t see that much coverage.
0:28:12 I saw a lot more coverage of Zuckerberg staring
0:28:15 at Lauren Sanchez’s chest than I saw
0:28:19 of all the potential scenarios that are very, very bad
0:28:21 for the Trump coin.
0:28:23 – Yeah, I totally agree with you.
0:28:25 And it was one of those stories,
0:28:27 I guess on Friday when it started trickling in
0:28:30 that this was happening, and certainly over the weekend,
0:28:34 where I thought, is this because we don’t have people
0:28:37 up to the job of reporting on this?
0:28:40 Or is this a choice that our major news outlets
0:28:44 are now making to not cover him objectively?
0:28:47 And this is part of the war that’s going on
0:28:49 within the Washington Post, right?
0:28:52 Why so many of their star reporters are leaving the paper
0:28:55 because they don’t feel like they’ll be able to,
0:29:00 at least to their mind, cover him objectively and accurately
0:29:04 because Bezos doesn’t want there to be a slant against him.
0:29:08 And I thought a lot about the committee hearings
0:29:11 when they bring in the tech CEOs and it’s so clear
0:29:14 that the senators are not up to the job
0:29:17 of interrogating them about what’s going on
0:29:21 on their platforms and not just the kind of objective stuff
0:29:23 that we all see, like you’re ruining the lives
0:29:25 of 13 year old girls, right?
0:29:28 There is a spike in harmful behavior,
0:29:32 their mental health is completely in shambles
0:29:35 because you allow them to be served ads
0:29:36 that make them feel terrible about themselves.
0:29:41 You let predators into their inboxes and their DMs.
0:29:43 I feel like it was only Snapchat really
0:29:46 that took it seriously about how many kids
0:29:48 were being groomed online on these panels.
0:29:51 And I think that was the main motivating factor
0:29:54 for Mark Zuckerberg to show up on Rogan
0:29:55 and have this come to Jesus moment.
0:29:57 I mean, he said it was about free speech
0:29:58 and censorship around COVID,
0:30:02 but I think it’s really about the FTC coming after them
0:30:05 and everyone knowing the dirty tricks
0:30:09 that go on with these huge social media platforms.
0:30:13 But we need good journalism on this more than ever
0:30:15 because the amount of people that I know
0:30:17 who are very smart informed people
0:30:19 who didn’t even know about the Trump coin
0:30:20 than the Melania coin.
0:30:23 And I mean, this has permeated the entire Trump bubble.
0:30:26 I saw there was a pastor who also spoke at the RNC,
0:30:29 a big Trump guy, he launched a coin
0:30:32 after he spoke yesterday at inauguration, right?
0:30:37 So the grift is spread across anyone
0:30:41 that is MAGA adjacent at this point.
0:30:43 And it feels there’s no way to stop it.
0:30:45 I mean, there were very obvious ways
0:30:48 to curry favor with the Trumps round one.
0:30:51 You stayed at Trump International
0:30:53 and all of these foreign dignitaries did it
0:30:54 and they made sure their staff did.
0:30:58 Remember, they had to stay at his golf courses
0:31:01 where I’ll just go to Scotland, check in, let’s pay,
0:31:03 Trump will see it on the ledger.
0:31:05 But now you have what’s going on obviously
0:31:09 in the Bitcoin world or the cryptocurrency world,
0:31:11 I should say, but then Eric Trump announced
0:31:14 that they’re opening a new hotel in Albania.
0:31:16 Oh, and we’re supposed to act like
0:31:19 this is normal development, right?
0:31:20 For the first family.
0:31:22 Well, of course they have these jobs.
0:31:24 He’s a businessman, that’s all fine.
0:31:25 That’s all well and good.
0:31:29 We used to say like, oh, Ivanka Trump got the patents
0:31:33 for her shoe line from China while Trump was in office
0:31:36 and Jared Kushner makes a couple billion dollars
0:31:38 getting the Saudis to invest in his fund.
0:31:40 And we’re like, okay, well, these are things
0:31:42 that we can spot, we think they’re bad,
0:31:44 not enough of the American public, right?
0:31:48 Thought it was bad enough to keep them out of office again.
0:31:52 But this will be running out in the public
0:31:56 but underneath the public eye at the same time.
0:31:58 A lot of people don’t understand what’s going on.
0:32:00 They also don’t know that 80% of Trump coin
0:32:05 was reserved for the family and early investors.
0:32:07 And all of that will vest during his first presidency.
0:32:11 This wasn’t like putting your peanut farm in a trust, right?
0:32:13 That we could revisit this afterwards.
0:32:16 And no one seems like they’re up to the job
0:32:17 of dealing with it.
0:32:20 – Well, when you have Nancy or Speaker Pelosi trading stocks,
0:32:22 which you shouldn’t be able to do with what is
0:32:25 the world’s most privileged insider information,
0:32:27 it’s the beginning of this corruption.
0:32:30 And hotel rooms, booking hotel rooms,
0:32:32 occurring favor around patents from China,
0:32:36 that is all just checkers versus the chess of this.
0:32:39 This is, those are all slingshots.
0:32:40 This is an elephant gun.
0:32:43 Even after a 30% decline in the price of the Trump coin,
0:32:46 it has a market cap as we record this of $7.5 billion.
0:32:48 They own about 80%.
0:32:51 So he basically made $6 billion on paper.
0:32:53 And as far as we know, he’s already borrowed against it.
0:32:57 He’s already given it to Supreme Court justices
0:32:58 to uphold the ban.
0:33:01 And if you don’t think Clarence Thomas would take $10 million
0:33:05 in Bitcoin, well, that’s like saying he wouldn’t go on a yacht
0:33:09 or a cruise with someone who had issues before the court.
0:33:11 I mean, this is, and it’s sort of,
0:33:15 we’re sort of turning into, okay, like they say to,
0:33:16 unfortunately some law enforcement people
0:33:19 in countries with big drug cartels, you know,
0:33:22 either letter gold and that is he’s demonstrated power
0:33:24 to kind of run people out of politics
0:33:26 or sick online trolls after them,
0:33:28 death threats, people showing up at your house,
0:33:31 which puts a chill on free speech and his critics.
0:33:32 But at the same time, he now has the ability
0:33:35 to not only become the wealthiest man himself
0:33:38 through grift in other countries by selling foreign assets
0:33:40 and foreign interest to the highest bidder,
0:33:44 he can start doling out money to other people very covertly
0:33:46 to get essentially what he wants.
0:33:50 I mean, this is just so, I gotta admit,
0:33:52 the thing I like most about it is it’s just so brazen.
0:33:55 They’re not even trying to hide it.
0:33:57 All right, let’s take one quick break.
0:33:58 Stay with us, we’ll be right back.
0:34:05 Support for property comes from Grammarly.
0:34:08 These days, it seems like you can’t throw a rock
0:34:10 without hitting some new AI integration.
0:34:11 Don’t get me wrong,
0:34:13 there are some incredibly innovative tools out there,
0:34:14 but if they’re too complicated to use
0:34:16 or not adaptable to your needs,
0:34:17 then they’re not likely to fit
0:34:19 into your business’s workflow.
0:34:20 Grammarly, on the other hand,
0:34:21 is your intelligent writing partner
0:34:23 that seamlessly integrates
0:34:25 with half a million apps and websites.
0:34:26 And when every word your team writes
0:34:28 is clear, concise and on brand,
0:34:30 everything gets better and faster.
0:34:33 Grammarly reports to teams who use their technology,
0:34:36 spend 52% less time writing sales emails.
0:34:38 For more than 15 years,
0:34:39 Grammarly has been in the business
0:34:40 of offering secure, private,
0:34:43 responsible enterprise-grade AI.
0:34:45 That means that Grammarly prioritizes
0:34:47 keeping your organization’s data safe.
0:34:49 We’ve used Grammarly at PropG and simply put,
0:34:51 it’s helped us be more efficient
0:34:53 and more consistent with our written material.
0:34:56 Joined 70,000 teams and 30 million people
0:34:57 who trust Grammarly to work faster
0:35:00 and hit their goals while keeping their data secure.
0:35:03 Go to grammarly.com/enterprise to learn more.
0:35:06 Grammarly, enterprise-ready AI.
0:35:10 Nerds.
0:35:12 Support for the show comes from Nerd Wallet.
0:35:14 Listener, a new year is finally here.
0:35:15 And if you’re anything like me,
0:35:17 you’ve got a lot on your plate.
0:35:19 New habits to build, travel plans to make,
0:35:20 podcast to host.
0:35:22 Good thing our sponsor, Nerd Wallet,
0:35:24 is here to take one of those things off your plate,
0:35:27 finding the best financial products.
0:35:29 Introducing Nerd Wallet’s best of awards list,
0:35:32 your shortcut to the best credit card savings accounts
0:35:33 and more.
0:35:35 The Nerds at Nerd Wallet have done the work for you,
0:35:38 researching and reviewing over 1,100 financial products
0:35:40 to bring you only the best of the best.
0:35:42 Looking for a balance transfer credit card
0:35:45 with a 0% APR, they’ve got a winner for that.
0:35:47 How about a bank account with a top rate
0:35:49 to hit your savings goals?
0:35:51 They’ve got a winner for that too.
0:35:53 That way you can know you’re getting the best products
0:35:55 for you without doing all the research yourself.
0:35:57 So, let Nerd Wallet do the heavy lifting
0:35:59 for your financial future this year
0:36:01 and head over to their 2025 best of awards
0:36:04 at nerdwallet.com/awards
0:36:06 to find the best financial products today.
0:36:12 Support for property comes from Nutraful.
0:36:14 Hair is incredibly personal.
0:36:16 Every man out there has his own relationship
0:36:17 to his hair journey.
0:36:19 Maybe you embrace the bald
0:36:20 when you notice things thinning up top.
0:36:21 I support you.
0:36:23 I think that’s a wonderful decision,
0:36:25 but if you’re not quite ready to say goodbye
0:36:27 to your shedding, thinning locks,
0:36:29 you might want to check out Nutraful.
0:36:31 Nutraful is the number one dermatologist
0:36:33 recommended hair growth supplement brand,
0:36:36 and it’s been trusted by over one million people.
0:36:38 You may see thicker, stronger, faster growing hair
0:36:40 with less shedding in just three to six months
0:36:41 with Nutraful.
0:36:42 It’s physician formulated to target
0:36:44 the common causes of thinning hair,
0:36:47 including stress, lifestyle, hormones, aging, and more.
0:36:48 If you’ve been waiting for a convenient
0:36:50 and effective way to care for your hair,
0:36:53 Nutraful is a great place to start.
0:36:55 You can start your hair growth journey now with Nutraful.
0:36:56 For a limited time,
0:36:59 Nutraful is offering our listeners $10 off
0:37:01 your first month subscription and free shipping
0:37:05 when you go to Nutraful.com and enter the promo code PROPG.
0:37:07 Find out why over 4,500 healthcare professionals
0:37:10 and stylists recommend Nutraful for healthier hair.
0:37:15 Nutraful.com spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L.com promo code PROPG.
0:37:20 That’s Nutraful.com promo code PROPG.
0:37:27 – Welcome back.
0:37:28 During Biden’s final week,
0:37:31 he gave his farewell address from the Oval Office.
0:37:33 Biden chose to focus on economic inequality
0:37:35 and take a final shot at the tech oligarchs.
0:37:37 He opened by addressing the ceasefire deal
0:37:39 reached between Israel and Hamas,
0:37:42 an agreement he worked on with the Trump administration.
0:37:44 Hours before the transition of U.S. leadership,
0:37:47 President Biden issued pardons for General Mark Milley,
0:37:49 Dr. Anthony Fauci, members of Congress
0:37:51 involved in the January 6th investigation,
0:37:52 and members of his family.
0:37:56 Jess, any thoughts on the ceasefire deal,
0:37:58 the timing of it, and kind of, if you will,
0:38:03 Biden’s sort of last sort of actions on his way out?
0:38:05 – Yeah, well, I was excited.
0:38:06 There was a ceasefire deal.
0:38:09 I don’t know how this didn’t happen earlier
0:38:11 since it’s the same deal that’s been on the table
0:38:13 for what, like, eight months at this point,
0:38:16 and three phases to it were in the first phase,
0:38:18 which is the last 42 days.
0:38:20 The big headline that 33 hostages
0:38:21 are gonna be coming home,
0:38:25 we’re not sure how many of them are alive or dead,
0:38:28 but we did see three returned over the weekend,
0:38:30 and those reunion videos
0:38:33 were some of the most beautiful footage
0:38:35 I’ve ever watched in my life.
0:38:39 And I can’t believe the strength of these young women
0:38:42 who all, thank God, were “returned healthy.”
0:38:44 Now, what’s going on in their minds
0:38:48 and the lifetime of trauma that they will endure for this
0:38:51 cannot be underestimated, but thrilled to see it.
0:38:53 I really want those bebis babies,
0:38:55 those little red-headed babies,
0:38:58 better be coming home and they better be alive.
0:39:01 And I know everyone is on pins and needles waiting for that.
0:39:04 It’s interesting that the deal goes through
0:39:06 the rebuilding of Gaza, which is in phase three,
0:39:09 and Mike Huckabee, who’s the new,
0:39:12 or will be the new ambassador to Israel,
0:39:14 gave an interview talking about a two-state solution,
0:39:17 and he said, “I’m not really interested in that.”
0:39:20 And I think for Bebe, music to his ears, right?
0:39:22 That’s what he wants to hear.
0:39:24 And who knows how far the implementation
0:39:25 of the deal actually goes through?
0:39:27 We may just get through phase one and two,
0:39:29 and then Israel kind of says,
0:39:31 “Actually, this isn’t good for us.”
0:39:33 Or God knows, Hamas starts again,
0:39:38 ’cause watching the dozens of prisoners and terrorists,
0:39:43 Palestinian, released for these hostages
0:39:45 that are coming back to Israel,
0:39:47 and they’re rejoining the fight.
0:39:49 Within seconds, there are videos of them
0:39:51 back with their terrorist cohort,
0:39:55 talking about how they will continue with the plan.
0:39:59 So bracing for more in terms of impact of terrorism,
0:40:01 but very thankful that there is a deal on the table,
0:40:04 and it has at least begun being implemented.
0:40:05 What do you think about it?
0:40:07 – Yeah, so I think you gotta give credit
0:40:09 where credit’s due, and that is
0:40:11 the upside to Trump’s unpredictability.
0:40:15 This just had so many echoes of when Reagan came into office,
0:40:19 and then Iran decided to release the American hostages.
0:40:21 And that is, I do think there’s just no getting around it,
0:40:25 despite what are probably heroic, nonstop,
0:40:30 very well orchestrated, intelligent efforts
0:40:33 of Secretary Blinken and the Biden administration.
0:40:35 I just don’t think it’s any accident
0:40:36 to know in the eve of inauguration
0:40:38 this deal went through. – Of course.
0:40:40 – And I do think that Trump’s unpredictability,
0:40:44 and quite frankly, also his just resolute backing of Israel,
0:40:46 played a role here.
0:40:48 So I think, who gets credit for this?
0:40:50 I think the answer is yes.
0:40:53 And I don’t think it’s a zero-sum game around this.
0:40:56 It is time, or it feels like it’s time for the war
0:40:59 to come to something resembling an end.
0:41:02 I found that image of the transfer of the hostages
0:41:07 and all of those folks in mass, Hamas,
0:41:10 just looks as strong as ever.
0:41:14 And just to see that kind of level of chaos,
0:41:17 it just was a very chilling, frightening scene to me
0:41:21 that we’re nowhere near a resolution.
0:41:22 I don’t know what that says about
0:41:24 the way the war was prosecuted,
0:41:26 about the future of that region,
0:41:28 but that was frightening to me.
0:41:30 And I’m glad, I’m really glad those folks are home.
0:41:33 I’m glad I’m hoping that death and destruction
0:41:35 lets up here.
0:41:37 Gaza has become ground zero
0:41:40 with the greatest concentration of child, empty tees.
0:41:44 So it felt like this just needed to come to an end.
0:41:49 And my kind of Yoda on this is a guy named Dan Sinor
0:41:52 who has a wonderful podcast called “Call Me Back.”
0:41:53 And he’s basically said,
0:41:57 this was a bad deal for Israel, but a deal they should take.
0:42:00 And I thought that kind of summarized it perfectly.
0:42:02 And again, people didn’t talk much about that
0:42:05 because it was sort of overridden.
0:42:08 – Well, I do want to say, and when I mentioned,
0:42:09 like why did this happen eight months ago,
0:42:12 I understand why it didn’t happen eight months ago,
0:42:15 but I wonder, so the key player in this was Steve Whitcoff
0:42:18 who is the special envoy.
0:42:22 In charge of this, he’s a real estate developer and investor.
0:42:25 And he spoke at the Capital One arena yesterday
0:42:28 at the kind of rally section of Trump’s inauguration.
0:42:32 And it has been interesting to see bonus points
0:42:36 for bipartisanship that Steve Whitcoff
0:42:39 and Jake Sullivan, leaving the Biden administration,
0:42:42 have talked about how this was a joint effort
0:42:44 and how important the support has been
0:42:46 on both sides of this.
0:42:47 And I do want to plug,
0:42:50 Jake Sullivan gave a great interview with Ezra Klein
0:42:51 that was much more satisfying
0:42:55 than Anthony Blinken’s interview on the daily
0:42:58 to say the least, but joint effort.
0:43:03 I do wonder like, why couldn’t the Biden administration
0:43:06 get a special envoy like Steve Whitcoff?
0:43:07 If it wouldn’t be Steve Whitcoff himself,
0:43:09 I know he’s very close with Trump.
0:43:11 I’m not saying that this would have happened
0:43:13 necessarily eight months ago,
0:43:17 but it feels like we probably could have made more progress
0:43:22 than we thought if we had had the right kind of talk
0:43:25 and the right kind of people at the table for this,
0:43:28 easy for me to say sitting here, but very thankful
0:43:30 for the outcome and the hostage families,
0:43:33 not all of them, but a lot of them were on stage
0:43:36 with Trump at the Capital One arena.
0:43:38 And it sends a very clear signal
0:43:40 about which administration people think
0:43:41 is on the side of Israel.
0:43:43 And I heard that over and over again.
0:43:45 – So let’s just briefly,
0:43:47 I’m just going to rattle off these executive actions.
0:43:49 And I got to be honest, I think that sends
0:43:52 a very strong signal around leadership and governance
0:43:55 to almost like practically on stage on the days.
0:43:58 – On stage, he had a little desk and signed them.
0:43:59 – There you go.
0:44:01 So ending birthrights that I’m going to go through all of them
0:44:04 and any specific ones that stand out to,
0:44:05 ending birthright citizenship,
0:44:08 leaving the World Health Organization,
0:44:10 renaming the Gulf of Mexico,
0:44:12 revoking electric vehicle targets,
0:44:14 reclassifying federal employees,
0:44:15 making them easier to fire,
0:44:17 declaring a national energy emergency,
0:44:20 creating a policy recognizing only two genders,
0:44:22 pausing the TikTok ban,
0:44:25 rescinding 78 Biden-era executive actions,
0:44:27 declaring a national border emergency,
0:44:30 issuing pardons for January 6th defendants,
0:44:32 we’re trying from the Paris Climate Agreement.
0:44:33 I’ll stop there.
0:44:35 Anything, anything especially stand out to you
0:44:36 is especially good or bad.
0:44:40 – I don’t really have a lot that feels good about this.
0:44:42 It wasn’t, I mean, we have to be conscious of the fact
0:44:45 that a lot of the things like cutting red tape, et cetera,
0:44:47 is going to come in the reconciliation bill
0:44:49 or that’s how they want it to be.
0:44:51 Speaker Johnson didn’t even want him to
0:44:54 rescind the electric vehicle mandate
0:44:54 because he wanted to make sure
0:44:57 that that could be part of the legislation
0:45:00 that should hopefully get passed in April.
0:45:03 But, you know, stuff that sticks out to me,
0:45:05 obviously ending birthright citizenship
0:45:06 is a huge headline in that.
0:45:07 I already mentioned that.
0:45:10 That means Ushavans and Kamala Harris
0:45:11 wouldn’t be American citizens.
0:45:14 It’s supposed to take effect, I think, February 25th.
0:45:16 There will be huge litigation around that.
0:45:21 I think we have to separate the EOs into buckets
0:45:25 of, you know, ones that are kind of expected,
0:45:27 like taking down the Spanish language version
0:45:29 of the White House site
0:45:32 or taking off the women’s reproductive
0:45:36 healthcare government site as, like,
0:45:38 we kind of knew this was coming.
0:45:40 It’s shitty and weird, like,
0:45:42 especially when you won record numbers
0:45:43 of Latino support, like,
0:45:44 why do you need to get rid
0:45:47 of the Spanish language Twitter account, right?
0:45:51 Designating that America only has two genders,
0:45:52 male and female.
0:45:54 You know, it was really interesting to see someone
0:45:56 like Caitlyn Jenner cheering all of this on
0:46:01 and wondering where she fits in all of this.
0:46:06 I think that a lot of the border security/immigration EOs
0:46:08 are a really big deal.
0:46:11 They canceled the Customs and Border Patrol app,
0:46:13 which was the legal way
0:46:15 that everyone was making appointments
0:46:16 for their immigration hearings.
0:46:18 Upwards of 30,000 people had their appointments
0:46:19 just canceled yesterday.
0:46:20 And these are people, by the way,
0:46:22 that are waiting in Mexico for their appointments.
0:46:24 They’re not running wild
0:46:27 on the streets of Chicago killing people.
0:46:30 They are waiting in proverbial line, right,
0:46:31 to have their appointment.
0:46:32 I think that that’s a very big deal.
0:46:35 You removed all of these people
0:46:36 or took away the power from all of these people
0:46:40 in the Justice Department that oversaw our immigration laws.
0:46:41 I think that’s a big deal.
0:46:43 We’re withdrawing for the World Health Organization.
0:46:45 That was approved by Congress.
0:46:45 He can’t do that.
0:46:47 And that links to our conversation
0:46:48 that we’re gonna have about TikTok.
0:46:50 You know, Congress passes laws.
0:46:52 They’re supposed to be separation of government,
0:46:53 three equal branches.
0:46:55 He obviously doesn’t believe in that,
0:46:57 which if you aspire to be Vladimir Putin,
0:46:58 I totally get it.
0:47:00 The pardoning of the January Sixers,
0:47:04 JD Vance was on Fox News Sunday last weekend.
0:47:06 And Shannon Brehm asked him about this.
0:47:09 And he said, well, it makes sense to pardon people
0:47:10 who are nonviolent offenders.
0:47:12 And having listened now to a lot of interviews
0:47:16 with people who literally did just walk around the Capitol.
0:47:17 I mean, you should have figured out
0:47:20 that you shouldn’t have been there.
0:47:23 But that versus violent offenders who beat cops,
0:47:25 peppers sprayed them, used metal poles against them,
0:47:29 riot gear, et cetera, is crazy to me.
0:47:31 And he pardoned everybody.
0:47:35 And there was an interview, I think on MSNBC,
0:47:38 with a guy who had turned in his father
0:47:43 for being part of the January Six riot.
0:47:44 And he said he’s scared
0:47:46 that he’s gonna come and kill him now,
0:47:48 that he’s gotten out.
0:47:51 I think there’s gonna be a huge spike in domestic violence
0:47:53 as a result of this.
0:47:56 Saw one woman who actually refused the pardon.
0:47:59 She said, from her time, she had 60 days in jail.
0:48:02 She said, I realized what I did wrong
0:48:05 and also who’s responsible for this in Donald Trump.
0:48:07 And I don’t want it.
0:48:09 But that obviously sets an enormous precedent
0:48:11 that there are no lines in the sand
0:48:13 for people who attack law enforcement,
0:48:16 back the blue, out the door, obviously.
0:48:17 That one stuck out.
0:48:20 And the guy who’s the head of the Proud Boys getting out.
0:48:22 And then I wanted to ask you about,
0:48:24 well, tariffs, he says, February 1st,
0:48:27 he’s gonna start a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada.
0:48:30 Get all your avocados while you can.
0:48:32 And then removing the security clearances
0:48:34 from all of these former heads
0:48:37 of the CIA, directors of national intelligence.
0:48:38 Anyone who signed that letter saying
0:48:42 that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation,
0:48:44 he’s a yanked security clearance.
0:48:48 – Yeah, some of it is more meaningful than others,
0:48:49 the renaming stuff.
0:48:54 Some of it declaring the border and national emergency,
0:48:55 the lifting the bans.
0:49:00 This stuff around, the rhetoric around energy strikes me
0:49:03 as especially just, I don’t know, inaccurate.
0:49:06 So all of this drill baby drill,
0:49:08 it should be build, baby build.
0:49:10 We have the number one oil produce in the world,
0:49:14 Biden, Biden okayed a bunch of drilling permits.
0:49:15 That’s just pure rhetoric.
0:49:17 The naming stuff is bullshit.
0:49:21 – I don’t necessarily agree,
0:49:22 but I can understand declaring the border
0:49:25 and national emergency, I get that.
0:49:28 And saying they’re going to expel
0:49:31 or deport criminals who are undocumented workers,
0:49:35 technically they’ve committed two crimes, I get that.
0:49:40 But the birthright stuff, pulling down the Spanish language,
0:49:42 that feels more like, fuck you, I’m a racist.
0:49:46 That’s just, it’s unnecessarily mean
0:49:49 and waving your middle finger in the face of people.
0:49:54 I don’t understand, I think he loses a lot of credibility
0:49:58 and most, he creates a lot of unnecessary enemies
0:50:00 when he does this stuff
0:50:03 that seems just more coarse than effective.
0:50:08 And some of it revoking electric vehicle targets, okay fine.
0:50:14 The thing I like is reclassifying federal employees,
0:50:15 making them easier to fire.
0:50:17 I don’t see any reason why government employees
0:50:20 shouldn’t be subject to the same pressure
0:50:23 and accountability as private sector employees.
0:50:26 Now having said that, this notion that government
0:50:28 is out of control, you might find that government spending
0:50:31 is out of control, but that’s mostly around entitlements
0:50:34 and the ballooning interest on our ballooning deficit.
0:50:36 The number of people who work for the government
0:50:38 has ranged over the last 50 years or 60 years
0:50:40 between 14 and 17%.
0:50:42 And it’s actually towards a low end right now.
0:50:44 So, and the majority of our employees
0:50:47 work for the government, work for state and local.
0:50:49 So the notion that all of a sudden
0:50:51 the government state or the social welfare state
0:50:53 has just ballooned, that’s not really true.
0:50:56 You could argue that government spending has ballooned,
0:51:00 but it’s not, you know, anyways, I like that.
0:51:03 I think that made sense.
0:51:05 Declaring a national energy emergency,
0:51:07 that’s just bullshit, it’s just not true.
0:51:11 We just don’t need, creating a policy,
0:51:12 recognizing only two genders.
0:51:15 I’m sort of of the mind like, give it to them
0:51:16 so we can stop talking about this
0:51:18 because it’s been such an effective cudgel
0:51:21 and weapon against Democrats.
0:51:24 And that is, I don’t, you know, okay, fine, have at it.
0:51:27 Let them decide that there’s only male and female.
0:51:30 That’s fine, I do think that Democrats
0:51:31 served up the mother of all fastballs
0:51:35 by deciding that, oh, a six foot four swimmer
0:51:39 can show up in a unitard and win everything
0:51:43 at the women’s nationals or that a transgender woman
0:51:46 can cross the finish line in a bike race five minutes early
0:51:48 and everybody, all the Democrats gather around
0:51:50 and say it’s inspiring.
0:51:52 So I’m always sort of like, give them that,
0:51:56 let them move on, stop demonizing this group of people
0:51:58 of which there are less than a number of people
0:52:01 probably paying PDEL in California.
0:52:03 But some of this just felt, yeah,
0:52:05 I don’t agree with those economic policies.
0:52:07 The tariffs thing, I actually think is being,
0:52:08 I don’t think tariffs are a good idea,
0:52:10 but I think he’s more pragmatic.
0:52:11 And if you look at his first term,
0:52:14 he was seen more, he proved to be more of a pragmatist
0:52:16 than an ideologue.
0:52:17 I think he’s trying to, he sees himself
0:52:19 as a deal maker here.
0:52:22 And I think he’s trying to send a shot across the bow
0:52:24 of these nations saying, you need to come to the table
0:52:27 and give me something or I’ll implement,
0:52:29 ’cause he could have implemented those tariffs today,
0:52:30 but he decided not to.
0:52:33 So I do think he’s being pragmatic around that.
0:52:35 – I mean, I hope so and maybe goes down to 10%.
0:52:40 I just, I think in his race to always do the most,
0:52:42 to like, I’m gonna sign the most executive orders
0:52:45 of anyone on their first day in history,
0:52:48 you have a lot of bullshit in there.
0:52:51 And it creates these outrage headlines
0:52:53 and then you can slip a Trump coin in, right?
0:52:57 Because we’re all hair on fire about, right, totally.
0:53:00 But one thing that I cannot look over here about
0:53:04 is the nearly 1,660 Afghans
0:53:08 that had their resettlement in America canceled
0:53:10 because he got rid of these refugee programs.
0:53:11 These are people, a lot of them
0:53:13 who have American service members, it’s family,
0:53:16 people who worked with us during the Afghan war.
0:53:19 And they’re up a creek, they’re,
0:53:21 a lot of them are gonna have retribution
0:53:23 coming their way from the Taliban.
0:53:27 And this is making one of Biden’s biggest mistakes,
0:53:32 right the way that we left Afghanistan, so much worse.
0:53:33 And I don’t understand it.
0:53:36 If you made it a centerpiece of your campaign,
0:53:41 that Biden was a terrible foreign policy president, right?
0:53:43 And that he, 13 of our service members died
0:53:48 and that we left thousands of people that helped us
0:53:51 over the course of this long war
0:53:53 and risked their lives for us.
0:53:57 And now you’re just like, effort, you gotta stay.
0:54:02 I hair on fire about that one, for sure.
0:54:03 Well said, Jess.
0:54:04 Okay, we have one more quick break.
0:54:05 Stay with us.
0:54:12 Support for property comes from Mint Mobile.
0:54:14 New Year’s resolutions are a funny thing.
0:54:16 We’ll make these wild attempts to drastically change
0:54:19 our lives only to beat ourselves up when we fall short.
0:54:20 What if you could pick a resolution
0:54:22 that you might actually pull off?
0:54:24 And how satisfying would it be to save
0:54:25 a big chunk of money in the process?
0:54:28 That’s where Mint Mobile comes in.
0:54:30 Mint Mobile is starting the New Year off
0:54:32 with some major savings offering any three-month plan
0:54:34 for just $15 a month.
0:54:36 You get unlimited talk and text, high-speed data,
0:54:39 and more delivered on the nation’s largest 5G network.
0:54:41 You can even keep your phone, your contacts,
0:54:42 and your number.
0:54:45 Switch to Mint and new customers can get half off
0:54:47 an unlimited plan until February 2nd.
0:54:50 To get your new wireless plan for just $15 a month
0:54:52 and get the plan shipped to your door for free,
0:54:55 go to mintmobile.com/propg.
0:54:57 That’s mintmobile.com/propg.
0:54:59 $45 upfront payment required,
0:55:00 equivalent to $15 a month.
0:55:03 New customers on first three-month plan only.
0:55:06 Speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan.
0:55:08 Additional taxes fees and restrictions apply.
0:55:10 See Mint Mobile for details.
0:55:18 This episode is brought to you by Cresed Family Office.
0:55:20 Entrepreneurs understand the challenges
0:55:21 of building a successful business.
0:55:23 You’ve probably spent years pouring your heart
0:55:24 into different ventures
0:55:26 and maybe even had some serious wins.
0:55:28 Still, I bet a lot of these successes
0:55:30 came with headaches, complex financial planning,
0:55:34 optimizing tax strategies, and timely exit planning.
0:55:36 It can be overwhelming to figure those things out
0:55:37 and charting a path forward
0:55:40 can take a lot of time away from what you love most.
0:55:41 If that sounds familiar,
0:55:43 you might want to check out Cresed.
0:55:44 They’re a prestigious family office
0:55:46 for CEO, founders, and entrepreneurs.
0:55:50 Cresed’s advisory teams can simplify your financial life.
0:55:52 They handle the tedious stuff behind the scenes,
0:55:54 freeing you up to focus on growing your business
0:55:55 and enjoying your life.
0:55:58 It’s the sort of help that can be transformative.
0:56:01 Optimize your life and optimize your wealth with Cresed.
0:56:03 If you want the freedom to follow what really matters,
0:56:06 you should schedule a call with a Cresed founder
0:56:08 at CresedCapital.com.
0:56:09 We are not clients of Cresed.
0:56:10 There are no material conflicts
0:56:12 other than this paid endorsement.
0:56:13 All investing involves risk,
0:56:15 including loss of principal.
0:56:24 Support for the show comes from Delta Airlines.
0:56:29 In 2025, Delta Airlines turns 100 years old.
0:56:31 That’s a century of changing the way we fly.
0:56:34 A century of making the world more accessible
0:56:36 by transforming global travel.
0:56:39 Delta has led the way in shaping solutions
0:56:41 that improve the lives of their customers.
0:56:43 Looking to the next 100 years,
0:56:45 they’re thinking boldly and moving quickly
0:56:47 to implement impactful innovations
0:56:50 that make every journey as unique as you are.
0:56:53 Delta is evolving the in-flight entertainment experience
0:56:54 with new partnerships and features
0:56:57 unlocked with your SkyMiles membership.
0:56:59 Delta Sync Seatback gives you in-flight access
0:57:01 to curated entertainment, exclusive offers,
0:57:03 and more from brands you love.
0:57:06 And coming soon, you’ll be able to access even more tools
0:57:09 to help you customize your onboard experience
0:57:11 and get ready to arrive at your destination.
0:57:13 And coming soon, your Fly Delta app
0:57:16 will give you access to Delta Concierge,
0:57:18 a series of AI capabilities built into the app
0:57:20 to give you more control and confidence
0:57:22 navigating your travel experience.
0:57:26 Whether you’re a frequent flyer or an occasional jet setter,
0:57:29 Delta Concierge will make you feel like a travel pro.
0:57:31 Go to deltaunlocks.com to learn more
0:57:33 about the future of travel with Delta.
0:57:38 – Welcome back, before we wrap,
0:57:41 this weekend, TikTok went dark for US users
0:57:43 after major app stores removed the platform
0:57:46 following the enforcement of a 2024 law banning TikTok
0:57:49 unless it divests from Chinese parent company ByteDance.
0:57:50 Less than 24 hours later,
0:57:54 TikTok flickered back to life, credited to President Trump.
0:57:56 Trump said he wants to delay the enforcement of the ban
0:57:58 for 75 days, aiming to negotiate a deal
0:58:01 to protect national security while allowing TikTok
0:58:03 to continue operating in the US.
0:58:05 What are your thoughts on this, Jess?
0:58:10 – It seems really bad, and Congress passed a law.
0:58:15 I mean, we are now in a new frontier
0:58:17 in terms of the separation of powers
0:58:19 or returning to the old frontier,
0:58:22 but this time, more emboldened by the fact
0:58:25 that he has four years to try to do
0:58:29 as much crazy stuff as possible.
0:58:32 And obviously, this was something that started under him.
0:58:34 I was struck, and I didn’t know this,
0:58:39 that all of the senators who received the classified material
0:58:43 about the Chinese Communist Party’s influence on TikTok
0:58:46 voted to pass this law banning at 50 to zero.
0:58:51 When do you get 50 to zero about something?
0:58:53 And I don’t know.
0:58:56 I mean, Tom Cotton is raising hell about it,
0:58:59 and there are gonna be a lot of people who say,
0:59:03 well, you can’t do this, but who’s to stop him?
0:59:06 And the CEO of TikTok at the inauguration,
0:59:09 I think, is meaningful.
0:59:12 I get it, there are 170 million Americans on that.
0:59:14 There are six million small businesses
0:59:17 that make their livelihoods off of TikTok,
0:59:19 and that’s the main argument that Kevin O’Leary,
0:59:22 Mr. Wonderful, is making for why we need to buy it.
0:59:25 He has put together a $20 billion bid for it
0:59:28 that they don’t seem that interested in,
0:59:30 probably because this isn’t about money,
0:59:32 it’s about national security.
0:59:36 And by that, I mean our lack of national security.
0:59:40 But it’s extremely scary.
0:59:43 And if you have a moment where you can get lawmakers
0:59:46 together on something like this, why not go for it?
0:59:48 Also, why can’t we just make our own?
0:59:52 I have not understood that fully.
0:59:57 – So the mere fact that on a dime,
0:59:59 TikTok could have their algorithm push out
1:00:03 and elevate a ton of TikTokers who are understandably upset
1:00:03 ’cause they make their living
1:00:05 or they just plain don’t like it,
1:00:07 170 million Americans, if they can find 1% of them,
1:00:10 1.7 million, and then I’m gonna go out on a limb here
1:00:13 and assume that they massively elevated the distribution
1:00:15 and viewership of that content
1:00:19 that inspired massive political pressure and discourse
1:00:22 and occupying the news, i.e. propaganda.
1:00:26 The fact that on demand, in real time,
1:00:31 a platform that is obviously influenced by law
1:00:33 and has to do with the CCP wants,
1:00:37 the fact that they could inspire a real-time influence
1:00:39 on our government is exactly the reason
1:00:42 it needs to be banned.
1:00:45 When do they do this again when they invade Taiwan
1:00:48 or when they just want us to get angry at each other?
1:00:51 And this has a larger theme and that is,
1:00:55 are we as Americans a serious people?
1:00:58 We’re in the Paris Accords, we’re out, we’re back in,
1:01:02 we’re out again, we’re in the Iran deal, no, we’re out again.
1:01:07 We have 79 US senators, 350 odd Congress people
1:01:11 sign into law something banning it.
1:01:15 They had six months to figure this out,
1:01:17 they decided not to, and on the eve of the banning,
1:01:19 we blinked.
1:01:22 President signed this into law, it was a law,
1:01:24 but what did the Chinese and the CCP say?
1:01:28 Hold my fucking beer and we blinked.
1:01:30 And now we’re trying to figure out
1:01:35 how to get out the knee pads and fillate the CCP.
1:01:38 What happens the next time we have real negotiations
1:01:42 with any adversary or competitor globally?
1:01:43 We are not a serious people.
1:01:47 We blink, we sign laws and then we repeal them.
1:01:49 We enter treaties and then we leave them.
1:01:52 We fund NATO and then we start,
1:01:56 we start threatening other NATO countries.
1:01:59 This embodies or epitomizes the fact
1:02:03 that we are losing currency and credibility
1:02:06 around anything we say, any threat we make,
1:02:10 even if it’s a law that passes overwhelmingly,
1:02:13 well, will it really happen?
1:02:14 I wouldn’t take us seriously.
1:02:19 So what happens when we threaten to reciprocate
1:02:22 or to defend Taiwan?
1:02:24 Do they take us seriously?
1:02:27 Or do they now feel like between our ability
1:02:30 to turn Trump into a deca-billionaire?
1:02:32 And the fact that even when they vote for a law
1:02:35 and vote on something, they don’t seem that serious.
1:02:38 Does anyone take us by our word?
1:02:40 We are no longer a serious people.
1:02:42 – I would add to that,
1:02:45 that unfortunately this became a bipartisan problem
1:02:48 because Biden blinked first on this.
1:02:51 He punted it to the new administration.
1:02:54 And I think that it’s very much indicative
1:02:59 or representative of this kind of cloud of disappointment
1:03:01 and disgrace to a lot of people
1:03:03 that he left the White House in.
1:03:04 You know, there were a slew of stories
1:03:06 that came out over the weekend,
1:03:07 big publications, right?
1:03:10 And the Times, Politico, The Guardian,
1:03:12 all these Dems who now feel emboldened
1:03:15 to talk about how they, you know,
1:03:17 knew Biden shouldn’t have been the nominee, right?
1:03:19 And they had ex-experience with him.
1:03:21 And, you know, he’s not talking to the Pelosi’s
1:03:24 and Joe Biden said we were friends for 50 years
1:03:25 and then there’s all this infighting.
1:03:28 And the time for that was in the public square.
1:03:31 Frankly, when Dean Phillips was screaming
1:03:33 from the rooftops, you know,
1:03:35 “If I have to be the guy, I’ll be the guy.”
1:03:37 I would rather it would be someone better, right?
1:03:40 Josh Shapiro, Gretchen Whitmer, et cetera.
1:03:44 And I fully take responsibility for,
1:03:47 I said on TV many times that I thought he could do it
1:03:49 when it was clear that he couldn’t do it
1:03:51 and at least couldn’t do it for the next four years,
1:03:52 which he’s now admitted it as much,
1:03:54 even though he says he would still win
1:03:57 when we would have been absolutely obliterated.
1:04:00 But he should have done this.
1:04:03 He should have not given Trump the opportunity
1:04:07 to be the savior or perceived as the savior of TikTok.
1:04:12 And then to keep it operating for at least the next 75 days.
1:04:16 And when you think of how fast disinformation spreads
1:04:19 or whatever they want the algorithm to say goes,
1:04:22 75 days is a lifetime, right?
1:04:25 And then it’s gonna be another 75 days
1:04:28 until we figure out a way to–
1:04:29 – What is their motivation to get a deal done?
1:04:31 Oh, we really need it this time.
1:04:33 We gave you 180 days and you didn’t listen,
1:04:34 but now we’re gonna give you another 75,
1:04:36 but we really mean it this time.
1:04:39 – Well, he wants to also split ownership, right?
1:04:41 He wants us to, he had the–
1:04:41 – Yeah, there’s a word for that.
1:04:43 – The true social post, like the 50.
1:04:45 – There’s a word for that, socialism.
1:04:47 We’ve decided, he’s decided that the U.S.
1:04:48 – That’s terrible, yeah.
1:04:49 – That the U.S. government should own
1:04:52 50% of a private enterprise.
1:04:53 I mean, how is that any difference in the U.K.
1:04:55 deciding to invest in DeLorean
1:04:57 or Obama investing in Ceylon?
1:05:00 That is, socialism is when the government controls
1:05:00 the means of production.
1:05:02 When he decides certain businesses
1:05:05 and he thinks he has a better business perspective,
1:05:06 he decides we should own 50% of that
1:05:08 and he’s gonna make us rich.
1:05:10 That is socialism.
1:05:11 That is the basis of, okay,
1:05:14 we’re gonna now become the means of production
1:05:16 and own businesses because we know better
1:05:18 than private enterprise and–
1:05:20 – Well, even if he kicks it to private enterprise,
1:05:22 it’s gonna be private enterprise that he controls.
1:05:25 And we just have gone through this whole rigmarole
1:05:27 over government censorship, right?
1:05:31 Of the people and the ultimate free speech advocate,
1:05:35 one of the biggest applause lines during the inauguration
1:05:39 and we’re back at zero or frankly less than zero
1:05:42 because a lot of people are willfully blind
1:05:43 to all of this.
1:05:44 – I’m gonna finish where I started.
1:05:47 I see this as Shereen Baratheon being burnt at the stake.
1:05:48 I just am not down with this.
1:05:50 I refuse to normalize it, Jess.
1:05:52 I am not coming together.
1:05:53 I am not–
1:05:53 – You have to.
1:05:55 It’s in the title of the show.
1:05:55 – Is it?
1:05:56 – It’s in the title of the show, right?
1:05:57 – Kinda.
1:05:59 – Well, I think I am being a moderate.
1:06:00 Well, let me go this way.
1:06:02 We’re raging, we’re raging.
1:06:02 How’s that?
1:06:03 I promise to rage.
1:06:04 – We’re raging hard, yeah.
1:06:05 Okay, we’ll rage.
1:06:06 – All right.
1:06:08 – But we have to work together where we can find
1:06:09 normal ways to do it.
1:06:10 – There you go.
1:06:11 All right, that’s all for this episode.
1:06:13 Thanks for listening to Raging Moderates.
1:06:17 Our producers are David Toledo and Chenenye Onike,
1:06:19 our technical director is Drew Burroughs.
1:06:21 You can find Raging Moderates on its own feed every Tuesday.
1:06:24 That’s right, Raging Moderates on its own feed.
1:06:26 Please follow us wherever you get your podcast.
1:06:29 Jess, I hope you and your daughters are well.
1:06:32 – We are great, thank you.
1:06:34 And have a few years before Game of Thrones, thank God.
1:06:45 – Support for the show comes from Delta Airlines.
1:06:47 Delta believes that every journey
1:06:49 should be as unique as you are.
1:06:50 So they’re leveraging digital tools
1:06:52 to put you and your preferences
1:06:53 at the center of every trip.
1:06:56 Delta is evolving the in-flight entertainment experience
1:06:59 with new partnerships, features, and functionalities
1:07:01 unlocked by your SkyMiles membership.
1:07:03 With fast, free Delta Sync Wi-Fi
1:07:06 presented by T-Mobile on most domestic flights
1:07:08 and personalized seatback entertainment,
1:07:11 there’s always something new to discover on Delta.
1:07:13 Go to deltaunlocks.com to learn more
1:07:15 about the future of travel with Delta.
1:07:18 you

0:00:03 Support for the show comes from the Fundrise Innovation Fund.
0:00:06 One thing really matters in venture capital, investing in the best companies, and that’s
0:00:09 exactly what the Fundrise Innovation Fund is aiming to do.
0:00:14 Amassing a $150 million portfolio with some of the biggest names in tech and AI.
0:00:19 Visit fundrise.com/profg to check out their portfolio and start investing in minutes.
0:00:23 Carefully consider the investment material before investing, including objectives, risks,
0:00:24 charges, and expenses.
0:00:29 This and other information can be found in the Innovation Fund’s Prospectus at fundrise.com/innovation.
0:00:33 This is a paid sponsorship.
0:00:34 Today’s number 41,000.
0:00:39 That’s how many social media posts have the hashtag #tiktokrefugee at the time of this
0:00:40 recording.
0:00:43 Ed, what is a negative thought?
0:00:44 What?
0:00:45 TikTok.
0:00:56 That’s kind of an existential one.
0:01:01 It’s like that joke I heard that a Holocaust survivor ends up in heaven and he says to
0:01:05 God, “Hey, I’m thinking about telling a Holocaust joke,” and he’s like, “No, no, no,
0:01:06 Holocaust jokes.
0:01:07 It’s just not funny.”
0:01:11 And then the Holocaust survivor says, “Well, I guess you had to be there.”
0:01:13 It really gets you thinking.
0:01:14 Two bombs in a row.
0:01:18 Well, I wanted to go after the Catholic church, but I was worried our interns are going to
0:01:20 be witnesses in the lawsuit.
0:01:22 Yeah, you’ve never done that before.
0:01:26 My role model, Sam Harris, I’m totally backbelling right now, says, “If you’re wealthy and you
0:01:29 have people who love you unconditionally, you should speak your mind.”
0:01:30 I’m speaking my mind.
0:01:31 That’s very good.
0:01:33 Have you seen what Sam Harris has been saying about Elon Musk?
0:01:34 Well, you tell me.
0:01:35 What is he saying?
0:01:37 I know it, but the viewers don’t know it.
0:01:41 I’m trying to remember it exactly, but he basically described how he fell out with Elon
0:01:47 Musk and Elon Musk made this bet with Sam Harris where he said, “I will bet you a million
0:01:54 dollars that we will not see 35,000 cases of COVID in the United States.”
0:01:58 And Sam Harris was like, “Well, that’s ridiculous because the estimates that we’re going to
0:02:02 have a million deaths, not cases, but deaths in the US.”
0:02:04 He says, “Why don’t we make it a little fairer?
0:02:09 How about I’ll take you up on the bet, except let’s make it three and a half million cases,
0:02:10 not 35,000.”
0:02:14 And Elon said, “No, no, no, make it 35,000 cases.”
0:02:20 So then a week later, they find out that there have already been 100,000 deaths plus several
0:02:21 more cases.
0:02:24 Sam Harris reaches out, says, “I think I’ve won the bet.”
0:02:30 Elon ghosts him and then starts to deride him on social media.
0:02:37 And now Sam Harris, because he’s shitposting him even more, is dealing with strangers coming
0:02:41 up to his house and making death threats.
0:02:44 And it’s all because Elon Musk has been shitposting him.
0:02:48 So I just thought it was just a powerful indictment of Elon and his character.
0:02:54 I think we all know this, but I love that it’s coming from one of his former best friends.
0:02:57 One of those two tells the truth all the time.
0:02:58 One of them doesn’t.
0:03:00 And you guess who is who.
0:03:08 So when Sam says something, you can trust it’s the truth or that he’s a good actor.
0:03:10 And I find it gives people the benefit of the doubt.
0:03:12 I’m an enormous fan.
0:03:18 And one of those individuals serves as a role model for me as a father and as an American.
0:03:21 So anyway, so what’s the difference between COVID and a priest?
0:03:22 Just kidding.
0:03:23 I’m not even going there.
0:03:25 I’m not even going there.
0:03:26 I’m not even going there.
0:03:30 Tell us what we’re talking about today, and then I’ll get into my job and read us the
0:03:31 headlines.
0:03:35 Today’s episode, first off, is presented by Funrise, two words, first word, cut and second
0:03:36 ching.
0:03:39 We’re whores, but we’re expensive whores.
0:03:41 Whenever the ad people call me and say, “Will you do this ad?”
0:03:44 I’m like, “I don’t know how much are they offering?”
0:03:49 We’re going to be talking about United Health’s first earnings call since the CEO shooting
0:03:52 in a banner year for the big banks.
0:03:54 Ed, what else is going on?
0:03:55 What are we doing here?
0:04:04 Let’s start with the weekly review of Market Vitals.
0:04:09 The S&P 500 rallied, the dollar fell, Bitcoin climbed, and the yield on tenure treasuries
0:04:11 dropped, shifting to the headlines.
0:04:17 The Consumer Price Index increased 2.9% in December from a year earlier and rose just
0:04:19 0.4% month over month.
0:04:26 Core CPI also came in lower than expected, providing further evidence of easing inflation.
0:04:29 That encouraging report drove all three major indices higher.
0:04:34 Meta is laying off approximately 5% of its workforce as part of an effort to phase out
0:04:35 lower performers.
0:04:39 CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that the cuts are essential to ensure the company maintains,
0:04:42 quote, “the strongest team possible.”
0:04:46 And finally, the Supreme Court has upheld the federal TikTok ban, but the app’s future
0:04:48 remains uncertain.
0:04:51 Trump has stated that he may issue an executive order to delay the enforcement of the ban
0:04:53 for at least 60 days.
0:04:59 Scott, starting from the top, pretty positive CPI report, especially the core CPI, your
0:05:03 thoughts on inflation tamping down a little bit.
0:05:05 Yeah, well, the market had a collective sigh.
0:05:09 It had its best days since November 6, and bond yields moved lower.
0:05:16 The S&P erased its 2025 losses year-to-date and popped 2%, the 10-year fell 15 basis points,
0:05:20 which, as we keep saying, is now the adult in the administration.
0:05:25 Treasury yields are a benchmarking for borrowing costs across the economy, and when yields
0:05:29 drop, borrowing costs become cheaper for businesses and consumers, essentially a tax cut, which
0:05:32 can stimulate economic growth.
0:05:34 So I think this is good.
0:05:39 More inflation, I think it strips out more volatile things, including, I think food and
0:05:40 energy, what it strips out.
0:05:45 And the reason that we have that is because, as you said, food and energy prices are very
0:05:46 volatile.
0:05:53 So generally speaking, economists prefer to use the core CPI when trying to understand
0:05:54 these trends.
0:05:56 It’s funny that we’ve become obsessed with inflation.
0:06:00 I remember you were too young for this, like 15 years ago, all we could talk about was the
0:06:04 Greek sovereign bonds defaulting, and that was going to infect Europe, and we just became
0:06:05 obsessed with it.
0:06:08 It seems like now we’re obsessed, and maybe it’s more justified now.
0:06:11 Yeah, I was thinking about that when I was 10 years old.
0:06:12 Oh, there you go.
0:06:13 Rub it in my face again.
0:06:14 We know you’re young.
0:06:15 We know you’re young.
0:06:18 So inflation has sort of become the thing that everyone’s going to keep their eye on,
0:06:23 and I’m fascinated by what’s going to happen in terms of inflation or how we’re going to
0:06:27 link it to the rebuilding of LA, but it’s going to be really interesting to see what
0:06:32 the tenure does over the next few months because, well, the Fed has been cutting rates.
0:06:34 The tenure said, “Hold my beer,” and it’s not coming down.
0:06:39 I mean, it’s sort of almost like further mistrust in our institutions.
0:06:44 The markets would choose to follow the tenure in terms of its own interest rates.
0:06:46 It’s now saying, “Oh, we don’t care.”
0:06:50 Yeah, I think the most interesting thing here isn’t necessarily the inflation data itself,
0:06:54 but the market’s reaction to the inflation data, and as you point out, the thing that
0:07:00 has, I think, been slightly confusing people, or at least grabbing their attention, is the
0:07:06 fact that the stock market has been sliding over the past few months, certainly since
0:07:11 the election, and also, as you say, the 10-year yield is rising, meaning that people are selling
0:07:13 off their treasury.
0:07:18 So investors have just been anxious about the economy, and I think the question has been
0:07:20 like, what are they specifically anxious about?
0:07:22 Are they anxious about Israel?
0:07:23 Are they anxious about Ukraine?
0:07:24 Is it something to do with Trump?
0:07:31 And I think this reaction, where you had the inflation data come in softer than expected,
0:07:38 and then suddenly the market ramps up, and you see an increased demand in treasuries,
0:07:43 that’s basically the confirmation that the number one concerns for investors right now
0:07:44 is inflation.
0:07:48 And this is the market trying to tell us, this inflation thing, you might have thought it
0:07:52 was over, but we don’t think it’s over yet, and this is something we cannot forget about.
0:07:58 And I think the hope for investors would be that Trump, as he swears in for his second
0:08:04 term, will be thinking about this, and perhaps rethinking some of his fiscal policies that
0:08:08 are expected to increase inflation over the next year or so.
0:08:12 So I think it’ll be interesting to look at the inflation, and also, as you say, very
0:08:16 interesting to look at the 10-year yield, because that’s sort of the signal like, how
0:08:22 confident are investors in the economy really, as you said, the adult in the room, which
0:08:23 I think is a good way to put it.
0:08:29 Well, look at the trifecta here of inflation is putting a chill over immigration, both legal
0:08:34 and illegal, tariffs, and the expectations of deficits.
0:08:39 It’s literally like, how could we vent away to start spooking the market?
0:08:41 And I expect the 10-year to go higher.
0:08:42 We’ll see.
0:08:47 Your reaction to Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement, yet another announcement, he’s laying off
0:08:48 5% of the employees.
0:08:51 Look, there’s one kind of, there’s only one kind of person that likes Mark Zuckerberg,
0:08:52 and that’s shareholders.
0:08:58 And I find that he just approaches his business as a new pred capitalist.
0:09:00 This is the part of him I respect the most.
0:09:06 And I’m a big believer in capitalism, and part of capitalism is that there are winners
0:09:11 and losers, and you can’t reward the winners without punishing the losers.
0:09:16 And I’m not calling these people losers, but I used to talk about this a lot, or I do talk
0:09:20 about, oh, I’ve never managed a big business, but I’ve managed businesses with hundreds
0:09:24 of people, and I’ve always thought it’s important to fire people.
0:09:27 And I find over the short term, it’s bad for morale, and over the medium and the long-term,
0:09:33 especially if you do it as what I’ll call, not layoffs, but kind of performance-based
0:09:37 terminations and say, we appreciate you.
0:09:40 There’s a reason you’re working so fucking hard, and it pays off.
0:09:44 And if you aren’t working hard and you aren’t good, this isn’t a place for you, and it might
0:09:49 not be your fault, it might be part of the culture’s fault, but my approach as a board
0:09:54 member and as a CEO has always been, you know, when things aren’t working, and you start
0:10:00 making excuses, the worst days I’ve had professionally are when I know I need to lay off somebody.
0:10:02 And I constantly delay it.
0:10:05 I come and think, okay, I got a firebob.
0:10:08 And then I’m like, oh shit, and I delay it to the next day.
0:10:13 And intellectually, I know, or the way I approach it is, your gut is almost right.
0:10:15 When it’s not working, it’s not going to work.
0:10:19 And I find the sooner you make the decision, I’m fairly repacious and Darwinian about
0:10:22 making the decision, the more generous you can be.
0:10:27 So I think you’re fairly Darth Vader on the actual decision, but then you turn into Mother
0:10:32 Teresa because the sooner you can lay off somebody, you say to them, one, you may be
0:10:34 pissed off, you may not agree, but I don’t want you to be scared.
0:10:37 We’re going to give you a lot of severance.
0:10:41 Stick around, figure out the communication strategy to the rest of the firm or to the
0:10:42 broader world.
0:10:44 So it doesn’t ding your brand.
0:10:46 How can I be helpful?
0:10:52 But I’m fairly Darwinian about the decision and his saying corporations need more masculine
0:10:54 energy is just fucking stupid.
0:11:00 But saying we’re a big company, we’ve hired like crazy, we probably have AI, you know,
0:11:01 we can do more with less.
0:11:04 We’re going to take out the bottom 5% of performers.
0:11:07 I think it creates a very tense environment for about a week.
0:11:09 And then over the long term, I think it’s good.
0:11:10 It’s the right thing to do culturally.
0:11:15 I think it’s a key component of capitalism and also what people don’t also acknowledge
0:11:20 is those 5% at Metta, they were going to go nowhere fast.
0:11:26 And so the ability or forcing them to go find somewhere, somewhere they’re going to do better.
0:11:31 Someone laid off at Metta in wherever they are, San Francisco or the seventh ring of
0:11:37 hell or Tatooine, wherever they, whatever bond layer they’re holed up in, they’re going
0:11:38 to be fine.
0:11:45 So they may not realize it, but I would bet 80 to 90% of them will look back and go, that
0:11:48 was kind of a blessing in disguise because I went somewhere where my skills were just
0:11:50 more appreciated.
0:11:51 You mentioned AI there.
0:11:55 I think this is especially important given what Zuckerberg said on the Joe Rogan podcast
0:11:58 about AI and its use at Metta.
0:12:05 Probably in 2025, we at Metta, as well as the other companies that are basically working
0:12:14 on this, are going to have an AI that can effectively be a sort of mid-level engineer
0:12:17 that you have at your company that can write code.
0:12:21 And once you have that, then in the beginning, it will be really expensive to run and then
0:12:22 you can get it to be more efficient.
0:12:28 And then over time, we’ll get to the point where a lot of the code in our apps and including
0:12:33 the AI that we generate is actually going to be built by AI engineers instead of people
0:12:34 engineers.
0:12:41 So interesting because he’s basically saying that in 2025, this year, mid-level software
0:12:47 engineers at Metta will probably be replaced by AI, then follows up with that with this
0:12:53 announcement that he’s laying off 5% of the workforce, which is 3,600 people roughly.
0:12:57 I think from a business perspective, he’s making all of the right decisions.
0:13:03 He’s cozying up to Trump, he’s embracing AI, he’s fostering this competitive workplace
0:13:06 culture, which is all good news for shareholders.
0:13:12 But the thing that I don’t fully understand from a more PR perspective is the timing of
0:13:13 all this.
0:13:18 And that is, these are all controversial things to say.
0:13:21 And he has made these announcements in a matter of days.
0:13:28 And most of them, quite frankly, have made him out to be or look like a dick or out of
0:13:29 touch in some way.
0:13:32 I mean, he’s totally alienated the left.
0:13:38 And meanwhile, on the right, from what I’ve seen on X, formerly known as Twitter, most
0:13:42 Republicans are finding him disingenuous because they think he’s groveling to Trump
0:13:45 and just doing whatever he can to enrich himself.
0:13:49 So I think there’s two parts of this.
0:13:53 There’s the business side, which I think is genius, but then there’s the public relations
0:13:59 and image side, which I feel like it’s not the best idea to be making all of these controversial
0:14:04 announcements that don’t make you out to be the nicest guy in the world within a matter
0:14:05 of days.
0:14:07 Yeah, I kind of think Honey Badger don’t care.
0:14:10 And he’s putting this news out, starting it out with the kitchen sink.
0:14:11 He’s got a lot of negative press.
0:14:14 The news cycle is very crowded.
0:14:19 This story will come and go in 24 hours because everyone’s going to be totally obsessed with
0:14:25 this bad reality show and all these people bending the knee to the new king of Westeros.
0:14:26 True.
0:14:27 Maybe it’s perfect timing.
0:14:29 As a matter of fact, I think we should laugh about 50% of our staff.
0:14:30 What do you think?
0:14:31 Yeah, exactly.
0:14:33 I was waiting for that.
0:14:35 Let’s just touch on TikTok.
0:14:43 So we’re recording this before we know actually whether it is going to go lights out or not.
0:14:45 But let’s just play hypothetical here.
0:14:49 Let’s just sort of imagine that TikTok does disappear.
0:14:53 And let’s just think about what that would look like and what would happen in the economy.
0:14:57 And I’ll just start off with an interesting analysis from Bernstein, which is an advisory
0:14:58 firm.
0:15:04 So they found that Americans watched TikTok in 2024 for a cumulative 3.3 trillion minutes,
0:15:06 which is just pretty astounding.
0:15:13 And assuming that 100% of those minutes will be migrated to other platforms if TikTok shuts
0:15:21 down, they estimate that 5% of those minutes will go to Snapchat, 25% will go to YouTube,
0:15:28 and 60% will go to Instagram and Facebook, and the remaining 10% will go to other platforms.
0:15:35 And so when you consider the fact that last year TikTok generated an estimated $22 billion
0:15:40 in U.S. ad revenue, and to be clear, that is an estimation because TikTok is a private
0:15:43 company and they don’t really release their financials.
0:15:47 If we assume that and if we assume that Bernstein is correct with their analysis, then that
0:15:54 means that Metta overnight will add an extra $13 billion in revenue next year, which would
0:15:59 increase Metta’s annual revenue by almost 10% in one go.
0:16:05 So I would like to get your reaction to that statistic, but also just what do you think
0:16:06 is going to happen here?
0:16:10 What does a media ecosystem look like with no TikTok?
0:16:15 So Metta’s price of sales ratio was about 10.
0:16:19 You say they’re going to get about another, what, $13 billion in revenue, you think?
0:16:20 Assuming all of this goes to plan.
0:16:26 So assuming the $22 billion, assuming the 60%, it’s all hypothetical, but yes, that
0:16:27 is the number.
0:16:33 So that’s hypothetically a $130 billion increase in value, Zuck, that’s about 15%.
0:16:39 So that’s about a $20 billion if, I mean, Zuck would really like to see TikTok get banned.
0:16:43 I mean, there’s a couple of things here, one, I think it’ll dramatically improve my relationship
0:16:45 with my 14-year-old.
0:16:48 I think that the majority of, and I’m only kind of kidding.
0:16:53 I think the majority of agitane anxiety in my household is over social media usage and
0:16:54 specifically TikTok.
0:16:58 And for the people out there who are saying this is bad parenting, that means you don’t
0:17:00 have kids and please shut the fuck up.
0:17:04 Yeah, but you’re making one mistake, which is I don’t think he’s just going to suddenly
0:17:06 stop scrolling on his phone.
0:17:08 It’s just going to migrate somewhere else.
0:17:10 Yeah, that might be right.
0:17:14 My observation around the TikTok ban is the thing I’m most disappointed is a bunch of
0:17:19 Democrats, including Wyden and Markey and Wyden was the famous co-author of what is arguably
0:17:23 the most damaging legislation in history, section 230, have all of a sudden, they’re
0:17:27 all of a sudden scrambling to try and extend the deadline, right?
0:17:30 Even Democrats are saying, is there a way we can figure out a way?
0:17:33 And I think this has bigger ramifications than TikTok.
0:17:39 And that is we’re likely going to be in several pretty serious confrontations with Xi Jinping
0:17:45 over the next 10 years or the CCP, whether it’s Taiwan or trade agreements.
0:17:48 And quite frankly, Ed, we’re blinking.
0:17:53 The president signed into law a ban on TikTok saying you need to divest or by January the
0:17:58 19th, you know, whatever it was, six months or nine months, we’re banning you and here
0:17:59 we are.
0:18:01 And we’re blinking.
0:18:04 China has called, China has said, hold my beer.
0:18:06 I’m not, at this point, I’m not divesting.
0:18:09 And we’re saying, oh, wait, wait, wait, let’s give them more time.
0:18:12 Do you really think they’re going to divest if we give them more time?
0:18:15 All we’re saying is we’re not serious.
0:18:19 So I think this is sort of indicating that we’ll blink first across this and perhaps
0:18:23 more important negotiations.
0:18:31 I will tie a bell on this conversation with TikTok users have been migrating in mass
0:18:36 to a different app called Red Note, and this is this Chinese version of Instagram.
0:18:38 Yeah, another Chinese one, right?
0:18:39 Exactly.
0:18:43 It was the most downloaded free app in the US Apple store last week.
0:18:46 And this is the best start right as that migration was happening.
0:18:55 Duolingo, the language learning app reported a 216% spike in US users learning Chinese.
0:18:59 So you got all these people who are on TikTok who are deciding they’re going to go to a
0:19:00 new platform.
0:19:06 And that new platform happens to be another Chinese social media app called Red Note.
0:19:08 I don’t think this is going to be a lasting thing.
0:19:13 I think people are mainly doing it as a meme because it’s kind of funny to just go to another
0:19:14 Chinese app.
0:19:19 It’s sort of a metaphorical finger to the US government, I think.
0:19:23 And I think these TikTok users are very upset about this ban.
0:19:27 But I just find it hilarious that, I mean, they’ve just substituted one Chinese app for
0:19:28 another.
0:19:29 The new one is Red Note.
0:19:33 Okay, we’ll be right back after the break with a look at UnitedHealth’s earnings call.
0:19:37 If you’re enjoying the show so far and you haven’t subscribed, be sure to give ProfG
0:19:49 Markets a follow wherever you get your podcasts.
0:19:51 Support for the show comes from the FunRise Innovation Fund.
0:19:55 The investing world seems to be bending towards democratization, but venture capital always
0:19:58 felt like it may be one of the last ivory towers to fall.
0:20:02 It requires a lot of capital, the right relationships, et cetera, et cetera.
0:20:07 That’s probably why when the FunRise Innovation Fund launched promising to democratize venture
0:20:09 capital, there was a lot of skepticism.
0:20:12 But the progress they’ve made in a few years is hard to argue with.
0:20:18 The innovation fund has now built a $150 million portfolio of some of the most highly sought-after
0:20:20 private tech companies in the world.
0:20:25 And their minimum investment is just $10, which is virtually unheard of for venture capital.
0:20:29 Look, even the best venture funds should be categorized as high-risk investments.
0:20:33 Venture investing is not, for everyone, see above, high risk.
0:20:37 But at a minimum, you can visit fundrise.com/profg to check out the Innovation Funds portfolio
0:20:39 for yourself.
0:20:43 Visit fundrise.com/profg to check out the Innovation Funds portfolio and start investing
0:20:44 today.
0:20:48 Relevant disclaimers can be found at the end of the show and at fundrise.com/innovation.
0:20:59 We’re back with ProfG Markets.
0:21:03 UnitedHealth released its first earnings report since the death of executive Brian Thompson.
0:21:07 While the company posted record full-year revenue, its quarterly revenue fell short
0:21:11 of analyst expectations and the stock fell more than 4%.
0:21:15 During the earnings call, CEO Andrew Whitty paid tribute to Thompson, reflecting on his
0:21:17 dedication to his job at the company.
0:21:22 He then pivoted to address larger issues within the healthcare industry, placing significant
0:21:27 blame on drug companies for driving up healthcare costs nationwide.
0:21:33 So Scott, we were talking before the earnings call about what we thought might happen, and
0:21:39 you made this interesting point that you thought that they would try to, in some way, sandbag
0:21:44 the financials, i.e., they don’t want to be appearing too profitable right now, given
0:21:47 everything that’s happening in the news with UnitedHealth.
0:21:51 And so maybe they’ll somehow downplay how well they did.
0:21:58 Well, I have one insight to report, which is that the company hit full-year revenue
0:22:02 of $400 billion, which was a record for the company.
0:22:03 So it was a big year.
0:22:07 But in the press release and in the earnings call, which we listened to, they actually
0:22:09 never called it a record.
0:22:14 They just said revenue increased 8% to $400 billion.
0:22:19 And in any other situation, you would think that a company would want to brag about this.
0:22:23 They’d want to brag about the fact that they hit record revenues in 2024.
0:22:25 They decided not to on this occasion.
0:22:33 So my question to you, was this an intentional decision by UnitedHealth to downplay their
0:22:34 financial results?
0:22:35 Okay.
0:22:38 So imagine this earnings call.
0:22:43 Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Brian Thompson in the wake of this tragedy.
0:22:49 But on the plus side, our willingness to deny people claims and tell them that their, not
0:22:55 only does their wife have lung cancer, but we’re going to bankrupt them because we figured
0:22:57 out a way to deny the claim.
0:22:59 And it’s really paying off for us.
0:23:02 We had record revenues.
0:23:05 And then pause and wait for the applause.
0:23:13 There was no way, no way he was going to get on this earnings call and do anything but
0:23:17 sound sanguine and like things are hard for us.
0:23:19 This was, we were talking about this yesterday.
0:23:27 I can’t imagine a more stressful IR pre-earnings game than what was going on with the CEO.
0:23:32 I started saying, no, no, no, no, don’t say the word we’re optimistic.
0:23:33 Look sad.
0:23:34 Look bereft.
0:23:37 Look like things are really hard here at United.
0:23:43 It’s just, oh my God, things are tough for us because he could not get on this earnings
0:23:48 call and you just pointed out, and I said, find out what’s going on.
0:23:51 Record revenues, but they have record revenues.
0:23:55 Any other company that had record revenues would be like, I’m proud to announce that
0:23:57 we experienced record revenues.
0:23:59 Didn’t say that, did he?
0:24:06 And this has inspired an interesting conversation around the correlation between denying people
0:24:11 their healthcare coverage and profitability and a nation where it is much easier to get
0:24:16 an assault rifle or build a ghost gun than it is to get health insurance and possibly
0:24:20 get that fucking health insurance company to cover your claims.
0:24:26 The argument from the CEO, and he addressed this head on, the argument was that United
0:24:30 Health is squarely not to blame for the high cost of healthcare in America.
0:24:36 And he said quite clearly on the call, which we listen to, that the ones who are to blame
0:24:37 are the drug manufacturers.
0:24:43 In fact, he argued that United Health and the pharmacy benefit managers that United Health
0:24:48 runs, like OptumRx, he argued that they are the ones responsible for actually keeping
0:24:50 costs down.
0:24:57 Now I don’t know if that’s true because the industry is extremely complex and I just
0:25:01 struggled to wrap my head around it, but there is evidence to suggest, and this was laid
0:25:07 out in this report by a representative, Comer out of Kentucky, that actually pharmacy benefit
0:25:09 managers drive costs up.
0:25:14 They say their job is to decrease costs, but they also benefit from a dynamic where drugs
0:25:19 cost a lot because the higher the price of the drug, the larger the rebate and the way
0:25:25 these benefit managers make money is through taking a cut of that rebate.
0:25:29 And I was thinking about all of this and just the complexity of the issue, and it brought
0:25:35 me back to something that Luigi Mangione said in his manifesto, and I want to be clear,
0:25:38 I am not glorifying this guy, what he did is terrible, let’s just put it out there,
0:25:39 but this is quite interesting.
0:25:44 He said in the manifesto, “These companies have simply gotten too powerful and they continue
0:25:48 to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get
0:25:49 away with it.”
0:25:55 Obviously, the problem is more complex, but I do not have the space, and frankly, I do
0:26:00 not pretend to be the most qualified person to lay out the full argument, but many have
0:26:05 illuminated the corruption and greed decades ago and the problem simply remain.
0:26:11 And interestingly, I found that this relates a lot to a conversation we had last week about
0:26:15 another big problem in America, which is the cost of housing.
0:26:20 I criticized the real estate investment firms, the companies like Blackstone and Greystar
0:26:26 and Cushman and Wakefield, and you pointed out to me that actually the issue is probably
0:26:29 more nuanced than just these big firms are bad.
0:26:33 And my pushback was essentially, “Well, Scott, I don’t care about the nuances, I think the
0:26:38 problem is so bad, I’m no longer interested in discussing the finer details.”
0:26:44 And I find myself at this point again, and I think this is the rift we are contending
0:26:49 with now in America, because yes, these issues are complex.
0:26:54 Yes, maybe United Health isn’t solely to blame for the cost of health care in America, but
0:27:01 I wonder if there comes a point at which we will just reject the argument of nuance, reject
0:27:06 the argument of complexity, and say, “You know what, enough is enough, maybe we don’t
0:27:12 understand this, maybe this is way more complex than our simple regular folk can understand,
0:27:18 but the outcome is very clear, we are getting screwed and you must do something about it.”
0:27:25 So I guess my question to you would be, are there ever situations, do you think, where
0:27:31 the answer actually isn’t to try to understand the nuances, but instead to just wholesale
0:27:35 reject the arguments of the other side, in this case United Health, and say, “You know
0:27:39 what, no, we’re not listening to this anymore, something has to change and we don’t care
0:27:41 how it gets changed.”
0:27:50 I like your indignance and your outrage is legitimate and it’s authentic and justified.
0:27:53 You have to have nuance, even if you want to move to solutions, you’re going to have to
0:27:59 understand the nuance of the very complicated situation, and in his instance, or in the
0:28:05 case of the CEO, inspiring a question, “Is it the insurance industry or is it the pharmaceutical
0:28:06 industry?”
0:28:13 Yes, and what you have is essentially in a capitalist society, if you don’t have certain
0:28:17 guardrails and a certain understanding that certain regulatory intervention in the operating
0:28:21 system is needed or capitalism collapses on itself, we seem to be moving towards kind
0:28:27 of the collapsing part, and that is, when you put a profit incentive around prisons, you
0:28:31 end up with the most incarcerated public in the world.
0:28:38 When you put profit incentives around rejecting claims, or you let pharmaceutical companies
0:28:44 basically concentrate, and there’s so few of them that they can command ownerless pricing,
0:28:48 and then you let them engage in Citizen United, where they can give Democratic and Republican
0:28:54 senators and Congresspeople $700,000, $800,000 a million, they will pass laws that say, “All
0:28:56 right, every nation in the world is paying less for these pharmaceuticals produced in
0:29:02 the U.S., but we figured out a way to pass laws to transfer capital from citizens to
0:29:07 these institutions,” and we’ve given them also let these insurance companies reject
0:29:08 claims.
0:29:15 So, having a profit incentive, in fact, certain social goods, creates externalities that
0:29:19 are really hard on the American public, and we end up in a situation where we’re paying
0:29:26 $13,000 for healthcare versus $6,500 in the G7, despite the fact we’re living less long
0:29:28 more anxious, more depressed, more obese.
0:29:33 So, we have hit the point where, okay, we need to do something about this.
0:29:36 You do have to have a nuanced argument to move to solutions.
0:29:40 Now, I do believe that the only way to get America to a solution is probably through
0:29:46 basic language, it’s pretty simple to understand, this good, this bad, and an idea that’s somewhat
0:29:47 simple.
0:29:52 So, people like Medicare, I would argue there’s a few basic things we need to do, and this
0:29:58 again, lacks nuance, which you seem to like, but maybe lower the age on Medicare from whatever
0:30:03 it is, 65 a year, and eventually have national and socialized medicine.
0:30:09 I’m not sure we should have, the UK system is as much as people complain about it.
0:30:13 It costs their citizens half as much, and there’s a layer of private care.
0:30:19 I engage in the private system, and that takes about 10% or 5% of the populace, they are
0:30:23 less stressed on the public system, and we got to get used to the fact that some people
0:30:25 are going to have better healthcare.
0:30:27 That’s a component of a capitalist society.
0:30:32 I also believe we’ve got to figure out a way to put most or all consumers on the hook for
0:30:37 some of these payments, so that they start shopping and they consumerize healthcare.
0:30:42 And then it just gets, the issue gets complicated and more nuanced, like, okay, well, let’s go
0:30:44 to the source of the problem.
0:30:49 We can talk about how to reduce cost-treating someone with diabetes, but until we reduce
0:30:54 the number of diabetics, it’s kind of just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
0:30:59 So we’re going to have to figure out a way to have someone in every school only preparing
0:31:05 fresh food for kids, such that they don’t start off, enter into the world obese.
0:31:09 How do we get rid of, how do we reduce the power of the food industrial complex that
0:31:13 is putting all of these dyes and shit in preservatives?
0:31:15 We’re going to have to put physical fitness back in the school.
0:31:22 I do think I want every day a list of all of the representatives and senators taking
0:31:26 money from the healthcare industrial complex and realize that they’re compromised and saying
0:31:31 we need sweeping legislation, moving towards maybe a national healthcare system, moving
0:31:39 towards programs to take obesity from 40% back to where, in Japan, it’s 4%, it’s fucking
0:31:40 4%.
0:31:43 Imagine what that does to healthcare costs when you don’t have high blood pressure and
0:31:47 diabetes to live with in a nation.
0:31:50 But I like simple programs, lower the age you qualify for Medicare every year.
0:31:55 Everyone pays 10% of their healthcare costs and all of a sudden they start going, wait,
0:31:58 I’m going to find the cheapest place to get an MRI.
0:32:03 Think about every consumer product advertises this is great and it’s less expensive.
0:32:06 When did you hear that on a pharmacy ad?
0:32:10 We can bring your blood pressure down from four bucks a pill, not 80 bucks a pill.
0:32:15 I mean, here sometimes with Viagra, right, Viagra 399, I see that on the internet.
0:32:19 But when’s the last time it said, okay, I’m going in for a mammogram and I know the cost
0:32:21 and I’m going to shop around.
0:32:24 So I think there’s several big structural changes.
0:32:26 I do think nuance is required.
0:32:31 It has gotten to a tipping point and your outrage has to be expressed by voting for people who
0:32:37 are willing to take hard change and ignore the people who have given them money, who have
0:32:42 weaponized and have regulatory capture that have taken healthcare costs from $6,500 to
0:32:43 $13,000.
0:32:44 Yes.
0:32:48 Galloway 2028, a chicken in every pot of sea, Alice in every cupboard.
0:32:52 By the way, I was looking on our Reddit page, people talking about what would happen if
0:32:53 you ran for president.
0:32:58 One of my favorite comments was that Trump would come up with just a great nickname for
0:33:01 you and one of the suggestions was that you would be Mopey Scott.
0:33:02 Mopey?
0:33:10 One of the suggestions was that your nickname would be Eaw and mine would be Tigger.
0:33:12 That’s good.
0:33:13 That’s good.
0:33:18 We’ll be right back after the break with a look at earnings from the biggest banks in
0:33:19 the US.
0:33:23 If you’re enjoying the show so far, hit follow and leave us a review on property markets.
0:33:36 Support for the show comes from the Funrise Innovation Fund.
0:33:38 Think of the five biggest names in AI today.
0:33:40 How many of these companies do you own shares of?
0:33:41 Probably not many.
0:33:43 Maybe one, maybe two.
0:33:44 Why is that?
0:33:47 Because the open AIs and anthropics of the world are still private.
0:33:51 That means unless you’re an employee or a VC, you’re out of luck.
0:33:54 So it isn’t hard to see why venture capital has been one of the most prized asset classes
0:33:55 in the world.
0:33:58 But unless you’re worth eight or nine figures, you likely don’t have access to these funds.
0:34:00 The Funrise Innovation Fund is different.
0:34:03 It’s already raised more than $150 million.
0:34:08 It holds a portfolio of pre-IPO tech companies that are valued at tens or even hundreds of
0:34:09 billions of dollars.
0:34:12 And most importantly, it’s open to investors of all sizes.
0:34:16 Visit fundrise.com/proppg to check out the innovation fund’s portfolio and start investing
0:34:17 today.
0:34:25 Relevant disclaimers can be found at the end of the show and at fundrise.com/innovation.
0:34:31 We’re back with Prof2Markets.
0:34:35 Fourth quarter earning season kicked off with Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan
0:34:37 all beating analyst expectations.
0:34:39 Overall profits were stronger than expected.
0:34:44 JP Morgan had a particularly standout year as the bank reported the largest annual profit
0:34:46 in U.S. banking history.
0:34:50 As we’ve seen in previous quarters, a key driver of growth was investment banking.
0:34:58 Goldman’s investment banking revenue rose 24%, Citigroup 35%, and JP Morgan 46%.
0:35:04 So Scott, really strong quarter can get into some of the more of the specifics, but any
0:35:07 just initial gut reactions from these impressive earnings.
0:35:08 They had a great quarter.
0:35:12 When we were doing the editorial call, I was trying to understand why.
0:35:15 And one of our analysts said it’s because of volatility and trading.
0:35:17 But my guess is everything’s up across.
0:35:19 I would imagine M&A is starting again.
0:35:21 I’ll be curious if the IPO market comes back.
0:35:26 The other part of the business that is the best part of the business is wealth management
0:35:28 because it’s much more consistent.
0:35:32 I know that some of it is when interest rates go up, you have an easier time charging a spread
0:35:35 between deposits and mortgages.
0:35:40 Yeah, I think that’s definitely — I’m just higher net interest income in general with
0:35:41 higher rates.
0:35:44 I mean, I’ll just go over it really quickly.
0:35:46 I think there are two main drivers here.
0:35:49 One is the investment banking revenues, which we’ve seen.
0:35:54 So we’re seeing this increase in deal making, more M&A, which of course is great for the
0:35:59 investment banks because their job is to facilitate those transactions, and they charge a fee,
0:36:00 which leads to higher revenues.
0:36:04 And this is no different from what we saw last quarter.
0:36:06 Investment banking revenues were up by a similar amount.
0:36:11 So I think the takeaway here is, people have been wondering, is M&A coming back?
0:36:14 It’s been in a slump the past couple of years.
0:36:19 I think this is our confirmation from these bank earnings, yes, M&A is officially back.
0:36:24 I think we can expect that trend will continue, and that’s especially likely under a Trump
0:36:25 administration.
0:36:32 The second big driver of this growth is newer, and that is the trading revenue, as you mentioned.
0:36:37 And this is the money that the banks make for facilitating and executing the trades
0:36:41 of their clients, trades for stocks and trades for bonds.
0:36:45 Now, the explanation that you’re seeing a lot of in the media, which you also referenced
0:36:52 there, is something like market volatility increased trading revenues, which is sort
0:36:57 of a true statement, but it’s also a little bit of a misdirect because I think the real
0:37:02 reason we’re seeing these sales and trading desks making so much money last quarter is
0:37:08 that last quarter trading volumes exploded, not just the volatility, but the volume.
0:37:11 So you had more stock trading, more bond trading.
0:37:14 And the question, of course, is why did that happen?
0:37:17 And the answer is quite simple, is it was the election.
0:37:24 I think this is a reminder here of the power of stories and narratives in markets, because
0:37:31 what this election did is it sparked a flurry of new narratives from investors about what
0:37:35 may happen in the future, who’s going to benefit from a Trump administration, who’s
0:37:40 going to get burned, what’s going to happen to interest rates, and it’s all those stories
0:37:45 that create this energy in the market that propel people to make trades, to take bets,
0:37:47 to speculate on the future.
0:37:48 Acquire a company, right?
0:37:49 Yeah.
0:37:50 Exactly.
0:37:51 And of course, who benefits?
0:37:54 It’s the middlemen, which are the banks.
0:37:58 So I think that’s what really happened here is the banks were the beneficiaries of an
0:38:03 environment where quite simply interesting stuff was happening in the markets.
0:38:07 And the question now is, will that continue?
0:38:11 I would argue probably not, not to the extent that we saw in Q4, but having said that, Trump
0:38:13 is a very erratic person.
0:38:17 He’ll probably make some pretty controversial decisions, and I’m sure that will lead to
0:38:22 lots more interesting stories that lead to new investment theses and new trade.
0:38:26 So that’s sort of a breakdown on, I think, why we’ve seen this explosion in banks in
0:38:27 the past quarter.
0:38:31 I thought that was cogent, because what you’re summarizing, and I hadn’t zeroed in on, is
0:38:37 wait-and-see is the worst words in the world for a services industry or financial institution.
0:38:42 They don’t want people to wait and see what happens with the election around going public,
0:38:46 acquiring a company, reallocating the portfolio, moving, whatever it might be.
0:38:49 And the last kind of six months have been sort of wait-and-see.
0:38:53 And then once we had clarity around the election, whether you like the outcome or not, people
0:38:59 move to getting shit done and trading and buying and making bids for companies and doing
0:39:00 their debt offering.
0:39:03 Okay, we’re going to wait and see if interest rates come down.
0:39:04 Well, they are.
0:39:05 They are not.
0:39:06 So let’s just get on with life.
0:39:11 But I actually, I think that was a thoughtful analysis of the situation.
0:39:15 Something Jamie Dimon said on the JP Morgan earnings call, and this is a bit of a pivot
0:39:21 here, but I found this fascinating, he said, “This is a fantastic quarter, highest annual
0:39:25 profit in the history of American banking, $59 billion, just enormous.”
0:39:30 But then he said, “Two significant risks remain.
0:39:34 One going in future spending requirements will likely be inflationary, and therefore inflation
0:39:36 may persist for some time.
0:39:43 Additionally, geopolitical conditions remain the most dangerous and complicated since World
0:39:45 War II.”
0:39:47 Your reactions to Jamie Dimon’s comments.
0:39:50 I think he’s thoughtful and he kind of likes the camera.
0:39:55 I mean, he makes, look, Jamie’s, I don’t know if you saw him at six minutes ago, that was
0:39:56 very powerful.
0:39:57 He’s also very handsome.
0:40:00 I think he should have been Treasury Secretary just based on his looks.
0:40:03 He looks like he should be Treasury Secretary.
0:40:05 I love that term cautiously pessimistic.
0:40:08 I think that’s super interesting.
0:40:11 Geopolitically, are things more dangerous now than they’ve ever been?
0:40:12 I can’t tell.
0:40:16 I can’t discern between my depression and actual world events.
0:40:22 It does feel like water is at a simmer and about to boil everywhere, and it does appear
0:40:25 that the markets are climbing a wall of worry.
0:40:32 So do you take that, I mean, people would say that he’s the guy who is most in touch
0:40:34 with what is happening in the world.
0:40:39 It’s his job to understand what is going to happen tomorrow and the next day.
0:40:43 I mean, the fact that he’s calling this the most dangerous geopolitical condition and
0:40:50 the most complicated since World War II, does that make you more concerned at all, or is
0:40:52 it just a statement?
0:40:53 Well here’s the thing.
0:40:58 And Jamie is super smart, super insightful, and has no fucking idea like the rest of us.
0:41:05 And somewhere there might be someone mixing up some crazy biohazard or bioweapon that
0:41:11 they learned how to mix up using bleach and common household items with some AI LLM that
0:41:13 has no safeguards on it.
0:41:18 Or we might find that Israel is actually stabilizing the Middle East and the kingdom is going to
0:41:22 normalize relations, or we’re going to find that AI seeps into the economy and creates
0:41:26 incredible productivity and blooms of 1,000 different unicorns.
0:41:33 I mean, I can make an argument both ways, or the U.S. and China kiss and make up, or
0:41:38 that inflation runs rampant and the markets begin to crash as there’s a reallocation
0:41:44 of capital, at least markets crash in U.S. reallocation of capital into markets.
0:41:45 This all comes back to the same place to me.
0:41:49 And that is, I was a consultant, so what would go out is I would try and find people smarter
0:41:54 than me and then pair it back, their viewpoints in different boardrooms.
0:41:57 And I loved, I got very into the idea of scenario planning.
0:42:01 And scenario planning is don’t try to predict the future because nobody can.
0:42:07 The butterfly flapping its wings in the Brazilian rainforest can cause a rainstorm in Orlando.
0:42:10 And there’s just no way you can predict what this butterfly is going to do today.
0:42:16 What you want to do is outline a number of potential scenarios that seem somewhat realistic
0:42:23 or likely, and then develop a strategy that fits to the best outcome across a number of
0:42:25 those potential strategies.
0:42:32 And so your job as an investor is to recognize that, yeah, Nvidia could go down 80%, but
0:42:35 wait, yeah, it could double.
0:42:38 So what you want to do is diversify.
0:42:40 And what is in your control?
0:42:44 What is in your control is to spend less than you make and have automatic savings plans
0:42:47 recognizing that time is going to go faster than you think.
0:42:53 And then to try and diversify, right, such that all the things that are outside of your
0:42:58 control, whether it’s the Islamic Republican Iran realizing they’re losing the battle and
0:43:03 about to be overthrown, so they declare war on somebody or weaponize one of their proxies,
0:43:05 who the fuck knows?
0:43:11 But diversification and controlling what you can control, and also just for your own
0:43:15 mental health practices, and I’m trying to figure this out right now, find people and
0:43:21 things that give you comfort and give you joy and distract you from being on fucking
0:43:27 TikTok all day or watching the inauguration, i.e., watch aerial firefighters and listen
0:43:30 to InXS all day Monday.
0:43:39 Because if the inauguration and the fact that we are bringing in, making DUI hires for Defense
0:43:43 Secretary, I love that DUI hire versus DEI hire.
0:43:44 I love that.
0:43:45 That’s good.
0:43:46 That is good.
0:43:47 That triggers me.
0:43:48 That upsets me.
0:43:52 Find places in your life that give you comfort and give you peace, and you’re going to find
0:43:54 those places in your relationships.
0:43:58 You’re going to find them in physical fitness, and you’re going to find them in a recognition
0:44:03 that the 98% of your life is really good and is really positive.
0:44:09 But going back, circling back, and the way you protect yourself against the unknown, which
0:44:15 neither Jamie Dimon nor anybody else really knows, is diversification and consistently
0:44:18 investing regardless of where you think the market is.
0:44:21 Let’s take a look at the week ahead.
0:44:26 What’s the earnings from Netflix, Johnson & Johnson, and American Express, Scott & Pritchons?
0:44:32 I think inflation is going to pop up, and I think that a lot of Trump’s policies are
0:44:37 going to come to a head around when we move to the rebuilding part of the program around
0:44:43 the LA fires, and that is the expectation of deficits, the crackdown on immigration,
0:44:49 both legal and illegal in terms of the costs of rebuilding a home, tariffs that will have
0:44:55 reciprocal tariffs if they do anything stupid enough to impose these things.
0:44:58 We’re talking about a Canada, China, or Mexico.
0:45:06 I think that the LA fires are going to continue to be in the news for how they highlight Trump’s
0:45:11 massive inflationary policies as evidenced by the cost to rebuild are going to be just
0:45:18 extraordinary, and people are going to point directly to immigration, policy, tariffs,
0:45:21 and the expectation of deficits.
0:45:26 And I think to our point, the most important person in the administration who’s going to
0:45:29 play an enormous role is going to be the bond market.
0:45:34 And I think this guy, I find that luck over the long term is perfectly symmetric.
0:45:38 When you have a huge win from an investment standpoint, you want to pull in your horns
0:45:43 because it means you’re due to get pretty robustly smacked.
0:45:46 And when things aren’t going well for you, I find that you want to try and stay optimistic
0:45:50 and maybe take more risk because you’re due for some good luck.
0:45:55 I think this guy has jumped from lily pad to lily pad, and he’s going to hop onto a snake.
0:46:01 And I think that snake is, I think, the return of inflation.
0:46:04 This episode was produced by Claire Miller and engineered by Benjamin Spencer.
0:46:06 Our associate producer is Alison Weiss.
0:46:10 Mia Silverio is our research lead, Jessica Lang is our research associate, Drew Burris
0:46:13 is our technical director, and Catherine Dillon is our executive producer.
0:46:17 Thank you for listening to ProfG Markets from the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:46:22 Join us on Thursday for our conversation with Rich Greenfield only on ProfG Markets.
0:46:27 Lifetimes
0:46:35 You help me
0:46:38 In kind
0:46:42 Reunion
0:46:47 As the world turns
0:46:52 And the dark flies
0:46:56 In love
0:47:05 That’s right, that’s right.
0:47:08 Just so you know, we are whore-hears, we are whore-hears.
0:47:09 Whore-hears.
0:47:10 Whore-hears.
0:47:12 Our name is George, and that’s Vanyel.
0:47:13 We are whore-hears.
0:47:15 No, we’re whores, but we’re expensive whores.
0:47:18 Whenever the ad people call me and say, “Will you do this ad?”
0:47:21 I’m like, “I don’t know, how much are they offering?”
0:47:24 Anyways, support for the show comes from the Fundrise Innovation Fund.
0:47:27 You’ve heard me talk about the Fundrise Innovation Fund before, so I’ll keep this short.
0:47:32 Venture Capital was, and to a certain extent, is still an old boys’ club.
0:47:35 You had either to be filthy rich or an insider to get access.
0:47:38 The Innovation Fund is trying to change that, building a blue chip portfolio,
0:47:40 making it available to everyone.
0:47:44 And with 150 million raised from tens of thousands of investors, it’s just getting started.
0:47:47 Carefully consider the investment material before investing,
0:47:49 including objectives, risks, charges, and expenses.
0:47:54 This and other information can be found in the Innovation Fund’s perspective at fundrise.com/innovation.
0:47:56 This is a paid sponsorship.
0:47:59 (upbeat music)

0:00:01 – Nice.
0:00:03 – Support for the show comes from Nerd Wallet.
0:00:05 When it comes to finding the best financial products,
0:00:06 have you ever wished someone would do
0:00:08 the heavy lifting for you?
0:00:10 Take all that research off your plate?
0:00:13 Well, with Nerd Wallet’s 2025 Best of Award,
0:00:14 that wishes come true.
0:00:16 The Nerds at Nerd Wallet are on it.
0:00:19 They have already reviewed more than 1,100 financial products
0:00:22 like credit cards, savings accounts, and more
0:00:25 in order to highlight and bring you the best of the best.
0:00:28 Check out the 2025 Best of Awards today
0:00:30 www.nerdwallet.com/awards.
0:01:00 Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bagel Bag
0:01:03 baggles, available now at your local Cobb’s bread.
0:01:08 – I’m Scott Galloway, and this is No Mercy, No Malice.
0:01:12 The LA wildfires appear to be subsiding.
0:01:15 What lessons will we take from this crisis?
0:01:18 After the fire, as read by George Hahn.
0:01:29 – My hometown of Los Angeles is experiencing wildfires
0:01:31 that have torched a surface area
0:01:34 greater than Boston or San Francisco.
0:01:37 Students at UCLA, my alma mater,
0:01:40 were warned to prepare for an evacuation order
0:01:43 that thankfully didn’t come.
0:01:44 Friends lost homes,
0:01:47 others don’t know if their houses are still standing,
0:01:48 or they’re contemplating moving back
0:01:50 to what feels like a blast zone.
0:01:56 At least 12,000 structures have been destroyed.
0:01:58 The death toll stands at 25,
0:02:00 given the scale of the disaster
0:02:02 that is remarkably low in a testament
0:02:05 to the good work of frontline responders
0:02:06 and the broader community.
0:02:09 The LA fires will likely go down
0:02:14 as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.
0:02:18 The question now, what happens after the fire?
0:02:22 The first rule of fires is simple.
0:02:25 Everyone works together to put out the fire,
0:02:27 as fire is apolitical, unemotional,
0:02:30 and does not discriminate.
0:02:33 But just as electric cars go from zero to 60,
0:02:36 faster than cars with combustion engines,
0:02:40 digitized information accelerates from zero to blame
0:02:42 much faster than analog media.
0:02:46 Immediately the left claimed it was climate change
0:02:48 and blamed Republicans.
0:02:50 Maybe, or perhaps you’re tempting fate
0:02:53 when you build hundreds of thousands of tinder boxes
0:02:56 in a desert where high and low pressure systems collide
0:02:59 to create tidal waves of hot air,
0:03:01 i.e. the Santa Ana winds.
0:03:05 First lady-elect Elon Musk blamed DEI.
0:03:08 The shit-poster-in-chief, Donald Trump,
0:03:10 blamed California Governor Gavin Newsom
0:03:15 for failing to sign the Water Restoration Declaration,
0:03:19 providing much-needed water to emergency services.
0:03:24 The problem, A, that declaration does not exist.
0:03:28 In local news, the billionaire real estate developer
0:03:32 who lost in LA’s most recent mayoral election
0:03:35 blamed the city for fire hydrant failures
0:03:37 in Pacific Palisades.
0:03:40 The system was pushed beyond its limits,
0:03:42 as water demand was four times normal demand
0:03:45 for 15 plus hours.
0:03:48 Note, the people screaming the loudest
0:03:50 about wasteful government spending
0:03:53 are always the first to demand government help in a crisis.
0:03:58 LAFD Chief Kristen Crowley took time out
0:04:01 from fighting the fires to blame Mayor Karen Bass
0:04:06 for cutting $17.6 million from the department’s budget.
0:04:10 The department’s $895 million budget
0:04:14 actually increased by $58 million
0:04:17 as a result of the latest union contract.
0:04:19 To get that higher pay to firefighters,
0:04:23 the department reduced spending on equipment and training.
0:04:27 The mayor’s response added to the drama,
0:04:30 fueling rumors that the chief had been fired.
0:04:34 Right-wing podcasters blame Fire Chief Crowley’s gayness,
0:04:36 saying she was a DEI hire.
0:04:40 Note, she has outstanding qualifications.
0:04:43 We’ve become stupid,
0:04:45 hurting others while hurting ourselves
0:04:50 with algorithms and politics that reward divisive rhetoric.
0:04:52 Both sides engage in this,
0:04:54 but the right is louder and bolder,
0:04:57 i.e. more full of shit than the left.
0:04:59 It’s far more likely that climate change
0:05:03 played a role in the fires than China, Ukraine, or DEI.
0:05:08 Contrary to viral claims on social media,
0:05:11 the Hollywood sign didn’t burn down.
0:05:14 One clue that the AI-generated images were fake,
0:05:17 an extra letter making it hollywooded.
0:05:21 Adjudicated liar Alex Jones falsely claimed
0:05:24 that firefighters were battling the blazes
0:05:27 using ladies handbags as buckets
0:05:31 because officials had donated their equipment to Ukraine.
0:05:36 His post on Twitter, X, has 29 million views.
0:05:39 As an LAFD public information officer
0:05:42 told the Wall Street Journal, quote,
0:05:44 “It takes people and time to track down
0:05:47 “or debunk social media rumors.
0:05:50 “It takes us away from doing more important things,” unquote.
0:05:54 By coincidence, the fires began the same day.
0:05:59 Mark Zuckerberg, the Immortan Joe of the Information Wasteland,
0:06:02 announced that Metta would end fact-checking
0:06:05 and replace the program with community notes.
0:06:08 Zuckerberg cited free speech.
0:06:13 His decision was about bending the knee and shareholder value.
0:06:15 Zuck also made a stupid comment
0:06:19 about companies needing more masculine energy.
0:06:22 He believes masculinity is increasing your personal wealth
0:06:25 by sacrificing the safety of the most vulnerable.
0:06:30 No, masculinity is about protecting the vulnerable.
0:06:33 See aerial firefighters demonstrating expertise
0:06:37 at enormous personal risk to save lives and protect homes.
0:06:41 Twice, LA County officials mistakenly sent
0:06:44 evacuation alerts to 10 million people.
0:06:48 Those were potentially dangerous errors.
0:06:51 Old school local broadcasters corrected these mistakes
0:06:55 in real time, heading off a catastrophic panic.
0:06:59 Meanwhile, WatchDuty, a non-profit app
0:07:02 that tracks emergencies and sends real-time alerts,
0:07:06 has had two million downloads since the fires began.
0:07:09 It’s currently available in 22 states,
0:07:12 operating with a team of 200 volunteers
0:07:15 and 15 full-time employees.
0:07:19 Unfortunately, local news is in short supply across the US.
0:07:23 Over the past decade, there have been $23 billion worth
0:07:26 of broadcast TV ownership deals,
0:07:27 further concentrating an industry
0:07:32 in which the three largest owners already control 40%
0:07:35 of all local news stations and are present
0:07:38 in over 80% of media markets.
0:07:43 Zooming out to include print, radio, and digital,
0:07:45 more than half the counties in the US
0:07:49 have little or no access to local news.
0:07:54 Most of these news deserts are located in high-poverty areas
0:07:57 and serve historically marginalized communities.
0:08:01 People say digital media gives everyone a voice.
0:08:04 Maybe, but digital media has definitely
0:08:06 drowned out actual journalists.
0:08:11 The question isn’t whether to rebuild, but where.
0:08:16 Pacific Palisades is a wonderful place to live,
0:08:20 but those amazing views of beautiful topography
0:08:23 of foothills, mountains, canyons, and ridgelines
0:08:26 are located in fire zones.
0:08:30 Early estimates put the total cost of the wildfires
0:08:35 at $250 to $275 billion.
0:08:37 The property insurance bill is expected
0:08:39 to easily top $20 billion.
0:08:44 California’s insurance market was already in crisis
0:08:46 as leading insurers had done the math
0:08:47 and decided to leave the state
0:08:51 or not renew policies in fire prone areas.
0:08:54 California’s state-backed FAIR plan
0:08:58 is the insurer of last resort in these areas.
0:09:02 State-wide, the number of FAIR plan policies in 2024
0:09:05 increased 40% from 2023
0:09:10 and 85% in Pacific Palisades.
0:09:13 Continuing to underwrite wood-built craftsmen homes
0:09:17 in Altadena, median home value $1.3 million,
0:09:21 and mansions along the Pacific Coast Highway
0:09:24 is a wealth transfer from California’s taxpayers
0:09:26 to some of its wealthiest people.
0:09:30 This isn’t unique to California.
0:09:32 10 states across the political spectrum,
0:09:35 including Florida and Texas,
0:09:38 sued a federal flood insurance program
0:09:39 after it adjusted premiums
0:09:42 to better reflect climate realities.
0:09:44 As one meme put it,
0:09:46 you may not believe in climate change,
0:09:48 but your insurance company does.
0:09:55 Governor Newsom has proposed a $2.5 billion Marshall plan
0:09:58 to kickstart rebuilding.
0:10:01 That emotionally feels right.
0:10:03 However, I’d argue it is, yet again,
0:10:07 a transfer of wealth from the middle class to the rich
0:10:09 under the auspices of a tragedy.
0:10:13 COVID caused the greatest intergenerational theft
0:10:15 this century, flushing the markets
0:10:19 with $7 trillion in stimulus,
0:10:21 85% of which wasn’t needed,
0:10:24 but sent asset prices soaring.
0:10:27 This was great for the incumbents,
0:10:29 home and equity owners,
0:10:31 and awful for entrance,
0:10:34 the young who will have to pay for our largesse
0:10:37 via deficits.
0:10:39 The median value of a home in the Palisades
0:10:42 is $3.3 million,
0:10:45 or eight times the national median.
0:10:48 I’m not arguing against disaster relief,
0:10:52 but against the continued gestalt in our society
0:10:55 where we always find a narrative and empathy
0:10:56 to bail out the rich
0:10:58 while throwing some loaves of bread
0:11:00 and a circus at the poor.
0:11:02 I live on the water in Florida,
0:11:07 where insurance rates have skyrocketed as they should.
0:11:10 Homes vulnerable to the floods and wildfires
0:11:14 caused by climate change tend to be in beautiful areas,
0:11:17 on the water or in hilly dry climates.
0:11:21 I don’t believe anybody has a birthright to live there,
0:11:23 and the risks or costs of doing so
0:11:25 shouldn’t be transferred to people
0:11:27 who can’t live on the beach.
0:11:31 Also, will we ever get serious about climate change
0:11:35 if we normalize, i.e. bail out the powerful
0:11:38 who are the agents of change in a capitalist America?
0:11:42 Los Angeles will be rebuilt,
0:11:44 as it’s wonderful and worth it,
0:11:47 regardless of who ultimately bears the cost.
0:11:51 After the 1991 Oakland fire,
0:11:53 eight out of 10 residents rebuilt.
0:11:57 After disasters, most people decide to stay.
0:11:59 The project, however,
0:12:03 will put Trump’s biggest policies under the microscope.
0:12:07 Trump has vowed to deport millions of people.
0:12:09 I’ve written that we won’t do that
0:12:13 as immigrant labor is too profitable.
0:12:17 In LA, 28% of the construction workforce
0:12:19 is undocumented.
0:12:23 Trump’s tariff plan, 60% on goods from China,
0:12:26 20% on everything else the U.S. imports,
0:12:30 is an elegant way to turn a no-brainer building boom
0:12:33 into an own goal that’ll make us nostalgic
0:12:35 for COVID supply chain disruptions
0:12:38 and post-pandemic inflation.
0:12:39 My prediction?
0:12:42 Trump will turn against his plans,
0:12:45 blame someone else for his fatuous ideas,
0:12:48 and declare victory while standing next to James Woods
0:12:50 at a groundbreaking ceremony in LA.
0:12:55 I donated to several charities
0:12:59 and GoFundMe campaigns in the aftermath of the fires.
0:13:02 To its credit, GoFundMe has raised millions
0:13:05 for people affected by the catastrophe.
0:13:07 Since its founding, the for-profit firm,
0:13:11 last valued at $600 million in 2015,
0:13:16 has processed $30 billion in crowdfunding.
0:13:19 That’s a lot of cabbage for GoFundMe.
0:13:23 I paid a 14% fee to donate.
0:13:25 An LA county supervisor complained
0:13:28 about the same 14% charge.
0:13:31 The company’s VP for communications reached out to me
0:13:34 to clarify that its standard transaction fee
0:13:37 is 2.9% plus 30 cents
0:13:40 and insisted that tipping is optional.
0:13:44 However, the tip option is the default
0:13:47 and I have about as much choice as the service charge
0:13:50 on a bill at a Miami restaurant.
0:13:52 GoFundMe needs to be more transparent
0:13:55 that tips are optional and opt in.
0:13:57 That’s how tipping works.
0:14:00 And if the organization really wants a tip, here it is.
0:14:02 Don’t treat your customers like assholes
0:14:05 and claim an opaque charge is optional.
0:14:10 Neighbors are helping neighbors.
0:14:11 Mexico didn’t send their best people,
0:14:15 they sent some of their bravest, i.e. firefighters.
0:14:19 Canada and seven western states, including Texas,
0:14:20 also send aid.
0:14:24 Across Los Angeles and beyond,
0:14:26 businesses and regular people didn’t ask
0:14:29 if help was needed, they just showed up.
0:14:31 My personal favorite, the street vendors
0:14:35 who turned the Rose Bowl and Santa Anita Park racetrack
0:14:38 into donation centers.
0:14:41 Honorable mention, the 900 plus incarcerated
0:14:44 volunteer firefighters working on the front lines
0:14:46 for $10 a day.
0:14:49 As one of them explained, for the first time in his life,
0:14:53 he has a job and the community values his contributions.
0:14:55 We should give the same opportunity
0:14:58 to every young American by investing
0:15:00 in a national service program,
0:15:02 as it would benefit every community in the country.
0:15:08 I’ve been thinking a lot about love the past decade,
0:15:10 as I’m not that good at it.
0:15:14 I’ve had few people in my life who my loved and loved me.
0:15:17 My definition of love used to be caring
0:15:21 about someone’s well-being more than my own.
0:15:22 This misses the mark, however,
0:15:25 as it would mean I only love my immediate family,
0:15:27 which I don’t think is true.
0:15:32 A better definition, love is giving witness
0:15:36 to someone’s life, to notice them
0:15:38 and their lived experience.
0:15:40 My friend, Rabbi Steve Leder,
0:15:43 said something that hit hard this week.
0:15:46 Calling people and asking if you can help,
0:15:49 what I was doing, is the wrong thing to do.
0:15:51 The right thing?
0:15:52 Just help.
0:15:55 Pick up their dogs, drop off food,
0:15:58 send a photo of the room in your house they can stay in.
0:16:00 Why are them cash?
0:16:02 Don’t ask, do.
0:16:06 Are there people in L.A. you love?
0:16:08 Then give witness to their life,
0:16:09 notice what would help.
0:16:15 Don’t ask, just give witness, notice and love them.
0:16:21 Life is so rich.
0:16:25 (gentle music)
0:16:27 (gentle music)
0:16:30 (upbeat music)
0:16:32 you