AI transcript
0:00:00 Support for the show comes from Atlassian.
0:00:03 Atlassian software like Jira, Confluence, and Loom
0:00:05 help power the collaboration needed for teams
0:00:07 to accomplish what would otherwise be impossible alone.
0:00:10 Because individually, we’re great,
0:00:11 but together, we’re so much better.
0:00:13 That’s why millions of teams around the world,
0:00:15 including 75% of the Fortune 500,
0:00:17 trust Atlassian software for everything
0:00:18 from space exploration and green energy
0:00:21 to delivering pizzas and podcasts.
0:00:22 Whether you’re a team of two, 200, or two million,
0:00:25 Atlassian software is built to help keep you connected
0:00:28 and moving together as one.
0:00:29 Learn how to unleash the potential of your team
0:00:31 at Atlassian.com.
0:00:32 That’s A-T-L-A-S-S-I-A-N.com.
0:00:36 Atlassian.
0:00:37 – In difficult times, one of the more useful things
0:00:46 we can do is turn to history’s greatest thinkers for wisdom.
0:00:50 This week, we revisit Albert Camus’ writings
0:00:53 on the French-Algerian War and apply some of those lessons
0:00:56 to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
0:00:59 He’s trying to explain when we lose sight
0:01:03 of those individual lives.
0:01:07 We’ve lost sight of what it is that makes us fully human.
0:01:12 – Hear more on this week’s Gray Area,
0:01:14 available wherever you get your podcasts.
0:01:16 – I’m Scott Galloway, and this is No Mercy, No Malice.
0:01:23 Too many people hoard, obtaining more for no other purpose
0:01:28 than amassing more.
0:01:30 There are good alternatives.
0:01:32 Spend it and give it away.
0:01:35 Hoarders, as read by George Hahn.
0:01:39 – Throughout human history,
0:01:45 if we had access to more than we needed,
0:01:47 we kept the access to survive in leaner times.
0:01:51 Having surplus items also signaled wealth
0:01:54 and desirability as a mate,
0:01:56 and key rituals often depended on precious items
0:01:59 being stored safely.
0:02:01 Our ability to store crops was key
0:02:03 to developing an agricultural economy.
0:02:06 Artisanal objects, to be preserved for centuries,
0:02:10 made us feel closer to God.
0:02:13 The most beautiful items were kept in houses of worship,
0:02:16 which then became stores of value.
0:02:19 The industrial age and ensuing mass production
0:02:22 created the mother of all good problems,
0:02:25 which soon became just a problem.
0:02:27 Superabundance.
0:02:29 Our instincts have not kept pace
0:02:32 with productivity or processing power.
0:02:35 We not only gorge, we hoard.
0:02:38 It’s incredibly challenging to ascend
0:02:42 through the soupy atmosphere of youth
0:02:44 and sate our desire for things and experiences
0:02:47 when an entire economy and society
0:02:49 runs on one incentive, more.
0:02:53 It’s a cliche but true.
0:02:55 The first million, i.e. launch,
0:02:58 is the hardest and most dangerous.
0:03:01 The Falcon 9 heavy rocket, which travels thousands of miles,
0:03:05 burns a third of its propellant in the first mile.
0:03:09 Most folks who reach orbit keep the engines roaring.
0:03:12 They aspire to travel from multimillionaire
0:03:15 to billionaire to Bezos.
0:03:17 Also, it gets easier once you’re in space.
0:03:20 A touch of thrust or effort moves you thousands of miles
0:03:24 versus feet.
0:03:24 Capitalism favors capital,
0:03:28 so more quickly becomes irresistible.
0:03:32 Unable to turn off the boosters,
0:03:33 many uber-wealthy people become hoarders,
0:03:37 obtaining more for no other purpose than amassing more.
0:03:41 My father and mother were never more than two degrees
0:03:45 of separation away from economic anxiety.
0:03:48 Yes, my mom was disappointed that my dad left her
0:03:51 for another woman, but her financial fear was worse.
0:03:55 How would she take care of me and herself by herself?
0:04:00 I never realized, and most people never will,
0:04:04 how much economic anxiety we carry
0:04:08 until the weight has been lifted.
0:04:09 Economic security brought something else
0:04:13 I did not anticipate, a multi-year exhale.
0:04:18 Not having been able to afford a home nurse
0:04:21 when my mom was going through chemo,
0:04:23 the feeling of failure when I later lost my business
0:04:26 the same month my oldest son was born was acute.
0:04:30 I still register an ache in the small of my back
0:04:34 remembering those moments.
0:04:35 It’s unacceptable, full stop,
0:04:39 that an economy where one company, NVIDIA,
0:04:42 can add the GDP of Australia in one calendar month
0:04:47 also has large swaths of the population
0:04:50 who live with this profound anxiety.
0:04:53 What is the ratio of the explosion of billionaires
0:04:56 to deaths of despair in America?
0:04:59 My gut tells me it’s positive
0:05:02 when any decent society would demand
0:05:04 the size of these cohorts be inversely correlated.
0:05:07 This anxiety is largely absent
0:05:11 in other less wealthy countries.
0:05:13 Incumbents will make excuses
0:05:15 that these countries sit on oil or are more homogenous.
0:05:20 Pro tip, that’s a bullshit narrative
0:05:22 meant to wallpaper over just how fucking outrageous it is
0:05:26 that six people control more wealth
0:05:29 than the bottom half of America
0:05:31 and pay an average tax rate of 6%.
0:05:34 Also, we produce more oil than any country in the world
0:05:38 but I digress.
0:05:41 It’s fashionable to disdain spending
0:05:43 but spending puts money back into the economy
0:05:47 often at points with the most impact
0:05:49 generating wages and opportunities.
0:05:51 I don’t understand people who are wealthy
0:05:54 and don’t spend their money.
0:05:56 Being social creates jobs for waiters,
0:06:00 bartenders and bus boys.
0:06:02 All jobs I had in college.
0:06:05 A busy night at the Westwood Marquis,
0:06:07 Chart House Restaurant or Monty’s Steakhouse?
0:06:10 Ask your parents if they lived in West LA in the 90s.
0:06:14 Could change my life that week.
0:06:16 It takes hundreds of hands to make a new car
0:06:19 or refurbish a vacation home.
0:06:22 This isn’t an argument for trickle down economics.
0:06:24 We don’t need to put more money
0:06:27 in the pockets of the wealthy
0:06:29 but the money they have is better spent in the economy
0:06:33 than hoarded in the market.
0:06:36 Consumer spending makes up two thirds
0:06:38 of economic activity in the US
0:06:41 and the top fifth of households by income
0:06:44 account for nearly half of that spending.
0:06:47 A million dollars in entertainment spending
0:06:50 supports 6.5 jobs directly
0:06:53 and another 22.5 indirectly.
0:06:56 Modern research confirms Aristotle.
0:07:02 Long term sustainable happiness doesn’t come from wealth
0:07:07 but from relationships with others.
0:07:09 The real gift of wealth is being free
0:07:13 from the economic anxiety
0:07:15 that can stress nearly every relationship.
0:07:18 Economic insecurity can rob us of happiness
0:07:21 but wealth offers diminishing returns.
0:07:24 The lifestyle and entertainment opportunities
0:07:27 available to someone with $10 million in assets
0:07:30 differ in modest degree from those available
0:07:33 to someone with $100 million.
0:07:37 Going from $100 million to $1 billion
0:07:41 is likely a wash.
0:07:42 You can buy a football team
0:07:44 but you’ll also need private security.
0:07:46 I know many centimillionaires and a few billionaires
0:07:51 and I have witnessed no evidence scientific or anecdotal
0:07:55 that wealth beyond relief from economic anxiety
0:07:58 and the ability to do wonderful things with your family
0:08:01 results in any incremental increases in happiness.
0:08:05 If there’s nothing to be gained above a certain amount
0:08:11 and nearly everything to buttress low income households
0:08:15 then isn’t a highly progressive tax policy
0:08:18 at the very top income levels a no-brainer?
0:08:21 One form of spending that’s proven to generate reward
0:08:27 and happiness is giving.
0:08:30 The more you spend on others
0:08:32 the greater your increase in happiness.
0:08:35 In fact, giving to others provides both passing pleasure
0:08:40 and long-term happiness.
0:08:42 Something born out in numerous studies.
0:08:45 MRI scans show that giving money to a food bank
0:08:49 lights up the same pleasure center in our brain
0:08:52 that responds to cocaine.
0:08:53 People who do small acts of kindness for strangers
0:08:58 report being happier for weeks afterward.
0:09:01 Volunteering is correlated with a stronger sense of well-being.
0:09:06 Giving money away has been shown to have a similar correlation
0:09:09 with happiness as making more of it.
0:09:12 In sum, if or when you hit your number, good problem
0:09:17 why wouldn’t you spend or give away your incremental wealth?
0:09:22 Why wouldn’t we pursue real wealth?
0:09:24 Happiness, a sense of belonging,
0:09:26 being part of something bigger than ourselves.
0:09:29 Any philanthropic effort is probably better than none at all
0:09:34 but not all giving is created equal.
0:09:37 There’s too much tech and finance bro PR boosting
0:09:40 and not enough actual giving.
0:09:43 Exhibit A, in 2010, ambitious Newark mayor Corey Booker
0:09:48 wanted to attract $200 million to fix Newark’s
0:09:53 corrupt and broken public school system.
0:09:56 He convinced Mark Zuckerberg to pledge $100 million
0:10:00 and investor Bill Ackman to add $25 million.
0:10:05 Then he, Zuck and Governor Chris Christie
0:10:08 all went on Oprah to announce their grand plan.
0:10:11 After the show aired, Zuck went back to depressing teens
0:10:15 and coarsening our discourse.
0:10:17 Christie became a full-time presidential candidate
0:10:20 and Booker rode the attention to DC.
0:10:23 The $200 million disappeared into the same corrupt
0:10:27 and broken school system without a trace.
0:10:30 Were they wrong to invest in Newark’s schools?
0:10:34 No, just not effective.
0:10:36 Without a sustained structural investment
0:10:40 in infrastructure, money from the wealthy
0:10:44 is often just a sugar high.
0:10:46 Exhibit B, far too much billionaire philanthropy
0:10:52 isn’t giving but a 12 carat misdirection,
0:10:56 shuffling money to avoid taxes and sustain dynasties.
0:11:00 41% of giving from the ultra wealthy
0:11:05 goes to private foundations and donor-advised funds.
0:11:10 These organizations pay board members, consultants
0:11:13 and others donate money to one another
0:11:15 and may never plant one tree or dig one well.
0:11:19 Many are warehouses for money to grow tax-free,
0:11:24 in effect subsidizing billionaire investing
0:11:26 with taxpayer money.
0:11:27 The super wealthy have weaponized the tax code
0:11:31 to hoard wealth and then take the moral high ground
0:11:34 with philanthropy that is camouflage for taxes owed.
0:11:38 For every dollar a billionaire donates to charity,
0:11:43 the government loses 74 cents in revenue.
0:11:47 Exhibit C, the giving pledge is a promise
0:11:52 to give the majority of your wealth away
0:11:54 by the time you die.
0:11:56 The pledge receives a lot of press.
0:11:59 Bill Gates and Warren Buffett introduced it
0:12:01 in an effort to spur billionaire giving
0:12:04 above the anemic 10% that’s been the norm.
0:12:07 The good it has done, however,
0:12:09 is dwarfed by its promise and PR.
0:12:13 Giving excludes political donations but that’s about it
0:12:17 and notably permits the same private foundations
0:12:20 that billionaires have long used
0:12:22 to avoid actually giving anyone else a dime.
0:12:26 There’s an organization behind the pledge
0:12:29 that coordinates events and conversations between members
0:12:33 but I believe this has mostly been window dressing,
0:12:36 obscuring an obscene level of income inequality
0:12:39 that runs unfettered.
0:12:41 Gates and Buffett are richer than when they started giving.
0:12:45 The 73 members of the pledge,
0:12:48 who were all billionaires in 2010,
0:12:50 have tripled their collective wealth in the past decade.
0:12:53 Wouldn’t a more apt name be the hoarding pledge?
0:12:58 I’ve written before about Mackenzie Scott,
0:13:03 who practices a below the radar approach
0:13:05 to giving that is inspiring.
0:13:07 Operating with a small team,
0:13:10 she vets possible recipients quietly,
0:13:13 often without their knowledge,
0:13:15 and makes sizable grants with no strings attached,
0:13:19 no PR fanfare, nor any demand for input on issues
0:13:22 she has no domain expertise in.
0:13:25 She’d given nearly $2 billion
0:13:28 before making any public statement
0:13:30 and has given away $14 billion to date.
0:13:33 Her fellow PNW mega-billionaire, Melinda French Gates,
0:13:38 left the Gates Foundation last month
0:13:40 to focus her philanthropy on organizations
0:13:43 working on behalf of women and families,
0:13:46 and she’s already donated $1 billion in gifts
0:13:49 spread across dozens of organizations.
0:13:52 There’s more than meets the eye here.
0:13:58 Evolutionary theory suggests kin selection
0:14:01 and inclusive fitness comes more naturally for women
0:14:05 who are raised to be more empathetic
0:14:08 and have an easier time forming social bonds.
0:14:11 Women are also socialized to be more nurturing,
0:14:14 cooperative, and community-oriented.
0:14:18 The previous sentence is a decent
0:14:19 disarticulation of generosity.
0:14:22 Women develop a desire to help others
0:14:25 without personal recognition.
0:14:27 85% of charitable giving decisions
0:14:30 in affluent households are made or influenced by a woman.
0:14:35 In some, women give differently.
0:14:38 There’s more emphasis on the giving part.
0:14:42 I hit my number almost a decade ago.
0:14:47 I purposefully paused and spent a great deal of time
0:14:51 and consciousness on erecting scaffolding
0:14:54 to update and temper my instinct to acquire more wealth.
0:14:58 I decided I would spend a great deal of money
0:15:01 on experiences with my family or services
0:15:04 that gave me more time to spend with them and my friends.
0:15:08 I likely only have a third of my chronological life left,
0:15:13 but I’m intent on living four thirds of my life
0:15:17 in that remaining time, meaning I want to have
0:15:21 a series of experiences that make me feel closer
0:15:24 to my family and friends and squeeze as much juice
0:15:27 from this seven-continent ellipsoid as possible.
0:15:31 After molesting the earth for 30 years for business,
0:15:36 it became obvious that staying in the most beautiful places
0:15:40 in the most iconic cities meant nothing
0:15:43 when I was there alone.
0:15:44 The previous sentence could also describe my 30s.
0:15:49 It’s as if that decade never happened
0:15:51 as I was mostly alone.
0:15:53 Another observation I’ve made, roaming terror,
0:15:57 is that the U.S. is the best place to make money
0:16:00 and Europe is the best place to spend it,
0:16:03 one of the reasons we moved to London.
0:16:06 In addition, I have a self-imposed tax of 100%.
0:16:11 Each year, I add up my spending
0:16:15 and give that same amount or more away.
0:16:19 The surprise for me around giving
0:16:22 is how masculine it makes me feel.
0:16:25 I feel my strength and skills are protecting and providing.
0:16:29 The hoarding I’ve described above
0:16:33 is relevant to only a small percentage of the population.
0:16:37 What is more prevalent is the hoarding of goodwill.
0:16:41 Each of us has wealth in the form of good intentions,
0:16:45 positive gestures, and comedy toward others.
0:16:49 Do you hoard this goodwill?
0:16:51 The first 40 years of my life, I was cheap with my emotions,
0:16:57 not telling people how impressive they were
0:16:59 or how much I admired and cared about them.
0:17:02 This is the real environmental waste in our society,
0:17:06 possessing the resources to help people
0:17:09 feel better about themselves and not sharing that capital.
0:17:13 After finishing this sentence,
0:17:16 I am going to clear my mind and wish you well.
0:17:20 I want you to be happy and prosperous.
0:17:26 I really do wish you well.
0:17:31 And there’s no reason to hoard that sentiment.
0:17:34 Life is so rich.
0:17:39 (gentle music)
0:17:43 (gentle music)
0:17:45 (upbeat music)
0:17:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]
0:00:03 Atlassian software like Jira, Confluence, and Loom
0:00:05 help power the collaboration needed for teams
0:00:07 to accomplish what would otherwise be impossible alone.
0:00:10 Because individually, we’re great,
0:00:11 but together, we’re so much better.
0:00:13 That’s why millions of teams around the world,
0:00:15 including 75% of the Fortune 500,
0:00:17 trust Atlassian software for everything
0:00:18 from space exploration and green energy
0:00:21 to delivering pizzas and podcasts.
0:00:22 Whether you’re a team of two, 200, or two million,
0:00:25 Atlassian software is built to help keep you connected
0:00:28 and moving together as one.
0:00:29 Learn how to unleash the potential of your team
0:00:31 at Atlassian.com.
0:00:32 That’s A-T-L-A-S-S-I-A-N.com.
0:00:36 Atlassian.
0:00:37 – In difficult times, one of the more useful things
0:00:46 we can do is turn to history’s greatest thinkers for wisdom.
0:00:50 This week, we revisit Albert Camus’ writings
0:00:53 on the French-Algerian War and apply some of those lessons
0:00:56 to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
0:00:59 He’s trying to explain when we lose sight
0:01:03 of those individual lives.
0:01:07 We’ve lost sight of what it is that makes us fully human.
0:01:12 – Hear more on this week’s Gray Area,
0:01:14 available wherever you get your podcasts.
0:01:16 – I’m Scott Galloway, and this is No Mercy, No Malice.
0:01:23 Too many people hoard, obtaining more for no other purpose
0:01:28 than amassing more.
0:01:30 There are good alternatives.
0:01:32 Spend it and give it away.
0:01:35 Hoarders, as read by George Hahn.
0:01:39 – Throughout human history,
0:01:45 if we had access to more than we needed,
0:01:47 we kept the access to survive in leaner times.
0:01:51 Having surplus items also signaled wealth
0:01:54 and desirability as a mate,
0:01:56 and key rituals often depended on precious items
0:01:59 being stored safely.
0:02:01 Our ability to store crops was key
0:02:03 to developing an agricultural economy.
0:02:06 Artisanal objects, to be preserved for centuries,
0:02:10 made us feel closer to God.
0:02:13 The most beautiful items were kept in houses of worship,
0:02:16 which then became stores of value.
0:02:19 The industrial age and ensuing mass production
0:02:22 created the mother of all good problems,
0:02:25 which soon became just a problem.
0:02:27 Superabundance.
0:02:29 Our instincts have not kept pace
0:02:32 with productivity or processing power.
0:02:35 We not only gorge, we hoard.
0:02:38 It’s incredibly challenging to ascend
0:02:42 through the soupy atmosphere of youth
0:02:44 and sate our desire for things and experiences
0:02:47 when an entire economy and society
0:02:49 runs on one incentive, more.
0:02:53 It’s a cliche but true.
0:02:55 The first million, i.e. launch,
0:02:58 is the hardest and most dangerous.
0:03:01 The Falcon 9 heavy rocket, which travels thousands of miles,
0:03:05 burns a third of its propellant in the first mile.
0:03:09 Most folks who reach orbit keep the engines roaring.
0:03:12 They aspire to travel from multimillionaire
0:03:15 to billionaire to Bezos.
0:03:17 Also, it gets easier once you’re in space.
0:03:20 A touch of thrust or effort moves you thousands of miles
0:03:24 versus feet.
0:03:24 Capitalism favors capital,
0:03:28 so more quickly becomes irresistible.
0:03:32 Unable to turn off the boosters,
0:03:33 many uber-wealthy people become hoarders,
0:03:37 obtaining more for no other purpose than amassing more.
0:03:41 My father and mother were never more than two degrees
0:03:45 of separation away from economic anxiety.
0:03:48 Yes, my mom was disappointed that my dad left her
0:03:51 for another woman, but her financial fear was worse.
0:03:55 How would she take care of me and herself by herself?
0:04:00 I never realized, and most people never will,
0:04:04 how much economic anxiety we carry
0:04:08 until the weight has been lifted.
0:04:09 Economic security brought something else
0:04:13 I did not anticipate, a multi-year exhale.
0:04:18 Not having been able to afford a home nurse
0:04:21 when my mom was going through chemo,
0:04:23 the feeling of failure when I later lost my business
0:04:26 the same month my oldest son was born was acute.
0:04:30 I still register an ache in the small of my back
0:04:34 remembering those moments.
0:04:35 It’s unacceptable, full stop,
0:04:39 that an economy where one company, NVIDIA,
0:04:42 can add the GDP of Australia in one calendar month
0:04:47 also has large swaths of the population
0:04:50 who live with this profound anxiety.
0:04:53 What is the ratio of the explosion of billionaires
0:04:56 to deaths of despair in America?
0:04:59 My gut tells me it’s positive
0:05:02 when any decent society would demand
0:05:04 the size of these cohorts be inversely correlated.
0:05:07 This anxiety is largely absent
0:05:11 in other less wealthy countries.
0:05:13 Incumbents will make excuses
0:05:15 that these countries sit on oil or are more homogenous.
0:05:20 Pro tip, that’s a bullshit narrative
0:05:22 meant to wallpaper over just how fucking outrageous it is
0:05:26 that six people control more wealth
0:05:29 than the bottom half of America
0:05:31 and pay an average tax rate of 6%.
0:05:34 Also, we produce more oil than any country in the world
0:05:38 but I digress.
0:05:41 It’s fashionable to disdain spending
0:05:43 but spending puts money back into the economy
0:05:47 often at points with the most impact
0:05:49 generating wages and opportunities.
0:05:51 I don’t understand people who are wealthy
0:05:54 and don’t spend their money.
0:05:56 Being social creates jobs for waiters,
0:06:00 bartenders and bus boys.
0:06:02 All jobs I had in college.
0:06:05 A busy night at the Westwood Marquis,
0:06:07 Chart House Restaurant or Monty’s Steakhouse?
0:06:10 Ask your parents if they lived in West LA in the 90s.
0:06:14 Could change my life that week.
0:06:16 It takes hundreds of hands to make a new car
0:06:19 or refurbish a vacation home.
0:06:22 This isn’t an argument for trickle down economics.
0:06:24 We don’t need to put more money
0:06:27 in the pockets of the wealthy
0:06:29 but the money they have is better spent in the economy
0:06:33 than hoarded in the market.
0:06:36 Consumer spending makes up two thirds
0:06:38 of economic activity in the US
0:06:41 and the top fifth of households by income
0:06:44 account for nearly half of that spending.
0:06:47 A million dollars in entertainment spending
0:06:50 supports 6.5 jobs directly
0:06:53 and another 22.5 indirectly.
0:06:56 Modern research confirms Aristotle.
0:07:02 Long term sustainable happiness doesn’t come from wealth
0:07:07 but from relationships with others.
0:07:09 The real gift of wealth is being free
0:07:13 from the economic anxiety
0:07:15 that can stress nearly every relationship.
0:07:18 Economic insecurity can rob us of happiness
0:07:21 but wealth offers diminishing returns.
0:07:24 The lifestyle and entertainment opportunities
0:07:27 available to someone with $10 million in assets
0:07:30 differ in modest degree from those available
0:07:33 to someone with $100 million.
0:07:37 Going from $100 million to $1 billion
0:07:41 is likely a wash.
0:07:42 You can buy a football team
0:07:44 but you’ll also need private security.
0:07:46 I know many centimillionaires and a few billionaires
0:07:51 and I have witnessed no evidence scientific or anecdotal
0:07:55 that wealth beyond relief from economic anxiety
0:07:58 and the ability to do wonderful things with your family
0:08:01 results in any incremental increases in happiness.
0:08:05 If there’s nothing to be gained above a certain amount
0:08:11 and nearly everything to buttress low income households
0:08:15 then isn’t a highly progressive tax policy
0:08:18 at the very top income levels a no-brainer?
0:08:21 One form of spending that’s proven to generate reward
0:08:27 and happiness is giving.
0:08:30 The more you spend on others
0:08:32 the greater your increase in happiness.
0:08:35 In fact, giving to others provides both passing pleasure
0:08:40 and long-term happiness.
0:08:42 Something born out in numerous studies.
0:08:45 MRI scans show that giving money to a food bank
0:08:49 lights up the same pleasure center in our brain
0:08:52 that responds to cocaine.
0:08:53 People who do small acts of kindness for strangers
0:08:58 report being happier for weeks afterward.
0:09:01 Volunteering is correlated with a stronger sense of well-being.
0:09:06 Giving money away has been shown to have a similar correlation
0:09:09 with happiness as making more of it.
0:09:12 In sum, if or when you hit your number, good problem
0:09:17 why wouldn’t you spend or give away your incremental wealth?
0:09:22 Why wouldn’t we pursue real wealth?
0:09:24 Happiness, a sense of belonging,
0:09:26 being part of something bigger than ourselves.
0:09:29 Any philanthropic effort is probably better than none at all
0:09:34 but not all giving is created equal.
0:09:37 There’s too much tech and finance bro PR boosting
0:09:40 and not enough actual giving.
0:09:43 Exhibit A, in 2010, ambitious Newark mayor Corey Booker
0:09:48 wanted to attract $200 million to fix Newark’s
0:09:53 corrupt and broken public school system.
0:09:56 He convinced Mark Zuckerberg to pledge $100 million
0:10:00 and investor Bill Ackman to add $25 million.
0:10:05 Then he, Zuck and Governor Chris Christie
0:10:08 all went on Oprah to announce their grand plan.
0:10:11 After the show aired, Zuck went back to depressing teens
0:10:15 and coarsening our discourse.
0:10:17 Christie became a full-time presidential candidate
0:10:20 and Booker rode the attention to DC.
0:10:23 The $200 million disappeared into the same corrupt
0:10:27 and broken school system without a trace.
0:10:30 Were they wrong to invest in Newark’s schools?
0:10:34 No, just not effective.
0:10:36 Without a sustained structural investment
0:10:40 in infrastructure, money from the wealthy
0:10:44 is often just a sugar high.
0:10:46 Exhibit B, far too much billionaire philanthropy
0:10:52 isn’t giving but a 12 carat misdirection,
0:10:56 shuffling money to avoid taxes and sustain dynasties.
0:11:00 41% of giving from the ultra wealthy
0:11:05 goes to private foundations and donor-advised funds.
0:11:10 These organizations pay board members, consultants
0:11:13 and others donate money to one another
0:11:15 and may never plant one tree or dig one well.
0:11:19 Many are warehouses for money to grow tax-free,
0:11:24 in effect subsidizing billionaire investing
0:11:26 with taxpayer money.
0:11:27 The super wealthy have weaponized the tax code
0:11:31 to hoard wealth and then take the moral high ground
0:11:34 with philanthropy that is camouflage for taxes owed.
0:11:38 For every dollar a billionaire donates to charity,
0:11:43 the government loses 74 cents in revenue.
0:11:47 Exhibit C, the giving pledge is a promise
0:11:52 to give the majority of your wealth away
0:11:54 by the time you die.
0:11:56 The pledge receives a lot of press.
0:11:59 Bill Gates and Warren Buffett introduced it
0:12:01 in an effort to spur billionaire giving
0:12:04 above the anemic 10% that’s been the norm.
0:12:07 The good it has done, however,
0:12:09 is dwarfed by its promise and PR.
0:12:13 Giving excludes political donations but that’s about it
0:12:17 and notably permits the same private foundations
0:12:20 that billionaires have long used
0:12:22 to avoid actually giving anyone else a dime.
0:12:26 There’s an organization behind the pledge
0:12:29 that coordinates events and conversations between members
0:12:33 but I believe this has mostly been window dressing,
0:12:36 obscuring an obscene level of income inequality
0:12:39 that runs unfettered.
0:12:41 Gates and Buffett are richer than when they started giving.
0:12:45 The 73 members of the pledge,
0:12:48 who were all billionaires in 2010,
0:12:50 have tripled their collective wealth in the past decade.
0:12:53 Wouldn’t a more apt name be the hoarding pledge?
0:12:58 I’ve written before about Mackenzie Scott,
0:13:03 who practices a below the radar approach
0:13:05 to giving that is inspiring.
0:13:07 Operating with a small team,
0:13:10 she vets possible recipients quietly,
0:13:13 often without their knowledge,
0:13:15 and makes sizable grants with no strings attached,
0:13:19 no PR fanfare, nor any demand for input on issues
0:13:22 she has no domain expertise in.
0:13:25 She’d given nearly $2 billion
0:13:28 before making any public statement
0:13:30 and has given away $14 billion to date.
0:13:33 Her fellow PNW mega-billionaire, Melinda French Gates,
0:13:38 left the Gates Foundation last month
0:13:40 to focus her philanthropy on organizations
0:13:43 working on behalf of women and families,
0:13:46 and she’s already donated $1 billion in gifts
0:13:49 spread across dozens of organizations.
0:13:52 There’s more than meets the eye here.
0:13:58 Evolutionary theory suggests kin selection
0:14:01 and inclusive fitness comes more naturally for women
0:14:05 who are raised to be more empathetic
0:14:08 and have an easier time forming social bonds.
0:14:11 Women are also socialized to be more nurturing,
0:14:14 cooperative, and community-oriented.
0:14:18 The previous sentence is a decent
0:14:19 disarticulation of generosity.
0:14:22 Women develop a desire to help others
0:14:25 without personal recognition.
0:14:27 85% of charitable giving decisions
0:14:30 in affluent households are made or influenced by a woman.
0:14:35 In some, women give differently.
0:14:38 There’s more emphasis on the giving part.
0:14:42 I hit my number almost a decade ago.
0:14:47 I purposefully paused and spent a great deal of time
0:14:51 and consciousness on erecting scaffolding
0:14:54 to update and temper my instinct to acquire more wealth.
0:14:58 I decided I would spend a great deal of money
0:15:01 on experiences with my family or services
0:15:04 that gave me more time to spend with them and my friends.
0:15:08 I likely only have a third of my chronological life left,
0:15:13 but I’m intent on living four thirds of my life
0:15:17 in that remaining time, meaning I want to have
0:15:21 a series of experiences that make me feel closer
0:15:24 to my family and friends and squeeze as much juice
0:15:27 from this seven-continent ellipsoid as possible.
0:15:31 After molesting the earth for 30 years for business,
0:15:36 it became obvious that staying in the most beautiful places
0:15:40 in the most iconic cities meant nothing
0:15:43 when I was there alone.
0:15:44 The previous sentence could also describe my 30s.
0:15:49 It’s as if that decade never happened
0:15:51 as I was mostly alone.
0:15:53 Another observation I’ve made, roaming terror,
0:15:57 is that the U.S. is the best place to make money
0:16:00 and Europe is the best place to spend it,
0:16:03 one of the reasons we moved to London.
0:16:06 In addition, I have a self-imposed tax of 100%.
0:16:11 Each year, I add up my spending
0:16:15 and give that same amount or more away.
0:16:19 The surprise for me around giving
0:16:22 is how masculine it makes me feel.
0:16:25 I feel my strength and skills are protecting and providing.
0:16:29 The hoarding I’ve described above
0:16:33 is relevant to only a small percentage of the population.
0:16:37 What is more prevalent is the hoarding of goodwill.
0:16:41 Each of us has wealth in the form of good intentions,
0:16:45 positive gestures, and comedy toward others.
0:16:49 Do you hoard this goodwill?
0:16:51 The first 40 years of my life, I was cheap with my emotions,
0:16:57 not telling people how impressive they were
0:16:59 or how much I admired and cared about them.
0:17:02 This is the real environmental waste in our society,
0:17:06 possessing the resources to help people
0:17:09 feel better about themselves and not sharing that capital.
0:17:13 After finishing this sentence,
0:17:16 I am going to clear my mind and wish you well.
0:17:20 I want you to be happy and prosperous.
0:17:26 I really do wish you well.
0:17:31 And there’s no reason to hoard that sentiment.
0:17:34 Life is so rich.
0:17:39 (gentle music)
0:17:43 (gentle music)
0:17:45 (upbeat music)
0:17:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]
As read by George Hahn.
Hoarders
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