AI transcript
0:00:03 What’s better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue?
0:00:10 A well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door.
0:00:14 A well-marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool.
0:00:18 Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered.
0:00:23 Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders.
0:00:26 Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply.
0:00:29 Instacart. Groceries that over-deliver.
0:00:36 Hey there, this is Peter Kafka. I’m the host of Channels, the show about what happens when tech and media collide.
0:00:42 And this week, we’re talking to Adam Mosseri, who runs Instagram and who also runs Threads.
0:00:45 And he told me what Threads was originally going to be called.
0:00:52 I called it Textagram as a joke, which unfortunately stuck as a name for months before I managed to kill it.
0:00:53 Textagram, great name.
0:00:55 You’re making me regret telling you this.
0:01:00 That’s this week on Channels, wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.
0:01:04 Megan Rapinoe here.
0:01:12 This week on A Touch More, we are live from New York for the Liberty’s home opener with an extra special guest, Brianna Stewart.
0:01:20 We talk about the Liberty’s newest additions, the best lessons Stewie ever got from Sue, and what it was like to be at the Met Gala this year.
0:01:25 And of course, we couldn’t let her go without asking her about that 2024 foul call.
0:01:29 Check out the latest episode of A Touch More wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.
0:01:37 I’m Scott Galloay, and this is No Mercy, No Malice.
0:01:45 The super rich, the 0.1%, are turning their backs on America and the values that paved the way for their prosperity.
0:01:50 Rise of Tologarchs, as read by George Hahn.
0:02:09 The 0.1% have insulated themselves from the general public with their own schools, health care, transportation, security, and justice system.
0:02:16 The members of this rarefied class are unfazed by the chaos unfolding outside their gated properties.
0:02:24 They’re indifferent to Roe v. Wade’s demise, immigration roundups, and rising prices at Walmart.
0:02:29 If a family member has an unwanted pregnancy or mobs arrive with pitchforks,
0:02:34 they’ll always have access to Mifepristone and residency in Dubai, London, or Milan.
0:02:41 They’re invested in hedge funds and fine art, not in the future of America.
0:02:49 With the means to hire shrewd defense attorneys and aggressive PR firms that weaponize social media bots,
0:02:54 the super rich are protected by the law, but not bound by it.
0:03:00 The lower 99% are bound by the law, but not protected by it.
0:03:06 Living in their bubble, the extremely rich express shock and horror,
0:03:10 but opt not to rock the $300 million boat.
0:03:15 Along with prominent Republicans, Democrats, and corporate CEOs,
0:03:19 they’re brothers in the disarmament of our democracy.
0:03:28 They’re forging an unholy alliance, tolerating the descent into kleptocracy and the slow burn toward fascism.
0:03:32 If the heat pierces the shields they’ve erected,
0:03:38 these transnational oligarchs, or toligarchs, as I’ve labeled them,
0:03:44 can grab their bags, write a check, and purchase a golden visa to Greece or Portugal.
0:03:52 With vast wealth comes enormous influence.
0:03:55 Money is a proxy for power.
0:04:02 The top 0.1% have more than five times as much wealth as the bottom 50%.
0:04:11 Just 100 billionaire families invested a record $2.6 billion in federal elections last year,
0:04:14 one of every six dollars spent overall.
0:04:19 These wealthy individuals could galvanize politicians
0:04:23 and push back against policies that undermine American values,
0:04:26 but they’re largely quiet.
0:04:33 When you fail to speak out against threats to democracy, equality, and the rule of law,
0:04:40 you turn your back on the people and country that elevated you to the iron throne of prosperity.
0:04:44 Even the Lannisters always paid their debts.
0:04:47 There’s a clear pattern.
0:04:52 As wealth concentrates, political spending capacity increases,
0:04:57 which secures policy outcomes that further concentrate wealth,
0:05:03 creating a self-reinforcing cycle that undermines democratic equality.
0:05:08 The most dramatic acceleration of this trend occurred after Citizens United,
0:05:15 the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that opened the doors to unlimited spending on American elections.
0:05:18 Consider the following stats.
0:05:25 In 1963, the wealthiest American families, the top 1%,
0:05:29 had 36 times the wealth of families in the middle.
0:05:33 By 2022, that had grown to 71 times.
0:05:40 Billionaire political spending is up 160-fold since Citizens United.
0:05:47 And the wealthiest 400 U.S. families paid an average federal individual income tax rate
0:05:55 of just 8.2% between 2010 and 2018, according to a 2021 White House study.
0:06:03 In sum, as wealth inequality gets worse, it gets even worse.
0:06:11 In his first 100 days as president in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt moved swiftly to lift the country
0:06:15 out of the Great Depression, building the foundation for his New Deal.
0:06:23 As historians have observed, he had another objective, to prove democracy works.
0:06:31 But the president’s programs sparked criticism from rich Americans who regarded him as a traitor to his class.
0:06:38 A powerful group, including the DuPonts, the founders of General Motors, and assorted oil millionaires,
0:06:42 launched the American Liberty League to fight back.
0:06:50 Today, we again need some bold class traitors to address America’s worsening inequalities.
0:06:58 Over the past two decades, the top 0.1% of American households have seen their share of the country’s wealth
0:07:04 rise from about 10% to 14%, according to Federal Reserve data.
0:07:15 During the same period, the bottom 50% of Americans have watched their stake go from about 2.5% to 2.5%.
0:07:23 More than $22 trillion, and counting, is in the hands of the 0.1%,
0:07:28 while just $4 trillion is spread out across the bottom half of the country.
0:07:35 New data last month showed that $1 trillion of wealth,
0:07:38 more than the value of Switzerland’s economy,
0:07:44 was created for the 19 richest American households in 2024.
0:07:55 It would take 726,000 years for 10 typical American workers to earn the $365 billion
0:08:01 the country’s 10 richest billionaires made in the past 12 months.
0:08:07 The rapidly expanding class of tolegarchs remains silent.
0:08:13 Not because they’re content with the disorder, disruption, and erosion of American values,
0:08:16 but because they continue to get richer.
0:08:22 They lack the courage to make any noise, and their rights are largely portable.
0:08:27 And the gap would only widen when Trump’s big, beautiful tax bill,
0:08:29 which would take from the poor and give to the rich.
0:08:40 The top 0.1% on average would reportedly gain more than $389,000 in after-tax income in 2026.
0:08:46 Just a few decades ago, when the rich felt more invested in America,
0:08:50 such stats would have triggered a greater outcry.
0:08:53 However, things have changed.
0:08:57 Rather than using its platform to strengthen America,
0:09:02 the country’s aristocracy is focusing more on its exit strategy if shit gets real.
0:09:08 When the wealthiest 0.1% talk about diversification today,
0:09:13 there’s a good chance they’re thinking about passports, not private equity.
0:09:18 One part of the escape plan are those golden visas,
0:09:24 which allow foreigners to live and work in another country by making a large investment,
0:09:29 starting at around $280,000 and stretching into the millions,
0:09:33 and often offer a path to a second passport.
0:09:42 Among the most attractive destinations are Greece, Italy, Malta, Panama, Portugal, and Thailand.
0:09:47 One investment migration advisor, no doubt a growing business,
0:09:53 said in January that it had registered a 1,000% increase in interest
0:09:57 in second residencies and citizenships over the past five years.
0:10:04 Bloomberg has chronicled how rich Americans are flex-working on the French Riviera,
0:10:11 preparing to swoop in if New Zealand relaxes its ban on foreigners buying homes,
0:10:16 and flocking to Spain despite the end of its golden visa.
0:10:23 In Britain, meanwhile, record numbers of Americans applied for citizenship in 2024,
0:10:28 especially in the months leading up to the start of President Trump’s term.
0:10:34 The surge in interest in getting another passport was attributed to the president’s re-election bid
0:10:38 and victory in November, as well as tax changes in the UK
0:10:43 that have pushed rich Americans to obtain British passports before they leave the country.
0:10:50 The number of Americans buying prime London real estate in Knightsbridge, Mayfair,
0:10:57 and other expensive neighborhoods surpassed Chinese purchasers for the first time last year.
0:11:04 A story in The Guardian earlier this month quoted a chef and business owner in the Cotswolds
0:11:07 saying the region was becoming the Hamptons of England.
0:11:17 Globally, a record 135,000 millionaires are projected to migrate to a new country this year.
0:11:21 In the UK, where I’ve been living for a few years,
0:11:25 not a day goes by without a story about millionaires fleeing the country
0:11:29 in search of lower tax jurisdictions or greater economic stability.
0:11:36 A record number of British citizens have applied for Irish passports five years post-Brexit
0:11:40 as they strive to gain backdoor access to the European Union.
0:11:47 At the same time, the U.S. is hoping to attract tologarchs moving in the opposite direction.
0:11:52 While America carries out a wave of arrests and visa revocations of students,
0:11:57 it’s moving forward with a new gold-card visa program
0:12:00 that could lead to permanent residency for wealthy individuals
0:12:04 who are willing to pay a fee of about $5 million.
0:12:13 Anybody who is willing, i.e. needs, to pay $5 million for a visa to a Western country
0:12:16 is not moving, but fleeing.
0:12:23 American prosperity and rights blessed me with the opportunity to move to the UK.
0:12:29 These included access to family planning that staved off poverty for my single mom,
0:12:33 the free and accessible education I got at UCLA-Berkeley,
0:12:36 thanks to affirmative action programs, i.e. Pell Grants,
0:12:39 and the country’s culture of entrepreneurship.
0:12:44 The U.S. also offered the rule of law and consistency,
0:12:48 which created the deepest pools of capital in the world.
0:12:52 I’ve raised close to $1 billion for my startups and projects.
0:12:59 An unrivaled talent pool of citizens and the best and brightest from abroad.
0:13:00 Immigrants.
0:13:06 Numerous European and Asian clients who enjoyed working with the good guys.
0:13:07 Americans.
0:13:15 Insane fiscal management that enabled massive investments in the technologies that have made me
0:13:17 and hundreds of my colleagues wealthy.
0:13:22 Those factors opened many doors for my family,
0:13:25 including this one allowing me to cross the Atlantic for a spell.
0:13:30 This is not a time to plan an exit or stay abroad,
0:13:33 but to return home.
0:13:36 When I head back next year,
0:13:39 I’ll use my voice and proximity to money and power
0:13:44 to push for change to make America America again.
0:13:45 And by the way,
0:13:48 for those suffering from TDS,
0:13:49 Trump Devotion Syndrome,
0:13:51 hope is on the way.
0:13:53 EBA,
0:13:55 Evidence-Based Analysis,
0:13:57 or PBR,
0:13:59 Basic Pattern Recognition,
0:14:02 should eventually pry people away
0:14:04 from the criminality and stupidity
0:14:06 of this administration.
0:14:07 For now,
0:14:12 the tologarchs are aligned with Fortune 500 CEOs
0:14:17 who privately believe the country is on a dangerous course
0:14:18 but publicly cower.
0:14:23 Just as the first corporate titans to stand up for what’s right
0:14:26 will reap reputational and commercial rewards,
0:14:28 tologarch-class traders
0:14:33 will earn a place in history books as American patriots.
0:14:35 At a minimum,
0:14:38 if your blessings have not translated
0:14:41 into the courage and obligation
0:14:44 to use your power and platform
0:14:46 to publicly voice concern,
0:14:48 then do us all a favor
0:14:51 and privately shut the fuck up.
0:14:56 Life is so rich.
0:15:34 Thank you.
0:00:10 A well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door.
0:00:14 A well-marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool.
0:00:18 Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered.
0:00:23 Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders.
0:00:26 Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply.
0:00:29 Instacart. Groceries that over-deliver.
0:00:36 Hey there, this is Peter Kafka. I’m the host of Channels, the show about what happens when tech and media collide.
0:00:42 And this week, we’re talking to Adam Mosseri, who runs Instagram and who also runs Threads.
0:00:45 And he told me what Threads was originally going to be called.
0:00:52 I called it Textagram as a joke, which unfortunately stuck as a name for months before I managed to kill it.
0:00:53 Textagram, great name.
0:00:55 You’re making me regret telling you this.
0:01:00 That’s this week on Channels, wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.
0:01:04 Megan Rapinoe here.
0:01:12 This week on A Touch More, we are live from New York for the Liberty’s home opener with an extra special guest, Brianna Stewart.
0:01:20 We talk about the Liberty’s newest additions, the best lessons Stewie ever got from Sue, and what it was like to be at the Met Gala this year.
0:01:25 And of course, we couldn’t let her go without asking her about that 2024 foul call.
0:01:29 Check out the latest episode of A Touch More wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.
0:01:37 I’m Scott Galloay, and this is No Mercy, No Malice.
0:01:45 The super rich, the 0.1%, are turning their backs on America and the values that paved the way for their prosperity.
0:01:50 Rise of Tologarchs, as read by George Hahn.
0:02:09 The 0.1% have insulated themselves from the general public with their own schools, health care, transportation, security, and justice system.
0:02:16 The members of this rarefied class are unfazed by the chaos unfolding outside their gated properties.
0:02:24 They’re indifferent to Roe v. Wade’s demise, immigration roundups, and rising prices at Walmart.
0:02:29 If a family member has an unwanted pregnancy or mobs arrive with pitchforks,
0:02:34 they’ll always have access to Mifepristone and residency in Dubai, London, or Milan.
0:02:41 They’re invested in hedge funds and fine art, not in the future of America.
0:02:49 With the means to hire shrewd defense attorneys and aggressive PR firms that weaponize social media bots,
0:02:54 the super rich are protected by the law, but not bound by it.
0:03:00 The lower 99% are bound by the law, but not protected by it.
0:03:06 Living in their bubble, the extremely rich express shock and horror,
0:03:10 but opt not to rock the $300 million boat.
0:03:15 Along with prominent Republicans, Democrats, and corporate CEOs,
0:03:19 they’re brothers in the disarmament of our democracy.
0:03:28 They’re forging an unholy alliance, tolerating the descent into kleptocracy and the slow burn toward fascism.
0:03:32 If the heat pierces the shields they’ve erected,
0:03:38 these transnational oligarchs, or toligarchs, as I’ve labeled them,
0:03:44 can grab their bags, write a check, and purchase a golden visa to Greece or Portugal.
0:03:52 With vast wealth comes enormous influence.
0:03:55 Money is a proxy for power.
0:04:02 The top 0.1% have more than five times as much wealth as the bottom 50%.
0:04:11 Just 100 billionaire families invested a record $2.6 billion in federal elections last year,
0:04:14 one of every six dollars spent overall.
0:04:19 These wealthy individuals could galvanize politicians
0:04:23 and push back against policies that undermine American values,
0:04:26 but they’re largely quiet.
0:04:33 When you fail to speak out against threats to democracy, equality, and the rule of law,
0:04:40 you turn your back on the people and country that elevated you to the iron throne of prosperity.
0:04:44 Even the Lannisters always paid their debts.
0:04:47 There’s a clear pattern.
0:04:52 As wealth concentrates, political spending capacity increases,
0:04:57 which secures policy outcomes that further concentrate wealth,
0:05:03 creating a self-reinforcing cycle that undermines democratic equality.
0:05:08 The most dramatic acceleration of this trend occurred after Citizens United,
0:05:15 the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that opened the doors to unlimited spending on American elections.
0:05:18 Consider the following stats.
0:05:25 In 1963, the wealthiest American families, the top 1%,
0:05:29 had 36 times the wealth of families in the middle.
0:05:33 By 2022, that had grown to 71 times.
0:05:40 Billionaire political spending is up 160-fold since Citizens United.
0:05:47 And the wealthiest 400 U.S. families paid an average federal individual income tax rate
0:05:55 of just 8.2% between 2010 and 2018, according to a 2021 White House study.
0:06:03 In sum, as wealth inequality gets worse, it gets even worse.
0:06:11 In his first 100 days as president in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt moved swiftly to lift the country
0:06:15 out of the Great Depression, building the foundation for his New Deal.
0:06:23 As historians have observed, he had another objective, to prove democracy works.
0:06:31 But the president’s programs sparked criticism from rich Americans who regarded him as a traitor to his class.
0:06:38 A powerful group, including the DuPonts, the founders of General Motors, and assorted oil millionaires,
0:06:42 launched the American Liberty League to fight back.
0:06:50 Today, we again need some bold class traitors to address America’s worsening inequalities.
0:06:58 Over the past two decades, the top 0.1% of American households have seen their share of the country’s wealth
0:07:04 rise from about 10% to 14%, according to Federal Reserve data.
0:07:15 During the same period, the bottom 50% of Americans have watched their stake go from about 2.5% to 2.5%.
0:07:23 More than $22 trillion, and counting, is in the hands of the 0.1%,
0:07:28 while just $4 trillion is spread out across the bottom half of the country.
0:07:35 New data last month showed that $1 trillion of wealth,
0:07:38 more than the value of Switzerland’s economy,
0:07:44 was created for the 19 richest American households in 2024.
0:07:55 It would take 726,000 years for 10 typical American workers to earn the $365 billion
0:08:01 the country’s 10 richest billionaires made in the past 12 months.
0:08:07 The rapidly expanding class of tolegarchs remains silent.
0:08:13 Not because they’re content with the disorder, disruption, and erosion of American values,
0:08:16 but because they continue to get richer.
0:08:22 They lack the courage to make any noise, and their rights are largely portable.
0:08:27 And the gap would only widen when Trump’s big, beautiful tax bill,
0:08:29 which would take from the poor and give to the rich.
0:08:40 The top 0.1% on average would reportedly gain more than $389,000 in after-tax income in 2026.
0:08:46 Just a few decades ago, when the rich felt more invested in America,
0:08:50 such stats would have triggered a greater outcry.
0:08:53 However, things have changed.
0:08:57 Rather than using its platform to strengthen America,
0:09:02 the country’s aristocracy is focusing more on its exit strategy if shit gets real.
0:09:08 When the wealthiest 0.1% talk about diversification today,
0:09:13 there’s a good chance they’re thinking about passports, not private equity.
0:09:18 One part of the escape plan are those golden visas,
0:09:24 which allow foreigners to live and work in another country by making a large investment,
0:09:29 starting at around $280,000 and stretching into the millions,
0:09:33 and often offer a path to a second passport.
0:09:42 Among the most attractive destinations are Greece, Italy, Malta, Panama, Portugal, and Thailand.
0:09:47 One investment migration advisor, no doubt a growing business,
0:09:53 said in January that it had registered a 1,000% increase in interest
0:09:57 in second residencies and citizenships over the past five years.
0:10:04 Bloomberg has chronicled how rich Americans are flex-working on the French Riviera,
0:10:11 preparing to swoop in if New Zealand relaxes its ban on foreigners buying homes,
0:10:16 and flocking to Spain despite the end of its golden visa.
0:10:23 In Britain, meanwhile, record numbers of Americans applied for citizenship in 2024,
0:10:28 especially in the months leading up to the start of President Trump’s term.
0:10:34 The surge in interest in getting another passport was attributed to the president’s re-election bid
0:10:38 and victory in November, as well as tax changes in the UK
0:10:43 that have pushed rich Americans to obtain British passports before they leave the country.
0:10:50 The number of Americans buying prime London real estate in Knightsbridge, Mayfair,
0:10:57 and other expensive neighborhoods surpassed Chinese purchasers for the first time last year.
0:11:04 A story in The Guardian earlier this month quoted a chef and business owner in the Cotswolds
0:11:07 saying the region was becoming the Hamptons of England.
0:11:17 Globally, a record 135,000 millionaires are projected to migrate to a new country this year.
0:11:21 In the UK, where I’ve been living for a few years,
0:11:25 not a day goes by without a story about millionaires fleeing the country
0:11:29 in search of lower tax jurisdictions or greater economic stability.
0:11:36 A record number of British citizens have applied for Irish passports five years post-Brexit
0:11:40 as they strive to gain backdoor access to the European Union.
0:11:47 At the same time, the U.S. is hoping to attract tologarchs moving in the opposite direction.
0:11:52 While America carries out a wave of arrests and visa revocations of students,
0:11:57 it’s moving forward with a new gold-card visa program
0:12:00 that could lead to permanent residency for wealthy individuals
0:12:04 who are willing to pay a fee of about $5 million.
0:12:13 Anybody who is willing, i.e. needs, to pay $5 million for a visa to a Western country
0:12:16 is not moving, but fleeing.
0:12:23 American prosperity and rights blessed me with the opportunity to move to the UK.
0:12:29 These included access to family planning that staved off poverty for my single mom,
0:12:33 the free and accessible education I got at UCLA-Berkeley,
0:12:36 thanks to affirmative action programs, i.e. Pell Grants,
0:12:39 and the country’s culture of entrepreneurship.
0:12:44 The U.S. also offered the rule of law and consistency,
0:12:48 which created the deepest pools of capital in the world.
0:12:52 I’ve raised close to $1 billion for my startups and projects.
0:12:59 An unrivaled talent pool of citizens and the best and brightest from abroad.
0:13:00 Immigrants.
0:13:06 Numerous European and Asian clients who enjoyed working with the good guys.
0:13:07 Americans.
0:13:15 Insane fiscal management that enabled massive investments in the technologies that have made me
0:13:17 and hundreds of my colleagues wealthy.
0:13:22 Those factors opened many doors for my family,
0:13:25 including this one allowing me to cross the Atlantic for a spell.
0:13:30 This is not a time to plan an exit or stay abroad,
0:13:33 but to return home.
0:13:36 When I head back next year,
0:13:39 I’ll use my voice and proximity to money and power
0:13:44 to push for change to make America America again.
0:13:45 And by the way,
0:13:48 for those suffering from TDS,
0:13:49 Trump Devotion Syndrome,
0:13:51 hope is on the way.
0:13:53 EBA,
0:13:55 Evidence-Based Analysis,
0:13:57 or PBR,
0:13:59 Basic Pattern Recognition,
0:14:02 should eventually pry people away
0:14:04 from the criminality and stupidity
0:14:06 of this administration.
0:14:07 For now,
0:14:12 the tologarchs are aligned with Fortune 500 CEOs
0:14:17 who privately believe the country is on a dangerous course
0:14:18 but publicly cower.
0:14:23 Just as the first corporate titans to stand up for what’s right
0:14:26 will reap reputational and commercial rewards,
0:14:28 tologarch-class traders
0:14:33 will earn a place in history books as American patriots.
0:14:35 At a minimum,
0:14:38 if your blessings have not translated
0:14:41 into the courage and obligation
0:14:44 to use your power and platform
0:14:46 to publicly voice concern,
0:14:48 then do us all a favor
0:14:51 and privately shut the fuck up.
0:14:56 Life is so rich.
0:15:34 Thank you.
As read by George Hahn.
Rise of the Toligarchs
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