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Scott Galloway
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Anthony Scaramucci
She's made up her mind to live pretty smart, learn to budget responsibly right from the start. She spends a little less and puts more into savings Keeps her blood pressure low and credit score raises. She's curtin debt right out of her life. She tracks her cash flow on a spreadsheet at night.
Matthew Remsky
Boring money moves make kinda lame songs.
Derek Beres
But they sound pretty sweet to your wallet.
Julian Walker
Brilliantly boring since 1865.
Richard Reeves
But if you wake up and you're 28 and shit's hard and you aren't killing it and you haven't bought a meme coin, you don't have millions of dollars, the first thing I tell young men is forgive yourself. As long as you're trying, as long as you're being a good person, a lot of it is out of your control.
Derek Beres
Hey everybody. This brief is called Galloway and the.
Matthew Remsky
Lost Boys of Capitalism Part one with part two dropping on Monday on Patreon for subscrib of which you could be one. Now part one is a 101 introduction to the rising surge of an earnest liberal but mildly reactionary manosphere world, as promoted currently in a limited podcast series.
Derek Beres
Called the Lost Boys put out by Anthony Scaramucci and Professor G. Or Scott Galloway. Now Galloway has a related book coming.
Matthew Remsky
Out this November that is ambitiously titled Notes on Being a Man.
Derek Beres
And my bet is that it's going to be a big mainstream deal on the level of like a new Jonathan Haidt book. And Galloway and Haidt are friends by the way. And Galloway is interesting to me because.
Matthew Remsky
He is a different flavor of manfluencer. He's not Jordan Peterson, he's not Andrew.
Derek Beres
Huberman, but he can be friendly with both.
Matthew Remsky
He's got a big tent.
Derek Beres
He's a self made business tycoon turned professor with a twist. He describes himself as a greedy bastard.
Matthew Remsky
In his youth, but has now developed a kind of populist economics view that overlaps with a large chunk of the Sanders program.
Derek Beres
So he's really strong on observing generational.
Matthew Remsky
Wealth issues that as neoliberalism has accelerated.
Derek Beres
Wealth has continued to funnel to the.
Matthew Remsky
Top and from the young to the old. And that makes him really interesting. He's a chastened money whisperer transitioning into a young man whisperer.
Derek Beres
And I'm going to argue that that is really compelling, but it's also a.
Matthew Remsky
Paradigmatic and political mismatch.
Derek Beres
So I also want a flag for.
Matthew Remsky
Everyone where these ideas are coming from so that you can watch how the Galloway Manosphere cultural Moment rolls out this fall. I'll be reviewing the book then, too.
Derek Beres
But first, some housekeeping. I'm Matthew Remsky, and this is Conspirituality. And what we do here is we investigate the intersections of conspiracy theories and spiritual influence to uncover cults, pseudoscience, and authoritarian extremism. And you can follow me, you can.
Matthew Remsky
Follow Derek, you can follow Julian on bluesky. The podcast itself is on Instagram and threads under its own handle.
Derek Beres
And please support our Patreon and the.
Matthew Remsky
Patreons of all the independent media outlets.
Derek Beres
You value and can afford to support.
Matthew Remsky
Because at this point, if you depend on reporters and opinion writers who hold.
Derek Beres
The line against fascism, you know, you gotta figure out how to support them. Okay, so this first episode will be an overview of the Lost Boys podcast.
Matthew Remsky
Themes and what guests like Richard Reeves bring to the table.
Derek Beres
And I'm focusing on Reeves, especially towards the end of this episode, because Galloway.
Matthew Remsky
Calls him his Yoda on the sociology of young men.
Derek Beres
But as we'll see, Reeves's mastery of.
Matthew Remsky
The Force has some blind spots that.
Derek Beres
Happen to mesh with the Lost Boy's own biases. Now, in the second episode, which will be a little bit longer than this.
Matthew Remsky
One, I'm going to go into a granular reading of episode seven of the Lost Boys series, where the guest is Deirdre Scaramucci.
Derek Beres
This is Anthony's partner and wife. And I'm going to take that time because together, these three disclose a ton.
Matthew Remsky
I think a lot more than they realize, actually, about their Gen X childhoods and their current parenting experience.
Derek Beres
And that includes their rationalizations of losing emotional control. And so I think, you know, if I'm fair about this, your takeaway will be anywhere from, you know, something generous like, these are unhealed healers trying their best to. These are grandiose guys who are completely unqualified in psychology, and they're only semi.
Matthew Remsky
Conscious of their rage issues, and they're.
Derek Beres
Searching out a new grift in the centrist manosphere geared towards helping young men comply with capitalism instead of change it. So somewhere between those two landing points, I think you'll find a place now, that second take about compliance with capitalism might follow, obviously from the fact that.
Matthew Remsky
Galloway and the Mooch are self made multimillionaires and big time movers and shakers. Galloway holds a BA in Economics from.
Derek Beres
UCLA and an MBA in Marketing from UC Berkeley. Currently he's professor of Marketing at NYU.
Matthew Remsky
Stern School of Business, where his teaching.
Derek Beres
And research focuses on brand strategy, digital marketing, and the social impact of technology and business. And apparently he's very good at that these days. He's like on lots and lots of podcasts. He talks for a living. Now, the Mooch has a J.D.
Matthew Remsky
From Harvard Law and a B.A. in Economics from Tufts.
Derek Beres
Most famously, I think he was Donald.
Matthew Remsky
Trump's communications director for 11 days only in 2017 before getting fired over what.
Derek Beres
He thought was an off record interview that I think produced the funniest line.
Matthew Remsky
In all of White House reporting history.
Derek Beres
Quote, I'm not Steve Bannon. I'm not trying to suck my own cock. I'm not trying to build my own brand off the fucking strength of the President.
Matthew Remsky
I'm here to serve the country.
Derek Beres
So kudos to the Mooch for that.
Matthew Remsky
Now, conservative estimates put Galloway's net worth at $40 million and Scaramucci's at 90 million. And a big chunk of the mooches is now coming from Bitcoin.
Derek Beres
And that might put him at odds with Galloway, who's openly skeptical about the nature and stability of crypto. But given this wealth, they often sound.
Matthew Remsky
Conflicted on the distance between their childhoods.
Derek Beres
And where they've wound up in their lives. Like, both of them come from blue collar, modest backgrounds and now they share.
Matthew Remsky
A kind of liberal politics, jacked by.
Derek Beres
This low key, testosterone fueled individualism. In other words, I think in many.
Matthew Remsky
Ways these guys are a Democrat consultancy dream team. They are rich guys who are pulling.
Derek Beres
For the little guy while leaving real.
Matthew Remsky
Socialism off the table.
Derek Beres
So I think you can look for.
Matthew Remsky
Them both to be playing outsized roles.
Derek Beres
In, you know, Democrat manosphere outreach outreach projects like Speaking to American Men, for example, that we covered a couple of weeks ago. Galloway openly supports Democratic candidates and Scaramucci has nominally returned after his stint with Trump. Now, in some ways, these episodes reviewing the Lost Boys podcast are spiritual successors.
Matthew Remsky
To that piece that we did on Speaking to American Men, but also to.
Derek Beres
A Patreon series that I've been running called Imaginary Children, which is about how our politics often form around very abstract.
Matthew Remsky
Notions of saving the children, which is a trope that can intensify to the.
Derek Beres
Level of conspiracy theory. But the problem is that these notions are much more about adult crises and.
Matthew Remsky
Regret than about anything else.
Derek Beres
Now you'll notice, however, that I started with that cold open clip where Galloway is talking about forgiveness, because it was.
Matthew Remsky
In my view, the best passage I could find in a podcast in which.
Derek Beres
Galloway and the Mooch are actually just.
Matthew Remsky
Test ballooning a new manosphere space.
Richard Reeves
A lot of where you end up in life, you have no control over success and failure. Be humble when you're successful. Forgive yourself when you fail, as long as you're trying every day and you're a good person. So the first thing I tell kids or young men is, you gotta forgive yourself. You gotta get past this notion that you have fucked up and you're a failure, that. Just stop it. Stop it.
Derek Beres
I wanted to shelve the criticism to start with something positive.
Matthew Remsky
This is not usually in my nature, because for all of the Gen X boomer bluster that these guys put out, there are moments in which Galloway especially.
Derek Beres
Can sound soft, receptive.
Matthew Remsky
And as he expresses in that clip.
Derek Beres
Forgiving, his typical impassioned but also agonizing drone can become softening or even comforting at some points.
Matthew Remsky
And it's in these moments that I.
Derek Beres
Really get the hidden appeal of capitalist apologist parenting.
Matthew Remsky
In its inability to imagine alternative ways of organizing society, in its resignation to.
Derek Beres
The cruelty of the world, it can squeeze out a kind of tender fatalism.
Matthew Remsky
And that's what I hear in certain key moments from Galloway.
Derek Beres
But fatalism in relation to what?
Matthew Remsky
Not to death, not to sickness, not to infirmity, not to disability, not to uncertainty. The fatalism centers on the mysterious movements of the market. In his tenderest moments, Galloway seems to.
Derek Beres
Want to say, you know, Guy, this is all about luck.
Matthew Remsky
You can't control the outcomes and therefore it's not your fault.
Derek Beres
And it sounds like he's talking about.
Matthew Remsky
An existential reality to which ego surrender is an appropriate response.
Derek Beres
But what happens is that he doesn't really. Maybe he can't really sit with that for long.
Matthew Remsky
There's no resting in God or the unknown because the market churns on.
Derek Beres
It will not stop.
Matthew Remsky
And so he pivots from forgiving yourself.
Derek Beres
To driving yourself forward with self help tricks. So Galloway, like in that forgiveness passage.
Matthew Remsky
He hurdles straight into the paradoxical checklist of what every young man should do to excel at capitalism after they forgive themselves for having been beat up by capitalism.
Derek Beres
So the advice is fine for what it is, but, you know, he says.
Matthew Remsky
Find the time you've wasted on your phone each week and then reschedule it. To get jacked at the gym or.
Derek Beres
Get any job you can, because making.
Matthew Remsky
Some money will make you hungry for more.
Derek Beres
And learn how to talk your way.
Matthew Remsky
Up the employment ladder, because most hires happen by word of mouth. So it's all fine advice.
Derek Beres
But Scaramucci pivots back to ask about.
Matthew Remsky
When Galloway had to learn self forgiveness.
Derek Beres
And Galloway launches into this long litany.
Matthew Remsky
Of failed student election campaigns in high.
Derek Beres
School, failed businesses, a bankruptcy, a divorce.
Matthew Remsky
But then he settles on one moment.
Derek Beres
Of what he calls his deepest shame.
Richard Reeves
I was 42 when I had my first kid. And when my youngest or my oldest came rotating out of my girlfriend, I was expecting bright angelic lights and opera singers and that I'd immediately be in love with this thing. I was so nauseous. I've never felt that bad. I've never felt that bad without throwing up and passing out. The doctors had to turn to me and say, if you go down, we're not doing anything. We're focused on the kid and its mother. Because they looked at me and they thought, this guy is not doing very well. And they thought it was because that I was squeamish. And I want to be clear. I think childbirth is disgusting. I want to go back to the 60s where you're smoking a cigarette and bring the baby out. But that wasn't it. I was so incredibly nauseous because I felt the overwhelming emotion I had when my first son was born was not joy, it was shame. And that is, I had always found a way to make a lot of money. I'd always had a ton of blessings, privilege, and I was very talented. I'm not a modest person. I think I'm a monster. I'm talented, I work hard. But I'd also had a lot of privilege. I had made millions of dollars. At some point, I'd been worth tens of millions. But because I always kept doubling down, always thought I could overcome anything, always went all in. And that was the Gestalt and 90s and 2000s Internet. You know, are you in it to win it? The stories of Mark Zuckerberg pushing back the offer for 30 billion. So I was all in on my E commerce startup red envelope when chapter 11. Three weeks before my first kid was born, I walked into that delivery room worth negative $2 million. Had having had been worth 10 or 20 or 30 million at some point, several points before that. And all of a sudden I felt not only personal failure, but for the first time, my first emotion as a father was that I was failing my son.
Derek Beres
Let me Just pause there, because I think this is key. At a peak emotional point of Galloway's.
Matthew Remsky
Life, the overriding reality in the room is money. The market which he made choices in.
Derek Beres
But which is also defined by such.
Matthew Remsky
Fickle mystery that you can only forgive your own failures. Within it is the governing reality.
Derek Beres
This is a guy in relationship with a cruel God, but he can't get enough. Now, I can't say I'm an expert.
Matthew Remsky
In the Galloway opus.
Derek Beres
As I said, this guy talks basically for a living. But it did feel like this passage.
Matthew Remsky
Exposed something very important, but also a common American reality. He's not locating his deepest sense of.
Derek Beres
Shame in some realization about his inability to love or be generous, or to.
Matthew Remsky
Be self aware or patient, or exist in the present moment with a partner and a child. He is saying that his one job in the world, as he thought about.
Derek Beres
It then, was to provide money and.
Matthew Remsky
Protection for these dependents. And that at that moment he was an utter failure.
Derek Beres
I could have put a few million away, he says, as though that would.
Matthew Remsky
Have been the sane and possible choice for everyone.
Derek Beres
I'm starting here because I think it.
Matthew Remsky
Explains how liberal, libertarian or even reactionary parenting can affect an earnest emotional bond with overtones of spiritual honesty, while at the same time defaulting into an apologetics for the very systems that make us suffer. It winds up creating a loop.
Derek Beres
Forgive yourself when you get beat up so that you can get back in there and bet on the market.
Matthew Remsky
And the wild thing is that they both, both Galloway and Lamouche, acknowledge how rare it is for that hamster wheel to actually work.
Derek Beres
Forgive yourself and then recommit to the.
Matthew Remsky
Grind for a slim chance at being in the 1%.
Derek Beres
So you might notice already I'm totally obsessed with understanding how this works.
Matthew Remsky
Because in my opinion, this is a.
Derek Beres
Very, very attractive dead end. Because as parents we can model self forgiveness in the shadow of oppressive systems.
Matthew Remsky
But the next step is the most important. In the next step, we can use that moment to imagine something else, or at least decide, I'm not going back into a bullshit world again, and I'm not sending you back into it either. But unfortunately, that bullshit world seems to be all that Galloway and Scaramucci know. It's not their fault.
Derek Beres
What else would they know? Here's the trick with Galloway. He says that this is hopeless in several different ways, but he just doesn't.
Matthew Remsky
Really have another answer for it. In that same episode, he admits that he went into that birthing room in a state of mind in which he.
Derek Beres
Had the following perception.
Richard Reeves
You Know, Anthony, I, I, I just got a, the honest answer is I get 90% of my self esteem from my money. It's pathetic. Okay? I, I, it's growing. The 10% that's growing is I want to be a good citizen, I want to raise patriotic, loving men. But I gotta be honest. My whole life I've, I've identified my self worth based on money and it's been, and I realize it's unhealthy, it's been, I won't call it an obsession, but it's been a severe focus of mine. And just not until 10 years ago that I said, okay, money is the ink in my pen, but it's not my story. It can write certain chapters, it can make certain chapters burn brighter, but I got to focus on other things. And now I've decided my purpose is to raise again loving, patriotic men and also to try and, like we were saying before, help people I will never meet.
Derek Beres
Okay, so I don't know whether that was an appreciative opening, but, you know, I want to move from, you know.
Matthew Remsky
Mild kudos into the more obviously dodgy aspects of the show.
Derek Beres
Here's Scaramucci's opening and bumper for the entire series. And by the way, it sounds like.
Matthew Remsky
The Mooch is driving the production.
Derek Beres
Even though he's taking up kind of a sidekick Persona like Galloway Scene seems to be showing up on cue between.
Matthew Remsky
His other podcast spots.
Derek Beres
And Scaramucci's whole shtick is like, well, you're the smart guy here, you know, like, you should tell me what's up.
Deirdre Scaramucci
When I was growing up, it was a lot simpler.
Derek Beres
Out of a Christmas present given to a child may come a man's career.
Deirdre Scaramucci
Means your bodies are changing from boys to men. But today, between the morass of social media and the confusion about pronoun usage and the whole change in the culture, it's a lot harder for young men to thrive.
Richard Reeves
No group has fallen further, faster in America than young men.
Andrew Yang
We tore up the old script for Men, which was breadwinner, head of household, etc. And we didn't replace it with anything.
Richard Reeves
No one was talking about it. Into that void slipped some unproductive voices.
Matthew Remsky
The world is full of cowards. We suffer from a pandemic of cowardice. People are absolutely not cowards.
Richard Reeves
The problem with these unproductive voices is, is it starts positive and then it comes off the rails.
Deirdre Scaramucci
But we know it doesn't have to be like this. We can do better for our young men. I failed. Scott has failed all those people. You're looking up to have failed, and you got to just stay in the game.
Derek Beres
Okay, so I love the 1950s or 1960s audio PSAs. I mean, both of those sound like they could have been cut before these.
Matthew Remsky
Guys were even born in 1964. And the theme is simpler times. No social media, no pronouns, a vague hand waving at the whole chain in the culture.
Derek Beres
But let's put a pin in that, because what can that really mean beyond the cumulative effects of feminist thought and influence? And then another thing to mention is that it took me a few listens.
Matthew Remsky
To realize that the other clip in.
Derek Beres
There, where some dude is bloviating about cowardice, is what they're identifying as an unproductive voice. Because to be honest, a lot of the Lost Boys shtick is about the.
Matthew Remsky
Apparent loss of masculine courage and risk taking.
Derek Beres
So I don't know if the Mooch.
Matthew Remsky
Had an editor for this bumper or.
Derek Beres
Whether he would have taken editorial advice.
Matthew Remsky
But I do think they would have been better to really lean into their.
Derek Beres
Economic hard talk, which I think is where they're strongest, because they admit it.
Matthew Remsky
As Gen Xers, they've had it easy. And Millennials and Gen Z kids are in a much tougher situation.
Derek Beres
But let me just backtrack a moment.
Matthew Remsky
And spend some time on the simpler.
Derek Beres
Times motif, because I can't overemphasize how pervasive this theme is, how much Gen.
Matthew Remsky
X nostalgia is the bedrock of this show.
Derek Beres
It's like a drone, a stable note throughout.
Matthew Remsky
But in all of the romance of the simplicity of media, the solitude prior to phones, a predictably mixed and precarious life shines through.
Derek Beres
And that's going to be the focus on Monday's episode. Galloway talking, for instance, about how much.
Matthew Remsky
He had to work on his sexism because he grew up watching I Dream.
Derek Beres
Of Jeannie because, you know, the television was his nursemaid.
Matthew Remsky
The solitude of being a latchkey kid, the danger and excitement of learning about the world from older teens instead of absent parents. The mooch describes being 11 years old and staying out all night at diners with his cousins or going to topless.
Derek Beres
Bars with older kids at the age of 14. So, yes, simpler times, but also conflicted.
Matthew Remsky
Ambivalent, and sometimes dangerous.
Derek Beres
So what happens is that a podcast.
Matthew Remsky
Purportedly about Millennial and Gen Z and.
Derek Beres
Alpha boys is going to double as.
Matthew Remsky
An exercise in hand wringing over lost.
Derek Beres
Youth, but also a lot of unprocessed.
Matthew Remsky
Stuff about what that youth actually was.
Derek Beres
What they are very clear about, to.
Matthew Remsky
Their credit, is the simpler times of early Neoliberalism.
Derek Beres
Galloway notes that for the first time in our Nation's history, a 30 year.
Matthew Remsky
Old today is not doing as well.
Derek Beres
As their parents were at that age where the simple arc of economic history.
Matthew Remsky
Sloped ever upwards and economic disparities remained at a manageable scale. Quote, my dad's boss had a slightly bigger car, a slightly bigger house, but.
Derek Beres
We were all at the same country club. This is the feeling. But the present is where the 1% lead an entirely different life, leading to.
Matthew Remsky
What Galloway calls an idolatry of money.
Derek Beres
This implies a simpler social and economic landscape where you know the game or.
Matthew Remsky
Social standing was not solely tied to extreme wealth. And Galloway mourns this to the extent that he even calls himself a socialist at one point.
Derek Beres
Now, not in political terms, not in terms of policy, but in psychological terms, because he cites the work of psychologist Daniel Kahneman, who shows that happiness does.
Matthew Remsky
Not actually increase with wealth.
Derek Beres
That takes a person beyond middle class tax status. Like there's diminishing returns as you climb.
Matthew Remsky
Up the economic ladder in terms of happiness. But again, the most important thing about Galloway, in my opinion, is that in the absence of a real criticism of.
Derek Beres
Capitalism, he has to bounce back and.
Matthew Remsky
Forth between emotional support and self help anxiety limited by money being the only language that he seems to have on hand. Here's one of his favorite tangents.
Richard Reeves
You leave every day, your school with negative value. A ton of people investing in you. You're not giving back, you're adding negative value around the household, your mom, your dad, we're investing so much in you. And quite frankly, some people never get to surplus value. I know a lot of adults that are a constant emotional and even a financial drain on their parents and their siblings. At some point, what I say to them is, okay, when you become a man, it's not a religious ceremony. It's not anything about getting your job or an age or birthday or getting to drink alcohol or have sex. I think when you cross over into manhood is when you have, on a net basis, are adding surplus value, you're creating more jobs, you're creating more tax revenue than you're taxing our government. Right? You're doing more to defend your country. You're investing more in your country than it is given you. You witness people's lives, you listen to more complaints than you complain. You solve more problems in people's lives than you create.
Matthew Remsky
Now, there's one line in there about listening and empathizing more than being listened to.
Derek Beres
And I really like that. But otherwise it's really bleak to think of children as racking up debt as.
Matthew Remsky
If they were born into the company town.
Derek Beres
But the thing is, I think Galloway is open minded enough and self deprecating enough that if David Graeber was still alive, Professor G could have him on.
Matthew Remsky
As a guest and might even have.
Derek Beres
Listened to him talk about what pre capitalist debt and exchange was actually like.
Matthew Remsky
And how our natural state as humans and parents is not necessarily transactional at all.
Derek Beres
But let me finish up this overview.
Matthew Remsky
With the most telling tangent. I believe in the series in which.
Derek Beres
The Mooch connects the masculinity crisis to.
Matthew Remsky
Economics writ large, but he does it.
Derek Beres
In a really melted way.
Deirdre Scaramucci
There's a political angle to this as well. You know, the neo Victorians that ran America at the end of the Second World War understood this no police oblige that I'm referring to. And they were like, okay, we got to figure out a way to create rising living standards around the world. And if we can do this successfully, there'll be less violence and there'll be more comedy. I like you. I don't want to live in a barbed, wired security compound in a McMansion while my fellow neighbors and or my family are struggling. I think it's very, very important to understand that. And as wicked of a person as Henry Ford was, he did say something brilliant about social engineering. He said, I want to make sure that these workers can afford the car or the product that they're manufacturing. And I got to make sure they're in a single family home with a good school system because I don't want them descending on my Dearborn, Michigan mansion with tiki torches and pitchforks. And, and I think that's, I think that's being masculine. Am I, do I have that wrong?
Matthew Remsky
Okay, I know he's not asking me, he's asking his friend Galloway. But yeah, Mooch, every word in that tangent is wrong.
Derek Beres
I've never heard Neo Victorian used to describe Fordism, but I suppose he's talking.
Matthew Remsky
About like highly structured gendered social orders as fostering productive societies.
Derek Beres
I think he's saying that when American.
Matthew Remsky
Homes were more orderly, the American empire was also creating wealth and opportunity around the world.
Derek Beres
Amazing how that works. You know, as above, so below. Now it wasn't that the country was actually spending the war surplus on nuclear weapons and beating down socialist movements around.
Matthew Remsky
The world and resisting civil rights tooth and nail and setting the stage for union busting in the late 70s.
Derek Beres
The mooch isn't a historian and he's going to be as vulnerable to US.
Matthew Remsky
Propaganda as anyone else.
Derek Beres
So this isn't a knock on him personally so much as looking at how.
Matthew Remsky
Exceptionalism and traditionalism all kind of blend.
Derek Beres
Together in this new liberal manosphere pot. I think the most telling part here.
Matthew Remsky
Is his tempered praise for Henry Ford. The Mooch knows enough history to know that the reason that Ford wanted his line workers to afford the cars they were making was to prevent labor unrest. Maybe he even knows that the status.
Derek Beres
Of workers not being able to afford their products is a classic condition of.
Matthew Remsky
Capitalist crisis according to Marx.
Derek Beres
But what's telling to me here is the Mooch's conclusion that Henry Ford embodied.
Matthew Remsky
Positive masculinity through his car pricing.
Derek Beres
Somehow he leaves out the part about.
Matthew Remsky
How Ford brutalized labor unions.
Derek Beres
He left out the part about Ford's service department, which was the 3,000 goons he hired to beat up, or in.
Matthew Remsky
One case machine gun workers striking for fair wages.
Derek Beres
He leaves out the part about Ford.
Matthew Remsky
Loving Hitler and making trucks for the.
Derek Beres
Reich that carried soldiers that killed Americans.
Matthew Remsky
I mean, maybe that's the wicked part of his masculinity, but the good part.
Derek Beres
Of Ford's masculinity was that he wanted.
Matthew Remsky
Every guy to be able to make car payments because that's what makes a man.
Derek Beres
Okay? So I hope I've done a fair.
Matthew Remsky
Job on the big picture of the lost boys. This is an earnest, mainly liberal, charismatic.
Derek Beres
Wealthy tycoon duo trying to suss out sources of young men's suffering by digging into their own anecdotes and locating those sources. And confusion around cultural shifts and and.
Matthew Remsky
The excesses of capitalism. They themselves have accelerated. But that leaves them in a bind.
Derek Beres
But what will make Galloway in particular.
Matthew Remsky
Successful, I think in this emerging manosphere space is his penchant for making or.
Derek Beres
Trying to make evidence based arguments. He is where he is because of.
Matthew Remsky
Well received analyses of the economies of big tech.
Derek Beres
I haven't read those books, I don't really care to, but the reviews are.
Matthew Remsky
Generally positive from any direction.
Derek Beres
So I just believe that he's competent.
Matthew Remsky
And in that area and maybe even.
Derek Beres
Helpful to a lot of people. But when he goes out of business.
Matthew Remsky
Smarts territory and into economic policy, and then he gets into his Sanders wheelhouse.
Derek Beres
About bad policies that transfer wealth from the young to the old. He does get a lot of flack.
Matthew Remsky
From the right on his data and.
Derek Beres
Methods, but from what I can see, he's still reasonably well respected as a.
Matthew Remsky
Liberal left observer of capitalist flows.
Derek Beres
And he has a need embedded in that sort of research Persona to at least respect process and data.
Matthew Remsky
And that drives the Lost Boys brand to front load Richard Reeves in the first two episodes as the gold standard empirical observer of young men today.
Derek Beres
So I'm going to spend the balance.
Matthew Remsky
Of this episode on how Galloway and.
Derek Beres
The Mooch position Reeves because I think.
Matthew Remsky
This is what locks in the impression.
Derek Beres
That Lost Boys is a serious project as opposed to, you know, manosphere, light hand wringing. But before I get to Reeves, there.
Matthew Remsky
Are other signs of seriousness evident in the other guests.
Derek Beres
So far. There's a pretty good appearance from Dan Harris. He's the 10% happier guy, a former.
Matthew Remsky
Broadcast journalist who pulled the brakes on his life when he had an on air panic attack.
Derek Beres
And he learned a little bit about Buddhism and, you know, mindfulness meditation. And so he says some standard things.
Matthew Remsky
About emotional vulnerability and self regulation and.
Derek Beres
Touching grass and learning how to breathe. And he stays out of the culture war stuff.
Matthew Remsky
But he does offer some broad comments.
Derek Beres
On parenting in the vein of, you know, Gen Xers have created a world.
Matthew Remsky
In which kids receive insufficient training and social interaction.
Derek Beres
So his argument is that earlier, less.
Matthew Remsky
Helicopter parented environments allowed children to naturally.
Derek Beres
Bump up against other kids and get.
Matthew Remsky
Scrapes and get insults and, and learn.
Derek Beres
How to build up psychological immunity, unquote. And that's a theme that will come up, especially in the Patreon episode that.
Matthew Remsky
Will drop on Monday, this notion of.
Derek Beres
Like, building calluses or psychological immunity, even if it comes from, you know, your parents losing their shit or from them neglecting you. Okay, so former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew.
Matthew Remsky
Yang was also on the podcast and he offered his thoughts on increasing investment in vocational programs that that would be good for young men.
Derek Beres
So H VAC repair, plumbing maintenance, these are all resistant industries to AI and automation.
Matthew Remsky
He also wanted to incentivize male teachers to have more male role models in classrooms. He's a big fan of ubi, which he painted as inevitable as AI automates.
Derek Beres
More jobs and then he had some more muscular stuff like free MMA training or national tough man competitions. I can't think of what could go wrong there. And also national mandatory military service, I suppose, as you would see in Israel.
Matthew Remsky
He also complained that the DNC muzzled him on men's issues in the 2020 primary.
Derek Beres
And so he praised the Lost Boys.
Matthew Remsky
For presenting a third way, masculinity between men are evil and men can do.
Derek Beres
No wrong, which he describes as creating.
Matthew Remsky
A vacuum for bad operators.
Derek Beres
I was disappointed, I have to say.
Matthew Remsky
That Yang was the only guest who was in the position of discussing neurodiversity.
Derek Beres
And k. He's the outspoken advocate dad for his autistic son, but the subject didn't come up. The Lost Boys certainly don't stigmatize neurodiversity like the Maha crowd does, but listening.
Matthew Remsky
To them avoid or ignore the topic just lines them up with the culture of RFK Jr who swears up and.
Derek Beres
Down that he didn't know any autistic kids when he was growing up. Okay, so who is Richard Reeves?
Matthew Remsky
He tags himself as a European liberal.
Derek Beres
He spent a lot of his career at liberal think tanks such as Demos.
Matthew Remsky
And Brookings, researching social mobility and racialized income gaps.
Derek Beres
He's British. He's 55. He was born in Peterborough.
Matthew Remsky
He has a BA in geography from Oxford and a PhD in philosophy from the University of Warwick.
Derek Beres
Now, politically, he says he's unaligned. He argues that Democrats have neglected the concerns of men and boys, while Republicans offer performative masculinity but lack substantive solutions. His now famous research heavy book is.
Matthew Remsky
Called Of Boys and Men. It came out in 2022. And in it he argues that boys are falling behind girls in education globally, with wider gender gaps in college degrees and grade school.
Derek Beres
In the labor market, he says that.
Matthew Remsky
Men show declining employment rates and stagnating.
Derek Beres
Wages impacted by automation and globalization. And at home, he says that fathers have lost their traditional provider role, leading to a dad deficit. That's his term in a sense of purposelessness. Reeves shows that a lot of these challenges are actually more acute for black.
Matthew Remsky
Boys and men who face gendered racism and high incarceration rates.
Derek Beres
And also, he says that poor men are disproportionately proportionally impacted, especially when we.
Matthew Remsky
See the stats on men dying deaths of despair.
Derek Beres
Now, for Reeves, the left side of the political spectrum is guilty of what he calls progressive blindness, while the political.
Matthew Remsky
Right exploits male grievances and seeks to revert to traditional roles.
Derek Beres
And you'd think that this is Reeves's own yearning, given where the three men start, which is by commiserating over the.
Matthew Remsky
Loss of certainty for young men.
Andrew Yang
So beneath the surface of facts, there's this question about identity. And I do think that there was a clearer script. That's the way I like to think about this, is that there was. The old script was for women, wife and mother. You're going to raise the kids, you're going to, etc. And the old script for men, was he going to be the economic provider, head of household, breadwinner? Right. That was the script my parents had, and I had a great upbringing. I'm very lucky. Etcetera but there wasn't like a question that they had to ask us about how they're going to divide it. We tore those scripts up. I think, Anthony, I'll see how you both react to this. I think we tore them up and we said to women, your script is no longer housewife, mother. It's anything you want it to be. It's CEO, it's leader, it's you go girl. It's amazing. And as Scott said, that's the arguably the biggest economic liberation in human history. Amazing. So the script that girls and young women get now is around autonomy of independence, assertiveness. It's all uplift. It's incredibly empowering. We tore up the old script for men, which was breadwinner, head of household, etc. And we didn't replace it with anything. We just tore up the old script. And so what that means is a lot of men now feel that they're basically improvising, that basically don't have a script.
Derek Beres
Now, soon after that clip, the mooch chimes in with, we knew what men were supposed to be and supposed to do. He, you know, talks about how things were more easily defined when we were growing up.
Matthew Remsky
And this is noting this period when.
Derek Beres
He and Scott Galloway, as I said, they were born in 1964, quote, had some definition to our lives with certain things that boys did and certain things.
Matthew Remsky
That girls did, unquote.
Derek Beres
What does he suggest?
Matthew Remsky
How can boys be helped? According to Reeves, now he advises red shirting boys. This means starting kindergarten a year later.
Derek Beres
Which is pretty interesting idea with very contested downstream effects. A lot of people argue about whether that's a good or a terribly bad idea. He talks about guiding men into heal professions, health, education, administration and literacy because he says that's, you know, a future growth sector.
Matthew Remsky
He promotes fatherhood as an independent social.
Derek Beres
Institution focused on direct caregiving, supported by policies like equal parental leave.
Matthew Remsky
All great to me.
Derek Beres
Don't know about the red shirting, but, you know, good.
Matthew Remsky
His aim is to promote what he.
Derek Beres
Calls a pro social masculinity for a post feminist world. Now, by that, he is careful to say that he doesn't mean that this.
Matthew Remsky
Is an end to or a rejection.
Derek Beres
Of feminism, but rather as a societal stage that follows the significant achievements of the feminist movement.
Matthew Remsky
In Reeves's post feminist world, the lives of women have been largely recast, he says, having achieved substantial economic independence and.
Derek Beres
Equality, threatening men with obsolescence as they.
Matthew Remsky
Lag behind in adaptation.
Derek Beres
So Reeves is well educated, he comes off as such, but he doesn't hold.
Matthew Remsky
Formal qualifications in anything that actually pertains.
Derek Beres
To his fame in sociology, gender studies.
Matthew Remsky
Parenting, psychology, or child psychology.
Derek Beres
So, I mean, right off the bat, my radar goes up for the archetype.
Matthew Remsky
Of the intellectual influencer, who's a generalist.
Derek Beres
Who gets fixated on a complicated big brain topic that actually requires discipline expertise. A lot of examples in this category.
Matthew Remsky
Steven Pinker jumps from linguistics to being a galaxy brain on the topic of human violence.
Derek Beres
Or Jonathan Haidt jumps from social psychology.
Matthew Remsky
To Internet studies and youth.
Derek Beres
And when the Internet and youth people.
Matthew Remsky
Review his work on kids and social.
Derek Beres
Media, they find all kinds of errors. So these are guys who can seem competent from their endowed chairs at 30,000ft, but, you know, they're also able to.
Matthew Remsky
Tell the liberal intellectual world a story.
Derek Beres
That they want to hear. Everyone loves Pinker's story that the Enlightenment changed everything irrevocably for the better if you don't factor in little things like colonialism. Gen X parents love that height gives.
Matthew Remsky
Them a narrow cause for their children's despair. And for any parent of a boy, Reeves says they are suffering because the.
Derek Beres
Old scripts are gone, but because they don't do field work or have discipline expertise.
Matthew Remsky
What you get from books like these is a lot of armchair statisticalizing, and.
Derek Beres
This is the strength of Reeves's research. But it's a strength that becomes a.
Matthew Remsky
Liability when critics look carefully at the work and accuse Reeves of misrepresenting data or presenting the redlining idea as though.
Derek Beres
It'S not enormously complicated.
Matthew Remsky
For instance, with regard to the data, some point out that he exaggerates the claim that boys are behind in school, or he incorrectly asserts that gendered learning gaps in grade school are widening, when in fact they've. They're pretty consistent for decades, despite a significant shift in college enrollment ratios favoring women. One of the claims that Reeves makes is that the GPA gap has widened, with an A being the most common high school grade for girls and a B for boys. But critics argue that this is a misleading way of saying that both grades grew proportionally and steadily and girls simply.
Derek Beres
Crossed the threshold from B to A. Now, there are also pings of something.
Matthew Remsky
Called the gap instinct, where the variance between one distribution is forgotten to be larger than the variance between two distributions.
Derek Beres
For example, saying boys are 2/3 of a grade behind girls in reading is.
Matthew Remsky
Equivalent to saying they are one third of a standard deviation behind.
Derek Beres
And that makes it sound like a.
Matthew Remsky
Lot bigger of a difference than it is.
Derek Beres
So the bottom line is that it.
Matthew Remsky
Looks like in some cases Reeves's data is applied to supporting a story rather than the other way around.
Derek Beres
But if the stats make you glaze over, Alice Capel offers a solid critique.
Matthew Remsky
Of Reeves's downstream political impacts in a.
Derek Beres
Book called Collapse Rethinking Society and Challenging Patriarchy.
Matthew Remsky
Capell's main argument about Reeves is that.
Derek Beres
He basically pathologizes social evolutions that benefit women into a masculinity crisis. She says that Reeves's decision, which he was free to make, to prioritize gender as the framework for analyzing disparities, implying.
Matthew Remsky
Men'S underperformance is because of their gender, is seen as aligning with the manosphere at large's anti feminist and sexist beliefs.
Derek Beres
So one effect of his work is to offer respectable liberal validation to right.
Matthew Remsky
Wing groups, giving them yet another reason.
Derek Beres
To blame it all on women, despite.
Matthew Remsky
The continued significant social, economic and political power held by men.
Derek Beres
So the impact, Capel says, is that Reeves's focus on men implicitly reproduces the.
Matthew Remsky
Very zero sum thinking on gender equality that he says he wants to transcend.
Derek Beres
Now, Capel also takes issue with Reeves's.
Matthew Remsky
Argument that the toxic masculinity is overused to describe any male behavior deemed undesirable.
Derek Beres
And Cappelle says that this really only makes sense from the perspective of the.
Matthew Remsky
Accused in a personal or individual sense. And it ignores the systemic nature of.
Derek Beres
Problematic male behaviors and the historical efforts.
Matthew Remsky
Of women, including feminists, to guide men towards healthier forms of masculinity.
Derek Beres
So the project poses as liberal, but.
Matthew Remsky
By default actually tends to align with conservative yearning to reinvigorate old binaries.
Derek Beres
And finally, Capel and other critics do this as well, tag Reeves's centrist position.
Matthew Remsky
As not sufficiently indicting the economic ruling class.
Derek Beres
And I think this is why he's a really good sort of intellectual guide for the Lost Boys podcast, because they.
Matthew Remsky
Say, the critics say men's struggles stem.
Derek Beres
From, you know, oligarchy and big corporations and their cronies having forced us all.
Matthew Remsky
To take care of ourselves without any.
Derek Beres
Kinds of social safety nets or unions. And with regard to unions, Reeves does acknowledge that this is a personal oversight when talking about tools for solidarity. So TLDR Reeves is a compelling figure because of his apparent wonkish neutrality and.
Matthew Remsky
Appeals to common sense.
Derek Beres
But as is typically the case with.
Matthew Remsky
Centrist thinkers, the devil's in the details.
Derek Beres
And any focus on gender as a.
Matthew Remsky
Core organizing principle for the health of boys and men is going to have to struggle hard not to reinvigorate a kind of status quo.
Derek Beres
And I think that's why he is.
Matthew Remsky
As I said, a solid intellectual anchor.
Derek Beres
Point for the Lost Boys project appeals.
Matthew Remsky
To data on gender that obscure larger.
Derek Beres
Issues of political and economic equality. Okay, that's episode one. I hope that this overview is helpful.
Matthew Remsky
For clarifying the philosophical and economic contradictions.
Derek Beres
At the heart of this part of.
Matthew Remsky
The new liberal manosphere discourse. On Monday, the subject is more grim.
Derek Beres
Because, as I mentioned, it'll be a.
Matthew Remsky
Close reading of an episode in which.
Derek Beres
Deirdre Scaramucci joins the Lost Boys for.
Matthew Remsky
A long chinwag about their own childhoods.
Derek Beres
And and the paradox of feeling that despite the neglect and raging fathers and the grinding poverty, that somehow the 70s and 80s were so much more normal, so much more sensible. It's an episode that really exposes a side of the project that I think is romantic, nostalgic and ultimately reactionary. Because despite their multimillionaire status, these folks.
Matthew Remsky
As they appear to be just regular.
Derek Beres
Even decent people trying to do the best by their sons. The question that's really important is whether.
Matthew Remsky
They'Re in any position to counsel anyone.
Derek Beres
Outside of their own houses, let alone the future. Thanks for listening everyone.
Julian Walker
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Conspirituality Podcast Summary: "Brief: Galloway and the Mooch: The Lost Boys of Capitalism (Pt 1)"
Release Date: July 19, 2025
Hosts: Derek Beres, Matthew Remsky, Julian Walker
Guests: Scott Galloway, Anthony Scaramucci, Richard Reeves, Andrew Yang, Dan Harris, Deirdre Scaramucci
In the opening episode titled "Galloway and the Mooch: The Lost Boys of Capitalism (Pt 1)," the Conspirituality hosts delve into the burgeoning movement known as the "Lost Boys of Capitalism." This podcast series examines the intersection of liberal thought, economic pressures, and the evolving struggles of young men in a post-feminist society. The discussion primarily centers around influential figures Scott Galloway and Anthony Scaramucci, with insights from sociologist Richard Reeves and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang.
Scott Galloway: A self-made business tycoon turned professor at NYU's Stern School of Business, Galloway is known for his sharp analyses of brand strategy, digital marketing, and the socio-economic impacts of technology. With a net worth estimated at $40 million, Galloway is preparing to release his book, "Notes on Being a Man," in November 2025.
Anthony Scaramucci ("The Mooch"): Holding a J.D. from Harvard Law and a B.A. in Economics from Tufts, Scaramucci is a multimillionaire known for his brief stint as Donald Trump's Communications Director. With a net worth of approximately $90 million, much of his wealth is now tied to Bitcoin investments.
Richard Reeves: A British sociologist and author of "Of Boys and Men" (2022), Reeves explores the declining social and economic standings of young men compared to their female counterparts. He serves as the intellectual anchor for the Lost Boys project, providing empirical insights into the challenges faced by men today.
Andrew Yang: Former Democratic presidential candidate who advocates for vocational programs, male role models in education, universal basic income (UBI), and mandatory military service as solutions to masculinity crises.
Dan Harris: A broadcast journalist turned mindfulness advocate, Harris provides a perspective on emotional vulnerability and self-regulation, steering clear of culture war topics.
Deirdre Scaramucci: Anthony Scaramucci's wife, who discusses generational shifts and parenting challenges in a rapidly changing cultural landscape.
The episode begins with an introduction to the "Lost Boys of Capitalism" podcast, highlighting its focus on addressing the struggles of young men amidst economic and cultural upheavals. Hosts Derek Beres and Matthew Remsky outline their intent to explore how capitalism's intensification has disproportionately affected younger generations, funneling wealth to the older population and the 1%.
Scott Galloway shares a deeply personal narrative about his struggles with personal failure and financial collapse. At [00:01], he emphasizes the secure nature of personal communication on platforms like WhatsApp, setting a tone of privacy and introspection. Later, at [08:44], he recounts a critical moment of financial ruin juxtaposed with the birth of his first child, revealing his initial emotion of shame rather than joy. This experience shapes his perspective on capitalism's unforgiving nature and the pressure it places on individuals to succeed financially.
Notable Quote:
Richard Reeves [08:44]: "I was 42 when I had my first kid. ... I felt not only personal failure, but for the first time, my first emotion as a father was that I was failing my son." ([08:44])
Richard Reeves, positioned as the "Yoda on the sociology of young men," provides a comprehensive analysis of the systemic issues affecting men today. His work highlights declining educational achievements, stagnating wages due to automation and globalization, and the erosion of traditional provider roles. Reeves critiques both the political left for "progressive blindness" and the right for offering performative masculinity without substantive solutions.
Notable Quote:
Richard Reeves [09:12]: "A lot of where you end up in life, you have no control over success and failure. Be humble when you're successful. Forgive yourself when you fail, as long as you're trying every day and you're a good person." ([09:12])
Anthony Scaramucci, alongside Galloway, navigates the challenges of defining masculinity in a neoliberal framework. They express nostalgia for "simpler times" but acknowledge the complexities and conflicts inherent in their current socioeconomic standings. Scaramucci's remarks often oscillate between encouraging self-help strategies and critiquing systemic capitalism, revealing a tension between personal responsibility and structural impediments.
Notable Quote:
Deirdre Scaramucci [18:04]: "There's a political angle to this as well. ... I think that's being masculine. Am I, do I have that wrong?" ([18:04])
Andrew Yang contributes by advocating for practical solutions like vocational training and UBI to empower young men. He emphasizes the lack of a clear script for modern masculinity, contrasting it with the well-defined roles of previous generations. Yang criticizes the Democratic Party for neglecting men's issues and positions the Lost Boys podcast as a "third way" to address these challenges without falling into extremist or regressive traps.
Notable Quote:
Andrew Yang [36:43]: "We tore up the old script for men, which was breadwinner, head of household, etc. And we didn't replace it with anything." ([36:43])
The hosts critically examine Reeves's methodologies, pointing out potential misrepresentations and the oversimplification of complex social issues. They discuss how Reeves's focus on gender disparities might inadvertently bolster right-wing narratives by providing liberal validation to anti-feminist sentiments. This critique underscores the fine line between addressing genuine concerns and perpetuating divisive ideologies.
Notable Quote:
Alice Capel [41:26]: "Reeves's focus on men implicitly reproduces the very zero-sum thinking on gender equality that he says he wants to transcend." ([41:26])
A recurring theme is the romanticization of past decades, perceived as periods of greater social order and clear gender roles. However, the hosts challenge this nostalgia by highlighting the accompanying issues of those times, such as labor exploitation, lack of social safety nets, and entrenched gender inequalities. This tension reveals the complexity of advocating for traditional values in a modern context.
The episode offers a nuanced exploration of the "Lost Boys of Capitalism," revealing how affluent, liberal men like Galloway and Scaramucci grapple with their identities and societal roles in an era marked by economic disparity and shifting cultural norms. The discussion underscores the paradox of advocating for the "little guy" while embodying the privilege and capitalist success that contribute to systemic inequalities.
Key Takeaways:
Capitalism's Impact on Young Men: Intensified neoliberalism funnels wealth upwards, leaving younger generations struggling to keep pace.
Identity and Masculinity: The erosion of traditional male roles without viable replacements leads to confusion and a crisis of identity among men.
Critique of Approaches: While figures like Reeves provide valuable insights, their methodologies and conclusions may inadvertently support problematic narratives that align with conservative agendas.
Nostalgia vs. Reality: The longing for past social structures overlooks the inherent flaws and challenges of those periods, complicating efforts to foster healthier masculinity.
Scott Galloway on Personal Failure:
"I was 42 when I had my first kid. ... I felt not only personal failure, but for the first time, my first emotion as a father was that I was failing my son."
— Richard Reeves [08:44]
Richard Reeves on Self-Forgiveness:
"Be humble when you're successful. Forgive yourself when you fail, as long as you're trying every day and you're a good person."
— Richard Reeves [09:12]
Andrew Yang on Masculinity Scripts:
"We tore up the old script for men, which was breadwinner, head of household, etc. And we didn't replace it with anything."
— Andrew Yang [36:43]
Deirdre Scaramucci on Masculinity:
"I think that's being masculine. Am I, do I have that wrong?"
— Deirdre Scaramucci [18:04]
Richard Reeves on Gender Equality:
"Reeves's focus on men implicitly reproduces the very zero-sum thinking on gender equality that he says he wants to transcend."
— Alice Capel [41:26]
The first part of the "Lost Boys of Capitalism" series sets the stage for a critical examination of how economic and cultural shifts are shaping the lives and identities of young men today. The hosts aim to unravel the complexities of this movement, balancing personal anecdotes with broader sociological analysis. In the upcoming episode, listeners can expect an in-depth exploration of childhood experiences and parenting dynamics, further illuminating the romantic yet reactionary facets of the Lost Boys project.
This summary aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the episode's discussions, capturing the essence of the conversations and the critical insights offered by both the hosts and their guests. For those interested in the intersections of economics, masculinity, and cultural shifts, this episode offers a thought-provoking starting point.