← The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
Why Working-Class Voters Feel Left Behind, Wealth and Security, and How Scott Gives Money
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Welcome to Office Hours with Prof. G. This is the part of the show where we answer your questions about business, big tech, entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind. If you'd like to submit a question for next time, you can send a voice recording to office hours of profgmedia.com Again, that's office hours of profitmedia.com or post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit and we just might feature it on Our next episode. First question Our first question comes from Much membership 45.07on Reddit they say hey Scott, just a simple question. As a lower middle class man in his 30s, I resonate a lot with your content. My question is this. Why does it feel like no matter what or who you vote for, the people making the decisions are always against the normal everyday working person. Mostly because of Citizens United and a little bit gerrymandering. And that is probably the greatest ROI in corporate America is to give money to a senator or a representative and say, all right, Americans pay four to eight times more for Ozempic or Humira than people in other nations. Oftentimes we pay exponentially more for pharmaceuticals in the United States. And I'm just using this as an example, despite the fact that many of these pharmaceuticals were invented here, when we manufacture and distribute them here. So why do we pay more? Because pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, hospital complexes, donate money to a congressperson and say, wouldn't it be great if we had a law that said Medicaid could negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies and use their bulk purchasing power to drive down the prices of pharmaceuticals and pass those on to American consumers? Well, okay, you want a law that we can't do that? Sure, congressman. And here's $50,000 for your election campaign because we think you're a great American. And maybe they don't even have to actively promote that law, but anything that gets in the way of trying to not let that law pass. Democrats are famous for, on policies that are totally contrary to the views or the principles of the Democratic Party, of having real concerns and basically slowballing and killing shit, the Democrats are just as guilty of it as Republicans. And Republicans are just more transparent. We're about money. And whatever can create more money and shareholder value for a company, whether it's pouring mercury into the river or selling public lands, or letting them engage in algorithmically elevated content that creates an incentive for teen girls to engage in self harm. We don't mind. It's about creating economic growth. Oh, and by the way, Meta, please stop by and cut me a check. The biggest donor is not weapons. It's not social media or tech. It's in fact the healthcare complex or the healthcare industrial complex. And what do you know, in America, we pay $13,000 per citizen for our healthcare versus 6,500 in the other six of the G7 nations. And we have worse outcomes. We're more anxious, depressed, obese, have a lower life expectancy. And that is because, simply put, corporations stand being between you, the voters, and how these individuals actually vote. Gun control. The majority of Americans believe in gun registration, family planning. The majority of Americans believe women should have some level of bodily autonomy. And yet we have laws that are totally contrary to that. So until we get rid of Citizens United, where quote, unquote, money is free speech and these corporations don't have the ability. The thing that I have found so shocking about giving some money away to politicians, I do it. I'd like to think I do it for the right reasons. I'm not trying to get them to pass laws to subsidize podcasting. I do it because I'm passionate about income inequality. Or trying to address income inequality and programs that would help struggling young men. But what has struck me is just with a little bit of money, how much attention you can get from congressmen and senators. I think if you gave $10,000 to every senator, a million dollars when you go to Washington, you could get a meeting, an in person meeting with 20 of them on 24 hours notice. Because if you're giving $10,000, you might give 50,000 or 100 at some point. And it's not that they're total whores. And by the way, proximity is influence. If you meet with 20 senators and make your case enough people do that, they're inclined to block something or get in the way of that because you're going to be articulate and give them compelling reasons. And also wink, wink, if you vote against this, I might give you 50 or $100,000 at some point. But the problem is run into a Republican congressperson. I'm going to find you someone who's taken between 50,000 and a million dollars from the oil and gas industry anyways. Long winded way of saying money. Citizens United. Unfettered access or unfettered ability to give money of foreign nations have much lower limits or they just have matching funds and then that's it, you know, may the best man or woman win. So what do we have? We have a Congress and elected leaders who represent corporations and the wealthy disproportionately versus the rest of us. Thanks for the question. Our second question comes from Glenn from Brooklyn. Glenn asks.
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Hi Prof. G. Returning questioner Glenn from Brooklyn.
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Here you.
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You describe your life and wealth with surprisingly candid detail. Whether that be travels and lodging or even activities with your boys. I'm curious what your thoughts are on security, both personal and cyber, and how one's security needs evolve as they cross thresholds such as assets and fame. For example, is there a magic number of liquid assets that suddenly marks an investor as a target? How do today's successful and very online people stay safe without paranoia? Thank you for your time.
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Thanks for the question. So this is a good problem because the majority of targeting if you're wealthy is the kind of targeting you want. It's offers, it's opportunities to invest in things. It's people who want to know you, be your friend, people who want to date you. So the targeting, if you will, for wealthy people in terms of a threat. I know some people who are much wealthier than me that have pretty serious security apparatus not only in their home, but even I had dinner with someone the other night who's quite wealthy. And this person has a security person who's anonymous. He told me that this person was there, but I couldn't pick them out. But basically a person who follows him around and should anything go wrong, someone with a training and a gun is there to ensure that or reduce the likelihood that it ends badly. Now being attacked online, I do think you need to take additional precautions around your data. Also you become very much a target just for criticism. And some of that is healthy power should be checked. But some of it is also America has kind of a media industrial complex that engages in trying to build people up and sanctify them and demonstrate them as heroes. And then once they get to a certain level, try and tear them down. Because it's the way up and the way down that creates engagement and clicks and advertising revenue. So there's money in both those things, I think additional cybersecurity or additional investment in personal security. I mean, this sounds weird. My personal security system is not only I have all that stuff in my home, but I've always had dogs and I've always made sure I've had a fairly, fairly big, intimidating and well trained dog. And a lot of the data shows that having a dog is much more effective than a security system, a gun or what have you. And then I do some other stuff which I want to, I don't want to disclose, but not, not a ton. I want to live my life and if it means engaging a certain amount of risk, so be it. I would say it's not about your wealth, it's more about the messaging you're getting. I think you could be worth very little money. And if you are constantly shitposting or talking about a specific issue that is very incendiary, you're probably, I don't want to say become a target, but become a visible recipient of people who feel strongly the other way. Don't be stupid. But to run your life believing or focusing too much on downside risk is a flaw in our species. Well, that was a word salad. Thanks for the question. We'll be right back after a quick break.
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Betterment the US has benefited tremendously over the past 50 years from globalization in terms of goods and services becoming cheaper. And all of a sudden it seems like that actually might be going away. My name is Daniel Egan and I am the VP of Behavioral Finance and Investing at Betterment. Betterment is a online financial advisor and investment manager. A way I often put it is that our investment strategy is based on climate, not weather, right? So we're not going to change our investment strategy because it's rainy today. But things that are systematic trends that are changing over long periods of time, we're definitely aware of those and we look into them and think about where we want to be when they happen. So one of the concerns that people have been having is about deglobalization, so putting up trade barriers between countries, things like tariffs, and that has large implications for how we invest. And Betterment does encourage and a lot of our portfolios have international diversification built in. But I think one of the most important aspects of Betterment is we've built the portfolios to be resilient to any one change. That's a core part of diversification and long term thinking is that we don't want one specific event to drag the portfolio down too much. And that makes it a lot easier to stick with it through the rough times, which funnily enough leads to you having more money because you stick with it through the rough times which end and become the good times.
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Investing involves risk performance, not guaranteed.
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Welcome back. Our final question comes from Reddit, straight out of Dirigo Duraijo. Dirigo asks, hi Scott, I just listened to Past Office Hours episode and you mentioned how any money you have at the end of the year, above a certain point, you give it away after spending what you can, which made me wonder, how do you decide who and what to give your money to? So I never gave anything away until the age of 40 and if I did accidentally give money away, it was so I could go to some cool party with other people pretending to be virtuous. I remember going to a party called Save Venice in New York, and it was because Venice was experiencing flooding and so we needed to save the incredibly historically important architecture of Venice. And a bunch of hot young people would show up in sort of this eyes wide shut up apparel, and we'd pay 500 or a thousand bucks. I'm like, this has absolutely nothing to do with Venice. There's a bunch of people pretending to have virtue so we can all show up and hopefully meet other interesting people. And that was the only philanthropy that ever I ever engaged in. And then as I got wealthier and as I became more thoughtful about all of my blessings, I've become, I think, not only philanthropic, but very philanthropic. And it's not virtue for me. It's consumption. I really enjoy. It makes me feel strong, makes me feel masculine. So how do I decide the two charities? I try and pick specific sectors. One, there's just random stuff. If I see Representative James Talarico talking about what Jesus would have done and Jesus wouldn't have canceled food stamps and that charter schools are nothing but a transfer of wealth from public schools to wealthy people. And the example he used in his speech was that elon Musk with 14 kids would get about a million dollars in grants for, you know, they want to move to this voucher system. I just thought he was so articulate, powerful, unafraid. And I loved how he incorporated his Christian roots and the hypocrisy of some of these people who cloak themselves in Jesus. Whenever someone brings up Jesus on the floor of the rotunda, they're usually about to cut welfare to single mothers. Anyways, I'll bust off a check for 10 grand to that guy, which I did. And if I hear about someone, a friend of mine, not a friend of mine, someone who I went to college with had a massive stroke, I haven't seen this person in 30 years. And I cut a check for 10 grand to that person anonymously through a friend because they're, by the grace of God go I. And I'm doing a lot of virtue signaling right now, but it's true. So I have a kind of a series of random things. I give a hundred dollar tip wherever I am. Because I was a service professional, I think people in the services industry are vastly underpaid. My gener has aggregated, in my opinion, too much wealth. And so there's little acts of philanthropy that I engage in spontaneously that are just sort of fun. Now, on a more systemic level, where I give away much bigger funds is on two categories. One, the first is broadening access to higher education. I funded a scholarship at Berkeley for the children of immigrants and most recently for kind of vocational programming to take non traditional students and give them a shot at participating in the wonderful education of UCL and Berkeley. It's a program called the Extension Accelerator, I believe that helps. No admissions, anyone can show up and very low cost. And I like that. I think my industry has engaged in this incredibly corrupt, immoral, cartel behavior that creates an exclusionary culture where we create artificial scarcity such that good kids like myself or unremarkable kids such like myself can access amazing education. So. And then my second big category is teen suicide prevention, which has skyrocketed and which just sort of rattles me. I find it unacceptable the trends in teen suicide. I don't think anything else matters if our kids are so upset and anxious that they contemplate ending it all. And I've given away about 20 million bucks over the last five or seven years and I plan to give a lot more away. And it's something I very much enjoy. But so random acts, I don't even call them kindness. Random acts of consumption makes me feel really fucking strong and smart and like a baller. To give $100 tip makes me feel good. In an expression of affection, to give some money to someone who needs it, at that point, it makes me feel like I'm being a patriot, giving some money to some good candidates who are fighting the good fight. But on a more organized level, I give money away to two things I feel very strongly about. And I think that's the way to do it. Do stuff that makes you feel good. Random acts of kindness and generosity. People don't give away enough money. I mean, how if you have money, why wouldn't you give every person, every waiter, 100 bucks? You know, that person's working hard, you know, that person's probably really could use the money. I remember when I was a pool boy at the Mondrian Hotel. And this character actor, this woman you've probably seen a movie, is never a big star. She was in her 70s or 80s at the time. Every time I walked by, every time I walked by her table, she would say, hold on. And she'd grab my hand and she'd sneakily, like kind of funny, like, put a $10 bill in my shorts pocket. And by the end of the time, you know, I'd have 20 or $30. And in 1987, that made a difference in my life. I was a box boy and I'd carry out people's groceries. And I remember the same guy used to give me 50 bucks. He was this guy with a big beard and a Rolls Royce and he'd let me carry his groceries out to his car and he'd give me 50 fucking dollars. And this was when I was in high school. I mean, the easiest way to make someone's day is to give them a little bit of money. It's a transfer of time and work. So if you give a waiter a box boy, I give 100. I'm doing a lot of virtue signaling right now. But it's all true. I gave 100 bucks to the In N Out cashier when I got to LA a few days ago. And she looked like she was start crying. I mean, this shit is easy. This is not a lot of money. If you make good money, it's just not a lot of money. So it's incredibly joyous for me. So these little moments where it makes my day, I feel good about myself. It's fun, it's an easy way to make a total stranger just really like you. So two levels. The fun stuff, the fun daily stuff, little acts that are just so much fun and so rewarding. And then the bigger stuff. If you're blessed with real, real money, think about how that the topics that really that really motivate you, that you are really passionate about. Appreciate the question. That's all for this episode. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to officehoursovertymedia.com Again, that's officehoursoffertymedia.com or if you prefer to ask on Reddit, just post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit and we just might feature it in an upcoming episode.
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