PivotHow Trump Plans to Incentivize a Baby Boom | Pivot
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
130 min read · 26,496 words- 0:00 – 6:47
Intro
- KSKara Swisher
You know what would, would have, would give, have more babies, J.D. Vance, in case you're interested in, and by the way, I have more children than you, again, let me stress that, is $25 minimum wage check. (laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
Hello?
- KSKara Swisher
That would be a baby boom.
- SGScott Galloway
100%.
- KSKara Swisher
We know how to get people to fuck. Scott and Kara know how to get people to fuck. Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher. RIP Pope Francis, who died what he loved, d- doing what he loved best, which was calling J.D. Vance an asshole. Anyway, Scott.
- SGScott Galloway
So last night, my kid, my 14-year-old comes into my room in the middle of the night all upset, and he said, "Dad, on my group chat, it says we're bombing the Houthis in 19:00 hours. Should I be worried?"
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs) Those are two j-
- SGScott Galloway
By the way-
- KSKara Swisher
... we're mixing, we're mixing-
- SGScott Galloway
We're mixing jokes.
- KSKara Swisher
... scandals here. We're mixing up scandals.
- SGScott Galloway
We're mixing scandals.
- KSKara Swisher
I mean-
- SGScott Galloway
I'm serious. I think everybody, but this is my suggestion to everybody should you decide that, uh, there's so much, there's so much (laughs) ridiculously insane, deprived weirdness and competence every day that we don't know where to start. Every text message I send out now, I end with, "17:00 hours, cache F-15s-"
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
... "coming into Yemen." I'm, every message, I'm putting in-
- KSKara Swisher
It's-
- SGScott Galloway
... fake military information.
- KSKara Swisher
This is-
- SGScott Galloway
If you got a-
- KSKara Swisher
... he's referring, Scott's referring to s- the second SignalGate, or probably the 10th, probably the 20th. Uh, Pete Hegseth was, was including his wife, his personal lawyer, friends in attacks on, I think it's Yemen, right? Was it Yemen? Whatever.
- SGScott Galloway
Yemen, yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
What a, Jesus, this guy's got to lay off the whiskey.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, that's who I want, that's who I want commanding-
- KSKara Swisher
Honestly.
- SGScott Galloway
... commanding my men and women-
- KSKara Swisher
And then-
- SGScott Galloway
... in uniform.
- KSKara Swisher
... just, just to just add, add to this. J.D., the Pope died, J.D. Vance visited him yesterday, and the Pope took his time to insult J.D. Vance and his Easter, essentially, uh, what J.D. Vance represented in his Easter homily, and then died soon after. Um, but, um, but one of the, third thing that's just come in is Kristi Noem got her bag snatched in DC, and it carried $3,000 in cash she had in it, which she accused the guy that she sent to the El Salvadoran prison of being in MS-13, um, for holding $1,500 in cash. Like, what was she doing with cash? Like, anyway, these stories, these people are, are just, I feel like we're in a si- simulation this time.
- SGScott Galloway
I'm just so here for Kristi Noem.
- 6:47 – 10:41
Signalgate 2
- KSKara Swisher
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's shared attack plans for strikes in Yemen in another group Signal chat, including his wife, brother, and personal lawyer. Hegseth is blaming disgruntled former employees for leaking the information about the use of this chat. They are. In fact, let me tell you, these employees aren't being quiet, and one of them wrote a piece for Politico saying how much Pete Hegseth sucks. In the group were, there were around a dozen people from Hegseth's personal and professional circles, and was named Defense Team Huddle. Hegseth created the Signal group himself and conducted the chat from his private phone. It just gets worse and worse. The details shared were the same in the chat as Jeffrey Goldberg. He looks like he cut and pasted, um, uh, it looks like he cut it and, and pasted the whole thing. And who among us has not cut and pasted war plan details in all our group chats? I mean, will he go? 'Cause now his people are after him, his, his little, you know, his l- little, his storm troopers are after him now. Um, so, do you think he'll, he's finished or, or not? Or will Trump not care?
- SGScott Galloway
Well, I had a question for you because, uh, the, what I saw, I love News Not Noise with Jessica Yellin.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And she said what's going on here is a phenomenon in journalism, and I'm curious to get your take on this, called taking out the trash, and that is when your own team turns on you-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... and starts leaking everything-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, it's a team.
- SGScott Galloway
... you're done.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, I agree.
- SGScott Galloway
There's no way, there's no way to plug the boat. Do you think that's what's going on here?
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, uh, I mean, they're explicit. One of them, uh, who is a, a spokesperson, John, I think it's Ulyatt or something like that, he wrote a whole piece saying, you know, still saying he loves Donald Trump, blah, blah, blah, but Pete Hegseth has to go, essentially. That's what this piece said, which was explicit. You don't often just see an explicit one. Now, this, four people in this group chat dropped a dime on him, and you could, I could tell two of them, the ones, two or three who were just fired by him for things he lied about. These people didn't do what he said they did, so he turned around and fucked them, and then they're like, "You're not fucking us. We're fucking you." And yeah, I think there's, and then the, the guy in his piece said, "More to come," which is, like, probably around his drinking or whatever. But it sounds like a fucking disaster there at the, at- at- at... I don't know how Trump can save this. He's gotta dump him. I think there's no question he has to dump him. But it's Trump, so you never... I mean, any other president, absolutely he'd be gone by yesterday. But, you know, he's, maybe he's thinking the Pope will give him cover or the Pope's death will give him cover. I don't know. I just think he's, he's done, he's done, he's done.
- SGScott Galloway
I, I thought that the last one.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I thought that was-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. You did.
- SGScott Galloway
... I thought that Walt was gonna get fired.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Um-
- KSKara Swisher
Trump does...
- SGScott Galloway
I, I-
- KSKara Swisher
... has a different behavior system.
- SGScott Galloway
But I wonder if at some point, the Joint Chiefs go, "You realize at some point people are gonna question orders for fear that, that service-to-air missiles are waiting for them?" Because shit from reins over here is, is playing, is, is next thing, he's gonna put it out on his Nintendo Wii what the-
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
... attack plans are. I mean-
- KSKara Swisher
God. (laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
... at some point this begins-
- KSKara Swisher
That's funny not funny. That's funny.
- SGScott Galloway
At some point, this begins to compromise the safety-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Oh, it-
- SGScott Galloway
... and security of our-
- 10:41 – 16:50
Will Google Be Broken Up?
- KSKara Swisher
So speaking of which, the Google, Google and the Justice Department, speaking of people in trouble, are headed to court as we tape Monday to argue on how to remedy the company's online search monopoly. The outcome could result in Google being forced to sell off Chrome and share more data with competitors. Witnesses from Microsoft, Mozilla, Perplexity, and OpenAI are set to take the stand. Closing arguments will be on May 30th, the decision coming by August. And for once, I, quote, "agree" with Bill Barr, uh, the former attorney general, who's, uh, just a sack of shit really. In an op-ed he wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "All the solicitude we express for free markets is hollow talk without a willingness to confront bad actors that use illegal practices to squelch rivals and establish monopoly power." Well done, Bill Barr. It's, uh, no one says you're, you're stupid. But anyway, what do you think is gonna happen here? 'Cause they also lost the advertising case too, just last week. So this is the first case, so they're in the remedies section of it.
- SGScott Galloway
I think, I think they feel the wolves are circling, and it does feel real this time. It feels, you know, while you were sleeping. You know, we're so focused on everything else that it does feel like th- the momentum here is pretty staggering. Um, I wonder if they're, they're just so smart, and they have so many connections. I wonder if they're gonna do a blood offering and offer to spin something or offer a pretty big fine, like some sort of-
- KSKara Swisher
Like how big?
- SGScott Galloway
... big bargain.
- KSKara Swisher
30 billion. No I can't, I think it has to be a remedy. I think it has to be a spinoff.
- SGScott Galloway
But, uh, yeah, they, m- my guess is they offer to do something prophylactically because I think they see-
- KSKara Swisher
But what?
- SGScott Galloway
... I think, I don't know, a spin of-
- KSKara Swisher
It has to be a spinoff.
- SGScott Galloway
... a spin of their ad group, a spin of what was, used to be Double Click. I, I'd like to see a spin of YouTube-
- KSKara Swisher
YouTube.
- SGScott Galloway
... 'cause I think it'd be so incredibly-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... valuable, valuable. I think it'd be good for shareholders and be pretty clean.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, yeah.They don't seem to want to spin any of them, not Mark Zuckerberg, not Amazon, not any of them.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, they get to share data, and it's also a... It all comes back to money, Kara. Uh, the, uh, l- this is, th- (laughs) this is the point it all reverse engineers to, and it's the following. Except for Zuckerberg, who I think just at this point likes control, although maybe that's not true. The way a CEO gets compensated is the following. There is a sub-committee of the board called the compensation committee, and basically they're there to approve, to make sure that we have enough options in a private company for new hires, and also to deal with the hardest part, and that is the CEO's compensation. And we hire Towers Perrin, and we pay them $200,000 or $300,000 'cause we don't like to do any actual work ourselves, and they come in and they say, "Okay. New York Times company, you're a $5 billion revenue company in a media space, 50% is the exact, exact median of CEOs of media companies making $5 billion." And this is what happens. You say, "Well, Janet Robinson's doing her level best. We'll pay her at 60% because we don't..." It feels weird psychologically to pay someone average. But keep in mind, this is the average of CEOs (laughs) at $5 billion media companies. So you pay them, generally speaking, 60%. But what that means is when you're paying everyone 20% more than the medium, it means every three and a half years, the compensation is doubling.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And what that means is, in 40 years, we've gone from CEOs making 30 times average worker salaries to three or 400. Now, essentially, what, what happens is, that, that metric, that, that scale you get, is based on the size of the company.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, so they get paid more.
- SGScott Galloway
So when the Bank of America CEO says, "I wanna make more money," even if he's making shitty acquisitions that may not pay off in the long-term-
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
... his compensation goes up based on the size of the company. So, there's this disincentive, or in-
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
... you're de-incentivized a little bit from shareholder value, although you have options. But everybody wants to sit on the iron throne of All Seven Realms versus Westeros. And this is why I have always highlighted, uh, Jeff Bezos. He sold the magazine group about two years ago-
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
... before magazines went into decline.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
He sold-
- KSKara Swisher
At the right time.
- SGScott Galloway
He sold the cable companies before the, the, th- e- before the, the plummet in cable companies. He sold Time, he sold Time Warner about five years before it went into structural decline 'cause he said, "My job is to get shareholders as much money as possible, even if it means putting-"
- 16:50 – 21:24
Tesla Model Y Delay
- KSKara Swisher
people who don't know, the production of Tesla's Model Y has been delayed. This company has one mess after the next recently. The Model Y more affordable version of Tesla's electric SUV was promised in the first half of this year as a pent away to boost sales. Production plans will be pushed back a few more months, though Tesla still reportedly plans to produce them, maybe. They think it's 'cause he wants to double down on robo-taxis and, and the Optimus Prime. He thinks that's where the future is, not in these cars. Obviously, people are running circles around him, including Japan and China and others. Um, and legally, it st- it settled a racial discrimination lawsuit after a Black employee alleged harassment, gender-based insults, and racial slurs on bathroom walls, which were pretty heinous. Tesla's also facing a proposed class-action suit claiming, this one is amazing too, claiming it speeds up odometers so vehicles fall out of warranty faster. What a, ugh, oh my God, it's just all over the place. So, his car company's given a lot of yips. Um, we're taping this on Monday. Tesla reports earnings on Tuesday afternoon. Um, any predictions? Like, it looks like he's not interested in making cars anymore, or, or he's making other things. He wants to shift Tesla. And I, I think they're gonna merge xAI, eh, X and this together in a big, on the whole, in a couple of months.
- SGScott Galloway
And Tesla?
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
Wow, that's really interesting.
- KSKara Swisher
And make it an AI company. Make it an AI company.
- SGScott Galloway
Huh. That would be really interesting.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Use the-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... use the AI kind of halo as a means-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... of propping up the company. Wow, that's, actually I think that's really interesting.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. I'm guessing.
- SGScott Galloway
Look, this company should be a $14 stock, and I'm not suggesting you invest here 'cause it's a meme stock and there's forces outside of your control, and now that the SEC's been neutered who knows what kind of manarc- manipulation has taken place here. But it used to be the CEO, from the street, the best thing you could do was...... kind of underpromise and over-deliver, and there's still a market for that in traditional mature companies. It... Unfortunately, the, the ground has shifted a bit that in the kind of fake it till you make it economy, it's over-promise and deliver just enough. You can under-deliver, but just enough. So, for example, some of the promises Elon has made. Uh, 2,200 days ago, he said there would be one million Tesla robotaxis within the year. Uh, nine years ago, he said all Superchargers were being converted to solar. Uh, that hasn't happened. Um, another nine years ago, he said Tesla, uh, s- uh, uh, since Tesla started charging customers for self-driving software that he said would be able to drive from LA to New York City autonomously-
- KSKara Swisher
I don't remember that.
- SGScott Galloway
... by the end of 2017.
- KSKara Swisher
I forgot about that one.
- SGScott Galloway
He said that that would happen by the end of 2017. (laughs) Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. I think he said that-
- SGScott Galloway
Nearly-
- KSKara Swisher
... to me on stage at some point.
- SGScott Galloway
Nearly eight years since the second generation Tesla Roadster was announced, you can still pre-order one on Tesla's-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... website for 45K. That's interesting. Uh, some of the promises that did come to fruition, uh, but the details were still a little fuzzy. The Cybertruck was scheduled for production in 2021 and was supposed to cost $40,000. It came a- came to market in late 2023 and the base model was over 60K, um-
- KSKara Swisher
And it's a heinous-looking vehicle, but go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
They're getting... Yeah, it makes no fucking sense. It's, they're getting hit with-
- KSKara Swisher
Well, they haven't sold that many. They haven't sold that many.
- SGScott Galloway
They're get- currently getting hit with a lawsuit concerning the alleged speeding up of odometer readings.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, that's what he just said.
- SGScott Galloway
Tesla does not have incentives to fib-
- 21:24 – 24:17
Trump Administration’s Latest Chaos
- KSKara Swisher
The Trump administration has a busy few days. Let's dig in for a few. The Supreme Court handed down a rare overnight order on Saturday blocking Trump from deporting a group of Venezuelan immigrants in Texas. The court's order bars the government for now from using the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime law from 1798. This was a seven to two ruling with Thomas and Alito in the minority. Alito wrote in his dissent, "The court's decision was, to intervene was not necessary or appropriate." The Trump administration quickly asked the Supreme Court to roll back the decision, saying the order was premature as lower courts had not properly weighed in. Um, it doesn't really, it's none of his business what they're gonna do. Actually, they're working. This guy is put- putting them to work in terms of making decisions. Um, they, they, they might try to keep Trump in check, or at least they're at least moving to do so even before things like that. Also, the Trump administration appears to be preparing for a drastic overhaul of the State Department, a plan described by one US diplomat as, "bonkers crazy pants," and that's a technical term. Uh, a draft... That's a, that's a ambassadorial term, bonkers crazy pants. Uh, that's also the name of Scott's and my band. Um, a draft-
- SGScott Galloway
(laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
... of an executive order reveals plans to shut down embassies across Africa and eliminate State Department offices focusing on climate change, refugee and human rights. So, the entire continent of Africa and anything nice for people. The draft also calls for ending, uh, foreign service exam, laying out new hiring criteria in line with the President's foreign policy vision, which means you have to agree with him. Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded to New York Times report on the overhaul on X writing, "This is fake news." Oh, Rubio, little Marco. Um, if these plans do come to fruition, we'll see what it, how it affects our standing abroad. And lastly, and then you can comment on all these things, Scott, the White House is reportedly looking into new policies that will incentivize more Americans to get married and have kids according to the Wall- New York Times. Some proposals for those policies include a $5,000 cash bonus given to every American mother after delivery. Oh, I, I wish I got that. Government-funded programs educating women on their menstrual cycles to better understand when they conceive. I, I wouldn't be against it, except it feels very, um, controlling. Giving the National Medal of Motherhood to moms with six or more kids. I'm almost there. As we discussed, this is a cause that's near and dear to the hearts of Elon Musk, J.D. Vance, Conservative Heritage Foundation for his part. Trump recently coined himself the fertilization president. He's also pitching for the idea of baby bonuses for a while. Let's listen to what he said at CPAC in 2023.
- DTDonald Trump
We will support baby bonuses for a new baby boom. How does that sound? That sounds pretty... I want a baby boom. Oh, you men are so lucky out there. You're so lucky. You are so lucky, men.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh my God, he's so gr- (laughs) he's so gross. He's so incredibly gross. Anyway, uh,
- 24:17 – 26:50
Supreme Court Rebukes Trump
- KSKara Swisher
I'd like your thoughts. Let's start with the first, uh, which is the, um, uh, well, he's done so much stuff, is this Supreme Court situation briefly. Go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, one of the two pillars of the way we approach justice or the, how we prosecute or acquit or deliver justice, and I have some general themes, and Alito gave a very eloquent speech on this...... um, I apologize, it was Justice Scalia saying that every nation has a really powerful Bill of Rights. And we keep focusing on when these decisions come down, but that's not the bigger issue. Russia has a Bill of Rights that says, "You are entitled to free speech and anyone who gets in the way of your free speech should be immediately imprisoned." Where, where a, a nation's mettle and justice system is proven or dissolves is your willingness to enforce those Bill of Rights. And that's where we are now, is that for the first time in our nation, it used to be when the Supreme Court or lower court made a decision, it was just a given it was gonna be enforced, and that the president wouldn't think of turning back planes against a court order. And we're giving the president credit right now. It's almost as if we were saying, "See, he's actually listening to the Supreme Court," because we no longer have that certainty. To me, that's really scary. The other thing is, generally speaking, we have decided with our justice system that it is worth the trade-off, and there's always a trade-off, to have some people who are guilty be free, OJ-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... versus imprisoning innocent people.
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
And I want to be clear-
- KSKara Swisher
Joe Rogan just said this yesterday, but go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
Who did?
- KSKara Swisher
Joe Rogan.
- SGScott Galloway
And-
- KSKara Swisher
He likes due process.
- SGScott Galloway
Really?
- KSKara Swisher
Yes, he did. He said, "It's better than-"
- SGScott Galloway
Well, good for him.
- KSKara Swisher
"... a thou- a thou- 100 people, uh, that are guilty get off if one innocent person gets convicted." I think that was his-
- SGScott Galloway
And I-
- KSKara Swisher
... recent comment, right.
- SGScott Galloway
Right now, I, I can hear a lot of Americans saying, "Okay, now do Black people..." 'Cause I think there's a lot of Black Americans who've been encar- incarcerated unfairly. But those are kinda two pretty significant tenets, and those have been... So the notion that this Republican talking point of, "Well, yeah, it's worth it if there's a couple people in El Salvador that shouldn't be, it's worth the general progress we've made." Meanwhile, they're, 60 Minutes said, 70%, 75% (laughs) of these folks haven't committed a crime. So, I think the bigger issue is we just have to, at this point, make sure that these decisions are upheld because we have a strong man who's kinda picking and choosing, it feels like, what decisions he's gonna decide to, to
- 26:50 – 36:41
Trump’s Baby Boom Plans
- SGScott Galloway
comply with. In terms of the natalist movement, um, I do believe, I m- I mean I think of a unifying theory of everything around what the Democratic message should be, and I should, I think it should be the following, that anyone under the age of 40 who works, uh, should be able to form a household, buy a home or at least afford rent, meet somebody, and afford to have children. So, minimum wage of 25 bucks an hour, national service, seven million homes in 10 years, do away with capital gains tax and a tax structure that transfers money from young to old, universal child tax credit. There's a ton of actual programs I'd like to see the Democrats actually put forward instead of fucking whining all the time. But here's the bottom line, it's about economic prosperity such that if the 60% of 30-year-olds that had a kid, now it's 27%, wanna take it back to 40, that's fine, but at the same time, if they decide they wanna not have kids and spend that money on brunch in St. Barts, that's their right.
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
So, I want a program that takes the people under the age of 40 that are 24% less wealthy than they were 40 years ago, and not the 72% wealthier people over the age of 70, and levels up young people and gives them a chance to meet each other, and gives them economic viability, but only rewarding them for some sort of kind of weird propagation reality is-
- KSKara Swisher
Having babies, right. It's, it's a-
- SGScott Galloway
I'm sorry, go ahead.
- KSKara Swisher
It's a good thing to have baby... I mean, I've had four kids. I love children. It's, it's that it should be one is your choice if you want or don't want them, but this idea that you didn't put anything else in place, like, why isn't he talking about daycare? If you really want people to have kids-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
... give national daycare to everybody.
- SGScott Galloway
100%.
- KSKara Swisher
Like, good daycare. Like, if you really wanna have kids... This is very similar to the abortion thing. If you really want people not to have as many abortions, make it so it's easy to have children perhaps, and maybe people would make different decisions. It's the same... They never wanna solve... And they also don't like the kids after they're born, right? They don't help any of those kids that get born who, to, to, to... in problematic homes and everything else. So, they don't wa- they... All they want is f- And you could see it, his giveaway was, "Uh-huh, men you're gonna get to fuck," I think that's really what he was saying. Uh, he was saying that, but I, I don't think it. Um, so this idea of baby bonuses is g- fine, that seems fine. Um, the idea of, of IVF being inexpensive, great. It's all, like, individual gate, but it's not followed by anything that really matters to people who have kids, which is daycare or childcare, which is important at every income level, by the way. Even if you can afford it, it's difficult. Same thing with eldercare, by the way, on the other side, also hard. Um, and, and but they don't wanna do any of this thing. They just want, like, men to, like, "Have 14 babies, Elon," but what do you care if you're a shitty father, right? None of that matters. So, I- I don't, you know, it just f- people to realize, um, the, the, the, these expanded child tax credit would be better, or a baby bonus would require an Act of Congress, by the way. But, uh, like, expand child tax credit, that's a great idea too.
- SGScott Galloway
That's right.
- KSKara Swisher
But just the other things matter much, much more. And Scott is 100% right. If you don't wanna have kids, you should not be, like, ne- y- it kind of is... Remember when people were giving money to peop- giving people their college, um, forgiving the loans?
- SGScott Galloway
Right.
- KSKara Swisher
Why does people who have babies get it and people that don't, don't get it? It- there's that moment.
- SGScott Galloway
That's exactly right.
- KSKara Swisher
Right? Like, why do they get money?
- SGScott Galloway
Right.
- KSKara Swisher
Because we want them to have babies? That's kind of sick. M-
- SGScott Galloway
Y- you need young people more economically viable, and if-
- KSKara Swisher
That's right.
- SGScott Galloway
... you wanna talk about a baby boom, you gotta reverse engineer it to why the baby boom happened.
- KSKara Swisher
Happened, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And effectively, it was the following. I don't like to talk about this 'cause some of it sounds politically off-putting, but 7 million men came home from war, and they had demonstrate heroism in uniform and they were fit, and we put a bunch of money in middle class homes through the GI Bill, through FHA loans, and we said, "Okay, young people, here's a bunch of attractive men." Quite frankly, we aren't producing enough attractive men for the women who have ascended...... and we should do nothing, including some sort of weird tax credit that somehow pulls women out of the workforce and how, we should do nothing to get in the way of women's incredible ascent. What we need to do is lift up men who, quite frankly, aren't keeping pace. And the way you lift up men is by lifting up all people under the age of 40, and giving them a chance to meet-
- KSKara Swisher
Get homes, jobs.
- SGScott Galloway
... giving them a chance to fall in love.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Giving them economic viability.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
We, we have to make, we have to get them together. Do you never realize, uh, and I know this sounds... 40% of nightclubs in London have gone away since COVID. If people aren't going into work, they're not going into bars, they're not going to church. Where does a man, or where does a woman, who has a much finer filter for sex, because quite frankly the downside of sex is so much greater, ever have the opportunity to let a man-
- KSKara Swisher
Meet. Mm-hmm.
- 36:41 – 39:33
State Department Overhaul?
- SGScott Galloway
(laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
You're lucky to have me.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, God.
- KSKara Swisher
Can I have a very brief thing on this bonkers crazy pants getting rid of our African embassies across Africa, and also cutting all the things that make us Americans.
- SGScott Galloway
That was a side way. Mm, hmm.
- KSKara Swisher
Which are refugee help, human rights, climate change, et cetera.
- SGScott Galloway
Look, I, I don't... Uh, my, my view is that with brand... What is a brand?
- KSKara Swisher
This is a brand. Right. That's why I'm asking.
- SGScott Galloway
A, a, a brand is unearned margin because of soft power, the promise of what you will get if you buy this brand, and you gotta deliver it against the performance. And the promise is what I would refer to in, in terms of aid overseas is soft power, and people feel good about us. When you see the, when you see an American Embassy, you know it's gonna be well-staffed, you know they're polite. You know that if you're an American abroad and you get mistreated, you go straight to the Embassy. And the fact that we're reducing our soft power all over the world-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, right.
- SGScott Galloway
... all that means is a reduction in the promise, a reduction in our brand, which will reduce our unearned margin across our business relationships, our safety. Do you think h- how many people... And the problem is, you're not even gonna realize how much damage, damage it does. Do you realize how many people call our intelligence services when they suspect-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... a terrorist cell somewhere? They call-
- KSKara Swisher
A lot.
- SGScott Galloway
... American Embassies 'cause they're like, "You know what? Those are nice people. They're, they're the good guys," and we're losing that.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
This is the d- A reduction in soft power across America-
- KSKara Swisher
Also across Africa? We just decided to, to give-
- SGScott Galloway
The whole of Africa?
- KSKara Swisher
... Africa over to China? Anyway, go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
Which, by the way, has been a hotbed for, quite frankly... It's not only, it's not only, uh, playing not playing offense. America's prob- Africa likely will have the greatest GDP growth over the next 40 or 50 years. It's just kinda time, right? And it has huge, unbelievable human potential, uh, unbelievable natural resources. At some point, Africa's gonna have its moment, and we wanna be in there in establishing strong business and military relationships. You know, in addition, there are some hotbeds of terrorist activity in Africa, and we want African nations and governments cooperating with us. Uh, it all comes down to the same thing. To believe that you can build a bubble around your shores is just naive. I've always believed you not only take the fight to foreign nations, you take the empathy and the goodwill. It has to be a carrot and a stick.
- KSKara Swisher
Yep. I agree. This is, it's an astonishing thing. We're just giving up. Uh, literally, I... I know it sounds dumb, but do you remember, like, sort of the, uh, the image I have of youth is, you know, uh, Hershey bars by GIs and stuff like that?
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, Wrigley's gum.
- KSKara Swisher
Like, all the stuff we did. It sounds like, it's such a trope, but it's so, like, we are the good... We c- We've not always been the good guys, but we're the good guys, and now we're, now the Chinese are gonna be the good guys, and they are not the good guys, by the way. It's just grotesque. It's such a transactional nature. Anyway, uh, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, China's latest salvo in the trade war and Netflix.
- 39:33 – 41:45
China’s Warning
- KSKara Swisher
Scott, we're back. China is warning countries not, speaking of which, not to make any trade deals with the US at China's expense and is threatening retaliation against countries that do. They're doing the carrot and stick situation. China said it was responding to foreign media reports that the Trump Administration was trying to pressure other countries as a negotiating tactic. "Harming the interests of others for one's own selfish and short-sighted gains is like negotiating with a tiger for its skin." Oh, that's an interesting metaphor. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. They went on to say, "In the end, it will only lead to a lose-lose situation." Why do the Chinese seem so reasonable at this moment? What does it make of the strategy? I mean, obviously they're gonna have to threaten too 'cause we're threatening, presumably.
- SGScott Galloway
Our, our threats mean less and less.
- KSKara Swisher
Yes.
- SGScott Galloway
I, I do think that one of Obama's biggest mistakes was not responding when Syria crossed that red line.
- KSKara Swisher
Yep.
- SGScott Galloway
You should make very, very few threats, but what they should be is not threats. They should be promises. And-
- KSKara Swisher
That's a good policy.
- SGScott Galloway
... unfortunately, now, we're just, we're threatening everybody, n- so no one takes us seriously. They're like, uh, uh... I just don't think we have... There's no veracity with our threats, it, because it's like, well, he didn't threaten Canada, but he came after them for no apparent reason. And then when he threatens to ban TikTok, he do- i- w- we are not-
- KSKara Swisher
Harvard was a mistake. Like, it's all, like, it's all such puffery. I'm sorry.
- SGScott Galloway
We are not a serious people. It just doesn't, uh, uh, we have absolutely no authority or reliability. Uh, w- we come home every day to a drunk, manic-depressive, bipolar mate. We don't know who we're waking up against, or we don't know who we're waking up with every morning. And, uh, the fact that any nation is gonna respond and back down, other than saying, "Oh, okay. Sorry." And, "Wow, have you lost weight, Mr. President?" And then just back channel to China and say, "Hey, we really should have those talks we were talking about, about lowering trade barriers." And China, oh my God, they must be licking their chops.
- KSKara Swisher
They must.
- SGScott Galloway
As is Vietnam, as is Turkey, as is the EU. The EU is-
- KSKara Swisher
How many friends?
- SGScott Galloway
I mean, obviously, this hurts them, but they're making all sorts of... They're doing all s- they're working overtime. They're doing all sorts, th- of trade deals right now.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, and they still don't wanna turn their back on us if they don't have to.
- 41:45 – 46:23
Netflix Earnings
- KSKara Swisher
Anyway, amid all the economic turmoil and confusion, one company that is weathering the storm is fine, and people are worried about this. Netflix, the company reported in its Q1 earnings last week, beating revenue and earnings, uh, targets. In a letter to shareholders, Netflix said that revenue and profit growth outlook remained solid and it's not making any changes to its forecast for the year. Look, this is the one company that stays going even despite the volatility 'cause it r- requires, I would imagine, maybe making, they make a lot of films elsewhere, but a lot of their stuff is sort of tariff-protected in a weird way, correct?
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, I don't see how it's subject... I mean, eventually, eventually, it'll impact them, but, um, I mean, this is, this is arguably, I mean, we always say this about a lot of companies, but one of the best managed companies in the world, a- but arguably the best pivot in the world. They were sending out DVDs.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
A real insight-
- KSKara Swisher
I still have one.
- SGScott Galloway
... was they said... The real insight was the best broadband in the world is the US postal system, that rather than trying (laughs) to send a movie over pipes, send it in the mail. And then when the pipes caught up to the mail, they said, "We're pivoting," and they, that was the ultimate pivot, and it worked. They then adopted a page out of Bezos' playbook and said, "If we can paint a really compelling vision for this company and deliver against it on an incremental basis, we can attract more cheap capital, which gives us more and more money, and we're just gonna literally..."... outspend, "We're gonna overwhelm the competition with capital." And they spent $18 billion a year. And then, when they kind of pulled ahead and it was clear no one was going to be able to capture them in terms of capital, they then globalized the industry, and did to LA what Tokyo did to Detroit. And that is, they moved huge production facilities overseas, and now they can... On $18 million, on $18 billion in content, which is what? F- f- five to eight times what HBO, Apple, all of them spend. Apple I think spends five billion. They can spend... If they're spending three times what another company spends in gross dollar volume, they can produce four times the content, because it's just a better managed c- company. About, I think now almost 40 or 50%, or maybe even more of their capital is spent overseas on production than spent domestically.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, they really were smart about that. They also brought shows from there, either remade them or used them from there. They were very good about the globalization.
- SGScott Galloway
She does so well, man.
- KSKara Swisher
Let me say-
- SGScott Galloway
What do you notice-
- KSKara Swisher
Let me give kudos-
- SGScott Galloway
Sorry, go ahead, Kara.
- KSKara Swisher
... to Reed Hastings, who has stepped down as executive, um, he was executive chairman, ver- he was very quite involved, to chairman of the board. I met Reed when he was selling those DB, when he was moving those DVDs, very early in, in Netflix's history. And there had been a series of companies like this, if you recall, that were trying to do this, what he was doing. Um, I did a very famous interview with him, I think it was 2007 maybe, with him, the head of Hulu at the time, Jason Kylar, and Chad Hurley, who was the head of YouTube. And we were, uh, we were put down in a basement, and I always thought that these three, especially Reed Hastings, really had a vision for the future. But they, uh, they... He, he really, even though he's dropping his status, he's, he's a pivotal person who made a lot of the decision, and he's smartly followed with executives that he has cycled out some that haven't worked, even though if they did well for a while. Um, I have to say, he really is, has to go down as one of the greatest executives.
- SGScott Galloway
Agree, but, uh, uh, I mean, and kudos to Reed, he brought in Ted Sarandos, and Ted, whose job, as a young man, he ran six or eight video rental stores. I mean, the guy just has a feel for content. And, uh, they now are leveraging their platform, they're going into, uh, video games, they're going into, uh, sports, they're going into, this is the scary one, they're going into podcasting. Uh, the really interesting thing would be the clash of the titans, the celebrity death match, would be if Alphabet spun YouTube. YouTube, I mean, and the war between Netflix and HBO and Disney and-
- KSKara Swisher
Not really the war.
- SGScott Galloway
It's not, that's not the war. That's over. The war, if there is one, is between Netflix and YouTube.
- KSKara Swisher
That's why they should spin it off. By the way, YouTube happens to be bigger, by the way. Anyway, you're right, and who would be the CEO of that? I mean, they would try to get Sarandos obviously, right? They'd try to grab him, but...
- SGScott Galloway
Of YouTube?
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Like, who-
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, I think Neal Mohan's done an incredible job.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, yeah. I'm just wondering if they would go... But that would be great. Uh, he, he has, and before that, another person who I had great regard for, Susan Wojcicki, who died, uh, also did a great job, um, there while she was running it, and she was one of the very earliest, in fact one of the earliest Google executives. They started Google in her garage. Um, so yeah, you're right, YouTube versus Netflix is the story, is really the story. Anyway. All right, Scott, one more quick break, we'll be back for wins and fails.
- 46:23 – 1:02:36
Wins and Fails
- KSKara Swisher
Okay Scott, let's hear some wins and fails. Why don't you go first this week?
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, I just loved, uh, uh, I've been so, uh, you have an easier time disassociating than me. I've been so stressed and upset about everything that's been going on that to just be at the Royal Albert Hall, listening to beautiful music that reminded me... I think it was Diana, but was it either... I think it was Gloria Vanderbilt, Anderson Cooper's mother, who said that the happiest time in her life or the happiest time she believes in anyone's life is when you're, when you have young kids at home. And I do think I'll look back on that and look at that as the happiest time in my life. But feeling that music in that venue...
- KSKara Swisher
I love this.
- SGScott Galloway
It was just so extraordinary, and just absolutely gave me an hour of peace and emotion to share with someone I care a great big deal about in the cont- I mean, we just knew exactly how we were both feeling.
- KSKara Swisher
That's wonderful.
- SGScott Galloway
I felt very connected to London, I felt very connected to music. Uh, and it was just a nice hour of respite.
- KSKara Swisher
Does anything else remind you of that? Like, uh, Sal was wearing this shirt that Louis used to wear this weekend, and that gave me the chills in a good way. Does anything else, just music brings you back?
- SGScott Galloway
You know what is incredible, is um, a woman who used to, uh, work with me at L2, I don't think I'm speaking out of school, I won't say her name, but she just took on a strategy role at Apple and she's overseeing memories.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
You know that, you have those things that pop up?
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, I love them.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh my gosh, that, I'm, you know, as you know, I'm fascinated with death. I'm just gonna play that shit over and over and live my life again. Those, that does, music does, seeing certain people does. I mean that's... And the piece of advice I would give to anyone, especially men who have a tough time with this, you know, from the, I've said this, from the age of 29 to 45 I didn't cry, I didn't cry when I got divorced, I didn't cry when my mom died, I just kind of forgot how. And it is a real gift to, and a practice, an effort, to really lean into your emotions.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
If you hear something funny, force yourself... This is one of the things I really like about you, you laugh out loud.
- KSKara Swisher
I do.
- SGScott Galloway
You have a wonderful laugh and it's infectious.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs) Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And it gives everyone else permission to laugh and it just makes everything a little lighter. If something upsets you or it moves you sentimentally, let yourself weep, let yourself cry, because it informs what's important to you. When you see a piece of art or a piece of creative that inspires you, sometimes I even rewind it 15 or 30 seconds and say, "Wow, this is such a wonderful scene, I want to watch it," or I listen to music. Really lean into your emotions, because our advantage-
- KSKara Swisher
You're a crier.
- SGScott Galloway
... as a species...
- KSKara Swisher
You're a crier now. You really are.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, I cry at the drop of a hat.
- KSKara Swisher
You do, you really do.
- SGScott Galloway
I cry at the drop of a hat.
- KSKara Swisher
I'm scared to watch certain movies with you, honestly.
- SGScott Galloway
And it's, it's one of the things I like, I like the messy part of myself.
- KSKara Swisher
All right, your win?
- SGScott Galloway
My, my kids see me cry all the time.
- KSKara Swisher
Your fail, excuse me, your fail?
- SGScott Galloway
... don't rush me through my personal parables.
Episode duration: 1:02:36
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