Pivot · Feb 10, 2023

AI Blunders, The GOP Cries Censorship, and Adam Neumann’s Comeback

Automatic transcript of the end of the episode, from 46:44. Speakers are labeled by software and may contain errors. Highlighted passages are Scott’s predictions.

Scott Galloway · 46:44 K. To say, all right, in Mississippi, 25 an hour would put a disproportionate number of businesses out of business, but let's index it to, okay, what is the poverty line? Let's go 20% above the poverty line. It's an algorithm that looks at the cost of living and wages, and we set a floor. But I think we're of like minds on this, and that is the floor needs to be or the number needs to be a lot higher than what it is now. But he's absolutely right. Kara Swisher · 47:11 Should there be a floor? Should there be a floor and then do it then do it based on on the region? Scott Galloway · 47:18 I don't know the difference. Kara Swisher · 47:19 Well, so say you can't go below a certain amount. It's at seven. Right? Seven whatever Scott Galloway · 47:25 Well, no. I I think I think in sum, I think minimum wage needs to be somewhere... I can't imagine it would be any lower than 14 or $15 And also, do believe that there are just some small businesses that should go away. I think there's some big companies that are very dependent on cheap labor, that their will get hit hard, and I think it would be worth it. There's no free lunch here. But his point is a good one, that is if you live in a small town in Mississippi and you make $18 an hour and there's two of you, you can have an okay life. Mhmm. And so why wouldn't... Why would you get... Do away with those businesses when you can get what you want on $18 an Kara Swisher · 48:03 hour? Scott Galloway · 48:03 And that's what he's saying, and he's correct. Kara Swisher · 48:05 This is a good answer. And, Scott, that was a good answer for you too. Do you think it's gonna happen? Scott Galloway · 48:11 No. Unfortunately, this impacts disproportionately young people, poor people, and their underrepresented in government. Kara Swisher · 48:22 So Good... A good thing for a politician like Sleepy Joe could be could be a good topic. Scott Galloway · 48:30 Look. If you wanted to... I I I think if you did the real analysis here Mhmm. We don't talk about this a lot, but when you look at relationships, right, I think relationships are kind of the key component or the central component of what makes a healthy society and a rewarding productive society. And the thing that really frays relationships is financial strength. Think if you look at obesity, I think if you look at depression, I think if you look at deaths of despair, if you look at opioid addiction, it all comes... A lot of it reverse engineers to the same place, and that is just massive shame and rage around financial strain. And so I would argue that if you were to substantially increase minimum wage, the amount of social services we end up paying in mental health, incarceration, medical care for people who are morbidly obese because they can't afford to eat well, Kids who struggle developmentally because there's huge economic strain. So I think financial strain is the reason a lot of a lot... There's a lot of marital Mhmm. Agita. Anyways, I I think we get the money back. I think it'd the... I think Kara Swisher · 49:36 the best investment Great. Scott Galloway · 49:37 We could... A pretty easy investment we could... Not easy. A really thoughtful investment that would have huge ROI Yep. Is leveling up Kara Swisher · 49:44 the part Scott Galloway · 49:44 of our society. Kara Swisher · 49:45 It's like college loans. It's a... It'll pay it back. It'll pay it back. You know what my son said, Louis said? I thought it was super smart. By the way, he loves seeing you. Scott Galloway · 49:54 That's nice. Kara Swisher · 49:54 He really did. He mentioned it several times. He said, They should pay me to go school, so it would help our economy in the end. They should pay all of us to go to school because it would... They would be a better economy. Scott Galloway · 50:04 What's the term for that? Yeah. The University of California, Kara Swisher · 50:06 '19 No. I get that. Scott Galloway · 50:07 No. Nineteen fifties to nineteen nineties. They've He's they've felt the same Kara Swisher · 50:10 in this new economics class, and he loves it. I made him take it. I said, you need to take an And he's like, Ugh, I don't want to. And he loves it. You know, he's really enjoying it a lot because he's making him think about UBI and everything else. I thought that was him. She just said it off the top of his head. It's interesting. Scott Galloway · 50:27 Well, do. The model a little bit is it's interesting, PhD students get paid. Kara Swisher · 50:32 Yes. They do. Scott Galloway · 50:32 That's very the best and bright... And by the way, you wanna talk about attracting the best and brightest from all over the world. Yep. We find these incredible people, and then they come and they learn, and we pay them. They have responsibilities. They teach. They do some work, but we pay them. Kara Swisher · 50:45 Right. And one colleges, of I'm not going say which Alice got into, actually pay you. You don't pay for education, but later when you have a salary, you have to pay a certain percentage back to the school. Was so creative and interesting. I didn't realize that. Scott Galloway · 51:01 Yeah. That's gonna be legally challenged because they think that it's, to a certain extent, indentured servitude. People have talked about that for a long time. Kara Swisher · 51:09 It's interesting. I think... I like all interesting ideas around all these things, so we should be more creative about the way people are paid and the benefits that society gets from them. Anyway, great question. If you've got a question of your own and you'd like answered, send it our way. Go to nymag.com/pivot to submit a question for the show, or call 85551 Alright, Scott. One more quick break. We'll be back for predictions. [Ad break] Kara Swisher · 52:48 But I was right. I was saying he's gonna run, and he's gonna... He's still in good shape. Scott Galloway · 52:52 I don't know if he's gonna run. We'll see. Kara Swisher · 52:54 Nonetheless, you listen to my podcast about it. But in any case, he's doing a great job. Scott Galloway · 52:59 Yeah. I agree with you. And by the way, I I wrote Mhmm. I'm confident talking about Twitter and post, but I wrote one of my most popular thing. I underestimated Joe Biden. Kara Swisher · 53:09 Yeah. You did. Scott Galloway · 53:10 And people like thousands of likes. Mhmm. Yeah. You did. Kara Swisher · 53:13 Don't listen to me. You don't listen to me. You have no respect for me. Scott Galloway · 53:16 I listen to you. Sometimes I don't hear you. Kara Swisher · 53:18 Yeah. You have no respect. No respect for my intelligence about these Scott Galloway · 53:21 Huge huge probs and respect. Anyways, you pussy ass bitch. Kara Swisher · 53:28 You pussy ass bitch. I was right. Scott Galloway · 53:30 Okay. Anyways, the Kara Swisher · 53:32 By the way, Trump is a pussy ass bitch. I think that was Scott Galloway · 53:34 quite accurate. It's just like, that's what we're talking about on CNN? That's the state of the nation right now? Kara Swisher · 53:39 Accuracy. Thank you, Chrissy Teigen. Do you know John Legend's on the board of Vox? Scott Galloway · 53:45 Yeah. I remember when we presented to the board, and I'm like, that guy looks like John Legend. I'm like, that is John Legend. Kara Swisher · 53:50 That's right. Scott Galloway · 53:52 Do you remember my joke? And they said Oh, no. Did you do? Why do you think... Hey. They said, I couldn't wait for the show. I couldn't focus on any... Know, they asked me a series Kara Swisher · 53:59 of handsome, man. Scott Galloway · 54:00 I couldn't... He's very handsome. I couldn't focus on anything they were saying because I had a choke lined up. And finally, they go, well, why do you think the SPAC market was so so terrible? And I'm like, because all of you loves all of me. And there was just an uncomfortable pause, and no one got Kara Swisher · 54:12 the joke. Oh my god. Scott Galloway · 54:15 I thought that was good. Kara Swisher · 54:15 They shouldn't have us into anything. They shouldn't. Scott Galloway · 54:19 So much... Kara Swisher · 54:20 I've served let us in. Speaker · 54:21 I've served on a lot of boards, and I'm walking to Scott Galloway · 54:23 the Vox board, and I feel like a seven year old about to throw up Kara Swisher · 54:25 on himself. Hey. What do we think about the money? When Jay Pence teaches, can we should we torture him? Jay, we're ready to torture you Yeah. Scott Galloway · 54:34 Yeah. So what Kara's talking about is is Vox raised a 100,000,000, I think, a pre of 400 or post of 500 or pre of 500 or post of 600. Kara Swisher · 54:42 I don't know. Scott Galloway · 54:43 But when you think about it, it's a real Kara Swisher · 54:45 victory know, but I'm not telling you. But go ahead. Scott Galloway · 54:47 Well, aren't you important? Kara Swisher · 54:48 Yes. I am. Scott Galloway · 54:49 That is a real victory for Vox because if you look at a lot of publicly traded media companies right now Kara Swisher · 54:54 Mhmm. Scott Galloway · 54:55 I mean, whether it's Gannett or BuzzFeed, I don't know, after the the the tripling of the stock, but Vox in the private market story is a $100,000,000 in this market. It means... Not that I know this. It means the business is actually fairly healthy. Yeah. Hear me. Anyways, congratulations to Vox and Penske. Kara Swisher · 55:12 Get ready for us. We're so excited. I rented a Penske truck Scott Galloway · 55:15 recently when I was Kara Swisher · 55:16 moving Louie up to up to Dubna NYU. I can Scott Galloway · 55:20 see you on a Penske That fits. Kara Swisher · 55:22 It was good. It worked. Scott Galloway · 55:23 It was great. Photo shoot of vanity fair. Anyways, okay. So — Predictions segment begins — Kara Swisher · 55:27 You're so jealous. Alright. Go ahead. Prediction. Scott Galloway · 55:29 My prediction, and we talked about it before. I I used to think that Disney was gonna buy the rest of Hulu. I think they're actually gonna sell it. And I don't know if you saw in another prediction around a sale of streaming. Warner Brothers Discovery has decided that they're not going to... They're backtracking on their initial strategy of creating one super bundle Mhmm. With HBO Max and Discovery Plus. They're gonna keep Discovery Plus a separate entity. And I think what that means is they're keeping it distinct such that they can sell it. Yeah. I think this acquisition... Time Warner is just the acquisition that people love to overpay for. Kara Swisher · 56:04 Yeah. They do. Scott Galloway · 56:05 And I think that the numbers are obviously pretty weak so far. The stock has really... Has not performed well since Discovery Plus and Zaslow bought it. And I think he sees the writing on the wall. He's gonna have to pay off some debt and divest some assets. Kara Swisher · 56:22 He doesn't mind doing it either. Scott Galloway · 56:24 So him keeping Discovery Plus separate makes it cleaner for a sale. Mhmm. Anyway, so I think two predictions of the streaming market. I think Disney's actually gonna sell Hulu, not acquire the rest of it. Mhmm. Kara Swisher · 56:36 Time Warner To Comcast. Scott Galloway · 56:38 Yeah. Or to a third party, but it's likely... They'll likely... I mean, they're playing chicken with each other. They're both all trying to posture that they want it or don't want it to try and get the best deal. But also, think you're gonna see Time Warner... I'm sorry, Warner Bros. Discovery now divest Discovery Plus to somebody, maybe to Disney even. Although, will they have the money? Anyways. Kara Swisher · 57:01 You're right. Think you're a 100% right. He's got a real problem there, and I'm gonna do a tiny prediction. As Bob showed, you can really shake things up pretty quick if you've got the skills, the mad skills, which he has as being a CEO. My prediction is that the olds are are are really showing they got... They still got some juice in the tank, the olds. Scott Galloway · 57:19 The olds? Kara Swisher · 57:20 The olds. You know? Bob Iger, over 70. President Biden doing the olds. You know, me being a fashion model now. Speaker · 57:28 I was wondering how Scott Galloway · 57:29 we were gonna work here. Kara Swisher · 57:32 You're kind of an olds, but not quite yet. Not as old as me. But I'm saying what Biden showed in that thing is political experience matters. The ability... He's he's an old hand at this, and he handled it beautifully. He ran right over those those loudmouth Republicans, and and Eiger did the same thing with Paltz. He just, like, handled them. He handled it. Scott Galloway · 57:51 I appreciate the golden girls moment with this nation needs. Yeah. What this nation needs is more young people in position. Kara Swisher · 57:57 I agree. I'm saying that, but don't, like, count out the olds. There's a lot of ages. Scott Galloway · 58:00 I'm counting on. I just wanna put them on an ice floe. Kara Swisher · 58:02 No. You don't wanna put Bob Iger on an ice floe. He'd look good. I'm joking. Scott Galloway · 58:05 I'm joking. Kara Swisher · 58:06 Alright. I'm just saying. Scott Galloway · 58:07 I'm one of them. I'm getting old. I'm gonna be I'm gonna be 48 Kara Swisher · 58:10 next No. You're not. And don't you think you are more productive than ever? And you're not gonna be 48, but... Okay. Sure. What... Don't you think you're more productive older? I do. Scott Galloway · 58:20 Yeah. I'm more productive because greatness is in the agency of others, and I I surround myself with really talented young people who every year get more fast out with technology. I'm just disappointed that... Look. What I see, Kara, quite frankly, is I see young people who can't afford to have children. I see young people who have the deck stacked against them, and I see an America who's not investing in youth and creating a situation where young people feel so shitty about the future, and they can't afford to have kids. Yeah. I agree. And I think a lot of that is because we have old people in congress, so Social Security is safe, but child tax credit goes away. And the first states that determine the president happen to be the oldest and widest states. So what do you know? Kara Swisher · 59:00 Oh, they're changing that. The Democrats just Scott Galloway · 59:01 changed it. The Democrats... And that's a great move. That's a baller move. Kara Swisher · 59:04 Yeah. Scott Galloway · 59:04 But we... I mean, it's pretty pretty straightforward. Mhmm. You know, whether it's Nobel Prize winners or the best rock and roll music Mhmm. Or the best tech companies in the world, they all have one thing in common. They're they're started, written, or inspired by people in their twenties. Kara Swisher · 59:19 And I like the young. So I'm not saying... I'm just saying the olds did a good job this week. Scott Galloway · 59:25 Yeah. Okay. I'll give you that. Win win for I got it. A win for a win for the land of the walking dead. Kara Swisher · 59:30 No. They're not walking dead. You're wrong again. You didn't wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. You don't have to, like... Age age is not a concept. It absolutely is not. I think we should also encourage young people too. How about that? How about both? How about both? Scott Galloway · 59:43 That's what Kara Swisher · 59:44 Biden was talking. You can have both. Scott Galloway · 59:45 The answer is yes. Kara Swisher · 59:47 Yes. The answer is yes. Alright, Scott. Good prediction. I think you're correct on that one. Alright. Let's read us out. — Predictions segment ends — Scott Galloway · 59:55 Today's show was produced by Lara Nayman, Evan Engel, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie Undertodd engineered this episode. Thanks also to Drew Bros and Mille Savario. Make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things in tech. Also, special thanks to our friend and Nick from Second Peninsula. We appreciate your good work over the last year. And also, more importantly, we appreciate the fifth dimension. Kara Swisher · 1:00:25 Thank you, Nick. [Ad break] Scott Galloway · 1:01:14 With the score tied Speaker · 1:01:15 Afternoon glare totally ruined my watch party for the big game. That's when my buddy recommended blinds.com. [Ad break] Scott Galloway · 1:01:43 fall [Ad break]