Kara Swisher · 55:30
So very well for
Guest · 55:31
Totally. I mean, it's a real tension. You... Nobody wants kids in jail. And, you know, in fairness to Becerra, this is a system that really is under pressure because the kind of kids coming has changed. It used to be that a couple thousand kids would come every year. They would almost always go to their parents. It didn't make sense to be that careful about where the kids were going because it's just their parents. But, I mean, I talked to a 13 year old who met his sponsor on Facebook and came up and was immediately on the hook for $4,000 living with a stranger. I mean, that is something that we are seeing in recent years that just didn't really used to happen. And so it... I mean, it seems clear that something needs to change and the government, I think, is maybe trying to sort of catch up with this new phenomenon, the new demographic of kids and the new things that are happening to them.
Scott Galloway · 56:24
I mean, the question on my mind, Hannah, is more about you. It's so inspiring when you see someone who's this good at something this early in their career. How did you end up in journalism? And how did this happen? I think it's it's just so impressive that you found what clearly sounds like a real calling for you at such an... At such a young age and are having such an impact.
Guest · 56:43
Oh, that's really kind of you to say. I mean, I think I've gotten really lucky. I've had a lot of support. I mean, it's a, you know, it's a sort of unforgiving industry. And I think a lot of journalists a lot of journalists told me not to become a journalist. People told me they'd walked across a burning bridge, now it was burned, and I would never make it, and I shouldn't even try. So I try not to say that to young journalists. But I do think it's the kind of work that you really need some sort of personal passion for. And personally, I mean, I grew up with a single mother, like, sort of working class, and I have a lot of thoughts about how people who aren't super wealthy are covered in the media. And part of what I wanted to do was report around people who are sort of at the margins in a way that felt true to me. And, I mean, you know, I can't relate to the experience of a migrant child being put to work overnight. That was never anything close to my experience. But I get a lot of sort of satisfaction from trying to report on these kids in a way that feels, like, true and not pitying and not saccharine.
Kara Swisher · 57:53
Not a bit. That was remarkable. There needs to be more reporters like you, especially young reporters. So last... I do have last question. What's gonna happen with these kids now? What's gonna... You know, some of these things that get written, what is gonna occur as a result of this, and has anything changed for these kids? Have you been in touch with them since it came out?
Guest · 58:11
You know, a lot has changed policy wise just in the past week. I've never really seen anything like this in in response to something that I put out in the world. Like you say, the Biden administration held a press conference, like, the next day and made actual changes at the Department of Labor. Health and human services is making some changes. They don't seem as sweeping as what we're seeing at the Department of Labor. And then there's some congressional action that seems like it has a lot of sort of bipartisan support and might actually bear fruit. But with these kids, I mean, I've talked to some of them. They've been fired from their jobs. They've already gotten new jobs, and they really seem sort of just as alone and and hard up as they were two weeks ago. Some of them, the ones that were named in the story, have gotten help. They've been offered more services by the government. They've gotten lawyers. But as I said, we named the kids who are sort of in the most mild situations. These other kids are still working, and I think we're probably gonna see a lot more kids coming over this summer. And unless something really changes, they are probably gonna find themselves in slaughterhouses and in roofing and in in these same jobs.
Kara Swisher · 59:24
Yeah. Yeah. And the beat goes on, unfortunately. Anyway, what an amazing accomplishment. Thank you so much, and we're looking for all the the follow ups. What are you working on next besides follow ups?
Guest · 59:35
I've been really surprised by the reaction that people in government and people at corporations didn't know about this. And I think I'm gonna do some more looking into that.
Kara Swisher · 59:45
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They didn't know. Okay. Sure. Anyway, we really appreciate it. You're a wonderful reporter. Keep her name in mind, everybody. You were one of the finest reporters around, I think, I would have to say. And we really appreciate all the work you do. It it was heartbreaking and also important important, which I don't say about a lot of things.
Guest · 1:00:04
Thank you so much.
Kara Swisher · 1:00:05
Alright, Scott. Oh, one more quick break. We'll be back for predictions.
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— Predictions segment begins —
Kara Swisher · 1:01:23
Okay, Scott. Let's hear a prediction.
Scott Galloway · 1:01:27
Well, you just inspired my, piqued my curiosity about
Kara Swisher · 1:01:30
Inspired you? Okay.
Scott Galloway · 1:01:32
About Adam Neumann's startup flow, the Andreessen Horowitz pass.
Kara Swisher · 1:01:35
I can't wait. Go ahead.
Scott Galloway · 1:01:37
I went, and I I watched the interview they did at Andreessen Horowitz, and I read... I finally found the deck, and I went through it. So essentially, Adam has purchased some apartments. He's done diversification with the money. And he's a smart guy. He's diversified. He's bought apartment buildings. And he said, well, that's not enough. How do I put the veneer of technology on top and turn an asset class worth of x worth into a lot more?
Kara Swisher · 1:02:03
Veneer is the keyword, but go ahead. Keep going.
Scott Galloway · 1:02:05
And he found Andreessen. And Andreessen is very good at lending their brand name, and they're big in the crypto space. And they're kind of masters of... I think they get a lot of attention on the stuff they do, and they obviously are considered a tier one VC, they're smart people, done big bold things. I think by the end of the year, I just think this thing, you start to never hear about it.
Kara Swisher · 1:02:31
A lot of money.
Scott Galloway · 1:02:32
It is a lot of money, but not sure it's committed capital or I'm not
Kara Swisher · 1:02:36
sure That's true. You're right. I forget about that.
Scott Galloway · 1:02:39
And the more you look at this thing, there's really... There's there's no there there. And the kind of two premises that I could figure out that that he's trying to claim that this is some unique approach to solving the housing crisis is the one, turn renters into owners. And he uses the toilet that if someone's an owner, they don't call the landlord and they end up they're less expensive tenants because they take pride in ownership because we make them owners. I'm like, well, Okay. He doesn't actually talk about how they become owners. And the only way you can make a renter an owner is to charge them more rent and then to take that incremental revenue and use it to pay down the mortgage. And then they become, I guess, a non voting owner. And then he talks about financial services. We already have a paying relationship with them, so why wouldn't we offer them financial services? And none of these make any fucking sense.
Kara Swisher · 1:03:27
No. Why would you do banking with your... The person I pay here for the studio? I don't wanna bank with them.
Scott Galloway · 1:03:32
Well, it's just is it other than we know their bank account number and we might do direct deposit? What is it about what we do that in any way gives us a leg up over JP Morgan or Beavor? And then they don't... There's a lot of jazz hands around how you convert someone from a renter to an owner. And I could just tell when they were talking about this. And the guys at Andreessen can't be this stupid that if they let this thing run, it just blow up in their face if it doesn't work. So I think this is going to be, I'm predicting, what I'll call a really quiet death here. They'll just go it'll just they'll not mention it. He's got the apartments. Adam, we're taking our money back. You're fine. You own apartments. I mean, is just a REIT with a very strong charismatic founder on top of it. And the other thing I was thinking about that Andreessen really hasn't acknowledged or thought through, when venture capital touches real estate, the real estate immolates the money. Compass, WeWork, Opendoor, when Zillow got into iBuying because it's what I call mismatched durations. And that is the investment horizon in the risk portfolio of venture is, they say it's ten years, it's three to seven years, we make a lot of big crazy bets, we hope a third of them get our money back, we know a third are going to zero, and we hope that a third do really well and there's one or two that go like parabolic can get 30 or 50x. Real estate is built slowly and meticulously and carefully over decades. I don't care if you're Sam Zell or the LaFrac family that owns all these apartments in Long Island, This is generational wealth building because real estate really is a local business. It's buying right. It's managing well. It's being really thoughtful about rents and where you fix up, where you don't fix up, what you invest in. And it just... This is lions and zebras. These are two different asset classes. And venture, every time venture gets drunk enough to think they can come into real estate, the real estate wins and then literally ends up immolating the capital.
Kara Swisher · 1:05:40
Yep. It's sort of like rich guys who go into Hollywood sometimes.
Scott Galloway · 1:05:43
The gestalt, if you will, of venture is totally anathema to how you build value and wealth in real estate.
Kara Swisher · 1:05:51
That is a really great insight, Scott. The one person who said to me when they saw the thing, they just texted me and said, oh, look. Adam Newman's invented apartment renting.
Scott Galloway · 1:06:00
It's a wreath. Yeah. It's called the real estate investment trusts.
Kara Swisher · 1:06:04
They were sort of like, wow. People rent apartments. And the whole thing is just... It's it's... He can't give up on this We Live idea. If you recall We Live, where he was doing dormy kind of where you get an apartment and then you all have a group kitchen. Do you remember We Live?
Scott Galloway · 1:06:19
It was it was an adjective We Work. Right?
Kara Swisher · 1:06:21
Yes. It was. And they had one in San Francisco, one of our reporters there, and lots of people wrote about it. And it was adults want to live like college students, and they don't. Mean, maybe some lonely ones do, but it looked good on paper, and a lot of reporters certainly fell for the idea, but then it went nowhere.
Scott Galloway · 1:06:40
This is again, this is what I think, and this is pure conjecture, but as someone who sits in these meetings, and it was a self important statement, but this is what I think is likely going on. A really important limited investor, CalPERS or the endowment at the University of Chicago calls them and goes, how is this not anything but I'll downside for you? By the way, do you realize WeWork's about to be in the news for either restructuring its debt or finally declaring bankruptcy, and everyone's gonna bring up, what is Adam doing now? And our brand name, Andre's and Horowitz, which gets unbelievable deal flow. And in the venture business, at the end of the day, deal flow is kind of 51% of the shooting match. You get the access to the best deals and the brightest entrepreneurs. This is nothing on a risk adjusted basis but downside for Andreessen Horowitz. And I gotta believe at some point, someone on the operating committee, one of their investors is gonna go, Guys, what are you doing? We have so much opportunity on so many other dimensions, but you're taking risk with the core asset, the brand to back Adam Neumann? If it's a huge hit, we get no credit.
Kara Swisher · 1:07:44
I don't think many people question Marc Andreessen like that. I don't think they do. And then he... Speaking of jazz hands, he's got the jazziest hands going. He's always like this, and it's
Scott Galloway · 1:07:55
But even... He's a bright guy. Even he went back and looked at this thing and goes, this is nothing but downside for me and the company. Anyways, my prediction, the thing... Sanity at some point creeps in, and they go, the thing just dies a very quiet death.
Kara Swisher · 1:08:10
I think you're a 100% right. What a very insightful thing. And may I again compliment you on your interview style has improved rather dramatically.
— Predictions segment ends —
Scott Galloway · 1:08:18
You've been very complimentary lately. Are you worried I'm gonna leave you? What's going on here?
Kara Swisher · 1:08:23
Leave me. I don't care. You wanna go, you go. There's the door. Don't let it hit you on the way out. That's how I feel about everybody.
Scott Galloway · 1:08:28
But That hurts my feelings. That hurts my feelings.
Kara Swisher · 1:08:30
I like you being here. I don't know why you would leave. It benefits you to no end. So Well,
Scott Galloway · 1:08:34
I'm trying to understand the source of all the compliments. Where is this coming from?
Kara Swisher · 1:08:38
I just have noticed... Just take the compliments. Say thank you. That's how you take... You cannot take it.
Scott Galloway · 1:08:42
I am not comfortable with compliments.
Kara Swisher · 1:08:43
I see that. In any case, I have to say, keep at it, my friend. You're getting better and better. You're still wrong about trans, and it was full of misinformation, but that's okay.
Scott Galloway · 1:08:51
There it is. There's the care we know about.
Kara Swisher · 1:08:53
You cannot get most of these things without parental consent, Scott. And it's such a fake, speaking of hand waving jazz hands, it's such bullshit, some of the things the rights ask
Scott Galloway · 1:09:02
That about was an interesting segue.
Kara Swisher · 1:09:04
Yeah, I'm just saying. I'm just saying. That I did
Scott Galloway · 1:09:06
not like. Your brother reached out to me by the way.
Kara Swisher · 1:09:08
Would he give you the actual facts? That would be great.
Scott Galloway · 1:09:10
Think talked a lot about it. I learned a lot about it.
Kara Swisher · 1:09:12
It's very interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The the the the lies that are being perpetrated are really quite extensive. Anyway, Scott, that's the show. We'll be back on Tuesday with more pivot. Can you read us out?
Scott Galloway · 1:09:23
Today's show was produced by Lara Naaman, Evan Engel, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie and Jatot engineered this episode. Thanks also to Drew Bros and Neil Silverio. Make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business. Kara, have a great weekend. Thanks.
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