Pivot - More hearings for big tech, GameStop stock surge (again), and predictions come true
Episode Date: February 26, 2021Kara and Scott talk about deals reached between Facebook and Australia as Facebook, Google and Twitter prepare to testify in front of Congress. They also discuss the new surge of GameStop stock. In li...stener mail we get a question from a Texan about how tech companies are going to be looking at their moves to the state. In predictions, Scott does a victory lap on 3 big predictions come true in 2021 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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hi everyone this is pivot from new york magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher.
And I'm Scott Galloway. And I'm here for you, Kara, because you're frustrated.
I am so frustrated right now.
You're frustrated.
Okay, so I get an alert last night that I am among the people eligible for vaccines, right? Because I had a pre-existing condition. They added people who have had strokes to it in D.C. And I had a stroke many years ago. And I was like, oh, yay, finally. And so I go to the
website. Yay for strokes. Yay for strokes. Thank you. Strokey wins. And I'm not old enough, but
I'm getting close to that. I'm not 65. Oh, you're close, Kara. I'm close, but I'm not 65. You're so
close to that old age requirement. I get that. You're very, very close. Nonetheless, I get on
the site, which sucks for at least 10 minutes, right?
Just it won't, you can't like, it's amazing that you can like get on Tinder and have someone
at your house for some stuff in two seconds and you can't get this.
So I get on, I literally ordered Amazon stuff, ginger ale and it arrived 14 seconds later.
It's like this, it's just amazing how bad this is, this system is.
And DC's apparently is pretty good.
So I get on, I put everything in.
It takes me like 10 tries to even get them.
I'd go through CAPTCHA and all this other stuff, 10 tries to do it.
I get to the end, I put my correct birth date in, and I say that I had a preexisting condition.
I list it, everything else.
It keeps saying I'm not 65.
And on the website, it says or not and it says or very clearly,
I took a picture of it. It's literally the most frustrating thing I've ever experienced. And I did
and I'm now Amanda's downstairs on the phone. You know, I finally got through after not hanging up
on me 20 times. And I've been on 25 minute hold to talk to them. It's just, I understand the crush of interest,
but it was really like, and it was astonishing,
like them telling you one thing and doing another.
I know why people are so frustrated by this thing,
but I was hopeful for a moment, Scott,
that I could get my vaccine, but not to be, not to be.
Well, a couple of things.
One, it is a sad, sad story
when you have to live the same life as everyone else.
But two.
Don't have to.
I do have to live.
Unlike you.
Two.
No, you have more white privilege.
No, you have more white privilege.
Whatever.
Anyways.
Look, we, in Israel, they put their best and brightest and basically everybody into the military.
In Britain, they admire and respect
people who go into government. And I think this all comes back to the same place. We need to
restore faith and the resources that match that faith in our government. Why aren't the brightest
people out of MIT, Georgia Tech, and or kids from high school that show incredible aptitude
for technology, but perhaps aren't ready for college and want to take a gap year.
Why isn't there a national service that gets them involved?
I mean, this younger generation, this is an ageist thing to say, they just get technology better.
They grew up with it.
I don't know.
They understand 100%.
100%.
It was really interesting because now they've changed.
How about a 60 year old explained
bitcoin i wouldn't know i wouldn't know how if i was older or didn't know how to use a website and
i'm really good at it you'd be able to do it that's really you know i'm sort of this white
lady sitting in a uh you know a mixed neighborhood in dc and good on the computer and and it's really
um you know it's just if you were older you didn't know lots older people know how to use
computers lots of different people know how to use computers but if you didn't have a great computer
ability like forget it just forget it that's that's my point yeah and that is we need
an investment this is infrastructure when when you don't invest in the ability to create an interface with everybody that
now interfaces with the world vis-a-vis a screen or a phone their ability to get a vaccination and
it has a national interest that is infrastructure that is a government-run program and when you have
when you don't have the resources when you've under invested when you haven't maintained the
bridge the bridge is going to collapse when you need it the most.
And any reduction in infrastructure spending
is nothing again,
but a transfer of wealth
from the poor to the rich.
Because who is most dependent
upon infrastructure?
Here's the bottom line.
You will figure it out.
You will figure it out.
I agree.
The kid or the 70-year-old person
from a middle-income or lower-income home
that's trying to figure out a way
to get them and their spouse registered may not figure it out.
Yeah, I've heard tons of stories like that all through, like, rents.
And the thing is, what's really interesting about it, it's not that just suddenly I just realized the infrastructure sucks.
I've always known the infrastructure sucks.
But it was sort of, it was interesting because I've been very careful to wait in line and make sure and stuff like that.
And so, it's a really, I don't want, again, again, then I'm like, I don't want to sound whiny, but I was in line. make sure and and stuff like that and so it's a really um i don't want again
again then i'm like i don't want to sound whiny but i was in line like it said it and then they
just now interestingly on the website changed it to and even though it was very clearly or in a big
black ladder you know what i mean like it was it's they just change it like very quickly and
so you don't know i don't know it's just it's a very kludgy And so you don't know. I don't know. It's just, it's a very kludgy system.
I don't know what state.
I'd love to know if people could write in what states really do well.
This one is fine, but it's just typically kludgy.
Just typically.
Do you know what state's doing really well around vaccinations?
What?
Israel.
I mean, actually, that's not fair.
The U.S. is doing better than all but five
nations and it's kind of sad when the u.s begins to brag that it's number six yeah but the
vaccination way behind that i'm thinking no in terms of vaccine rollout we're actually doing
fairly well we're vaccinated we're vaccinating i think about two million i think so the numbers
are up everywhere and you know but at the same time like in dc uh like and i'll finish this up
is you know the mayor's sister died of covet uh yesterday was announced which was sad what's
incredibly sad her older sister um and uh i think it's her only sister um it's just uh just the way
this entire process from the testing which i finally figured out at great expense you know
what i mean to to to this to information, to figuring out masks.
It's really, it's really, and I understand it's a pandemic,
but for some reason I have this feeling it does not have to be this hard.
It just doesn't.
And it's not because I just experienced it, but really it is.
It's extraordinarily hard.
This has brought, shined a real bright light on things we knew existed.
I figured out testing, no problem.
You know why? You're a teacher.
I have money. I had someone come to my house to test my whole family. My kid's school was
testing everybody once a week. And the reality is I live in a different world. And it's one thing,
we live in a capitalist society. If you're looking for moral clarity, you're not going
to find it in capitalism, but we're supposed to have regulation that doesn't make the delta immoral and corrupt and bad for our country long term.
And when we refuse to go on a war footing, when we insulate, when we segregate, when we disperse to our homes and we don't have empathy, and when, quite frankly, it's not thin, white, rich people dying from the pandemic, we't show this virus what america is capable of
this virus has not seen the real america or i guess you could argue it has seen the real america
and it's really fucking ugly right now yeah yeah it's interesting because i was like hopeful i was
like oh look it's finally like yay like it's working that kind of thing but that's just the
way it is you know it's not like tickets for springsteen when I was 14 or whatever. You went to Springsteen?
No, when I was in college, yeah, I did.
He was playing at Jadwin Gym.
I wouldn't see you.
I wouldn't take you for a Springsteen person.
Well, of course I'd go to a Springsteen.
I went to a Kansas concert.
I went to like a journey concert.
Sure, when I was a kid.
Dave Mason.
Oh, my God.
I'm totally dating myself.
I went to lots of concerts when I was young.
Kansas, wow.
I went to the Go-Go Squeeze at the Greek Theater.
I went to the Clash at the Palladium.
The dog knew how to roll when he was
17.
I went to Dan Fogelberg concerts.
That's where the lesbians went.
Did you see these
things that more young people are identifying
as gay and lesbian?
Can you say more about that?
I can't comment.
It's so interesting because it immediately is gay and lesbian. Can you say more about that? Because I can't comment. LG trans, bi, everything.
They're just, you know,
it's so interesting because it immediately, of course,
got into a ridiculous Twitter war
with a variety of people.
But what do you make of that?
What do you mean?
I've heard of the surf.
They're just identifying, that's all.
They're just identifying.
Some people are like,
oh, now they're being forced to be trans
or they're being forced.
No one's being, or bi or whatever.
No one's holding a gun to their head.
No, come on.
Like, they're just identifying.
And let me just say, someone asked me to talk about it.
When I came out, it was incredibly difficult, and there was a price to pay.
Huge price.
And I was silent for a long time, like a long time, and didn't identify.
And the fact that people are just comfortable identifying is a good thing. And instead, they try to make it into this like idea that the media and LGBT groups are trying to force, plus groups are trying to force others to
declare themselves. It's just, you know what? You have no idea what it was like. You know what I
mean? Like, not you. I mean, it's amazing that they've turned it into something, something that's
really good that people are identifying themselves better uh into something like that they've been
coerced um and then there was one back and forth about how uh lesbians are being uh there's fewer
lesbians i didn't even understand it because they they declare themselves as trans it just was just
like anything that could be good news is taken into a bad place when it gets upon the social media sites.
People don't recognize, I think about this a lot.
My five closest friends, and we all kind of hung out together.
We were, you know, you have your kind of circle of friends at UCLA.
Sure.
All of us in fraternities, all living a life that I would describe as frat bro-ish, reeked of testosterone.
Of the five, three of us gay.
And I remember saying to them when they came out,
like, why would you feel so reticent to have told me about this?
And they basically said, and they were right, they're like,
Scott, you couldn't be gay at UCLA in the 80s.
They're like, look at our lives,
look at how people perceived homosexuality.
You could not.
It's not easy now, by the way, from a lot of people.
And they were absolutely right.
There was, and then just about the time we started thinking,
well, they love themselves and they want to be loved
and they love their children and their patriots
and they want the same things.
And we started developing some empathy.
The AIDS crisis hit.
And the Republican media started turning them into people who deserve a plague.
Well, except it did engage everyone.
That's when I was like, that's enough.
It did create some empathy.
I think eventually it did.
Not just empathy.
That was anger is what it created in me.
Like, that is fucking enough with you people.
You know what I mean?
Like, people were like, that changed everything.
I thought ACT UP, I was such in admiration of ACT UP.
I know a lot of people have condoned it.
They're like, ACT UP was so mean.
It's like, good.
You deserve some mean.
You know what I mean, you people?
So, it's interesting.
It's interesting.
I had like a total move back when I saw all that stuff coming out yesterday.
Like, ugh, I remember these awful people.
It's still not easy.
It's still not easy.
Try being in Russia.
Look at how many.
Some countries, they're trying to declare a legal.
Try to be an elected Republican leader and be gay.
How many of them are closeted right now
because they don't feel, you know,
everyone I think immediately goes to very,
they cast aspersions on them.
But you got to say, look, it's still not easy.
It's still not easy to be in our society
who you want to be.
Yeah.
Well, not our society.
At the very basis of America.
More on the part compared to others. That's what's supposed to, that literally is what America is supposed to be.
I mean, that is, you know, that is exactly what defines America, is you're supposed to be able
to live the life you want to live. It's also the number one regret of people on their deathbed is
they wish they had lived the life they wanted to lead, not the life that their parents or society
wanted them to lead. Well, let me just say, if I get a vaccine, I the life they wanted to lead, not the life that their parents or society wanted them to lead.
Well, let me just say, if I get a vaccine,
I'm going to try to live an identifiable gay life.
You know the life I want to live?
I want to live my life on a table with a bottle of Ruin Art champagne
in the Gouverneur's Beach in St. Bart's.
You identify as lesbian, don't you?
You do.
Let's not get into that.
You identify as lesbian, too't you? You do. What about lesbian? You identify as lesbian, too.
There's almost nothing.
You're literally painting me into the cancel corner right now.
I painted you into the cancel corner.
You're painting me into the cancel corner.
I want to ask you one more thing.
Did you listen to my Sasha Baron Cohen interview?
And by the way, congratulations on being mentioned by Andrew Ross Sorkin.
I'm throwing you a bone here.
This is a bone I'm throwing.
So you constantly toy with my emotions, and I am not going to go here.
Think of me as someone who plays acoustical guitar, depressed and sensitive.
Yeah, that is a lesbian, but go ahead.
Or like a Great Dane, big, strong, but emotional and sensitive. By the
way, I'm getting a Great Dane. I'm getting a Great Dane. I'm so excited. I can't believe I can't
visit you now because it'll jump on me and it's taller than me. I can't do it. I have all my life.
I grew up with a Great Dane named Thor. All my life I've wanted a Great Dane. I'm asking about
Sacha Baron Cohen, but who looks like a Great Dane. I'm not going there. I'm not going there.
Did you notice he called me a fan? You're trying to gaslight my name.
He called me a fan at the end.
That was for you.
You and Sasha can ride off
into the sunset together
as far as I'm concerned.
Andrew Ross Sorkin, mention me.
That's my consolation prize.
He did an interview with Bill Gates.
That's my consolation prize.
That was good.
Is Andrew Ross Sorkin, mention me.
You know what, I'm going to let you
at the end of this show
tout your predictions.
How about that?
How about I do that?
Go on.
All right, later in the show you can tout yourself. But the fact of the matter, tout your predictions. How about that? How about I do that? Go on. All right.
Later in the show,
you can tout yourself.
But the fact of the matter is
you should listen to the interview.
Sasha Baron Cohen was very good.
Yes, we all should.
We all should.
We should all listen to your podcast.
That's what we should do.
That one is good.
You'll like it.
Let me get right on that.
Then listen to the dog musher.
If you're getting a great day
and listen to the dog lady.
I'm going to listen
with my favorite lesbian,
Senator Lindsey Graham, and I are going to listen with my favorite lesbian, Senator Lindsey Graham,
and I are going to listen to Sasha Baron Cohen on Sway.
That's my day.
Oh, he was in with Trump all weekend,
calling up the threatening senators.
That was nice.
That's my day.
What do they got on him?
Let's get to the news.
I'm done with your vaccine frustration.
Okay, all right.
Okay, I'm done.
Your infestation.
Big stories, okay.
We've got a lot of big stories. I just want to note one that we talked about last week, the UK and Uber one, they are classified as workers, not employees, which is a different designation. And the Uber people call me right away. But nonetheless, it was not a victory for I said, how well that you make chicken shit into chicken salad. But just so you know, that's a clarification for Matt. Okay. So
let's get into the big story. As the United States gears up congressional hearings around big tech,
let's check in on Facebook and the Australian news content battle. Earlier this week, Facebook
reached a deal with the Australian government to restore news content to the platform in its
country. Facebook removed news from its platform, obviously, as legislation require Google and Facebook to pay. It's a complicated situation, essentially,
news media companies for content. How they do it is quite complicated.
Apparently, Facebook got some changes as part of the deal. And then we'll see how it plays out in
Australia because it dictates how they deal with media in other parts of the world. Meanwhile,
the House Judiciary Committee, antitrust subcommittee,
will kick off a first in a series of hearings to explore competition in the digital economy related.
So, so, so, so much is going on.
So much is going on.
And then next month, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hear from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg again,
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai during
hearing about misinformation on its online platform that's probably related to the January 6th
attack on the Capitol. I don't know what to say. This is going to go on forever. It feels like,
you know, Groundhog Day with these people coming up to Congress, et cetera.
There's a lesson in the Facebook Australia debacle,
and that is crisis management.
And there's only three things you have to remember in crisis management,
and they typically get ignored when you have kind of groupthink.
And that is, one, you have to acknowledge the problem.
And Facebook never acknowledged the problem.
Facebook basically said, no, there's nothing wrong here.
And there is.
When media and newspapers are getting the oxygen sucked out of the room because Facebook is basically figured out a way to monetize it to the extent and has monopoly power.
And the result is that journalism or the number of journalists has been cut in half in the last 30 years.
There is a problem.
They didn't do that.
has been cut in half in the last 30 years, there is a problem.
They didn't do that.
Two, the second thing is the top guy or gal has to take responsibility and be seen as addressing it.
And then three, you have to overcorrect.
So let's look at Google.
Google acknowledged the issue.
This is an issue.
We recognize it.
Sundar Pichai was the one in the press releases.
And they immediately got out ahead of it. And you could argue maybe that wasn't an overcorrection, but they donated or they pledged, I think,
like a quarter of a billion dollars
to trying to address it.
Boom, they are out of jail
and they step away the line of fire.
What does Facebook do?
They don't acknowledge the problem.
They have Campbell Brown, who is basically,
in my opinion, was a legitimate, likable journalist.
And they said, okay, we fucked up here.
There is no way to back out of this.
There's no way to exit gracefully. So we're going to let you put out the press release, right?
Yeah.
They basically threw her on the funeral pyre or whatever. They threw her to the dogs here.
On the Barbie.
They threw, and did you see the statement she put out? This reflects our continued support
of journalism in Australia as we support journalism around the world.
I'm like, oh, my God, that must have been about 200 consultants gangbanging a sentence and leaving that thing just so, so tired.
And so, I mean, it was just, that was the most ridiculous statement.
And they're like, Campbell, sorry, we're paying you a shit ton of money.
And part of that is we're going to ruin your reputation and your credibility globally.
Yeah.
And that's what Mark Zuckerberg is the Donald Trump of the digital reputations. No one gets
out of here alive. Sheryl Sandberg is an incredibly impressive, competent, charismatic
woman. She's not going to get out of this with her reputation intact. My sense is she keeps
waiting, hoping for some silence,
and it just doesn't come.
It's not coming.
So they have absolutely botched this.
And there's a lesson here.
Three things in crisis management.
Acknowledge the issue,
top guy or gal,
seen as the person addressing it,
and over-correct.
Facebook, 0 for 3.
Yeah.
I think it's an interesting thing.
I think it'll be interesting
to see how it goes around the world.
As you know, I thought the bill from Australia was a little bit, it wasn't the best.
It was bad legislation.
Bad legislation.
But this idea of what's going to happen in Canada and other places,
I'm hoping to talk to the Canadian person who's dealing with this, the minister.
But it will be replicated in other parts of the world because people are beginning to understand. What's going to be interesting is how long these hearings are
going to go on before there's actual action. You know, they're just going to examine everything
as if we don't already know what happened, essentially. And it's pretty disappointing
that there isn't like that major legislation, but you know, they're, they're not just with the vaccines, with everything and with,
with approving people for the Biden cabinet,
the getting going on this thing. And of course the stimulus bill,
everything else that has to go in front of it.
I think that this is all to the benefit of these tech companies,
as we've talked about that they will there's going to be Robin Hood
hearings. It's the hearings, hearings, hearings thing.
I'm getting a little exhausted by.
I just want action at this point.
But I'm in an action kind of mood this morning.
But I think that's going to happen.
I think Stacey Abrams is probably the most seminal force in big tech right now.
Oh, why?
Because she flipped the Senate.
Yes, okay. She flipped the Senate.
And now all the committees overseeing legislation against big tech are now run by Democrats.
Yeah.
Stacey Abrams is the most significant thing to happen regarding the regulation of big tech in the last 20 years.
I guess I shouldn't tell you.
I'll ask her when I talk to her tomorrow.
Literally, I expose my feelings to you.
And you know what you do?
You jab.
You jab.
Look how happy you are. Thank jab. Look how happy you are.
Thank you for –
Look how happy you are.
I'm not happy.
I'm not in a good mood this morning.
You're a little happy.
I'm a little happy.
I'm excited.
God damn it.
Andrew Ross Sorkin mentioned me.
He mentioned you in front of Bill Gates.
He mentioned me.
He mentioned you.
You're getting a great Dane.
Great Dane.
Talk about grasping for emotional straws.
I'm sorry.
Seriously.
That's a good point. I'm going to bring that up with her. That's an excellent point. I hadn't thought of that. grasping for emotional straws. I'm sorry. Seriously. That's a good point.
I'm going to bring that up with her.
That's an excellent point.
I hadn't thought of that.
Thank you for that thought.
I'll say Scott Galloway.
How about that?
I'll say your name to her, and she'll hear it in her ears.
How's that?
You'd think at my age I'd be more secure.
You'd think.
And you'd be wrong.
You'd be wrong.
You would be wrong.
I'll tell you one person I'm talking to, just so you know, and this has nothing to do with tech, is the head of Space Force.
I'm very excited to be talking to him.
Such an awesome name, Space Force.
Space Force.
I kind of want to join Space Force.
Anyway, getting back, getting off this planet, getting off this planet so that we have better lives in Mars.
I think it'll be interesting to see what happens.
It just, this is going to go on until there's significant legislation.
And, you know, one of the things will be around Robin Hood and the SEC and reporting and what
happened there and what have we learned and what can we change?
And the ones here, I don't know.
I don't know where it's going to lead.
You know, I just don't know.
And it's interesting, Apple and Amazon are not in these meetings, Obviously, not for misinformation, neither of them are culpable in this regard. But they may be back for antitrust hearings at some point. So, we'll see where it all goes as we're going forward. But it definitely, I think this slow roll is working rather well for these people and sort of walking out of the room like they did in Australia. And we'll see how, I think they're going to see more and more obstreperous legislators
going forward. Obstreperous. Did you use that word with Sasha? Did you use that word with Sasha?
By the way, the big story this morning, and you're usually really good at framing this stuff and I
just react and get emotional, is GameStop up 250% in the last 24 hours. And there's going to be
hearings about robin hood
hearings next week uh last week excuse me there was last week and then vlad tenoff went on dave
portnoy's short show which was probably a better interview than a lot of them he refuses to be
interviewed by me by the way um yeah that was interesting diamond hands dave portnoy that
claims that stocks always go up i guess and has a background in gambling. Everyone gets interviewed by actual reporters.
Yeah, has a background in gambling.
His company was acquired by Penn National.
Yes, I'm aware of how
Dave Portoy's thing, his act and stuff.
But what's
interesting is that the stock
is going up. What do you think of that? They're just doing it again.
They're doing another run.
This is just fascinating. AMC too, right?
So there's a couple things.
One, I have a lot of thoughts on this.
You're going to have to give me some running room.
Please don't trigger me.
Do not use the word Sasha Baron Cohen.
I'm going to take a moment.
We're going to go on a quick break and we get back.
Instead of talking about net neutrality,
we're going to talk about this.
I tell you what's important to me
and you're like, that's nice. I'm going to give you road to run. You're going to let me this. I tell you what's important to me, and you're like, that's nice.
I'm going to give you road to run.
You're going to let me run.
Where's my Great Dane?
Great Dane, I'm letting you run.
And even though Stephanie Ruhl called you a poodle, you are indeed a Great Dane.
Sure, whatever you say.
She said I wasn't sexy.
That hurt.
She did not say that.
She said you were more like a poodle, which I thought was horrible.
I'm so bringing sexy back.
All right, listen. I am bring in sexy back. All right.
I'm sobering.
All right.
Scott, we're on a quick break.
And when we come back, we're going to talk about a GameStop instead of net neutrality in California.
We'll mention that also.
And a listener mail question.
So let's go to break.
And then when we get back, we'll talk about it.
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All right, Scott, we're back.
Time to run on GameStop.
Go ahead.
Well, so this is, if you could,
you would argue this is an honest pump,
meaning that, so for example,
Dan Loeb took a big position in Yahoo,
got Marissa Mayer to come in. Everyone was very excited. Posters that said,
keep hope alive, put people on the board, talked about all the potential of Yahoo,
and then put people on the board. And I'm fairly certain the people on the board
observed Marissa Mayer and said, she is a terrible executive. Yeah. And then perceived to watch her take EBITDA down 50%, revenues down 20%.
Yeah, I was looking for that.
And Dan, just as they were starting to take down the Keep Hope Alive posters
with a picture of Marissa Mayer, got the hell out of Dodge and sold all his money,
sold all his shares after what I would call an honest pump.
That's what an activist does.
Yeah, he did.
And these individuals- He got the previous CEO fired honest pump. That's what an activist does. Yeah, he did. And these individuals-
He got the previous CEO fired, too.
That's right.
On what I would argue was, to be blunt-
Very fair.
You thought that was very fair?
That guy with the thing, I wrote a lot of those stories, yeah.
I think that guy lied about his-
He said he had a minor in computer science.
That's where you fired somebody?
No, it was more complicated than that.
Okay, fair enough.
There was no such course at his college.
He sort of lathered over his resume.
Anyways, another talk show.
Unfair, but he did indeed lie.
So, the honest pump of GameStop is a group of individuals, and it's going to be very interesting once forensic analysis is done here.
I have a hunch, or I speculate it's a group of people who aren't as retail or aren't as unsophisticated as we think,
who figured out algorithms for planting, getting a position, and then catalyzing a lot of chatter,
and then pumping an honest pump of their position.
Or it might be, and also getting people who believe it's part of a movement,
maybe want to make a little bit of money, maybe enjoy it. Maybe you want to learn about stocks.
Just fine. But here's the thing.
It goes to a bigger issue.
Okay.
And that is volatility.
It's sort of intergenerational warfare.
And that is volatility plays to young people
and is damaging to the incumbent wealthy.
And that is the following.
When 2009, the reason I'm somewhat economically
secure now is because of the volatility coming out of the economic crisis where Apple and Amazon
were allowed to fall to pretty serious lows. I was able to buy Apple at basically 11 bucks a share.
I was able to buy Amazon at 160. They're both up 10 to 20x. When you try and reduce volatility
by flooding the market with quantitative easing,
keeping interest rates low, or you find this type of volatility threatening and you want hearings,
what you're basically saying is the incumbents want to hold onto their wealth because volatility
creates risk that current asset holders don't want. And if you're a younger generation that
has a little bit of money and quite frankly, not as much to lose because your generation now controls 9% of wealth versus 19, and you see that the game isn't rigged but it's tilted, volatility isn't as scary to you.
Yeah.
It's not.
So they embrace volatility.
Younger people have that profile.
Well, volatility and change.
You know what would happen if we let small business be more volatile and we let restaurants go out of business?
We would shed skin and a lot of 50-year-old restaurant owners would lose their restaurants, which would make room and opportunity for 30-year-olds to come in.
You're a cruel man, Scott Galloway. destruction, Gail, unless you let volatility run wild, all you're doing is protecting the existing
asset holders. And younger people are like, we want some chaos. We want some volatility. We would
like to see Brooklyn real estate prices maybe get cut in half. We would like the opportunity
to have real volatility in the market because if it's just
we want the markets to go up four to six percent a year, that just plays to the existing asset
holders. So I think this reflects, again, greater income inequality and a transfer of wealth from
the young to the poor. And as a result, the young are ready to, you know, they are ready to rock.
They want volatility. So did you see how they,
Jim Cramer went kind of crazy on this issue yesterday.
I didn't see, what did he say?
Oh, he just wasn't liking it.
He didn't like, he wanted the SEC to get in here
and what's going on.
And, you know, it's just interesting,
the different reactions to this.
They're going to come in.
This is getting, this is getting a little bit,
a little bit strange.
The thing that worries me most about all of this
is not Reddit.
The thing that worries me most about all of this is not Reddit. The thing that worries me most is Elon Musk. And that is the one truism throughout history, I think, that is hard to deny
is that power corrupts. And I'm not saying he's a corrupt person, but when one person can start
moving, basically Bitcoin is moving towards a default currency. And when one person can take a default currency
up or down 20, 30% with one word tweets,
that doesn't lead to good places.
The reason why America, to a certain extent,
our greatness in America is all the checks and balances.
And quite frankly, no one person
has ever been able to corner the market.
They get really hurt when they try and corner the market,
whether it's the Hunt Brothers and Silver,
whether it's Carnegie and Steel, what have you. And it strikes me that whether it's seven companies controlling 51% of the S&P by market capitalization, or an individual
who has this kind of sway over the markets, that's right.
Yeah, it's true. It's sort of this cult, it's the cult of personality situation where you have,
it's, you know, it's an autocracy does that a lot that those are the sort of hallmarks of
autocracy, but you're right. This is sort of,
there's been a lot of stories about this that I read recently about this cult
of how personalities can move things. Here's what Jim Cramer said.
Obviously Jim Cramer is well-known stock pundit. He said,
we, we need a fair, deep markets in an evening tweet. We want investing, good investing. We
want to trust prices. What happened at the end of the day was a mockery of what was supposed to
happen. Where is government? This is what he said, which I think a lot of people got slammed on.
And then he wrote 44 minutes ago, I have been a polarizing figure all my life, so it isn't like
I just turned into Jefferson or something. I do my homework.
I try to outwork everyone.
I say what I believe.
And for that, I am hated by many.
But I say, game on!
There you go from Jim Cramer.
Well, here's the thing, though.
Where is Jim calling for legislation when he makes a comment about the fundamentals and the stock goes up?
Well, he himself has been, you know, he runs stocks up and down, too.
Well, that's my point.
Not quite the same way.
The bottom line is the incumbent powers are just angry that we don't understand the mechanisms and the mediums that these individuals are using to pump.
What I think we're going to find out, though, is that the people who are doing the pumping and organizing it are more sophisticated and more the establishment than William Wallace than we'd like to believe.
Interesting.
Yeah.
I think we're going to find out it was the King's Guard,
not William Wallace,
who was pumping this shit and making money.
And they're leveraging a movement.
They're leveraging this notion.
People think they're sticking it to the man.
But to say that, to all of a sudden move in and say,
all right, if there's systemic risk and volatility,
then fine. Let's look at the systemic risk and volatility that hedge funds who are able to short
a stock to 140% of its outstanding shares, which I still don't understand how that happens.
Yeah. They halted the stock.
But again, this is-
The stock's been halted. GameStop's been halted on this.
This is again, and I would argue my word of caution all along is day trading is just a great way to lose money.
And so if you're doing it for DOPA, fine.
If you're doing it to learn, fine.
But don't kid yourself.
When you sit down to day trade, you're sitting down at a poker table that doesn't take advantage of time.
And two or three people at that table have supercomputers, PhDs, someone whispering in their ear, and they have enough chips to ride out any bad hand.
So just be sure that, just be clear, you are at a poker table with the best players in the world.
And typically, if you looked at GameStop, I'm sorry, if you looked at Robinhood,
they have this thing with the most popular stocks.
If you just invested, if you kept buying the most popular stocks according to GameStop,
there's been analysis that said you would have lost 80 to 95% of your capital.
Yeah.
And here's the problem. When we have these platforms that are just, quite frankly,
trying to get you to create more activity because they sell your clicks, they sell your information, they sell your order flow, then that agency or that company is no longer a fiduciary. They no
longer have your best interest at heart. They just want you to get to do more and more and more.
Yeah.
And that's what Robinhood is the new, in my opinion, Robinhood is the new Facebook.
It is the new menace.
Well, one of the things, he was, you know, Vlad Tenev was all over the place in a lot of places talking about it because he was getting ahead of sort of all the insults that he endured.
of all the insults that he endured after when they closed half of the trading down,
where you couldn't buy Robinhood stock on their platform. Anyway, it's an interesting situation, and I think the power dynamic is changing. It's hard to know, because you can almost be on two
sides of this thing. Like, well, you do need calm markets at the same time. Too bad. Like,
this is what it is so uh it's certainly
gonna it's we'll see where it ends we will see where it ends but i think you're right did you
run far enough do you have enough running room there oh thank you thank you for that i feel loved
okay loved okay i feel good all right you still have to listen to sasha baron cohen anyway moving
on let's take a listener mail question you've got you've you've got, I can't believe I'm going to be a mailman.
You've got mail.
Hey, this is Colin calling from Austin, Texas, where we have had six consecutive days with
uninterrupted power.
Do you think that companies that have relocated here in the last decade are going to be paying
very close attention to what Texas leadership does to prevent another energy failure?
very close attention to what Texas leadership does to prevent another energy failure?
If there's more Republican douchebaggery like blaming wind turbines, won't companies consider the potential damage to future recruiting? And won't other tech hubs like Miami leverage this
disaster to lure businesses to their cities? Oh, and this question is 54.7% for Scott and 45.3% for Cara. Thank you.
So primarily for Scott. Primarily for Scott.
Yeah, primarily. I think they were just throwing you a bone. That's called throwing you a Texas
bone. I think that's interesting. I like Republican douchebaggery, but go right ahead,
Scott. Do your 54.7%. Look, there's no doubt about it.
Texas gets a black eye here.
And states like Florida and Texas that don't have...
I'm of two minds about this.
I used to think, okay, anyone that doesn't have a state income tax
has really weak infrastructure and really weak schools.
And Florida, quite frankly, has weak public schools.
Again, another transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich.
And hurricanes.
Everybody has something.
Texas comes out of this with a black eye. There's no doubt about it. In terms of his actual question
of companies moving down, whether it'll force them to think twice, absolutely not. And you know why?
These are the people that are immune from it. These are the people that can take off for Cancun.
These are the people that can afford their own generators. So the reason people, the great migration in the US
is driven by two things, sunshine and low taxes.
And what you have is any individual
that is sitting on an unrealized gain
of greater than $10 million,
and there's thousands, if not tens of thousands of people
with SPACs and the markets accelerating,
thinks, you know what?
If I have $130 million, a $13 million unrealized gain
because the stock market's gone crazy
or I was a shareholder in a SPAC,
why don't I move to Miami and with my tax savings,
I'll buy some big fat fucking house in Coral Gables
or I'll move to Austin and buy some amazing home
in the same neighborhood where Michael Dell lives
on a golf course. So,
this, again, again, this stuff really impacts the lower-income and middle-income people.
The rich are just fine. They're not boiling water in Austin.
Well, it's interesting because I think one of the things that is true, though, is that I've had a
lot of people who made their, they're like, oh, this sucks. They called me, you know, like I was
bragging about it. No, I'm not bragging about it.
I do think Texas has got to figure out a way to get,
you know,
uninterrupted power is something,
you know,
they also have other weather issues,
including all kinds of weather issues as does California,
as does Florida,
as does everybody.
But I think it shows like Wall Street Journal had a great story about how much
more expensive it's been power in.
Have you seen what's happened with these floating variable rate pricing?
Not just that.
Over the years, since they deregulated, people in Texas are paying more for power.
The Wall Street Journal had a really interesting story.
So they think they're being like, oh, we're Texas.
We don't get regulated.
And they just get screwed.
The consumer just gets screwed.
That's what happens through deregulation.
And that these companies didn't upgrade, that they charge more. It's just sort of like, what a deal that you
weren't on the national grid or you weren't regulated in any way. I do think it's something
that it's not great. It's also not great. This is the second year that South by Southwest won't
happen, won't be happening live as well. How much do we miss that? I miss South by Southwest a lot.
We're going to be happy next year when we go and have a little barbecue together and do some lovely things there.
But it's definitely a hit.
That, for example, was a really good event for tech, like tech-related stuff.
You and I both went.
So I think it's, you know, Elon's move there, which is interesting, speaking of Elon.
I don't think it's going to be an enormous hit.
I just think it's something Republicans have to think about.
Why do you think Elon Musk has moved there?
SpaceX, probably.
No.
It has nothing to do with company.
Taxes.
Okay.
Elon Musk has added to his personal net worth the GDP of Hungary.
He's gone from $10 billion to $160 billion in 10 months.
Oh, it's great to see that rich people are really feeling the pain of
the pandemic. Anyways, $150 billion in an unrealized gain because he hasn't sold the stock yet.
In California, 13% of $150 billion is $19.5 billion. So by moving to Texas, and when I say
move to Texas, he buys a home there, he gets a vet there, he gets a dentist there, he registers to vote, and he makes sure he's not in California more than 183 days a year,
which, by the way, is easy for him because he's roaming the earth in his Gulfstream 650 or he's
in space or whatever he's doing. He gets $195.5 billion. He can go out and, say, buy William
Sonoma and Tiffany. I mean, it's just the amount of the, it's very simple.
Find everyone with an enormous unrealized gain.
And guess what?
They got a hankering for Texas and Florida.
Hankering.
Where do you live, Scott?
Florida.
But I moved here when I was poor.
I moved here in 2010.
I've been paying heavy taxes for many years
in both California, DC and New York.
My kid's grandparents are here.
That's why we moved there.
Ah, I see.
It's nice.
But I agree with you.
And my speech-delayed son couldn't get into a Manhattan school.
I still think the Republicans got to clean it up.
You can't have this.
You've got to clean up that energy market.
It's just not.
They have their own grid.
It's so strange.
There's three grids.
There's the Western, the Eastern, and the Texas.
The whole thing's strange.
All the air got bored.
They resigned.
A whole bunch of them resigned. This is the board that runs this stuff. It's just, and the Texas. The whole thing's strange. All the air got bored. They resigned. A whole bunch of them resigned.
This is the board that runs this stuff.
It's just, read the Wall Street Journal.
I recommend people reading this Wall Street Journal because it's sort of like, looky here.
This did not work out so well, the deregulation.
In any case, things are settling.
The weather is turning.
But at the same time, thank you, Colin, from Texas.
But just as a question, it's not going to slow the migration of companies.
All right.
I still don't see the Googles and the Facebooks moving yet.
That's where I will be like, aha, Oracle moves, yeah, whatever.
I think that when you see the very big companies moving from California, that's when I'll pay attention.
I don't know.
If I was going to predict that
one would move, the one I would predict that'll really rattle everybody.
What? Tell me.
Salesforce.
Oh.
Mark Benioff spends a lot of time in Hawaii.
Well, he does that already.
Yeah. But so why not get... Anyways, I think Salesforce, and they've embraced remote.
I don't know.
That's what they've done. That's what they've done.
That's what they've done.
He's a very forward thinker.
Also, quite frankly, I think the governor has his head in the sand around this.
I think both.
I really don't think he's outlined.
He's facing a lot of political challenges.
Yeah, but basically what they say is they break into some.
When they're asked a legitimate question around how are you going to stem the flow?
Your state has basically become expensive but bad in the eyes of corporations.
How are you going to stem the exodus?
And quite frankly, Governor Newsom's answers have been a bunch of California blah, blah, rah, rah.
Rather than saying, acknowledging the issue and saying this is our three-step program to trying to fix this.
I don't think he's shown a great deal of leadership there.
I'm not going to defend some of the things he's done. but I have to say he's stymied by the propositions.
There's a lot that stymies governments in California.
And they have been doing well for a decade, like under Jerry Brown.
Like it's been –
Agreed.
Everybody gets – hits their wall, every state.
And so will Texas, by the way, and so will Florida.
And probably much sooner, both of those.
I think California – the California sort of miracle went on for a very long time.
I'm telling you, Cara, it is staggering.
Staggering.
I'm going to an event that the mayor is hosting in Miami tonight, Mayor Suarez.
It is staggering the number of people and companies it feels like overnight have decamped to Florida.
It is just- Well, you give us a report on Monday how that party went. People and companies, it feels like, overnight have decamped to Florida. All right.
Well, you give us a report on Monday how that party went.
It's not a party.
Just don't get arrested.
I'm going to see him speak.
I'm going to see him speak.
I get arrested.
I've never been arrested.
I'm teasing you.
Florida's just – we're going to have a little event down there, I think.
We're going to have to – you talk to him about that.
Yeah.
See what we can do and kind of the interesting people we could focus on the future.
Mayor Suarez.
Dreamy Mayor Suarez.
He is dreamy.
Dreamy Mayor Suarez.
Dreamy Republican.
Let's see.
See if he's all Trumpy.
Will you check that out?
I don't think he is.
I don't think he is.
He strikes me as practical and friendly and smart, and I like him a lot.
Speaking of Trumpy, Trumpy's going to be in Orlando, like, trumping it up.
Let's not even talk about it.
All right, Scott, one more quick break.
We'll be back for predictions.
I'm going to let you really predict when we get back.
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Okay, Scott, prediction time. Every year you make predictions, you make them all the time,
and three have come true in 2021 so far. Bitcoin, which was trading at $18, now surpassed 50 or maybe 60, and there's more companies just announced that they're going to be buying it. Sonos was at $19 a share, and you predicted it would hit $40, and it happened.
And also you said Twitter, which was at $40, is now at $60 a share when you said they'd be moving
to subscription. So take a little bow and tell me how you feel about each of these things or more
stuff. Well, so actually Twitter is at, I think it's at 70. It's at 79. I'll look while you talk.
No, it's at 79.
I predicted we'd go to 70.
I was wrong.
It's at 79.
On a move to subscription.
That's a novel idea.
Look, so Bitcoin has tremendous heat around it.
It's, we've talked about that.
Sorry, it's $79 almost.
Yeah, 79 bucks.
It's up 9%, 10% today.
Whoa, 78, 78. Wow. Yeah, $79. It's up 9%, 10% today. Whoa, 78, 78.
Wow.
Yeah, yeah.
And why?
Because they said they're finally getting serious about subscription.
Anyway, and by the way, if they make an announcement, they should so buy CNN.
They should so buy CNN.
People love that idea.
So many people have asked me about that, your prediction.
Oh, it makes such perfect sense.
AT&T needs to reduce their debt.
If you look at what happened to Spotify and Netflix when they announced original content, if Jack Dorsey today announced they were acquiring
CNN, the stock that day, that day the acquisition would be paid for in the stock increase. He could
buy it for free right now. Anyway, so my prediction, I love this notion of who would benefit
most. The most accretive actions in history in terms of shareholder value have been one, verticalization, when you go right into content or you're a retailer that reverse engineers back into the product itself and you go all vertical.
And also move to a subscription model.
And so I'm looking for great brands that could pull an Apple and go vertical into distribution like they did with stores or an Amazon.
And I think that my prediction
is that one of the strongest brands in the world,
actually, I think it's the strongest brand
in the services economy globally
and has underperformed all of its peers the last five years
and would see an increase of 50 to 70%
if they got serious about subscription
or going vertical, it's Goldman Sachs.
I think Goldman Sachs is going to attract an activist
in the next nine months or,
and by the way, full disclosure,
I work with Goldman.
I love them.
I think they're great at what they do.
I think there's a cartoon of them being weird,
greedy caricature Monty Burns people.
They have the core asset of any company in an
information age. And that is they are seen and perceived in the marketplace by young people as
an accelerant. The number of incredibly talented young people, mostly women now, because seven out
of 10 high school valedictorians are women, and more women are graduating from college, the number of really
impressive young people that continue to start their careers at Goldman is staggering. This is
an incredible firm with incredible assets that has a head-up-their-ass strategy that focuses on
transactional deal-based revenues. They go vertical, They buy a trading platform and they start charging.
Like what?
What trading platform?
I don't know.
The one I'm an investor in.
Public.
Starts their hat wide.
Don't take Robinhood public.
What the fuck are you thinking?
Go into trading.
Do you know how many young people
would pay 25 bucks a month
for advice, education,
and investing advice
and trading opportunities
with Goldman Sachs?
Call it GS Plus.
Do a Disney Plus move. If their revenue goes to 10% recurring revenue, and by the way, 400 of the 500 Fortune
500 would pay Goldman between $1 and $3 million a year just for ongoing advice. Instead, what
happens in a transactional business is when I'm on the board of Urban Outfitters, Goldman shows up
and just tells us, says anything to get us to buy a company so they can get a fee. When I'm on the
board of Gateway, Goldman shows up and says anything that leads us to selling
Gateway so they can get their fee. They need to get on the side of subscription revenue. They need
to go vertical. The thing goes up 50 to 80%. Goldman Sachs moves to subscription.
What would be in their way for doing such a thing?
Traditional poor strategic
thinking and muscle memory around our model works. Muscle memory. We're paying our, we're, you know,
we're paying, we've always swung the golf club this way. We all make good money. Meanwhile,
their shares have underperformed. Morgan Stanley's overperformed. Do you realize Goldman Sachs is now
worth less than, it's worth less than Wells Fargo. It's worth less than PayPal. It's worth
less than Square. It's worth less than Airbnb. It has underperformed all its peers on a five-year
level and it has the best brand in the world. It does. And it also has beautiful offices.
The most talented young people in the world. So underperforming, that's interesting.
A failure of leadership around strategic thinking, a failure of the board.
You went after DJ?
DJ whatever his name is.
DJ Soul.
You know, I think when you're talking about strategic thinking, you have to go back a generation.
Because DJ Soul has actually been quite aggressive in moving into consumer businesses with Marcus and also with the Apple card.
I think he will be seen as somebody who said, I'm the one that took us to consumer, which is where they need to head.
They need to go vertical into consumer.
So I think he deserves some credit, actually.
Okay.
But this has been the definition of baby boomer, encephaletic, I get paid a shit ton of money.
I'm going to stick here.
I compliment him, but baby boomer, encephaletic.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
Activists going into Goldman.
Oh. And encourages them. And by the way, the best-
Which activist? Come on, you know something. Okay. Hold on. I can't go there. Best way to
predict the future is to make it happen. The best way to predict the future is to make it happen.
Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs, the most undervalued brand in the world right now.
Well, you just declared war on them, you understand that?
No, I didn't declare war on them.
I'm going to be a partner with them in this.
I love Goldman.
They manage my money.
I love Goldman.
I just think they're undervalued.
I just think they're massively undervalued.
I think muscle memory is a very good,
that's my takeaway from it, is people doing,
I think about that a lot in media.
This is the way we do it.
Well, too bad.
You know, like now this is the way we do it.
I think you talked, this is your theme today
because you talked about it in GameStop.
You talked about it here.
Muscle memory is what you're talking about.
Getting rid of muscle memory, correct?
That's right.
Stretching out, stretching those limbs.
That's right.
Stuff like that.
The yoga-nator.
It's very Great Dane of you, I have to say.
You like that?
You like the Dane?
I can't believe you're getting a Great Dane.
How many dogs do you have, like 80?
No, we have Zoe Arvishla, who is 14 and a half and is doing well, really well.
And we have our Puerto Rican rescue dachshund.
We think it's a dachshund.
Felix, gangster.
Okay, so what are you, readying a replacement for your older dog?
That's what it is.
A hundred percent.
She's going soon.
She's going. I'm readying a replacement for your older dog? That's what it feels like. A hundred percent. She's going soon. She's going.
I'm readying a replacement for you.
Which comes first?
Oh my God, that's so cruel to have this Dane just sitting there.
Are you planning to adopt to rescue Sasha Baron Cohen?
Are you already planning this?
Yes.
Now she's 14 and a half.
She's such a sweet girl.
So let me ask you one last question.
Such a sweet girl.
Who would really make you upset if I got an interview with?
Just curious.
We're still here.
We're still here.
Who would it be?
Come on.
No, I'm done.
I'm done.
I'm done with, I'm delaying this game.
We've played it out.
Who would just be like, I cannot believe you talked to that person.
We've played it out.
Just asking for a friend.
If you could get it, if I say this person, you have to, and you get this person,
you have to put them on our show. Okay?
Okay, what's it?
Okay? You know who I would love, who is, I think, an incredible role model?
Yeah, okay, tell me.
I would love to have Mackenzie Phillips.
Mackenzie Phillips?
I'm sorry, Mackenzie Phillips, who the fuck's that? Oh, that's from Three's Company. Oh,
wait, no, that's from that old show, remember her?
Three's Company.
From One Day at a Time. One Day at a Time. McKenzie Phelps, who the fuck's that? Oh, that's from Three's Company. Oh, wait, no, that's from that old show. Remember her? Three's Company.
From One Day at a Time.
One Day at a Time.
That's who I want on their show.
God, I'm literally, hello.
I know. Remember when we first dotted Grandpa with dementia?
McKenzie Scott.
McKenzie Scott.
McKenzie, baby Scott.
If I get McKenzie Scott,
I'm doing a live interview in front of a thousand people.
She's my hero.
I'm not going to do the whole big,
like, look at me giving thing. I'm just going to push money out to people who need it. I like her.
I think she has a lot of grace and dignity. I cannot make that promise if I get Mackenzie Scott.
I hung out with her many years ago. She's lovely. Yeah, of course you did. She is lovely. I haven't
spoken to her in a million years. You literally said that just so you could get that person on
sway, right? I don't know even how to reach her.
Honestly.
Mackenzie, if you're listening, hi, it's Kara again.
We're huge fans.
She was my 2020 person of the year.
Okay.
All right.
Well, good.
She's really great.
What a thrill for her.
Oh, my God.
Let me just say, you picked a nice person who I always liked, who I always thought was a lovely, smart, erudite person.
And now is doing really interesting, unusual things.
Yeah, plus she's not doing all this bullshit.
You know what I can't stand?
This whole movement towards space.
What, space?
Oh, I'm writing about it this week.
Here's an idea, here's an idea.
I'm writing about space.
I love space.
The most powerful people in the world
shouldn't be talking about moving to Mars.
They should be talking about making their home
a better place.
I, well, you know, they think this is how to do it.
I wrote about it because those pictures from Jupiter and Mars were so beautiful.
Did you see those?
Yeah, I love the pictures.
Literally, you could take like the zoom down to a rock.
I was like, I'm looking at a rock 130 million miles away.
Do you think it's kind of abdicating responsibility for making your home a better place?
I don't know.
I mean, granted, sometimes, sometimes after arguments with my kids, I just want to get in my car and drive.
But I decided to actually invest in the house versus him.
I'm different than you.
I think we should explore space.
But I think it shouldn't be by two billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk fighting it out.
I think we should all invest in exploring the cosmos, not just to get our – to be a multi-planetary species,
but that there's
things out there that would be great to explore.
I know we've made a mess here, but it doesn't mean
we shouldn't go there.
I think we should re-explore steel towns
and our manufacturing base in the
Brad States and try and reinvigorate them
instead of all this sword fighting
with their dicks.
I'm going to Mars.
I know there's a lot of issues, but everything's not perfect at home and their dicks. I'm going to Mars. No, I'm going to Mars.
I know there's a lot of issues, but everything's not perfect at home and you still travel.
I don't know.
I just think it's part of the same thing.
I think space travel.
One of my other predictions is I think space travel and all the excitement around space,
I think it's a technology that's going to end in tears for investors.
I think it's expensive and dangerous.
It is expensive.
The Mars mission was $2.7 billion.
I don't think it's meant to make money necessarily, but we know if they get minerals and things like that.
There's a lot of people trying.
There are.
A lot of people trying.
You know, actually, Musk is going to put up an all-civilian crew by the end of 2021.
Bezos' Blue Origin, which he'll be focusing a lot more on, people think, is going to be putting humans in space for orbits at least uh soon so
yeah we'll see we'll see we'll see i'm i'm on the other side of that trade than you but i don't know
about the money part yeah okay that's the show that is i feel better i feel better that is the
show i'm still on this planet without a vaccine like a lot of people like way too many people
but anyway uh i will get one. I will keep trying.
J&J coming out with a vaccine.
They are.
J&J is coming out with one that doesn't need to be refrigerated quite as much.
One dose.
One dose.
Shows a lot of efficacy, which is going to be great.
There's all kinds of good news in lots of spaces.
Israel, there's one last thing I'll say, which I didn't mention at the top,
was, you know, Israel's are showing huge rates of uptake, even though there's all kinds of still all kinds of problems there.
And then, as you said, the J&J one dose has a 72 percent efficient at protecting against COVID-19.
That's pretty great. It's pretty great.
All right. See, we can do things. We can do things in this country and also interview famous people like Mackenzie Scott.
All right, I'm done.
I'm done.
Today's show was produced by Rebecca Sinanis.
Ernie Indretot, engineer of this episode.
Thanks also to Hannah Rosen and Drew Burrows.
Make sure you're subscribed to the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.
If you liked our show, please recommend it to a friend.
Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media.
We'll be back next week for a breakdown of all things tech and business.
Who gets mentioned by the most lovable Canadian in history, Andrew Ross Sorkin?
The dog does.
You take it when you get it.
The dog does.
You take it when you get it, Scott.
All I got to say, Andrew, is woof.
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