Habits and Hustle - Episode 411: Professor Scott Galloway: The Modern Connection Crisis + Wealth Building Strategies
Episode Date: December 31, 2024Are we facing a crisis of connection in modern society? Today on the Habits and Hustle podcast, I’m resharing the conversation I had with Professor Scott Galloway about the major connection crisis i...n our modern day culture. We discuss the delicate balance between luck and talent, the importance of habits, and how exercise routines can help manage stress and depression. We also discuss the differences between mere income and true financial security, the significance of surrounding yourself with high-character individuals, the nuances of modern dating culture, the crisis of masculine mentorship, and the impact of social media on relationships and geopolitical perceptions. Scott Galloway is a Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business and host of the Prof G and Pivot Podcasts. He is a bestselling author and entrepreneur who combines business insight and analysis with provocative life and career advice. What We Discuss: (19:19) The Role of Luck and Habits (25:20) The Importance of Wealth-Building Principles (33:55) Wealth-Building Strategies and Main Hustles (38:56) Wealth-Building and Relationship Alignment (43:40) Challenges of Modern Dating Culture (54:07) The Crisis of Masculine Mentorship (01:03:20) The Algebra of Mating (01:08:31) The TikTok Algorithm and Anti-Israel Sentiment (01:21:40) The US Role in Israel-Palestine Conflict (01:29:20) Political Discussion on US Leadership …and more! Thank you to our sponsors: Therasage: Head over to therasage.com and use code Be Bold for 15% off TruNiagen: Head over to truniagen.com and use code HUSTLE20 to get $20 off any purchase over $100. Magic Mind: Head over to www.magicmind.com/jen and use code Jen at checkout. BiOptimizers: Want to try Magnesium Breakthrough? Go to https://bioptimizers.com/jennifercohenand use promo code JC10 at checkout to save 10% off your purchase. Timeline Nutrition: Get 10% off your first order at timeline.com/cohen Air Doctor: Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code HUSTLE for up to $300 off and a 3-year warranty on air purifiers. Find more from Jen: Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen  Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagement Find more from Scott Galloway: Website: https://www.profgalloway.com/ Instagram: @profgalloway Book: The Algebra of Wealth
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it!
Before we dive into today's episode, I first want to thank our sponsor, Therisage. Their
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The and messages whenever I post anything. Yeah, isn't it? We have a lot of entrepreneurs who follow and hyper-force.
You're doing really well.
I follow, I track everyone, very competitive.
You're like, you're bright.
I mean, you're constantly beating us all the time.
Anyways, you're doing really well.
Thank you.
Well, I'm neck and neck with you.
Like you've been crushing.
I mean, now you have like, what, three podcasts?
Yeah, to resist his feudal.
Anyways, let's jump right into it
and I'll make all these jokes.
I want to save this comedy gold for the tape.
By the way, this is the podcast.
We started.
Oh, we're on?
Yes.
Oh, we're on?
Okay, so we're on.
Yeah, so your standup comedy is very well received already
and I appreciate and invite it.
So yeah, like me and Scott, just, you know,
I always send you our little top charts
and I'm always like right beside you.
But I noticed like every time I send it to you,
you have another podcast show that you add.
So you're gonna have the entire business section
in the next two months.
I'm like AOL and then I used to resist his feudal.
If you stick your hand in a cereal box, you're gonna pull out a pod from us. I'm like, it and then I used to resist his feudal. If you stick your hand in a cereal box, you're going to pull out a pod from us.
I'm like, it's not quality, just surround them.
It's exactly what, well, listen, it's working because, well, first of all,
let me tell everybody his new book is called the algebra of wealth.
And if you have not read it or picked it up, you're basically living under a rock
possibly because it's so popular, especially in the business entrepreneurial
space. Very well done. Amazing nuggets of gold information in there. So great job yet again.
Thanks very much for your greatness in the agency of other about six people worked on the book.
But yeah, thank you.
Six people. Wow. I mean, that's a lot of people. And are you like, how are you able,
quite honestly, like you're
literally like Waldo, like I was just saying off camera, I check you out and you
are in New York, you're in London, you're speaking in Vegas, you're writing books,
you're doing three podcasts, like how are you like time is your and you talk about
this in your book is the most valuable asset. How are you able to do all these
things and do them well?
So man, what I said before, greatness in the agency of others. People think that
people constantly say to me, you must work around the clock and I don't work more than
30 hours a week. Hold on a second.
They're taking calls in my podcast. I mean, you're working diligently and constantly.
It's a doorbell. We're basically an Amazon distribution center here.
You know, I have, so people think it's me.
PropG is a media company.
We have 14 people.
I have three data analysts, two tech people, a videographer,
a creative person, an editor-in-chief.
And I like building small companies.
And we produce a great deal of content.
I really enjoy it.
But be clear, I used to work, when I was your age,
I was working around the clock.
And now I've decided that I want to, the reason I moved to Europe is I was working around the clock. And now I've decided that I wanna,
the reason I moved to Europe is I think
US is the best place to make money
and Europe is the best place to spend it.
And I'm in the spending part of my life.
I do prop two media,
cause I wanna talk about things that are important to me,
struggling young men, Israel, big tech,
but I'm now in this,
I'm in the privileged position of my life
where there's three buckets in life.
There's things you have to do.
You know, if your biggest investors in town
or you know, your in-laws are in town,
you gotta have dinner with them, whatever it is,
things you have to do.
There's things you wanna do, right?
You just went to Israel, I'm going to the south of France,
I'm going to the Camp Creativity Festival,
which I'm really excited about.
And there's things you should do.
And you build your career doing things you should do.
You know, going to a networking function,
going to South by Southwest and speaking on
a panel where you might get some exposure.
I have eliminated the should bucket from my life and I only do things I have to do or
that I want to do.
And I didn't take outside money for the first time for this company because I don't want
to be responsible to anyone but paying my employees really well, which we're able to
do.
And we produce a ton of content.
I'm working with really talented people.
But be clear, when you see something I put out,
it's a bunch of other people producing it.
I'm just the talent that they prop up and press play.
It's kind of weakened at Bernie's.
I got other people carrying me around.
I love that analogy.
It's so funny.
I mean, I want to start this podcast
because you've been on many times.
We talk about we're gonna get into Israel,
we're gonna get into your book
and all those other great fun things.
But I've seen you really,
like your trajectory recently has really spiked
and people really respond to what you say, your content.
What do you think your secret sauce is?
What is your superpower that's really,
you think why people are responding the way they are?
First off, you're being very generous.
And what I'll say is after working my ass off for 30 years,
I'm an overnight success.
This wasn't like I woke up and all of a sudden
I was on Morning Joe.
I had been working my ass off.
And I feel like I'm rounding third
and taking some of those accolades.
I know how hard you work.
In terms of my core competence,
my superpower as an individual is storytelling.
I get a lot of practice.
I sit in front of, or stand in front of 300 people
twice a week.
I know how to craft a narrative.
I know how to move people, I think, to think differently.
Use of data and humor softens the beach
such that it opens their mind to new ideas.
And I can craft a narrative and, you know,
an arc and the cadence and delivery of that.
I think that's my superpower.
My core competence is the ability to attract
and retain really good people who can leverage
that storytelling, that skill, as, you know,
see above, Prop. Jesus 14 people.
I think the reason that my content is resonating right now,
and it's easy to pat yourself on the book,
is I'm running into the fire.
I'm talking about the struggles that young men face.
When I started talking about it five years ago,
it was seen as thinly veiled misogyny, and I got a lot of pushback. I talk talking about the struggles that young men face. When I started talking about it five years ago,
it was seen as thinly veiled misogyny,
and I got a lot of pushback.
I talk about Israel, and you know as well as I do.
You get a lot of pushback.
I have very young viewers.
My podcast downloads went down 12%,
which is a lot in one week when I started talking
about Israel, and we're in a subscription model.
So for people to purposely unsubscribe,
and you're down 12%, and you're growing 20 to 30% year on year,
it means you're doing something wrong.
And that's something wrong with saying to a young audience
that I think you are part of a zombie apocalypse
of useful idiots in terms of your views.
And I've used that terminology.
And the wonderful thing about having some economic security
and people who in your life who love you unconditionally
is that you can speak your mind.
So I'd like to think that part over the medium and the long term, you pay some short term
dues but the difference between an opinion and a principle is you're willing to sacrifice
for a principle.
But I talk about things that are, I don't call them risky, but I run into the fire.
I talk about whatever interests me.
I talk about that I think DEI should be disassembled on campuses, that higher ed is corrupt, and we are the new enforcers of the caste system,
which doesn't, you know, warm the hearts of my colleagues. But I think if you come at
stuff as an honest broker, you speak your mind in an environment that's increasingly
starched where people are thinking about how many likes will I get and how many people
will I not offend here. I think people are ready for someone to run into the fire,
if you will. And in addition, lately, you know, I'm a straight white male that talks about
emotions, talks about his failures, talks about my relationship with my sons. And I
think especially young men really appreciate that because I think there's so many young
men who are struggling and have a difficult time articulating how disappointing it is
when your career doesn't work. And I've had those disappointments. So disappointing when you have unrequited love, right? So disappointing to feel
alone. I've been through all of that shit. So I relate to it and I talk about it. And a lot of it,
you know, Jen, it's just luck, just luck. I don't, why is this book selling better than my others?
I'm not sure. I don't know. You know, a lot of it's luck. So anyways. How much do you think is luck versus talent versus, yeah, versus talent?
How much of it is luck?
What I would say is that being talented is table stakes.
And if you're a genius, if you're in the top 0.1%, you kind of don't need luck.
The rest of us need a certain amount of luck.
What I'll say is that being hardworking, being talented every week,
I don't even think of it as talent,
I think of it as iteration.
And that is you gotta have some basic talent,
but then every week just like, okay, looking at the data,
what can we make a little bit better?
How can we make this dialogue a little tighter?
How can the music be a little bit better?
What can we learn?
Constant iteration.
You know, the first podcast I did had 1700 downloads,
you know, we'll do every one of them now gets
200 to 350,000 downloads, but it's never been a giant step change up. Luck is enormous because my narrative up until the age of 40 was check me out. I was raised by a
single immigrant mother that lived and died a secretary overcame all of this and to become a
ball or like I, you know, I am man hear me roar. And then as you get older, you become more thoughtful. And I realized being born a white heterosexual male
in California in the 60s meant I had access
to free education, UCLA and Berkeley,
$7,000 total tuition all seven years.
I had access, it was a 76% admissions rate when I applied.
I had to apply twice, true story.
It's now a 9% admissions rate.
I came of age when the internet was coming,
or professional age when the internet was coming on board.
So a guy with a good rap and a shaved head
could raise hundreds of millions of dollars, which I did.
I've had some wonderful women in my life.
My kids are, I mean, fucking A, I'm not humble, Jen.
I think I'm in the top 1%.
The top 1% puts you in a room with the population of Germany.
My life is better than the 75 million most talented people in the world,
but I made this incredibly smart decision,
and that was to be born in California in the 60s.
So, yeah, like, you know, 51% is hard work, 49%, you know.
I don't know if luck is 49 or 51%, but I know it's a huge, yeah, I tell this story
and it's emotionally manipulative.
My freshman roommate at UCLA, so similar to me.
And I'm not saying this,
I think he was more talented than me.
He was creative, he was in the film school,
super engaging, super funny, everybody loves him.
You know, immediately right out of college,
incredibly successful, head of television at Disney successful, head of television at Disney,
youngest head of television at Disney,
dead of AIDS at 33,
because God reached into his soul
and decided he would be gay.
I didn't choose to be straight.
So luck, yeah, luck's played an enormous role.
And the thing that upsets me the most
about some of the tech bros that I cover
and talk a lot about is they conflate luck with talent.
They're under the impression that all of their billions
are a function of their talent.
And they don't even pull out a map and go,
well, how come all of us are littered along the west coast
of North America and not above Seattle and Canada,
where there's no companies creating billions
or south of La Jolla?
We're all in this one region, but it didn't dawn on us
that we're incredibly fortunate
that we either had the ability to immigrate here or our parents decided to take risks and be here. So I have no delusions.
The reason I'm here with you right now is because one, I'm talented, but mostly through the
generosity and vision of California taxpayers and the vision of the Regency University of California
that gave me an unbelievable education for almost no money and the fact that my parents
made the decision
to move to America and that I was born here.
So yeah, I think a lot of it was luck.
I mean, luck can get you so, I think luck is a big part,
but you also talk a lot about a few things
and it resonates with me anyway.
Like you say, habits obviously really play
a major integral role in how successful you become, right?
Habits, exercise, number one, right?
There's a definite correlation.
I mean, how often are you exercising by the way? Every day?
No. So I'm inspired.
I follow you and I feel weak.
I've worked out four times a week for 40 years.
That's my fitness secret.
I don't have any crazy methods or diet,
eat whatever I want, I drink whatever I want.
I've worked out four times a week for 40 years
and I've been six to 187 pounds.
I've been, I've toggled between 186 and 188.
So I just, I'm the same weight no matter what I do.
I have kind of body dysmorphia.
I always feel too skinny and I have to lift to keep weight on.
It's hard for me to do cardio,
but working out for me has been my antidepressant.
I struggle with anger and depression.
And the only thing that sort of keeps me level is resistance training and pretty serious
cardio.
It's when I can't work out because I'm on the road or I get lazy, I start getting angry
at myself.
I start blaming others.
I start doing this shitty weird role playing where I imagine confrontations or arguments
with other people that don't exist.
And I have to be like, what the fuck is going on with me right now? shitty weird role playing where I imagine confrontations or arguments with other people that don't exist.
And I have to be like,
what the fuck is going on with me right now?
And I realize, oh, I'm eating shitty food
because I'm on the road.
I'm not around my boys.
I'm not around my dogs.
I don't have anyone's physical touch.
I don't have intimacy.
I don't have affection.
I don't have sex.
I don't have working out.
And I start to go into this really dark downward place.
But whenever I'm down,
the first thing I do is I sweat. It's like turning the computer off and on for me.
Yeah, I agree. I'm the same way with that, except I don't struggle with the anger portion,
but the depression is the best antidepressant on the market and completely under indexed.
So other things that you talk about in the book is have rich friends, make rich friends. Can we talk about that a little bit?
Sure.
So I'm not suggesting you ask for the W-2 of anyone you hang out with.
The larger point is there's just a lot of studies that show you're the sum and the average
of the five people you hang out with.
And I think that you should aspire to have really successful, high character, impressive
friends.
And even you're a parent, I'm a parent, we like to think that we're engineers, that we engineer the
sheep, we don't. We're shepherds. We get to choose where our kids graze, the directions they graze in,
the food they eat. But the most influential, most kind of important influence on their life is their
peer group. And if you look at the four or five people you hung out with the most between the
ages of 15 and 30, you're probably the same body mass index, the same economic weight class,
the same political affiliations, the same cities.
It's amazing how similar you become.
So what I tell, and this is true,
if you have the opportunity to establish a relationship
with someone who's really impressive,
and there's more than just money,
but very impressive people
tend to attract economic prosperity.
And what I'm saying is, I wouldn't be afraid to upgrade friends and not
stay friends with people just because you went to junior high together.
If friends are bringing you down or taxing you or not setting a good example
for how you should live your life.
I don't think there's a problem.
And I know this sounds rapacious with shedding friends, but more than that,
when you have the opportunity to establish a friendship with a really
impressive person,
high character, funny, interesting, works hard,
super successful, get in that room with that person.
Because a lot of it's,
the only reason I went to college,
my dad told me he'd buy me a Trans Am
when I was in the 10th grade, if I didn't go to college,
because I didn't need it.
I was too smart according to him.
He just didn't want to pay for college.
And I said, great.
So I wasn't going to go to college.
My two best friends, Brett Jarvis, a Mormon kid,
and Ronnie Drake, a black kid, were just going to college.
And so it was like, okay, my two best friends
are going to college, which means I'm going to go to college.
If I'd hung out with two other guys that just smoked pot
and were going to do what I was going to do,
install shelving and hang out, that's what I would be doing.
So if you want to upgrade your life,
upgrade the people, the peer group you hang
around with, and then just bridging it to the book, the strange thing about those same
five people is that even if they all make approximately the same amount of money, one
will end up much more financially secure than the other four, despite not having made much
more money than them. And that's the basis of the book. I wanted to look at the character
and behaviors and strategies of that one guy or gal
that ends up much more economically secure
than the other four, despite not making much more money.
What is wealth to you?
And what is the formula to be wealthy?
Sure.
Besides what we just said.
So the definition of rich, in my view,
is passive income that's greater than your burn.
Passive income is income you get
even if you decide not to go to work in the morning.
So two examples, close friend of mine runs M&A
for an iconic investment bank.
He makes between four and 10 million a year,
depending on the year.
He pays a 50% tax rate living in Connecticut
between his ex-wife, his alimony, his three current kids,
his home in the Hamptons, his flex check card,
his master the nearest lifestyle
that he believes he's entitled to, which you can understand.
He spends almost all of it.
And I know that he spends a lot of nights
staring at the ceiling wondering what happens
if the music stops.
He's not rich.
My father, between his social security,
his Royal Navy pension, he was a frog man
in the Royal Navy, and he owns, I think,
eight washing and drying machines and trailer parks where he collects the quarters every day.
He makes $52,000 a year.
He spends 48.
His passive income is greater than his burn.
He's rich.
My father's rich.
So people always focus on how much money they're making.
Really how you get wealth and how you get rich
is how much money you spend.
And so you wanna put yourself on a path over time such that you can spend less than
you make so you can deploy an army of capital that works for you in the night, compound
interest, and hopefully by the time you're my age, your passive income is greater than
your burn and then you are rich.
Now part of that is deciding how much you need.
You might decide I'm going to do a lifestyle arbitrage and move to Costa Rica. So me and my wife only need 80 grand a year to live a really nice life, 35 grand in social
security.
We'll make 10 or 15 grand doing some sort of work.
We need 30 grand in passive income times that by 15 to 25.
Okay.
We need half a million to a million bucks in savings.
That's intimidating.
But if you got 12 or 15 years to figure that out, because my book is mostly written for young people,
but for people who are a little bit older,
you know what your burn's gonna be, think about it.
Needing another half a million bucks over 15 years,
it sounds intimidating, it sounds like $100,000 a year,
it's not, it's 30 or $40,000 a year
that you need to not touch and let grow.
So, rich is passive income grade in your burn, The formula, focus, find something you're good at
that other people will pay you for.
Go into an industry that has a 90 plus percent
employment rate, don't go into sports, modeling,
acting, the arts, unless from a very early age
you are getting bright green signals
that you're in the top 1%.
Focus on something you're good at
that has a 90 plus percent employment rate.
Two, stoicism, realize no one's thinking about your shit as much as you are.
Try to have some discipline around not being the guy that orders a bottle of
gray goose late at night, trying to impress potential mates.
Realize they only need so many pairs of ergonomically impossible shoes.
Try and develop a savings muscle.
Try and control the things you can.
Some things in your career you can not control,
you can control your spending.
Try and just, even in your 20s,
I'm not suggesting you live like a miser,
enjoy yourself, go to Coachella,
but try and save a hundred bucks a month,
maybe 500, maybe you're starting to make money.
Because once you have that savings muscle,
once you know how to flex it,
when you come into your 30s
and hopefully start making some money
from that focus and your talent,
you'll be good at saving money or you'll at least know how. Some people go through their entire lives,
they never learn how to save money. It's like trying to play golf for them all of a sudden.
And if they've never done it, they just don't know how to do it. And then appreciate the power of time.
My favorite example is I spoke to a private school, the board of a private school in Manhattan.
I wanted to send my kids to this Tony school called Grace Church or First Presbyterian,
mostly because I'm a narcissist and I wanted to tell people my kids went to First Presbyterian.
It's $62,000 a year.
And I said to the board, why do parents choose to send their kids here?
Well, it's a great spiritual environment.
I'm like, okay, come on.
There's studies that show if you send them to the nearest school, the public school,
the time in the commute is better spent on sleeping, playing, they'll be just as good.
Why do people really come here?
Like, well, the bottom line is much better chance of getting into an elite school.
Okay, why do we care if they go to an elite school?
Well, elite schools set you up for economic opportunities and the chance to do something
you love and have economic security, find a family, raise a family, buy a home. I'm like, okay. Bottom line is, most of it, let's be honest, is economic security,
which is really important in a capitalist society. If you took that $62,000 a year from the age of
four to 18, and every year you just put it in SPY, a Vanguard index fund that is just passively
investing in the S&P 500, and you paid Vanguard that tuition every year
and sent your kids to a public school,
I want you to assume you were wrong.
And those kids get into a shitty college,
and then with their shitty college degree,
they get a mediocre job, they can't afford a home,
they can't find the right mate,
and at 35, they're alone and can't afford a home.
Well, that's the bad news.
The good news is if you paid yourself that tuition,
you can give that kid $5.4 million to ease their pain.
So if private schools were honest,
they would say first Presbyterian or 5.4 million
to your kid at 35.
But people don't think that way.
My first bonus at Morgan Stanley when I was 23,
I got $28,000 bonus.
So I went out and bought a $35,000 BMW. If I put that $28,000 in just an index fund, I'm not saying you have to be a genius.
You don't have to find the needle in the haystack, buy the whole haystack.
I would have enough money for nine Ferraris now.
People don't understand.
When you're young, you want to lean into your advantage.
When you're young, you have one advantage.
You have time.
And here's the problem.
It sounds easy.
It's not.
Because young people don't believe they're going to live past 35,
because for 99% of our time on this planet, our species does not live past 35.
So it's impossible to imagine you're going to be around another 60 or 70 years,
which you will be when you're 25.
And if you just get 9% a year, which sounds terrible,
but that's what the NASDAQ's done, or excuse me, the S&P has done since it,
that means, that means in 24 years, right,
you're gonna have eight times your money.
And in 32 years, you're gonna have 16 times your money.
And when you're my age,
even if you don't get an MBA contract or sell a novel
or have your business sold, whatever it might be,
you're financially secure.
So it's appreciating time.
And then the last thing, and this is underrated, and it's where I fucked up several times is the power of
diversification. I came out of the gates really hot. I made a lot of money. I started internet
companies, was rich on paper, but I always doubled down on my companies. Red envelope
is going public. How much do I have in stock? Well, Scott, you have 20 million in stock.
I'm going to borrow five million against my stock and buy more stock.
Because anything I throw myself at, I'm such a baller.
It's going to be huge.
And I read these stories about Steve Ballmer borrowing more money
and putting into Microsoft in it to win it.
My board loves it shows commitment.
Two thousand and eight comes along. Great financial recession.
The market is bigger than any individual.
My company goes from seven bucks a share to chapter 11 in about three weeks.
And I go from being worth millions or tens of millions
to negative three million.
And unfortunately it was about the same time
my oldest son had the poor judgment
to come marching out of my girlfriend.
And that moment in the delivery room
where my kid comes out and I'm supposed to hear angels
singing and bright angelic light,
and I feel so nauseous and so ashamed that I let my son down because despite
having made all this money, I am broke and it's no longer about me.
It's about taking care of him and the feeling of the feeling of, you know,
that I had the first thing I felt with my son was that I had failed him.
And if I just diversified a little bit, if I just sold some stock and put it in
some boring shit, if I just sold some stock and put it in some boring shit,
if I just sold some stock and put it in bonds
and different stocks and some index funds,
I would have been fine.
And now that I have money again and I got wealthy
and sold my company about, in my number,
about 70 years ago,
I do not put more than 3% of my net worth in any one thing.
And if you'd asked me what investment
I was most excited about,
I would have said this AI based healthcare company where they send text messages for
preventive healthcare. I invested 3% of my net worth because I was really excited about
it. It went out of business last week, it's a zero. It bums me out for about an hour because
I have Kevlar and that's what diversification is. It's a bullet to the chest, but I got
Kevlar, takes me off my feet. I get up,
I have a little bit of a bruise, but I am fine. Whereas when bullets hit me when I was a younger man
and I wasn't diversified, I was out. They were almost near-death experiences. So hope you're wrong.
Hope that that one company goes to the moon, but diversify because what Kahneman said, the behavioral economist that died a couple months ago,
is the joy of going from 10 million to a billion
won't be nearly as great as the misery
of going from 10 to zero.
So you don't need to go from 10 million to a billion,
go from 10 to 20 to 30 slowly and just be really happy.
So anyways, focus times stoicism,
times the appreciation for time and diversification.
So in sum, I know how to get you rich.
That's the good news.
The bad news, Jen, is the answer is slowly.
I love that answer.
And then, you know, what's interesting is everybody now,
I think also because of Instagram,
people are staring at everybody's lifestyle
and it's very popular and hashtag friendly
to be an entrepreneur and do all these side hustles.
But you actually talk about the fact that you're not such a fan of side hustles, but you actually talk about the fact
that you're not such a fan of side hustles.
Why is that?
If you're using a side hustle to workshop something,
if you're doing side hustles,
it means you have the wrong main hustle.
The way you get wealthy is with a main hustle
that you're really good at,
and you take all the time you would have spent
on a side hustle and you double down on your main hustle.
Because being in the top 10% of tax accountants, assuming, and by the way, I'm not saying this disparagingly,
some people love the law. Some people love taxes. Some people are good with clients.
They're good with numbers. They love tax strategies. Being in the top 10% of tax accountants gets
you two or 300 grand a year. Being in the top 1% gets you two to 3 million. The difference
between, and I'll use a sports analogy, between the number 10 golfer is 3 grand a year. Being in the top 1% gets you two to 3 million. The difference between, and I'll use a sports analogy,
between the number 10 golfer is 3 million a year
versus the number two or three golfer,
but we're literally talking 0.2 strokes
is 30 to 50 million a year.
You need that incremental energy doubling down,
going 110% in your main gig.
Otherwise, use side gigs to workshop a different main gig.
But your goal is to find something where professionally,
every waking professional hour,
you're focused on one thing,
and then the rest is for family and fitness.
But spreading peanut butter
across a bunch of different shit,
I have never been successful at anything
I didn't go 110% into.
And when I hear people say they wanna be an entrepreneur, but first they need to work
for a while and they don't want to give up their job, I'm like, you're not going to be
an entrepreneur.
I mean, and also what the thing I really hate is balance.
I survey my kids and when I say my kids, my students, I ask them, where do you expect
to be economically?
And by the time you're 35, 70, 80% of them expect to be in the top 10%
and half of them expect to be in the top 1%, which I think is $700,000 a year of American
households. And then I say, okay, what do you want in a job? Something rewarding,
something I learn a lot. And the number one thing is I want balance. I'm like, let me get this.
You expect to be in the top 1% and you are under the delusion, you're gonna have balance.
I have had periods in my life where I have good relationships.
I'm fit, I'm donating time at the ASPCA,
I'm taking care of my mental health.
That is when I am losing money.
And then there's been periods where I am making bank
and my life feels like it is flying apart
at the fucking scene.
And when I tell you, you can have it you, like, you can have it all.
You just can't have it all at once.
I have a lot of balance now
because I had almost none in my twenties and thirties.
Working this hard, my twenties and my thirties
cost me my hair, it cost me my first marriage.
And to be blonde, it was worth it
because now I have a shit ton of time
for my kids, for my own personal well-being. I do amazing things. I had a five-year exhale where
I no longer have any economic security. I can totally focus on my relationships and just having
a great time. But if you think you're going to achieve any level of influence or economic
security in a capitalist competitive economy without going all in.
I mean, all fucking in, you are in for a rude awakening.
Now, that's my way.
It may not be the right way.
If you wanna work to live, not live to work, fine.
As Lincoln said, God loved the common man.
That's why he made so many of them.
But you need to get in alignment with your partner
and have a sober conversation. Maybe we can't live in Manhattan or in Santa Monica. Maybe we need to
move to Phoenix or move to El Paso or move to, you know, you name it, low cost area, St. Louis.
And we're going to have a nice house, maybe, but not a fat house. And we're going to have to adjust
our expectations around quality of life. And what I find causes more divorce and more dissent is not infidelity or a lack of shared values.
It's not alignment around economic weight class.
What's our approach to spending?
Who's responsible for making the money?
What economic weight class do we expect to be in and who's responsible for getting us there and keeping us there?
And when you don't have that alignment, and there's weird dynamics around control
and expectations, and then people start hiding things from each other, 70% of divorce filings,
people over the age of 40 are filed by women. And the vast majority of the time,
you can reverse engineer it to money, money issues. So I think it is exceptionally important that you have really open, sober conversations
around your expectations and that your partner is aligned.
And I see so much dysfunction
in my friends' relationships around money
and no one's allowed to talk about it
because we're all supposed to pretend that we're ballers
and that, oh, I don't have a problem with money.
Saying you have problems with money
is like saying you're not worthy in a capitalist society.
It does this implicit notion that you fucked up.
And here's the thing, I don't care who you are.
I mean, there's a few people to 0.1%.
Everyone has stress from money.
I still have stress from money.
There's still times I have more money
than I ever thought I would.
And sometimes I'm like, oh, fuck,
where am I gonna find money to,
we're renovating a house.
Where am I gonna find money for this?
Or I just gave away money.
Did I give away too much?
I constantly have economic stress.
And it was hands down,
my biggest source of stress growing up in my household,
hands down.
But we're not allowed to talk about it.
You need to have these conversations early
and have a sober conversation
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Well, I think also this, the young generation or today's generation, you're talking about
balance. There's also a lot of issues with boundaries and all these other very, I call
them very liberal wo-isms around the workplace, right? And also people are working now on
Zoom. So there's much less interpersonal relationships and people are
working they don't they don't want to work anymore, but yet they want to live the lifestyle.
There's a way do you tell people I mean, you just you just actually told people but I think
there's a disconnect between what people think is out there and what they have to do and
I don't see the pendulum swinging the opposite direction. I think people are now are becoming
inherently more lazy, much more of a caudal culture environment
where everyone gets a participation trophy.
Nobody really wants to be show when
that there are winners and losers.
This is like, that to me is actually the epidemic
that we're facing right now.
Like I'm really concerned about the younger generation
than anything.
Yeah, I do.
I think there's an entire generation of men.
There's 3 million able-bodied men between the ages of 25 and 54, who not only are
working, they're not looking for work.
They've just given up on work and in a full employment economy, it's just like,
they could get a job.
They've just decided any job they could get.
I was on the board of Panera and this is a good thing.
Through the pandemic, there was a labor shortage.
You can pretty much start tomorrow at Panera for 18, 20 bucks an hour.
And that's not huge money, but if you're good and reliable, we go to a job fair.
We used to get a hundred applicants.
Now we get 10 and we'll hire five and two will show up.
Three are just no shows.
And if you, you know, if you work hard, you're a good person.
You have some EQ without a college degree.
Now you can probably be making, I don't know, 60, 80, 100 grand a year,
just if you're hardworking and a good person.
And some people, young people, unfortunately,
I think a lot of them have been told you can have it all.
And so they're like, and then they, 210 times a day,
someone is vomiting their experience at the Almond Hotel
or the new Ferrari they just bought.
And they're under the impression that everyone has that,
but them and they can get that without hard work or they can be ridiculously fucking thin with
a six pack and a hot boyfriend and it's just going to happen for them.
So we've created a little bit of unreasonable expectations.
I'm more worried about young men.
I think young women are, if you really think about it statistically, young women are killing
it.
They're going to college in greater numbers.
They're in urban centers.
Women under the age of 30 are now making more money than men because they're
graduating at three to two ratio from college. They're more mature. They show up for work
on time. I mean, little things, they, you know.
Yeah. But you know what's happening with that? They're single and alone. If you are a woman
who is capable and competent and can do all those things on your own, they don't want a man
because the men out there are, there's very few.
And the few that there are, are gonna be wanted
by every single girl.
So then they're gonna go, right?
So it's like, what do you do in that?
That's basically what's happening.
I know more single great girls
than I've ever had in my life
and very few eligible great guys, very few.
And the guys I know who I'm friends with,
they have the pick of the litter.
They can go out with girls who are like literally
more than half their age.
And those girls are like vying for them
and dying to go out with them.
But both parties are to blame.
Okay, men, young men, for a variety of reasons,
some societal, some is on them,
are economically and emotionally unviable.
They're less mature, they literally mature,
their prefrontal cortex matures at a slower rate,
they're not going to college,
they're in their, they've been told
by the wealthiest, deepest pocketed companies in the world
they can have a reasonable facsimile of life
online with an algorithm.
Why go out and make the effort to get friends
when you can go on Discord or Reddit?
Why get a job when you can make money
at trading crypto on Coinbase or stocks on Robinhood?
Why go through the effort and the rejection
and the humiliation and establishing the skills
and getting your mom or your gay friend to dress you,
working out, taking the risk, going to a place,
putting up the bullshit and the rejection
of finding a romantic or sexual partner when you just have you porn.
And so you have an entire code of men who have sequestered from society.
They don't get those skills.
They go down a rabbit hole and they become almost sort of just non-viable mates.
At the same time, because online dating is how people meet each other, women aren't interested
in getting to a second date.
What do I mean by that? You basically have height and wealth now
are the key criteria for women,
humor, vibe, kindness, smell,
none of these things come through online.
So 50 men on Tinder, 50 women,
and you've highlighted some of the state data,
46 of the women show all of their attention
to just four men.
And those four men can have a date every night
that doesn't encourage long-term good appropriate behavior, right?
So you have all these women who all want the same guy.
And if you talk to married couples who've been together 20 or 30 years, about 70, 80
percent of the time they'll say one partner was much more interested than the other.
And it's usually the woman was not interested, but I worked with him and he was kind.
Or I found out he's smart, or I met his parents
and I loved the way he acted around his parents.
I got to know him and there was something about him.
I liked his hands and I started thinking
about his hands holding my hand.
Women have a much finer filter.
And for a guy to get through that filter,
he typically has to demonstrate excellence over time
in a community where they're together in person.
And so when you're online,
there's basically only two criteria for a guy.
It's his ability to signal wealth
by his credentialing around universities
and went to his current job.
And for guys, it's basically how does she look?
Now here's the thing about guys.
Guys will find the majority of women
or a large portion of them attractive.
Oh, she has nice hair, I'd like to date her. Women are much more discerning. Women are
like, oh, he went to Dartmouth, but I don't want an Ivy league guy. Oh, he's handsome.
He went to a good school, but he's in the energy sector. That means he's polluting.
They will just literally swipe left, swipe left, swipe left. So my advice to men is simply put, get your shit together,
get out, start making money, I don't care what it is,
get to the gym, I can find time in their phone
on Coinbase, on Twitter, on porn,
we're gonna reinvest in working out,
we're gonna reinvest in making some money,
and we're gonna be in the agency of other people,
I don't care what it is, a softball league,
church, a nonprofit, you have to get out of the house
and be in the company of strangers
and start demonstrating excellence
to the same sex or the other sex.
And when I tell women is, be open to a second coffee,
be open.
I mean, if you really don't like the guy, fine.
But if you think there might maybe something there,
give him a second shot.
Because I believe that essentially most women
are under the impression that they can have that,
what I'll call high status male,
and having sex with him does not mean
he's a potential viable relationship for you.
And what you end up with is I think this inability
or unwillingness to give men in the bottom 90
a second coffee.
So everybody's going after the same guy.
This guy has, like you said,
champagne and cocaine in terms of his options, which does not promote something what I call
Porsche polygamy. And by the way, that's the natural state of the world. The natural state
of the world is a small number of men get to do all of the mating. That's how the world mostly
is operated. In the US, we met at a middle class, 7 million men came home from war, they
were in uniform, they were in shape, they had demonstrated excellence, we put money
in their pockets, they were viable mates. That's what kicked off the baby boom. What
we have now is an entire cohort of economically and emotionally unviable men, women, women.
It's not that they can't find a man, they can't find a man they wanna date. That's right.
What's happened is now is that two and three women
under the age of 30 though have a boyfriend.
Only one in three men, why?
Because women are dating older.
24 year old women are dating a 38 year old guy.
So the young guy has no options
because any kind of high status or remotely,
shit together woman is going older.
The problem is there's not as much household formation.
Kids aren't having, people aren't having babies.
60% of people age 30 to 34 in 1980 had at least one child.
Now it's 27%.
People aren't meeting.
They're not falling in love.
They're not having sex.
The people, one out of three men under the age of 30 hasn't had sex in the last year.
Young people aren't having sex.
And I say jokingly, but I'm sort of serious.
My advice to young people is to go out, drink more, and make a series of
bad decisions that might pay off.
But if you have this incredibly fine filter, even politics, do you remember
when we used to date when we were younger?
Did you even know the politics of the person you were dating?
No, nothing.
They didn't care?
They didn't ask?
Who talked about politics?
I'm like, does she seem fun?
Would I want to have sex with her?
Like, is she interesting?
And then, okay, does she have nice friends?
And that was it.
I had no idea.
And now everyone's like, well, if they're red or blue,
I'm out, I'm out.
There's no way I could put up with this person.
So we've created all these reasons
for people to mark each other off of their dating list.
I'm like, you gotta be a little bit more open and we need more third spaces.
We need people to spend more time together.
So they can, you've all met that person.
You saw pictures of them online.
There's absolutely no reason you'd be attracted to them.
And you see the way they move.
You see the way they laugh.
You see their vibe and you just like want to be around them.
You kind of slowly, but surely fall in like, and then maybe fall in lust, and then maybe fall in love.
And we're not giving young people enough environments
to do that.
And we're also not creating enough economically viable men
because the truth is if we're gonna have
an honest conversation around mating,
women made it socioeconomically horizontally and up,
men horizontally and down.
And when the pool of horizontal and up among men
keeps shrinking because women are doing better,
which by the way is a great thing, we should do nothing to do that. But the reality is, I don't care how many subscriptions And when the pool of horizontal and up among men keeps shrinking because women are doing better,
which by the way is a great thing,
we should do nothing to do that.
But the reality is,
I don't care how many subscriptions to the Atlantic you have
or how much you read the New York Times,
women want a man.
And their view of a man is that he makes as much
or more money than me.
And look, I know there are exceptions,
but when the woman starts making more money than the man,
he's three times as likely to go on ED drugs
and the likelihood of divorce doubles
from the moment the woman starts making more money than men.
Women still look at men in terms of a provider and protector.
And so I think there is reason,
I don't wanna have affirmative action for men
that's too politicized,
but I do think we need to massively level up young people
such that more young women and young men
are more viable economically.
Because I don't care how charming, how nice,
how hard you work.
If you can't support a potential spouse and her kids,
she's just not gonna wanna have
a long-term relationship with you.
100%, I could not agree more.
This is the truth, but how do you get people
to actually implement and execute on that and leave their house and get off of social media and get
off of the dating apps and go and do what you just said, which is go to a club, go to
a restaurant in real time, get drunk, meet people and do what I used to do when I was
young.
I feel like that was what we needed to do. Now, everything is
just like, they don't, people don't even want friends. They're so isolated from even socialization.
People don't even know how to socialize anymore. It's really like, you can go, I mean, even if, I
bet when you go to dinner, to a restaurant, just anywhere, you look around, the people sitting with
each other, they're on their phones, they're not even communicating with each other or talking to
each other. At least the women are out there. not even communicating with each other or talking to each other.
At least the women are out though.
I was out and someone said, look over there,
look at all those women on their phones.
I'm like, but you notice it's tables of women?
I'm like, do you see any tables of young men?
The young men are all home.
I mean, at least the women are out.
Women have much stronger social networks,
they take care of themselves, they're in better shape,
they're professionally killing it.
Globally, you've never seen a group ascend
as fast as women.
Over the last 40 years,
the number of women elected to parliament has doubled.
There are now more women globally
seeking tertiary education than men.
And when you look at some nations discouraged
or don't let women go pursue higher ed, that's remarkable.
There's never been a cohort in America
that's fallen further faster than young men.
Men are now four times as likely to kill themselves.
It used to be three to one, now it's four to one.
They are dropping out of the workforce.
They're three times as likely to be addicted, 12 times as likely to be incarcerated.
You talk about the opioid addiction problem.
It's a male opioid addiction problem.
72% of ODs are men.
We have a homeless problem.
Well, yeah, but we really have a male homeless problem.
Three in four homeless are men.
And so what do we have?
Young men are really struggling.
And here's the hard part.
We can fix it, but we have a lot,
or there are programs to address a lot of these,
but we don't have any empathy for them.
They're paying the price of my privilege
and my father's privilege.
They assume that they have the same advantage as I did,
and they don't.
They're not getting into colleges.
Women, quite frankly, are not that open.
Their sexual and romantic marketplace
has been shut off for them.
Corporations have figured out that women are more mature
and more likely to go to elite college,
so they don't have the same economic opportunities.
The bias is neutral to negative towards them.
The education system really discriminates against men.
You're twice as likely to be suspended
on a behavioral adjusted basis if you're a male,
five times as likely if you're a black male.
Who works in schools now?
It's between 70 and 80% females.
There are more per capita female fighter pilots
than there are male kindergarten teachers.
So you have, you couple that
with the second most single family homes
in the world behind Sweden,
which is Latin for headed by a mother.
You have millions of young men who until the age of 25,
literally have no men in their lives.
And this isn't an insult to the superheroes
that are single mothers, I was raised by one of them.
But the single point of failure for reverse engineering
when a boy comes off the tracks is the following. He loses a male role model and one in six men when they get divorced within three
years no longer have any contact with their kids and oftentimes aren't geographically close.
And you have an entire cohort of men, of boys who have no men in their lives. And that's when they
become much more likely to engage in self-harm, much more likely to be incarcerated.
Men play a really important role in boys' lives.
What's interesting is the same study shows
that girls have similar outcomes
in the single parent household.
They're just as likely to go to college.
They make the same amount of money.
So the net of it is while boys are physically stronger,
they're emotionally and mentally much weaker.
And the presence of a male role model,
and this is a shout out, I try to get involved
in young men's or boys' lives.
You don't have to be a baller.
You just need to be trying to live a virtuous life.
And here's the problem.
I was on the Bill Maher show and I said,
if we want better men, we have to be better men.
We need to get involved.
I think the ultimate expression of masculinity
is to get involved in the life of a child that isn't yours,
specifically the opportunity as a young boy.
And they're everywhere.
You barely even need to cast a net,
and you're gonna find that your nanny's kid is struggling,
or you're gonna find that your friend's kid
is your coworker at work,
that her son is really struggling.
You're just gonna find these men everywhere, everywhere.
The ultimate expression of masculinity
is to get involved in their life.
And Bill Maher, I said this to Bill,
and Bill Maher said, oh, I get involved
in a 15 year old boy's life
and everyone thinks I'm a pervert.
And this is so sad.
Michael Jackson and the Catholic Church
have fucked it up for all of us
because there's a ton of men out there
that for whatever reason, maybe they're successful and they have their own kids or maybe they don't have kids and
they feel a lot of paternal and fraternal love.
They want to help boys and young men out.
And I've experienced this firsthand.
I had this guy across the hall in the apartments I lived with my mother, nice guy.
He was probably in his late 20s, 30s, introduced himself.
He was going horseback riding with his girlfriend, came over and said,
Scott, wanna come horseback riding?
She's like, it's not a horseback ride.
That guy took me horseback riding every other week
for like a year or two years.
Again, this is nice guy.
I met a stockbroker.
I bought stock when I was 13.
This guy, Sy Sarrow, 45 years later, Sy and I, Sy and I still exchange text messages
and used to give me lessons on the market.
Two of my mom's boyfriends stayed in contact with me
all the way through college.
And that male mentorship was instrumental
in me not coming off the tracks.
I remember one of them one time saying to me,
you know, I had dinner with him and he said,
is that pot?
Do I smell pot?
I'm like, oh yeah. He's like, Do I smell pot? I'm like, oh yeah.
He's like, did you smell it?
I'm like, no, I have a joint in my pocket.
And he's like, okay, look, I love pot,
but like tell me about it.
And I had a conversation with him about drugs.
You can have that conversation with a man.
I couldn't have that conversation with my mom.
She just would have freaked out and she couldn't handle it.
So look, I'm a big believer that if men don't start getting
involved in boys' lives, that we're not gonna solve
this problem.
And unfortunately, there's a lack of empathy
and that void has been filled by some thinly veiled
misogynistic voices, the Andrew Tates of the world
that just say, be a baller, sign up for my crypto universe,
treat women like property, act like a real man.
That is not helping.
But also, society has to recognize that if any other special interest group was
killing themselves at four times the rate of the control group, we would move
in with programs and opportunities.
And there's no empathy for these kids.
You know, the thick thing is just about Andrew Tate and that program.
Not only are men like are signing up by the droves, but the truth is I'm going
to get a lot of heat for saying these things, and I do.
But like, actually, women are drawn to those guys.
Andrew Tate has no problem finding women.
Yeah, there are a lot of women who hate him, but guess what?
He's not hurting.
And I can name, and I know a mazillion guys who are similar to him, especially
in LA and in New York, who have a ton of money, let's say, and have an attitude
and a bravado, girls throw themselves at them.
That is the reality.
People don't wanna hear it and they think it's not PC, okay,
but unfortunately, that actually is what's happening.
And it's sad.
It is sad, but that's the truth.
But you can't tell people who to be attracted to.
And the thing about these guys
is that the message actually starts off fine.
It starts off positive, be in shape,
be action-oriented, make money.
Or it comes off the track is when you start saying,
they start immediately go to,
I would never let my girlfriend go out alone, right?
She stays home from the pre-cook,
sign up for my crypto university, own a supercar.
It's all easy.
You can be a baller like me.
And it's like, okay, you're giving these guys no path.
You're basically telling them to treat women like property.
But yeah, it's really funny, Jen,
whenever I meet with women who,
like I said, I meet with a lot of women,
really attractive, really interesting, high character women
and they'll pull me aside and say,
do you have anyone you can set me up with?
And I'm like, quite frankly, no,
I'm still searching for the unicorn of a nice guy
that's single right now, that makes a good living.
I mean, I know a few of them,
but for every one I know at least 10 single women.
And what's interesting is they, 50% of the time,
when they look at me and they'll go like sheepishly,
like it's some big inside and like,
oh, by the way, I like really like alpha men.
Like, oh, no shit.
Yeah. Exactly.
You don't want some sensitive guy in a tweed suit
watching PBS all day that wants to talk about his feelings
and his hero is Alan Alda.
Like, okay, yeah.
Words out that women like men.
And distinctive what we read about,
what people claim is a sensitive man and a new,
okay, fine, women are attracted to guys who are in shape,
who make a lot of money,
and have a decent amount of facial hair.
They essentially want a caveman with an Amex card.
Yes.
And I'm not talking about what should be,
I'm talking about what is.
And when I talk to young men, I'm like, all right,
how are you gonna be more attractive to women?
Like, what do you have to,
would you wanna have sex with you right now?
I mean, I ask these questions, like,
so what do we need?
You need to get in great shape,
you need to get physically strong,
you need to start making money,
you need to have a plan.
And that is, you don't have to be a baller,
you don't have to wait till you make a bunch of money, but have a plan for God's sake. So when someone asks you what's You need to have a plan. And that is, you don't have to be a baller. You don't have to wait till you make a bunch of money,
but have a plan for God's sakes.
When someone asks you what's your plan, have a plan.
You don't even need to know that that is the plan,
but have a plan and be tracking towards that plan
and take care of yourself physically.
Be kind.
Kindness is actually attractive to women.
There are three things women are attracted to.
The first is the ability to signal resources.
The second is intellect. The easiest way, I always say this,
the easiest way to get a woman naked is to make her laugh.
And I realized that that's sort of triggering.
It's like, I feel like, let me impersonate a woman.
I'm laughing, I'm laughing, I'm naked.
If you can make a woman laugh,
you can hold her hand and more.
And then the third thing is kindness.
And that is, don't be afraid to be a nice guy.
Don't be afraid to show other people that you're respectful.
Don't be afraid to have manners.
That is attractive to women.
They know, if they start thinking about you long-term,
they start thinking, is this a kind of guy
that is gonna treat me and my children well?
Anyways, I think about this stuff a lot.
I'm thinking about writing a book called The Algebra of Mating
because I think there is a narrative around there,
around how people actually should find each other.
And then I think there's what's going on.
But the net of it all right now is an epidemic of loneliness.
One out of seven men don't have a single friend.
One in four men can't name a best friend.
People aren't having as much sex.
Household formation is going down.
Fewer and fewer people are having children.
If it wasn't for immigration,
we'd be in population decline.
But I think this is sad because when I think about
the things that have really been rewarding for me,
I'm known for as a business guy and talking about,
but the most rewarding things in my life
have been raising kids with someone
that I care a great deal about.
And the money has been a means to that, full stop.
It lets me focus on that.
But without that, yeah, the money would be great,
but I don't think I'd have nearly as much satisfaction.
And it makes me very sad to think that a lot of women
and men who are decent people, high character people,
for one reason or another, aren't gonna experience that.
I think it's really, I don't know, I think it's upsetting.
I know it is, it's actually very upsetting.
And I think, I don't see how it
does get you should write the book, actually, I think that would be a great book because,
you know, offline or whenever I talk about it, it is like, is a it's a conversation
topic that goes on a lot. And I think that I think a lot of people have are struggling
with it not like not only the young generation, but even an older, like in their mid 40s, 40s,
who are struggling.
Like you said, for every eligible attractive guy,
there's not 10 girls, 50 or 100.
And unfortunately, with technology and AI,
all the things, I don't really see it getting better
unless people make a concerted effort to change and reframe how they think and do things. But that's that. I mean, I want to
talk about now we're going to switch gears. We're going to go pivot all the way here to
I have to, I would be remiss. I got to talk about Israel. I got to talk about Gaza and
the war. You're one of my favorites to be talking to about this. And I want to ask you
something and I've been thinking about this a lot,
about the algorithm, TikTok especially, 90% or I think 98% of the algorithm
is geared towards Palestine, not Israel.
How much of this, the antisemitism, the vitriol hate, I think towards Israel
is because of the algorithm is pushing certain content.
What would you say to that?
Well, okay. So we have a division of the army called PsyOps and their job is radio for Europe,
Radio America. Their job is to leverage our assets, our channels and spread information
that is pro-America. That's called propaganda. The greatest propaganda tool in history
is controlled and influenced by the CCP,
it's called TikTok.
The frame through which people under the age of 25
see the world is this platform
that's controlled or influenced by the CCP.
51% of kids under the age of 25
say they're either a Czech several times a day
or are constantly
on TikTok. And if you look at the data for every one pro Israel video served on TikTok,
52 pro Palestine videos are served. You think, well, Scott, that's just young people or talented
creators. You're being paranoid and the algorithm picks up on it and exponentially serves more
videos. There's nothing sinister.
Okay.
The control group would be reals,
which is the closest thing to TikTok.
It's nowhere near that ratio.
It's much more indicative
of actually how young people feel.
Actually the latest survey I saw is that 55%
of young people are actually pro-Israel
and 45% are pro-Palestine.
The impression we have because of this,
what I call zombie apocalypse of useful idiots on campus
is that it's 90-10.
It's not.
They're more vocal,
that media loves to talk about what's going on in Columbia.
They don't wanna talk about an Israeli girl
who was just elected president there.
I've been at NYU, 99% of the kids are just going to class
and trying to graduate,
but there's definitely something going on.
And on the part of the CCP,
I don't even think it's anti-Semitism.
I think it's their desire to polarize us and divide us.
They can't beat us economically,
they can't beat us militarily, so divide us.
If people our age all were pro-Hamas
and young people were pro-Israel,
I think they'd be serving pro-Israel content.
I don't think it's inherently anti-Semitic. It's just anti-American.
They just want to polarize us.
Now, there's a lot of things adding up
to what ultimately becomes what I would call anti-Israel.
I don't like to use the word anti-Semitic
because I think that it's hard to accuse people
of hating Jews.
I think people will constantly say
there's a difference between being anti-Israel
and anti-Semitic, and I get it.
What I'll call it is a level of double standards that is just striking that they don't even
recognize. I had an argument with my co-host on Pivot literally an hour and a half ago.
I had said my win for the week we do wins and fails was the dramatic and heroic rescue of these
four hostages. And I said, okay, Israel's, you know, the Gaza Health Ministry is reporting 225 deaths,
which means it was somewhere between zero and 225.
These numbers are never accurate.
And she got very upset and said, people died here.
I'm like, okay, the point I am making is that
if you see a number from the Gaza Health Ministry,
why on earth would the media keep citing these numbers
when they know they're wrong
and know they will inflate the number of children
killed and people under the age of 18?
If any other group was citing inaccurate data
this consistently, they would no longer cite that data.
And the reason Israel doesn't produce numbers
is because they take the numbers seriously
and they realize they can't determine the number
of people killed for months at a time.
The differences here in my view are just so striking and I'm remiss to call them anti-Semitic.
What I would call them is anti-Israel that everybody you get shouted down. I mean, people
are really upset with me. I am not in favor of a truce. And that is, okay, it's 1944. We have
turned back Hitler post D-Day.
We are bombing Dresden and Hamburg.
It is horrific what we are doing to these people.
We are killing women and children, right?
We killed 45,000 people in Hamburg, 44, five of them were civilians.
We killed a hundred thousand people in one night in the fire bombing of Tokyo.
If they'd asked for a truce and we were winning the war and they held our hostages,
would we have said, okay, let's give the Imperial army and the Third Reich a chance to regroup?
When have we decided after being savagely attacked that we're going to hold up and give them a chance
to regroup? Now, some people would say, Scott, you're never going to do it. You can't kill Hamas. It's an idea. And I'm like, bullshit, we killed communism. We killed fascism. I mean,
they sound savage. They have invited war and Israel has accepted their invitation.
If the UAE and Qatar and the US and Israel come to a solution that involves a truce and can guarantee
the security of Israel, I'm all for it. Nobody wants to see this killing continue.
Palestine now has the largest concentration of child amputees in the world.
It is horrific.
If we can figure out something that guarantees Israel safety, security,
I'm all for it until then. My attitude is we wage war.
And I say we generously and people say you're
comparing Hamas to Nazis. And I'm like, that's unfair to
Nazis. The Nazis didn't use civilians as camouflage or
ammunition. They used to send their kids into the country that
Nazi guards had had psychological trauma from
working in the camps. The Hamas combatants and fighters are leaving voicemails
for their parents shouting in glee. So I have what I call a pretty, I mean, I hate to use this term,
but a pretty ugly view of this. And that is, I don't understand every nation that's attacked
this viciously is allowed to fight back to one condition, unconditional surrender, lay down your arms.
All eyes on Rafa, all eyes on the hostages. I just don't, the way the Western media frames this
conflict is so perverted and queered. If a Mexican cartel that was super religious had been elected to run Mexico, and they said,
you know what, these white evangelicals in Texas have been savages to us.
Do you see what they do to our youth?
Young kids looking for a better life, they put them in cages.
All of these things are true.
They shoot at people just looking for a better life.
They round them up on horseback.
So we're going to build tunnels and we're going to incur into Texas on a per capita basis.
Israel has 10 million. We have 350 million.
We're going to kill, we're going to slaughter the entire community of the University of Texas, Austin, 35,000 people.
And on the way back, we're going to take the freshman class of SMU hostage and put them under Mexico City and tunnels.
What would we do to Mexico? What would we do?
It would be the great radiated Sonora parking lot.
And when the whole world in the UN or the ICC was saying, save the
hospital and Playa del Carmen, do you think we would give a flying fuck?
Do you think we would be worried about collateral damage?
And if you look at this war, when the real numbers start to bubble up, the
humanity or the targeting or whatever you want to call this of this war, when the real numbers start to bubble up, the humanity or the targeting or whatever you want to call this, of this war, according to John Spencer, who runs the Urban
Warfare Institute at West Point, the ratio of civilians killed to combatants is lower
here than it was in Germany, was in Japan, was in Mosul, has been in almost any war anyone
can compare to. The Israelis are prosecuting this war more quote unquote
humanely than any other Western democracy has prosecuted a war. I hope there's a ceasefire
that all parties are comfortable with. Be clear, America would not sign up for a ceasefire if
anything resembling what had happened to the Israelis had happened to us. It is an also,
Jen, you've spoken out.
I'm sick of seeing you, Debra Messing,
and Jessica Seinfeld.
I am really disappointed that more Jews aren't speaking out.
And there's such a blowback
because social media likes the algorithm
and young people like the virtue signal
and some young people do feel very passionate
about the issue.
And we at universities have indoctrinated them
into an orthodoxy that there's the oppressor and the oppressed.
And the way you identify oppressors
is how white and how rich they are.
And ground zero for white and rich in terms of perception
is Israel and Jews.
I get it.
I was stupid once.
I'm more forgiving of them.
These professors at my university in Columbia,
joining hands with them?
Let me get this.
You don't have the critical thinking
to not show empathy for an ideology that if it got traction in the United States
would see our gay students thrown off a roof
and women would be treated like property
and there'd be gender apartheid.
Well, guess what, boss?
You're not paying us.
You're not 19.
You should be summarily fired.
And like, well, what about First Amendment?
First Amendment?
Knock yourself out.
Go to Washington Square Park and say whatever you want.
There's no First Amendment at a private employer.
It just strikes me that some of my colleagues
think that under the notion of social protest,
they can act like such village idiots,
and we have an obligation to put up with it.
I'm talking to the regents in the University of California.
I think some students should be suspended or expelled.
We should cut a wide berth for them, forgive a lot of them.
The people who deserve to be swiftly and crisply punished are faculty who've gotten in the
way of commencement, gotten in the way of our mission of educated students.
Anyway, I am going way off script here.
I have found at every turn, I find so few issues where you can have this level of moral
clarity.
I think we're going to look back on this and we're going to think, Jesus, just the both
sideism here is so
striking is so unusual. And again, it just all comes down to the same thing. If it's non-white
people creating killing people, whatever it's page seven. If it's Jews engaging, I mean, BBC,
four hostages rescued. First it was released. Then they changed the word to rescue.
And then the next thing, 247 people Palestinians killed.
Well, who's saying 247?
Well, it's a source that we keep revising down the number.
So look, I find this all very frustrating.
I find it all totally two-sided.
I am shocked by what's going on, absolutely shocked.
The hopeful thing is that I'd like to think
that the kingdom is gonna normalize relations with Israel,
which will create the ultimate iron down.
I mean, Jesus Christ, Jordan and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia
were coordinating with Israel to shoot down
the 300 projectiles coming in from Iran.
What does the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Jordan know
that these far left groups on the campuses don't know?
They want nothing to do with Hezbollah Hamas
and the Houthis.
They realize they bring chaos and violence.
So I am discouraged, but at the same time,
I think the Biden administration has been steadfast,
mostly in their support.
Some of their statements have made no sense to me,
but we do have two Ford-class carriers
sitting off the coast of the Mediterranean.
I'm hopeful that we're gonna come
to some sort of solution eventually,
but I wanna be clear.
I'm not sure if I were Israel right now,
I would take a truce or a ceasefire, excuse me.
No, I agree.
And listen, you know how I agree with you.
And the couple of things I wanna ask you,
cause you're in the media, you deal with a lot,
like your partner, Kara Swisher, I think also she's a journalist, and you're having
this conversation with her earlier, you said, I mean, why? I guess I'm just asking you podcasts
or not, like, why is the media so against the Israelis? And you're saying it's not anti semitism,
it's anti Israel, I think it's the same thing. And my other question is,
the self-hating Jews, to me, these are the most frustrating. I don't understand it. Just as a
human, I don't understand these two things. One of the hostages that Noah, the really famous one,
she was being held for the last eight months in a photojournalist's house within like the Gazan people,
who is a photojournalist for Al Jazeera.
You don't find that-
To be fair, he was only credited on one article,
but yeah, I don't, people have sympathy for these people.
It's pretty dangerous work to house hostages.
I mean-
Sympathy for these people.
They came out and pillaged after the Hamas massacre.
You know that, right?
I agree.
Yeah, we're of like minds on this.
Look, I think a lot of people in the media,
look, this is the first war being prosecuted on TikTok.
War is horrific.
The America decided to have a media blackout.
People think that those 400,000 people who died in Iraq
and Afghanistan just kind of floated away.
Yeah.
We did.
War, war is horrific.
And we're seeing that up front.
And maybe that'll be a good thing,
but over time we were seeing that up front. And maybe that'll be a good thing,
but over time we're more measured around war.
When you incur the way you did into a nation like this.
Oh, let me go back.
I do think you can be anti-Israel
without being anti-Semitic.
I do think that Netanyahu,
there's a lot of people who are anti-Israel
and Israel right now in terms of the 30% support
of Netanyahu.
I want to move to solutions,
normalized relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, some sort of multilateral force that guarantees Yes, OK. 30% support Netanyahu. I want to move to solutions, normalize relations
with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
some sort of multilateral force that
guarantees Israeli security.
I'm all for making massive investments
to upgrade Palestine, or excuse me, upgrade Gaza,
such that these people can live in some sort of dignity
and that Israel has security.
I want to get to the next side of this.
I also think that we have to get Netanyahu out.
73 war, there was a reckoning.
That's when Golda Meir came into power.
I think we have to turn the page
and Israel needs to start working on its brand again.
The hostage rescue is great for the brand.
Them fighting back, I actually think long-term
is good for their brand.
But until we get Netanyahu out, who in my view,
and I'm not telling Israel what to do
because they're a sovereign nation, they get to pick their own leaders, but the reality is he has struck a deal with the
extremists in Israel and they have been, in my view, given way more oxygen and legitimacy to some
very bigoted members of Knesset. And we used to be the David, now we're seen as the Goliath,
we've got to go back to being the David. So it is a complicated, ugly situation, but the way the Western media frames it all is
just incredibly strange to me.
I don't fully understand it.
Even my podcast co-host, she'll correct me on stuff.
I find she's very exacting around this issue when it comes to data.
And I think it comes from a good place.
I think she wants to be empathetic, realizing the horrors of war.
But this has taken me from center left.
I won't say center right, because the right
is so batshit crazy.
I can't get over how the far left is behaving here.
I just can't get over it.
I just don't get it.
And I think it's a lot of academics' fault.
I think we've trained a younger generation to believe
that you're either an oppressor or oppressor.
And somehow we've conflated white rich people with oppressors and that is shorthand for Jews in
Israel. So anyways, a huge word salad. I'm hopeful that we can get to the other side of this sooner
rather than later. I believe that actually because of this, Donald Trump is going to win even as,
you know, even though he's convicted. He will, he'll win by a landslide.
Because I think he's, this just,
this has gave him the election personally.
For all these people that I mean, I've spoken to,
who absolutely hated him with the vengeance,
are actually now swung the other way.
This is what I would do.
I mean, I'm in branded communications.
If I were, if I were the Republican Party, I
would just show footage of what's happened on campuses.
I mean, this is what happens when liberal orthodoxy
and democratic values take over our institutions.
And I would show all of these, the worst moments at campuses.
And unfortunately, the media has blown it up.
There's been 2,300 arrests.
Some between 40% and 60% weren't even students,
so it's been totally blown out of proportion.
But there have been some horrific moments
that moderates will look at and go,
wow, the Democrats have really lost their shit here.
Or I would just show what it's like in downtown LA,
Portland and Seattle, or San Francisco,
these very Democratic cities.
I think you're right.
I think Israel, what's happened in terms of the reaction
in the US is gonna hugely favor Republicans.
I mean, I'm questioning if Republicans
have been the Republicans from the 80s and 90s,
I'd be a Republican right now.
I'm fine with John McCain, I'm fine with Mitt Romney.
They've gone so batshit crazy,
I can't be anywhere near them.
But the folks on the Democratic side,
the squad showing sympathy for terrorists
for no other reason than just,
as far as I can see, just bigotry.
I think you might be right.
I hate to admit it, I'm gonna canvas for Biden,
I'm gonna give money, I'm gonna do everything I can,
but this is gonna hurt us big time.
Massively.
Is Kara your partner?
Is she Jewish or no?
No, Kara's not Jewish.
She's her wife.
Her wife is Jewish.
And by the way, I think her views are very empathetic.
I think she wants to be balanced.
I think she wants to make sure
that we have our data correct.
But I find the media,
even the way the White House saved the hospital,
we need to save our empathy for Roth.
I'm like, okay, the only things here are save the hostages.
There needs to be unconditional surrender of Hamas.
I don't, that's the only thing I would repeat over and over.
Right, so then why was you even candidates for Biden?
Is it because it's like the,
you don't have any other options right now?
Like what about RFK?
What do you think of him?
He's an anti-vaxxer.
I mean, death, disease and disability for children.
Is that what you want?
You wanted to come on my podcast and I wouldn't bring them on because I
don't want to platform those views.
And it's too bad because I think he's very good on Israel.
I think he's very good on the environment, but I also want to be clear on Biden.
Within hours of the attack, Biden deployed the SS carrier strike force,
Ford, thousands of Marines.
And I think he was, he's basically said to Hezbollah
and Iran, don't fuck with her Israel.
I do think that on the big picture stuff,
America has gotten a right.
And I think the Biden administration does deserve credit.
Let me go this way.
What world leader has been more supportive
of Israel than Biden?
You mean right now, probably none.
But I mean,
but then why do you think that the right
and Donald Trump will win then
if you think that people think that way?
I think most people, if you would ask them,
who are pro-Israel would think that Biden is kind of a joke.
That's fair.
Look, elections are a function of perception,
not reality, but the reality is,
is that Biden did immediately
deploy enormous firepower, has coordinated.
By the way, American intelligence
was involved in the rescue of those hostages.
When the rubber meets the road, in terms of our security
apparatus, our resources, our firepower, our brave men
and women in uniform, who he has put in harm's way sitting
off the coast in the Mediterranean, Nobody else, nobody else in the world
has come to Israel's aid like that.
And he's under huge pressure from the far left,
but I don't think he gets the credit he deserves.
And the reason I'm not voting for Trump,
there's the whole rape thing
which kind of puts me off of him,
but I think he's an idiot.
I don't think he has the respect of the global community.
And I think him trying to do anything geopolitically
is a short term, it's like a cat chasing a red dot. I don't think he has respect to the global community. And I think him trying to do anything geopolitically
is a short term.
It's like a cat chasing a red dot.
I don't think anyone takes him seriously.
I don't think he can get anything done.
Perfect is not on the menu here.
I would love to see someone else at the convention nominated.
But if it's Biden on life support,
as long as he's got his team around him, yeah, I'm going to work
very hard to try and ensure that he's reelected.
This is stupidity, criminality, lack of empathy, don't work as president.
How about Kamala Harris?
If something happens to Joe Biden, who may be a life support pretty soon, who knows, she takes over.
And she hasn't really been that supportive,
let's say, of Israel.
And she's married to a Jewish guy, by the way.
Look, this is a classic example of someone being promoted
out of her strength.
I thought she was a fantastic, not fantastic,
I thought she was really strong as a senator,
attorney general.
As a vice president, she just hasn't worked.
She just hasn't resonated with the public.
Things around bodily autonomy, Black Lives Matter,
this rape trial.
I mean, she's an attorney general.
She could have spoken to Trump's legal woes.
And the reality is her voice just hasn't resonated.
So there's just no getting around it.
Vice President Harris has been a disappointment.
And I thought she was a great senator.
She has an incredibly impressive record.
She just hasn't resonated as a VP.
We're in a terrible spot right now,
because the biggest burn or rub against Biden is in Israel.
I think by the time the election comes around,
it probably won't be that big a deal.
It's really present for us, but I
think most people have forgotten about it
by the time the election comes around.
The thing that was really hurting him is his age
and the fact that he comes across as feeble.
And here's the thing, biology always wins.
The best we can hope for is that it doesn't get worse.
And it always does, it always does.
I'm working out so fucking hard.
I'm taking creatine, testosterone,
and I'm still getting weaker, Jen.
Biology always wins.
It always wins.
It does. I'll send you some stuff actually, stay on.
Bring it.
Yeah, you're right by the way, biology,
you can't fight biology.
And also by the way,
Donald Trump is no spring chicken either.
How old is he?
76, 75?
No, he's 77.
Okay, and how old is Biden?
They're not that far off in age.
Yeah, but I mean,
the reality is I try to call balls and strikes, Biden just comes across as a lot older.
Oh, does he ever?
It's actually, I'm uncomfortable watching him.
I feel like someone should like take, like put him,
let him have a nap.
Like I don't, it's uncomfortable literally, cause-
Uncomfortable?
I won't be able to watch the debates.
Yeah, sure.
I'm so worried that about a McConnell moment.
I mean, I really, I think, I think anyone,
I don't understand how anyone with daughters
could ever vote for Donald Trump.
I don't like the man.
I think he's an awful person.
I think Biden is a really good man.
I think he's actually been a good president.
I think he surrounds himself with good people,
greatnesses in the agency of others,
like the Chips Act, the Infrastructure Act.
I think he's actually on the whole,
been good on Israel. I think he has good Act. I think he's actually on the whole been good on Israel.
I think he has good instincts.
I think he's a good man.
If he had said, if he had picked Whitmer Newsome Pritzker
as his VP and it said last year, folks, I have served.
I have served.
It's time for me to spend time with my grandkids.
I'm endorsing my VP candidate, whoever it is.
I think he would have gone out in history
as one of the greatest presidents ever. Instead, he might put the worst president in history back
in office. And it's the same narcissism that plagued Ruth Bader Ginsburg. We have lost bodily
autonomy for women because of her narcissism. It's the reason we have too many Republican judges sitting because of Senator Feinstein's narcissism.
You know, it is a disease.
It was time for him to move on.
I wouldn't be surprised if there's a move to,
if something happens,
to nominate someone else at the convention.
We'll see, but we are in interesting times,
and it feels pretty good, actually, right now
to live in London.
Yeah.
I don't know anything about the politics and don't want to know anything.
I don't blame, I mean, listen, I don't blame you, but I've taken up so much of your time
and I always enjoy talking to you.
Thank you for-
Thanks, Sarah.
No, I really, I appreciate your time.
You're always so thoughtful in your conversation and I always learn something. So let me tell everyone again, you guys, the book, The Algebra of Wealth, it really is a fantastic,
it's a great book. You know what else I love about it? It's like a coffee table book. You can put it
down, pick it right back up and always get something out of it. Like it's not something
you have to read all in one. And it's a great book to always, I think, to go back to and like
check out for some, you know, to kind of get a better
reminder of something. And I really like it. So people pick it up. Where else can people see you
and find you now besides your 97 podcasts? The pivot, it's called one's Pivot, one's Prop G.
What's the new one called? You know, it's Prop G, Margaret. It's all the same, Jen. I'm everywhere.
You are. There's no place to are. There's no place to hide.
There's no place to hide.
There is.
And I'm going to send you a bunch of stuff.
I've got to give you some Trunyogen.
Have you taken that before?
Send it.
I'll take anything.
OK.
Literally, I'll shoot up.
I'll take anything.
I'm the guy who's like, oh, I don't care what it is.
OK, good.
You're going to text me your address.
And then I'm going to send you a boatload of stuff.
I'm going to send you protein shakes by Slate.'m gonna send you, I'm gonna send you just a magic mind.
You're gonna be all, all longevity up.
You'll live to 150.
You won't recognize me the next time you see me.
I just, as long as I look like Brad Pitt,
just send me that protein shake, whatever that is.
You want that concoction?
I want that look.
Okay, good.
I'll get it for you.
Thank you.
Thanks, Jen.
Congrats on your success.
Oh my gosh, you too. I'm gonna send you a protein shake. I'm gonna send you that protein shake, whatever that is. You want that concoction? I want that look. Okay, good. I'll get it for you. Thank you.
Thanks, Jen. Congrats on your success.
Oh my gosh, you too. Thank you.