Dow is Up, Santos is Out, and Guest Sixto Cancel

23:04You can borrow sometimes 80%. It's tax advantage. It's been probably the best way on a risk-adjusted basis for people to build wealth. Now, what happens when you pass a bunch of policies that cement value to the incumbents, specifically nimbious laws that don't provide the permitting needed to keep up with housing formation? People like you and me that already own homes do really well. But people trying to get into the market can't get in. And they get angry. And they start going online. And then these social media algorithms take their anger to a new level. and they start blaming everybody despite the fact the economy is doing well.

23:39And here's the thing. Our economy is doing great. It's our policies that are all fucked up. We had all sorts of programs for vets and young people. And the Biden administration, to their credit, does have a number of programs to try and help first-time buyers. They recognize how disastrous this is. I actually like what these VCs are doing on the West Coast, buying full cities, incorporating new cities. We need massive formation of new homes. Yeah, there have been a lot. I just was driving around D.C. and there's so many apartment buildings that are being built, were being built, and they're all for sale.

24:16Some of them are rental, of course, but it's just not enough. And obviously the idea of when you get near, you know, by 30, that you should be able to afford at least an apartment or something as you start to build your wealth. I think people are very put off by the interest rates, you know, getting a mortgage. Although that happened to me. At the time I bought my house, it was a high interest rate environment, quite high. I feel like for some reason, 13 % sticks in my head at the time. It was crazy. I remember when they went below 10 and my friend Lee Lotus called me and said, we should buy a house.

24:48The interest rates are below 10%. 13. And then I renegotiated it down very soon after when they dropped. After they dropped, I kept negotiating. But a house, this is how much they've escalated. Pre-pandemic, just three and a half years ago, the average house in America was$290 ,000 and interest rates were 3%, meaning you needed to make about$70 ,000 to qualify for a home. Now, just three and a half years later, the average price of a home is$420 ,000 and the average mortgage is 7%, meaning you got to make like$127 ,000. So the percentage of people under the age of 40 that can make this investment, get on with their lives, start making financial and emotional connection to our society and to each other has been cut in half.

25:29Yeah. And then you're in the rental community and then you're subject to that. I mean, it is, it is a mental thing. And a lot of young people I know just don't feel like they can buy homes. They can't. And I'm trying to think what age I was when I bought. I mean, someone died, so I did have the, but the immediate thing I did was buy an apartment. But that's an interesting stat. 40 years ago, the average age of a home buyer was in their late 20s. Now they're in their late 40s. So we have, again, sequestered another asset that reliably goes up that is tax advantaged to the incumbents, to people who already have money.

26:00Although people aren't moving either because if you look around, you know, like for example, I live in Washington, D.C. or in San Francisco, there's nothing on the market for sale. They can't move. Nothing's on the market, nothing that you would move to. The biggest unintended consequence of escalating interest rates 500 bps was essentially that Chairman Powell accidentally, unknowingly, planted IEDs all over America. And that is no one can move because if they move, they have to give up their 3 % mortgage. So it's basically ossified the market. And then you have this nimbyist non-permit granting local governments and you have no, you just don't have supply.

26:40And what happens? People in their 20s feel discouraged and feel angry, feel angry about America. And, you know, you don't blame them. Yeah, it was interesting that Trump was just saying everyone gets a house and a car. It felt like very Oprah, but I thought that was actually a good message that he was doing. I'm going to make it so everyone gets a house and a car. Well, let's talk real numbers. I want to hear your numbers. When I got out of business school in 1992, I started my own business, but I was offered a consulting job, and the total comp was going to be about$100K. And me and my girlfriend bought a home in Petrero Hill, and I think it was 18th, anyways, near Farley's, that coffee shop, and we paid$285 ,000.

27:16So 2.85 an MBA salary. The average salary now to the Haas School of Business is, call it, round up to$200 ,000. These kids are in huge demand. So I have all these kids who work with me, who make a really good living. None of them can think about buying a house. None of them. Best investments I ever made were early investments in houses, I have to say. It's always been. And my house, I'm never selling it, but boy, has it gone up in price. And everyone's like, oh, San Francisco sucks. My house is still going. It's crazy. It's actually, you know. It saves people's asses. My mom bought a condo. We bought a condo in Westwood in, I think, 1972 for$72 ,000.

27:57And when she got cancer for the second time, I said, look, you got to retire. We can't. You got to stop working. And we didn't have any money. But you know what we had? We had the condo in Westwood where she had paid the mortgage down to about$40 ,000, and it was worth$340 ,000. without that$300 ,000, my mom would have had to continue working in the midst of cancer. And it's a fantastic way for people to build wealth. And also, if you're a young person and you're handy, probably the lowest risk way to build wealth is to buy a place. If you have some skills, buy right, fix it up. And then every two years, you get a quarter of a million or for a joint filing family, a half a million dollar tax deduction on any profits, and then wash, rinse, repeat, do that again.

28:40And a lot of people will tell stories of how they lost a lot of money in housing. If you can hold on and you don't over-lever, it's a fantastic way to build wealth. And if you talk to retired people, a lot of them, the thing that kind of saved their bacon was when they sold their house and moved to a lower cost neighborhood. Yeah. Yeah. I'm renovating both my homes and doing renovations. Anyway, smaller ones in San Francisco because it already was renovated. But Anyway, it's interesting, but people, it will cause great discontent for sure. And that's a problem for Biden for sure. All right, let's get on a quick break.

29:13And when we come back, the saga of George Santos. And we'll speak with friend of Pivot, Sixto Cancel, on his mission to reinvent child welfare.

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30:23Scott, we're back. George Santos is now the sixth lawmaker in U.S. history to be expelled from the House of Representatives. The House kicked out Santos on a bipartisan vote on Friday, with nearly half of the House Republicans voting to oust him. The vote comes on the heels of a 56-page ethics committee report accusing Santos of all kinds of misconduct, which we're all aware of. And he's also facing two federal indictments that cover some of this. Saturday Night Live's Bowen Yang had a field day with this, giving us a George Santos rendition of Candle in the Wind. He's been playing Santos for quite a few months.

30:56Let's listen. And it seems to me that I live my life like an evil forest gun. I'm the guy who lied even too much for Donald Trump. And you all got to laugh at me and I say, lucky you. My candle burned out long before I could flee to blue. There you go. I don't know what you think of this. again, we've said he's the first member to be expelled without first being convicted of a federal crime or supporting the Confederacy. Okay. A special election to fill his seat will likely happen in February. An HBO film on Santos is already in development, helmed by Frank Rich. Santos is now on Cameo, charging$150 a video as of this recording.

31:45I got to say, I feel like they should have waited until he was convicted. I think he's a criminal and a thief. It felt a I can't believe I'm agreeing with some Republicans on this one that were against it. It felt like a little problematic to throw someone out of Congress before he was convicted. But that's just me. What do you think? I don't think they should have expelled him. One, because I'm a Democrat and I thought he was like literally the best poster child we could have ever had for the Republican Party. But also, we might find his conduct abhorrent, but the laws are pretty explicit. There's been six people kicked out.

32:25Three of them were traitors in the Civil War. Unless you break a law, it's up to the voters to decide whether you get to go back or not. So, A, I loved having him there. I think he was a fantastic reminder of what Republicans have literally come up with in terms of their elected representatives. although we do come up with good ones. I don't think he should have been expelled. I also think we should have also given him some credit for being a World War I veteran, although I am excited to see how he does as the new forward for the Denver Nuggets. Literally the SNL, the best comedy writers in the world, couldn't have written it.

32:58He was spending campaign funds on OnlyFans and Botox. Yeah, I know. I kind of, I don't know. Here's what I don't like. This is who we're talking about when there's really serious problems. It's interesting because Mike Johnson, they didn't fall in line behind him. I don't think he cared. He told members to vote their conscience, but he called the vote to expel Santos a regrettable day, perhaps because it's even more of a razor thin majority in the House now. Probably a Democrat will take that spot. There's a very popular Democrat running for that seat who's already been that congressman who just retired.

33:32And that's how Santos got in. And of course, there was that Republican sweep of that area of Long Island. I used to live there. and I probably will be a Democrat going in there. I just feel like this is the guy where he kind of focuses on bread and circuses, that kind of thing, and not the real deal. But maybe, I can't believe I sound like Mike Johnson here. Look, between congressmen threatening, or between senators threatening to beat up people testifying and now people, you know, this sort of abuse, it's just, there really is, I think we've got to do a better job. I always say at NYU, the top 20 % of any school are just, they're just outstanding.

34:12The kids in the top quartile are just so impressive. It's like, you feel like you're talking to a future senator. And I feel like when I meet some of the more impressive people in the Senate and the Congress, I'm just blown away by them. But I don't get, I haven't had that much exposure except on TikTok to kind of what I'll call the bottom 10%. And some of these people are just, they're crazy. I don't, did those people exist? Maybe you can tell us because you're much older than me. Did we have people this crazy back in the 40s and 50s? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They just didn't have, they didn't have TikTok and Twitter.

34:48You know what I mean? They were privately crazy? They were privately crazy and they kept them off to the side. They kept, yes, there were plenty of crazy congresspeople. I did like some of the tweets. So Amy Klobuchar, which you retweeted, you said, called her Klob, which was interesting. George Santos has been expelled. If they can do this to a college volleyball star, world-famous Brazilian journalist, successful New York City financier, and noted producer of the Spider-Man musical, what hope is there for we mere mortals? Amy, people did have a field day. I love how we took to the floor in honor of Holocaust remembrance.

35:20I know. I mean, it was like there was so much so wrong with it that it was hilarious. Well, we'll miss you, candle in the wind, but not really. Go away. Now do Marjorie Taylor Greene. But another political story getting a lot of buzz is that of Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis debate moderated by Sean Hannity late last week. On our last episode, I said I thought it was going to be good and not a silly circus in a rare term events. I was not entirely right. It was kind of a silly circus, including a poop map. Over the course of 90 minutes, the two governors sparred over the economy, crime, abortion, access, and more with a lot of yelling and overtalk.

35:52Again, Ron DeSantis held up a map charting human feces in San Francisco. Did he do it himself? I don't know. So, you know, Newsom ended the debate with this epic burn, though. Let's listen. There are profound differences tonight, and I look forward to engaging. But there's one thing in closing that we have in common is neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024. Oh, Gavin. He also has a better chance of being the Republican nominee, Gavin Newsom, than Ron DeSantis, I think, at this point. What did you think? I mean, a lot of people thought it was a little unfair and loaded with DeSantis and Hannity versus Newsom.

36:28I don't care. He knew that going in and Newsom could take them both easily. The awkward smile was back. Can't he get that fixed? Honestly, he's going away. But honestly, that smile is weird. I would get lessons or something. But what did you think of this? It doesn't have any impact whatsoever. It's Jed Bush minus the charm. It's literally the day he launched his campaign was the best day of his campaign. He had a ton of money, all the like, not Trump. We need someone else. We like Trumpy weirdness, but we want someone who hides it better. This is our guy. He raised a shit ton of money. And every week has been a bad week for him.

37:09And it wasn't a good idea to do this, but he's in a position where he has to go on Bill Maher. He has to, any chance for awareness or to score points, he has to start throwing Hail Marys. And Governor Newsom, the most impressive thing about this was, I thought Governor Newsom's actually, I thought, the strongest point he said. He said, Ron, I don't like how you diminish people. I don't like how you mock people. I thought that was very powerful. And also, the reality is, we're very looks of species. I mean, you just want Governor Newsom standing next to Putin. I just think he looks fantastic. He's a tall, handsome man.

37:43He really is. The thing I think that Newsom really benefits from and people appreciate, he went into the lion's den. He went into a debate hosted by Fox in the South. By Hannity. Where every question started with, let's talk about how much California sucks. And here's the thing, and I think the messaging for Governor Newsom. He wasn't putting up with that. Here's the messaging that I think gets Governor Newsom to presidency. I wish it were sooner, but at least in 2028, is I'm the president of the fourth largest nation in the world. I have the largest military installations in the world. I have a border.

38:20I own technology. Two borders. I'm a multicultural democracy. I mean, there has never been anyone more prepared to be president of the biggest nation in the world than the president of the fourth biggest nation in the world. And by the way, distinct of you shitposting outside or shitposting California, I was reelected by 62 % of the people I govern. So clearly things aren't that bad here, folks. I think he's – It was good for him. It was good for him. If we really wanted to have, if there was any way to have rank choice voting or, you know, what do they call final five or a better means of electing the best leaders, and the campaigns generally do suss out and wash out people, the real election here for America should be Nikki Haley versus Gavin Newsom.

39:13The two of them both are, in my opinion, both are ready, you know, stand ready to be president. And it's too bad we have, I mean, I'm hoping Governor Haley gets more momentum. But I thought, I think Governor Newsom has a lot of momentum to ride on right now. Yeah, he's definitely in a good lane if something happens to Biden, for sure. He's definitely put himself in a good lane. And DeSantis did okay. It wasn't a disaster for him. I hate to be so superficial. Can't he fix his smile? It sounds dumb, but I'm like, this is like, it bothers you. I'm staring at it all the time. And I know I feel like an idiot for being concerned about it.

39:52But I think I keep thinking it feels like he's like a cyborg or something. Yeah, but Kara, I'm just so fed up with women like you telling men like me to smile. I've just had it. Every president since Nixon has been likable. No, not Nixon. Nixon wasn't that likable. I said since Nixon. Since Nixon. Yes, they have been. You're right. But they've all been. You may not like W. Very likable. You know, Jimmy. I mean, all of them. George Bush, the first sort of likable, but likable enough. Oh, very likable. Like a bitch. Come on, jumping out of planes and the education president. Very likable. And his wife, so likable.

40:26And even Donald Trump. You meet Donald Trump in person? He has riz. He has riz. They all have riz. I got to give it to him. Get some riz, Sir DeSantis. Definitely Newsom has riz. Anyway, let's bring on our friend of Pivot. it.

40:46Sixto Cancel is the CEO and founder of Think of Us, a nonprofit organization seeking to change child welfare systems across the country. Welcome, Sixto. So you founded Think of Us back in 2017 for very personal reasons. Talk us a little bit about your background in foster care and why you created this. Yeah, I entered foster care when I was an 11-month-old baby. And by the time I was nine, I was adopted, but it was a very abusive and racist adoption. So by 13, I found myself couch surfing and it took me having to record the abuse, literally strap a recorder to my chest and then finally got back in.

41:24And when I got back into foster care at 15, that's when I fell in love with how do we make the system better? Because I was really angry about the things that had happened to me. A big part of Think of Us is something called kinship care. What is that? So our nonprofit is focused on how do we transform the foster care system. And right now, most children who come into foster care are coming in for neglect and they're placed with an unknown foster parent. And although we'll always need people to answer the calling to be a foster parent, the reality is that most young people can live with their actual extended family members.

42:02So what we've been working on is how might we help states actually create what's called kinship care to be able to go ahead and place that child with an actual extended family member. Three years ago, I was in New York City and I get a call from my sister and she tells me there's a family reunion. And I did not have like the prep time to go to a therapy session, but I still went over. And as I was walking through that park, you know, any one of those families could have been my family. But I finally arrived at the barbecue and it was, words can't describe the magical moment that it was, right?

42:40And as I was there, getting to know family, getting to know all these people who look like me, and mind you, I grew up my whole entire life in foster care and always was told I didn't have family. There was this moment where this esoteric feeling just was ripped away from me because I realized that I had four uncles and aunts who had been fostering and adopting children longer than I had been alive. And so other children, not you. Exactly. Other children who were unrelated to our family. And yet when I, and all I can do in that moment was pull out my cell phone and Google maps to my last foster home.

43:20And it was 58 miles away. So here I was, believing my entire life I had no family, and yet just 58 miles away, on my father's side, I have 23 uncles and aunts. I have aunts and uncles who have been foster adoptive parents for other children. And so you say the child welfare system in the country needs a major overhaul. I want to know what you think needs to happen. I know you've participated in lots of forums. I've seen you everywhere. Discussions now with the Biden administration and Congress. to get the message out. And the Biden administration did make some changes to the foster system in September, making it easier for family members to foster and also receive financial support.

44:02What are the couple of things you want to happen? I think, number one, we have to have a system that does everything in its power to keep families together. And so one of those things is like financing and having a prevention department that makes sure that the kids who are not being abused, can we serve them at home? Can we give them resources and programs? And if the child does have to come into the system, how is it that the states are making sure that they're placed in with extended family members? What the Biden administration was just able to do was unlock$3 billion over the next 10 years to be able to make sure that the same supports, the financial monthly support, the health care that the child gets is also given to that extended family member when that child goes to live with them.

44:46And you're using technology. That's why I have you here. You're doing a combination of technology and advocacy. Talk about the technology element into what you're doing. Absolutely. I call it like simple tech for big impact. Like what we need is to understand what in the world is going on with children, with birth parents, with young parents. And so during the pandemic, one example that we did was we needed to tell Congress what was going on with Fosheep who were aging out. And so we used text messages, a portal that we created, and we were able to get responses from 27 ,000 current and former foster youth about what was happening to them.

45:25While the rest of the world was expected to shelter in place, foster youth were turning 18 or 21, and they were being dropped off at homeless shelters, despite the fact that we were supposed to stay home, right? And so we brought that to Congress. Congress passed$400 million to support former foster youth. And then there was a race for us to use technology and being able to build the portals, do the outreach, transfer data to each state about who needed it. And we helped 44 states actually implement their pandemic relief program for foster youth, and it was tech-based. Nice to meet you. So when you think of, and I apologize for the pedestrian or naivety in this question, when you think about foster homes, you feel this, at least I do, you feel this sort of benign sensation that, oh, foster parents, they must be good people.

46:17It must be a nice, or not must be, but you generally start from a place of thinking that it's good people trying to do the right thing. Where does foster care kind of come off the tracks? Like, this is obviously about, you know, the adults in the home in addition to the children. What are we are we putting people in the wrong environment? Are we putting kids in the wrong environment? Like what what goes wrong here? You know, I've had many foster homes from as a baby all the way until I left the system. I ended up aging out. And for some foster parents, I felt like they felt the calling to do this work.

46:52And you can tell that they were here to help you on your journey of healing and being parented. For some, it was about mutual survival, right? How do you do something, but also how do you make sure that you can survive financially? And so I saw that too. And then for others who were abusive, I feel like, you know, they're just hurting people who are trying to survive also. So it's just a gamut of people who show up and get involved in fostering. So does that lend itself to more proactive recruitment of people who would make great foster parents? I remember going to Hershey, Pennsylvania and touring those homes.

47:33It's kind of an interesting model they have there. Explain what that is. Well, actually, my understanding is they do Hershey, the initial signs or family of Hershey had this vision to bring foster care, to use the proceeds from the Hershey Foundation to help foster kids. And they have these homes where my understanding is they live in a communal environment, kind of a man and a wife or a couple, and I think between six and a dozen kids. And they have a school there. And my understanding is it's been a pretty big success. And all of the profits, I think, from the Hershey Foundation go to that. I mean, it's something out of a Hallmark movie.

48:15And again, I just saw it as a tourist. But I'll get back to my question. Should we be proactively going out and trying to recruit people who have the markers for being great foster care? Absolutely. Absolutely. You see Wendy's Wonderful Kids is one of the nation's gold standards in recruitment. And yet we have 109 ,000 young people who are waiting for adoption. We can't recruit our way out of this problem. And the reality is, is that children fare better when they're placed with family members. Right now, children who are growing up in the foster care system experience PTSD two times more than Iraq war veterans.

48:56But when we look at children who are placed with family members. Research is clear that there's less emotional trauma, there's better outcomes on education, employment, and so forth. A quick example is in Allegheny County in Pennsylvania, an organization called A Second Chance focuses on placing all of their foster youth with extended family. Their high school graduation rate is 95%. That is 10 % higher than the national average. So why doesn't that happen necessarily? Wouldn't that be the first thing is to find extended family members versus, so it's sort of like a foster industrial complex, right?

49:32That's been built up. And without a lot of, you know, given how much technology we have to monitor things, it's not monitored very well. Yeah. We have case management systems in the child welfare system that were built in the 1980s. In fact, right now, the federal government reimburses states for over$200 million in antiquated technologies that actually don't help you find family. When you do find family, there's a bureaucratic process. You got to make sure that there's 350 square feet per child. You got to make sure that pet pigs and pet dogs are vaccinated, right? Like there's all this bureaucracy that prevents people in a quick moment when you get that 2 a.m.

50:13call to say, hey, will you take your family member in? What has just changed and what was just activated as of November 27th of this year is that states can create now a new process where extended family members don't have to go through so many bureaucratic hoops, but yet still prioritize the safety of that child to be able to take in that child. So early this year, you think of us received$47.5 million in funding over five years through an audacious project, a collaborative funding initiative. What's the plan for the money to be used? Number one, to build a piece of technology called the lived experience engine, where we are collecting multiple sources of data so that then it is a tool that helps these states and advocates actually support their system reform efforts around keeping families together by preventing children from coming in, by making sure that those children who do need to be placed in foster care are placed with extended family members.

51:12Too many times states are making decisions but don't have the adequate data and information around them to understand what is their underground need. So a living engine, what is that? How does that manifest itself? So we're still working on it. And the concept of our lived experience engine is that a lot of needs data would exist in there. So what is the level of need in a state for foster homes and extended family members to step up for kids who may have medical complex situations, different abilities, right? Like we need to know how many foster homes we should have. And right now, we just don't know enough about the problems that we're trying to solve unless we actually engage the people who are experiencing those problems and telling us what their needs are.

51:56What's the friction here? Is it legislation? Is it funding? Is it awareness? If you could solve one problem, what would it be? People's belief in family. The reality is, is that there are people who believe if grandma didn't do well with her daughter, why would we give her her granddaughter? And humans and families are so much more complex than that. And then states were never designed to find family. And every single year, we have about 200 ,000 children who enter foster care. Only 34 % are placed with an adult that they know or an extended family member. With data, they could have known that they had already been approved by the foster system.

52:34Absolutely. People, you know, sometimes we know that technology, we can't tech our way out of many problems. But in this case, technology is a catalyst. Having the right information and the right data is a catalyst to be able to have the right type of change. I'll share one last story here, which is five years ago, there was a three-year-old boy who lived in New York City. And the judge on a Friday evening had approved that child should be removed. A social worker goes back to her office, tries to log into this 1996 system that is antiquated, and unfortunately couldn't. IT was out of the building.

53:12On that Sunday, that boy was beaten to death. And imagine a world where we can track an Uber, we can get text message alert, but yet workers on the front line don't even have the tools to be able to get the information that they needed, which was an address, a name. and should they show up with the police to be able to make that removal happen. So every single day, what we have is a system that is, you know, suffering from its initial design, not enough tools for the people who are on the front lines to do their work. And it has a big implication. And so that's why I think of us, we're co-designing solutions, using data, using technology, and really leveraging the lived experience of people to figure out how we should do these reforms.

53:58So let me ask you one final question. You have a technology background. Did you ever think of just working in technology just for yourself? You want to devote it to this. You could have lots of jobs. there are many days where I feel like, yes, I should jump and just work in tech. But the reality is that I went through a lot as a child. And when you've been gifted to come out on the other side, I feel like there is that responsibility of being able to use those insights into how can the world be a better place. And so for me, it's so weird to have had the experience in child welfare to be able to understand technology and be in that field, and then also be trained by venture philanthropists and what does it take to do systemic reform?

54:44So I feel like I'm called to this work. And if I did step away, God probably wouldn't be too happy about it. And so I lean into this. All right. Sixto, canceled. Thank you so much. Again, the organization is Think of Us. Thanks for your good work, Sixto. Thank you all. Scott, he's a great guy. I met him a while ago. I've wanted to talk to him and see. He could work at any tech organization that does this, which is really important. He's right. The lack of data is, it sounds dumb, but it's so antiquated. It's one of the many areas that is such an easy fix in many ways and that we don't, we just don't have the prioritization of it.

55:20Anyway. Okay, Scott, one more quick break. We'll be back for wins and fails.

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57:20Okay, Scott, I'm going to do wins and fails, but just a minute. Dun, da-da-dun, da-da-dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. Oh, your book's out. This is the, this is the. That's the cover? Advanced proof. Yes. What do you think? Nice. How do I look? That's great. What do you think? Gosh, only a short nine years later, you really whipped that one out. I'm going to send you one. Do you want to read it? I want you to send me two. I want one signed. I'll throw a book party for you. Well, this is just the advanced proof. I'll send you one signed that's the finished one. Because I've still got to add in Elon's anti-Semitic stuff.

57:55Got to add in. Don't forget that. I should have like a little thing in the back here that's like insert, insert, crazy shit. You should have a centerfold of just crazy Elon shit. Crazy Elon shit. There's a lot of pictures of him. But anyway, I think it looks good. Are you happy with it? Yes, I am. I think it's good. I do. Things are. I wish it was out now, actually. That's the, you know, it's February. It's weird how long it takes, isn't it? February 27th. And I'm like, just get it out now because it's so much good stuff in the news. So that's why I have to keep inserting stuff. We have one more chance.

58:23I think I have another week to insert more stuff. But then if he does something like, you know, I don't know what he could do. Run for president. Who knows? I can't get it in there, which is irritating. He looks like the, did you see, I was, I saw the pictures. He looks like the ghost of a drag racer that was killed in the fifties in that outfit. I think I said, he looks like a lesbian who's given up, middle-aged lesbian who's given up. I'm, I can't say that. I cannot say that. I can. You're a middle-aged lesbian that's still trying. You still got your riz. You still got your riz. This has riz.

58:54Riz, riz is all over this. That is my win because I just, because fail. I just have been doing a lot of foreign policy interviews today. I interviewed Mark Esper. I interviewed Mike Gallagher today. He's the head of the China Committee, former second, the one that was fired by Trump because he wouldn't - Impressive guy. He was. We went over a lot of foreign policy stuff. It's just the fact that we're moving so slowly on all these different, whether it's Taiwan and helping them get ready for what's probably inevitable with China, whether it's Ukraine. and I understand stalemates, but the slowness of our leadership is just starting to pay.

59:32And then Israel, it just, I've done a lot of, and I'm going to interview Liz Cheney tomorrow, which of course we'll be talking a lot about Trump. But I think the sense of urgency, I think that's the fail on lots of, including Trump, but Trump will be, Cheney is trying to have a sense of urgency of what a second Trump administration would mean. And so I just think our sense of urgency, We're failing to, we're sort of just like, as Cheney says, and I don't think she's being dramatic, sleepwalking into autocracy, dictatorship. And it sounds dramatic, but I don't think she is being dramatic. When people with the last name Cheney are the reasonable ones, you know, our country's kind of fallen.

1:00:13Yeah, you know, exactly, exactly. So that's what I would say, the sense of urgency we need to have without being dramatic and hopeless. Like, what are we going to do about it? So anyway, your win and fail? So I had wins and fails around the economy and the stock market. I was inspired by what Sixto says. So this is neither a win or a fail, but it's indulgent. When I was, I grew up in Westwood and my elementary school was all white. There was one black kid, Pierre Steele, who was, you know, father was a diplomat or something. And then I went to Emerson Junior High and they had just started busing and integration.

1:00:47And overnight, you know, 400 kids from Compton and downtown LA were told that they were going to be on a bus for an hour each way. and I'd like to say it was a Hallmark movie. It wasn't. We hated each other. We had black against white softball games. The faculty allowed that. It was violent. It was very unproductive. Right. I think it created more prejudice than it solved. And the good news is by the time we got to high school, and this is an argument for busing, we were getting along, and it was really wonderful. And my two closest friends through that entire period, junior high and high school, were Ronnie Drake, a black kid whose father was a minister who wasn't going to college unless he got a football scholarship.

1:01:28And I think that kind of gave me some empathy. But my best friend was a kid named Brett Jarvis, who was a Mormon kid. And he and I hung out literally side by side for six years. And his family, and the reason six are kind of inspired it, I had sort of what I'll call foster parents' light, and that was the Jarvis's. I literally hung out at their house. My mother was a single mother working in the Valley as a secretary. and I used to spend, they had family, they were a Mormon family. I mean, and it was about God, it was about country, it was about success, it was about sports and the God stuff never stuck with me, but all the rest did.

1:02:05And as a kid who didn't have a lot of parental supervision, didn't have a lot, quite frankly, going for me, I could have easily gone down a pretty bad path. Yeah, not a lot of money. Yeah, you know, I could have, the fact that I never tried alcohol until I got to college which was probably a good idea given the lack of parental supervision and how bored I was. Anyways, the parents were Mr. and Mrs. Jarvis. I think it was Jan and George. Jan passed away five years ago. George passed away recently. And the brothers were Derek, the oldest brother, this kind of larger-than-life guy, just a real born leader, my friend Brett, and then their younger brother Doug.

1:02:40Brett and I, best friends. Doug, I ended up hiring at my first firm, Profit. They both went on. Brett went on to Stanford. They both went on to graduate school at Kellogg. And the father passed away, long life, wonderful life, a month ago. And then on the way to the service, their oldest brother, Derek, collapsed and died. Oh, wow. Wow. So sorry.

1:03:09It's okay. I'm good. You're good. You are good. See, so much, let me make a joke, so much has dropped into place now that I know you were raised Mormon. But go ahead. I was. That's how you lose your virginity at 19, Carol. You hang out with Mormons. Anyways, this family had— Book of Mormon, Book of Scott. Go ahead. Anyways, my message to Brett and Doug.

1:03:38I'm very sorry. I'm sorry for their loss. Yeah. And to their family had such a profound positive impact on me. Well, I'm glad we had Sixto on today to talk about the issue, you know, and how we have to focus on things like that. There's lots of ways to foster people. We were all raised by more people than you realize, you know. And I would agree. I think it's really important to have these impact. Anyway, Scott. That's why I love Mormons, Cara. You love those Mormons. I love those Mormons. I was going to say Scott the Mormon never was not expecting that. I have to say. I do love Mormons. So nice to me.

1:04:17So good to me. Such a positive influence. The God part didn't get traction, Kara. No, I get that. It didn't get traction. Why not? God. We should go to church. Because I had my first kiss from Libby Pettit and nothing more. And I'm like, I need to find some horny Jews and Catholics. Oh, okay. There's plenty of those. Oh, God. We're going to go to church, you and I, when we come to England. I like that. We're going to go to church. I miss church. I just never bought into the lineage that there was an invisible friend in the house, but I like church. Yeah, me too. You know, every time I go by a church, I think, I need to go in there.

1:04:50And then I told that to Amanda. She's like, oh, no, are you going to be a party Christian? And I said, no. But there's a pull to it. There's a pull towards a place of worship. Did you spend a lot of time in church growing up? Yes. I went to catechism until I was 13. We didn't go weekly, but we went, not infrequently. Well, that's impressive, given what a sinner you are. I am. Went to Friday to whatever the class was, the Catholic class, and then was confirmed and did all that. And then the minute I walked out of the church at 13, I haven't been back since. I was very aware of all the problems there pretty early.

1:05:26Anyway, I didn't like it. I didn't like the whole setup. We're going to church. Going to church. We're going to church. Scott and I are going to go to church. The whole thing's going to fall down upon us, like as if we were a Damien omen to entry. Anyway, experiences like Scott and the Six Stoes are really important to think about and the solutions that we can have. The ultimate expression of masculinity is to take an irrational interest in the well-being of another child. Yep. And just take them into your own family. That is correct. Anyway, it's a good message for today. Anyway, we want to hear from you.

1:05:56Send us your questions about business, tech, or whatever's on your mind. Go to nymag.com slash pivot to submit a question for the show or call 855-51-PIVOT. Okay, Scott, that's the show. will be back on Friday with more. Read us out. Today's show was produced by Lara Nehman, Zoe Marcus, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie Nuttat engineered this episode. Thanks also to Drew Burrows, Mille Saverio, and Gatti McMahon. Make sure you subscribe to this show wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening to Pippet from New York Magazine. And Box Media will be back later this week for another breakdown of all things tech and business.

1:06:27Derek Jarvis, rest in peace.

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