AI’s New Trillion Dollar Mission: Delete Middle Management

24:18And to your point, it's like, I don't think the one-person, one billion-dollar company is going to happen. And I don't think that's not going to happen because it can't happen. I think it won't happen because people don't want it to happen. You don't want to create this billion-dollar company and then you didn't share it with anyone. You're going to celebrate your success with your AI agents and Claude and ChatGPT. It's just depressing. It goes back to that crazy quote that we saw from Sam Altman where he said that AI consumes less energy than human beings and children. It's like you've got the entire system wrong.

24:52You don't understand what the point of any of this is. And to go back to your point about, like, we're heading towards a place where Elon Musk owns half of world GDP. I mean, I would just point out, John D. Rockefeller was the richest American in history. Everyone agrees that he's supposed to be the guy, the richest guy ever. His net worth was about 1.5 % of US GDP. If the SpaceX IPO goes to plan, Elon is going to be worth closer to 3.5 % of GDP. So he'll be more than double as rich as the richest American ever. So Elon is now the richest American in history and by a huge, huge margin. And it is getting to a point where it is quite scary.

25:34And it is downstream of this glorification of how much value can we accrete into the hands of a smaller and smaller set of people. And they're literally glorifying, let's do it into one person's hands. One person's going to create all of this. It's just strange. It's a strange thing to be so excited about. We'll be right back after the break. And by the way, we are heading out on tour at the end of the month. So if you want to get a ticket to a show near you, head to ProfitMarketsTour.com.

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26:51I've really enjoyed Delete Me. I think what stood out is the ongoing support. I still get regular reports showing where my data is showing up, and they handle everything. I don't even have to think about it.

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27:59Scott Galloway:Thank you.

28:16Scott Galloway:at indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. That's indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need the right hire fast? Then this is a job for Indeed-sponsored jobs.

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29:53We're back with Prof. G Markets. The wealth tax debate is escalating, and it is increasingly becoming a mainstream political issue. Billionaire investor and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin is now publicly feuding with New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani over a proposed pied -à-terre tax. Meanwhile, Governor Hochul recently unveiled a$268 billion budget deal that includes a new tax on multi-million dollar second homes in New York City. And in California, a proposed wealth tax on billionaires has officially qualified for the November ballot after supporters gathered more than one and a half million signatures.

30:31That was well above the 875 ,000 signatures that they needed to qualify for the ballot. So now voters in California will weigh in on whether or not states should tax wealth. So Scott, we have been talking about this for a while. I think we've been having quite nuanced conversations on the wealth tax debate. I think our perspective is the right one, which is that you do need to figure out how to redistribute the wealth, but this probably isn't the best way to do it. There are other alternatives. But now it is becoming a mainstream political issue. It's starting to sort of dominate the cultural conversation.

31:13And then we saw this proposal from Mamdani where he wants to tax Pierre-Atez, i.e. second homes in New York City that are worth more than$5 million whose owners don't live in the city full time, which I think is actually a great idea. And then he puts out this clip that announces that. and it's a little controversial. We hear the response from Ken Griffin. Let's just listen to the clip as well as Ken Griffin's response and then let's get your reaction. Thrilled to announce we've secured a pied -à-terre tax, the first in New York's history. This is an annual fee on luxury properties worth more than$5 million whose owners do not live full-time in the city.

31:51Like for this penthouse,

31:53Scott Galloway:which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for$238 million. What really upset me about the video was the fact that he put me in harm's way. You know, he seems to have forgotten that the CEO of another American company was assassinated just blocks from where I live in New York. And to put any citizen in harm's way is just inappropriate for one of our political leaders. I have a lot of thoughts on this. And by the way, if you're new to the show, just let me clue you in on the major theme of the show. And that is, this is an opportunity for Scott and Ed to talk about what? Money? No, Scott. anyways i forgot how could i forget how could you forget all right so let's bring this back to me i did the math with this tax this tax if it goes through because i am a florida resident and because i split time between london and florida and don't spend that much time anymore in new york but if this tax goes through because i qualify it's a pied-a-terre it will cost me $100 ,000 a year, in addition to the more, I don't have a mortgage on it, but in addition to the taxes, HOA fees, all the current, another, an incremental$100 ,000 in carried costs.

33:02Scott Galloway:It's a form of a wealth tax, if you think about it, because if my place were$10 million, costs another$100 ,000 a year, say a cap rate or a return of six or 7%, that means kind of overnight, technically, the place goes being worth from$10 million to eight and a half, Right. So it's that's real cabbage. Having said that, having said that, I am in favor of this tax. And that is. Look, you can always talk about how a government needs to cut costs. I've read the articles that it takes 12 times. It costs 12 times more per mile to build a subway in New York versus Paris. I get it. I don't doubt there's fat to be cut.

33:41Scott Galloway:And I trust they're going to try to do that. I'm not in a position. I don't have the domain expertise. to start talking about the cuts that the mayor should make. But we think that they should be efficient with their spending, as everyone does. I mean, the idea when we get caricatured, it's like, oh, you just want government bloat? Obviously not. Obviously, we want spending to be efficient. I'm going to assume they do a reasonable job of allocating capital. That may be right. It may be wrong. I don't want to have that argument right now. I'm going to assume they do a reasonable job of managing the city's expenses.

34:15Scott Galloway:Okay, so let's go to the tax. it's pretty clear that if there's any group in America that is not paying their fair share and can best afford an incremental tax, that new taxes would be the least taxing on, that would decrease their well-being, happiness, and health the least, it is the very, very wealthy. And if you have a second home in Manhattan, not your primary residence, but your second home, the chances that you are very, very wealthy are very high. Now, they have other options. They could tax corporations, which is the Democrats' favorite boogeyman. But here's the bottom line. J.P. Morgan has gone from 30 ,000 people in New York to 20 ,000 over the last 10 years and gone from 10 ,000 to 30 ,000 in Texas.

35:05Scott Galloway:Because at some point, corporations will leave or start, the easiest people to fire are the ones you haven't hired, and they'll start hiring more in Florida and in Texas. And by the way, folks, J.P. Morgan is just not the guy running M &A making$7 million a year. It's a ton of assistants, people working in the kitchen, people cleaning the place, people in low-level compliance jobs, people in mid-level administrative jobs making$80 ,000,$100 ,000,$150 ,000,$200 ,000 a year that are one of the six or seven million people that migrate into Manhattan from Gowanus or Queens or New Jersey that aren't ballers.

35:39Scott Galloway:and if JP Morgan and the biggest companies in the world, the biggest, most important companies in the world, at some point they will leave. And quite frankly, a lot of them have already left. So I'd be very careful with corporate taxes. Well, let's, let's increase taxes in general, right? It's already 12 or 13 % incremental tax. If you're in New York, making over a certain amount of money, at some point, the earners, the ballers who are making a lot of money or what feels like a lot of money think, you know what, I'm going to piece out to Florida and it's already happening. So what do you want?

36:10Scott Galloway:You want a tax that raises money that, quite frankly, probably doesn't drive people out of the city. And I'm only speaking for one person, but I think it's indicative of probably how most people will behave. If it costs me another$100 ,000 to have a second home in New York, I don't love it. I'm bummed about it. But here's the bottom line. If I can go to Jack's Y Frida and watch the freak show and all the hot men and women and the world pass me by, and then I can go out for the best food in the world and go to Equinox and walk around and see the absolute wondrous freak show that is New York, fucking A, I'm not going anywhere.

36:48Scott Galloway:It is the most amazing experiment, the best example, the pinnacle of America, the pinnacle of capitalism, the greatest collision of culture, commerce, creativity, in general, aggressiveness, commerce, fashion, art, media. 100 ,000. Don't get, Mom Donnie, don't get any ideas. People who own second homes there will spend a lot more than that. to stay and be witness to that amazing experiment. I think no one likes taxes. I hate this tax less than any other idea. In sum, I'm in favor of this tax. It's so funny to hear the argument where people say, well, if you do that, all of them are going to leave.

37:37And it's like, brother, they already, well, sorry, but they already left. It's their second home that we're talking about. So, but they're gone already is my point. That's a great, that's a great. home. They left already. I love that. So this is the perfect, if you're figuring out ways, like they already left. So it's the perfect tax.

37:55Scott Galloway:I left in 2010. You're exactly right. I left in 2010 because I couldn't afford to live in New York. And then when I made a bunch of money, I thought I'd really like to spend more time in New York. And I bought a second home there. I bought a pied-a-terre. Which increases housing prices because you have less supply. And of course, this is exactly what happens. If you've got people who have left the state of New York, who have left the city, their income isn't being taxed in New York, but their house is still there, which all it does is drives up the price of housing across the city, which is exactly what we've seen.

38:21So yeah, we should figure out a way to extract some value there. I think it's perfect. It's exactly what we should be doing.

38:27Scott Galloway:It is the least awful tax I have heard of in a while. And by the way, here in London, in Mayfair, you go buy really high-end buildings. There's not a single light on in the summer because it's a lot of people from outside of the country, a lot of people from the Gulf and they're here in the winter and then they leave. And by the way, the local bodegas, the local stores, there's not a single light on. In my building at any time, there's 12 or 14 units, I think. I never see anybody. I never see anybody. I'm in, someone else is in the elevator, 2%, I never see anybody. I would bet 25 % of the time I'm the only person in the building and 50 % of the time there's maybe I remember my next door neighbor is this wonderful guy Michael I won't say his last name and his kid discovered the drums and he they came over and they're like we're so sorry he loves the drums I'm like you know what it's kind of cool just to have a little bit of life and pulse in this building I don't mind at all.

39:34Scott Galloway:Tell him to bang on his drum all day. And anyways, I actually think this is a really thoughtful, elegant tax. Having said that, boy, did our mayor fuck up. The idea of a tax is that when you discourage behavior, a carbon tax, but more than anything, it's to raise revenue so we can pay for our Navy, our parks, and food stamps. The idea is to raise money, right? To increase the treasury. When he shows up in front of Ken Griffin's condo and starts personalizing this, shitposting him, Ken Griffin's done nothing wrong. Most billionaires are really good people. Some are okay and some are bad. Most poor people are really good people.

40:25Scott Galloway:Some are okay and some are bad. that demonization of rich people and the demonization of success is how we get J.D. Vance as president if the Democrats keep up with this bullshit. The whole point of America, one of the most attractive things about America, it's the reason why our incredible immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, risked their lives to come here, why the best and brightest scientists all come here, why the most ambitious people in the world come here, is because we We celebrate success. We don't demonize it. And when he shows up in front of his house and starts shitposting him, and what is he going to do?

41:03Scott Galloway:It's like I've said this about the Democratic Party. If you keep saying young men don't have problems, but they are the problem. If you keep saying that white people unconsciously or consciously are racist, and you keep saying that billionaires are evil, you're going to lose billionaires, you're going to lose white people, and you're going to lose young men. hello, J.D. Vance, number 48 or whatever number it is. Stop. This is class warfare. If someone is worth$100 million, does that mean they're only a tenth of as bad as a billionaire, but they're 100 times as bad as someone making a million dollars?

41:33Scott Galloway:This bullshit that your character and your decency is inversely correlated to your wealth is an Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, now Mamdani, dangerous bullshit that does the following. This type of far-left wokeism literally has annoyed America into fascism. It results in a bunch of strongmen and weirdos who start demonizing people and saying, we embrace success, even if it means, and by the way, wink, wink, I love billionaires and show up and just give me money and I'll get in the way of all AI regulation. And what is he going to do? If this backlash, this justified backlash from Ken Griffin, good for fucking Ken Griffin.

42:25Scott Galloway:He's like, you know what? Fuck you, bitch. And this is similar to the bullshit non-dom here in London, where all this virtue signaling, they're trying to raise revenues, I get it. So they say, we're going to go after people who haven't paid their fair share. OK, I get it theoretically. But guess what? 10 ,000 millionaires have left and the Treasury receipts are down. So if the objective is to raise money, then stop demonizing success and chasing tax revenues out of the city. I also think we should point out that it's ineffective to the mission. And this is a shame, because I actually think that Mamdani so far has been highly effective in putting forward his progressive agenda, winning that election, and then convincing the establishment and convincing institutions that he's not off his rocker, which I don't think he is.

43:14I think he's actually got some really good ideas. I started out thinking that he was a little bit crazy and didn't understand the issues. And then eventually he sort of proved over time, actually, no, he really does understand the issues. But the trouble with this is it's ineffective to the mission of figuring out a system of redistributing the wealth such that we aren't living in this Hunger Games scenario, which we are every day getting closer and closer to. And the reason it's ineffective is because how the billionaires feel about it actually matters because they can buy our elections. Because we did see Citizens United and billionaire spending on political campaigns went up 160x in literally the course of a decade.

43:54So the idea that, like, you already have the majority of Americans on your side on this issue. We already know that a lot of people do not like billionaires. We can go through the numbers. 67 % of Americans believe billionaires are creating a more unfair society. It's up 8 % from last year. 55 % say that billionaires make it harder to achieve the American dream, up 9 % from last year. I mean, we know that the general American public wants to tax the rich. They don't like rich people. They don't like billionaires. We got it. Everyone, the majority of the voting citizens are on your side on that issue.

44:32So why do you need to then go and demonize the billionaire, basically outdox him in front of the entire city and then give him a real reason to do everything he can to make sure that this doesn't pass. And by the way, that is exactly what we're seeing in California, where there has been, I mean, whether Gavin Newsom has actually demonized billionaires or not, that is the way they feel. And now they are contributing millions of dollars to these campaigns. Sergey Brin teaming up with Eric Schmidt. They just raised$80 million in the last quarter alone to stop the California wealth tax proposal, which by the way I also don't think is the right way to do it I think you should come up with more nuanced ideas such as a borrowing tax or such as this pied-a-terre tax which I think is great but the point being like if they want to stop this stuff they will and because of this one video where he had this great idea he had a lot of momentum this one video is going to just completely change the sentiment on the way he's handling this and now everyone has a reason to say well the billionaires have a reason to say, Mamdani is out of control.

45:36We cannot deal with him. We have to put a stop to it, which otherwise could have been reasonable policy in which we could have gotten maybe rich people and poor people to get behind on both sides. But it's not going to happen now. So I 100 % agree with you.

45:51Scott Galloway:Yeah. And by the way, just to be fair, or just to talk about the tax, Florida and I think there's a couple of states that are considering a similar tax, right? I mean, we have to pay for our government. A similar tax was proposed in 2014 and didn't pass. We surfaced again in 2019, but didn't pass. Oh, Montana and Florida are also exploring similar second home tax measures. And property taxes are the largest source of income in New York City. And the thing that's good about property taxes is that if you tax an individual at some point, individuals are very mobile. When you tax housing, It raises costs, and it's sort of an indirect wealth tax, but it is probably – it's a tax that typically increases revenue before it drives people out.

46:38Scott Galloway:It's been shown to be an effective means of raising revenue. The wealth tax in California is just stupid. It's a one-time thing, so it really doesn't address the systemic problem of spending more than we take in. It can only be spent on certain things. Because it's wealth tax, and we've said this before, in the 16 countries that have had a wealth tax, 13 have repealed it because very wealthy people are incredibly mobile when you start taxing. Anyway, that tax is not a good idea. But I do think that this tax – and also New York property taxes. So my primary residence is in Florida. Those property taxes are a lot because there's no state income tax.

47:29Scott Galloway:So they've got to pay for their schools in the apartment somewhere. So the real estate taxes in Florida are actually quite high. In sum, if you were just an economic animal, you would make your money in Florida and you would rent. But anyways, my point is I think this is a good tax. The class warfare was an own goal. And the wealth tax is generally trying to assess people. So trying to do an audit. Real estate actually has a pretty recent mark that you can value it on, the last transaction. whereas trying to assess someone's wealth, I can't imagine what a boon that's going to be for tax lawyers and appraisers to claim that, oh wait, Ken Griffin's worth, he's actually not, he's actually has negative net worth.

48:16Scott Galloway:Remember when Donald Trump, all the stuff around his taxes, you know, in the same year he was saying his golf course was worth, you know, whatever, 200 million. And then for tax purposes, no, it's worth negative 100 million. The games here will be extraordinary. And the thing about a property tax is that you just go off the last transaction or a recent transaction of a similar property in the same building. In other words, it's enforceable. And what Mondami is doing is the same thing we have a tendency to do on the left, and that is we have a tendency to be right but not effective. And I would argue the right has a tendency to be wrong but effective.

48:55Scott Galloway:They're very good at getting really bad ideas. Bad ideas through. Yeah, bad ideas through. Whereas we emotionally, they should pay their fair share. Yeah. And then we wake up and our tax receipts have gone down. But we feel good about ourselves. We'll be right back. And for even more Markets content, sign up for our newsletter at profgmarkets.com.

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51:31We're back with Prof G Markets. Two very different earnings stories emerged last week, and together, they say a lot about where consumer behavior is headed. First, the alcohol industry continues to struggle. Diageo, the maker of Johnny Walker and Smirnoff, reported a 9.4 % decline in North American sales year over year. Constellation Brands, the company behind drinks like Corona and Modelo, painted a similar picture, citing softer demand and withdrawing its fiscal 2028 guidance. Meanwhile, the companies behind GLP-1 drugs crushed their earnings. Novo Nordisk reported surging demand for its new Wagovi pill and raised its full-year guidance.

52:11Eli Lilly said that revenue from Munjaro, which is their GLP-1 drug, jumped 125 % year-over-year, more than doubled to$8.7 billion. And now the CEOs of the beverage companies did not explicitly blame GLP-1s for the pain. While that is true, the correlation here is pretty clear, and it's something that we have been talking about for a long time. Scott, you said as early as 2023 that alcohol would be one of the first casualties of the rise of GLP-1 drugs. Let's just play a clip of what you said.

52:48Scott Galloway:I even saw some data saying that people on Ozempic reduced their drinking by 60%. Diageo, the alcohol guys. Oh, my God. These stocks, in my opinion, are going to get absolutely hammered. We could see alcohol really take it on the chin. I think that's exactly right. Your reactions. Among people aged 18 to 34, one in two say they drink. It used to be three in four just 20 years ago. and also and i've said this publicly i think the risks of social isolation are greater than the risk to a 25 year old liver if you have addiction in your family if if anyone close to you is saying it's getting in the way of your other parts of your life your ability to work well your health maintain relationships or just generally speaking you don't enjoy drinking by all means don't feel pressure to drink, but social isolation increases your risk of premature death by 32%.

53:45Scott Galloway:I was on Andrew Huberman's podcast a couple of weeks ago, and we went back and forth about alcohol because he's kind of, I think he's sort of credited with kind of kicking off the anti-alcohol movement or, and we had a really, I thought it was a really productive conversation, but shares of the world's top listed beer, wine and spirits makers have shed a combined 830 billion since 2022. Get this. In the last four years, these guys have lost four-fifths of a trillion dollars. The Bloomberg gauge of global alcohol stocks is trading at around 15 times forward estimated earnings, less than half its 2021 high.

54:21Scott Galloway:Remember COVID? I don't know about you. Every night, I was doing those virtual cocktail hours with my friends. Were you doing those? I think that was my 21st birthday was 10 days into COVID, and I got everyone together on a Zoom. and we, yeah, we all got hammered on Zoom. It was fun, but pretty weird. I didn't know that about you. That explains a lot. You're a COVID kid. You graduated from college during COVID. I didn't know that. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, senior year was remote. Anyways, these guys, so obviously a lot of this, and I think a more, I've said this a bunch, I think a more transformative technology with a greater impact on the world is gonna be GLP-1, not AI.

55:01Scott Galloway:12 % of Americans are currently taking GLP-1s for weight loss. as of late 2025, up from 6 % in February 2024. According to Morgan Stanley, GLP-1 patients consume up to 75 % less alcohol. Other second-order effects that we talked about back then, GLP-1 users will drive an estimated 4 % lift in clothing volume sales this year. Because it's the first thing you do when you lose weight, you go get new outfits. The four largest U.S. airlines could together save as much as$580 million per year on fuel, thanks to GLP-1s. I love that stat. So funny. And even small weight changes matter. A 2 % reduction in aircraft weight could boost earnings per share for airlines by about 4%.

55:43It's so weirdly rude to overweight people that stat. It's sort of like, you're the reason that their margins aren't as large as they could be.

55:54Scott Galloway:I think it's going to kick off a baby boomer. I can't get over how hot everyone is. Maybe it's because I'm just old and I have bad vision and I just see any young person. I'm like, Jesus, that person's hot. But I think, well, you're not old enough to know this. I can't get over how many hot people there are out there right now. And people can now pretty much, if they have money, they can lose weight on demand. And also I'm writing a book called Reckoning and Renewal about public policy. And I'm convinced that GLP-1 is the best chance we have for reducing our deficit. I think if you really look at our deficit, all roads lead to one thing, it's healthcare.

56:37Scott Galloway:And if you really look at healthcare, the only way to substantially reduce the expenditures, all roads lead to obesity or specifically a reduction in obesity and its second order effects. So I think this technology is an absolute landmark breakthrough. At some point, those alcohol stocks will be a buy because I do think that – I do think at some point, I think that it'll level out. Like, for example, Linear TV – by the way, Prof G is launching a channel called the Prof G Channel on Swerve TV where it's basically internet TV where it's – there's a segment of America that likes watching live TV and is willing to endure commercials to have it for free.

57:24Scott Galloway:every year for the last 30 years, that ratio has gone from whatever it was when HBO was introduced. It was 96 % watched linear and 4 % had HBO. It has, streaming has eaten into share every year. Three years ago, it leveled out. It was 50-50. It hasn't increased its share. There's still a large segment of America, about half of Americans in terms of viewing time that don't want to pay and like watching linear TV and kind of channel surfing. I think the same thing's going to happen with alcohol. At some point, it will bottom out, and these companies will be overshot to the downside. They have incredible brands.

58:03Scott Galloway:Also, in terms of a business, there's few businesses with greater margin than alcohol. So they will right-size. Certain types of alcohol will come back in. I do think there's always going to be a role for alcohol. I've said for a long time, it's my favorite drug, and I've tried. Have I tried most of them? I've tried a lot of them. Nothing for me works better than alcohol. Anyways, I wonder when that dip is, but I think it still has some way to go. But typically these companies bottom before their business, their stocks bottom before their business bottoms because it's the anticipation of the continuation of the slope down.

58:42Scott Galloway:But these companies have been just absolutely hammered. What are your thoughts? I'm curious to know your and Claire's approach to drinking and what you think of this. I don't drink as much as before. I think that's definitely a trend and we can get into that. Just to go through some of the earnings that we saw here. So we mentioned Diageo, spirit sales down 15%. Tequila sales declined double digits. Constellation Brands, they reported that wine and spirit sales were down 58%. So these companies are getting hammered in the alcohol department, but we are seeing an explosion in non-alcoholic sales.

59:22So AB and Bev, their non-alcoholic sales grew 27 % this quarter, and that actually drove an overall growth in sales performance. So they are figuring out a way to avoid the alcohol boogeyman, and that is stop selling alcohol and start selling non-alcoholic products. But I would also like to point you to what I thought was one of the greatest quotes that we saw on CNBC last week from the AB InBev CEO, who is recognizing this trend among young people, which is that we're not so much excited about going out and getting super fucked up on alcohol, but we're more interested in these sort of healthier experiences.

59:59We're more health conscious, and we'll get into that as well. And this was his pitch as to why beer is the new healthy product. Let's just play this clip. Beer naturally has protein because the barley that we use is rich in protein. So when you analyze the components of beer, beer has naturally protein.

1:00:21Scott Galloway:I want to believe it. I believe it. I believe it. I'm 100%. That feels right as rain to me. That feels right as rain to me. All right. The sales pitch works. It worked. Prof G's down with beer again because beer has protein. I love that as a pitch. And it does get to what these CEOs are recognizing, which is, yes, we are moving into a healthy experience direction. Just some of these stats here. Gen Z and millennials make up 36 % of the U.S. adult population, but they drive 41 % of the annual wellness spend. And Gen Z is four times more likely to want to meet people working out than at a bar. And this gets to another clip, which I'd like to get your reactions to.

1:01:07This was an interview that the Wall Street Journal did with Diplo, and they were asking him about what is the future of the nightlife industry. Diplo is, of course, the famous and incredible DJ who is known around the world. They asked him what's happening to nightlife, what's happening to how young people get together. This was his response. I think less people go out because they experience a lot of social activities online. Even young people, they don't go to clubs as much anymore.

1:01:31Scott Galloway:but they will go to experiences like our run club or, you know, the sauna world is exploding. You know, people go to like other ship here in New York, the communities. And I think a lot of kids want to have those experiences more and more and less and less, like want to drink. I do think there's a move back to experiences and touching grass and people are embracing more of a healthy lifestyle. Those look, those are all good things. As long as they get out and they socialize. The thing that's missing from this analysis about young people is that, and I think these firms, these drinks firms are going to have to recalibrate.

1:02:08Scott Galloway:Drinking is just so fucking expensive. When I go out of New York, I mean, some of these places, drinks are 24 bucks. You're a young person. Say you're making a hundred grand, you take home 70, that's six grand a month. You spend, you know, maybe you have a roommate and you spend$3 ,000, you got, you know,$1 ,000 a month, maybe of disposable income, you're going to spend$200 or$300 going out on alcohol? That's not even dinner. Or that's not even including dinner. I think that drinking has become almost like housing, almost like kind of unaffordable, at least drinking socially. And also, I just don't, and let me just say, I just don't think you ever, one thing I think is a bad idea, don't ever drink alone.

1:02:54Scott Galloway:I don't think that's a good idea. Anyways, the missing piece here, what I hope happens, I hope they're forced to dramatically lower their prices. People don't realize how severe it is. In London, I have a couple of friends who are super into wine. I've never been into wine or art. I just don't drink wine. But they've said, you can get amazing wine now for 70 % less than you could get it three or four years ago. Like there's a glut of wine. There are wineries supposedly in Italy and France where if you just take on the debt, you can own the winery because they just can't sell. There's wineries that it's costing them 30 bucks to produce a bottle of wine and they used to sell for 70.

1:03:38Scott Galloway:And now the retail market for it is 18, the clearing price is 18 bucks. And they just don't know what to do. These family wineries that have been in business for generations have just been absolutely flipped upside down. But I think the Diplo clip gets to a potential point, which is that it's not necessarily that young people just don't want to have fun anymore. I mean, that might be the case. And the data around that is a little bit concerning. And it seems that we are just spending most of our time on our phones scrolling. But it could be that it's not that we're not trying to have fun. It's that we want to have fun just without alcohol, which to me means that there is a huge opportunity for, I mean, any kind of investment, any kind of industry.

1:04:25I mean, just some stats here. Sober curious gatherings, which is a ridiculous term, but on Eventbrite, sober curious gatherings have risen 92 % on the platform and sauna raves, these are DJ sets and dance parties that happen in saunas are up 256 % this year. Now, I'm sure that's off of a very small base because what the hell is a sauna rave? And I would add that I'm not interested in raving in a sauna myself, but I don't know, maybe you are, Scott. But still, it gets to the point that there are new experiences happening. I could have a stroke.

1:05:00Scott Galloway:Raving sauna makes me want to slip and break a hip. It sounds terrible. But it's happening. The idea of young people getting out and touching grass and doing stuff that's more affordable, more healthy, great. I'm here for it. I think what's missed or that you haven't commented on, what I have found when I'm around young people in, quote unquote, aspirational environments, they're still getting fucked up, Ed. They're just not getting fucked up on alcohol. all, I think the amount of mushroom chocolates, ketamine, psilocybin, MDMA, X, moly, 2C, whatever you want to call it, it feels to me like a lot of young people have basically said, especially among kind of the young aspirational set, have decided that alcohol is old technology, but they haven't given up on getting fucked up.

1:05:50Scott Galloway:And the thing I don't like about it is I find many of these drugs are more small, crowd, isolating drugs. They're not social drugs. It's like one or two of you do ketamine. It's not - You do ketamine and then you just black out in the middle of the - And you go to a K-hole. I don't know. I don't think people are doing psilocybin and then approaching the dude across the bar and say, hey, what's your name? Some would say you are, but I think it probably depends. But this notion that all young people are, you know, moving towards more healthy, thoughtful. I think the drug use, I wish you get the data on it.

1:06:30Scott Galloway:I think a lot of people are, I mean, in Manhattan, I'm sure alcohol consumption is down. Have you seen how many marijuana dispensaries there are? They're everywhere. So I'd love to see the data on alcohol consumption versus drug use. What is the level of intoxication or substance consumption, how much has that actually decreased across young people, or have they just changed? Are they just picking a different poison? Well, I would just bring up a point that one of our research team members, Dan Shallan, made, which is, you know, there seems to be this idea that if Gen Z isn't drinking alcohol, then they must not have a substance abuse problem.

1:07:14His point, which I agree with, is actually they do have a substance abuse problem, and that substance is screens. It's just screen addiction, flat out. It's a different addiction. Exactly. And it's like, the reason we're not getting out and we're not socializing with people is because we are just spending most of our time on our screens, 109 days out of the calendar year, scrolling on our phones. That is our vice. That is the substance that we are addicted to and that we are abusing. And it is eating into the amount of time and the amount of money, I would add that we would spend consuming alcohol with friends.

1:07:48So it's a different type of addiction. But it certainly is having negative effects and some would argue even worse effects than previous substances.

1:07:58Scott Galloway:I'm one of those people that argues it's even worse because, look, 95 % of people are able to integrate not only alcohol, but drugs should they decide to use them into their life without serious ramifications. There's this general demonization of substances, of all substances, that, oh, one drink of alcohol, or if you smoke a blunt, that's it, you're going to be homeless soon. Or, you know, it just, the vast majority of people are, and also a big component of that, a large component of people and an increasing component decided they don't want to integrate it at all. They want to find joy and reward from other things.

1:08:37Scott Galloway:more power have at it. But the notion that alcohol and drugs, the data is just not there. The vast majority of people that engage in both those things are able to integrate them in their life in a fairly safe and sane way. What I have found or what I'm doing is I've gotten older. I just don't. When I started work like you, I pretty much gave up all substances because I'm like, okay, it's go time. And I realized the only thing I could control was how hard I worked. I didn't, I could not get up and be downtown at Morgan Stanley on Figaro Avenue in Los Angeles hungover. I just didn't want to endure that type of bullshit.

1:09:15Scott Galloway:So I pretty much gave up substances, even mostly through, I would say from the age of like 22 to like probably 34 until I moved back to New York and then daddy hit it hard again. Then daddy went deep in the paint. And by the way, it was so worth it. Double seven, Lotus, Pangea. Oh my God. So worth it. You love that time of your life. Whatever fatty deposits or scars are on my liver, those are badges of honor. Badges of honor. Anyways, but as I've gotten older, I realize my liver can't process alcohol the way it used to, so I'm trying to tone it down. But now, you know, and of course I'm doing more edibles now, so I don't know, which supposedly creates psychosis.

1:10:01Scott Galloway:Andrew Huberman told me that by my age I would have discovered if it was going to cause psychosis. So I've been cleared by Huberman Lab to do edibles. Yeah. Oh, just so back to the whole markets part of this Joey Bagadona's podcast. So Diageo in 2016 was 100 bucks a share. Now it's 85. Okay. The S &P has had to have doubled it. It should be at 200 or 300 bucks. It's at 85. Brown Foreman, Jack Daniels fame, 45 bucks in 2016. It's at 27 now. Anheuser-Busch AB InBev was 125 bucks. Now it's 80. Heineken, 70. It's actually gone up. One of the steadier performers is at 90. Pernod Ricard was at 95. Now it's at 65 euros.

1:10:49Scott Galloway:I mean, this sector, it would be hard to find a sector that has underperformed with such incredible brands in the drinks business. It has been a disaster over the last decade. But beer has protein. So that's the new marketing campaign. I am so here for it. When I went to World Cup in Qatar, I stayed at the AB InBev Hotel and they were introduced there. They need to not have hotels. Maybe that's what they should do. Talk about shedding assets. They took it over. They took it over, okay. Yeah, who knows? I would stay there. I would stay at the Maker's Inn. um that's good but they had they introduced their non-alcoholic beer and it actually tasted pretty good i just didn't feel as good about myself and the rest of the world but they anyways i think we've i think we've beaten this drunk horse to death yeah yeah this this drunk horse is dead let's take a look at the week ahead we'll see inflation data from the consumer price and producer price indices for April.

1:11:55We'll also see earnings from Constellation Energy, AST Space Mobile, Alibaba, Figma, and Klarna. Scott, do you have any predictions?

1:12:05Scott Galloway:My prediction is that, I don't know if you saw this ad, I thought of you, but earlier in the week, this really talented TikToker, it was so interesting. A 32-year-old TikToker crowdfunded$132 million in non-binding pledges to buy Spirit Airlines. Whoa. Did you see this? No. His name's Peterson. What's his name? Oh, shit. I can't remember. It's something Peterson, Hunter Peterson. He had a TikTok the same day, a website, one day, day zero, day one, a website, and then 6 million views and 130 ,000 people have pledged about a thousand bucks each. There's non-binding pledges to try and buy Spirit airlines.

1:12:52And when you think about, he's really compelling.

1:12:56Scott Galloway:He's back at the napkin math was that 20 % of American adults paying the average spirit fare of$30 to$40 equals enough to buy an airline. And look, it's unlikely to happen, but the idea of using AI and remote payments and AI agents to respond to questions and get people to sign and then transfer money and held in escrow until certain things, you know, they used to say in the blockchain with certain rules, but it's AI now, go through to execute the transaction. He wants to do to spirit what the Green Bay Packers is mutualized, like the community owns it. I think we're going to see a company in distress that's got a big brand be crowdfunded and either brought out of bankruptcy are acquired in the next.

1:13:45Scott Galloway:I think it's a really interesting take or kind of combination of AI,

1:13:53Scott Galloway:social crowdfunding, and meme stocks. Sort of like the Gen Z activist investor. It's really interesting. That's exactly right. And that is, you know, someone with a media platform, who knows, that maybe hosts a markets podcast, says this company is undervalued. or maybe there's a social purpose here. We've set up a site here. If you're interested, here's the diligence. Here's the work we've done on it. Here's how you pledge. Here's what you sign. Here's the rules on when your cash is actually called on and pledged and transferred. Here's what you get in exchange. And this is gonna happen. Someone is gonna figure out enough prompts, enough DocuSigns, enough legal SEC compliance to crowdfund the acquisition or the funding to pull a company and bring a company out of bankruptcy.

1:14:53Scott Galloway:It's going to happen. You've inspired me. I think we should take over eBay. We'll pay half cash, half stock, and then we'll turn it into a sauna raving company where people can get together and experience things. I like it. And we'll try to get some sort of cryptocurrency edge to it as well. maybe we'll use blockchain to power our sauna-raving business. My prediction is a little bit of a boring one, but I think it's going to happen. I think this Ken Griffin issue is going to be kind of the calling card that inspires a lot of billionaires to get together and do whatever they can to stop these wealth taxes.

1:15:26And I think this debate is, it started out as kind of this crackpot idea that was mostly being espoused by AOC and Bernie, and people kind of wrote it off. It's now becoming very much core and central to the political conversation. And I think that that moment where he outed him and kind of doxed him will be the moment that billionaires use as their reason as to why they need to put a stop to this. And I'm not sure I'm very happy about that because I think we do need some sort of redistribution proposals. But I do think that that will be the outcome of outing Ken Griffin in that video. All right.

1:16:04Good to go?

1:16:05Scott Galloway:Good to go. Good to go, my brother. I'm about to, literally, it's 844. I'm meeting someone at 9 at Roof Gardens. And guess what I'm going to do? Drink. You know it, my brother. You know it. I'm going to bring back, who owns Makers? I don't even know who owns Makers. Anyways, I'm going to reinvigorate this industry. I'm bringing Sexy back, and I'm bringing Makers back. This episode was produced by Claire Miller and Allison Weiss and engineered by Benjamin Spencer. Our video editor is Jorge Carti. Our research team is Dan Chalon, Isabella Kinsel, Chris Nodonoghue, and Mia Silverio. Jake McPherson is our social producer.

1:16:41Drew Burrows is our technical director. And Catherine Dillon is our executive producer. Thank you for listening to Prof G Markets from Prof G Media. If you liked what you heard, give us a follow and tune in tomorrow for a fresh take on the markets.

1:16:58Lifetime

1:17:04You help me In kind Reunion As the world turns And the dark flies In love

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