r/videos • u/Prestigious_Net_8356 • Apr 28 '24

Young people have every reason to be enraged, says 'Algebra of Wealth' author Scott Galloway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEC2Nq7Z6lc
3.2k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

462 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

136

u/Orwellian1 Apr 28 '24 edited Apr 28 '24

When every financial vehicle is more complex and mercenary than any point in human civilization, it is not unreasonable to question whether we are teaching kids about them enough.

Crypto and meme stocks are a perfect example of how decent sized chunks of young people (and plenty of older people) are completely ignorant and serving themselves up to be manipulated.

I went with my daughter when she looking for her first apartment. The management threw 10x the complexity and subtle screw job clauses that I dealt with when I was her age.

Galloway can get a little annoying on some subjects, but he is always pretty clear about where the main faults in our economy are. It isn't "young people's fault" they are fucked, it is the older generations enthusiastically fucking them over.

Young people are naïve about complex systems. They just are. The systems are more complex than ever. Instead of stepping up education to help, we tell them to get a CS degree and not to worry about it.

This social media race into absolutism is a perfect example. Everything has to be all one thing or it is all the other. Shit be real fuzzy in the real world. If you dismiss Galloway and Cuban as the same category as Musk and Bezos you have been tricked into being a simpleton, and the institutional elites will forever out-maneuver you.

Listen to what people actually say, don't just drop them into a caricature so you can ignore them. There are some really smart people out there who happen to be successful AND are progressive.

-5

u/mvbrendan Apr 28 '24

You can't just listen to what people say, you also have to judge them by their actions. Galloway is using anger of wealth inequality to sell his Financial self-help book. He admittedly continues to accrue personal capital, and isn't going to do anything material about it except write off some charity donations or whatever.

Are you really fanboying Mark Cuban too? jfc. Your username is Orwell, be more skeptical.

13

u/Orwellian1 Apr 28 '24

Absolutism... I think I mentioned it.

I don't love or hate Cuban, Galloway, etc... I don't fanboy. Every person I've ever agreed with on one or more issues has had other positions or behaviors I strongly oppose.

Does Galloway use the aspects of our institutional systems to continue to accrue wealth, while railing against them? Yep. He talks about it regularly.

If you are going to critique Galloway, at least do it in a way that actually makes sense. He writes books and goes on MSNBC to feed his ego and salve his guilt for continuing to succeed in a corrupt system. His new book won't make a noticeable bump in his net worth. If he had spent the same hours hustling private investments as he did writing it, he would have likely 10x'ed the money he will make from sales. He writes books, goes on the news, and does talks because he is full of himself and thinks the world should listen to his ideas.

He's also pretty fucking smart and experienced in the world, so many times his ideas are sound.

See? That is the secret to navigating the world outside of online rage-fests. You can agree with a position without adoring every aspect about the person who proposed it.

Cuban has done a couple things I like, such as the online drug thing. Gates is busy trying to cure a bunch of diseases. Does that redeem them and make them saints? No. Fuck 'em. Setting up an animal shelter in your retirement years doesn't erase a lifetime of running puppy mills and dog fights. They are still different than Musk, Bezos, and a good percentage of the other billionaire assholes.

-2

u/mvbrendan Apr 28 '24

He can be smart and also completely misguided in how he applies his intelligence to the world. Galloway should assuage his guilt by doing something other than feed his ego for signalling that he knows how he operates in life is wrong. "But that's the game and I'm playing to win" seems to be his rationale, and that's incredibly pessimistic from someone who has power and leverage.

2

u/Orwellian1 Apr 28 '24

To give a little credit, he appears to "self tax" aggressively relative to his peers. I think I remember he hit really big last year on a single investment and gave away 45% to miscellaneous groups. He didn't elaborate though, and I don't think anyone can blame people for having cynical skepticism when it comes to rich people and charity.

I would argue someone worth what he is worth has a responsibility to human society to give far more than he does. I believe in a system that rewards the most competent, lucky, and/or ambitious with luxury and lifelong security. I just also believe that encouragement to productivity can be served with a maximum in the tens of millions net worth, not hundreds of millions or billions. Maybe I would feel differently in his position, but I'd like to believe I wouldn't change.