Bill O’Reilly and Jon Stewart Reunite, Scott Galloway on Boomers Hoarding Wealth | Guest Spotlight
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You're listening to Comedy Central. He is the host of the O'Reilly Update, and he's the author of the forthcoming book, Confronting the Presidents. Please welcome back to the program, Bill O'Reilly, sir. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

William. Yes, sir. You our country. We are in such a dangerous moment. You've written books on almost every assassination as you have a whole line of the killing, the killing, the killing, the children's series. You're right about killing presidents is the time we're in. In your mind, are we in a unique time in American history of polarization or as you looked back?

on those other moments of terrible tragedy in our country, are there similarities or differences? Yeah, it's not unique, but the social media and the corporate media heighten everything. You're saying Lincoln's tweets were not a part of... He had to, like, get a pigeon and throw them out the window. Right, right. Makes sense. Limited. But the assassins...

ALL HAVE ONE THING IN COMMON. THEY WERE ALL MENTALLY ILL. ALL OF THEM. AND MOST OF THEM DID THEIR TERRIBLE DEEDS BECAUSE THEY WERE IN A RAGE. AND YOU'RE GOING TO FIND OUT THAT THIS GUY IN PENNSYLVANIA FITS BOTH OF THOSE CATEGORIES. THAT HAS BEEN HUMAN NATURE SINCE THEY GOT IN THE CAVES.

I mean, John Wilkes Booth was clearly a political actor, no? But he was also mentally ill. Well, John Wilkes Booth was a fanatical conservative and racist who hated Lincoln. Good thing that's gone out of the country. Well, that's what I'm saying. No, I know. I was saying it, too. I'm saying that's good. We were both saying it simultaneously. No, we're obviously sharing that opinion. We're simpatico. Yes, exactly. Exactly. Don't throw Latin into it. I'm sorry.

So it's not new, but we're now in a society where hatred is rewarded. It's incentivized. It's monetized. That's right. And I'm on a the hate brigade is now pulling back a little bit because they have to. But they're going to be back in two weeks because they get paid to do this. They're so untalented.

But you and I... Oh, boy. Oh, boy. I want to make this point because Stuart and I have a history, all right? We go back. But if you watch, if you Google, all right, Stuart and I... Really, ships passing in a night. It's really... We are able to disagree without hating each other. Now, I truly hate him, but I don't...

I don't show it. You hold it very well. I don't put it out. No, absolutely. But now, that's not rewarded. That kind of detente where two people look at life differently isn't rewarded. The haters get the big money.

And so that's what you have. And I think all Americans start to hold the corporations accountable. You can't do anything about the guys in the basement that are chucking this stuff out that you just had it on, these conspiratorial nuts. Can't do anything about that. But you can say to corporations, you better knock this stuff off. You better stop calling people racist and Nazis and this and that. Now, your question, and thank you for letting me take over the show. Did I have a question? I don't remember. Yeah, thank you.

Thank you for letting me run this show. While you were talking, I was watching a different program. I'm watching South Park reruns right now. I don't even know what you're talking about. But this one is better, so listen to me. I'm going to listen to you, but then I have a follow-up to this, which I think is important. Okay, so your question is then, what can people do about this? Reject it. Don't celebrate it. So this kid, 20 years old in Pennsylvania, we don't know what...

caused him to do that. We knew he was a miserable kid who was bullied and all of this stuff. We all know that. But we don't get into, oh, he's a Republican. That's the first thing they said on The View. The first thing they said on Monday on The View, he's a Republican. Stop it. That does nobody any good. All right? But Bill, let me push back a bit. Look, you and I are both somewhat fossilized practitioners of

the rhetorical arts that are confrontational at times, provocative at times, and we made a really spectacular living pushing those envelopes. It seems now to say, "Hey, these other people should stop." - Hello. - It's like... It's like free speech, but don't you believe... - Let me put it this way. - Go ahead, Stuart.

WE KEEP SAYING, LIKE, WE DON'T KNOW WHY THESE PEOPLE DO IT. THEY'RE ALL MENTALLY ILL. BUT LET'S STOP THE RHETORIC. EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE NO IDEA, WOULDN'T IT BE BETTER TO COME UP WITH -- PEOPLE CAN BE PASSIONATE. PEOPLE CAN DEFEND THEIR POSITION.

And shouldn't we be, shouldn't the argument be we have to start arguing with each other in good faith? Okay. So Biden made a good point last night in the Lester Holt interview when he said, what am I supposed to do? Not criticize Trump because I feel. He feels it is a threat to our democracy. Yeah, because I feel he's the third Reich. You know, okay. You know he didn't say that. But no. But he was thinking it, Stuart. He was thinking it. I can read him. Stop monetizing your anger. So anyway. Stop.

I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. But he made a point where I got to criticize the guy because I don't believe he's good for America and I believe he's X, Y, and Z. Okay. Criticism is good. Robust debate is good. I like coming on here in front of all of your friends out here. And the audience, you know, I have no friends here. Okay? Well, not just here. Well, yes.

I'm giving him that one. All right. OK, so we have made a nice living. Yes. Confronting other people, sometimes making fun of them. Yes. Sometimes serious debate. I'm going to do your podcast tomorrow. Correct. And I'm going to kick your butt. Of course. OK, so but we don't want to see them. At least I don't. Destroyed. Right. That's the difference.

The fanatics on the left and the right want to see their opposition destroyed. They want to hurt them. But I've heard a lot about, and even from you, to be fair. You're not arguing that point, are you? I'm not arguing that point. I think that's a more measured point than you've probably been making and that I've been hearing.

Most of your points, from what I've been following, is that the left has to take it down a notch. You've mentioned MSNBC. I ran a montage on the No Spin News last night. It's on BillOReilly.com. By the way, 4 million... By the way, log on. It is hard to get on there. It is. It's not hard for the 4 million people that watch me over the weekend. 4 million? 4 million. Wasn't hard for them. That's a lot of cheese. Thank you. All right. So...

I ran a montage of haters on the left and the right. Okay. And I didn't have to... No, he's terrible. I just let their words speak for themselves. On the right, and I don't know if you would argue this, there is a feeling that they haven't been doing that and that it is the purview of the left. There's been a lot of that. People believe what they want to believe. But those of us who are sane and fact-based, and that might not be you...

We know what reality is because we can see and hear it, but we're no longer agreeing How can we have a conversation about rhetoric if we can't even agree if if there are delusions of? It's really only them. I mean when I watch the guy from the Heritage Foundation say The revolution will be bloodless if the left, you know allows allows that right and you're just like oh

What are we doing here? You know, some of the fears of people are justified. Tens of millions of women lost access to reproductive choice based on the decisions of that party. Those are real-life consequences of great gravity and weight. How do we talk about those in a way that...

So that you're able to express it. It's not difficult to talk about it. It seems like it is. See, the mistake that you made, one of the many. Yeah, understood. You're trying to get the fringe people in to be reasonable. You're never going to do that. The Harris Foundation lead is not the fringe. No, no, no, no. It is. The people don't know what that is. Most Americans, I put the number at 70%, are good people. Don't want acrimony. They don't want violence. I don't doubt that.

Those are the people you play to, not the fringe people who are just out there wanting to, as I said, destroy the other party. But you're your candidate. No, I don't have a candidate. Oh, OK. I'm a registered independent. That's what this guy did. No, no, no, I understand. No, no, this is what you did. I really need to take a look at this Cornel West fella. Right. Right.

If you guys watch the Rumble in the Air Conditioned Auditorium, he did the same thing with Romney. Listen to me now. You are fossilized. Listen to me. Yes, I'm listening. The candidate who represents many of your kinfolk. Oh, man. Kinfolk?

He said the election was stolen and rigged and drove people to this madness on January 6th. How are we to deal with that truly now?

You know, what is the hallmark of a democracy? Peaceful transfer. That is what that in jeopardy. That has haunted him every day since. Oh, he's paid a terrible price. No, he has. Can I explain the price? He's going to go back to the White House and have to fix the damage himself. Paint that wall. If Trump hadn't done that on January 6th, he'd be ahead of Biden by 25 points in the poll.

I mean, that's how bad Biden has been for the country. Well, I disagree with that, but that's of course you do. But that's OK. Well, I understand. I can back it up. Do you want me to? OK, I'm going to ruin your day. I'm going to ruin your day. So you brought a handkerchief. All right. I was prepared for this.

Food prices under Biden up 20 percent. Gas prices, 38. Mortgage rates, 160 percent. Yeah, prices are going up. Drug ODs up 36 percent. OK, car insurance, 125 percent up. These are folks. They have to spend that money. Listen, there's no question that post-pandemic this country and the world have suffered. Trump had two years of post-pandemic.

Right, but Trump ran an $8 trillion deficit. He spent $1.7 trillion on tax cuts. He deregulated industries. Inflation was 1.5% when he walked out the door. Right, but look at it in relation to the world. I respectfully say, yes, inflation was too high, and that hurts American consumers. You want this? So what did Biden do to create that, though? I don't know, and that's what I would have asked. I...

So basically, you wrote down a piece of paper, but you didn't look up the answer? No. I want to ask Biden about that. Okay. So you're saying, why would Biden do it? I'm not going to hear and say. If you don't mind, that was a very poor impression of how I've been saying this. That's not so bad.

Okay. All right. So my job as a journalist is to say... Oh, when did you get that job? Too easy. You really make it too easy. We're going to talk tomorrow. We got to go. This is too long. Thank you for being here. Confronting the Presidents comes out September 10th. Available for pre-order. Bill O'Reilly. Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight is NYU professor, entrepreneur, and best-selling author whose book is called The Algebra of Wealth, A Simple Formula for Financial Security. Please welcome Scott Galloway.

Thanks for joining me, Professor. Thanks for having me. Algebra of wealth. What is the algebra of wealth? So it's a retrospective on all the mistakes I made. No, no, I mean what is the actual formula? How do you make money? Yes. Now, I wanted to insert me into the story, Ronnie. All right.

So it's OK. So the algebra, the first is focus. Try and find your talent, not your passion. Anyone who tells you to pursue your passion is already rich. Find something you're good at in an industry that has an employment rate above 90 percent. Side hustles mean your main hustle isn't working. Go all in on something. Then you want to talk about stoicism. Control the things you can't control. You can't control. OK, this is a bit complicated. How do I. Why? Why?

How are we doing so far? Why are people poor and who should we blame? Whose fault is it that everyone is poor? Is it baby boomers? Is it foreigners? Is it Bitcoin? Is it the government? Whose fault is it that we are poor? Well, I think that every, essentially every fiscal policy in America over the last 20 or 30 years has been nothing but an elegant transfer of wealth

from the young to the old. We transfer $1.5 trillion from young people to the wealthiest generation in history, seniors. You can say boomers. You can say f***ing boomers, yeah. The two biggest tax deductions, capital gains and mortgage interest, who owns homes and stocks, people my age, who makes their money from earnings and rent, people their age. So I think everything we do is nothing but an elegant transfer of wealth from young to old. People call them entitled. I think they're actually entitled to be enraged.

- Wow, okay. I love how you came in here, you're like, "Yeah, it's my fault that I'm rich and you're poor." I'm like, " you, you can't do anything about it." But what can people do about it? I mean, first of all, I mean, kudos to, you know, you're the first boomer I've heard in the last decade to give young people some props, you know? To be like, "Hey, it's not..." 'Cause all I've heard for the last decade is boomers yelling at millennials for being lazy and eating avocado.

So, you know, we're all like a refreshing voice here. Look, the average 70-year-old is 72% wealthier than they were 40 years ago. The average person under the age of 40 is 24% less wealthy. The child tax credit gets stripped out of the Infrastructure Act, $40 billion, but the $120 billion annual increase in cost of living adjustment for seniors flies right through. Okay. So anytime I want to say boomers, I'll just link to this part of the video. 100%. This is what this guy said. So, I mean...

I'd love to continue making the case against boomers, but I'd also like to figure out, so what can we do about it? Yeah, what can we do about it? There's a variety of things. One, lower taxes on, put more money in the pockets of young people. Education's gone up fourfold.

THAT WAS PRETTY POPULOUS. HOUSING HAS GONE UP 4X, EDUCATION HAS GONE UP 2X. MINIMUM WAGE, IF IT HAD JUST KEPT PRODUCTIVITY UP WITH PRODUCTIVITY INFLATION WOULD BE 23 BUCKS AN HOUR BUT IT'S 725. WE NEED A SERIES OF POLICIES

60% of people age 30 to 34 used to have kids. Now it's 27%. They're literally opting out of America. They look up, they look down, they see prosperity everywhere, and 210 times a day they get a notification of someone vomiting their faux wealth in their face. It's no accident that we are raising a generation of the most obese, anxious, depressed, suicidal generation in history. So...

Wait, you were doing so well there with praising the young people. And you took a hard turn. I just wasn't ready for it. I'm sorry. Are we good or not? Is it our fault or not? Well, I do think it's our fault. Okay, but, like, besides being civically engaged and caring about the world, what can a young person do to make money? Well, again, I think it's... Nobody got that one, but it's all right. Because what you're describing is policies, right? And I think a lot of young people feel disenfranchised and voting, and so...

Well, agency. Everyone needs to have a sense of agency. You do have agency. One, recognize how fast time is going to go. Between the ages of 20 and 30, if you just save 3% to 6% of your salary, you're going to end up wealthy by the time you're my age. Recognize that time is going to go faster than you think. Diversify. And also recognize that your 20s is about workshopping. Don't be so hard on yourself. But also recognize you're going to live a lot longer than you think.

And so just try to develop a savings muscle and put a little bit of money away in case you don't go double platinum or sell a business. Most of us, because our species hasn't lived past 35 for 99% of our time on this planet, we have trouble believing that you're going to be my age. That's why we're so horrified when we look in the mirror past 35. We're just not used to seeing it. I'm kind of horrified looking in front of me right now. You just made my wife your best friend.

This is essentially start early. And so you can save, you can control your spending, spend less than you make, develop a savings muscle, and then really lean into your strengths and try and become great at something and pick a non-vanity industry that has greater than a 90 plus percent employment rate.

Okay, so your advice, young people, is that the boomers are screwing you over. Try to vote people in who can hopefully reverse that a little bit. Our elected officials are a cross between the Golden Girls and the Walking Dead. The average age...

That is true. That is true, but... And I'm asking you, as a person with more experience than me and much more well-read on this, do you feel like this is kind of like the last death grasp of the boomers trying to hold on? And if we just can wait them out another five years...

We can regain control and balance things out, hopefully. I think that's hopeful, but the average age is now the oldest elected populace of any democratic institution. What happens in a democracy if you're not forward-leaning like our ancestors and invest in middle class? Old people have figured out they can vote themselves more money. Does a person, a Speaker of the House, when she had her first child,

Castro had just declared martial law in Cuba. Two-thirds of houses did not have a TV. Does she really understand the challenges facing a 25-year-old single mother or a 22-year-old male who has a lack of economic or romantic prospects? The average age of Americans is 35. We need a representative democracy. We need more young people that will vote for money and make forward-leaning investments. -Man, easier said than done when these boomers just won't die.

They just won't die. They keep holding on, making decisions. And they're entrenched in decision-making positions. They're lowering the capital gains tax. So net worth essentially compounds year after year. So you got it. There's an incumbency rate of 95%, or between 92% and 95%. In addition, because of gerrymandering, we essentially send to Washington--

hard right crazies and hard left crazies who have one thing in common, and that is they're really old and they keep voting themselves more money. If we don't start investing in the future, democracy is literally going to collapse on itself. When we get to these levels of income inequality, they owe us self-correct through war, famine, and revolution. We need to do something about this. Okay. So we'll be fine is what you're saying? That's right.

But so the solution is find people who speak this language and vote them in, right? That sounds like what you're... We absolutely need a younger electorate, but we also need fiscal policies that do what our previous generations did and invest in the future, an investment in the middle class, technologies. The...

But as someone who speaks... No, I'm sorry to cut you off, but as someone who speaks boomer, when you talk to your fellow boomers and you tell them, like, you're kind of taking away the things that you benefited from, can we put them back in? How do you convince these...

THE KEY TO PROGRESS WITH THOSE FDR, TEDDY ROSEVILLE IS HAVING A SERIES OF CLASS TRADERS. IF YOU DON'T MAKE THESE FORWARD-LEANING INVESTMENTS, THE REALITY IS PEOPLE -- YOU HAVE YOUR WORLD OF WORK, YOU HAVE YOUR WORLD OF FRIENDS, YOU HAVE YOUR WORLD OF KIDS. WHEN SOMETHING COMES OFF THE TRACK WITH ONE OF YOUR KIDS, THE WHOLE WORLD STRINGS TO THAT KID. SO THE QUESTION IS ARE WE WILLING TO MAKE THE SAME SORT OF FORWARD-LEANING INVESTMENTS

that your father and our grandparents made in America moving forward. We have lost that sense of comedy of man. One solution that I think will help us get back to that is that I think we need mandatory national service such that we can develop more connective tissue and young Americans can meet people from other ethnic groups, other sexual orientation, and realize that they can build something great in the agency of others and not see each other as Republicans, not see each other as Democrats or trans or non-trans, but see each other as Americans and start making these forward-leaning investments that have made America great.

Well, as a young person, thank you for trying to look after the next generation. I appreciate that. I hope more old people can be like you. I appreciate that. Algebra of Wealth is available now. Scott Galloway. Explore more shows from The Daily Show podcast universe by searching The Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts. Watch The Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount+.

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