The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
Raging Moderates: LA’s Wildfires, Trump’s Bold Agenda, and Historic Sentencing
Tue, 14 Jan 2025
Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov break down the politics fueling Los Angeles’ record-breaking wildfires and the fallout from budget cuts, environmental policies, and political blame games. Then, they dive into Trump’s bold—and polarizing—agenda as he prepares for a second term, from cabinet picks to eye-popping proposals like buying Greenland. Finally, they unpack Trump’s historic sentencing, its impact on his political future, and the fight over Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report. Follow Jessica Tarlov, @JessicaTarlov. Follow Prof G, @profgalloway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What is the fallout from Trump’s historic sentencing?
They said, look, and to be fair, California had instituted, I believe, some price caps on the escalation in premiums. So these companies who have an obligation to their shareholders said, on a risk-adjusted basis, we just can't do business here. And so there's, I think, a California or state-sponsored or state-backed insurance program, which is a
It's like Wooly, I think, is the name of it or something like that.
Which is essentially outsourcing kind of this risk to California taxpayers such that you can keep prices high. I mean, there's a decent argument that insurance should be allowed to be priced to its natural level, which will decrease the prices of houses. I live in a house in Florida that's probably... you know, prone to hurricanes or maybe the sea level's rising.
And I believe I should have to pay insurance rates that reflect that. And if the price of my house or the value of my house goes down, that's fine. But keeping my house price elevated back on the backs of taxpayers because insurance companies have decided to vacate, I don't think makes any sense.
What will also be interesting is what happens to the economy because I did a little bit of research here and I thought, will this be the straw that breaks the camel's back and kind of escalates the flight from California to states like Texas and Nevada from people who think it's just become a bad consumer product where it's both expensive and bad. They pay some of the highest taxes in the world.
You know, housing prices are crazy. And because of the stress on many industries, especially in L.A., where production, the entertainment industry is down 40% year on year. Well, a lot of people just say, that's it. Give me my check for my house that's been burnt down and we're out. What the data shows, though, is that most people typically don't leave after a disaster.
And in California, despite all of the noise about people exiting the state, when they move, they usually move to another city in California. And you're going to see so much capital pour into Los Angeles. Housing prices, I would imagine, will escalate in the short term because of the destruction in housing stock or available housing stock.
But I wonder if over the long term, you see kind of an economic boomlet or just a boom because of all the money and building that's going to go into Los Angeles. And then to just start to get off our heels and onto our toes, is this an opportunity for Los Angeles? I was with, ironically or accidentally, a member of the International Olympic Committee yesterday at this talk.
And he was saying, you know, we want to figure this out because immediately I went to, well, will they be able to have the Olympics in 2028? And I would imagine they'll diversify to some other venues in San Diego or San Francisco. But I do think this kind of stuff does bring out the best in regular citizens, all those videos of people handling pets.
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