WEBVTT - Emily Sundberg on How Nobody Is Coming to Save Gen Z 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:16.360 Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News. 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:22.320 Hello, odd lots listeners. You are listening to another special 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.520 episode of the podcast. It was recorded in New York 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:29.520 City on July twenty sixth. In this conversation, we talked 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:32.559 to Emily Sunberg of the feed Me newsletter. We are 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:35.440 talking about how gen Z sees the world, how they 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:37.720 think about capitalism, how they think about money, how they 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:40.559 think about investing, how they think about spending it, and 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:43.519 how they think about how nobody is coming to save them. 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:44.160 That's right. 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:46.120 I don't think it's a secret at this point that 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:50.080 gen Z seems to love stock market investing and things 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:52.920 like that, trying to make money. So take a listen. 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:56.480 First question, I've been on my mind the last couple 0:00:56.520 --> 0:00:59.680 of days. You have a very like young plugged in 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:04.800 like sort of business capitalism audience. What percentage of your 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:06.920 readers do you think voted for u Zoran? 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:12.720 A young man I think he was nineteen, a Yale student, 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:14.679 emailed me this morning and asked if I could put 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:18.559 that poll in my newsletter, and I didn't. It felt 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.319 a little late, but I should have. I'm guessing sixty 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:27.800 five percent. Cautiously like, yeah, can. 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:30.960 You maybe describe your sort of average reader just for 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.720 people who might not be aware, like what population are 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:35.760 you plugged into here? 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:38.640 So I don't know if any of you use substack, 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:40.800 but they don't give you these analytics. So all of 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:44.360 my data about my readership has been quite anecdotal from 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:48.080 just looking at people's profiles in the comment section and 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:49.520 seeing who shows up to my parties. 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:51.920 Do any of you read it? Like if I do? 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:54.200 Okay, so some of you that's some of my audience. 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:57.840 I like to say that my readership is everyone from 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:01.200 bartenders to billionaires. But I would say, like, if you're 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:03.920 paying eighty dollars a year for a newsletter, then you're 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:07.200 probably making a decent amount of money, or you're at 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.400 least interested in making money. And I think it's a 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:15.800 mostly New York audience thirty to forty five ish, But 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:17.800 if you come to my parties you'll see who else 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:20.760 there is. But I would say, like people interested in 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.959 making money and somewhat interested in New York City business 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:24.440 and culture. 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:28.080 So the first time, several tries to get you on 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:31.600 the podcast, but finally making it happen, and I wanted 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:35.000 to talk about like gen Z and capitalism, because I 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:40.000 feel like millennials and maybe Gen X, but Millennials in 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:42.840 particular like sort of had this love hate relationship, like 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:46.760 sort of apologized for wanting money, so ambivalent about it. 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:49.480 And I get the impression that the younger generation is 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:51.600 like much more comfortable with like. 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:53.400 Yeah, we want to make a ton of money. 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:53.720 Yeah. 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:57.560 So I'm like, yeah, so talk about if that's correct 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:58.200 this perception. 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:01.200 I think one thing that's very clear about gen Z 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:04.760 is that they've repeatedly been told nobody. 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:06.120 Is coming to save you. 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:10.560 You're going to graduate into a job market that barely exists, 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:12.399 and if you get a job, you might not even 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:14.079 have a desk or an office to go into. 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:15.200 A lot of. 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:19.320 Them were home during COVID, and they're also seeing like 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:23.280 shootings and schools all the time, and they're seeing their 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:27.639 capital getting sworn like there it's nobody's coming to save them, 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:30.680 and it's sort of up to them to make the 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.160 most of this world while it's still in existence. And 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:37.119 you hear this sense of like get the bag while 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:38.840 the world is still here for. 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:40.640 You to make some money out of it. What was 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:41.200 your question? 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:45.360 No, that was basically it like that's kind of overwhelming. 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:47.920 Sentiment that I hear from these people. Yeah. 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:50.120 I think it was like some survey and they asked 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:51.520 all the generations, like what do you need to have 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.120 a good life, and there's something like seventy thousand whatever, 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:56.320 and then gen Z was like five hundred thousand dollars 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:57.200 salary or something like that. 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:01.080 Yeah, I mean you're even seeing like if you're a creator, 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:04.400 even at like Goldman Sachs, you're probably making more money 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:06.760 as like making day in the life tiktoks than you 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:10.640 are from your salary. And like there's this growing creator economy, 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:14.480 and your role model might be somebody who's like made 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:18.239 millions and millions of dollars a year from humiliating themselves online, 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.200 and like there's all these possibilities and tools from entering 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:23.960 the creator economy. Like I think Bloomberg published a story 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:28.520 last week that even just the market for creator marketing 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:30.000 is like thirty three billion dollars. 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:31.279 Now, it's massive. 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:35.080 This idea that no one's coming to save you. We've 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:37.440 talked about this on an episode before, but it does 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:40.920 feel like that kind of translates into people making these 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:45.040 lottery ticket type bets. Right, So I'll buy into crypto 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:48.159 or I'll make a ridiculous options trade or something like 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:50.919 that and hope that I just get lucky and save myself. 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:54.320 M hmm, yeah, I think like something with crypto. There's 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:58.080 this online sort of sportsmanship and camaraderie around it as well, 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:01.800 So there's like this fun competition and making the money, 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:04.720 and it's all very public as well. To me, like 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:07.280 you're seeing out how much your peers are making and winning, 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.800 and you're almost like seeing how much they're taking home 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:12.080 each week, which is stressful. 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:14.839 How much of the nobody is coming to save you. 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:19.680 Mentality is like AI dread like jobs as we know 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:20.760 them might not exist. 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:23.360 I think a lot of it, Yeah, Moore. 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:26.679 I mean back to this idea that say you graduate 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.320 from college last week on a one hundred degree day 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:31.280 and you don't have a job lined up yet, or 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:33.600 maybe you do have a job lined up, and you're 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:36.600 entering a very flat company where there's not like a 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:40.000 clear ladder for you to climb, and not only is 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.440 your timeline there, it probably feels somewhat flat, but the 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:47.400 end is like whether you're a copywriter or if you're 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:50.400 working in finance, there's like the end of it might 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:54.640 be a replacement with mass layoffs and AI coming in 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:55.440 to take that job. 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.320 I'm going to ask a completely self interested question, but 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:02.080 does gen Z truly hate the millennial generation? 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:03.160 Is that a real thing? 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:05.760 I'm not gen Z, so like, I'm not like the 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:09.640 speaker of the generation. I'm I guess maybe how I'm thirty, 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:14.360 So yeah, there's like but I never identified as gens. 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:17.480 I'm definitely identify more with millennials. I don't think they 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:20.480 truly hate millennials. I don't think that's the case. I 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.600 think that there's like a lot of parts about there's 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:26.800 like this tweetness to millennials that is like cringey, but 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:28.679 that's fair. 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:29.200 I agree. 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:31.560 Yeah, I'm really actually. 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:35.880 I've actually been thinking about this phenomenon of like really 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:37.960 flat companies for a while, so I thought it was 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:40.320 like really interesting that you said that, because. 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:42.839 It really feels like and we actually did. 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:45.760 An episode recently with the economist Ricardo Houseman where he 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:48.919 sort of talked about like companies their structure is just 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:50.560 they have a lot of different people who are like 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:52.960 the talent, but it doesn't feel like they're just sort 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:55.640 of normal jobs at a lot of companies for people 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.000 who are just sort of normal to get. 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:00.560 Yeah, I worked at Meta for a few years and 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:03.680 there were like these Roman numerals next to your position, 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:05.680 and you knew how much everybody at the company was 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.080 making if they were like a three or five, And 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:10.040 when you moved from a four to a five, it 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:13.880 was like twenty thousand dollars more year, like not life changing, 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:16.360 like maybe you're taking an extra few ubers like a 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:19.840 year or something like that. And it felt very flat like. 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.240 And it's also hard to look at somebody who you're 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:25.000 working with who's two levels higher than you and necessarily 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.360 aspire to that, Like you're not going to stay an 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:29.280 extra two hours at night. 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:31.680 It's not inspiring. 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:34.640 So just going back to Momdani. So one of the 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:38.640 theories about why he's kind of resonating with the younger 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:41.400 crowd nowadays is this idea that Okay, they don't really 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:45.480 have a stake in capitalism necessarily, like they don't feel 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.800 like they're being rewarded by the capitalist system, and so 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:52.520 they're voting for change. Is that something you kind of 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:55.240 observe in your day to day interactions. 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:57.880 Well, I work alone, so I'm not like observing many 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:03.160 interactions from people, but like online. I think the people 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:07.840 who gravitated towards him the strongest felt more religion like hope, 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.800 Like it was like this idea of hope and something different, 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.880 and it was like a salve after such a rough 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:17.120 beginning of the year with like Trump coming into the 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:19.920 White House. But yeah, I don't I think it was. 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:23.400 It felt more emotional and almost religious to me than like, 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:27.080 at least from what I've been observing, and and why 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:29.640 people attach themselves to that message so strongly. 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:33.000 What about we're talking about, Okay, you have this desire 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:35.200 to get the bag, make a bunch of money and 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:38.520 like a lottery ticket metaphorically with crypto or whatever. How 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:41.880 does this mentality how would you say it changes consumption 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:45.000 patterns and like the impulse to just like save or 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:46.679 like how does it affect what people buy? 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:47.840 That's a good question. 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:49.960 I was talking to a friend the other day who 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.760 said that she was at her younger sister's graduation on 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.760 the West Coast and all of the young women were 0:08:56.760 --> 0:09:00.960 wearing Gucci sandals, like all of them at this school. 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:04.280 It was in the Bay Area, and she's ten years 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:05.800 older than her sister, and she was like, this is 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:08.439 not something that I witnessed, and it's not like everyone 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:12.280 there is loaded to afford this this like specific sandal. 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:13.800 And I know that a lot of you might have 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:16.560 read that story in New York Magazine a few weeks 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:20.520 ago about the West Village and this sort of homogeneous 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:23.880 looking young person in New York City, and I'm realizing 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.760 that that's kind of a phenomenon across the whole country. 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.160 It's like everyone is wearing the same buying the same, 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:31.400 like fitting into this. 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:32.760 And millennials back to that. 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:35.160 It's like everybody wanted to do their own thing and 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.199 listen to their own music and have their own style 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:40.280 and have their own tumbler or whatever. 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:41.480 Like it was annoying. 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:45.920 It was annoying, but it created like diversity of opinions 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:48.679 and the ability to have like small shows that sold 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:51.600 out and stuff and small brands that existed in small 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:54.600 stores that existed. But and I haven't fully baked out 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:57.080 the thought, but I started realizing it like a week ago, 0:09:57.160 --> 0:09:59.200 like the West Village thing has quickly turned into like 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:02.040 if you live in them in a flyover state, or 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:04.439 you live in the West Village, you might be wearing 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:07.000 the same exact outfit and be just as obsessed with 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:12.080 like the macha thing whatever. So that's like definitely part 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:16.359 of the consumption conversation. It's like you're checking off boxes 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:20.439 of like small things that you're buying, whether it's at 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:24.200 Starbucks or Gucci, to like kind of form this perfect 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.160 life of what it means to be a twenty five 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:28.280 year old, And like, Okay, now I'm happy I figured 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:31.920 that out. Something else that I've been reading a lot about. 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:33.560 I have some young readers, and I do a lot 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:37.080 of surveys in my newsletter, which is awesome that my 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:39.440 readers are even willing to spend like fifteen minutes on 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:43.440 that because I wouldn't. There's a real sentiment of, like, 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:45.720 the world is burning, so why shouldn't we enjoy the 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:48.440 things that we can. And I don't know what the 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:51.200 savings accounts of these people look like or the credit 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:53.560 card bills look like, but I know that a lot 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:55.319 of these people are spending money that they do not have, 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:58.880 because I understand that the jobs that usually facilitate that 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.000 are a lot they're paying a lot more than what 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:02.280 these young people are making. 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:04.320 And I imagine there's a sense that I'm never going 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:07.240 to make enough to buy a house or for sure, and. 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:09.439 Then there's like the whole buy now, pay later conversation 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:11.960 which you can buy now, pay later, you're seamless, like 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:15.360 it's crazy. Yeah, So I think it's like you make 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:17.720 the money, you spend the money, and they're probably not 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:21.760 even thinking about what about my kids because that's the 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:22.959 dating apps don't even work. 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:24.160 So I don't know where the kids come in. 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:27.160 Now, this is bleak, there's weak actually, you know, but 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:32.520 there's it's I'm enjoying this. So I lived for many 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:34.720 years of my life in Illinois. My dad was a 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:37.559 physics professor at a very small college, and really it 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:40.480 always strikes me like that he was totally fine moving 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:44.680 to a fairly small, large town in Illinois. When you 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:47.960 said flyover states, is there this aspiration that like you 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:50.040 have to get to one of the big cities that 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:51.719 like you have to get to like New York or 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:52.760 LA or San Francisci. 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:54.360 I think as much as I don't think that's like 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:55.080 a new thing. 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:59.920 I think it's like, well, we'll get to the West Village, like, 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:02.840 but I don't think that everybody there's like a new 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:06.240 grind to do that. I think that there's just as 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:08.959 many young people in New York living with four roommates 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:11.880 in a one bedroom with like weird home depot walls. 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:13.720 Everywhere as there were when I was young. 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.520 Where they're working, I mean, the three of us are 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:20.000 all like in the creator economy. 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:23.960 I'm sure that there's a whole micro group of young 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:26.360 people doing the same trying to do the same thing we. 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:27.559 Are in the creator economy. 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:31.960 Just on the hey, there's a Mike. 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:34.840 This is what else are we doing? We're creating? 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:35.760 Yeah? 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:40.120 Did I disagree? No, Okay, we're creators. 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.240 Just on the West Village girl thing and the idea 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:48.440 of homogeneity among fashion and consumerism. What do you think 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:51.720 is driving that? Is that like a lack of community 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:54.120 or I don't know, Like. 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:56.120 That was one of the most shocking parts of the 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:59.439 story to me, Like I feel so silly. If there 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:01.079 was one person in this room with the same exact 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:03.800 outfit as me, I'd be like, ga, wait a second, 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:08.720 how what happened? Like I thought I was putting something together, 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:12.720 two white pieces of clothing, But it is it's really 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:14.200 weird to like, I don't know if you've ever been 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.319 in one of those workout classes, but it's like they 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:17.200 all have this set. 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:19.959 It's I'm not sure what it is. 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:23.360 I have to do some research, because it's an extreme 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:27.760 comfort with having the an identical life. And I think 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:30.640 part of it is probably like the Amazon storefront and 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.680 they're all following the same influencer who's promoting the same 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:36.880 product and everybody buys it immediately. There's this piece of 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:42.000 clothing I guess it was a dress from a Tory 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:44.400 birch a few weeks ago, and I posted it because 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.320 I saw like five people at the at different weddings 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:49.520 on the same weekend wearing it and it's a very 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.760 distinct like hot pink dress with mirrors all over it. 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:55.360 And I said, this is going to be the wedding 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:57.800 guest dress of the summer, like this is going to 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:00.240 be everywhere. And it sold out the next day, Like 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:02.400 people were not like then, I'm not going to buy it. 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:05.439 Everyone bought it, Like everybody clicked the link and then 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:09.320 bought it. Like there's this I think when you're all 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:12.320 following the same people and the same brands and having 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:15.760 the same excitement about the time people follow what time 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:18.520 like clothing drops come out at these brands too, Like 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:21.320 what time the sites get updated. There's a lot more 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:23.360 likelihood than that you're all going to buy the same thing. 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:25.680 Yeah, it's really weird, Like you'd think, Okay, people want 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:27.320 to be distinct. But I remember my wife and I 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:29.640 went out to a comedy show a couple months ago, 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:31.920 and everybody was dressed the same, and both of us 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:33.240 were like sort of flabbergasted. 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:34.200 It was the same. 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:36.800 It was just like sort of black, like a sort 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:38.720 of black shirt. I mean, you know, it's New York, 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:41.000 so people have always worn all black. But it was 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:43.960 really weird. There was no color in anyone's clothes in 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:46.400 the entire audience that night, and it was very strange. 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:49.920 How much do those Gucci sand goals cost. 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:51.760 Eight hundred? 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:53.880 I don't know, man, I don't wear I don't have, okay, 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:58.600 but like a lot of money for a pair of 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:01.400 shoes and then for everyone to feel comfort. I mean 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:03.200 we see it all the time with bags and stuff, 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:06.680 but it is sort of funny when it's an entire wardrobe. 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:09.400 You talk about the burken what. 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:11.600 Part I don't talk about, just talk about it. Do 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:14.840 people still buy burkins like as an investment? I don't know. 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.480 Bethany Frankel said she's made like a ton of money 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:18.480 on flipping her burcands. 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:21.520 But god, flip is crazy. Yeah, she's a flipper. She did. 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:23.200 She's bought some new houses too. 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:25.880 One of the things that I always like reading in 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:28.360 your newsletter is like you're always talking about new brands 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:31.160 that are launching, new restaurants, et cetera. There's been we 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:34.400 talk about volatility in the market, all this uncertainty due 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:38.000 to trade and whatever else. Do you feel any slow 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:41.720 down it all in sort of new entrepreneurial endeavors on 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:44.960 account of all this uncertainty that's going on. Or is 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:46.840 it just like people just powering through. 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:52.080 It a slow down of new economic endeavors like from young. 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:55.400 People, yeah, or just like like new business launches. Has 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:58.000 that slowed down at all in your view with all 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:00.000 the economic question marks? 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:02.280 No, I think people are doing it differently though. 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:03.920 I don't think people are as excited to take on 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.920 like venture capital, and they're more likely to like bootstrap 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:09.800 or attach themselves to a friend and like try something 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:12.200 and have it fail and sort of quietly brush it 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:14.760 aside and be like I didn't start that weird vodka. 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:16.520 Company that it's like that. 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:19.600 Don't do that anymore, you know, where I think like 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:22.720 I can speak to the girl boss very well, like 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:25.440 the girl boss of of my When I was like 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:27.840 coming up in my twenties, was like taking these huge 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:31.440 checks from whatever fore runner, a general catalyst or whatever. 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:33.360 I never really thought about the implications. And then I 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:35.520 think young people have sort of learned what that means 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:37.800 at the end, which means people are gonna want some 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:39.800 return and often they don't get it. 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:42.360 So I know you were talking in your newsletter. I 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:45.520 think it was just this week about another article in 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.120 New York mag which was about the Hamptons and the 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.920 sort of like existential stress. I guess that rich people 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:55.520 in the Hamptons feel about their lifestyle and they feel 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.520 competitive with one another, and I think you said that 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:01.960 people were kind of like batting that away and saying 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:03.840 that's not so much of a thing. But then on 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:06.119 the other hand, you also wrote about weddings and how 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:09.919 much everyone is spending on weddings nowadays, how expensive it 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.359 is to be a guest. I guess my question is, like, 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:16.439 what pockets of the culture, whether it's New York or beyond, 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.679 are are the most consumerist or wealth obsessed for you 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:20.160 right now? 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:28.080 Women, The thing is, it's all happening, all the cameras 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:30.680 are always on. So like, let's take weddings, for example, 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:33.720 Hampton's are a different story. It's like a different There's 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.880 so many different facets going on there with the weddings. 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:39.240 It's like it used to be about the bride and 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:42.040 now it's about every individual at the wedding and the 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:44.919 photo that they're getting and where the photo is going 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:48.280 to end up after. I'm speaking from the point of 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:51.720 view of a New York woman who's like, I don't 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:53.480 know if this is the case for everyone. But something 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:55.720 else that I identified this morning with my husband that I 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:58.560 think is that I think that the definition of friend 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:03.120 who qualifies for wedding is sort of like expanding as well. 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:06.760 So there's this weird gift culture going on where if 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:09.080 I invite you, then I have to invite you, and 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:11.440 I'm expecting that you're going to invite me to yours. 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:14.320 And I also think that there's something happening with like 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:17.440 dms and group texts where people are getting closer faster 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:20.760 and like that also events the wedding guest lists. 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:25.119 Yeah, this resonates someone in want I think that someone 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:28.439 in a group chat recently now they're getting married, and 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:29.920 I was like, what the heck, why didn't I get 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:30.439 an invite? 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:33.040 We're in a group chat together, so I could see 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:34.879 like that stress totally. 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:37.320 I was talking to somebody before my wedding, which was 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:40.040 two months ago, about my wedding and they were like, 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:40.880 so am I invited? 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:42.600 And I was like, no, I'm just telling you something 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:46.640 about my life right now. But there's also an etiquette epidemic. Wait, 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:47.280 what does that mean? 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:48.399 What does that mean? 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:52.359 An epidemic like people not holding the door for you, 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:55.760 people posting photos of your wedding before you do, like 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:56.520 things like that. 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.639 I think we're at time. That was so good. There 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:01.720 was really I love your newsletter, I love. 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:03.600 Finally getting a chance to chat, and I think we 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:06.359