According to New York University Stern School of Business professor Scott Galloway, Americans concerned about Donald Trump’s violent immigration crackdown have a powerful way to fight the administration, one that “has been hiding in plain sight.”
The host of “The Prof G Pod” sat down with MS NOW’s Stephanie Ruhle on Tuesday’s “The 11th Hour” to discuss his new campaign, “Resist and Unsubscribe,” which calls on Americans to participate in a monthlong economic strike targeting the “companies driving the markets and enabling our president.”
The boycott urges Americans to flex their economic muscles by opting out of popular subscription-based services, such as ones from Amazon, Apple and Google.
As Galloway explained, a small number of subscription-based companies currently make up a large percentage of the S&P. “If you really want to hurt or send a message to the president, he listens to markets,” he said, adding: “So how do you do that? Have to go after the soft tissue.”
Galloway used OpenAI’s ChatGPT to show the possible effect of a boycott.
“Say you have Anthropic and ChatGPT, and you decide to cancel ChatGPT: $20 a month, $240 [a year],” he explained, referring to a premium subscription. “OpenAI is raising money at an $800 billion market cap, $20 billion revenues — that’s 40 times revenues. So your $240 less of subscription revenues translates to approximately $10,000 in market capitalization.”
“The easiest way to send a strong signal to the markets and to the president is to go after the most fully valued companies whose CEOs have his ear and have enabled him.”
Galloway called the protests against the immigration crackdown “inspiring” and said his proposed boycott is not a replacement for demonstrations. “I think it’s just healthy to do something like this with other people,” he said. “I think it’s an additive or a cumulative effect, not an either/or.”
The podcast host said that as long as there is a “secret police with masks on” roaming the streets, Americans “can do with fewer recurring revenue subscription programs.”
“Political parties don’t foment change — people do,” Galloway said.
You can watch Galloway’s full appearance on “The 11th Hour” in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”