Is Energy the Next Big Trade? + How to Actually Tax Billionaires

Scott Galloway breaks down why energy is already the defining investing story of the AI era, why Democrats keep losing on progressive taxation because they'd rather demonize billionaires than do their jobs, and shares his honest guide to winding down with edibles. Want to be featured in a future episode? Send a voice recording to [email protected], or drop your question in the r/ScottGalloway subreddit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:27Speaker 01

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• 1:27Scott Galloway?

  Welcome to Office Hours with Pravji. This is the part of the show where we answer your questions about business, tech, entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind. Anyway, if you'd like to submit a question for next time, you can send a voice recording to officehourswithpravjmedia.com. Again, that's officehourswithpravjmedia.com. Or post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit, and we just might feature it in our next episode. Our first question comes from Reddit user TheGreenLawn, who says, "Scott, energy is arguably the defining capital story of the next decade. AI's turbocharging electricity demand and critical mineral supply chains are reshaping geopolitics. Yet, as an industry insider, I feel that the overall topic rarely gets the same narrative treatment as tech or finance. Do you see energy as the next

• 2:08Scott Galloway?

  great investing story?" Thanks, and I disagree. I think it's getting a ton of attention, whether it's sort of adjacent to...

• 2:18Scott Galloway?

  Data centers, our nuclear powers rejuvenation, or it's just, there's a ton. I think the best performing stock of the last three or four years might be Bloom Energy. So people are sort of going down the stack, if you will, of the supply chain, and everything sort of leads to energy. So I think it's getting a lot of attention. Why? Because the scale of the AI buildup, AI's capex boom is the second largest as a share of used GDP in history, bigger than the railroads, second only to the, I think, the Louisiana Purchase. Not as big as, I think, the railroads at one time. There was two railroad booms, and I think at one point it was like 8% of GDP or even greater. And then there's the build out of the electrical grid, the highway system,

• 3:03Scott Galloway?

  the Apollo program, although that wasn't very big. And then the internet and sort of the telecom infrastructure. What's interesting is typically, kind of two or three years post, any build out or infrastructure build out that takes more than 2% or 3% of GDP, there's a crash because you can't justify the build out economically. And so unlike past tech booms, Facebook, Instagram, DoorDash, it's fundamentally a supply side story about making chips, building data centers, empowering them. It's money creating demand for energy, not the reverse. So what does that mean for electricity? The IEA reports that data center electricity demand grew 17% in 2025 against just 3% growth in overall global electricity demand

• 3:45Scott Galloway?

  and projects it will double by 2030 with AI-focused centers tripling. To put the investment scale in context, the five biggest tech companies spent more on capex in 2025 than the entire global oil and gas industry invested in production. So then why is your electricity bill going up? You might ask. Prices are rising near data center hubs, but the real culprit isn't AI stealing electrons from consumers. It's the cost of transmission infrastructure, transformers, wires hit by tariffs, post-COVID labor costs, and decades of deferred investment. Isn't that interesting? It's maintenance, the supplies to build this shit. As opposed to the actual energy itself. Could you be, I guess you could say it's the cost to build the infrastructure for

• 4:29Scott Galloway?

  the energy, not the electricity itself. Hmm. Tomato, tomato. There's also a geopolitical problem nobody's talking about. China controls roughly 80% of battery-grade graphite and rare earth elements. And in 2025 began weaponizing that dominance through a series of escalating export controls on materials critical to chips, EVs and defense systems. The Council on Foreign Relations called it "a dangerous inflection point for the US economy." US policy has made all of this more difficult. The one big beautiful bill, signed July 4th of last year, terminated most IRA clean energy credits years ahead of schedule. Analysts now project it will reduce new clean energy additions to the grid by 50% to 70% by 2035.

• 5:09Scott Galloway?

  And I think in the last year, China's added more solar capacity than we've added in the last 10 or 25. It's insane how they're going long on energy and we're just assuming that the capex from the small players will catch up. However, economics, despite the collapse and the support of renewables by this administration, economics might win and renewables keep getting built because they're simply the cheapest and fastest way to add grid capacity. I remember being in, that's up by Southwest, and my Pivot co-host's ex-wife, Megan, a really smart woman, came up to me and showed me, there's this site in Texas showing where all the electricity is coming at that time. And in the middle of the day, literally, they were getting 60% of their energy from

• 5:54Scott Galloway?

  wind and 22% or 17% from solar. So, the bottom line is the economics are beginning to pay off. And as China goes deeper and deeper into solar panel production and batteries, the scale, they get cheaper and cheaper. And in some, renewables become competitive. And I would imagine the biggest Epi pen jolt to the heart for renewables happened with the spike in oil prices. All of a sudden renewables are going to be, just have an increased focus and investment in the private sector. Now, does that mean we shouldn't be massively, as a nation, investing in renewables? Yeah, I think we should. I think we should also be investing in chips. I think the- The war, if you will, is not going to be fought over energy as much as it's going

• 6:35Scott Galloway?

  to be fought over who controls rare earths, which is China's dominance and leverage, and who controls chips, which is the US and Taiwan's kind of leverage or advantage. The power argument, I think that possibly, possibly, that while it appears everyone is moving towards that the kink in the hose, the foot on the carotid artery of AI is inability to keep up with power demands, I typically find when everyone's worried about something, that's not what you need to be worried about. And I also would hypothesize that possibly different technologies around quantum, different technologies around the advances in chips

• 7:20Scott Galloway?

  are not going to increase, or not only will increase compute and inference, but will massively decrease the amount of power needed. So I wonder if the innovation is going to not be as much around improving the quality of the supply as it will be around decreasing the demand for power consumption, if you will. But the word is out. Power stocks, Constellation Energy, which I believe is the largest owner of nuclear power plants, I mean, these things, even utilities have skyrocketed. So I think it's gotten a lot of attention. And I wonder if the trade is, if it's already too late for that trade. But I think it's getting

• 8:02Scott Galloway?

  a lot of attention. And the only insight I would offer is that because we're so worried about it, I wonder if people are fast at work at reducing the demand of all of the chips and LLMs and data centers, or figuring out technologies that don't, aren't as energy thirsty, if you will. I appreciate the question. Question number two is an email submitted by a listener. "Scott, you recently pushed back against what you called AOC's demonization of billionaires. I've always believed policy should focus more on raising the social floor than attacking wealth itself. But today's extreme concentration of wealth and power increasingly distorts democratic representation, rights, and influence. At the same time, rhetoric rooted in anger and division seems to resonate more than appeals to hope. Doesn't AOC's more confrontational tone reflect a

• 8:47Scott Galloway?

  political reality that now aligns more closely with our society's dynamics?" Cheers. So just for context, I put out

• 8:56Scott Galloway?

  A video that went semi-viral. I basically said that I was in favor of Mumdani's tax on pied-à-terres. If you're wealthy enough to own a second home in Manhattan that's worth more than $5 million, you're wealthy. And I think it's fair to say that in the last 30 years, there's been an enormous transfer of wealth from labor and consumers to shareholders. And put another way, the wealthy in the top 1% by any metric have just outperformed every other part of the lower 99. So, nobody likes taxes, but if you're going to increase taxes, I think it makes sense to restore a progressive tax structure. And in sum, I'm now believing that as somebody who has been totally focused on money their

• 9:39Scott Galloway?

  whole lives, once you get to a certain point, you go no incremental happiness, which says to me the following. A progressive, a very progressive tax structure is the most, is the best place to increase taxes, or the least taxing place to increase taxes. The great economic boom in the great society and productivity and an embrace of democracy and young people feeling good about their country, having more what they perceived as greater, greater potential was when we had marginal tax rates of 60, 70, and even 90% at one point on the super wealthy. I'm not suggesting to go back to 90%, but I'm suggesting that billionaires shouldn't have a lower tax rate than, you know, middle-class Americans. And people will respond, well, the top 1% pay 48% of taxes in New York.

• 10:24Scott Galloway?

  I get it, but the super-rich are figuring out ways to avoid real wealth because owners, essentially, their ownership, the asset they own, compounds tax-deferred, if you will, whereas earners lose 10, 20, 40% of their money every year. The people who get most screwed in our tax system are actually what I call the super-earners. And that is mom's a baller at a law firm, dad owns a chiropractic clinic, they make one and a half million dollars combined, but they don't own anything, they just make everything through current income, and that gets taxed in New York, New Jersey, or California at 52, 53 percentage points. So, I believe that a pied-à-terre tax that goes after the asset is not going to reduce anyone's quality of life.

• 11:05Scott Galloway?

  I will lose 100 grand a year, I own a home, I've done the calculation, but it's worth it, and quite frankly, I can afford it, as I believe most people who own pied-à-terres in New York can. So, there's that. What caused the pushback, or what you're talking about, is I went on to say that Mumdani... Personalizing the attack and doxing Ken Griffin and going to his condominium building and demonizing him, I think is how we elect J.D. Vance as president. Why? In America, distinct of a very loud minority of voices, there are a lot, maybe even the majority of Americans, all aspire to be millionaires themselves. And so they don't, for the most part, shitpost millionaires. Now, are there billionaires that behave poorly?

• 11:49Scott Galloway?

  Is there an Epstein class that deserves to be called out or imprisoned? Absolutely. But the majority of Americans themselves aspire to be wealthy. And one of the great things about America is that we do, in fact, celebrate success and we want to create a lot of millionaires. Should we have someone worth $650 billion? I don't think so. And I'm increasingly believing that power corrupts, absolute power absolutely corrupts, and the only kevlar we have throughout history against this type of absolute corruption that comes from sequestering of all power to a small number of people is progressive taxation. 1945, to call it 1995, was an anomaly in history where the world's greatest innovation, the American middle class, emerged. It was an accident. Middle classes typically don't happen.

• 12:33Scott Galloway?

  Typically, a small group of very talented, very lucky people aggregate a lot of power and wealth and use that power and wealth to aggregate even more at the cost of the bottom 99.9. And because we came together as a nation and said we weren't going to let that happen, we had what I think was the most productive society in the world. And we seem to be reverting to the laws of the jungle and going back to a small number of people controlling everything. Having said that, I'm all for progressive tax policy, but how do we get there? How do Democrats actually be effective versus just being right? How do we redistribute income instead of redistributing virtue?

• 13:12Scott Galloway?

  We do this by talking about sensible tax policy. An alternative minimum tax on anyone making over a million dollars of 40%. On an alternative minimum tax of any company making over 50 million in profits of, say, 45%. You don't need to show up to people's homes and start demonizing them. And by the way, that's just really fucking stupid. He's gonna, you don't think he's gonna take that six and a half billion dollar project that he's working on in New York and figure out a way to do it in Texas or Miami? You don't think the, I think it's a quarter of a billion dollars in donations he's given to New York-based charities, he's gonna start giving elsewhere? It's just stupid. And that's what we do as Democrats, is we'd rather be virtuous and get cheap applause

• 13:54Scott Galloway?

  at a fucking gathering of far lefties than actually figure out a way to get control of government or have influence in government so they can do their fucking job. It drives me crazy when Senators Warren and Sanders talk about billionaires paying their fair share. Well, bitch, do your job. And when I say bitch, I use it androgynously as someone who I'm sick of complaining, both Sanders and Warren. You've been in, Democrats have controlled all three branches of government for years at a time. They've been in the Senate for fucking ever. And yet, as they have been there, taxes on the wealthy have gone down. So are you either ineffective or lying about your sincerity to create a progressive tax structure?

• 14:36Scott Galloway?

  So if you, or if we as Democrats want to continue to demonize young men, look at every podcast, every liberal podcast, it's essentially an eye roll about how irredeemable, incompetent, or generally predatory, all young men are. It talks about how essentially, the majority of white people are subconsciously or unconsciously racist and that all billionaires are bad. AOC has said, "No billionaire has earned their money." So Beyonce and Oprah didn't earn it? Jeff Bezos? He earned it. He was born to a single mother who was 17. Now, should he pay 50, 60, 80% tax rates? I believe he should.

• 15:21Scott Galloway?

  And this is how we're effective, not just right. We don't demonize people. We don't play identity politics. We make a sober, thoughtful, competent argument around why we need to restore a progressive tax structure. And you're never going to get there if you lose 60% of the voting population, which is white, if you lose billionaires, many of whom are Democrats and would like to see a more progressive tax structure and support these ideas, or we lose the election like we did the last one because we demonize and don't see the problems that young men face. So let's do this for a change as Democrats. Instead of wanting to

• 16:03Scott Galloway?

  virtue signal, let's do our fucking jobs and get elected and restore a progressive tax structure. Am I in favor of increased taxation across the wealthiest Americans, alternative minimum tax, lowering the tax exemption on estates from 30 million to 1 million, triggering a tax event when you borrow against stock, which is the common practice of the very wealthy? Yes. How do we get there? Not by playing identity politics and demonizing people who you see as born wrong. That was a rant. Thanks for the question. We'll be right back after a quick break.

• 16:49Scott Galloway?

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• 17:33Scott Galloway?

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• 17:49Scott Galloway?

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• 18:32Scott Galloway?

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• 19:00Scott Galloway?

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• 19:45Scott Galloway?

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• 20:08Scott Galloway?

  Welcome back. Question number three.

• 20:10Speaker 06

  Hey Prof G, you often talk about taking edibles at night. As a 44 year old dad, I'm trying to navigate some new ways to take the edge off a little bit at night. I'm wondering about your routine. Do you do indica, sativia, how many milligrams? I'm new to this world of edibles, so I'm interested to hear what you have to say. What should I expect? What does it do for you? How should I start this process? Any recommendations, et cetera? Would love any advice. Thanks for everything you do.

• 20:41Scott Galloway?

  Thanks. So I'm somewhat remiss to encourage anyone to start using alcohol or cannabis or anything else. So I'll just tell you what I do and I'm not endorsing this. So I'll just, I guess I'm sort of endorsing it because I'm telling you what I use. So, look, I, I smoked a decent amount of pot in college, I don't think more or less than most fraternity jarheads at UCLA, but I really enjoyed it. It was bonding.

• 21:11Scott Galloway?

  I had trouble keeping on weight and then one of the things I used to probably get high two or three times a week with my friends and we would just eat a lot, which was good for me. And it was a lot of laughs, a lot of bonding laughs. And there's some evidence that, for those of you young, young people out there, that you need to be very careful with THC as your brain and prefrontal cortex are still evolving. And maybe, maybe that's why I'm so fucked up. But anyways, so I think it's a different ballgame for young people where there's evidence, especially if you have any, any history of schizophrenia or psychosis in your family. And also just generally if you have, and this is true of alcohol and anything else, if you have any history of addiction. So enough with the land acknowledgements. What do I do? I didn't smoke after college.

• 21:56Scott Galloway?

  I decided to get very serious about work for a good 20 odd years and I didn't actually drink that much or smoke. I just focused on work, which in some way is sort of an addiction. And then as I got older, I decided I wanted to get more into or more and more social. I've started drinking more. I started smoking more. I don't smoke and go out and I don't usually do edibles when I go out. Because the thing about THC for me is occasionally it makes me anxious and paranoid, and that is not a good time when you're out. I like to be at home. So I would say once or twice a week, I take an edible. Now, everyone's different. I take a brand called Wild Time, and I get them at a dispensary in Aspen, and I use pear gummies. And I really

• 22:38Scott Galloway?

  like them. I use a hybrid. They're 10mg, so I only take half a gummy. I only start with 5mg. And it's 1:1 THC and CBG. And the CBG compound is intended to make the experience feel clearer and more functional than a heavy indica edible. I don't like being really high. The reason I don't smoke leaf is I have trouble calibrating it. The thing about edibles is you're in it for a longer ride. It's kind of a couple hours, whereas the nice thing about leaf, for me at least, is that if I don't like what I'm feeling, I just kind of take a walk or eat, and then I'm fine. But I have trouble dosing with leaf. So, once or twice a week, if I've had a long day and I feel a little bit stressed, and I think I'm gonna have trouble sleeping, which I increasingly encounter as I get

• 23:23Scott Galloway?

  older, once everyone's in bed, I just hang out with the dogs, and I will take half or 5mg gummy. Again, this, I like Wild Time pear. I've also tried peach. I don't like that as much. I like it to come in a container, because I want to know exactly what I'm getting. And it, just quite frankly, I just sort of melt into the couch. I find them exceptionally unproductive. I've tried to do work on edibles, and it doesn't work for me. I write a lot at night. This is gonna sound awful, but I actually think, especially when I'm writing about personal stuff, that actually alcohol helps. And I'm more emotional and more unguarded with my feelings, and I find that that actually helps my writing,

• 24:08Scott Galloway?

  or my writing resonates with people. At the same time, I don't want to be a bad version of Ernest Hemingway in that it's not have the skills of an Ernest Hemingway, but have the addiction. So I try not to do that too much. But once or twice a week, when you're looking to wind down, I think it's also fun to do with a partner and watch streaming media. But everybody has to pick their poison or not. But if I, again, I'm not endorsing this, I would start very light, very small. It's much better to be not high enough than too high. Do it in a controlled environment. Do it with products that you know are sealed, that come from a legitimate dispensary. But for me, I just enjoy nighttime is kind of my time. I keep very strange hours. I go to bed around two or three in the morning and I wake up around 10. And I find that

• 24:50Scott Galloway?

  it quiets my mind, is the way I would say it. A lot of times when I get in bed, I have trouble turning my mind off, and this helps a lot. I don't do these outdoors. I don't travel with them. But I find it's a nice way to kind of wind down. So where I started, I'm not suggesting this is where you start, very small, two or three milligrams, see how you feel, see if you like it. I think it's fun to do with a partner and just watch a good movie or listen to music. But I have found it's a really nice way to wind down. And on a regular basis, I take one, two, four weeks off because not only do I not want to become dependent on something, that's not a big risk for me. I do not have an addictive personality. But I think the effectiveness starts to wear off. So I don't do anything

• 25:32Scott Galloway?

  more than two or three times a week, other than see above, hang with the dogs. Anyways, hope this helps. And good luck on your journey.

• 25:44Scott Galloway?

  That's all for this episode. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to [email protected]. That's [email protected]. Or if you prefer to ask on Reddit, just post a question on the Scott Galloway subreddit, and we might feature it in an upcoming episode.

• 25:59Scott Galloway?

  This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez and Laura Janer. Kami Rik is our social producer. Brad Williams is our editor. And Drew Burrows is our technical director. Thank you for listening to the Prop G Pod from Prop G Media.

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