As read by George Hahn. https://www.profgalloway.com/after-the-fires/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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I'm Scott Galloway, and this is No Mercy, No Malice. The LA wildfires appear to be subsiding. What lessons will we take from this crisis? After the fire, as read by George Hahn.
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Chapter 2: What lessons can we learn from the LA wildfires?
My hometown of Los Angeles is experiencing wildfires that have torched a surface area greater than Boston or San Francisco. Students at UCLA, my alma mater, were warned to prepare for an evacuation order that thankfully didn't come. Friends lost homes, others don't know if their houses are still standing, or they're contemplating moving back to what feels like a blast zone.
At least 12,000 structures have been destroyed. The death toll stands at 25. Given the scale of the disaster, that is remarkably low and a testament to the good work of frontline responders and the broader community. The L.A. fires will likely go down as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. The question now? What happens after the fire? The first rule of fires is simple.
Everyone works together to put out the fire, as fire is apolitical, unemotional, and does not discriminate. But just as electric cars go from zero to 60, faster than cars with combustion engines, digitized information accelerates from zero to blame much faster than analog media. Immediately, the left claimed it was climate change and blamed Republicans. Maybe.
Chapter 3: How did the community respond to the wildfires?
Or perhaps you're tempting fate when you build hundreds of thousands of tinderboxes in a desert where high and low pressure systems collide to create tidal waves of hot air, i.e. the Santa Ana winds. First Lady-elect Elon Musk blamed DEI.
The shitposter-in-chief, Donald Trump, blamed California Governor Gavin Newsom for failing to sign the Water Restoration Declaration, providing much-needed water to emergency services. The problem? A. That declaration does not exist. In local news, the billionaire real estate developer who lost in LA's most recent mayoral election blamed the city for fire hydrant failures in Pacific Palisades.
The system was pushed beyond its limits, as water demand was four times normal demand for 15-plus hours. Note, the people screaming the loudest about wasteful government spending are always the first to demand government help in a crisis. LAFD Chief Kristen Crowley took time out from fighting the fires to blame Mayor Karen Bass for cutting $17.6 million from the department's budget.
The department's $895 million budget actually increased by $58 million as a result of the latest union contract. To get that higher pay to firefighters, the department reduced spending on equipment and training. The mayor's response added to the drama, fueling rumors that the chief had been fired. Right-wing podcasters blame Fire Chief Crowley's gayness, saying she was a DEI hire.
Note, she has outstanding qualifications. We've become stupid, hurting others while hurting ourselves with algorithms and politics that reward divisive rhetoric. Both sides engage in this, but the right is louder and bolder, i.e. more full of shit than the left. It's far more likely that climate change played a role in the fires than China, Ukraine, or DEI.
Contrary to viral claims on social media, the Hollywood sign didn't burn down. One clue that the AI-generated images were fake? An extra letter making it Hollywooded. Adjudicated liar Alex Jones falsely claimed that firefighters were battling the blazes using ladies' handbags as buckets because officials had donated their equipment to Ukraine. His post on Twitter, X, has 29 million views.
As an LAFD public information officer told the Wall Street Journal, quote, it takes people and time to track down or debunk social media rumors. It takes us away from doing more important things, unquote.
By coincidence, the fires began the same day Mark Zuckerberg, the Immortan Joe of the information wasteland, announced that Meta would end fact-checking and replace the program with Community Notes. Zuckerberg cited free speech. His decision was about bending the knee and shareholder value. Zuck also made a stupid comment about companies needing more masculine energy.
He believes masculinity is increasing your personal wealth by sacrificing the safety of the most vulnerable. No, masculinity is about protecting the vulnerable. See aerial firefighters demonstrating expertise at enormous personal risk to save lives and protect homes. Twice, LA County officials mistakenly sent evacuation alerts to 10 million people. those were potentially dangerous errors.
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Chapter 4: What role does social media play in disaster information?
Old school local broadcasters corrected these mistakes in real time, heading off a catastrophic panic. Meanwhile, WatchDuty, a nonprofit app that tracks emergencies and sends real-time alerts, has had 2 million downloads since the fires began. It's currently available in 22 states, operating with a team of 200 volunteers and 15 full-time employees.
Unfortunately, local news is in short supply across the U.S. Over the past decade, there have been $23 billion worth of broadcast TV ownership deals, further concentrating an industry in which the three largest owners already control 40% of all local news stations and are present in over 80% of media markets.
Zooming out to include print, radio, and digital, more than half the counties in the U.S. have little or no access to local news. Most of these news deserts are located in high-poverty areas and serve historically marginalized communities. People say digital media gives everyone a voice. Maybe. But digital media has definitely drowned out actual journalists.
The question isn't whether to rebuild, but where. Pacific Palisades is a wonderful place to live, but those amazing views of beautiful topography of foothills, mountains, canyons, and ridgelines are located in fire zones. Early estimates put the total cost of the wildfires at $250 to $275 billion. The property insurance bill is expected to easily top $20 billion.
California's insurance market was already in crisis, as leading insurers had done the math and decided to leave the state or not renew policies in fire-prone areas. California's state-backed Fair Plan is the insurer of last resort in these areas. Statewide, the number of Fair Plan policies in 2024 increased 40% from 2023 and 85% in Pacific Palisades.
continuing to underwrite wood-built craftsman homes in Altadena, median home value $1.3 million, and mansions along the Pacific Coast Highway as a wealth transfer from California's taxpayers to some of its wealthiest people. This isn't unique to California.
Ten states across the political spectrum, including Florida and Texas, sued a federal flood insurance program after it adjusted premiums to better reflect climate realities. As one meme put it, you may not believe in climate change, but your insurance company does. Governor Newsom has proposed a $2.5 billion Marshall Plan to kickstart rebuilding. That, emotionally, feels right.
However, I'd argue it is, yet again, a transfer of wealth from the middle class to the rich under the auspices of a tragedy. COVID caused the greatest intergenerational theft this century. flushing the markets with $7 trillion in stimulus, 85% of which wasn't needed, but sent asset prices soaring.
This was great for the incumbents, home and equity owners, and awful for entrants, the young, who will have to pay for our largesse via deficits. The median value of a home in the Palisades is $3.3 million, or eight times the national median.
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