The Lasting Impact of Citizens United, How to Ask for a Raise at Work, and When Is It the Right Time to Have Kids?

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Speaker 3 Welcome to Office Hours with Prop G. This is the part of the show where we answer your questions about business, big tech entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind.

Speaker 3 If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to officehours at propgmedia.com. Again, that's officehours at propgmedia.com.
So with that, first question.

Speaker 3 Scott, hey, longtime listener, my name is Doug. I'm an environmental consultant, and I work on biodiversity and climate change issues across the U.S., often involving public-private partnerships.

Speaker 3 I really appreciate your recent comments with regard to the interaction between businesses and politics and how unequal society has become.

Speaker 3 I'm wondering, is there a way for a business leader such as yourself to get together and work to reverse Citizens United to provide some rational guardrails on campaign finance?

Speaker 3 Maybe you can call yourselves the Super Friends. Thanks so much.
Oh, the Super Friends. I like that.
If I were a superhero, I think my power would be, what is my power?

Speaker 3 I don't know the ability to pee three or four times in any given evening. It's like I wake up and I don't don't even think, oh, why am I waking up? I know I'm waking up.

Speaker 3 It's my bladder going, hey, your prostate's the size of a fucking grapefruit. And it says it's time to pee, even if it's not time to pee.
Anyways, isn't that exciting? Isn't that why you come here?

Speaker 3 So Citizens United, you could argue if you were to reverse engineer a lot of the problems we have, it's, well, okay,

Speaker 3 it's that we send crazies. The majority of people in America now identify as independent, are somewhere in the middle on most issues, and kind of think, okay,

Speaker 3 we can accommodate both sides and sort of come to some sort of agreement. Instead, we send far left crazies and far right crazies.

Speaker 3 In addition, because the incumbents can raise a lot more money and because there's no caps on how much money they can raise, it creates more and more incumbency.

Speaker 3 And not only that, corporations are now considered people or money is considered voice.

Speaker 3 in free speech, such that if you're the pharmaceutical lobby and you want to give a bunch of money to a candidate, or Betty at the private equity lobby, and you give $800,000 to Senator Kristen Sinema, such that she is a holdout and and says, I won't pass, I'll be the swing vote against the infrastructure bill, unless you pull out this loophole such that some of the wealthiest people in the world, private equity billionaires, maintain carried interest loophole where they get long-term capital gains or they get a lower tax rate on what is essentially a commission.

Speaker 3 Whereas if you sell a car and get a commission, you pay a much higher tax rate. This is nothing but pure grift for the rich that has been weaponized.

Speaker 3 So unless we put some sort of campaign finance limits on this and de-gerrymander these districts, it's just not going to get better.

Speaker 3 There's other things you could do, ranked choice voting, Final Five, where it's not just the crazies, it's people who across the spectrum. Lisa Murkowski is a fantastic moderate center from Alaska.

Speaker 3 Why? Because they have Final Five voting in Alaska, where everybody votes for the first, second, third, and fourth candidate, and

Speaker 3 the lower ones get kicked out, and the other ones get votes. So you end up with the moderates have a shot, if you will.
Anyways, back to Citizens United.

Speaker 3 Following the 2010 Citizens United ruling, which allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited money on political campaigns, independent political spending surged.

Speaker 3 Over the past decade, election-related spending by non-party independent groups skyrocketed to get this $4.5 billion

Speaker 3 compared to just $750 million 20 years prior. So it's up about six-fold.
Additionally, political campaigns are now spending more than ever.

Speaker 3 Between the presidential and congressional races, American political candidates spent a total of $16 billion this past election cycle.

Speaker 3 The overwhelming impact of Citizens United could be addressed in a few ways. The Supreme Court could revisit the decision.
Good luck with that.

Speaker 3 Congress could propose a new amendment to limit corporate political spending, but the majority of them are such whores. Why would they want to shut off the spigot, right?

Speaker 3 Congress could pass laws to increase funding transparency and cut off communication between campaigns and super PACs. We need a workaround here.

Speaker 3 If the Supreme Court isn't going to overturn Citizens United, we're going to have to come up with a bunch of

Speaker 3 hacks such that money gets out of D.C.

Speaker 3 Because if you look at the fact that we pay twice as much as any other G7 nation for health care, despite the fact we have lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher rates of obesity, you can directly go to the weaponization of our elected representatives by money from pharmaceutical, the health industrial complex, hospital systems, et cetera.

Speaker 3 So money in politics has been a real cancer. And I think your question is the correct one.

Speaker 3 Last night, I watched Senator Michael Bennett give what I thought was just an outstanding grilling of RFK Jr., who's up for health and human services. Oh, that's a good idea.

Speaker 3 Let's have an anti-vax conspiracy theorist decide the health care of our children. That makes sense.
That makes sense.

Speaker 3 Anyways, the way I express affection or support for somebody is I send them money. So today I'm going to send money to Senator Michael Bennett.

Speaker 3 And that is, I realize I'm part of the problem, but at a minimum, if they're going to fire bazookas at us, I'm going to. I'm going to get a javelin, missile, or whatever they call it.

Speaker 3 Anyways, thanks for the question.

Speaker 3 Question number two.

Speaker 3 Hi, Professor Galloway. My name is Pete from D.C.

Speaker 3 My question is about how to ask for a raise and if it's always appropriate to do so. I'm an account executive for a medium-sized tech company and had a decent 2024, exceeding my quota by about 30%.

Speaker 3 I'd like to ask for a raise because who doesn't like or need more money?

Speaker 3 But I'd be interested in hearing about times when people ask you for raises, both when they've done it effectively and when they've done it ineffectively. Thank you.

Speaker 3 Thanks. This is a tough one.
So one,

Speaker 3 I think that in a pre-interview, typically a good firm will ask you to review yourself and you will have access to management throughout the year.

Speaker 3 I think it's okay to constantly check in and say, or not constantly, but regularly check in and say, how am I doing?

Speaker 3 These are my goals for the year. I feel as if I'm hitting them.
And then when you typically come in for compensation once at the end of the year, They'll give you the number.

Speaker 3 And I think it's okay to ask questions about the number and also to express disappointment and say, you know, I don't feel as if I'm getting the type of compensation I'd hoped for or nor is warranted by my performance.

Speaker 3 Now, typically expressing that sort of disappointment won't result. I never change bonuses or decisions around raises and I tell my employees these decisions only happen once a year.

Speaker 3 Otherwise there's a line on my office of people every two months thinking, oh, I just did a good job. I'm going to go in and ask for a raise or a promotion.

Speaker 3 So these discussions need to happen once a year.

Speaker 3 I think what's helpful is if you have senior level sponsorship in the organization, it's just to be very transparent, saying, I'm looking to make more money here.

Speaker 3 What do you think I can do? How am I doing? And also, just to be honest with your direct report or your boss, saying, you know, I'm ambitious. I want to make more money.
I want to be promoted.

Speaker 3 What do you think I need to do to get there?

Speaker 3 Instead of saying, I want more money, saying, what do you think I need to do to increase the likelihood that I'll be promoted or register an increase in compensation?

Speaker 3 And if you don't get the compensation you want, I think it's okay to say, I'm disappointed. I was expecting more.
I was hoping for more.

Speaker 3 Also, at the end of the day, and there's evidence that shows this, the people who typically make more money on average are people who switch jobs every three to five years, because this is the issue with employers.

Speaker 3 You have a tendency to see employees through the lens through which they were hired. And that is, we romanticize strangers.

Speaker 3 We had an editor-in-chief who I have been working with since he was 22 25 years ago. And I see him as Jason, the recent Yale grad, who I was paying $60,000 a year to in 1995 or 98.

Speaker 3 And I realize now, no, he's a 40-something year old man who is very talented and should be making

Speaker 3 $200,000, $300,000 a year. But I still see him as Jason.

Speaker 3 And the folks who leave typically take advantage of this, how attracted we are to strangers, if you will.

Speaker 3 So if you really don't feel like you're getting good compensation or being fairly treated, I would talk to your mentor or your boss there saying, yeah, I was unhappy with my compensation.

Speaker 3 But at the end of the day, if you really are unhappy with your compensation and don't feel as if they're likely to change it, quite frankly, the easiest way to increase your compensation if you are in fact being underpaid is to let the market decide and go out and try and find another job.

Speaker 3 And what I did every three to five years at NYU is I would get an offer from a competitor institution, and then I would go back and say, full transparency, I don't want to leave NYU, but according to whoever, cornell or columbia or warden i'm worth this i need you to match it and that appears to be my market rate and quite frankly had i not gone in and said you have to develop your own currency my currency was putting butts and seats my course quickly became one of the most popular courses in the marketing department and in the school and i would go in and say i need more money and or i would do a market check so what are we going to do we're going to check in with our boss and see how you're doing You're going to lay out your expectations and say, or your desires that you want to get promoted and you want an increase in salary, and ask for advice.

Speaker 3 How can I make sure I'm tracking for that? And if you don't get the compensation or the promotion in a very thoughtful, civilized way, saying, Well, I got to be honest, I'm disappointed.

Speaker 3 And at the end of the day, you have to show a willingness to leave, and that is start doing a market check if you feel you're being unfairly compensated. Appreciate the question.

Speaker 3 We have one quick break before our final question. Stay with us.

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Speaker 3 Welcome back, question number three.

Speaker 3 Hello, Scott. I'm David from Nexkill.
I'm a longtime listener and have learned a lot through the path and your books. Thank you for that.

Speaker 3 I am 30 years old, currently living in Monterrey, expanding the family construction business. My wife and I got married in 2023 and are currently enjoying our time as a couple.

Speaker 3 We honestly have a great relationship and have been together for 10 years.

Speaker 3 Lately, we have started to discuss the best timing of when to have kids.

Speaker 3 We are both working in good and stable jobs, living a good life, and have been saving and investing, but by no means have our future secured.

Speaker 3 She prefers sooner rather than later, while I prefer to wait a little bit longer and prioritize our economic security and time as a couple. What are your thoughts about when to have children?

Speaker 3 What are some factors we should consider in our decision? And is there any advice you could give us? I would really appreciate your opinion. Thank you.

Speaker 3 David from Mexico, this is such a personal decision, so you should take everything i say with a grain of salt because i'm going to tell you kind of my way but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the right way i think these at the end of the day are decisions that you your wife and quite frankly your sperm and her eggs because sometimes it's just not easy to get pregnant and sometimes it's super easy by the way probably under the auspices of tmi my girlfriend and i decided i didn't want to have kids and she said well uh i have to have kids otherwise we can't be together and i said well i don't want to get married and she called my bluff and said i don't need to get married to have kids.

Speaker 3 So we pulled the goalie and started having unprotected sex. Oh, my God.
And literally, I've had two kinds of, I don't know what you'll call it,

Speaker 3 surreal mystical things happen to me. One, four months after my mom passed away, she came to me and it was so real.
It just felt real.

Speaker 3 And she said, I just want you to know I'm doing fine and I love you. But it was so real, it felt, I don't know even how to explain it.
That's the first one of two.

Speaker 3 And the other one was after my girlfriend and I had fornicated

Speaker 3 in Vegas at CES of all places, I went into the bathroom and I came out and I knew we had just conceived a son. And I said to her, we just conceived a son.

Speaker 3 And what do you know, you know, pregnancy tests, bright blue. And now the, you know, the purpose of my life and my biggest joy

Speaker 3 is my son, who's now 17 and tied for that position as the son we had three years later. It's so funny.
You spend your whole life trying not to get pregnant.

Speaker 3 And then sometimes it's not easy to get pregnant. Anyways, not what you asked.
Look, I'm not sure there's ever a perfect time to have kids.

Speaker 3 I would argue that it's very kind of base pillars you need in place. One is you have to have a partner that you think is competent and that you can see being with for the next 18 years at least.

Speaker 3 Because once you have kids, you're in each other's lives for 18 years. Even if you get divorced, you're in each other's lives.
Some semblance of economic security.

Speaker 3 You don't have to be rich, but not strained. If you're strained now and you throw a kid into the mix, wow, that's a lot of stress.

Speaker 3 So having a little bit of economic security and some professional trajectory.

Speaker 3 If you have those things, I would err on the side of doing it because there is never a perfect time to bring you know, this little thing into your life that's going to demand constant attention, additional cost, and a lot of unknowns.

Speaker 3 There's never a time when it's like, okay, this is definitely the time. And there really is an advantage, I think, to being a young parent.
Having said that, I had kids later.

Speaker 3 It was nice to have some economic security. I was a little bit more thoughtful.
Again, really personal decisions. Do you have a support group around you?

Speaker 3 Do you have family or young parents that could be involved in the kids' lives? One of my biggest

Speaker 3 blessings was that our in-laws are fairly young and they've played a hugely positive and supportive role in raising our children. So, that's been a real factor.

Speaker 3 So, I think there are a variety of things, but if you get to what I'd call 70 or 80 percent, don't let perfect be the enemy a good one.

Speaker 3 What I mean by that is if you're mostly kind of there, then I would just go there and start procreating. I just don't think there's ever a perfect time.

Speaker 3 And I have found I was sort of wandering. I don't, I don't think you have to have kids to be happy.
I don't think kids are the right decision for everybody, but I know that for me,

Speaker 3 having kids has been, you know, the first time I've ever felt a sense of purpose. So, anyways, what am I saying? Get on it, get on it, make sweet, sweet love, procreate, have progeny.

Speaker 3 That's right, progeny? Oh, that's right.

Speaker 3 Anyways, congratulations to you. A nice time in your life.

Speaker 3 That's all for this episode. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to officehours at propgmedia.com.
Again, that's officehours at propgmedia.com.

Speaker 3 This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez. Our intern is Dan Shalon.
Drew Burroughs is our technical director. Thank you for listening to the Prof G pod from the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Speaker 3 We will catch you on Saturday for No Mercy, No Malice, as read by George Hahn. And please follow our Prof G Markets pod wherever you get your pods for new episodes every Monday and Thursday.

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