Why provocateur Scott Galloway believes America is adrift

September 29, 2022, 9:46 AM UTC
Updated September 29, 2022, 9:42 PM UTC
US America and China flags on chess king on a chessboard
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Good morning.

NYU business professor, podcaster, and all-purpose provocateur Scott Galloway has a new book out this week that attempts to capture the current state of America in 100 charts. The title is Adrift, which should help you catch his drift. A few random data points:

“For roughly every 10 citizens in developed nations, six believe the U.S. used to be a good example of democracy but no longer is.”

“The U.S. was once the largest trading partner of the great majority of nations. But since 2000, China has superseded America in this regard. Today three times as many nations call China their largest trade partner than can say that about the U.S.”

“In 1958, 75% of Americans trusted the federal government to do the right thing almost always or most of the time. That percentage hasn’t surpassed 30% since 2007.”

“Since 1960, corporate profits have grown 85-fold; employee compensation, 38-fold.”

“Sixty-four percent of people who join extremist groups on Facebook do so because the algorithm steers them there…In reality, what social media favors is that which divides us.”

“American Gen Zers open their phones almost 80 times a day…That means, in an average week, a young adult might have sex once, laugh about 120 times, and open their phone more than 550 times.”

Galloway not only charts our problems, but also charts some potential solutions. Not sure I would endorse all of them, but at the very least, it is a thought-provoking and engaging book.

Also this morning, a couple of important new product launches at Fortune. The first is Fortune Recommends—our well-researched take on the best in credit cards, bank accounts, insurance policies, mortgages, and other financial products.

And the second—custom-made for an era in which people can work from anywhere—is our new list of the 25 Best Places to Live for Families, the result of a massive data crunching effort by the Fortune Well team. Their top five:

  • Ann Arbor, Michigan
  • Wylie, Texas
  • Olathe, Kansas
  • Mason, Ohio
  • Morrisville, North Carolina

Move early to avoid the rush. Find the other 20 cities here. More news below.


Alan Murray
@alansmurray

alan.murray@fortune.com

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This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.

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