This Week in Startups
00:05:35 · Lon Harris, Jason Calacanis
[00:05:35] S2: An interesting perspective from DA Wallach on yesterday's, This Week at VC roundtable, I also have seen in a few other places. Do you think there may be a sense that gridlock is almost good in a way? Like, if the government can do less, they can regulate less, they can force less, like, they're gonna be less aggressive. [00:05:53] S0: A 100% having a split government is the preferred case. You wanna have checks and balances. Sometimes you get all three aspects of government. You you get the house and the the judiciary. You have control over the supreme court, you have the executive branch. And you have the two branches, the senate and the the house of representatives. So arguably, there's, like, five... Four pieces of government, I think, is how you probably should look at it, not three, because the house and the senate are, [00:06:21] S2: you know, unique. Very different.
00:06:21 · Lon Harris, Jason Calacanis
[00:06:21] S2: you know, unique. Very different. [00:06:23] S0: They're very different. So you really have four parts of government. How often do you have four of four? And Trump had four of four for two years. And some people will say he squandered it. You can make arguments that he did, or didn't do enough when he had that. Now he has two. Right? He still has the supreme court. He still has the executive branch, but he he lost the senate and the house of representatives. The trade has been overblown. I said from the beginning when governor Abbott came out and said, like, oh, we gotta pause data centers and make sure they're all tight. That was just appeasing the masses who we've talked about many times hate AI because Dario said, you're all gonna die, and half of people are losing their jobs and and all this chaotic stuff. [00:07:04] S2: I have a clip of this if you wanna take a look at your comments from August. So, Zach, this will be episode two three three two, 08/31/2026. Here is Jason making this prediction about what would happen with data centers before and after the election. Oh, wow. Let's think you're very prescient. Very prescient. Zach,
00:07:04 · Lon Harris, Jason Calacanis
[00:07:04] S2: I have a clip of this if you wanna take a look at your comments from August. So, Zach, this will be episode two three three two, 08/31/2026. Here is Jason making this prediction about what would happen with data centers before and after the election. Oh, wow. Let's think you're very prescient. Very prescient. Zach, [00:07:25] S0: let's find out. I'm I'm predicting it now. They got all the donations from the data center and tech folks. Then election comes up. Hey. AI is not popular. Great. We're anti data center. Now here we go. After the election, they get their office for another two to four years. You know what their position's gonna be? We sit down with the data center people. We made peace. They're gonna pay for their electricity. They're gonna get rid of house. They're a stadium for the children. Mhmm. When they start talking about what the data centers do for children, chef's kiss. [00:07:57] S2: It There you have it. [00:07:58] S0: Wow. Nailed it. [00:08:00] S2: There you have it. So that... I I think this is very likely to happen. Yes. [00:08:03] S0: It's already started happening. My understanding is the governor is having a press conference at 06:30 Yes. In Texas. Correct. And Gavin [00:08:13] S2: Gavin Baker. I have this I have this in the notes as well. [00:08:16] S0: Well, let's read it up.
00:08:16 · Jason Calacanis, Lon Harris
[00:08:16] S0: Well, let's read it up. [00:08:16] S2: He believes that our our new governor is going to pass laws that ensure that all newly permitted data centers going forward for delivery in 2028 and '29 will pay taxes, commit to no increase in power prices for consumers, won't impact water availability, and will be constructed with union labor and give Texans a seat at the table. He says all of this sounds very reasonable to him.
00:08:38 · Jason Calacanis
[00:08:38] S0: Yes. And he's actually correct. What we know is the Democrats do... They may wanna posture that they're anti data centers, anti AI, anti capitalism, all this socialist stuff, but they need to govern at the center because you need jobs. Right? You need economic growth. If you slow this trade down, we're gonna go into a recession Right. Or worse, and it could be an extended recession. We're gonna be talking about two or three or four years. That's gonna be blamed on the Democrats already today. The dialogue with the crash is people realize the Democrats are Democrats are anti data center, anti growth. They're decelerists. And, I think that needs to be worked out right quick. That's why you see, the governor coming out and saying what she's saying. And there's a really easy middle ground here. Guarantee water, electricity are, sustainable, clean, that there's no pollution, pay your taxes, create jobs, donate money to the local community. The end. If you do all those things, there will be a competition for these data centers. Increase your offer like Facebook and Meta have been doing. Just increase your offer to each community. Give them more toys. You give them more toys, and you just be a good neighbor. What does it mean to be a good neighbor? Noise, pollution, smells, and energy. Just don't f around when you put in a data center. So I think today's chaos in the markets is overblown. I think it's a incredible noninvestment advice. I think it's a generational time to buy. So if you have a little cash around Lon, this would be a great time to nibble on an Nvidia, on an Amazon, an Uber, a Tesla.
00:10:19 · Lon Harris, Jason Calacanis
[00:10:19] S2: Yeah. Picked up SpaceX. I picked up some discounts today. [00:10:22] S0: Oh, look at you. [00:10:23] S2: Yeah. Well, that's the plan. That's the only way I've ever found to make any money in stocks. The the, like, Warren Buffett, like, think about the future. Like, I never made any of that work, but wait until companies you think are fundamentally strong have a big dip. Yeah. Buy the dip. That's it. That'll work. [00:10:39] S0: It's buy the dip always. [00:10:40] S2: It works every time. [00:10:41] S0: It works every time. [00:10:42] S2: So that's my