Inefficiency isn't just waste—it's a tax. And it's genius because nobody sees the collector. Nobody protests. Nobody votes against it.
[Interior: Axe Capital. Bobby stands at his floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Manhattan, glass of Michter's in hand. He turns to face the room where Taylor and Wags are seated, awaiting his insights on a new energy efficiency investment play.]
BOBBY: (swirls his bourbon, eyes gleaming with intensity) You want to know the greatest con ever pulled? It's not some elaborate heist or Ponzi scheme. It's convincing Americans to voluntarily empty their wallets every single day without even realizing they're being robbed.
(He walks to the trading floor map display, taps it to show a heat map of energy consumption)
BOBBY: Inefficiency isn't just waste—it's a fucking tax. And it's genius because nobody sees the collector. Nobody protests. Nobody votes against it.
(He pounds his fist on the table)
BOBBY: Let me break it down. Average American driving a 12 MPG land yacht burns $2,500 in gas annually. Same distance in a 30 MPG vehicle? A grand. That's fifteen hundred dollars—gone. Evaporated. And where does it go? Straight to the oil execs' pockets. They didn't have to lobby for that tax. They didn't have to fight for it. Americans line up to pay it willingly.
TAYLOR: (analyzing) So inefficiency creates artificial demand that benefits producers without requiring them to add value.
BOBBY: (points sharply) Exactly. And it's not just cars. Look at housing. Average family drops two grand a year on energy bills. Four hundred of that—twenty percent—is pure waste. Drafty windows. Shit insulation. Ancient furnaces. That's four hundred bucks they're hemorrhaging to the utilities and gas producers for absolutely nothing in return.
(He moves to his desk, pulls up charts on the screen)
BOBBY: But here's where it gets really interesting. The government—those supposed guardians of the public good—they're in on the game. They classify SUVs as "light trucks" so they can skate by with lower fuel economy standards. Why? Because inefficiency is profitable for someone. And that someone has deep pockets come campaign season.
WAGS: (frowning) But what about the tax credits for electric vehicles? The Gas Guzzler Tax?
BOBBY: (laughs, a sharp bark) Window dressing. Smoke and mirrors. They give you a $7,500 credit on one hand while maintaining a system that bleeds you dry with the other. It's like giving a band-aid to someone with a sucking chest wound and calling it healthcare.
(He drains his glass, sets it down with purpose)
BOBBY: And the real kicker? The rental market. Landlords have zero incentive to upgrade efficiency because they don't pay the bills. Tenants are stuck with the tab. It's the perfect principal-agent problem—a market failure that funnels billions into energy companies' coffers.
(He walks back to the window, silhouetted against the city lights)
BOBBY: When I was a kid in Yonkers, my old man used to curse the oil companies every time he filled up our piece-of-shit Chevy. He thought the problem was the price at the pump. He never realized the real robbery was the car itself—designed to be a cash pipeline from his wallet to their shareholders.
TAYLOR: (leaning forward) So what's the play here? How do we position ourselves?
BOBBY: (turns, face illuminated with that predatory Axelrod smile) We do what I've always done—we see the game for what it is and we play it better than anyone else. Inefficiency is a tax on the uninformed, the complacent, and the stupid. We're none of those things.
(He taps his temple)
BOBBY: While everyone else is busy being taxed, we'll be the collectors. We find the companies driving real efficiency innovations—not the greenwashed bullshit, but the ones changing the fundamental equation. We find the disruptors who are going to shatter this hidden tax system. And we back them before anyone else realizes what's happening.
(He leans in, voice dropping to that dangerous whisper)
BOBBY: Because here's what they don't want you to know: this inefficiency tax? It's not just taking money from consumers. It's taking freedom. Every dollar wasted is a dollar that can't build wealth, can't create opportunity, can't change the world. And I didn't claw my way up from nothing to watch my capital get pissed away on inefficiency.
(He straightens up, full of swagger)
BOBBY: So yeah, there's a hidden tax built into every gas guzzler and energy-bleeding home in America. But taxes are for people who don't see the loopholes. And we're not those people. We're the ones who write the new rules.
[End Scene]