On Whether Having Multiple Billionaires in a Society is Desirable or Not

In and of itself it's a meaningless question. You would also have to known, in my opinion, a) the overall size of the economy, b) the growth rate, c) the opportunity structure, d) the regulatory climate, e) the amount of crony capitalism involved, f) the power of the country's central bank g) the legality of the earnings (we certainly don't want a country that's loaded with Bernie Madoffs), and h) what the people do with the money (do they waste it on politics or are they philanthropic?). I mean, I know that the left de facto wants me to say that billionaires are evil and all but I would simply point out that Cuba, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, and Indonesia don't have any billionaires and do we really want to emulate them?............................................................................P.S. That, and I would also ask them to look at how the likes of Annenberg (50 million alone to the United Negro College Fund), Melon (The National frigging Gallery of Art, for God's sake), Carnegie, and the two Rockefellers spent THEIR money and compare it to how the government for the past 80 years (starting with Hoover and right on up to Bush and Obama) or so has been spending OUR money and then decide.

On Ebay Auctioning Off Holocaust Memorabilia

Yeah, somebody was definitely taking a nap during that one, for sure.

On Morons Who Use the Race-Card as Readily as They Breathe

When you only have so many quivers at your disposal.......

On Mary Elizabeth Williams's Assertion that "Not All Life is Equal" and that "The Woman is Boss"

I'm with her to a point. But when you get into the third trimester and the baby is viable and the woman just decides that she doesn't want to be pregnant anymore and so concocts some ludicrous ailment to justify killing the baby, yeah I'm kind of not with her at that point.

Dis Incentives

Constantly telling people that the larger society is unjust, that other people are responsible for their dire situation, that they don't have what other folks possess (and that they should resent them for it), that it is always somebody else's fault, and that the only way in which they can succeed is through political agitation, is a recipe for disaster. It leads to lowered expectations, learned helplessness, and a political situation in which all of the incentives are pathetic/perverse. Somehow, someway, we have to convince young disadvantaged black people that they, too, can be pilots and teachers, welders and nurses, computer programmers and realtors, and that the only legitimate way to get ahead in life is to equip yourself with skills that other folks are willing to pay for (a la what the Jews did in Eastern Europe, what the Chinese did in Malaysia, what the West Indian blacks did in America, etc.). Here's to hoping that the Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons of the world eventually see the light on this, or at the very least step aside for those folks who do.

Milking it Money

The problem with progressives and taxes is that they're seemingly never satisfied. I mean, we just got done raising taxes to the level that they've been clamoring for FOR YEARS (and to which I agreed to more than two years ago) and now, before the ink even becomes dry on it, you have folks like Jerry (who's views I generally respect but not on this) not only asking for another 4.6 percentage points but another 10!.................................................................................Look, I am totally in favor of tax reform (a lowering of rates for all and an elimination - or as close to an elimination as we can get - of deductions) and if that mean that the rich end up paying a little bit more, fine, so be it. But this whole "let's keep going to the well until the well becomes dry" approach is really starting to get ridiculous, in my opinion...................................................................................P.S. And it also should be pointed out that a 50% top tax rate today would be significantly more draconian than the one of 30 years ago in that there were far more loopholes and deduction back then (though, no, you couldn't deduct your golf-cart).

The Most Underrated Sports Superstar Ever

Yeah, I'm probably going to have go with "the man" on this one; 3,630 hits, 475 homers, 1,951 RBIs, 1,949 runs scored, 725 doubles, 177 triples, a .331 lifetime batting average, and 7 batting titles. To say that this fellow was a great hitter isn't just an understatement, it's a damned insult.