How Much Money Does One Need/Want?

An article came out today listing the wealthiest Americans, focusing on Michigan billionaires.  First, isn't it astounding that there are about 500 billionaires in the US??????  I don't begrudge any of them their money, as long as they earned it or received it legally.  I'm not one to say, "Soak [in taxes] the rich!"

But what struck me was that the 86th wealthiest guy in the US, Mike Illich (sp?), worth $5.4 billion, had to soak Michigan taxpayers to build a new arena for his Red Wings.  I have forgotten the amount, but wasn't it something like 60% of the cost of the arena will be borne by taxpayers?  What?  The guy can't afford a billion bucks or so build an arena himself?  He has no friends, filthy rich, too, who won't chip in?  And many of these same guys are the ones who complain about welfare to folks who are down on their luck (or out of jobs due to corporate management blunders?).  I guess the word "corporate" takes the "welfare" out of "corporate welfare?"

Not to pile on Pope Francis, but he sure spent some time railing against capital punishment.  Yet he didn't manage to focus a whole lot on abortion.  Maybe he did and the LameStream Media didn't report it?

How interesting that Speaker Boehner is stepping down and the accolades come from all over the place--esp. Democrats!  If Republicans are worried about losing the Presidential election in '16 because of outsiders Trump, Carson, Fiorina, perhaps they'd be better off looking in the mirror.  The Establishment Republicans--personified in Boehner and McConnell--are the reasons rank-and-file Republicans are eschewing the, well, Establishment candidates.  They don't represent the rank-and-file, but rather the big donors.  And, well, my guess is that the folks on that list of wealthiest Americans don't have much of an idea how the rest of us live.  (I still believe that many of my Amherst mates have no idea what it's like to raise a family of four on $60,000 a year.  In fact, I think they might not believe that's all I made as a teacher.  And, I'm not complaining.  I'm comfortable.  My family has done and does well.  And there are many folks trying to make a go of it on less than I did.)

Similarly, the other day on the drive to work, a radio host had on a guest, with a discussion of taxes, specifically, proposed tax increases.  Normally this host gushes over his guests and throws them lollipops after lollipops to answer.  I was surprised when, whoa!, the host stopped the guest and questioned him on "getting the rich to pay their fair share."  How refreshing!  And it was great to see (OK, hear) the guess bamboozled, as if nobody had ever questioned that the rich need to pay more in taxes.  I'd still like to hear one of the Presidential candidates ask a reporter/interviewer after one of the seemingly endless string of irrelevant, stupid questions, "That's a stupid question?  Aren't you embarrassed to ask such a stupid thing?  Don't you get tired of asking moronic questions?"  Or something like that.

Yogi Berra died.  Amid all the fond recollections of the funny things he said, I wonder how many people realized just how good he was.  He did, after all, win not one, not two, but three AL MVP Awards.  And, as a little dig at the current trends in scouting, complete with sabermetrics and all, I wonder how Yogi would have done on the shuttle run??????