Monday, June 22, 2026
The Ancient Greeks Knew What Trump Doesn't - Vast Wealth Inequality Hurts A Republic
This thought-provoking post is by David Lay Williams (professor of political science at DePaul University) in The New York Times:
Ever since Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire, people have been trying to grasp the scale of his incomprehensible fortune.
Some have noted that a stack of $100 bills amounting to $1 trillion would extend 679 miles high. The economist Steven Durlauf has observed that John D. Rockefeller’s wealth at one point equaled about 1.5 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product and that Mr. Musk’s wealth now amounts to at least twice as much, at more than 3 percent. It may not escape New York Knicks fans that even Jalen Brunson, who makes about $39 million per year, would need to play more than 25,000 seasons to accumulate that kind of money.
But of all the numbers I’ve seen, the one that struck me most forcefully was a calculation in The Times that Mr. Musk’s net worth is five million times as large as that of the average American family.
As a historian of political thought, I immediately thought of Plato, the first Western philosopher to really grapple with economic inequality. In his “Laws,” through the character of the Athenian Stranger, Plato contended that in a thriving republic, if anyone acquired more than four times the wealth of the poorest citizens, he should donate the surplus to the city. Not five million times the wealth of the typical family — four times the wealth of the poorest.
To be sure, it is difficult to imagine how a modern economy would operate with Plato’s proposed constraints on wealth acquisition. But it is not hard for a modern reader to understand the concerns that led him to his radical proposal.
Plato grew up in Athens, a city that once was nearly torn apart, as Plutarch wrote, by the “disparity between the rich and the poor.” It was saved by a heroic lawgiver, Solon, who canceled all the debts of the poor, to the great chagrin of the rich. And in Plato’s youth, as the city fought the Peloponnesian War, it suffered three successive class-based civil wars — an oligarchic revolution of the rich against the poor, followed by a democratic revolution of the poor against the rich, followed by yet another oligarchic revolution.
It’s no wonder that when Socrates reflected on inequality in Plato’s “Republic,” he observed that a state characterized by significant wealth disparity is not a state at all but rather “two states, the one of poor, the other of rich men, and they are living on the same spot and always conspiring against one another.”
For Plato, the source of inequality was a disease of the soul that the Greeks called pleonexia — a kind of insatiable greed. In Plato’s “Gorgias,” Socrates likened this condition to a leaky jug: No matter how much water one pours into it, it will demand more. For some, the desire for money extends only so far as is necessary to cover their needs; for others, the desire is infinite. Plato likened those insatiable souls to slaves who are ruled by their desires.
Someone consumed with his unquenchable desires comes to love himself far beyond what he can feel for the rest of humanity. He was, for Plato, “a poor judge of what is just and good and noble,” because he would always treat his desires as more valuable even than the truth. As a consequence, Plato wrote, “it is impossible that those who become very rich also become good.”
Plato’s fears about insatiable greed have been vindicated by Mr. Musk, who has already set his sights on $10 trillion. He has confirmed Plato’s concerns about the moral failures of the superrich by characterizing empathy as “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization.” With his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, he put the U.S. Agency for International Development program “into the wood chipper,” as he gleefully put it, contributing to the deaths of an estimated 600,000 people. Such carnage is a predictable outcome of a society that has chosen to place no upper limits on wealth.
Plato was acutely aware that ideal solutions, such as his 4-to-1 wealth ratio, are impossible to carry out where great inequality already exists. But he did not encourage legislators and citizens to throw up their hands in surrender. Rather, he urged citizens (including the few rich ones with a “sense of fairness”) to do what they could to level society, starting by shaming those with excessive fortunes. He stressed that true poverty “consists not in a lessening of one’s property but in an increase of one’s avarice.”
Only by teaching the evils of extreme greed can society begin to restore the healthy balance of wealth necessary for a thriving republic.
Trump Wants A Quick Final Agreement And A Rebounding Economy - He Will Get Neither
It looks like a bit of realty finally sunk into Trump's tiny brain. He finally realized that his ridiculous and unnecessary war with Iran has just made an already bad economy even worse - and that was likely to be devastating to Republicans in the November elections - leaving him an even weaker lame duck president.
He made a bad temporary agreement with Iran, and has quickly arranged for negotiations to reach a final agreement to actually end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz for good. He hopes a quick final agreement will result in a rebounding economy and save the GOP in the coming elections.
There are two problems with that. First, even if a quick agreement is reached, it is extremely unlikely to fix the economy before the elections. Second, Trump is a terrible negotiator. He is just a bully who tries to force the other side to give in to what he wants - and he is already threatening Iran with more devastation if they don't bend to his will.
Bombing the hell out of Iran didn't work the first time, and it won't work if he resumes it. He would have to put American troops on the ground to really change the current situation - and the American people aren't going to like that. It would make his situation worse - not better.
Complicating things further is the fact that the Iranians are good negotiators. They stretched out the negotiations with President Obama for two years to get the best deal possible.
They know that Trump is in serious political trouble, and they aren't going to agree to a quick agreement unless he gives them everything they want - including the kitchen sink! They know he is going to be in an even weaker position after the November elections, and they won't agree to anything before then.
Through his own incompetent actions Trump has put himself between a rock and a hard place, and Iran is not going to let him extricate himself.
There will be no final agreement before the elections.
Sunday, June 21, 2026
No Modern President Has Ever Had Poll Numbers This Bad
The chart above is from the AP / NORC Poll -- done between May 14th and 18th of a nationwide sample of 1,117 adults, with a 3.8 point margin of error.
Trump Wants Americans To Love, Respect, And Fear Him - It Ain't Working!
The following post is by former GOP chairman Michael Steele:
After winning a cage match in front of the White House on Sunday, UFC fighter Josh Hokit paused his postfight interview to take a vulgar swipeat former first lady Michelle Obama.
In the days that followed, Obama began trending across social media — not because of the insult, but because Americans responded by celebrating her, sharing elegant portraits, highlighting her accomplishments and praising the grace and dignity she brought to public life.
It is a familiar pattern in the Trump era. First comes the clumsy effort to glorify the president and demean his perceived opponents. Then comes the public reaction that elevates the very people and values he is trying to diminish.
President Donald Trump wanted Americans to celebrate his birthday with a big UFC fight. Instead, he reminded Americans of everything they appreciated about the Obamas.
He wanted to be greeted as a native son at a Knicks game in Madison Square Garden. Instead, New Yorkers booed when his face flashed on the jumbotron, and fans literally burned sage to spiritually cleanse the arena after he left.
He wanted the nation to honor him during the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Instead, he saw headlines dominated by canceled performances and announcements of rival events, including a star-studded concert at the Obama presidential library.
Trump wants love, but he doesn’t know how to win it. He wants respect, but he doesn’t know how to earn it. He wants to be feared, but he doesn’t know how to inspire it.
Frustrated, he turns to forced displays of loyalty and empty threats. And Americans respond with ridicule or something he may find worse: indifference.
Trump demanded a Nobel Peace Prize and happily settled for a made-up one from FIFA. No one cared. But fans poured into the streets to celebrate when the Knicks won the NBA championship, because the team earned it by pushing past years of disappointment and working hard.
The president has spent most of his political career demeaning immigrants and putting down other countries. But soccer fans from around the world are celebrating World Cup wins with one another as immigrant communities around the U.S. are glued to their TVs.
Sports is the great leveler. It’s not just about the skills and athleticism, it’s about strangers in the stands sharing a history and having faith in the players’ ability to show what hard work and dedication can produce.
It’s part of the American story. Sports do not know class or race. When a team wins, it’s a celebration of community and shared purpose.
Trump doesn’t understand that because he doesn’t know what it’s like to belong. He can’t imagine being part of a group without being in charge and making it afraid of him. He doesn’t know how to play a game that isn’t rigged in his favor, or how to lose gracefully and shake hands.
So perhaps it’s not surprising that his big UFC cage match ended not with an outpouring of excitement from fans, but with a crude insult.
Saturday, June 20, 2026
Most Americans Don't Think They Have Much In Common With The Rich
The chart above is from the NBC News Poll -- done between May 29th and June 7th of a nationwide sample of 3,000 adults, with a 1.8 point margin of error.
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