I listened to this podcast and as someone who has been fighting for school choice for nearly 30 years, it's humorous that Mark Cuban hasn't spent any time learning about how to TRULY pull people out of poverty via school choice. He spends money and time on a worm found in poor children but doesn't know how school choice can truly be the great equalizer? No respect.
I, too, am a fan of Shark Tank and of Mark Cuban. He's clearly a self-made man and deserves the riches he's accumulated. He is, however, a bit disingenuous in his responses about the top 1% and China. Nothing he said about either of those subjects rang true.
The top 1% don't take salaries that would be subject to ordinary income taxes. They take stock options. Therefore, they only pay taxes when they sell that stock and, even then, they are not taxed as ordinary income but rather as capital gains. Capital gains are taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income. Now the capital gains tax also benefits you and me when we sell stock, but we don't have the option of foregoing a salary like Mark Cuban does. Also, if he has no objection to paying more in taxes, why not set a precedent and write a nice fat check to the government? He can certainly afford it. He doesn't do that because he knows the government will waste 2/3 of it. And the top 1% won't wind up paying any more if Biden's new tax proposals are passed.
The second area where I fault him is on China. Saying that he doesn't comment on politics in other countries allows him to blindfold himself in the face of horrendous human rights abuses in China. What they are doing in Hong Kong in contravention of the agreement with the UK is a breach of contract that should be brought to the International Court of Justice in the Hague. Just this week they have destroyed the single pro-democracy news organ in Hong Kong.
What they are doing to the Uyghurs is a Holocaust. And nobody is saying much more than tsk tsk. The richest people in the world are supposed to be the most powerful. They should be making the world better, not kowtowing to a totalitarian regime. But they are raking in the dough and, by they, I mean the NBA in particular. Mark Cuban is no better than Lebron James. The one sports voice that spoke out was effectively silenced. And it was done in the name of the Almighty Dollar.
The transcript was great. I love that I could skim over the crypto and zero in on the virtual humans. My goodness, virtual humans! I wonder whether it will soon be possible for ordinary people to create new videos of dead loved ones or even just old boyfriends for their own personal enjoyment.
1. You are here for the columns and the reporting, not just podcast news.
2. If I share podcasts, I need to make sure there is a way to *read* them, too.
Not a worry: lots of stories coming your way. Going forward, I might start another section of this newsletter just for podcasts to make sure those that don't want to miss out never do. TBD, but thank you in advance for your patience.
As for number two: ask and ye shall receive!
Here is the conversation with Cuban for those who prefer to read rather than pod:
Hopefully there is a “3.” somewhere on your radar, which is to publish your podcast on other apps! (Apple & Spotify are painful to use - please consider Pocket Casts and other 3rd party apps) Thanks for all you do. Bari!! (Including listening to feedback from your listeners/readers)
Thank you! I read faster than I listen ;p I might go back and listen if I have the time though. I do love all the content you have produced. I absolutely want to hear as many sides to important issues as I can. I don't have to agree with someone to value what I hear.
Thanks so much. A couple of things: first, I went to undergraduate and grad school in Morgantown and recreated a few times in Pittsburgh. Great towns both at that time, though Morgantown has since been largely ruined by uncontrolled growth. Secondly, I just don't listen to podcasts; it takes too much time and there is no way to skim. I can read a transcript three to four times faster than I can listen to the podcast. Posting a transcript of things like the Cuban interview changes me from a Too Long; Didn't Listen to a Got It. Thanks. Jim.
Bari, I love podcasts and I'm glad you are doing this one! I have heard you talk about building a new media company and I would love to learn more about this. I work in the Hollywood woke machine and would love to get into something that is not captured by this ideology. Please let me know where I can look out for any job/volunteer opportunities. Thanks for everything you do! look forward to everything your putting out!
I enjoyed the conversation, and actually respect many of his opinions. He is so, so, so wrong about China. It’s not just that we’re doing business with them. It’s the fact that we allow them silence dissent in the name of the almighty dollar. Nope. Shouldn’t happen. You’re right, Bari. Speaking out against the enslavement and torture of any group of people *should* be a hill we’re willing to die on.
In regards to taxes, I've long argued that we should switch from income taxes to a broad based consumption sales tax like the Fair Tax.
It would save us about $200 billion a year in tax compliance costs and get the government out of our financial lives.
Basically you tax all new goods and services. If you spend the money, you pay the tax. It doesn't matter how many fancy CPA's you have working for you.
It would also boost domestic production because it would remove the embedded taxes in the costs of our goods, and put domestically produced goods on a level playing field with imports.
I wouldn't mind hearing more about decentralized finance. I'll say it first -- cryptocurrency comes across as just one more "reddit-neckbeards-only" club that is deliberately kept as impossible to understand as it can be to keep out ordinary people. How can we normals who are "dumb" enough to keep our money in mere banks learn enough about it without being buried in an avalanche of gobbledegook that is a full-time job to understand?
Bari, normally I respect your truth-telling, hard hitting, counter-narrative style. But this interview was pure hero worship. You hardly pressed Mark at all about his economic slant, and positioned yourself as an ingenue around economic questions. Charming, but as a journalist wish you had prepped more.
I agree with you. Bari is sentimental about Marc because of the Pittsburgh connection, etc. Maybe this was a conversation they could have had privately or, as you suggest, Bari could have done more homework. I like Cuban on Shark Tank, where he comes off as blunt and discerning but kind, so it was disconcerting to discover his egregious China blindspot.
Yes, also should have pushed Mark more on his 'double-speak' answer around not wanting to interfere with China's domestic policies. Just admit their revenue stream towards the NBA is more important than taking a moral stand, and that in a realpolitik sense criticizing them wouldn't sway their repressive tactics anyway...
There's no question that Mark Cuban is a smart guy. Love him, like him or hate him, he's pretty visionary. The major disappointment during his interview was his complete lack of spine addressing our relationship with China, vis-a-vis his not wanting to comment on their domestic politics. It's all about the Benjamins.
Great podcast Bari ! Some tough questions, some great and thoughtful answers as well as some sidestepping. But that’s to be expected. Mark hit the nail on the head when he suggested we eliminate both political parties as well as chastised the government as being inefficient with our tax dollars. He has a great sense of what is wrong with our Country and I like his bottoms up approach to the economy. It’s smart and in the long run, makes sense. Wealth cannot be created in a vacuum. It requires participants and the bottom rung is critical to the success of the whole.
Extensive discussion. My thoughts: School vouchers are critical and will break the government monopoly on K-12 education. But government is the cause of so many problems(not the parties) too much money and power centralized. Won’t the central banks/government squash digital currency if it gets to big? AI will be transformative: is there any international oversight of its development? It might not be benign
15 dollar minimum wage? Why not 1500?
Just some thoughts. Oh yes, way to squishy on CCP. They just released a virus that killed millions, what next???
Bari, I am enjoying your interviews, you’re really good at it. I also agree with those who would prefer reading a transcript. But either is fine.
Enjoy your 101 roadtrip. A bit of advice from someone who lives in the Salinas area: the 101 is having obnoxious lane closures at night. And many locals don’t regard the 101 as a safe road in our area for night driving in any case. Best to hit it in daylight.
Love the POD casts…Please develop the whole interview / conversations !
The combination of the-guest and yourself in dialogue regardless of pro or con between you is what makes this so dynamic!!
I listened to this podcast and as someone who has been fighting for school choice for nearly 30 years, it's humorous that Mark Cuban hasn't spent any time learning about how to TRULY pull people out of poverty via school choice. He spends money and time on a worm found in poor children but doesn't know how school choice can truly be the great equalizer? No respect.
I, too, am a fan of Shark Tank and of Mark Cuban. He's clearly a self-made man and deserves the riches he's accumulated. He is, however, a bit disingenuous in his responses about the top 1% and China. Nothing he said about either of those subjects rang true.
The top 1% don't take salaries that would be subject to ordinary income taxes. They take stock options. Therefore, they only pay taxes when they sell that stock and, even then, they are not taxed as ordinary income but rather as capital gains. Capital gains are taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income. Now the capital gains tax also benefits you and me when we sell stock, but we don't have the option of foregoing a salary like Mark Cuban does. Also, if he has no objection to paying more in taxes, why not set a precedent and write a nice fat check to the government? He can certainly afford it. He doesn't do that because he knows the government will waste 2/3 of it. And the top 1% won't wind up paying any more if Biden's new tax proposals are passed.
The second area where I fault him is on China. Saying that he doesn't comment on politics in other countries allows him to blindfold himself in the face of horrendous human rights abuses in China. What they are doing in Hong Kong in contravention of the agreement with the UK is a breach of contract that should be brought to the International Court of Justice in the Hague. Just this week they have destroyed the single pro-democracy news organ in Hong Kong.
What they are doing to the Uyghurs is a Holocaust. And nobody is saying much more than tsk tsk. The richest people in the world are supposed to be the most powerful. They should be making the world better, not kowtowing to a totalitarian regime. But they are raking in the dough and, by they, I mean the NBA in particular. Mark Cuban is no better than Lebron James. The one sports voice that spoke out was effectively silenced. And it was done in the name of the Almighty Dollar.
The transcript was great. I love that I could skim over the crypto and zero in on the virtual humans. My goodness, virtual humans! I wonder whether it will soon be possible for ordinary people to create new videos of dead loved ones or even just old boyfriends for their own personal enjoyment.
Hi all! I heard you loud and clear on two things:
1. You are here for the columns and the reporting, not just podcast news.
2. If I share podcasts, I need to make sure there is a way to *read* them, too.
Not a worry: lots of stories coming your way. Going forward, I might start another section of this newsletter just for podcasts to make sure those that don't want to miss out never do. TBD, but thank you in advance for your patience.
As for number two: ask and ye shall receive!
Here is the conversation with Cuban for those who prefer to read rather than pod:
https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/my-conversation-with-mark-cuban
Hopefully there is a “3.” somewhere on your radar, which is to publish your podcast on other apps! (Apple & Spotify are painful to use - please consider Pocket Casts and other 3rd party apps) Thanks for all you do. Bari!! (Including listening to feedback from your listeners/readers)
Thank you! I read faster than I listen ;p I might go back and listen if I have the time though. I do love all the content you have produced. I absolutely want to hear as many sides to important issues as I can. I don't have to agree with someone to value what I hear.
Thanks so much. A couple of things: first, I went to undergraduate and grad school in Morgantown and recreated a few times in Pittsburgh. Great towns both at that time, though Morgantown has since been largely ruined by uncontrolled growth. Secondly, I just don't listen to podcasts; it takes too much time and there is no way to skim. I can read a transcript three to four times faster than I can listen to the podcast. Posting a transcript of things like the Cuban interview changes me from a Too Long; Didn't Listen to a Got It. Thanks. Jim.
Bari, I love podcasts and I'm glad you are doing this one! I have heard you talk about building a new media company and I would love to learn more about this. I work in the Hollywood woke machine and would love to get into something that is not captured by this ideology. Please let me know where I can look out for any job/volunteer opportunities. Thanks for everything you do! look forward to everything your putting out!
Bari, just letting you know that if this just becomes podcasts I'll be cancelling my subscription. Not a format I like to spend time on. Just FWIW.
Understood! And it won't be :) We just launched this project and I wanted you all to know about it.
Super! Thanks
I enjoyed the conversation, and actually respect many of his opinions. He is so, so, so wrong about China. It’s not just that we’re doing business with them. It’s the fact that we allow them silence dissent in the name of the almighty dollar. Nope. Shouldn’t happen. You’re right, Bari. Speaking out against the enslavement and torture of any group of people *should* be a hill we’re willing to die on.
In regards to taxes, I've long argued that we should switch from income taxes to a broad based consumption sales tax like the Fair Tax.
It would save us about $200 billion a year in tax compliance costs and get the government out of our financial lives.
Basically you tax all new goods and services. If you spend the money, you pay the tax. It doesn't matter how many fancy CPA's you have working for you.
It would also boost domestic production because it would remove the embedded taxes in the costs of our goods, and put domestically produced goods on a level playing field with imports.
I wouldn't mind hearing more about decentralized finance. I'll say it first -- cryptocurrency comes across as just one more "reddit-neckbeards-only" club that is deliberately kept as impossible to understand as it can be to keep out ordinary people. How can we normals who are "dumb" enough to keep our money in mere banks learn enough about it without being buried in an avalanche of gobbledegook that is a full-time job to understand?
Bari, normally I respect your truth-telling, hard hitting, counter-narrative style. But this interview was pure hero worship. You hardly pressed Mark at all about his economic slant, and positioned yourself as an ingenue around economic questions. Charming, but as a journalist wish you had prepped more.
Hopefully next interview is better…thanks Dan
I agree with you. Bari is sentimental about Marc because of the Pittsburgh connection, etc. Maybe this was a conversation they could have had privately or, as you suggest, Bari could have done more homework. I like Cuban on Shark Tank, where he comes off as blunt and discerning but kind, so it was disconcerting to discover his egregious China blindspot.
Yes, also should have pushed Mark more on his 'double-speak' answer around not wanting to interfere with China's domestic policies. Just admit their revenue stream towards the NBA is more important than taking a moral stand, and that in a realpolitik sense criticizing them wouldn't sway their repressive tactics anyway...
There's no question that Mark Cuban is a smart guy. Love him, like him or hate him, he's pretty visionary. The major disappointment during his interview was his complete lack of spine addressing our relationship with China, vis-a-vis his not wanting to comment on their domestic politics. It's all about the Benjamins.
Great podcast Bari ! Some tough questions, some great and thoughtful answers as well as some sidestepping. But that’s to be expected. Mark hit the nail on the head when he suggested we eliminate both political parties as well as chastised the government as being inefficient with our tax dollars. He has a great sense of what is wrong with our Country and I like his bottoms up approach to the economy. It’s smart and in the long run, makes sense. Wealth cannot be created in a vacuum. It requires participants and the bottom rung is critical to the success of the whole.
Extensive discussion. My thoughts: School vouchers are critical and will break the government monopoly on K-12 education. But government is the cause of so many problems(not the parties) too much money and power centralized. Won’t the central banks/government squash digital currency if it gets to big? AI will be transformative: is there any international oversight of its development? It might not be benign
15 dollar minimum wage? Why not 1500?
Just some thoughts. Oh yes, way to squishy on CCP. They just released a virus that killed millions, what next???
Bari,
is there a way to write to you without being exposed to comments?
Bari, I am enjoying your interviews, you’re really good at it. I also agree with those who would prefer reading a transcript. But either is fine.
Enjoy your 101 roadtrip. A bit of advice from someone who lives in the Salinas area: the 101 is having obnoxious lane closures at night. And many locals don’t regard the 101 as a safe road in our area for night driving in any case. Best to hit it in daylight.