I'm a capitalist. Socialism and the rest simply favor the few at the top, from Lenin to Hitler to Castro. Yet we do have too high a level of poverty.

In the face of this we are paying athletes tens of millions a year and hundreds of millions in contracts. Connor McGregor makes $180 million annually, Lionel Messi $130 million. Juan Soto, a good hitting but poor fielding right fielder has signed a $765 million contract with the New York Mets, which is about $60 million a year, more than a million dollars a week, and that's not counting endorsements, commercials, and other extra-curricular activities.

Entertainers make a fortune: Dwayne Johnson (the Rock) $88 million, Ryan Reynolds $100 million, Kevin Hart $100 million, Tom Cruise often $100 per picture. I don't doubt their talent, but I do question the proportions.

I've never believed that if you build one less aircraft carrier you could improve every school. Government doesn't use "pockets" of money. But I do suspect that most athletes and entertainers, proportionally, do not contribute to charities or their communities in greater percentages than average.

The same, of course, applies to business executives. Elon Musk (Tesla): His compensation reached $1.403 billion in 2023. Alexander Karp (Palantir Technologies): He earned $1.099 billion in 2023. Hock E. Tan (Broadcom): He received $767 million in 2023. Brian Armstrong (Coinbase Global): He earned $680 million in 2023.

I understand that these people bring fans into the athletic venues, into theaters and streaming services, and produce products and services that are needed. But unless you've founded a company, as did Fred Smith with FedEx, Steve Jobs with Apple, or Bill Gates with Microsoft, do you deserve $500 million when someone could lead it well for $50 million (or even $5 million)?

And then again, Harvard, of the huge tuition of about $60,000 per semester, also has an endowment of $53 billion. That is not an error or misprint.

Perhaps it's unfair to "blame" these people in any way, and the system has created a vibrant middle class over the years. As many of you do, I pay a large amount in taxes and I am highly philanthropic. But what of money to create an equal and high quality educational system? Or to create equal and high quality medical care for all citizens?

There is something wrong here.

I believe that none of us has the right to consume wealth or happiness without producing wealth and happiness for others. That's not socialism, not capitalism, that's humanity.