Here Come Trillionaires!

Plus: Birthright citizenship, defanging (or enlarging?) the deep state, tallying up the Iran War disaster, and why FIFA sucks but the World Cup is great.

Here’s the new Reason Roundtable, recorded on Monday with Sarah Isgur filling in for Matt Welch, who was off doing something more important than his day job. Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, me, and Sarah talked about a lot of stuff, especially whether Elon Musk becoming a trillionaire means anything, why people often hate the ultra-rich (is it envy or annoyance or something else or nothing at all?), how the Supreme Court is likely to rule in the big birthright citizenship case, and more.

In our regular cultural consumption section, I talk about watching the World Cup and a particular Airbnb ad featuring it that I find alluring. It’s short and good, I think, and is optimistic and upbeat in a way that is genuinely and sadly rare these days. Take a look and then scroll down for the Reason writeup, chapter headings, links to YouTube, Spotify, Apple, and SoundCloud versions.

This week, editors Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Nick Gillespie are joined by Sarah Isgur, senior editor at The Dispatch, to discuss Elon Musk becoming the world’s first trillionaire and whether that milestone represents a triumph of capitalism or a warning sign about inequality. The panel examines the political backlash to extreme wealth, the role government subsidies played in Musk’s rise, and whether Americans should be more concerned about how fortunes are made than how large they become.

Next, the editors discuss the Supreme Court’s biggest pending decisions, including cases involving birthright citizenship and the Federal Reserve. They also debate Democratic proposals to expand the Supreme Court and what those efforts could mean for the judiciary’s future. The panel then examines the economic fallout from the Iran war, including rising inflation and energy prices. Finally, a listener asks whether the free market is responsible for the growing “enshittification” of everyday life, from movie theaters to fast-food restaurants.

0:00—Elon Musk becomes a trillionaire

17:50—The Supreme Court’s pending decisions

31:33—Will Democrats pack the Supreme Court?

38:41—Listener question on free market and quality decline

48:57—Iran ceasefire agreement and economic impact

53:37—Weekly cultural recommendations

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I’m excited to announce that I’ll be part of The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s (theFIREorg) SOAPBOX conference this November in Philadelphia. Other participants include John McWhorter Greg Lukianoff Nadine Strossen, Jacob Mchangama Matt Taibbi, Heather Mac Donald, and Matt Welch, Michael C. Moynihan, and Kmele of The Fifth Column.

Tickets are capped at 500, so if this sounds at all interesting to you, please sign up now.