Why I Love the Rich

| January 31, 2010

For most of my career, I have dealt with the rich. I’ve created publications for, written books about, and penned countless articles for magazines about the rich and powerful. I have written The Richest Man in Town where I interviewed the richest man or woman in town in 100 American cities to determine the shared [...]

Celebrity-Culture Pandemic

| May 5, 2009

In television news, it seems that the old journalistic truism “If it bleeds, it leads” has been supplanted by “Give the people what they want,” which, if what often runs as news is any indication, is underage starlets and their wardrobe malfunctions. Don’t get me wrong—I love movies, I happily flip through magazines like People and Us Weekly on occasion, and I’m addicted to Dancing with the Stars. But I’m beginning to think this obsessive coverage of celebrities and their misadventures is crowding out the real news that Hollywood was meant to provide an occasional entertaining escape from. We have totally lost sight of who and what really make this country the best place on earth to live and to pursue the American dream.

Should We Hate the Rich?

| March 30, 2009

Yes, we should hate the Ponzi-scheming, bonus-binging, financial-engineering, value-destroying, tax-evading rich. The Madoffs, Stanfords, Kosloskis, Ebberses and Skillings of the world, who created their wealth and all-too-lavish lifestyles by perpetrating fraud and stealing from others rightfully should be detested. We should hate the Wall Street bonus-grabbers, and we should question the shadowy world of huge hedge funds and private equity wealth. But we should not tar all the rich with the same brush.