Ben Shapiro

That really is essentially the theme of the book.

And one of the things that he is constantly talking about in the book, in, again, almost Tucker Carlson-esque fashion, he has a line in there where he says, you know, we don't work for the economy, the economy works for us, which of course is kind of a bizarre, well, it's a bizarre category error.

It's like saying, we don't work for free speech, free speech works for us.

I mean, you're talking about a reality in the world that is called a market, and the idea that there ought to be somebody at the top of that market

who is legitimately figuring out the best redistribution of wealth and resources is a massive centralized government error.

And so, you know, I think that when we talk about Elon, the resistance to Elon's wealth is driven by a few things.

One is just pure envy.

Obviously, you see this.

I'm not accusing the vice president of this.

I think that you're seeing a lot of people who are doing the pure envy.

Elon's really rich.

I'm not as rich as Elon.

I wish I were as rich as Elon.

No one should be as rich as Elon.

unless it were me, but really there shouldn't be anyone as rich as Elon.

And you're seeing a lot of that.

But I do think that there is also a thing where it's like there ought to be some sort of bizarre guilt that attends to success.

That the only way that you can sort of justify high levels of material success is by donating a library.

And I just don't think that that's right.

I think that the reality of the free markets is that if you actually want to ensure that the cottage is secure, Michael, as you put it, then what you actually need is a free market system.