Mark Cuban just became the 2nd most hated rich guy in the USA!

What does Mark Cuban know about the economy? He got rich off developing a website when the big internet boom of the early 2000s was going on. In the current economy that dude would have made *maybe* a few million for his idea, not billions. He got lucky, he's not a businessman.

 

It is probably because he just made a boat load of money when his tequila company, Avion, went public. His quote was that he thinks everyone should have a margarita . . .

 

Lots and lots of people tried developing websites during the big internet boom and didn't make close to the money Cuban made. He might have had some luck on his side, but you know what they say, good business people seem to get luckier more often than bad ones.

He also bought an NBA franchise and turned them into NBA champions.

 

Yeah, but if I remember correctly, he and his buddies wanted to be able to listen to the game but they couldn't get the radio station where they were living so they developed a website that streamed live radio feeds. It was having the right idea at the right time. That doesn't qualify him to comment on the economy of the whole country though. And he's been able to build a champion because he had a ton of money to throw at it and he was fortunate enough to have Don Nelson rip off the Bucks for Dirk (before the euro craze hit). Otherwise he wouldn't be sitting on a championship right now.

 

Discussing the economy on a forum is a completely different thing than going on the record with a reporter. Who is going to point to one of our posts as a reason why we should tax the rich more? Cuban's status gives him credibility, whether he deserves it or not.

And don't try to pretend that there isn't a difference between earning mass wealth the hard way over time, and stumbling into a figurative lottery ticket like he did. There was a period of time when the internet was making stupid money and he capitalized. That doesn't make him smarter than any of us, he just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and he wasn't acting alone.

If I invented the next great thing and you happened to be my buddy and lent me some money to make it happen, does that qualify you to comment on the national economy?

 

I'm not going to pretend to know a lot about Cuban (I do know if I made billions I would be doing what he is doing with an NBA team) but here is a little something from his wikipedia that makes him sound like a pretty savy businessman:

Cuban started a company, MicroSolutions, with support from his previous customers from Your Business Software. MicroSolutions was initially a system integrator and software reseller. The company was an early proponent of technologies such as Carbon Copy, Lotus Notes, and CompuServe. One of the company's largest clients was Perot Systems.[20] In 1990, Cuban sold MicroSolutions to CompuServe—then a subsidiary of H&R Block—for $6 million. He retained approximately $2 million after taxes on the deal.

In 1995, Cuban and fellow Indiana University alumnus Todd Wagner started Audionet, combining their mutual interest in college basketball and webcasting. With a single server and an ISDN line, Audionet became Broadcast.com in 1998. By 1999, Broadcast.com had grown to 330 employees and $13.5 million in revenue for the second quarter. In 1999, during the dot com boom, Broadcast.com was acquired by Yahoo! for $5.9 billion in Yahoo! stock.

Business career after the sale, Cuban diversified his wealth to avoid exposure to a market crash. As of 2011, Cuban is No.459 on Forbes' "World's Richest People" list, with a net worth of $2.5 billion.

I don't know how much Cuban studies the economy, but he is affected multilpe ways during an economic shift and seems like someone who would keep up and read on that topic. I wonder if he is the bizarro Paul Allen, even after making his fortune, it seems what Cuban touches turns to gold (luck?) while PA can't catch a break with his business adventures.

 

These self-made billionaires dont know anything about the economy....Its the Joe Blow right-wingers on an internet forum that know exactly what it takes to get out of a recession.

 

Major sour grapes there?

There are only 2 categories of billionaires in America.

Those who developed an idea into a successful business, and those who inherited their wealth.

 

So Mark Cuban isn't qualified to talk about the economy. Then who is--I guess you want to hear from liberal economics professors. Then, you'll say they're not qualified, and the billionaires who actually make the money are. Like Mark Cuban.

Gates, Buffet, Cuban, and many other rich people want rich people to pay more taxes. Rich people are more liberal than the Republican-owned media lets on. Conservatives dominate all facets of our country, pretending to be the majority. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, so to dominate the world, be a loud complainer who's always offended.

 

I guess my thinking is that it's easy to have already made your money, then sheltered it for minimum tax and then jump on the band wagon for even higher taxes for the truly wealthy- but those are all too often the ones shielding their money. Change the tax system and all this goes away.

 

A billionaire who inherited it will pay a lot of tax, just like a billionaire who earned it. Both types make their money from investments (the 1st-generation billionaire owns stock in his own company, same as for stock in companies he didn't found).

So their attitudes shouldn't differ, if they're equally selfish. Now, if you want to say that 1st-generation is more selfish than 2nd, then you should proceed along that line of argument.

If such selfishness breaks down capitalism, they will be the biggest losers, not welfare recipients, whose standard of living won't change nearly as much as billionaires. Most rich see that a solvent government is insurance for them. I keep reading them saying they don't at all mind he tax rates which made the U.S. powerful for decades, because that makes them powerful too.

Like I keep saying, the only American who has a line-by-line budget plan to balance the budget is little old me. Just reverse back to the Clinton days, both expenses and revenues.

 

What this all boils down to is that I am right and you all are wrong

 

Like I wrote when Warren Buffett said the same thing, the US Treasury accepts cash, checks, money orders and credit cards. Pay up, Mark, then I'll listen.

 

I'm confused by the thread title.

Whom is it that hates Cuban, and why?