• Michael Milken vs. Mother Teresa - "Is Greed Good?" airs tonight on FBN at 9 ET

      Posted by John Stossel | October 18, 2012

      Who did more for the world? The jailed-financier Michael Milken or Mother Teresa? To most people, the question is absurd.

      On my show tonight, liberal blogger Sally Kohn answers, "of course, I'm going to go with Mother Teresa...because my heart goes out to her and I think she was a good person."

      I assume she was a good person. But when it comes to "doing more for the world", what does that matter?

      Mother Teresa helped thousands, but Milken, before and after he went to jail, helped millions. His high-interest (junk) bonds gave these companies money they needed to grow:

      Viacom

      Time Warner

      Cablevision

      Telemundo

      Toys-R-Us

      Mattel

      Hasbro

      LeapFrog

      Hilton

      Days Inn

      Holiday Inn

      Mirage Resorts (Wynn)

      MGM

      7-11

      Circle K. Health: Medco and Humana

      AMC Entertainment

      Barnes & Noble

      Calvin Klein

      Chiquita Brands Int'l

      Duracell

      Filene's Basement

      Kay Jewelers

      Playtex

      Think of the millions of people who work for these companies, and use the money to support their families, invest, give to charity, and become authors of their own lives.

      Mother Teresa helped the poor. Michael Milken, motivated by his own self-interest, helped many more.

      TAGS
      Greed
      Michael Milken
      Mother Teresa

    • JOHN HAS A NEW BOOK! ORDER TODAY

    This Week's Show -- June 20, 2013

    America is said to be a "free" country. But what if you want to have a drink? A cigarette? Make a bet? Often government wants to stop you, to protect you from yourself.



    DRINKING AND DRIVING: That's different, because drunk drivers kill others. But now the feds, having already lowered the legal blood alcohol level from 1.0 to .08, want to drop the rate further to .05. What's the right level? Special Correspondent Kennedy drove drunk to test the test.

     

    Some libertarians argue that there should be no drunk driving law. The test should be "reckless driving" because sleeplessness, kids in the back seat, eating, using the radio, GPS, talking on a hands-free device, etc. are just as dangerous, and different drivers react differently to alcohol.



    GAMBLING: Stossel loves to gamble but government bans much of it. Internet poker briefly thrived in America, but then government shut down the big gambling sites. Isn't the Department of Homeland Security supposed to protect us from terrorists... not losing at poker?



    VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES: Kids love violent video games. Whenever there is a mass shooting in America people demand restrictions on violent video games. Stossel pushes back.



    SEX: Prostitution is legal in parts of Nevada; prostitutes there say it's safer that way.

     

    To protect actors from STDs, Los Angeles passed a law requiring all porn stars to wear condoms. That didn't solve the problem... it's just caused business to move to neighboring counties.

     

     

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