Footin’ on the Pritz: Tom Benson and The Pritzker Family

Zero Sum Empire

Footin’ on the Pritz: Tom Benson and The Pritzker Family Billionaires in the News: This week, Mackenzie Bezos became the world’s third richest woman and signed The Giving Pledge. The Giving Pledge is a public promise that billionaires make to donate at least half of their amassed wealth when they die. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet came up with the idea about ten years ago, and there are over 200 signatories so far. There are some issues with the pledge that we should all be aware of. Foremost among them, we think, is that heavy emphasis on philanthropy situates the responsibility for decision making about how wealth is distributed with billionaires, insulating the money from any democratic process. Next, Chad talks about Tom Benson, the recently-deceased owner of the New Orleans Saints. We discuss the economic consequences of large public venues like stadiums, the ways that Benson extorted tax subsidies from Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, and the consolidation and globalization of the facilities management industry in the age of private equity. I know that last item sounds boring, but it’s actually really strange and interesting! Last, Joe introduces us to the (ELEVEN!) billionaire members of the Pritzker family. He takes us on a tour of the five “Reasonably Likely Outcomes if You Happen to Be the Scion of Billionaires.” We realize that in just eight episodes we’ve already come across three billionaire families connected to governorships. We fondly remember Rod Blagojevich, Harrison Ford’s Air Force One, and the 90s band Sonia Dada’s success on the Australian pop charts. Further reading on the Giving Pledge: https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/the-gift-adviser/2015/6/9/with-the-giving-pledge-the-devil-is-in-the-details.html https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/with-giving-pledge-half-can-mean-different-things https://givingpledge.org/ Stadium economics: https://www.brookings.edu/book/sports-jobs-and-taxes/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/09/if-you-build-it-they-might-not-come-the-risky-economics-of-sports-stadiums/260900/ Great article on Tom Benson and the Superdome: https://www.nola.com/saints/2016/08/saints_subsidies.html Sports fandom polling: https://news.gallup.com/poll/183689/industry-grows-percentage-sports-fans-steady.aspx Pritzker/Blagojevich FBI Wiretap recording: https://youtu.be/-DBy6wR9XkU Liesel’s big scene in Air Force One: https://youtu.be/9-rsgdzXt6A Sonia Dada’s “Lover (You Don’t Treat Me No Good No More)” (Warning: This is extremely 90s): https://youtu.be/eOzD69DmVO8 nanu nanu: https://youtu.be/Q_z98pAPHAo