Comments on: The Icahn Lift

60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl Profiles The Billionaire Investor

[harp1963]

Mr. Icahn,

Just watched your segment on 60 minutes. A humble executive, wow! I wish you would have bought Mylan.

[eyemdope]

Thanks jjarden, for putting stellategang in his place so I didn''t have to. He''s obviously a dolt, but I love your label ''Economic Dilettante'' far more.

I always thought that "lucky sperm club" quote was from Donald Trump, which I remember from reading his autobiography as a young Ayn Rand acolyte myself before gaining some perspective as an autodidact and through entrepreneurship like you. But it makes far more sense that he pilfered it from Warren Buffet, so I''m sure you''re right.

[harp1963]

I wonder if Carl is going to buy up Mylan Pharmaceutical?

[jjarden]

stellategang.

You are a poster child for Ayn Rand. Unfortunately you haven''t grown up yet as you sound VERY selfish. Your justification for ONLY Entrepreneurship Matters is misguided. Not everyone can be an entrepreneur (Who Will be the Workers, You Dope!) No one said Carl Ichan was born into wealth. I didn''t. My only contention was that those born into wealth, and those who achieve OBSCENE wealth OWE something to society, which you obviously don''t agree with, because you are selfish. OK Mr. Entrepreneur, what''s your solution for the "Winner-Take-All" society and the formation of a "Banana Republic"? You tell us. I thought so. Your mental faculties are just as vacuous as your delusional proposition of "just get to work" on "Entrepreneurship" and stop whining and everything will be ok. I bet you haven%u2019t even taken the time to study the issue in detail. Have you even read Locke? Hume? Mill? Rousseau? Smith? Ricardo? Keynes? Friedman? Thurow? Galbraith? Hayek? Mises? Marx? Rawls? I thought so. You are an Economic Dilettante who blabbers about stop whining and pull yourself up by the bootstraps but don''t have a Clue as to what''s REALLY going on in the world. Do some studying, and then maybe your eyes will be opened. By the way, thought you''d like to know that I AM an Entrepreneur with 40 employees. Been at it tooth and nail for four decades. I''ve seen a lot of things along the way son, and let me tell you, you don''t have the slightest idea of what you are talking about.

[stellategang]

Carl icahn is a genius--and if you actually looked into his past you would see he wasn''t born into wealth. He grew up in Queens, went to public school, etc. He dropped out of graduate school to go to wall street.

You people need to stop your whining. Icahn fought, risked and worked hard for everything he''s made. We should respect him.

The world doesn''t owe anyone a dime. That''s the "comsic law" . . . the sooner you people realize this the faster you will stop complaining and the more you will respect those fought tooth and nail to make their fortunes. You people obviously have never had to fight for anything . . . you probably never had to earn anything either.

Everything around you was built by entrepreneurs. Icahn is an entrepreneur, he''s just in finance.

Some Advice:

1. Stop whining
2. Actually READ Icahn''s bio
3. Be an entrepreneur--to actually understand how hard it is to actually be successful--
4. Once you''ve ACCOMPLISHED 1-3, you''re free to whine away

[olebd]

What is this? A brag piece because some rich guy got lucky? Even though he technically made a mistake. I say he should take a mandatory retirement. Then, let him keep, say $10 million of his assets for retirement and the estimated time he has left to live. The rest, disburse to benefit the rest of the country. There I go dreaming again.

[jjarden]

I used to be an Ayn Rand disciple, and used to think that if the "Clever," who had all the advantages growing up, made a killing while everyone else suffered financially, then so be it, they "Worked HArd" for it...and then I grew up and finally realized and understood what JK Galbraith said, that "the rich are always searching for a moral justification for their selfishness," and now I absolutely think that "re-distribution" of wealth is the ONLY fair and logical way for a Democracy to survive. The alternative is a "Winner-Take-All" society, and the creation of a Banana republic, which is what America is going to turn into. You cannot tell me or anyone else that an intelligent child, born into wealth, and the child of intelligent parents, having received the BEST education mooney can buy, is on the same playing field as a child who is not that bright, born into a lower class, to parents that are not that intelligent. WHY should the first child have ALL the advantges just because, as Warren Buffet sayd, he/she was "born into the lucky sperm club." NO...that child with all the advantages in life should NOT be able to accumulate OBSCENE wealth at the expense of other less fortunate people. And don''t give me this *** about the lower classes pulling themsleves up by the bootstraps like "ALL" the wealthy people have done. Bunk!

[jimfinster]

"I haven%u2019t changed at all%u2026.I%u2019m still doing the same thing," he says. "I go in, buy a lot of stock in an undervalued company. It helps the other shareholders a great deal."


What a philanthropist! A regular Mother Teresa he is!