A CHILDLESS GAY ELITIST NIALL FERGUSON DOESN'T DESPISE

You may have seen this about showboating right-wing economist historian Niall Ferguson:

Speaking at the Tenth Annual Altegris Conference in Carlsbad, Calif., in front of a group of more than 500 financial advisors and investors, Ferguson responded to a question about [John Maynard] Keynes' famous philosophy of self-interest versus the economic philosophy of Edmund Burke, who believed there was a social contract among the living, as well as the dead. Ferguson asked the audience how many children Keynes had. He explained that Keynes had none because he was a homosexual and was married to a ballerina, with whom he likely talked of "poetry" rather than procreated. The audience went quiet at the remark. Some attendees later said they found the remarks offensive.

It gets worse.

Ferguson ... says it's only logical that Keynes would take this selfish worldview because he was an "effete" member of society. Apparently, in Ferguson's world, if you are gay or childless, you cannot care about future generations nor society.

(Ferguson has since walked the remarks back.)

I'll ignore the incongruity of a Davos-attending Mitt Romney endorser using "effete" as an insult.

I'll just point out that Ferguson doesn't think every posh childless gay person is unworthy of serious consideration as an economic thinker. On the contrary: Ferguson has lavished praise on the musings of openly gay Internet billionaire Peter Thiel. Thiel, of course, is a libertarian -- which would seem to be a more selfish, less future-generations-oriented ideological leaning than Keynes's. And yet Ferguson calls Thiel "one of the most interesting and original thinkers in America today" and says, "Damn. Peter Thiel is smarter than I am."

So what has Thiel done to make the world a better place for future generations? Let's ask Wikipedia:

In September 2006, Thiel announced that he would donate $3.5 million to foster anti-aging research through the Methuselah Mouse Prize foundation....

On April 15, 2008, Thiel pledged $500,000 to the new Seasteading Institute, directed by Patri Friedman, whose mission is "to establish permanent, autonomous ocean communities to enable experimentation and innovation with diverse social, political, and legal systems"....

In 2011 Thiel was reported as having given a total of $1.25 million to the Seasteading Institute.... According to the Daily Mail Peter Thiel was inspired to do so by Ayn Rand's philosophical novel Atlas Shrugged....

In 2009, it was reported that Thiel helped fund college student James O'Keefe's "Taxpayers Clearing House" video -- a satirical look at the politics behind the Wall Street bailout....

In July 2012, after donating $1 million dollars in a single donation, Thiel became the largest contributor to the Club for Growth....

In December 2007, Thiel endorsed Ron Paul for President....

In 2012, Thiel ... put [his] support behind the Endorse Liberty Super PAC, ... whose purpose was to promote Texas congressman Ron Paul for president in 2012....

Thiel is the co-author, with David O. Sacks, of the 1995 book The Diversity Myth: 'Multiculturalism' and the Politics of Intolerance at Stanford. The book was critical of what it perceived as political correctness and a dilution of academic rigor....

Oh yes, I'm sure that's all done more to make the world a better place than the theories of Keynes.