DAILY DIRT: Who has more money … Taylor Swift or Donald Trump?

Daily Dirt for Thursday, April 4, 2024

If so, it’s probably because it’s raining cats and dogs … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 911 of The Daily Dirt.

1. Many of the common sayings we take granted often have unexpected origins.

While the following five phrases are rather common in our everyday 2024 speech, their roots go back hundreds of years.

I found information for these, plus others we’ll examine in the future, in a number of sources, with social.benzinga.com being especially helpful:

• 1. “Raining cats and dogs”: The consensus is this phrase stems from author Jonathan Swift’s 1710 poem “City Shower,” where he describes floods so violent that any unfortunate pets left out in the rain would drown. When the weather cleared the bodies were discovered, appearing as though they’d fallen from the sky.
• 2. “The early bird catches the worm”: Your best chance for success is to start whatever the project may be as soon as possible, correct? English author William Camden first used a rather lengthy version of the expression in a 1605 book of proverbs, and the shortened form has been popular ever since. Ever heard of early-bird specials in restaurants and cafes? Well, they come from the same source.
• 3. “Like a moth to a flame”:William Shakespeare is responsible for the original phrase back in 1596 when he used it in “The Merchant of Venice”. But some people forget the actual aspect of danger in the saying, and they use it simply to describe a powerful attraction.
• 4. “Walking on eggshells”:In the 1700s, the idiom was “walking on eggs,” but clearly they weren’t generally deemed fragile enough. It was updated the following century to eggshells, and that practically rendered the previous version of the saying “eggstinct.”
• 5. “Wearing your heart on your sleeve”:When your emotions are obvious because you display them openly, this is the phrase for you. And if you’re looking for the originator, Shakespeare is generally a good place to start. The Bard featured it in his play “Othello”in 1604. 

2. This week’s top celebrity birthdays include:

• Singer Allan Clarke will be 80 on Friday. Clarke was the front man for the Hollies, who had a number of hits in the mid-to-late 1960s and early 1970s, including “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My brother.” 
• Singer Agnetha Faltskog of ABBA will be 72, also on Friday. She is the blonde member of the group.
• Action movie superstar Jackie Chan turns 70 on Sunday. Chan speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, English, American SIgn Language, German, Korean, Japanese, Spanish and Thai.
• Musician Julian Lennon, son of former Beatle John Lennon, will be 60 on Monday. His mother was the late Cynthia Powell Lennon, the first wife of John Lennon. 
• Actress Kristen Stewart will be 33 on Tuesday. It’s hard to believe that first “Twilight” vampire movie was way back in 2008.

3. There are now more billionaires than ever before.

Forbes magazine’s annual list of the world’s richest people shows 142 more billionaires than a year ago. There are now 2,781 billionaires worldwide with a combined net worth of $14.2 trillion.

In the U.S. alone, there are now 813 billionaires — the most of any country. Chine has 473 and India 200.

The top three wealthiest individuals in the world are:

1. Bernard Arnault of France (and his family) have a net worth of $233 billion. Arnault is head of LVMH, a luxury fashion and cosmetics conglomerate in France. 

2. Elon Musk, once the richest person in the world, is No. 2 with a net worth of $195 billion. Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, also bought Twitter for $44 million in 2022, renaming it X.

3. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has a net worth of $195 billion.
Others of note

4. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is worth $177 billion.

21. Alice Walton, daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, is the wealthiest woman at $72.3 billion.

137. Dallas Cowboys general manager and president Jerry Jones is worth $13.9 billion.

1,545. Entertainer Taylor Swift is worth $1.1 billion.

And former President Donald Trump? Well, it depends on the day when you look at his stock sales, stock splits, legal fees, judgments against, Bible sales, stock dumps…it’s a moving target. But, at this moment, he probably is somewhere between Jerry Jones and Taylor Swift on the money list.

Steve Thought O’ The Day — Taylor Swift is simply everywhere.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. Taylor Swift and Donald Trump in the same Daily Dirt … Steve is trying to break the Internet.