Calvin And Hobbes, And Trillionaires

Calvin And Hobbes And The Price Of Integrity

Matthew Morgan | Republic Of Letters | 12th June 2026

The comic’s creator Bill Watterson never budged on his principles. He fought Universal Press Syndicate against merchandising Calvin and Hobbes for six years — and won. To avoid putting out work he considered shoddy, he took many long sabbaticals, an unheard-of privilege for syndicated cartoonists. After ending it, he excised Calvin and Hobbes out of his life with surgical precision and thoroughness (6,000 words)

What Does It Mean To Have A Trillion Dollars?

Byrne Hobart | Diff | 15th June 2026

“One reason Elon Musk is the first trillionaire is that, relative to all the other deca- and centi-billionaires, he has a much higher tolerance for the possibility of ending up broke, in jail or on the hook for a trillion and one dollars’ worth of child support. Some of this is probably genuine skill at underwriting seemingly-low probabilities, some of it is raw risk tolerance, and some of it is poor impulse control” (1,900 words)