Well... certainly in the sense that she comes from old money and the "upper class". In terms of pure net worth I don't know - but Hurley's might be higher with the lottery win. As to her child... i was suspicious from the beginning. no idea really because i'm not clear on the timeline of her affair, and of just "how pregnant" she is... that may become more apparent but without sophisticated tests they may not know... and without more flashbacks and a time reference, we may not find out. unless the kid is the spitting image of one of the two "candidate dads".
Yes she is. I am appreciating Sawyer more in this season, although we get glimpses of his softer side at the end of S2, when after the deaths of Ana Lucia and Libby whom Kate even worked to try and save. Around the memorial, we see Sawyer cradling a grieving Kate in his arms. My impression of the "fight" was that Sawyer expressly staged it. He wanted to test the mettle of his captors... and he did. I smiled when he gave Kate a detailed report of their strengths and, especially, their weaknesses.

my thought was simply that any boat in the hands of the wreck survivors represented a threat to Ben - a threat that they could find the Others' camp and ...who knows what. It seems they are in fact outnumbered. Certainly a rescue attempt could be made.
even though i don't follow sports including America's National Pastime, I still thought it was cool this particular event was chosen.

yes this is a biggie. I ind that some other back stories provide emotional hints, or tie in later with another "piece" of the same story. So i am always attentive to them... I feel unable to gauge their overall importance because it may not be immediately apparent.

~ waves ~