The '*' selector shoots up the chart, and for some reason the browser lays down a lot more rules then when it's absent. 2ms is not much, but when complexity increases it all adds up (games, client-side apps, etc).
I've read that, his argument is that "it's negligible", not that it doesn't have an impact. In his anedoctal evidence link it's adding 15-30ms to render times.
Add a couple * selectors - one in the reset, one more in your base sheet - plus a couple descendant * selectors, global box-sizing/position rules and you've put a heavy saddle on the matching and rendering engine. It might not matter for 80% of websites, but you need to be aware of it.
The '*' selector shoots up the chart, and for some reason the browser lays down a lot more rules then when it's absent. 2ms is not much, but when complexity increases it all adds up (games, client-side apps, etc).