explaining myself and answering a few comments by drugsrus48
(libertarian)
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
How did I get into this cubby hole ? WOW, it's already time to explain my position. The Nalan Chart categorizes people based on their answers to ten questions. There are only four choices of answers, none are deemed wrong. My guess is that everyone starts out deemed a dead center "centrist" and based on the preferred answers chosen your "star" moves up or down, and left or right. With ten questions instead of twelve, at the end nobody ends up at the starting point. It works, BUT nobody fits in his/her slot on every issue. Sometimes a person is torn between two of the choices and the decision is not easy but given that a choice must be made, you end up farther up or down, left or right of where you truly should be. More questions would somewhat correct the problem.
For probably too many years, I was not politically motivated. Trying not to sound overly self serving, there has never been an elected or appointed person in any office from a block captain to the White House that has made a positive change in my day to day life. I've been quietly disgruntled for a long time. When in political discussions, there seemed to be agreement in the group that campaign statements were shelved after the election only to be recycled during the next season. Our representatives had their own agenda and their representation of us played little part in their duties. The general feeling was " Well, what can you do ?"
The elected elite's arrogance has finally gotten to enough of the voters to create the modern day Tea parties whose numbers are determined to reel in a government that has gotten way out of control. The founding fathers are becoming heroes again.
As a Libertarian, (I don't like these kinds of labels, but they are a necessary generality) I do agree that a person's salary should be unlimited, BUT any person who can name his/her own paycheck also should be intelligent enough to realize there may be consequences. A good example would be some movie stars who agree to do a picture for a somewhat small salary and sign on for a small percentage of the "back end" profits. A successful film could reap a bigger paycheck in the long run, but keep original costs minimal. If more of them took this approach, maybe movie ticket prices could get back to the $5 range.
Professional athletes demand high salaries on the premise that "I can only beat my body up for a few years", but wait - didn't they get a college education ? Surely when the playing days are over somebody would like to have a former NFL, NBA, MLB star on the payroll, if he is not in jail. And please tell me who is honestly worth the current contracts - God isn't worth $100 million over five years plus endorsements and extra for performance bonuses, playoffs and/or championships. Do they even consider who ultimately ends up paying these salaries ? The team owners make money from league TV contracts, other things and ticket sales. The players somehow don't seem to see that (in sports with higher numbers of games like baseball and basketball) there aren't as many season ticket holders as there once was. Football games are usually sellouts because there are only eight (or ten including preseason) home games and therefore less chances to see your favorite team play. And when you are making the salaries sports figures make, $100 ticket isn't that much and neither is the $10,000 seating license for the privilege to buy tickets in the new stadium or arena.
The boards of directors pay their elite management millions under the assumption that - "If we don't pay the most HE will go elsewhere". It's time to say "Good bye, good luck wherever". It was just in the news that the CEO of Verizon took a major hit in the pocketbook, salary down to $17 million from $20 plus million. I know that hurt. Telling the family that pizza delivery can now be afforded maybe every other week had to be heartbreaking. Are phone rates being lowered ? I don't think so. The same thing goes on in the banking industry, the auto industry, other utilities, and on and on.
Some where along the line we have lost the concept of having enough. Many years ago when my aunt passed away, before she went into the hospital, my uncle (her twin brother) asked if she needed any money. She told him she had enough and would be fine financially. Because of that statement, he thought there must be a pile of money somewhere. The reality was that there was about $200 +/- in her checking account, and a pension check was due within a week. Her Blue Cross/Blue Shield took care of the hospital bill. There was food in the house, gas in the car, everything was OK. And she was right in that she had enough. Today nobody has enough - "I NEED MORE" - and where does this MORE come from ??? Ultimately the citizens, John and Jane Doe, in the form of higher ticket prices, higher utility rates, higher advertising rates, higher fees at the bank, ........
Mega-paychecks affect everybody. Just like when a local employer of hundreds closes the door, the whole town feels the pinch and several other businesses sometimes also end up closing or laying people off. There is always talk that lower taxes promote financial growth. I ask, in that same vein, wouldn't more reasonable upper echelon salaries aid in keeping a whole bunch of stuff more affordable ? And when do you have enough ?? Have we forgotten that with freedom comes responsibility ?? Or do we go through life like a tornado - everything looks fine ahead, paying no attention to the trail of destruction behind.
I guess the good news in all of this is that none of the descendants of these near billionaires should be filling out employment applications any time in the foreseeable future.
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