Posted by
steven anderson on Friday, July 11, 2008 4:42:31 AM
I have read that the salary cap limit for NBA teams was something close to, or around 80 million per team for this upcoming season. Each NBA team is allotted 15 or less roster players. Alex Rodriguez of the NY Yankees will make a few bucks less than 300 million if he plays out his contract. Shaquille Oneal makes 20 million or so a year, and Mike Tyson in one of his fights made more than 10 million dollars for less than an hours worth of work.
Why then are people so enamored with CEO pay? Take the NBA teams, lump all of them together and multiply 80 or so million per team for the yearly salary cap, and that financial number is far more than a billion dollars annually, and a staggering financial compensation number for under 500 NBA roster players a year. If the team salary cap was 50 million, it is still more than a staggering number. And other sports leagues such as the NFL have somewhat similair salaries.
Take Shaquile Oneal at 20 million a year, his salary dwarfs most CEO, CFO salaries. No one complains about what he makes, and asks that the government step in and redistribute his wealth to those more needy. I want to be like Shaquille, or anyone else who has made it financially. I want to be rich. If I somehow find my way to that goal, why then am I asked to give up my earnings to an entity that intends to take a lions share my money and give it to those who they feel are more deserving of it?
I do not hate the rich. I want to be rich, and if I make it there I want to be able to keep as much of what I earned as possible. If I seized an opportunity and prospered, why should I be punished for succeeding? I always thought producing, and the compensatory rewards is part and parcel the American dream.
Taxes do not go directly to people, the government keeps nearly all, or all of the taxes they collect. Some of the rich are despicable people, that in itself is not a reason to punish those that are not. Punishing those that produce by confiscating their rewards is unfair on so many levels.
There has always been rich, poor, and the middle class. The difference is in centuries past if you were poor or middle class, there was no opportunity to change. America still is the first and only land of opportunity for everyone to live the dream.