Salary Comparision: Regular jobs vs Athletes
- Thread starter stinkynuts
- Start date
Not to say that they shouldn't be paid well for being the top tier athletic talents but that chart is indicative of what is severely wrong with our society: athletes that are basically "entertainment" are paid so much more than doctors, surgeons, and nurses etc.
I think annual salaries for movie stars, athletes etc should be capped at $8 million a year, then any excess should be put into healthcare, education, etc.
Sean Penn has a great ad out now, showing how much the various bailouts are, the war in iraq etc, and the cost of feeding all the starving kids in the world......$1 billion vs hundreds of billions.....
I think annual salaries for movie stars, athletes etc should be capped at $8 million a year, then any excess should be put into healthcare, education, etc.
Sean Penn has a great ad out now, showing how much the various bailouts are, the war in iraq etc, and the cost of feeding all the starving kids in the world......$1 billion vs hundreds of billions.....
I don't know if that would ever fly, putting caps...
The only way is for people to stop watching sporting events (tv or live), buying the products athletes endorse etc...
Which btw will never happen cause North Americans is all about sports and winning.
So in the meantime, athletes/celebrities get what the market is willing to pay.
Ever pay attention to what some soccer stars in Europe get paid? It's not just North America.
I love this topic. The way I look at it is as follows:
It's supply and demand. There are more doctors than professional athletes. Say what you want *and I could NEVER be a doctor I don't have that skillset at all I am nowhere near smart enough*, but it's harder to be a pro athlete than a doctor. Well, not necessarily harder...just a different skillset. Unfortunately, athletes generate MILLIONS of dollars...so they get compensated accordingly. Doctors, well they dont.
It is the same in any business. A sales rep who brings in the business will get more than a sales rep who doesn't because they generate more revenue. If people find a value in what you do, you deserve to be compensated accordingly.
It's supply and demand. There are more doctors than professional athletes. Say what you want *and I could NEVER be a doctor I don't have that skillset at all I am nowhere near smart enough*, but it's harder to be a pro athlete than a doctor. Well, not necessarily harder...just a different skillset. Unfortunately, athletes generate MILLIONS of dollars...so they get compensated accordingly. Doctors, well they dont.
It is the same in any business. A sales rep who brings in the business will get more than a sales rep who doesn't because they generate more revenue. If people find a value in what you do, you deserve to be compensated accordingly.
See, that's just indicative of the problem. Take the leafs for eg, the ticket prices are exorbinant yet the arena is full every night. People tend to find the money for sports etc.
God save us from the people who want the government to control who gets paid what -- by order. If you wanna be paid like a sports star, why don't you become one yourself? If you can bend it like Beckham, you will be paid accordingly -- it's open to anyone. Oh -- you don't have the skills? Tough titty!
Outrageous salaries of sports stars is the price we pay for having a Free Market. It's like the National Inquirer is the price we pay for having a Free Press. People have died for these freedoms, but you would just throw them away.
Stop whining, and count your blessings.
Say your mother develops breast cancer. How much do you think the researchers and surgeons are really worth?
The problem is that everyone starts out thinking that "it" will "never happen to them".
Diamonds are worth much more than water. But if you are lost in a desert, try drinking a diamond.
I've lost a parent to cancer, and I respect doctors and what they do more than words could say. However, they do not generate the same revenue that an athlete does, so they do not get compensated the same. It has nothing to do with how much good they do for society, it's just a dollars and cents thing
Just for the record, Sean Penn and his claptrap about feeding the world's children is wrong.
Think about it for 1 week.
Get it yet?
1 billion for the rest of the kid's lives or for one day?
Get fucking real.
And, to be on topic, as stupid as it is that athletes make as much as they do, well, that's business in our world. That's what people want, that's what people get. Their dollar votes speak louder than anything else. But some people (including people on here) don't believe in freedom, and thus the debate.
I for my part, believe in freedom and I'm amazed that people are so willing to pay people to do so very little other than run, jump and catch a ball, but that's what people value, so here we are.
Sigh...
Think about it for 1 week.
Get it yet?
1 billion for the rest of the kid's lives or for one day?
Get fucking real.
And, to be on topic, as stupid as it is that athletes make as much as they do, well, that's business in our world. That's what people want, that's what people get. Their dollar votes speak louder than anything else. But some people (including people on here) don't believe in freedom, and thus the debate.
I for my part, believe in freedom and I'm amazed that people are so willing to pay people to do so very little other than run, jump and catch a ball, but that's what people value, so here we are.
Sigh...
Exactly, last year Larry Ellison made over $556 million (that's right over half a billion in one year). He is certainly not a more valuable member of society than a great teacher, but money is not given for value to society, it is given for perceived value by the masses. What are the masses willing to pay for? To watch Britney jump around and lip-sync, yes. To pay for a tutor and texts for a child, no.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/12/best-boss-09_Lawrence-J-Ellison_JKEX.html
(this has been a generalized comment about north american society, your specific circumstances and attitude may be different, as always YMMV, PSE extra)
I think you are wrong here
Athletes get paid so much because they have a monopoly
The NHL should be forced to allow as many teams in the league as the fans will support then watch the ticket prices plummet along with salaries
It is a monopoly supported by pro monopoly laws that only sports get
because politicians are paid off or own the teams like the Bushes own the Texas Rangers thenthey force tax payers to build stadiums they use for free of they will move the team
I see your point. Doctors have a monopoly too. Do they cap the number of entrants into Medical School? Yes. Can anyone just go out and become a doctor or are there tests and requirements? The same goes for sports. You have to have a certain requirement or else you don't make it. If there were 1,000,000 more doctors, they'd get paid less too. Fortunately for us, they have requirements so we don't see the quality drop. Same goes for the NHL...they don't want it saturated or quality drops.
