Why do some folks whine about the bankers whilst lavishing their sports heroes?

Pro athletes bring a very high level of talent/skill. "You get what you pay for" is a basic and short way of describing it.

I don't like hearing the "why does an NFL player make 10 times more then a police officer/fireman, or teacher?" Well... It doesn't take that much talent/skill to get those jobs therefore the pay is on par with your skill. Not to mention, those are public servants that get paid with our tax dollars, unlike pro athletes who get their checks signed by a PRIVATE corp. Would anybody be ok with raising the pay of every cop/fireman/teacher to a pro athletes pay scale? Didn't think so.

They provide a form of entertainment that the public clearly wants to watch on TV and/or in person. Otherwise the Super Bowl wouldn't be the most watched event on TV.

 

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In regards to bankers, there is a long standing distrust of people in financial services going all the way back to the Knights Templar.

There is the perception that bankers and such "don't do anything. They just use other peoples money" Which of course is a ridiculous simplification.

In regards to other rich people, I think you will find that the "rich" that people are most jealous of are not the ultra rich sports & entertainment stars or mega CEOs.

These people have lives that are forever out or reach of most Americans.

The people who are really the result of ire directed at the "rich" are those in the 100-500,000 dollar a year income range. Most of those people are the kind of people most Americans know personally and are technically well within their reach of attaining economically. Like a store manager for Wal-Mart. So the failure of most Americans to attain that level cuts at them hard because it indicates some failure or error on their own part.

 

It can be viewed that way, sure. The distinction I see, though, is that banker's #1 priority is money and CEO's #1 priority is making money for the shareholders. An athlete's #1 priority is to be the very best at whatever it is they play. Problems emerge in the sports world when an athlete is more driven by money than for "the love of the game." The celebrity culture, however, is an abomination.

 

Several obvious points.
1) Supporting sports and players is an individual choice. CEO pay is not. It is set by corporate boards.
2) Financial rewards for sports players are based on performance. CEO pay is often not based on performance.

3) CEO pay has increased much more rapidly then that of the other employees.

 

Pfffft. You think that's hypocritical. Ask if they want to be millionaires.

 

That's not exactly true. I think it's a joke that athletes and actors and singers make what they make, I'd be all for some SOCIALIST imposed limitations on their earnings, but I don't spend every minute of my life obsessing over politics, I need to watch a ball game, listen to music or watch a movie. sometimes.

 

At least IT people CREATE a product, bankers just move money around and skim off the top and CREATE NOTHING.

 

CEO pay is based on performance but it often isn't performance that people consider obvious.

For example, a CEO might be brought in to manage a company facing imminent major problems financially that are not clear to the rank and file. He then has to institute massive cuts and cost saving measures to improve the companies future profitability (and thus save it) but overall the corporate performance while he is there seems poor at best.

In the corporate world, the ability to minimize losses is considered a talent comparable to maximizing profits.

 

Says the person who has no (*)(*)(*)(*)ing clue what they're talking about.

You let bankers go on strike. Let bankers stop doing their job for a week... hell, let them stop for a day. The ENTIRE WORLD would go into complete and utter shock at the profound implications of bankers telling you to go (*)(*)(*)(*) yourself.

 

Do you think of political ideology 24/7/365? Don't you ever just take a few hours to watch a sports event or a concert or a movie? Sure they make too much, but I can't be obsessed with that, I like to escape and watch a ball game. If the socialists take over and slash their salaries, I'll still watch.

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Go for it, I'd be all for trying it, enter their offices, beat them with baseball bats and and start doing what's right.

 

True, but they create a method for people who are incapable of doing what they do, to borrow from them. If no one loans anyone money, what do you think our quality of life would be? Try buying a house or car for cash. Or do expect everyone to rent everything, which is a temporary loan? Remember that there are RESPONSIBLE loans and the obvious idiots who borrow far more than the know they can afford. Loaning money is an amazing concept. But loaning people too much money is a very harmful thing. When it all comes down to it, people who knowingly borrow too much have no one but themselves to blame, since no one is ever FORCED to sign on the dotted line when you're sitting down in an bank's office.

 

Do what's right??? And what is that?

You do understand that bankers provide an absolutely INVALUABLE service, right?

Without bankers and the service they provide, our entire society would collapse.

 

So true, there is ZERO RISK in being a CEO once you get the job! If you utterly fail but then get a 7 figure severance, where was the risk? You could accept the job, then hole up in your office and smoke crack all day until they come to give you a few million dollar$ to quit.... ZERO RISK.

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Make investing the money ABOVE ALL ELSE TO CREATE JOBS ONLY the #1 priority... TO SPREAD the wealth.

 

WHAT!??!? Outside of destroying your reputation, being responsible for the actions of people whom you have little to no control over, never getting another job at any level of management and being thrown in prison for the actions of OTHER PEOPLE.... yeah there's absolutely zero risk in being a CEO.

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Why the hell would anybody do that?

Do you just give away your money to people that come asking for it? Hell, I have at least 10 different ideas for businesses. Let me tell you about one or two of them and then you can just give me all your money that you're not explicitly using at the moment and not worry about whether or not I'm going to pay you back.

What about people who need loans for houses and cars and other stuff?

You have to be a parody poster or something...

 

You never NEED to ever get another job again if you pocket a few million, you could even go to jail for a year or two and then come out with MILLION$ banked and live well with no further effort if you want, like I said, NO RISK.

Like the one woman who tanked an investment company, lost all this money for her clients, then took a $32 million buyout, I'm just so sad for her never getting another job, what a tragedy for her!

 

Oh my! Someone doesn't understand the Corporate Structure or how Executive Compensation works...

It also decreases much more rapidly than their other employees.

Let me know when your pay decreases 18% in a year.

 

When was the last time you've had a 20% decrease in your income?

If your answer is 'never,' then it would be very difficult to claim that there is 'zero risk' in the position of an executive.

 

Loller... who is going to do it at a FRACTION of the cost, take responsibility for EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE COMPANY, risk going to prison, risk their reputation and their livelihood for a "fraction of the cost"?

Furthermore, why would they do it at a "fraction of the cost" when they could do something else that has far less responsibility, far less stress, far less risk and make the same amount of money? What kind of moron do you think would do that? And if there is a MORON who would do that... why the (*)(*)(*)(*) would you want him running your company?

 

You wouldn't have anything left to watch besides high school sports

Nice to know you're for resorting to thug tactics and violence. I guess you'd support home invasions of the bankers home and beating their family with bats because "it's the right thing to do"

 

That's OK, I'd be fine with that! I love to attend minor league arena football where the players make $100/game.

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Well, the CEO of the Social Security Administration does just that, very successfully, for less than $300K per year.

 

Nice to know that the world revolves around you but the rest of us require real entertainment when it comes to sports.

Only people who complain about somebody that "makes too much" are too stupid to make a decent career through their own hard work so they (read you) are seething with hate over materialistic things that you can't afford while thinking that society owes you something.

 

I have a decent career, my salary is in the 5% of salaries in the USA.

Most of you obsessive conservatives have all these weird assumptions and misconceptions about people.

 

Please, the money that bankers move around gets used for business and housing loans and other kinds of investments. If it wasn't being used to do something, there would be no profit to be had in banking. This kind of ignorance is all the stranger since it comes from people who think of themselves as the "smart ones" because they lean to the left politically and yet they don't even understand the fundamentals related to things like banking.

If you're really an American "socialist" in the top 5% of the income brackets and you aren't giving your money away to needy people... that's some impressive guilt and deflection you've got going on to be posting this sort of garbage to a website instead of just giving your money away.

But I am going to call BS on that. At absolute most you're a trust fund baby. I have known enough intelligent people from all kinds of careers to perceive from your writing style that you are not smart enough to be in the top 5% of the income ladder unless if maybe you started a business but since you don't understand banking it's clear that you never did that either.

 

What does any of that have to do with what I posted? People who manipulate the system to acquire wealth beyond what they'd get in a free, competitive market, are bad for the economy. Big businesses and those who run them in this country do whatever they can to avoid operating in a free market. Surely any capitalist should agree that that's a bad thing.