Put your money where your importance is
Current mood: determined
Category: Life

Now as a preface to this I am not moving to the FAR LEFT as it may appear.  I am not advocating welfare in any form and am actually a huge opponent of welfare.  I'm not a socialist or communist - great theories and ideas....but it will never work as intended.  I am a conservative and by definition I want the least amount of government possible and still maintain freedom, liberty, and order.

The really nice thing about capitalism and free market is the ease in which you can trace a given societies values.  Its easy, money has value so logically you can assert that where the money goes so do people values.  And I know your thinking the money is the root of all evil and that you cant put a dollar amount to certain values.  This may be true but there are certain products, services and the like that are the manifestation of values.

The sad part is that what people say they value and prove they value are all too often different.  Examples and explanation will follow.  Some of the facets of our country's economy which receive a large flow of the money are somewhat justifiable and contribute a real benefit to society; others do not and tell a different story about our society. 

First let us examine the means by which I will make my cases.  I will look at salary as a means to determine what professions are the most important to Americans.  I will look at the rise in price of certain goods, signifying a rise in demand.  Along the line I am sure that other ideas and references will become relevant and will be explored.

First let us look at salary, who we pay the most and how important they are.  I am going to state a fact.  One of the highest paid industries in America, if not the highest paid, is the entertainment industry.  Movies stars, TV stars, Pro Athletes, singers, bands etc.  They make some of the highest wages in America.  Do they provide one of the most important products...no.  In the listing of a persons value I doubt entertainment is at the forefront.   If it is you have too much time and money and will soon grow up and realize that the world holds greater values than a good time.  Is this to say that there is no place for the arts and crappy entertainment that is passed of as art...no.  Is this to say that there is something wrong with going to a ballgame or having a Super Bowl party...no.  But why do we pay so much for the privilege to see a person with nothing more than God given talent and/or good looks. 

I am a huge baseball fan, but when a person signs a contract for an amount of money that is greater than the Gross National Product of his home country...thats too much damn money.  When a player gets a signing bonus equal to over 100 teachers salaries...thats too damn much.  Baseball is a great love of mine; I tear up at special moments, I Love the Game.  I would play 162 games of baseball every year for free.  Give me food and shelter and a 401K and I would play my heart out.  Why the hell should a pro athlete make that much damn money?  Do they provide such an essential service that we cannot do without them?  Why should a baseball team be values at 1 billion dollars?  Why?  And its not just the players, why should the owners?  Do I really need to pay $65 dollars for a decent seat at a ball game, 10 for parking, 7 for a beer, 5 for a hotdog....do I?  Hell no!  Why do you have to be middle class to enjoy the sport?  Rich to enjoy it the whole season?  Why?  I wont even get started on endorsements....wait yes I will!

If Nike didnt pay Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, and who ever else is hot at the moment MILLIONS of dollars a year for adds do you think a pair of shoes would cost over 100 bucks?  HELL NO.  Do I really care what deodorant or toothpaste or jock itch cream a particular athlete uses...NO 

Damn I am getting pissed....woosaaaah....ok.  So how is it that a Movie Star can make over 1000 times as much for a single movie as a soldier does in a year.  How the hell can that happen?  How is it that a Singer could fund the payroll for an entire police and/or fire department?  Is entertainment really that important?  We must think it is...thats where our money goes.  The NFL, MLB, NBA, production companies and record labels dont just poop dollars...they get it from us...the consumer.  They get their money to overpay the entertainers and line their own pockets from all of us that view entertainment as one of the most valuable things in America!  

Oh but what about the art?  Whah!  If its that friggin important a person would make a movie and play a game for 40.8K a year...thats what the average American family makes.  They would "do what they love" for as much as most people work a job that they have to.

And Education....thats important right?  Well not really.  We pay huge scholarship for students to get a good education at good schools.  Yeah just so happens the majority of those scholarships are athletic scholarships and the people who take them enjoy the free ride until they can get drafted early and not finish school.  If education is that important why do teachers make so little in the grand scheme of things.  Why do they make so much less than entertainers....I will tell you why.  Because we dont; actually value education.  We dont put our money to it.  Oh yes we pay taxes and we thing that the government should fix the problem.  But we dont want to pay more taxes and we dont volunteer money and or time to education.  I wish that there was an option to donate an extra percentage of your pay solely to fund education.  To give teachers a raise.  We wonder why we are becoming one of the dumbest nations...education is not important.  How many great teachers pass up the job because of too low of pay...why would a talented person settle for being a teacher when they could make millions as a lawyer to the stars or agent that gets to bail out some sports star?  Why dont we tax the overly paid and fund better education?  Why not...does a person need to make million of dollars a year?  No.

And our military.  We spend a lot of money on military each year...I give you that.  There are some good benefits, monetary hat is, to being the in the military.  But as compared to other industries its pretty low paying.  I will put police and fire in this category too, protective services.  So security is down below entertainment on the value list too.  Because given the capitalist system an actor portraying a soldier is more valuable than the soldier who actually puts his life on the line.  A normal job will get a raise as demand for that position increases....well demand is pretty damn high for protection and security right now...but the military still gets its 5% raise.  Would you rather have protection or 60 homers?  Disaster relief or another blockbuster performance?

Our values in America are screwed up.  Next time you want to do a gut check look at where your money goes.  Think about why that CD that costs under a dollar to create costs 19.99 or why you have to pay 50 bucks to go see people play a game.  Why it is that you will spend more to buy a DVD box set that you spend on a college Chemistry book.  Why a signed helmet is worth more than the Kevlar a soldier wears.  Why it is more important for the star quarterback to get a free education that the high school teacher or the next policeman. 

Does any one need to make million a year...no.  Does anyone need a 250,000 car...no.  How many people choose a career path based on pay?  Do you really want a doctor whose main drive to practice was pay?  Should a person running a company make 100s of times more than his employees?  Should the employees of a given business be able to afford the products they make or sell?  Should the lower to middle class be able to afford to run for political office?  These are important questions.

Is socialism right...no its not, its flawed.  But we cannot honestly say that capitalism is perfect.  Lesser of two evils I guess.  One of the nicest things about capitalism is that you can see where a society's values lie....but after that the true value of a society can be found in what they do to correct it.  Its not welfare, its not free.  Teachers, police, soldiers, firefighters...they deserve more...they are the building blocks, the true foundation of this and any civilization.  Take away all things and I would choose freedom over fun....   

(Sorry I did leave out a lot of what was buzzing through my mind.  Technology makes a lot of money too, but there is greater benefit.  Some others as well, but entertainment has the most notable references and is by far the most out of whack.  Please post comments...this is near and dear to me and I want to make a difference)