Length of Shower: 11 min-- Money is the cornerstone of our society. No matter how little I have or how much I try to avoid that sentiment, it really seems to be true. Now I know that we are taught to value any life as priceless, but in a society that is constantly evaluating each person and their performance we have to get sucked up into the money of it all from time to time; and today was my day. So I ask, how much is one man really worth?
I immediately start thinking of athletes who I feel are completely overpaid. These guys play a game for a living. Everyone's dream, I know. But still, it's a game. Short of entertainment these guys don't really bring anything of value to our society. Don't get me wrong I love sports and I think these guys should be paid, but 10, 20, and 30 million dollars a year!? A corner back for the Denver Broncos signed today for $11 million a year for 4 years. He will only play between 16 and 20 games per year. That seems like a lot of money, right? But that is actually tame compared to some other athletes. Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers makes over $24 million to play basketball. Alex Rodriguez, of the New York Yankees, is the highest paid baseball player of all time and is in the middle of a contract worth $275 million dollars! He makes over $169,000 per game...to play a sport! And finally Albert Pujols, of the St. Louis Cardnals is currently seeking a contract worth over $300 million dollars. All this money for one person!? There are entire countries that gross less than these people make. Something is wrong with that, don't we think?
The astronomical amounts of salaries doesn't stop with athletes. The highest paid CEO's in this country get between $18 and $84 million for one year. These CEO's run all sorts of companies, some are relevant and needed in our society (Abbot Labs) and some that are arguably not (Wells Fargo).
I have no doubt that every one of these millionaires who make more than say $10 million a year work very hard at what they do. My problem is that I just can't see how any one person can possibly actually MAKE a company or organization more than $10 million dollars. How can you do something during the course of a day that profits a company more than $27,000 per day? And even if a person could do that, that would only cover their one salary. I know there are deals you can make with other companies and all that, but I'm talking about actually earning your paycheck everyday. And what about all the people who work for them? Aren't they actually the one's who are making the product that makes the company money? The CEO is just an overseer of all that the company does. Why should he/she get the lopsided amount of the money the company as a whole makes? My point is that I don't believe any CEO or athlete can do enough in one day to rationalize getting paid that much money.
Maybe I'm coming at this from a very "blue collar" viewpoint, but so what. This country was founded on blue collar workers. There are people who make over $10 million a year that I don't have any problem with, like Bill Gates. The guy created something that every one of us uses in our everyday life, computers. I know he didn't create the actual computer, but he created a system so that the everyday person could use computers easily and to each of their advantages. That, to me, is worth him getting a ton of money every year. He created it, he developed it, he earned it. He didn't just watch over it.
Now I could go on and on about this and open up lots of cans of worms and start splitting of hairs over who I feel should and shouldn't be making how much money, but that's not my point. My point is that at what point do we as a society say, "Enough is enough, no one is worth THAT?" I say we start evaluating salary based on what you actually accomplish. Teachers should get more money, and so should factory workers at medical facilities. Those are the people who keep this world and country moving forward. When is it their turn to get paid what they are worth?
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