Walter Williams Goes to Bed Greedy, Dreams Greed
Speaking of CEOs, there's the "unconscionable," "obscene" salaries they receive, in some cases over $10 million a year. Wackonomics has an easy answer for these high salaries: it's greed.
However, CEOs don't have the corner on greed. There are other greedy people we don't scorn but hold in high esteem. According to Forbes' Celebrity 100 list, Oprah Winfrey receives $275 million, Steven Spielberg gets $130 million, Tiger Woods $115 million, Jay Leno $32 million and Dr. Phil $40 million.
I need to talk to these people and learn their strategy. I've been making every effort to get that kind of money. I go to bed greedy, dream greedy dreams, awaken greedy and proceed through the day greedy. Despite my heroic efforts, it's all been for naught; I earn a pittance by comparison.
~George Mason economist Walter Williams
12 Comments:
The only problem is they don't recieve this kind of money when they run a failing product. If nobody watched Oprah, she wouldn't make that much...
We have millionaires in congress. So much for your failing product theory.
If nobody watched Oprah she WOULD make millions? Theory stands.
An American man went down to Mexico on a vacation. He noticed one of the natives came in about 10 a.m. every day.
One day, he asked the man, 'Why do you come in so early.'
The man replied, 'I have enough fish for today. I go to the market and sell the fish. Then I go home and chat with my wife. Then I take a siesta. Then I go to the tavern and have a few beers with my friends. Then I come home to my wife and children and play with my children. Then I eat and go to bed.'
The man said, 'If you stay out longer, you could catch more fish. If you saved the money, you could buy another fishing boat. Then you would have more money. If you worked hard, you could soon have a fleet of fishing boats. You could use the profits to build a cannery, can your own fish, and sell them worldwide. You could be incredibly rich.'
The native replied, 'After that, then what.'
The American thought a minute, and said. 'Why then, you would have enough money to retire. You could fish a few hours every day, come home and chat with your wife. Then take a siesta. Then go to the tavern and have a few beers with your friends. Then you could come home to your wife and children and play with your children. Then you could eat and go to bed. And, you could do that every day.'
The problem for most is they don't know what real wealth is in our society.
Are Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Tiger Woods, Jay Leno or Dr. Phil asking for a $750 billion dollar bailout.
Have any of them caused a near collpase of the world economy or bankrupted a corporation and caused it's employees to lose their retirement accounts?
"According to Forbes' Celebrity 100 list, Oprah Winfrey receives $275 million, Steven Spielberg gets $130 million, Tiger Woods $115 million, Jay Leno $32 million and Dr. Phil $40 million."
Gladiators in the bread and circus of a modern day empire which is past it's prime.
Not all CEOs run a failing product. Not all CEOs that do run a failing product are the reason behind the failing product. Not all CEOs are asking for handouts. Not all CEOs that are asking for handouts are at fault for their company being in need of a hand out. Who can even blame a CEO for asking for a handout if the government is stupid enough to throw cold cash in the feeding trough?
Walter William's article is aimed at the envious in our society that hate the idea that some people are so rich while they, in comparison, have so little. Williams would want crooked CEOs tossed in the clink as badly as the rest of us do.
Personally I think Madonna is being paid more than I think she is worth when she knocks down a couple million over a weekend by exposing her aging breasts on stage and belting out horrid lyrics.
More power to her and the successful (non-crooked) CEOs.
Two words...class envy.
Looking forward to the day that Madonna slings those aging breasts over 1 shoulder.
qt says: "Looking forward to the day that Madonna slings those aging breasts over 1 shoulder"...
ROFLMAO!... Oh qt, now that was funny! Thanks for that...
fred says: "We have millionaires in congress. So much for your failing product theory"...
Oh but fred you are thinking to logically and with to much common sense sir...
Look at the collective success of Congress...
From the Christian Science Monitor 18 months ago: Slightly over half of all Americans – 52.6 percent – now receive significant income from government programs, according to an analysis by Gary Shilling, an economist in Springfield, N.J. That's up from 49.4 percent in 2000 and far above the 28.3 percent of Americans in 1950. If the trend continues, the percentage could rise within ten years to pass 55 percent, where it stood in 1980 on the eve of President's Reagan's move to scale back the size of government
I think of CEOs more like college football coaches. The salaries are not as high as those of CEOs, but they're getting higher--check out Nick Saban at Alabama.
Why are they getting paid $3 and 4 million a year? Football programs take in a ton of money for athletic departments. Thus, athletic departments are paying them more and more each year. Thus, the market price for a college football coach has gone up.
So what happens when a college football coach is getting paid $3 million a year and their football team bombs? They get a huge buyout. Why? Because no college football coach would accept a job without a big buyout provision. That's just one of the bargaining chips they bring to the table, and it's part of the market price the athletic department takes on to hire a coach.
RTR!
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