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Tell me you're kidding. If you're talking about movie stars, see below. If you're talking about sports figures, try running a company where you only complete 60-70% of the tasks assigned (quarterback, wide receiver), or better yet, where you only kill 20-30% of your enemies in combat and are considered at the top of your game (baseball hitters). No, they don't deserve near the money they make.
Yeah, but put you up there at the plate and you only hit 1% of the balls thrown your way. Athletes are paid that way because they bring people into the stadiums and get them to spend hundreds of millions every year. How many Cleveland jerseys have been sold since Lebron joined the team? How many before? How much money has Tom Brady brought the New England Patriots since he took over at Quarterback (until he was hurt)? How many people were able to feel absolute joy as a result of his work? The people who make millions are (usually) the ones who bring in the crowds. Tony Romo is a huge star, you see him on magazine covers and he probably brings in 100,000 fans to the TV each week just to see him play. Do Isaiah Stanback and Doug Free draw in the crowds? No, they don't...and that's why they make as much as the average financial advisor with my company (~$350,000)...but they're still a thousand times better than I am at football, and I played in HS and spend 3 months a year coaching it. Being good at those sports is difficult enough, but being elite to the point where you can play professionally takes hard work, dedication, talent AND luck. My dreams of playing in the NHL or as a Major League Pitcher ended with injuries in college, many people have them end before that. The ones who last are truly great. I can shoot a hockey puck or basketball better than basically anyone I know, but I wouldn't deserve even $50,000 to do either in comparison to what the stars are making, they are that good.
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There's 1.4 million people in the military service. Not only do they work the hours (and longer) that you outlined for movie stars, they often pull many combined years away from the family. And in the course of a 20 year service (where, they may or may not live that long depending on the world situation), they make nowhere near that money.
You answered it right there with the 1.4 million people. I was one of those too...I served in the Navy, and I would NEVER in a million years say that any of my superiors, peers or subordinates deserve to make 7 figures for what they do. Maybe the CNO or something, but certainly not an O-2. Military people make good money considering the lack of competition for jobs. An O-1 fresh out of OCS can make $75,000 a year if s/he lives in a high rent area (San Diego, Monterey, Honolulu) and gets shipped out to hazard duty. Plus, they get retirement benefits and more job security than basically any other work sector. One individual in the military is basically worthless, only as a group do they hold any value. I can't alone take an aircraft carrier into battle, but with hundreds others, then it's possible. Will Smith brings a guaranteed $65,000,000 to a movie simply by putting his name on the poster. Replace him with "Rathagos" and that movie bombs at the box office. The REPLACEMENT COST of Lebron James, Derek Jeter, Will Smith or Bill O'Reilly is clearly a lot higher than Joe Hill, a 23 year old E-5 from Arkansas.
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Then there's everyone else who busts their humps (factory workers, construction workers, etc.) who pull just as long an hour (and don't get the benefit of people bringing lunch to their catered, pampered, spoiled faces every day who don't make near that much money.
Yes, but the people who work the cushy jobs, like Doctors, Lawyers, and Business Executives have all worked hard to get there unless there's some nepotism involved, which is less common these days. A construction worker can be replaced by someone off the street without any real significant loss in productivity, but you can't just take a cardiovascular surgeon and replace him with a man on the street and expect to survive the procedure. Just like you can't expect a random man on the street to come out to a movie set, be flawless looking and acting for the camera and then be able to excite millions of people enough into spending $10.50 each to see him on the big screen.
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Longevity my ass. I, personally, think the only vice they have to deal with is paparazzi. Don't make it sound worse than it is.
Tell that to Terrell Davis or any other NFL running back who has a career that lasts AT MOST 10 years. Even the most long-lasting players make it to birthday #40 at best. That leaves 45 years of retirement unless they work another job, and most of the time a retired athlete is wrought with physical ailments as a result of their career.
How many people watched the NFL on Sunday?
How about CSPAN2?
What about The Military Channel?
When you bring entertainment to millions, you deserve to be compensated justly.
I don't care. Here's all I am concerned with. If you are a movie star, don't become an activist and tell people how to save the Earth when you have 7 houses over 15000 square feet, own 20 cars that get a combined gas mileage of 5 and fly a jet to the other side of the country just to go to a party. And...don't go to another country, hold a baby in some village with a tear in your eye and tell us we aren't doing enough for them (or making us feel this way) when you could install an irrigation, septic and water filtration system with 1/10th of your check from one of your 3 months "projects". Hell...some of the movie stars wear more money on their body during an awards ceremony than most of some of the places they go to will see in a life-time. What the f? That's all.
Location: Everybody is going to hurt you, you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for-B Marley
9,516 posts, read 20,005,830 times
Reputation: 9418
If everyone really thinks they're paid too much, tell us, who should get all the money they raked in? Because if they don't get a portion of it, it ALL goes to producers and team owners. All they're getting is a portion of what they earned for the companies. This argument never makes any sense to me.
If they're getting paid too much, it's because there's a marketing department somewhere that knows full well the public is buying! Look at all those idiotic "insider" gossip shows, magazines, websites. You can hardly escape them.
Ignore these "celebrities," and watch the whole market for them disappear.
Tell me you're kidding. If you're talking about movie stars, see below. If you're talking about sports figures, try running a company where you only complete 60-70% of the tasks assigned (quarterback, wide receiver), or better yet, where you only kill 20-30% of your enemies in combat and are considered at the top of your game (baseball hitters). No, they don't deserve near the money they make.
There's 1.4 million people in the military service. Not only do they work the hours (and longer) that you outlined for movie stars, they often pull many combined years away from the family. And in the course of a 20 year service (where, they may or may not live that long depending on the world situation), they make nowhere near that money.
Then there's everyone else who busts their humps (factory workers, construction workers, etc.) who pull just as long an hour (and don't get the benefit of people bringing lunch to their catered, pampered, spoiled faces every day who don't make near that much money.
Longevity my ass. I, personally, think the only vice they have to deal with is paparazzi. Don't make it sound worse than it is.
Applause... Applause...
Much agreed.
But we as consumers, apparently continue to buy what they sell.
Not much of a sports fan here, but do enjoy it when the Broncos win. I like movies, but mostly wait and watch them at home when they come on TV.
I think that professional athletes as well as actors are WAY overpaid. I don't think that a person that pretends to be a soldier on screen or someone that gets paid to play a game that they love deserves more than what our troops get. (yes I'm a vet also, and if I could do it over I'd still be doing it... some of the best times in my life were spent in service.) It's ironic that the hollywood troop LOVES the recognition they get for a good film, and they have no problems taking the money. I don't need a lamborghini or an 8000 square foot mansion, but it would be nice to see my brothers in arms who have come back and gotten into self medication get some honest help, or a place to get their feet back on the ground.
If it really bothers the posters here on what athletes, movie stars, etc, get paid - and what they do with their money . . . vote with your dollars - don't watch sports, or movies, or buy music, etc. Find some other form of entertainment. I don't have cable (except for internet), I don't watch sports, I don't even look at the celebrety magazines at the grocery checkout counters. Any movies I watch usually come from netflix and only if I've seen reviews that tell me it will be something enlightening - usually foreign films.
So in answer to the OP, I don't realy think about these people, for me, they don't really exist.
If it really bothers the posters here on what athletes, movie stars, etc, get paid - and what they do with their money . . . vote with your dollars - don't watch sports, or movies, or buy music, etc. Find some other form of entertainment. I don't have cable (except for internet), I don't watch sports, I don't even look at the celebrety magazines at the grocery checkout counters. Any movies I watch usually come from netflix and only if I've seen reviews that tell me it will be something enlightening - usually foreign films.
So in answer to the OP, I don't realy think about these people, for me, they don't really exist.
Agreed. We have met the enemy and he is us.
$11 movie tickets, $200 concert tickets, $500 football tickets, $200k luxury box rentals. Just say no.
And who buys into celeb endorsed products? Do you really think Tiger would have driven a Buick if he was'nt paid to? Was it really the shoes for MJ? Do you really thing JLo or Jessica Simpson have any real input into their perfumes? And what the heck is "Krunk juice".
I'll answer this with another question. The producers and team owners make a killing off these sources of entertainment. Far more than the stars/athletes. Should the producers and such get all the money made off the stars/athletes?
Yes, they are far more deserving than the athletes.
When a movie comes out and stars the A-line actors, but flops miserably, who bears the loss? Do the actors lose money? Nope, they still get their millions for showing up to work on time. Instead, the studio picks up the cost, which is born by the films that exceed expectations.
Do you think the Detroit Lions players are taking a pay cut this year because ticket sales are down? I can assure you they are not. But what about the owners, how do they continue to pay these high player salaries, upkeep the stadium, and pay wages to the rest of their employees?
Business ownership is a risk, and those who succeed are rewarded with income. Professional athletes, actors, musicians, they're all tradesmen. But they earn high salaries thanks to the rest of us who pay $10 for a movie ticket (and another $10 for popcorn and a soft drink), $20 for a new CD, $50 to go to a sports game (and $20 for a hotdog and soft drink), $100 for a ticket to a concert (and $50 for a beer and t-shirt).
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That's all.
