The Sporting Life...

[Buff]

Originally posted by PornoDoggy@May 19 2004, 11:24 PM
Look, I think teachers, like cops, firefighters, and any number of others are underpaid.

But gimme a break, Vic ... Shaq makes what he makes because some damned fools are willing to pay it to him. One damned fool is willing to pay it to him because a whole bunch of other damned fools will lay out an average of $51.02 to see an NBA game, while other damned fools will pay him because even more damned fools are going to go buy sneakers or shirts or hats or cell phones or whatever the hell else Shaq is hawking.

And a great many of the damned fools who will go and see Shaq or buy whatever bucket of shit Shaq sells are the samed damned fools who will say how underpaid teachers, cops, firefighters, etc. are - right up until the time they go vote "No" on a pay increase for them.

Another argument in favor of free markets....

Think of it like this: do you think there would ever be a need for a draft if the government offered competitive wages to soldiers? That is, suppose government offered to pay soldiers $150,000/year instead of $18,000/year. They could do away with the whole selective service nonsense -- the recruiting offices wouldn't be able to handle the traffic.

But since government has a monopoly on police and fire protection and national defense, and they can support those industries by coercive means (taxation), they can afford to pay lower salaries -- and there's a huge pool of undereducated and/or duty-driven citizens (mostly of the lower middle and lower classes) and usually failed by their public "schools" who view those jobs as better than any alternatives they have.