Just for the sake of argument, let’s talk about minimum wages. In my first job at Kroger’s as a bag boy, I earned 35 cents an hour (no tipping allowed). My first real job was a dollar an hour and it was backbreaking work loading Coca-Cola trucks. I’m not sure what the going rate is now, but if that’s your entire income, you are close to the poverty level. Raising it to a livable amount is extremely complicated and I leave that to the wizardry of Congress.
I’m more interested in the other end of the spectrum: The CEO who makes 50 million a year and there are many of those; the small university president who gets a million dollar bonus, just for staying on the job for five years, that’s a little hard to explain. Let’s leave that to others to sort out.
When it comes to minimum wage, there is no group that can compete with professional athletes. Of course, it is a business decision that owners’ make and if they didn’t believe the bottom line of the team justifies the 80 million dollars they are paying a particular star, then they will trade him and find someone else who gives them more bang for the buck.
Does it say something about our country’s value system that we support such extravagant reimbursement when there are tens of millions living literally from hand to mouth? That’s not a judgment that can lightly be made but it is certainly worth thinking about.
Of more current interest is the salaries paid to major league baseball players. Alex Rodriguez comes to mind. How many games has he played this year? None. How much has he been paid? A lot! Is he a role model for younger players, for fans who idolize him? Does the fact that he makes more per inning than most people earn in a lifetime, forget that he is just sitting on the bench? For all the adulation he once received, what does he or any other player of his ilk, owe the public.
Honesty would be a good place to start. Nearly every baseball superhero in the last two decades has been accused of using performance enhancing drugs (PED). They have lied to Congress, they have repeatedly lied to the press but no meaningful punishment has been delivered. Suspension for a lot of games is a slap on the wrist, even if their pay is suspended.
Here is a modest proposal: Let’s not worry about how much players make; the owners’ can wrangle with that… But the social implication of how we spend our money is also a personal decision. We don’t require that athletes be nice people, although it is pleasant when they turn out to be the genuine article.
The use of PED can be handled in one of two ways: Legalize them so everyone has the same edge. Let the users deal with who-knows-what long–term health problems, up to and including a shortened life span. The players can make their own decisions about that. The other option is mandatory testing and a lifetime ban with suspension of all benefits if PED are detected. The obvious problem with that is someone will come up with a drug that is not detectable. Not possible? Then please explain Lance Armstrong.
Continuing the current policy is not fair to the honest players, not fair to the fans. Do we expect any meaningful change? Don’t hold your breath.
Hayden Hollingsworth
