Random Thoughts-52
March 9, 2009

As if our extremely cold winter, the bombardment of gloom and doom news regarding the current recession and the “Taxman Cometh” weren’t enough for you to consider multiple depression medications here’s another little tidbit of news to push you over the edge. I hope you’ve had your flu shot because this will likely make you sick.
According to Forbes Magazine, Will Smith was the top earning Hollywood star taking home some $80 million dollars last year. That’s right, 80 freakin’ million dollars!! It’s not Will Smith’s fault, he’s just livin’ The American Dream, but somehow, to my way of thinking, all the free market, capitalistic dogma cannot justify those kinds of numbers.
To put that into perspective, if you were to be paid $20.00 per hour and worked a regular 40 hour week, earning the Canadian average annual salary of $40,000.00 per year, you’d have to work 2000 years to make 80 million dollars. 2000 years!! That’s 104,000 weeks! Here are some more mind-boggling numbers for you. Keep in mind that these are annual salaries.
JK Rowling (Harry Potter creator/author) $300 million=7,500 years!
Oprah Winfrey $275 million=6875 years!
Hannah Montana/Miley Cirus (16 YEARS OLD!) $25 million= 625 years!
Tiger Woods $115 million=2875 years!
David Beckham $50 million=1250 years!
The above people are either in the entertainment field or sports celebrities but excessive earning power isn’t restricted to them. According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives the top-earning Canadian CEOs earned more than the average annual salary before 9:30 am on January 2nd! Can you imagine? More than $40,000.00 before the first coffee break of the year!? How do you justify that?
When you compare these excessive, outrageous compensation packages to the salaries of our world leaders it’s not hard to think that the Apocalypse is upon us. Our Canadian Prime Minister makes a little over $300,000.00 per year and the president of the United States makes $400,000.00 per year. Do you think our priorities are straight?
When numbers like trillion dollar bailout packages and two-year baseball contracts worth $45million are bantered around its very hard for us simple folk to keep it all in perspective. At least it is for me.
Now, I’ll be the first one to admit my lack of knowledge when it comes to world economics but do you think that maybe with a little bit more restraint and a little less greed some of this doomsday economic meltdown may have been avoided? I know I don’t have any of the answers but with these kinds of numbers it sure raises a lot more questions.
“Greedy eaters dig their graves with their teeth.”-French Proverb.