What is wrong with this picture?
New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillie's are in the world series of baseball.
Together these two teams spent an indecent - no an obscene amount of money, to pay a bunch of grown men to play a game.
Combined they spent over $300 million just on salaries!
Yes, they are indeed professional athletes And and yes, they are the arguably, the best at what they do.
But the fact is this: Twenty five or thirty some men get $300 million to PLAY a game.
For this season that runs from March to end of October. (OK this year November)
They get the rest of the time to play with their money!
Did you know that just last week, the World Bank loaned India $320 million to improve and repair more than six thousand kilometers of roads in the country? Roads that are sadly and badly needed to help the impoverished live a fraction better than before by giving medical supply, food supply and the Red cross access to the millions that live out of reach.
Or how about the fact that just last month Uganda took on a $320 million loan for much-needed health, water and sanitation initiatives? Clean water and plumbing that might, yes might, stop the spread of disease that kills thousands a day.
Closer to home and just two months ago, Colorado officials announced 267 government jobs would be cut because of a $320 million shortfall in the state budget. In the face of safe roads, clean drinking water and hundreds of families affected by unemployment, $320 million for a pair of baseball teams seems excessive, no?
In this country our First Nations people struggle with poverty and depend on handouts from the Government in many cases. Not that they are the only poor by any means, but rare is the day that goes by where I read in our National paper about another death on a reserve in the northern climes due to the links of poverty.
As the H1N1 flu makes news and noise, the vaccine to stop the spread, and God willing the deaths hits roadblocks because of lack of funds.
No roadblocks with the Yankees and Phillie's!
Spend like the world needs more rich athletes.
Spend like the poor will feed on watching these men.
Spend like roads and water are just silly and baseball will cure any disease, or build any road, or find clean water for those in need.
When does it end?
What would you spend $300 million on?
Warmest,
David
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11 comments:
Hands down, I would save the planet. how to immediately do so? I would spend whatever needed to stop the ice caps melting. 300 million could buy a lot of insulation. If there were any money left, I'd clean up the garbage floating in the Pacific. For whatever was left, I'd build solar/wind/wave energy factories.
But again, I could do like those players do, and buy a big, showy house and 10 cars. You know, instant gratification.
300 million and we are in a recession? Its no wonder that some folks think that we are on the road to the everlasting bonfire.
I haven't watched a world series since 1993.
I totally agree...there is something wrong with this picture. I cannot fathom that much money but I do know how I would spend it...and that's a whole post of it's own!
I have always felt it is obscene to pay athletes and actors (movies, that is, not truly good stage actors) and rock stars what they receive. I don't know how they can look at themselves in a mirror. How can anyone justify the way they spend it? While I'm at it, how about the CEO's of banks and insurance companies and so on. When they do make some charitable contributions, it's for the tax relief. Feed the hungry! Save the environment! You really don't need gold fixtures in your many bathrooms, or quite so many cars or swimming pools.
$300 million??? After getting myself and my family and selected friends some things we need, I'd be investigating and making a list of organizations that actually DO something constructive to improve the world we live in -- be it medical, social, environmental, political, fine arts, or educational.
In fairness, many actors, athletes, and yes, even rock stars give a lot of money to causes they believe in. Paul Newman, LeBron James, and Paul McCartney come to mind to name a couple.
There are millions of hungry children who need more than just food: security, shelter, love, education. I'd start there.
Don't even get me started on sports stars getting paid loads of money, they may be good, no excellent, at what they do but they are hardly saving the world or even helping people are they!!
$300 million? I'd look at rebuilding the infrastructure of a very poor country (or maybe a really poor part of the US) and building schools to educate their children. Or like Jennie said, I'd work on cleaning up the garbage in the Pacific. I read an article in the latest "Rolling Stone" called "The Plastic Ocean" which was absolutely terrifying.
Every time Alex Rodriguez comes up to the plate, I shake my head with the amount of money that he makes, I can't even imagine that much money.
Namaste.
Several of my urban students are eating bags of cookies from the "dollar store" as their main meal of their day. These are not homeless kids but come from hardworking families struggling to just pay the rent, heat, medical premiums, and...food. Something is indeed wrong with this picture.
I would be throwing scholarships really directly and with harshness at young women who are driven and who need the money to educate themselves. Lifting up the under educated and providing opportunities is where it starts. Then let them take that drive and multiply it exponentially to help make the changes necessary to find humanity healthier. One generation can change the next, unfortunately the last generation has not been able to change for the better, those lives that come behind ours. Educate the women. It has been a proven method in not only saving lives of children in impoverished countries but reduces unwanted pregnancy and abuse rates. That is where every single dime of my 300 million would go. One girl at a time.
I could do like those players do, and buy a big, showy house and 10 cars. You know, instant gratification.
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