Americas Backwards Payroll Sys Essay, Research Paper

America s Backwards Payroll System

Have you ever noticed that Movie stars and Sport stars get paid millions of dollars annually, just to entertain us? In my opinion, other careers should be paid what they are getting paid, due to the jobs are more important than just entertainment.

First lets look at one of the most important jobs in our country. Unfortunately, it s one of the least paying jobs. Teachers have the job to educate us, but they make close to nothing when it comes down to their pay. The average beginning teacher salary for 1995-1996 in the United States was $24,507 annually. Which breaks down to $12.76 an hour per 40-hour week. In our nation, this is a below average income. After all to become a teacher, you must have a degree in education, and a degree in whatever course you want to teach. If a basic degree costs around $30,000, then the combined total of teachers schooling is around $75,000 to 125,000 if not more. It would take the teacher, on their small annual salary, years to pay the student loans back. Never making it easy for them to live a normal life. That s why, with all the stress of teaching, and the low pay, we do not have an adequate amount of good teachers in our schools.

Next we ll talk about another really important job in our country, the military. Non-officer military personnel s starting annual salary is $11,577. Which is an average of $6.00 an hour per 40-hour week. An officer s pay, who is just starting out in the service, is $23,972 annually. Which breaks down to $12.49 an hour per 40-hour week. It s the military s job to protect our country at all costs, including dying for the cause. Is the stress of war and constant drilling or training worth the money they get paid? I don t think so.

Today’s professional athletes make astronomical salaries and they re only going one direction. Up. Every year we hear about how Joe Football player just signed a contract worth a record (insert ridiculous amount here) many million dollars. Then about the same time the very next year we hear about Jeff Football player signing a record new contract worth even more than Joe’s previous high. In fact, most professional sports minimum salary is over $100,000. These salaries are not at all reflective of these athletes economic importance. Professional athletes are making too much money in a society whose salaries and wages are traditionally based on the value of ones work.

Whose fault is it that these athletes make these huge salaries? It’s our fault. We’re the ones who go to these sporting events and shell out the $50 a ticket, the $100 for the jacket, and the $20 for the hat of our favorite teams. We’re the ones who support these professional-sporting teams, and in turn the players. The reason these ticket prices go up constantly are partly because they need to make more money to pay for our favorite stars, and partly because they know we’ll pay it. If we stopped supporting our favorite teams by not going to the games, by not buying the merchandise, and by not watching them on television, do you think the salaries would start to decline? You bet they would. Joe Football player isn’t going to get paid the $100 million dollar contract if the money isn’t there for him to be paid with.

Michael Jordan makes an amazing 33 million dollars a year, not to mention another 40 million a year in endorsements. Michael Jordan makes $170,000 a day! Is anyone, much less an athlete, worth a $170,000 a day? Once again, Jordan’s salary is not reflective of his value to society. The president of the United States makes a somewhat modest $250,000 a year, and this basketball player practically brings that home each day.

Sports Illustrated says “It’s hard to believe that less than 10 years ago, very few athletes were millionaires. Today, if you make under $1 million per year in baseball, you’re below the average salary.” It’s pretty funny to think that if you don t make a million dollars a year for playing a game that you’re below the average. In the real world, if you make a million dollars a year you are extremely well off. Yet for playing a sport that has relatively no importance in society a million dollars a year isn’t even considered good money.

Of course there is a downside to being a millionaire athlete. As soon as you sign that huge contract you go from being a young player with a lot of potential, to a high paid athlete who had better perform like one. When these athletes have a bad day, don’t think they aren’t let known about it. This happens because these professional athletes salaries are so public.

Sometimes the franchise needs more money to acquire new players, but what if they don t have it? Well, all they have to do is ask a current player to restructure his contract to free up money to pay for the newly acquired player. But of course the current player has the option to refuse to have his contract restructured, even if it would be in the best interest of the team. Why would he do that? Simple, he feels he is entitled to that money. He feels he deserves it. A lot of professional athletes are somewhat greedy. This is why we see strikes and lockouts every year. Do these athletes really think that they are worth all this money? Apparently they do because we see these holdouts every year in which both the owners and the players lose tons of money in hopes of getting a better deal so that they can make even more money in the future.

In closing, these professional athletes are making too much money in a society that s salaries and wages are traditionally based on the value of ones work. But that s just it. These athletes aren’t working. They don’t have jobs. They get paid to play a game, and the salary that they make is not reflective of their contributions to society like the majority.

Information for the report was taken from:

WWW.SPORTSILLUSTRATED.CNN.COM/SALARIES/PASTSEASONS

WWW.AFT.ORG/RESEARCH/REPORTS/TEACHERSALARIES.HTM

WWW.MILITARY.COM/PAYROLL.HTM