20 million for this, 45 million for that, these numbers reflect the type of salaries superstars are making.  During good times it makes sense they get these over inflated salaries.  The average joe has enough disposable income to give their favorite basketball players or musicians the life style of the rich and famous.  I mean these are highly marketable public figures which brings entertainment and joy to our lives, even if it’s only skin deep.  But during the bad times, why should record companies, movie studios, and sports franchises give them all this money. If everyone else is suffering than celebrities should be directly affected.

Although I don’t follow baseball, I had recently heard a story of some guy named k rod being signed for a 3 year contract for 35 million I believe.  Now where do you think that 35 million comes from? From ticket sales, from merchandise sales, and advertising. The revenue these companies get are directly related to how well our economy is doing.  But it’s true that the entertainment, and sports industry are cutting back by laying off the people behind the scenes.  The guy who needs the measly 50k to support his family, and pay the mortgage for his home.

Also here is a fact that should boil your blood, most of those guys who work behind the scenes on a movie, they’ve been interning for years.  And because they are interns they don’t get medical benefits, they don’t get anything that normal employees should receive.  The movie industry has found a loop hole in the system to give people less for the work they do. There was even a guy who had some lighting equipment drop on him, and it was his coworkers that had to raise the money to pay for his medical bills.  So every time you buy a movie or a CD remember that the companies who produce them do not have very high moral standards.

So here is what I would suggest, a celebrity has an option to either make a guaranteed paycheck, which is anything less than 1 million a year, or be a royalty based worker if they want to make more.  Royalty based celebrities would get paid based on the sales of ticket, merchandise, and so forth.  This way as the company does better so do they, and when the company does worse then it’ll be a good time to think about a night job.  I believe the music industry already has a system like this in place, that’s why MC hammer went bankrupt.

So the reality is that the world will not end if the entertainment industry collapses.  The people that are actually keeping our society alive are not recognized for what they do. I’m talking about teachers, farmers, scientists, and engineers.  Would our country be able to survive without any of these people? Maybe highschool teachers should be signed to 35 million a year contracts, I mean they are the ones responsible for educating the future generation.  In a way I’m glad that our country is in a recession, because we need a wake up call, but at the same time I’m afraid of the effects it might have on me. But if there is any lesson you should take away from this whole mess, it’s that if you can’t afford it don’t buy it.

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