Today we were stunned to learn that the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (I still think of them as the California Angels, but oh well) signed Mike Trout to a 12-year, $430 million dollar contract extension. That is a crapload of money, however you look at it. Some thought that maybe he didn't make enough (by statistical metrics, some think that he probably is worth twice that, if he stays healthy). Others think that Alex Rodriguez, in current dollar figures, probably made more money. Still others are worried how this will increase ticket prices. The general feeling, however, was that this was to be celebrated as a good thing...one of the greatest ballplayers of this (and maybe any) era is going to get PAID.
Of course this story comes out one week after last week's story about the horrible, horrible people who dared to pay bribes to get their idiot children into the perfect college. I sense a connection...why are we so quick to celebrate people getting paid unbelievable amounts of money to do things that ultimately don't matter in the grand scheme of things, while at the same time denounce when similar kinds of people spend unbelievable amounts of money to do what they think is best for their children? Surely the two things are related?
Wealth is a corrupting influence, no matter how you look at it. We might think that only the love of money is the root of all evil, that only the worst offenders of corrupting wealth deserve to be roasted over the coals of public opinion...but for all those people who denounced inequality last week, shouldn't they also be just as upset this week?
