Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Don Keelan, a certified public accountant and resident of Arlington. The piece first appeared in the Bennington Banner.
Where is Sen. Bernie Sanders when he is needed? We are well aware that he has worked tirelessly in calling our attention to the outrageous salaries paid to the captains of banking, finance and industry. He has been successful in getting their compensation levels lowered to the tens of millions and then he disappeared. Bernie, we need your advocacy in other arenas because the high salaries being doled out are affecting us in more ways than the Wall Street bankers compensation levels.
Here are just a few examples: going to the movies, attending a sporting event or enrolling in college.
I’ve read on the Internet that the reason my senior citizen movie ticket is now $11 is due to the high cost of producing the movie (sounds just like what’s going on in health care). And it is, I’ve discovered, due to the extraordinary annual income compensation paid to actors; just imagine!
Here’s some actors and what they make:
•Tom Hanks – $25 million
•Nichole Kidman – $14 million
•Leonardo DeCaprio – $25 million
•Samuel L. Jackson – $10 million
•Tom Cruise – $25 million
•Sandra Bullock – $15 million
•Jennifer Lopez – $12 million
•Mel Gibson – $25 million
•Denzel Washington – $30 million
•Richard Gere – $30 million
These levels of compensation are just pricing me out of being able to see a first-run movie — I gather I’ll have to do without and wait a few years and view the movie on TV.
Bernie, where I’ve been completely shut out is going to see sporting events. Albert Pujols, the former St. Louis Cardinals player and now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, will be receiving $254 million over the next few years or so. Which means that, once again, I’ll just have to watch baseball on TV.
Bernie, let me ask you why is it necessary to pay college football coaches so much and why haven’t you looked into this?
For example:
•Mack Brown, coach at Texas, is paid $5.192 million.
•Nick Saban, coach at Alabama, i s paid $4.683 million.
•Gene Chizik, coach at Auburn, is paid $3.5 million.
•Urban Meyer, coach at Ohio State, is paid $4 million.
•Huston Nutt, coach at Ole Miss, is paid $2.756 million.
Bernie, you know what eventually will happen and it’s starting already, is that the cost of a college education will be out of reach for many. And speaking of college salaries, just look at what these college presidents receive (as noted in the 12/5/11 N.Y. Times):
•Mountain State University’s president, Charles Polk, has annual compensation of $1,844,000.
•Stevenson University’s president, Kevin Manning, has annual compensation of $1,494,000.
•High Point University’s president, Nido R. Qubein, has annual compensation of $1,390,000.
•Chapman University’s president, James L. Doti, has annual compensation of $1,542,000.
High Point and Mountain State are in North Carolina and West Virginia and are small universities. Where’s all this heading Bernie? The April 3, 2011, issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education pointed out that E. Gordon Gee, president of Ohio State, received $1.8 million. The sole consolation here is that it is $2.2 million below what his university’s football coach is paid.
And, Senator, if we are to lower our vigilance on salaries being paid in these areas, it won’t be long before we see a huge spike in executive directors’ salaries paid in the nonprofit world. It seems like it is beginning already for some executive directors:
•Heritage Foundation — $948,000
•New York Philharmonic — $2,649,000
•Evans Scholars — $2,049,000
•Wildlife Conservation — $725,000
Bernie, I’ll be the first to admit that I have little knowledge as to what a movie star, football coach or a professional baseball player should be compensated. Compensating someone with millions of dollars for 165 baseball games, a dozen or so football games or appearing for 30 minutes in a 90-minute movie is outside of my skill set. Likewise, compensating a CEO of a company, college or a nonprofit with millions of dollars I must leave to the “experts” on salary compensation — I’m sure there are many around.
What I am somewhat knowledgeable about is identifying political lip service. And your zeroing in solely on excessive (and outlandish) salaries paid to a few corporate executives and ignoring other areas where outlandish compensation is paid, fits the description of political insincerity. So, may I ask that you look into the above when you have some time. All I wish is to be able to see a movie for $5 or a major league baseball game for $10 or so.
