Roger Goodell's Pay

What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where the head of a nonprofit makes $44.2 million a year?

One in which a VC states that only those who pay taxes get to vote, and he who pays more gets more votes!

Huh?

I grew up in a middle class suburb. A melting pot with both a wannabe upper middle class and kids living in projects, there was always enough paper for the mimeo machine and pencils for the little kids.

But no more, just like in America at large, it's everybody for himself in the school system. Bring your own stuff or else go private. And those who go private want to starve the beast of the public system, because god forbid you pay for something that does not go straight to your bottom line.

And I was for the Vietnam war. The government was to be trusted, they always had it right, right?

Until in the midsixties the artists took a stand, the people who I listened to said the war was unjust and we had to protest against it.

That's how powerful art is.

But the power of said art has been abdicated.

Bono may be trying to save the world, but he's not paying any taxes, he moved his operation out of Ireland, he's as scummy as the people he hangs with at the World Economic Forum.

And Jay Z thinks he wins when he extracts $5 million from Samsung. That's like asking your dad for a quarter... Sure! Especially if you tell everybody I gave it to you!

Meanwhile, hedge funders pay taxes at capital gains rates and working stiffs get charged at full pop.

And if you think people pay no taxes...you're unaware of sales taxes, never mind payroll and unemployment and a plethora of other stuff that isn't declared on April 15th.

How did our country get so screwed up?

I'm not saying nobody should be rich, I'm just saying nobody gets rich in a vacuum, and enough is enough. At this point, the rich are competing against themselves for trophy properties. It doesn't make any difference if the apartment is $25 or $50 million, the hoi polloi can't afford it, impose greater taxes and what's the worst that can happen, the price comes down to $15 or $40 million?

And whenever you bring up the inequality, entitled barons like Tom Perkins go on about disincentives and earning their keep. And I say if you can make a fortune without any customers, keep it all. But the truth is we're buying your products and we can't afford them.

Did you read that "New York Times" article wherein it was stated that businesses catering to the rich are booming and those catering to the middle class are faltering, going out of business? Read it, it's an eye-opener:

"The Middle Class Is Steadily Eroding. Just As the Business World.": http://nyti.ms/1iXtI1u

And speaking of disincentives... I find it hard not to give up. Because I had the middle class advantages, I went to a good public school, my father paid the 4k per year it cost to go to an elite educational institution in the seventies. I thought it was a level playing field.

But it's not.

And here's the truth...

Most of the public is ignorant. They're either happy wallowing in shit, satisfied with their flat screens and smartphones, or they delusionally believe they too are going to be rich, so there should be low taxes, even though that lottery they're counting on taxes every dollar.

And then there's the so-called middle class. Who realize the game is stacked against them and believe they must throw in with the rich to survive. Even worse are the sycophants who want a ride on the private plane, who are bossed around by those with money, pure lackeys, thrilled to consume the crumbs of those who believe they are "special."

And then there are the artists.

That's my power. I can write this crap. And if it rings true, you can spread the word. That's how I got to where I am, and it's far from nowhere, purely on my writing. I didn't buy a fan base, I earned it.

But whatever power I have pales in comparison to that of musical artists. They're the most powerful people in the world. They have bigger followings than the President!

But they refuse to step up. Neither in words nor actions.

The wannabes and middle class bitch. Saying they're being ripped off by Spotify. It's poor on poor crime. You're not being beaten by streaming services, you're being beaten by your customers, who refuse to overpay for dreck and would rather just stream on YouTube.

So, to attack said customers/fans, the rich scalp their own tickets and the middle class and poor refuse to go to all-in ticketing, perpetuating the fiction that the Ticketmaster fees go straight to Live Nation's bottom line.

And the public can't believe the acts are at fault, because if they don't believe in the acts, who can they trust?

And the rich and powerful are laughing all the while, because the unwashed have no clue what the game is, never mind how it's played.

How about writing from the heart? How about writing about what you feel as opposed to what you can buy? How about acts lobbying for paperless ticketing so the fans that keep them alive can sit in the good seats as opposed to the rich scenesters who only want to say they were there?

Yes, we're the problem.

We refuse to educate ourselves. We refuse to stand up for what's right. We don't want to speak truth to power, we just want to participate in some of the droppings that go astray.

I don't know about you, but I'm mad as hell.

Once upon a time the artists ran this business, they were as rich and powerful as anybody in America.

Then bozos like Clive Davis and self-important manipulators like Tommy Mottola believed they were bigger than the artists, and paid themselves accordingly, making more money in a year than many artists did in a lifetime, purveying dreck all the while.

And then when the money dried up at the turn of the century, the industry middle class was squeezed out, only high earners and overworked low earners remained. Yes, the music business is just like the rest of America, a bastion of inequality.

And now we've got a whole generation of music makers who have no idea the way it used to be. When you delivered your album to the label and they had to release it unchanged. Before looking pretty and singing high and powerful were the defining characteristics of stardom.

How the hell am I going to compete with someone who makes $44.2 million in a year? Certainly not on cash. My only hope is to make them uneasy via writing. Our only hope is for the artists to lead us out of the wilderness.

But today's artists are a reflection of society, ignorant and greedy, steered by the moneyed class without realizing it.

Is a revolution imminent?

I certainly hope so. At least a little redress.

Is there anybody in America who cares about anybody else?

Oh, that's right, the poor, they're big on charity, it's the rich who are tightfisted.

But until we all say this is unfair, this is not right, something's got to change, everybody's entitled to a roof over their head, food on their plate and an equal opportunity to get ahead, we're screwed.

"Goodell's Pay In 2012 Puts Him In Big Leagues": http://nyti.ms/MkYiXE

"Tom Perkins' big idea: The rich should get more votes": http://cnnmon.ie/NMCjK8


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