 Voices For Freedom Read Columns
|
|
|---|---|
|
|
© 2007 Daniel J. McLaughlin
Billy The Millionaire
This year, for my birthday, my family gave me tickets to a Billy Joel concert. I grew up in the Billy Joel era and he is one of my all time favorites. It was a great show and, at 57, he still has what it takes to put on a high energy concert. His fingers flying across the keyboard was an amazing sight. It was wonderful to see people from almost every age group enjoying themselves. His version of classic rock is fun for everyone.
Billy is incredibly wealthy. People such as him cause significant income inequality in this country. Millionaire rock stars, professional athletes, corporate executives and other highly paid people skew the income statistics and cause a very large disparity between the wealthy and the poor in this country. There are several looming questions that this situation brings up. How did they become millionaires, what would happen were they not allowed to become millionaires and, is their millionaire status, and the statistical inequality it brings, bad for society?
For the first question, Billy Joel is a fitting case in point. For decades, people have been attending his concerts, buying his records, tapes, cd’s, dvd’s, t-shirts, and a wide variety of other items. In all of those millions of transactions, I have never heard of one instance where Billy forced anyone to buy. They all gave their money freely, without coercion. At the concert, even seats in the nosebleed section were nearly $100 each when you add in the ticketing fees. People may complain that his prices are too high, but fifteen thousand people didn’t think so on the night we attended. On his tour, he will make more millions, and not even feel a twinge of guilt. He made many people happy. The fact is that the more people he satisfies, the more people who voluntarily pay their hard earned money to see him, or hear him, or buy his stuff, the more money he makes. He got rich because he has found a way to satisfy millions of people.
Professional athletes make millions because they also thrill audiences with their abilities. People like to watch incredibly talented stars do what they do best.
A similar situation occurs with business people. It is true that some people get rich from fraud and coercion. Those people should be punished for fraud and coercion. The vast majority of wealthy business people, however, acquired wealth the same way that Billy Joel did. They found a way to satisfy a large number of people, whether that be with heads of cabbage, computer software, automobile tires, or any of the other millions of different products purchased by free people in a free market. Those free people voluntarily pay for something they value more than the money they give up. The more satisfied people, the greater the potential wealth.
The second question regards what would happen if those wealthy people were not allowed to make their millions. My wife and I arrived early for the Billy Joel concert and stayed a while after the performance was over. It was fascinating to see all of the technology and people required to put on a performance like that. There were about a dozen performers in the back up band, at least a dozen spotlight operators up in the scaffolding, stage hands during the performance, efficient crews to break down and set up the vast staging and operate equipment, ushers and concessionaires at the arena, memorabilia sales people, and many others who benefited from the fact that Billy Joel is a super star. The audience also benefited from witnessing a spectacular show.
It is unlikely that this production would have occurred if Billy was limited to an average annual income. All of those people, many who make above average incomes from productions like this, would have had to look for other, less valuable employment. Millions of people benefit when others make money from free trading of goods and services.
The next question: is a millionaire’s income, and the inequality that it brings, bad for society? With truly free trade, both sides benefit and neither is injured. What is bad for a society is when everyone is held back by misguided government policy, when there is no incentive to improve, to innovate, to get ahead. History gives many examples of enforced equality. It is never a pretty picture. In those societies, the prescription is a lot more people making millions by benefiting others in a free market.
|
|
Daniel Mclaughlin
|
|