It might be one of the most confounding questions of my lifetime: why do people continue to support liberal politicians when their lies and hypocrisy are so easy to see? The left claims to hate the wealthy and corporations complaining about how much money CEO's make as compared to employees or complaining that corporations might pay a lower tax rate than a secretary. Yet it was those very same politicians who enacted the laws that allowed the deductions reducing the tax rate for corporations and the wealthy. It is those very same politicians who continually tell the middle class and lower class that they are downtrodden because of the evil greedy corporations and super rich. I'm sure someone in the world of psychiatry has studied this phenomenon but their reports and conclusions are being suppressed because the politicians are afraid somebody might read them and figure out their scam.
It seems that some of the more famous people in sports are adapting the tactics of the liberal politicians as they try to line their pockets with more money. The NFL and the players union are negotiating a new contract. The contract increases the share of revenues paid to players by $5 billion. it also provides for lifetime health insurance if a player is vested, having played 5 years in the league. It reduces the number of practices during which players have to participate in full contact drills from 28 to 16. It also expands the regular season from 16 games to 17. Neither side gets everything they wanted but this appears to be a pretty good compromise.
One of the big selling points is that the rank and file players, those who are not making millions of dollars a year are going to see a significant increase in their base pay. 1100 players, about 65%, we'll see almost a 40% increase in pay. The minimum annual salary is just under $500,000 and that will be increased to $700,000 under the new contract. That has been a huge demand from the players union and even some of the more high-profile players in the NFL. The top tier of players is always going to make their millions of dollars a year but for the guys who are at the bottom end of the scale and may only play 3 to 5 years, an extra $200,000 a year is huge.
But guess who is opposed to accepting the deal? Richard Sherman, Aaron Rodgers, Marquis Pouncy, and several other players that make millions if not tens of millions of dollars a year. They each have said the union should hold out for more to help the players on the lower end of the pay scale. Rodgers and Sherman Have both indicated they would be willing to go on strike in order to get more. But during the strike who gets hurt the most? Those very same players who are not receiving a paycheck and don't have a huge reserve of cash like the elite players.
The union executives have said the contract proposal is overwhelmingly popular with the average player, many of whom have stated publicly they will vote for it because they will receive such a huge pay increase along with the lifetime health benefits. so why would the top end of the players, the very rich, the elite be opposed to the contract if it is so popular with those that will receive the most money? Because they don't get more money. The lifetime health benefits are not as important to them because paying for health insurance is easy when you're a multimillionaire. And by ignoring the stated opinion of those they are claiming to try and help, they are essentially saying that the middle and lower class of NFL players don't know enough to take care of themselves and act in their best interest. Just like our political leaders do with minority groups or other groups they claim to want to help but never do.
Most of the players speaking out against the contract, lean to the left politically and some have been very vocal in those opinions. And I don't care which way you lean politically, we always seem to be enamored with those who are wealthy or famous or powerful. We tend to believe that they are smarter than us because they've accomplished something that we were not able to accomplish ourselves. I think most of us who pay attention realize that is not the case. I'm sure some of these guys really do believe what they're saying but I also think some of them, very few sadly, are not aware of how their actions really affect those they are trying to help. Once again, just like our political leaders. Either that or they just don't care as long as they get theirs.