American Capitalism is failing

-A report has surfaced that Katie Couric is leaving the post of anchor of the CBS Evening News.    An item included in that news report states that her salary is fifteen million dollars per year ($15,000,000 each year).
That's the equivalent of $300,000 a year for 50 years.  She has a five year contract so her 5 year gross earnings have been $75,000,000.  That's $1,500,000 per year for 50 years.
Ms Couric's job is not worth that size salary.  Her talents and background and education do not support payment of that size salary.  So what was CBS paying for?  If one asks, one will hear words like 'household name', 'celebrity', 'large fan base', 'cachet', 'star', etc.
Who someone is can be important but it should not be more important than what they can do.
I cite Ms Couric only as an example of a trend that has been evident for years,  especially in sports  and entertainment.  Less well-known but equally offensive are the inflated salaries and benefits for top corporate officers.
This is a serious symptom.  The wheels and gears and chains that move and drive the American capitalistic engine are badly out of balance or sync.  There is a disproportinate relationship between product and value.  This is an infection that  weakens and devalues the structure of our economic system.
The American ecologist Eugene Odum put it very well when he wrote "Growth beyond the optimum becomes cancer."
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Capitalism isn't working

The online firm Scottrade polled 226 registered investment advisors for their opinion on the amount of retirement money people will need to live at the level of comfort they are used to enjoying.
71% of them stated that one million dollars will not be enough.  People between the ages of 25 to 42 will require 2 to 3 million dollars for a comfortable retirement.  You young'uns better get hoppin'. 


Shortly after Katrina destroyed much of the Gulf Coast economy, the Governor of Mississippi was quoted as saying the first thing to do was get the casinos in Biloxi operating because "Casinos are the life blood of the state of Mississippi".  Wow, I wonder what Adam Smith would say about that!


Writing about a particular firm in the New York Times on April21, 2007, Brad Stone stated "revenues will inevitably flatten as the company matures.  If it wants to keep treating investors to torrid growth, the company needs to develop other ways to make money."  Again, what would Adam Smith say about that?


The Adult Entertainment Industry says there is room for pornography in the economy because "a market for porn exists".  The impramatur of the market is greater than the infalliblity of the Pope.

More news on gambling.  (Proponents call it 'gaming'.  Isn't that cute?)  The state of Florida is considering changing Florida into a state with full  casino gambling.  There are casinos in Florida now, mostly run by the Seminole Indians.  It is proposed to start with twenty-six counties and proponents claim the state could get S2.5 billion in first four years from license auctions and taxes.
Of course, this is being considered because the government is running a deficit and can't meet its obligations.  Legislators refuse to tax people because people who earn their money should keep it.  Except of course, they should remember to spend their money on slot machines and card games.  Then the state can tax the profits of the casino.  That's okay.
Not enough to fund education and schools with lotteries.  We must fund police, firemen, libraries, highway construction, etc. with gambling profits.
These are ideas from the 'family values people'.  What hypocrisy.  What cowardice.
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American capitalism fails again

A favorite trick is the reduction of size in a product while the price remains the same or, in some cases, even rises.  For example, a half gallon (64 ounces) carton of orange is now 59 ounces.  They don't hide the number.  The change is overt but deceitful.
A half gallon of milk (8 cups) no longer says 64 ounces.  Instead, the label reads: 
Serving Size: one cup.
Servings per container: about 8  (emphasis mine)
Covert and deceitful.
I wonder.  Have they thought this through?  How much lower can they take the size before it becomes an embarrassment?