Greed and the One Percenters

It is baffling, and sad, to me that part of the world thinks that profit > all, even at the expense of human dignity. 

It gnaws at me every day when I go to a chain gas station or a McDonalds or any other place where I know corporate profits are > everything else in the world. Why can't McDonald's pays its workers more? We all know they can. We all can pay a dime more for a Big Mac.

It's like this everywhere. In the UFC, Dana White was brilliant at bringing the sport to mainstream America and generating hundreds of millions of dollars for the Fertitta brothers, who were already billionaires. And even though they could pay their fighters more, they don't. The last payroll for the last event was under a million dollars. The UFC is like the NFL of fighting. The number one organization. Some of the guys that make it there get paid 2k to fight. Meanwhile, Dana and the brothers are gambling away millions at the tables in Vegas.

 Yes, I know how the right will respond. They earned it. Go make your own organization and become a billionaire, etc etc.

 Meanwhile, you have guys like Papa John's CEO living in a mansion that Tony Stark would be jealous of, fighting against Obamacare.

 It's like this with almost all of corporate America and it makes me sick that Walmart, McDonald's, Home Depot, any global company you can think of, is just soulless.

 I went to pick up dinner from a local Inn and it wasn't ready so I had a beer and watched the tv at the bar. On it was a story about cheerleaders bringing a lawsuit against the NFL. The teams in the NFL are responsible for the salaries etc for their cheerleaders. They usually pay minimum wage. And they have problems because sometimes, "meetings" and "practices" don't count as work. Nor does their off time where they are supposed to be practicing the routines, eating nothing and exercising.

"The Buffalo Jills say they did not receive payment for attending Buffalo Bills football games, practice time, and “sponsor appearances.” Each woman also was ordered to make 20 to 35 community appearances, the majority of which were unpaid, they say.

In addition, all Buffalo Jills were mandated to teach 300 to 400 little girls the basics of cheerleading over multiple days, according to the suit. Parents paid $250 for their young daughters to spend time with the women they idolized and admired. The Buffalo Jills say they were paid nothing for their time.

In total, the suit says each Buffalo Jill worked 840 unpaid hours a year.

But the alleged exploitation was more than just unpaid labor. The Buffalo Jills allege that Stejon and Citadel essentially ran a racket, forcing the women to buy calendars and other Bills-related items out of pocket and then sell them on their own time. They even imposed damages if they failed to sell their quotas, according to the suit. Each woman was required to buy 50 to 75 Buffalo Jill's swimsuit calendars at $10 each and sell them. If she did not sell them, she was left in the red and “subject to further penalties at the discretion of defendants.” The same went for Jill's golf tournament tickets and gift baskets, which could cost each woman $590. Other out-of-pocket expenses included travel and hotel accommodations for the events they had to attend and $650 in uniform costs, the suit says."

 I'm sure some read this and respond "Well, there are hundreds of girls that try out for those spots, they don't need to pay them more, get a better job."

 To which I respond, "Can you and your vile "moral code" just die off already?"

 What the ever-loving hell is wrong with a multi-billion dollar industry paying a good salary to their cheerleaders? Why is this even a discussion?

 Last night the wife and I are watching Top Chef because that show rocks and we'll even rewatch the good seasons. The show is insanely popular, but despite the ad revenue rolling in, the DVD sales, the streaming video sales, the frozen food items in the store labeled as Top Chef, etc. No, that's not enough. They have to have a Philadelphia cream cheese challenge, where the appetizer, main course and dessert all feature cream cheese.

 Awesome. Awesomely stupid. Awesomely whoreish and bad.

 And it angers me. They make enough off that show to not try and be greedy and come up with stupid stuff like this all for even more money. Because too much is never enough.

 A couple weeks ago I watch Chris Weidman beat up Lyoto Machida to the tune of a $60 PPV.

 Which had ads in it. For movies and products that bought ad time, to an event I paid for.

 Which also angered me.

 The Big Bang Theory cast is in negotiations for higher salaries. The five original cast members are striking. Do you think the network which made hundreds of millions of dollars off this show can afford to pay them? Wow. I sure hope so, don't you?

 It's like the one percent is this four hundred lb guy, sitting at a table, while incredibly thin people sit around the table begging, and the 400 lb guy ignores them because he wants to be 450 lbs next year.

 Profit. It's not enough to make a profit, you have to make all the profit.

 And it doesn't have to be that way.

 Costco isn't that way.

 Market Basket grocery stores aren't that way. So, of course, since the CEO pays a good wage, gives benefits, treats workers like humans, gives bonus's, the board fired him. Because even though it was profitable. Very profitable, they wanted more.

 People that think this is all okay make me sick.

Sorry, just had to vent.