Exactly who ‘makes enough money’ in Obama’s eyes?
“I do think,” you may have heard President Barack Obama say about a group of Americans last week, “at a certain point you’ve made enough money.”
And if you hadn’t heard it before now, you may be wondering who he was talking about.
Perhaps he was speaking to Hollywood — producer/directors such as George Lucas or Steven Spielberg, who were paid $170 million and $150 million, respectively, according to Forbes magazine’s 2009 list. Less generous, but still better than I and probably you, were Jerry Bruckheimer at $100 million and Atlanta’s Tyler Perry at $75 million. Or actors such as Harrison Ford ($65 million) or Adam Sandler ($55 million).
Then again, he might have been talking to America’s television stars. Dr. Phil (McGraw) pulled down $80 million, Forbes reports. Simon Cowell of “American Idol” was close behind at $75 million. And there’s Oprah, our highest-paid celebrity, at $275 million.
But Oprah is one of the president’s biggest backers, so let’s forget the big and little screens and turn to musicians. For all the challenges to that industry, Madonna managed to bring home $110 million. There’s Beyonce Knowles at $87 million; Bruce Springsteen, $70 million; Kenny Chesney and Dave Matthews Band, $65 million each; and a cool $60 million for the band Rascal Flatts.
I could mention athletes, but Tiger Woods was in a class of his own at $110 million (a figure he won’t match this year).
Oh, wait — maybe the operative words are “at a certain point”; Obama must have been talking about dead celebrities! It’s been half a century since Rodgers & Hammerstein put out a new musical, but their estates saw $235 million in new earnings. The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, with $90 million, and the King of Rock ’n’Roll, Elvis Presley, with $55 million, also did not do poorly posthumously.
Now, if you think it would have been odd for President Obama to scold celebrities in this way, you’re right. He was talking instead about businessmen – specifically, those who work in finance. Want to guess how many chief executives of financial companies in 2009, according to Forbes, earned as much as the 20 celebs I’ve listed here?
How about none?
In fact, the $2.4 billion in total earnings of the 100 highest-paid CEOs, regardless of industry, barely beat out the $2.1 billion of the twenty-five best-compensated celebs (living ones, that is). Just seven of those 100 CEOs worked in the financial industry.
I don’t begrudge Beyonce, Spielberg or Tiger — or the head of JP Morgan — the pay they receive. Nor do I begrudge Obama his $5.5 million in 2009 income — again, more than I and probably you.
So why does the president begrudge the same to others?
He claims that he doesn’t. The full quote from his Wednesday speech in Quincy, Ill., was:
“I want to be clear, we’re not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that’s fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money. But part of the American way is you can just keep on making it if you’re providing a good product or you’re providing a good service. We don’t want people to stop fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow the economy.”
The second sentence is the one that defines “fairly earned” for Obama. The man who as a candidate spoke of “spreading the wealth around” has found a matter he considers within his pay grade: other people’s pay.
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256 comments Add your comment
jen r
May 4th, 2010
1:33 pm
Hey “justjane” – are you serious? “spoiled white rich boy” – How VERY progressive and enlightened of you. It’s offensive, but I guess liberals can be as prejudicial as they please.
StevenCee
May 5th, 2010
12:03 am
Kyle, this is a horribly written piece, you are comparing apples to oranges, mischaracterizing the point of what Obama was talking about, & you can’t even tell the difference, (in your response about your off-point salary/income comparisons), between the salaries of Wall Street CEOS, and “The Wall Street JOURNAL Survey of CEO Compensation”!
Sorry, but this is NOT a list of “Wall Street CEOS”, but just corporate CEOS from all areas of business, listed in the “Wall Street Journal”…..
Plus, the primary differences between movie stars, or pro athletes, musicians, etc, making huge bucks, & the huge bucks made by Wall Street speculators (which are far more, than a measly 30-50-70 million dollars), is that entertainers actually PRODUCE something, & their work enables the employment of lots of people, directly & indirectly, and the money used to pay them is 100% voluntarily given them by ticket, CD, & other merchandising buying people. While the speculators & hedge fund gamers use people’s pensions, portfolios, mortgages, etc, & more recently, taxpayer money, to do their gambling with.
Kyle Wingfield
May 5th, 2010
3:09 pm
StevenCee: You’re right! Now I understand why, back when I used to work for the WSJ, people looked at me funny when I told them I worked on “the Street”…thanks for the intervention!
Now, in case you’re interested in more than ranting: The WSJ list is sortable by industry. But, unlike the Forbes list, the URL for the WSJ’s list doesn’t change when you sort by industry — so any link to the list will go to the default view, which is sorted by total compensation regardless of industry. If you can’t figure it out, I’m sure someone can walk you through it.
As for the rest: The point was that Obama’s demagoguery about Wall Street pay is cheap and silly. And if you want to pretend that a Madonna album offers as much value to society as the financial industry, well, it’s a free country. Mostly. Even today.
StevenCee
May 7th, 2010
9:00 am
Kyle, whether or not the CEO’s are listed by industry isn’t the main point, as we all know, no matter what figures you may choose to use, that Wall Street speculators, the ones placing the big bets, make far more money than any of the top entertainers, often in one single deal. When Goldman/Sachs hands out BILLIONS in bonuses alone, you simply cannot make any comparison that holds any water.
The truth is, these guys are often making tens to hundreds of millions of dollars, some making billions, and for what, producing what, employing who, all the while paying far less a percentage (if at all) in taxes, as compared to their secretaries (as Warren Buffet & others have publicly affirmed), and doing it risk-free, cause if they lose too much, being “too big to fail”, WE end up bailing them out! We need to decentralize our financial system, as well as bring back the Glass-Steagall Act, as well as close all the tax loopholes they are able to shelter most or all their income with…
While Madonna may be considered “cheap & silly” I hardly think that questioning why “banksters” feel their need to make obscenely large amounts of money (esp. w/potential great cost to us) is comparable. And yes “obscene” because A) it’s more than anyone can ever spend in a lifetime, & is more about feeding their egos, than anyones stomachs, & B) because the consequences to society, on so many levels is negative, & of no real productive value (how much of an individual’s billions actually “trickle down”, beyond their heirs). Which is why we can see “the economy improving”, or the market on the upswing, yet no one much is being put back to work….
Robert Schoales
May 10th, 2010
2:10 pm
Entertainers and athletes make their money by fans voluntarily paying to see them perform. Many of the Wall Street CEOs have made their money gambling with other folks’ money. Consider the ramifications of the repeal of Glass-Steagall. We taxpayers are being hosed by some of these bankers who are getting bonuses with our money. The incentives are what is screwed up on Wall Street. There is no such thing as free money or even a free lunch. Trading the same thing back and forth does not make it more valuable even if it is repackaged
Bob S.
May 11th, 2010
7:32 pm
What are CEOs worth? Are they really masters of the universe or just as self-deluded as Fabrice “Fabulous Fab” Tourre?
Do the names LTCM, Jimmy Cayne, Angelo Mozilo, Ken Lay, Steve Case, Gerald Levin, Dow Kim, Stan O’Neal, Joe Gregory, Bernie Ebbers, Lawrence Simon, Dick Fuld, Dennis Koslowski, Ahmass Fakahany ring a bell? What were they worth?