Is This What It’s All About?!?

Aretha Franklin was a real Detroiter, very generous, and could sing her heart out! There’s no doubt about that, but a gold casket! Isn’t that a bit much for something that just ends up in the ground? Gold lasts a long time – longer than she will even inside that casket. Do we feel any better because we’re buried in gold? Probably not. We’re dead! Has money become so important to us that it’s necessary for others to show it off even in our death? It’s not going to do us any good when we are dead. It could benefit our offspring though, but they haven’t earned it, but I guess we can take some comfort in bequeathing it to them while we’re still alive. I am only using Aretha Franklin because her death and the obvious indulgence it shows make a point. Not only that, it’s timely too.

We pay far too much for entertainment whether it be to a movie star, a sports star, or a singing star. Length of career is used in some cases to justify the excessive salaries we pay. This is particularly true for sports stars. I did a calculation a number of years ago. I assumed I made on average $50,000 per year. That meant I started at $12,500 per year which I did and ended up earning well over $100,000 per year which is a fairly good salary even today, but let’s adjust it to a salary averaging $75,000 per year – more than a lot of people by far. Therefore, I would make a total of 3 million dollars for a 40 year working career. On the other hand if you’re in the entertainment business, you can easily make that in just one year. Something’s askew here or we really enjoy being entertained. Obviously, we should learn to entertain ourselves and save the money!

#society