Dr. Helen posts “A Few Questions About Benie Madoff:”
I just read the verdict of 150 years for Bernard Madoff and all I can really think is “Why is it that someone who set up a Ponzi scheme gets more jail time than the majority of murderers?” I realize that many people were involved and yes, I would be angry if someone cheated me out of my life’s savings (though I would not give only one person all of my money to invest but that is beside the point). Is Madoff just a symbol of Wall Street greed, which in today’s society is worse than murder to so many? Is it because the people feel they trusted him and were ripped off and therefore justify any horrible thing they can think of to happen to him? Can anyone explain to me how what Madoff did is worse than murder?
Of course, someone could post “A Few Questions About Tom Hanks:”
I just read where Tom Hanks was paid $40 million for starring in Angels & Demons, and all I can really think is “Why is it that someone who acts in a bad movie gets paid several times more than soldiers, cops, teachers, firemen, nurses, and doctors? I realize that Hanks is a popular actor, and if I had spent years working on a movie that called for a middle-aged white male lead, I’d want Hanks (though I would not devote years to my life to silly Hollywood entertainment, but that’s beside the point). Is Hanks just a symbol of Hollywood glamour, which in today’s society is more celebrated than actual heroism? Is it because they enjoyed Hanks’s previous movies so much that they feel he is justified is high salary? Can anyone explain to me how what Hanks does is many times more valuable than what a soldier, cop, teacher, nurse, or doctor does?
If you prefer, you can substute in your favorite singer, CEO, or athlete for Hanks — I’m not trying to pick on him in particular. And I also understand that there are economic reasons why someone like Tom Hanks would be paid so much. But those reasons are similar to the reaons why Bernie Madoff would be given a harsh sentence.
One could also play this game with the prices of consumer goods — I’ll leave it to my readers to come up with examples, but suffice it to say that the prices of consumer goods is not always perfectly correlated with the value they bring to society.
In any instance, I think it’s interesting that even a free-market Obama’s-policies-are-gonna-bring-a-horde-o-locusts-oer-the-land type like Dr. Helen has a much higher standard for the results the government delivers than what the market delivers. It may be the case that the difference between a murderer’s sentencing and Madoff’s sentencing is out of line with the difference between the severity of their crimes. But if so, that pales in comparison to how out of line the difference between a soldier’s compensation and Tom Hanks’s compensation is with their contributions to society.
Yet, people like Dr. Helen are apparently OK with the market delivering outcomes that seem on their face to be out of whack, but not the government. This suggests to me a greater faith in government than in markets.
