Why in the name of God is a football player paid more than a soldier? (READ OP)

Once again football players are not payed by the tax dollars.... This is a comparison of apples to oranges, if you want to complain about pay how about complaining about actors who get millions and millions a year that do not risk their lives for people...

This whole comparison between football players to soldiers is pointless and is invalid..

fueled-system

[QUOTE="I"]

Here's a better question: Why are mercenaries paid way more than soldiers?

Former_Slacker

Why, when we spend more than every other country combined on defense, do we need mercs?

I think it's because mercenaries are better at what they do. They make better use of their training time, and they can train for highly specialized missions, moreso than military units, which have to be prepared for a wide range of operations.

EDIT: Let me further add, that private military companies siphon off many of the best soldiers. Elite soldiers are way, way underpaid.

I really don't want to pay crazy high taxes for soldiers...

[QUOTE="monson21502"][QUOTE="Blabadon"]I just think it's crazy. I mean, I know there are obvious reasons to it, I'm just asking you guys, do you agree that this is crazy?Jaysonguy

And how many people will pay money to watch those 43 soldiers do anything at all?

None

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

[QUOTE="monson21502"]vick just got 20 million for one year.... i asked my friend who just got out of the navy, how much his wife woulda got if he had got killed while serving. and he said 475,000. so next year vick will be worth more then 43 of our brave soldiers lives:shock:monson21502

And how many people will pay money to watch those 43 soldiers do anything at all?

None

[QUOTE="TopGearDog"]

Because the Football teams take in so much money on revenue from advertising and millions of people watching the game so they can afford to pay footballers this much. If we wanted out souldiers to get paid this much to come up with the money all of us would have to pay atleast 99% of our wages into taxes for the government to be able to afford it.

topsemag55

Hello, U.S. soldiers aren't freeloading, they pay Federal Income Tax, State Income Tax (depending upon which state is their home), Social Security, and Medicare Tax.

I never said Soldiers were freeloading. I was saying footballers are entertainers and because of this get that much money paid, there would be no chance of these wages going down because of the amount of money they bring in. Which would be for soldiers wages to be more they would need to get paid 100fold. To fund this there would need to be a serious increase in tax to put there wages up.

To play devil's advocate...

Capitalism is based on scarcity of good or skill. As scacicity goes up, so does value (pay).

The chances of having a pro any sport come from your highschool are slim to none. However their is always a good percentage of your highschoolclas s joining the military. Thus the scarcity of a pro level athlete(football in this case) is significantly higher than the scarcity of potential soldiers, and that is why they are payed more as pro football players are in high demand for entertainment..

[QUOTE="TopGearDog"]

Because the Football teams take in so much money on revenue from advertising and millions of people watching the game so they can afford to pay footballers this much. If we wanted out souldiers to get paid this much to come up with the money all of us would have to pay atleast 99% of our wages into taxes for the government to be able to afford it.

topsemag55

Hello, U.S. soldiers aren't freeloading, they pay Federal Income Tax, State Income Tax (depending upon which state is their home), Social Security, and Medicare Tax.

i never been to a live nfl game but i been to a NBA and a MLB game and ill tell you right now.... they are not that better then if you would go to a local high school team play. in fact ive seen better play on the play ground in basketball... pro sports is wayyyyyyyyyyy over rated and waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy over paid. i dont even watch probaseball or basketball anymore and im on the fence about football. if they have a strike im out!

[QUOTE="topsemag55"]

[QUOTE="TopGearDog"]

Because the Football teams take in so much money on revenue from advertising and millions of people watching the game so they can afford to pay footballers this much. If we wanted out souldiers to get paid this much to come up with the money all of us would have to pay atleast 99% of our wages into taxes for the government to be able to afford it.

F1_2004

Hello, U.S. soldiers aren't freeloading, they pay Federal Income Tax, State Income Tax (depending upon which state is their home), Social Security, and Medicare Tax.

And many American civilians try to dodge paying the IRS (look at all of the businesses airing commercials about saving tax-dodgers).

Soldiers can't - if any try, BOOM! Automatic court-martial.

Charged with financial irresponsibility.

because the NFL is willing to pay more than the government?

It's common sense. For the military to function we need to have troops that stay in for years to make a lot of rank so they can be in charge. The military can't run off of privates, Airmen, and seamen. Your average general officer has over 30 years of military service. General Petraeus (probably the most famous general right now due to his efforts in the Middle East) served in the Army since 1974 (not counting his time at West Point). While he may make over $200,000 a year as a general now, if he was paid an insane amount of money right off the bat he may have left the military a lot sooner. Imagine if you paid a private $10,000,000 a year. While you'll get a lot more people trying to join, after about three or four years of service he may just take what he has and leave rather than staying in longer especially if he gets PO'd at his leaders. Granted, not everybody would get out but some people would just rationaize that they could live the rest of their life off of twenty or thirty million and you wouldn't have people staying in that long.

The bigger reason even if people do decide to stay in is the budget. Obviously, if a private is making ten million a year then a sergeant will expect to make twenty million and a general will expect to make fifty million. How would you justify paying millions of troops that much money? People already complain about the DOD's budget and going by most of the people in OT a lot of people think the defense budget should be slashed to a fraction of what it is now. You can imagine how much more a year it would cost to pay troops even one million each a year, it would bankrupt us. In the case of athletes, they may not deserve more money, but giving them more money is justified due to their efforts. The only thing that pays the salary of a servicemember is your tax dollars. On the other hand, the money you spend to buy stadium tickets, that NFL package on your TV, and more is why a rookie football player may get a multi-million dollar contract. Look at the Super Bowl, three million per advertisement and stadium tickets that were in the thousands a piece. That would more than pay the salaries of both teams who played that night.

At the same time, how many people do you know pay tickets to watch troops fight? When I was in Iraq in 2005 they were pumping details about the Michael Jackson trial on our TVs in the dining facility almost 24-7 while deaths of troops were just blips on the news ticker on the bottom. It may not seem fair but it makes sense from a financial point of view.

[QUOTE="F1_2004"][QUOTE="topsemag55"]

Hello, U.S. soldiers aren't freeloading, they pay Federal Income Tax, State Income Tax (depending upon which state is their home), Social Security, and Medicare Tax.

topsemag55

And many American civilians try to dodge paying the IRS (look at all of the businesses airing commercials about saving tax-dodgers).

Soldiers can't - if any try, BOOM! Automatic court-martial.

Charged with financial irresponsibility.

You mean while they're in service??? They're paying tax out of the wage given to them from our tax money... so they take the country's tax money and then give a little bit of it back....F1_2004

Yes, that is entirely accurate. The only exception being that when soldiers are deployed overseas, they are exempt from Federal income tax. However, I'm pretty sure that applies to anyone working overseas who makes less than a certain amount of money.

Do you people really want doctors, teachers, police, firefighters or soldiers to be paid is much as ballplayers? Is that really what you want?

[QUOTE="F1_2004"]You mean while they're in service??? They're paying tax out of the wage given to them from our tax money... so they take the country's tax money and then give a little bit of it back....Palantas

Yes, that is entirely accurate. The only exception being that when soldiers are deployed overseas, they are exempt from Federal income tax. However, I'm pretty sure that applies to anyone working overseas who makes less than a certain amount of money.

Yup, when I was serving I worked overseas with General Electric contractors. The first $70,000 of their salary was tax-exempt.

I didn't read the op.

thattotally

[QUOTE="Palantas"]

[QUOTE="F1_2004"]You mean while they're in service??? They're paying tax out of the wage given to them from our tax money... so they take the country's tax money and then give a little bit of it back....topsemag55

Yes, that is entirely accurate. The only exception being that when soldiers are deployed overseas, they are exempt from Federal income tax. However, I'm pretty sure that applies to anyone working overseas who makes less than a certain amount of money.

Yup, when I was serving I worked overseas with General Electric contractors. The first $70,000 of their salary was tax-exempt.

I gotta say - I'm mesmerized by your signature.

Cos you don't need to give a football player a plane/ tank/ ship?

Because the government can't pay me 700,000 dollars a month, but football players can make all sorts of deals and contracts for more money.

[QUOTE="topsemag55"]

[QUOTE="Palantas"]

Yes, that is entirely accurate. The only exception being that when soldiers are deployed overseas, they are exempt from Federal income tax. However, I'm pretty sure that applies to anyone working overseas who makes less than a certain amount of money.

worlock77

Yup, when I was serving I worked overseas with General Electric contractors. The first $70,000 of their salary was tax-exempt.

I gotta say - I'm mesmerized by your signature.

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

[QUOTE="monson21502"]vick just got 20 million for one year.... i asked my friend who just got out of the navy, how much his wife woulda got if he had got killed while serving. and he said 475,000. so next year vick will be worth more then 43 of our brave soldiers lives:shock:monson21502

And how many people will pay money to watch those 43 soldiers do anything at all?

None

No it wouldn't, that was tried during "Desert Storm"

People got sick of the coverage really fast

This is a capitalist society. Football players generate billions, thus they make millions weezyfb

This basically sums things up.

Football is more entertaining. Dylan_11

Because football players generate billions of dollars in revinue to their company (which is what a team is). Soldiers are government employees and there are many more of them.

Pirate700

Yep. I wonder how people get confused by this.

No I don't agree.

I think that servicemembers are underpaid, but there are a lot of perks to being in the military. I think the biggest is the respect you get from almost everyone else. Most people in this country support the troops. Doesn't matter how you feel about war, there's no reason not to support the people who have volunteered to fight them for you.

My greatest memories come from walking through airports in my uniform and having random people just come up and hug me or shake my hand. There really isn't a better feeling than that.

Sure, we could stand to be paid a little bit more, but I never went hungry when I was in, so I think we'll survive.

[QUOTE="Former_Slacker"]

[QUOTE="I"]

Here's a better question: Why are mercenaries paid way more than soldiers?

Palantas

Why, when we spend more than every other country combined on defense, do we need mercs?

I think it's because mercenaries are better at what they do. They make better use of their training time, and they can train for highly specialized missions, moreso than military units, which have to be prepared for a wide range of operations.

EDIT: Let me further add, that private military companies siphon off many of the best soldiers. Elite soldiers are way, way underpaid.

They do have lots of eliete guys, many people who are mercs were once soldiers, including special forces operators.

Also, why do we need/have mercs when we have the military that we do?

Regulations and liability.

They aren't held accountable to the same rules, and can work around them. and if they get caught? " What you found some of our boys? They say US army on them? -no- Well then, they ain't ours."

I thought this thread was about soccer even though I call soccer soccer...

It's because that's how capitalism works.If you're smart or talented, you'll make more money than the people that aren't. Becoming an NFL star requires more talent than joining the army.

Umm, it's a combination of the U.S. economic system and the U.S. culture.

No it wouldn't, that was tried during "Desert Storm"

People got sick of the coverage really fast

Jaysonguy

That was CNN's fault.

What became funny was that we would all run into the breakroom to see how quick CNN would catch a Scud missile being shot down.:lol:

I can go out in Dallas and find 10,000+ people to replace to next incoming class of 'grunts' in the military -I cannot go out and just find the next Lebron, Manning, etcrawsavon

I'm having déjà vu here.

[QUOTE="rawsavon"]I can go out in Dallas and find 10,000+ people to replace to next incoming class of 'grunts' in the military -I cannot go out and just find the next Lebron, Manning, etcPalantas

I'm having déjà vu here.

[QUOTE="Palantas"]

[QUOTE="rawsavon"]I can go out in Dallas and find 10,000+ people to replace to next incoming class of 'grunts' in the military -I cannot go out and just find the next Lebron, Manning, etcrawsavon

I'm having déjà vu here.

[QUOTE="rawsavon"][QUOTE="Palantas"]

I'm having déjà vu here.

Lonelynight

Someone picked the wrong career option!

[QUOTE="Palantas"]

[QUOTE="rawsavon"]I can go out in Dallas and find 10,000+ people to replace to next incoming class of 'grunts' in the military -I cannot go out and just find the next Lebron, Manning, etcrawsavon

I'm having déjà vu here.

A soldier has no right to complain about not being paid enough or being remembered for their efforts. That's what being a soldier is. You kill and die for your country, usually for nothing.

There are more Soldiers than football players. Do you think the government has enough money to pay that much money for each soldier?CongressManStan

Well are you willing to pay the government more money to increase the 200k+ soldiers in the military right now? Prob not. But most ppl are willing to pay for the internet, cable, junk food, & other things that indirectly support the NFL players.