How is it atheletes make millions playing games, but my husband, serving in Iraq, makes less than $7 an hour?

What a just and valid question? This is when you understand why they say :
"AMERICA'S BUSINESS IS SHOW BUSINESS"
And now you can realize what a brain washed miss informed society we have. if it was me, I'll quit in a minute bcze i refuse to take order from murderers to kill Innocent?!!

Let the "Thumbs Down" roll !?

conranger1

Most people don't join the military for the money but to serve their country, unless in the foreseeable future the military gets contracted out to wear brand-name logos on their equipment the pay will stay where it is now.

Dr Sardonicus

sorry...I disagree with the system..Im a veteran and a cop...Ive never made more than 30,000 a year and that high only came in combat or working mucho overtime...Hope your guy gets out ok...

Robert K

Like I was told on my basic infantry course,
"You'll never get any riches, digging all them ditches"

What really frosts my a$$ is that private contractors overseas pull down an easy 6 figures for being there half the time.
But that's free market warfare for you.
This war brought to you by Halliburton, KBR and Blackwater.

Hope your hubby comes home safe and sound.

Farmer & Granny Crabtree

I don't know the answer Jennifer, but I'm so impressed that
you posed the question, which needs to be asked more often , and needs to be supported by the media. My heart goes out to you and your husband...brave souls!

Jen

I'm with you it's total b.s. My husband is leaving for Iraq in a week. He tells me at least the money will help, but it doesn't, it just pays all the overdue bills from the lousy checks they get when they are not in combat. And it's definitly not the same as having your husband home. And it blows my mind that there are people out there that complained they get paid too much! The nerve. They can make more working at burger king but because of the benefits and the education things are supossed to be ok. We are at Fort Irwin and the doctors and hospitals here are horrible! But at least we can be proud of them. What millionare b-ball player can say they helped saved lives and see what they see.

seakander

Welcome to the Kali age ( Hindu term for age of spiritual darkness). Strippers earn more than teachers in this screwed up age.

Krytox1a

that show you the state of our country, were an entertainer the (sports player) makes more than a protector (your husband)!

God bless you and your husband!

Richard G

Welcome to the real world....I'm sure Barry Bonds most likely makes more money than GWBush Cheney etc....

Fair........Nope

leonche64

It is a question of value and scarcity of resource. The same reason gold cost more than wood, there is more of it, lots more. I have been a US Marine, and a professional athelete. I served in the fist Gulf war and then went to university. The military accepts thousands into the service a week, while professional sports take a few a year. The average person can pass the physical, and now the lowered mental requirements for service in the military. To be a professional athelete takes the smallest percentage of people perceived to be performing at the top of a chosen endevour. It also requires a great amount of luck, prepartion, and marketability. To break down the numbers, in just football, there are more people in the military, than play all of high school football. Of those football players, less than 1% will be able to play in college. Of all the college players, .04% will even have an opportunity to try out for a pro team. These numbers don't imply a value to service, just an economic reality. It does not matter that a top of the line Benz only cost $4,000 more (material cost) to produce than a top of the line Toyota, they don't make as many of them, so they charge a whole lot more. I hope that your husband comes home safe, and this thing does not drag on too much longer...

Chris L

If anyone joined the military for the money, they joined for the wrong reasons. As an E-1, I made a whopping $72/mo but then things improved as I went up in rank. We adapted, learned how to get by and, all in all, did pretty well. I bought a house, had two cars, had nice expensive furnishings I'd bought overseas, and all of that on a MSgt's pay. I'm still doing pretty well between retirement pay and disability, so I'm not complaining.

Since retirement, my medical bills have been a money pit and I could not have afforded to have the treatment for pancreatic cancer that I have without them. If I had had standard medical insurance I'm sure I would have capped out on coverage and been dropped long ago. With my military medical benefits, it's like I'm being paid an extra $75,000 a year so my investment of 20 years was well worth the low pay at the beginning.

I'm not really sure why pro sports players are paid such ridiculously huge amounts of money. In the big picture of life, pro ball players aren't going to contribute much more than scoring points. Overall, it's silly; a matter of people (team owners) having more money than sense.

Hang in there. Things get better.

pepper

I know this is not going to make you feel better but did you know Blackwater mercenaries get about $100,000 a year plus benefits doing the same thing your husband does. You might want to ask why? Another piece of information I found which might make you feel even more livid. Chelsea, fresh out of school, was given a very well-paying job at McKinsey. (reportedly a 'low six-figure' salary). She has since moved on to much greener pastures (hedge funds). You might want to point out to Mrs. Clinton, Chelsea's mother, ex-first lady and possibly the next president, the discrepancy between what your husband gets for risking his life in a war that she voted for and that her cronies profit from and the fat bundle her little pampered offspring makes for figuring out more ways for the monied class to make more money.

stung4ever

People pay millions to be entertained. Either that money filters down to make millionaire atheletes, or the billionaire owners keep the money.

Milk

That's what is wrong with our country. Athletes get paid tons of money for playing a game and become famous for doing something anybody can do. Sure, they're fast, they're strong but your husband is risking his life to protect those people. I think teachers should get paid more money too!! They're the ones who educate our children. The super smart scientists get paid a bunch and teachers get scarcely anything. They're the ones who educate our future.

I hope your husband comes home safely.

Diane

I agree that it is not right that military families suffer on the low pay. I respect our military and their families way more than I do an athlete.

I used to live by the Navy base in IL and most of the families received low income housing and food stamps. This is no way to treat our military that fight for our rights. And no, the benefits will never make up for lack of pay. Tri-care can be a headache, waiting for bah or base housing can be very trying.

Being in the military is not always a piece of cake, like some think it is.

Also, it is not just military, it is also police, firefighters, teachers, and more. All of these professions are low paid but teach us and protect us. Our country really should reassess the pay scale for our heroes.

Thank your husband for all he is doing for us.

Jimmy J

I'm a retired soldier. I never joined the Army to get rich. If great wealth had been my goal, I'd certainly have chosen a different line of work.

By the way, most of the big pay raises for our soldiers have come under the Republicans. President Jimmy Carter gave us 5% raises as we enjoyed 15-18% inflation.

Last time I checked, professional athletes were not on the government payroll. They're paid what the market will support. If they relied on me for their support, they'd be making a lot less.

BrigadeGeneral

It`s B,coz the athletes wages are based on their popularity. Their payment comes from their spectators. I doubt that anyone would pay anything to see soldiers at work. That`s why.

Stefanie P

Hey neighbor! LOL So before I start on this here thanks for stealing my question LOL just kiddin. Anyways like I just told someone else I hear a lot of people going waa waa waa you get BAH (housing pay) you get Life Insurance, Health Care, and the PX. Alright well let me break this down a little here. I've been an Army brat for 18yrs. and a spouse for 3. So number one BAH is only paid to soldiers with families or E5 and above not living in the barracks (which by the way is the size of a prison cell with 3 beds 3 dressers and no walking space. Number two I pay for YOUR health care with the stupid Medicare coming out of my check and everything so quite frankly your right I get free health care because I'm paying for everyone else's. Number three we pay for our life insurance every month so yeah no freebie there try again and the funniest one of all the PX ahhh the PX. Well I can't recall the amount of times I've found things way cheaper at Wal-Mart then in the PX but you're right we don't pay taxes which is why the stuff at the PX a lot of times is more expensive because the crap is calculated in, in some form or another just like we get a surcharge now at the commissary too. Now let's see all these wondeful benefits YEAH RIGHT for going through 2 to 3 hours of sleep a night for 15months at a time because your spouse is deployed. Being afraid to run an errand or step out for one moment because you might miss that occasional call from your spouse so you still remember what he sounds like and that he's not just a figment of your imagination. Having your heart ripped out time and time again watching him get into formation at 0130hrs. to load up on the bus for deployment knowing the last thing you'll see of him is his back turned towards you because "duty" calls. Having your heart just about literally stop because you just caught wind from your Unit FRG that there were casulties in your unit but they don't know who and feeling your knees hit the floor as you pray to God your spouse isn't one of them. But yeah you ignorant people are right the barely 7 dollars an hour and so called benefits makes up for all of that right. If that's what you trully believe you're entitled to your own opinion but let me be the first to congratulate you on your tremendous amount of ingnorance and stupidity.

stephenmwells

One of the biggest crimes in our society is fair compensation for services. The greater the physical demand and risk to life the more pay one should get.
We do have hope we have a man fighting for your husband. His name is Ron Paul and he wants the servicemen home protecting us instead of starting wars with other countries to endanger us more. He wants more money for vets and better health care system for vets and all of us. He wants to abolish the IRS and let us keep all of our money so we could do for ourselves what we expect government to do for us. We all know how badly the government does in its ventures on anything. God bless your husband for his safe return. He is our hero, policies are making good men fight for pennies in a war they shouldnt have to fight.
Prayers

Katie J

I agree!! And do you notice that most soldiers come from lower or middle class society? You don't see to many rich people sending their kids over there!

blue skies

because soldiers are doing their job for the love of their work and country, not for money, if our wages were bumped up we would have the wrong people joining for the wrong reasons, we choose to do what we do because we love it

Rotorwings-Come Fly With Me

Yeah, it's a drag. It is insane that athletes get paid millions to play a game...but they generate a lot of money. It's just the way it is. I'm sure your husband works a hell of a lot more than 40 hrs./week. At the end of the day you/he has to decide if you can live with yourself for the decisions that you make. Money isn't everything...it won't give your life meaning by itself...but it provides opportunity.

Bottom line...he should get an education which will provide him more opportunities to make a contribution and make money at the same time.

UriK

Athletes are worth more to their team than any individual soldier is to the US government. I don't like the way that sounds any better than you do, but soldiers are just numbers to the government, and athletes are investments to their teams.

ZepherGeist

The only hero the NFL ever had in recent years was Pat Tillman . . . look what happened to him.

Doing his duty, leaping to the aid of fellow Americans and being required to give his life.

What makes it worse was it was a case of fratricide commited by "Ate-up" clowns not fit to be called Rangers.

And Barry Bonds is worshiped for being a Roid-Head.

We can never pay our Servicemen and women what they are worth, but we can pressure our politicians to do right by them - for ONCE - and make ALL service pay tax free, regardless of deployment status.

As for being a contractor, one is only qualified to apply if they have had several years as a Ranger, SEAL, SF, Delta and the like . . . I was interested and looked into it. The money would have been worth the risk.

It's money...capatilizm
it's greed...it's getting ahead
it's using those around us to elevate ourselves3(decaying middle class)(corporations: tell us a hell of a story...it is all lies)
we live in a system...bent towards the bottom line

things are out of order now, even soldiers are apart of the
growing poor, for their sacrifice.....
Good intentions

Rusty

Did anyone put a gun to his back and make him join?
Did anyone lie to him about his monthly pay?
Did he have it better before he joined?
What do you do to help this young soldier out financially?

Dr. Pheel

Because he took the line of least resistance and joined the lowest-paid profession in the U.S. economy: an enlisted soldier in the U.S. Armed Forces. Had he gotten a degree and become an officer, he'd be making 2-3 times that amount at the very least; had he become a contractor, he might make 10 times his present salary! The choice was his, he made it and now he(and you!) have to live with it...

nicolerichieslovechild

I served. I didn't do it for the money. Your husband is a much nobler man than any pro athlete.

Max D

we have to look at it in a different way. Athletes work for themselves not for the team or fans or the owners. When the athlete decides he does not enjoy the game any more he quits on it which in turn make his value on the market drop. A regular person usually works under someone and needs the work to feed the family and is to scared to risk opening or pursuing his dreams because it might cause major financial losses. In the society we live in, sadly , there is greed that runs through the veins of owners of businesses. So what society has actually done is legalized slavery. Just like back in the old days, the big people on top and the slaves at the bottom working to survive. It is sad folks we survive life not live life. Nothing will ever change because the little people never get heard.

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