Right now, there are more than a handful of water cooler conversations being had about Albert Pujols and the reported $200-million-plus contract he passed on. I’d be willing to put money down that in every one of these conversations, at least one person makes the crack, “Hey, I’d have signed for $100 million,” or some more modest variation of that. I would also put money down that at least one person calls Albert Pujols greedy. How dare he turn down that money, right? As flawed as this logic is, I don’t blame my water cooler compatriots for thinking this way. They know not what they do.
It has taken many years, but that is how politicians have helped frame our thought. They’ve used the same faulty logic to create/play the class warfare card. And why not? It’s been unbelievably effective. How else could you explain that roughly half of the population doesn’t pay federal income taxes and yet we still hear people crying that the “rich” aren’t paying their “fair” share? Those “greedy” rich that want to keep all of our money. Not their money, the people’s money.
While class warfare chastises the greedy earners, it preys on something much worse. It is a little thing called envy — wanting what others have, instead of what you can provide yourself. If greed motivates you to provide for yourself — to excess depending on who you ask — envy encourages you to take what others work for, further strengthening the destructive attitude of entitlement that many Americans can’t get themselves out from under.
This brings me to a question that may never be asked, “What is Albert Pujols really worth?” Which begs the larger question, “What is anyone worth?”
Clearly, the worker at the water cooler, making the joke about taking $100 million, isn’t worth $100 million. To a baseball team, he probably isn’t worth $100 flat. If he was, he would potentially have a $100 contract. There is nothing wrong with his lack of value to a baseball team, because playing baseball, while a great way, isn’t the only way to make a living or define one’s value. To his corporation, he might be worth $60K. Hell, he could be killing it for them and be worth $200K, making him fortunate enough to be in the second-highest tax bracket.
But what if he believed his value to be $60K and his employer only offered him $55K? Would he be greedy for turning them down? That is how you should look at Pujols’s situation. In relative, not absolute, terms. It is the only way we as a society will be able to move beyond class warfare. Not enviously trying to put ourselves in other people’s shoes, but applying a comparable situation from our own world.
The sooner we do that, the sooner we will all come to two simple conclusions: no one is overpaid — union members excluded — and no one is underpaid. In different terms: you command the salary you are able to command, and accept the salary you are willing to accept. Supply and demand, that simple.
While no one is underpaid, there are many who fail to command the full freight for their services. However, this isn’t the work of corporate conspirators intent on keeping the helpless middle class down. If someone isn’t capturing their full demand curve, the fault lies squarely on their own shoulders for not putting themselves out in the open marketplace and allowing employers to compete for their services.
That is exactly what Pujols is doing. And that is how his worth will be determined, on the free market. Guess what? I bet it is going to come in way higher than $200 million. And you shouldn’t be envious of him. You should be happy, and you should do the same. The more you test your value on the market, the more you will make and the more promotions you will receive. And the better everyone else will do, thanks to the taxes you should feel privileged to pay.
Matthew Sullivan is a full-time screenwriter and part-time economist. He received his B.A. in economics from The Johns Hopkins University, and recently completed his self-awarded, honorary M.A. by reading everything Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, and Walter Williams have ever written. Matthew’s only known allergies are bee stings and cat dander. He rarely takes himself seriously, and encourages you to do the same.