Obama: NBA “Billionaires And Millionaires” Should “Divvy Up Their Profits” In A Way That Serves The People
Should we be surprised that President Obama sees wealth as some sort of a resource to be distributed?
Here’s a thought for the President: Businesses aren’t public utilities. Hell, public utilities shouldn’t be public utilities, but that’s a post for another day.
The president, a huge basketball fan, also discussed the NBA lockout.
“It’s killing me!” he said. But he said he had no plans to intercede.
“My attitude is that, in a contest between billionaires and millionaires, they should be able to figure out how to divvy up their profits in a way that serves their fans who are allowing them to be making all this money,” Obama said. He made a similar comment about the NFL lockout a few months ago.
Obviously, it’s in the NBA’s best interest to serve their fans. But that’s the NBA’s interest, not anyone else. The NBA is a private enterprise. What’s going on now is a contract dispute between two integral parts of that enterprise.
The players have the talent to play the game that fans want to see. The league and the team owners have the brands and venues and merchandising, etc. which turn the game from just a game into a profitable enterprise.
Both sides in the dispute want to make as much profit as possible, so they’ll need to find a contract that in their minds strikes the right sort of balance between their interests realizing that the longer they wait the more harm they do to their shared enterprise.
This is how a free market works. It’s not about redistributing wealth. It’s about negotiating to get as much wealth as you possibly can.
That Obama doesn’t understand this is the reason why he’s a bad president. It’s why his economic policies don’t work.
Tags: Barack Obama, nba, unions
