2. This Is Not Public Money Were Talking About
One of the most common refrains you hear on this issue runs something like this: Its a disgrace! These greedy footballers are earning in a week what teachers and nurses make in a year or two! While the mathematics behind such a rant is sound, the underlying point is not. If you think teachers and nurses and police officers and fire fighters should be paid more, fine, so do I, but be prepared to pay higher taxes for them. The fact is, Steven Gerrard could take a 90% pay cut tomorrow and no nurse anywhere is going to benefit from it. In fact, as the Treasury would be collecting far less in income tax from the Liverpool star, there would be that much less funds available to the Government. If player wages, in any sport, go down there is only one group of people who benefit: the owners. The billionaire oligarchs who buy up beloved clubs as play things would save a few million a year to spend on their yachts, while the average fan would see no change in the ticket prices or television subscriptions. At the end of the day, its the owners money, not ours, and if they want to give it to John Terry or Gareth Bale, thats their right.