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New York, 5:15 PM
Sat Nov 28
12 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/13/09
Well, except for Pinch and Janet's 7-digit bonuses that exceed what is allowed by the company charter! Whee! #newyorktimes
11/13/09
10/28/09
NYers always seem to be pro-union, but such obscene gouging isn't a victimless crime -- the public pays for it (the same way that we pay for outlandish pensions for government employees, featherbedded trade union contracts for construction, etc.). This isn't like the "receptionist at Google" analogy -- the people subsidizing that are willingly buying Google stock, not the people performing searches.
But basically, can anyone out there say that making more than, say, $50K per year for manual labor is justified? We'd all like to pull down high salaries, but the world rewards people when exhibit scarce and valued skills. Wacky union contracts distort this by eliminating competition for jobs, as being a stagehand should be a fairly reproducible skill for which many people could vie. I received a quote today for a union paintjob -- painting two 10x12 walls in a union-regulated building would cost $2,000. I asked for a paintjob, not a blowjob. #carnegiehall
10/22/09
10/28/09
10/22/09
10/21/09
So I guess studying through college, grad school and working your butt off for 10-12-14 hours a day 5-6 days a week does not merit 500K a year?
I'm sure we need 500K a year stagehands to invent, develop, lead and make the country a better place for all. #carnegiehall
10/21/09
Logging time in a classroom doesn't automatically entitle anyone to anything other than a degree and it certainly doesn't make anyone more qualified than the next in the workplace. #carnegiehall
10/21/09
If you'd done your homework you'd know that this mess started brewing since Clinton was in office and guilt stretches from him, all the way to Bush and Congress. They all had a hand into this mess. Not forgetting a lot of corporations and individual Americans.
Finally. The point I made was to say that education AND hard work, should be what defines compensation, not a union contract.
Are you telling me that a Ph.D. in Physics, an M.D., an Engineer, a teacher, that works 14-16 hrs a day and develops a new technology, idea or service that improves the health, wealth or well being of millions of Americans should earn less than a stagehand? #carnegiehall
10/21/09
I know of PhDs, MDs, and engineers earning half a mil in salary + book revenue + appearances + royalties from R&D/products/inventions!
I know plenty of stagehands who do have a college education in addition to what they learned apprenticing.
Why is practical education shunned by parts of the business world? Are you upset you're cube rats? Upset you're not billionaires like Babson or Susquehanna promised you would be? Intimidated by men who know how to create/fix things of consequence? Pissed that you gotta pay the union guys anytime you need anything done?
Unions were organizations with a mighty and powerful reach long before Pres. Clinton. It's all in what the market will bear, baby.
(President Clinton? Really?) #carnegiehall
10/21/09
10/22/09
Everyone thinks a theater education is a "blowoff" degree, but I think it makes you a jack of all trades. I also think it's lead to my success in other areas. I can think outside of the box, and I am willing to put in long days doing WHATEVER needs to be done to make my project a success, even if it's below my paygrade. You can't whine that it was someone else's job, etc when there's a show to put on. Even if it IS, you do what needs to be done, then deal with the person not pulling their weight later, after the curtain goes down which is a lesson I think would really serve a lot of people in the "real" world.
I think those guys earn every ounce of that pay check, and I know they're probably paid hourly, which is why they're earning a zillion dollars. If my own experiences of putting in 10 or 12 hours at the theater AFTER spending all day in class is any indication, these guys are practically living in that theater and are busting their butts. #carnegiehall
10/21/09
Who would you rather got the dough?
Goldman Sachs?
Or Carnegie Hall? #carnegiehall
10/21/09
10/21/09
So do plenty of bankers.
Look - you're getting paid to do a specialized task. Awesome. But you're also devouring charitable contributions, also known as private bailouts. From Bloomberg News:
Carnegie Hall had an operating shortfall of $40.2 million in 2007-2008. After including funds from donors, investment income and government grants, the hall ended the season with a $1.9 million surplus.
That's fine; that's your hustle. But I'd better not hear a word out of a Carnegie stagehand about the injustice of banker bonuses. Uniquely, I was a college actor/stagehand/stage manager/AD that wound up in banking, and I know the small-ball version of that job. We both know that 500K is a lot of money, and that if society is to judge one salary it must judge them all. #carnegiehall
10/21/09
I agree that 500K is a lot of money, and I would be lying if I said I came even close to making that amount despite my iron clad contract . However, blue collar or white these are some of the most coveted positions in the industry. People work for decades and sleep with all sorts of unsavory higher ups in order to attain a stage gig in New York. And I'm not really sure that boiling it down to "the guys who haul pianos and music stands" is giving the job enough credit. #carnegiehall
10/21/09
I don't think most people worth a damn get enough credit for their work, I really don't. But society's all pitchforks-and-chants over salary these days, and the purpose of the Carnegie bit is to make it clear that people in all walks of life make "too much." Judging salary is something that's done poorly and reflexively by our populist media. #carnegiehall
10/21/09
10/21/09
10/21/09
10/22/09
10/22/09
10/22/09
10/22/09
Seriously, we complain when some asshole bigwig at an American car company flies around in a private jet, yet we can't seem to justify it when someone working a seemingly blue "collar" gig brings in a little cash. I say bully for him, we could use a little more balance like that in this ass backwards country of ours. #carnegiehall
10/22/09
10/21/09
10/21/09
10/21/09
10/21/09
10/21/09
-- Pack this. #carnegiehall
10/21/09
10/21/09
10/21/09
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10/21/09