Yes, The Wealthy Can Be Deserving

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Yes, The Wealthy Can Be Deserving

In 2012, the actor Robert Downey Jr., played the role of Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, in “The Avengers.” For his work in that single film, Mr. Downey was paid an astounding $50 million.

Does that fact make you mad? Does his compensation strike you as a great injustice? Does it make you want to take to the streets in protest? These questions go to the heart of the debate over economic inequality, to which President Obama has recently been drawing attention.

Certainly, $50 million is a lot of money. The typical American would have to work for about 1,000 years in order to earn that much.

That sum puts Mr. Downey in the top ranks of American earners. Anything more than about $400,000 a year puts you in the much-talked-about 1 percent. If you earn more than about $10 million, you are in the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent. Mr. Downey makes it easily.

Yet, somehow, when I talk to people about it, most are not appalled by his income. Why?

One reason seems to be that they understand how he earned it. “The Avengers” was a blockbuster with worldwide box-office receipts of more than $1.5 billion.

The actor Robert Downey Jr. made $50 million for a single film, “The Avengers.” Zade Rosenthal/Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Pictures
Of that amount, only about 3 percent went to pay Mr. Downey. In other words, if you bought a matinee movie ticket for, say, $8, about 25 cents went to pay for Mr. Downey’s acting. If you have seen the movie, you might be tempted to say: “He gave a great performance. I’m happy to pay him a quarter for it.”

I'm sick of this argument from liberals everyone who earns a substantial income isn't deserving of it.  That last paragraph captures it perfectly.  If the film makes 1.5 billion, and Downey gets 3% of that, how is that an exorbitant amount of compensation?

More good explanation at link--explaining how CEOs oversee billions of dollars in assets and thousands of employees and are equally deserving.

The training, risk, and responsibility level of your average minimum wage employee is minimal.   Therefore they do not deserve $15 an hour, period.