Occupy the NBA

Talk about corporate greed! Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, is worth about $584 million dollars. Kobe Bryant takes home over $25 million per year just for playing a game (not to mention endorsements, or the fact that he doesn't work year round).

The NBA has already cancelled the first two weeks of their season, and today they are expected the cancel another two. Why? So these multi-millionaires can hold out for more money - to make a bigger profit.

While these people dicker over money that they will use to buy another car or another house, the people who work at the sports arenas are out of work. Let's use an ultra-conservative figure and say there are 100 people employed at each of the 30 NBA venues - that's 3,000 people now unemployed, making NO MONEY so that people like Bryant, who never went to college, never worked a real job a day in their lives, can make another couple of million next year.

Did you know that Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Bank of America, makes about $1.9 million dollars a year in salary? Sure, he has options for more - those push him up to almost $4 million. He also spent seven years in college (unlike Bryant, who has no student loan debt). Moynihan is virtually facing a lynch mob for supporting his company's $60/year charge for a debit car. Meanwhile, the Lakers franchise has no problem charging you $37/ticket, not to mention the cost of food inside the arena. And what about t-shirts, programs, basketballs? Greed, greed, GREED!

Here's my challenge - if this occupy movement is really about ending corporate greed, if it's really about corruption, then I expect to see people camping out at The Palace, Madison Square Garden, and every other establishment that encourages, even supports, this kind of corporate greed. We need to demand that the government intervene - let Pelosi and Reid determine how much money NBA players should make. Let them set the schedule, regulate salaries, and, most importantly, stop charging us ridiculous fees for our right to watch a basketball game!!

There you go - OCCUPY THE NBA!

Or ...

Use your head. Treat your bank, your politicians, and your sports teams the same way you treated Netflix, and wait to see what happens.