The Kids Don't Stand a Chance

On the most recent episode of the BS Report, Bill Simmons interviews NBA Commissioner David Stern.  Stern says he's been trying for 30 years to get the Players' Union to negotiate shorter guaranteed player contracts.  He says he can't figure out why they won't accept a deal because the players as a group would receive the same amount of total money, it would just end up being disbursed more fairly.  Right now you've got old, fat, lazy players drawing $16 million salaries while they sit on the bench at the end of 6 year deals, that money would go to the hungry guys still in their primes.

The real reason the Union won't accept the deal is because the Union doesn't represent basketball players in general, it represents the specific group of players who are currently in the league.  The current players want the long contracts to protect them from the waves of rookies that come to take their jobs every year.  The Union is controlled by the current players, and they will vote to screw over those future rookies to protect their own self interests.

 The guys who are already in the club get to set the rules, the rules kick the asses of those who aren't yet in.

Another prime example of this phenomenon is the rookie salary scale.   Rookies are forced to sign 4-year contracts for preset amounts, and these amounts are typically far below market value.  For example, Lebron was making about $5.8 million a year in his fourth year; he finished 5th in MVP voting, and was easily worth the league maximum of $15 million plus, but he was still locked into that rookie contract.  Less money for the future rookies means more money for the current veterans.

A similar situation happened with the age minimum, the veterans wanted to keep the high school kids from entering the league and taking their jobs; the high school kids didn't have much say in the matter, they weren't yet in the Union.  People acted shocked that the Union caved on this issue, but it would have been more shocking if they hadn't screwed over their future constituents.

You can see a similar phenomenon in American politics; we don't do shit about global warming or the national debt;  58% of voters in the 2008 election were age 45 or older, a demographic that only comprises 38% of the US population, and a demographic that'll be dead before its time to pay the piper.  The people most effected by these problems are kids under 18 and those as yet unborn, unfortunately they don't get to vote.  Its just like the NBA, the current constituents are screwing over the future constituents to serve their own self interests.

Look at these smug, self-entitled jerks, living it up like there's no tomorrow.