Too Much Money

Can one have too much money? I have no clue, since I don’t think I have ever been  in that position. I can remember being told by a prospective employer that they could not afford me , since I made too much. That was somewhat ironic since  I was working a lot of unpaid overtime at the time and we were struggling a bit to make ends meet. But thanks anyway, Tom’s Foods  for the ego boost.

But, now I learn that it may actually be  possible to be making too much money. My source for this knowledge is none other than President Obama himself. I will confess in the interest of full disclosure that I have thought on numerous occasions that this or that celebrity or media  personality ( Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer for starters) or pro athlete or actor made wayyyy  too much money.

But I shall  explore the President’s opinion first before sharing any more of my choices. Just this week the President was speaking in Quincy,Il promoting the  idea of  financial reform over which Congress is itself battling. He made this statement.” Now, what we’re doing, I want to be clear, we’re ( read Democrats here) not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that’s fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.”

Of course, there have been posts galore , replete with crowing conservatives saying we’ ve got him. Not so fast, folks. I  believe that there are lots of people who believe that very thing and I suspect that they overwhelmingly vote Democrat. It was actually a rather safe thing for him to say, playing to the base, as it were.

But, just for kicks, wonder what Obama supporters like Eric Schmidt and the Google guys thought of his comment as well as all  his Hollywood  friends ? Believe I have that one covered as well. All he need to do in response  to such a  query would be to place those folks and others like them into the “fairly earned ” category, lumping Rush, Glenn Beck etc in another category indeed. The quote actually reminds me of a phrase I have read several times in regard to baseball teams swapping players’; a trade that benefits both teams.

Brian, Katie and Diane

Of course you know that we are referring to the triumvirate of Williams, Couric and Sawyer. They anchor the “big” nightly newscasts at NBC, CBS and ABC. And, for all  the wonderful things they do, they are each paid quite well. Their salaries range from the middle to upper seven figures on in to the comfortable eight figure level( Katieville, where Diane also resides) . Are they worth it to their respective networks? Hard to say, since the highest paid of the group the lowest ratings.

But, for whatever reason, they make the big bucks ( and so does Keith Olbermann and that really puzzles me) . However just a couple of days  ago, ABC announced that it would be laying off a significant number of employees in its news division. Estimates range from 300-400. News President David Westin announced “a fundamental transformation that will ultimately affect every corner of the enterprise.” Also announced was a move toward greater use of  free-lancers, that would save additional money.

Reading this brought me back to an idea I had some time back. Wonder why none of the big three have not offered to”give back” some of those millions  to save the jobs of some of the little people. A couple of million or more considering what Diane and Katie make would save a bunch of jobs. Besides what a wonderful public relations coup it would be. And I am certain a catch slogan could br created to capitalize on the move. Something like, I don’t know, “CBS cares” ? What do you mean they already have that slogan? How can that be?

Say it ain’t so, Katie

Maybe they said it and maybe they did not. Drudge reported yesterday that CBS executives would in all likelihood ask Katie Couric to take a  pay cut. She makes $15 million a year in case you forgot and is in the  4th year of her contract paying that princely sum.

When she took over the evening news , it was running 3rd behind Brian Williams and NBC and Charles Gibson and ABC. After a brief spurt, those ratings have settled in to where they were. The only difference is that Diane Sawyer has taken the helm at ABC.

The talk  of a pay cut came amidst news that CBS would be  laying off still  more people from the news division, including some at the venerable “60 Minutes.” Ironically that comes not all that long after the death of Don Hewitt.

But the next day, CBS News President Sean McManus denied any talk of a pay cut, no matter what Drudge or the New York Post  might have reported.  To make things even more interesting, there is a bit of a glam article about Ms Couric in the current issue of Harper’s Bazaar. Not the best timing. Oh, McManus also  went on to praise Couric’s job performance profusely.

I really could care less whether she gets a pay cut or not even though  she has got to be overpaid if #1 Brian William,s makes only 7  million dollars a year. But it is all so much fun to see, is it not?  There is also no truth to the rumor that Couric is miffed that the title of her show was not changed to the C( ouric) BS Evening news.

As your predecessor( who is now whining to Obama about the  need for a government commission to save the press) would say, “courage.”  Oh, you remember Dan Rather do you not?

Food for thought. The viewing audience for the week of January 25 was  10 million for Williams, 8.5 million for Sawyer and 6.8 million for Couric. Figures are from Chris  Ariens at TV Newser.

It’s Katie Couric Time

I know you have heard of Ms Couric even if you haven’t seen her lately. She does the evening news on CBS. It just seems that not very many people want to watch her . Latest numbers  as reported on Drudge show NBC  with 7,960,000, ABC with 7,150,000 and CBS (America’s most watched network otherwise) with a whopping 5,180,000. If you total these numbers it shows Couric and company with about 25% of the total. The numbers also reflect the lowest total since Nielsen began keeping the records some 18 years ago.

Now, personally, I could care less if Couric’s numbers are low. In fact, I almost wonder why she has viewers, unless she has those people who just watch CBS by force of habit.

And, to further her reputation as a hard -hitting journalist, she had these tidbits to say at her commencement speech at Princeton. In her speech, she singled out Sarah Palin and Carrie Prejean for particular criticism and ridicule while saving a few swipes for Rush Limbaugh and Donald Rumsfield. So what, but there  is more. She told the graduates(not all of whom are women, I presume) what great role models they have in Michelle ( $540  tennis shoe ) Obama, Hilary Clinton and Sonia Sotomayor. Again, all to be expected .

This is what really intrigued me. She told the grads to guard against  “nastiness ” and “don’t be a hater”. And she had a few words that could apply to those of us who blog. The internet is wonderful” but it’s also populated by haters and trolls”. Don’t think anyone has ever implied that I might be a troll. Oh, by the way, her remarks were also  posted on the Huffington Post. If you are unfamiliar with that online entity, let us  just say they might be a little on the liberal side of the coin.

Suppose that by speaking at Princeton, she thought she might  have a bigger audience than on the evening news ? Just wondering.