A survey taken in late March of this year revealed that a number of people not only think it is not fair to pay athletes and movie stars more than $1 million per year, they think it should be illegal. Thirty percent of those asked in a Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey are in favor of government pay limits for athletes and film stars.



As you might guess, it doesn't stop there. Thirty-six percent believe that the federal government should make it illegal to pay any company executive more than $1 million a year. Do we really want the government saying how much someone can earn in a given year?

Now I fully understand that some people are making a lot of money. For example, it is widely reported that Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez, the highest-paid baseball player in the major leagues, makes an annual paycheck of $32 million.

Tiger Woods is reportedly the highest-paid athlete in the country for the fifth year in a row, with earnings estimated at a whopping $128 million in 2007. Meanwhile, the highest paid movies stars earn around $20 million or more per picture.

At the same time, there is no question that we are going through some difficult economic times. But it is in times like these that some people get caught up in mob rule. Frustrated with their own situation, they lash out at almost anyone who seems to be in a better position than they are.

So, is it fair for executives, movie stars and athletes to earn that much money? I would say that it isn't fair for people to mismanage, embezzle and steal money; I believe that is wrong. But, as long as the job is not committing a crime, how can it possibly be unfair to accept a job, whatever it may be, and agree to the compensation for that job? If that salary is what the market will bear, then so be it.

Do we not believe anymore that we were endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Isn't it the job of the government to protect our rights? Do we really want to agree to have our government take away our freedom to pursue whatever we can earn?

This is not a political article. But, far too many people are looking for a solution from their political party. And, who can really, blame them? It would seem that our government has been printing new money around the clock lately. Because of that, many are holding out their hands for "their fair share," while at the same time demanding that those who are earning lots money be penalized.

This kind of attitude, demonstrated by the thirty percent in the above mentioned poll, speaks very loudly to a welfare mentality. Those who have a welfare mindset are always jealous of those who have more. They see people who are earning big money as somehow being evil. They will always chime in that it just isn't fair.

But how can anyone living in the greatest, most prosperous country in the world complain? How can anyone living in a land that still provides great opportunity and just give up? How can anyone living in the United States of America so quickly and easily decide to surrender their rights and freedoms?

There was a time in my life when I too looked with disdain on those who made the "big money." I felt that there were too many people who were over compensated for what they produced. But one day I decided to change my mindset.

I realized that if people can make that kind of money, then there must surely be a lot of money to be made. Now, maybe I couldn't be a baseball player, or a movie star, but what could I do? What could I do in order to produce more money that I was currently making?

When you get out of welfare thinking you will enter into the world of possibility thinking. And, living in the United States of America, there really is no limit, unless of course we choose to let the government limit us. As in all things, the choice is up to us.