American Values

By Bill Maher

Courtesy of Deadspin.com, here’s a graph that shows the highest-paid state employee in every state: 

In forty states, it’s a football or basketball coach. In Nevada, it’s a plastic surgeon – “Of course,” says anyone who’s ever been to Las Vegas.

Schools pay their coaches out of team profits, which are enormous, so this isn’t about taxpayer dollars. But there are two big issues that this presents: First, these coaches get their massive salaries on the backs of athletes who are paid nothing. They’re slave labor.

Second, state universities do get a lot of public money and all kinds of tax breaks. It’s the one part of America’s public infrastructure that’s generally gleaming, as opposed to our airports, parks, and public high schools. If we’re going to allow them to profit in this very unsavory way, shouldn’t they have to spread that coach money out a little thinner while we spend more upgrading our third-world infrastructure projects?