Feeding at the Public Trough 0
The NFL head-butts the taxpayers, aka the “fans.”
David Cay Johnston analyzes the concussion settlement.
(snip)
Still, Rishe missed the big story by not asking an obvious question: If the settlement does not cover all the costs of medical care, much less lost future wages, who will bear that burden?
Answer: Taxpayers.
The average left after those costs above is just $150,000. [Update: To arrive at these illustrative calculations I divided the settlement figure by the approximately 4,500 plaintiffs. Dividing by the full list of retirees and surviving spouses—several times larger—would reduce the average per-player allotment.] Since some players, or their families in the case of dead players, may collect as much as $5 million, even that average figure is inflated. That figure, a typical payout of less than $150,000 per player, should have set reporters to asking if it was in fact enough to cover the players’ medical costs. NFL players only have health insurance while workingfor the length of their careers plus five years, a highly relevant detail for any industry that knows many workers will be unemployable due to on-the-job injuries.Makes sense in a way, I guess. After all, the Emperor helped pay for the circuses in the Roman Coliseum.
More Xes and $s at the link.
