If Newport Beach is stupid enough to pay these lifeguards $200k annually, then shouldn't you be mad at Newport Beach, not the lifeguards who are maximizing their salary? Wait, I thought the US was about capitalism and trying to realize your maximum earnings potential. Shouldn't these lifeguards in fact be celebrated for their superior salary negotiating skills?
"Rescued" my ass. And there are something like 22 seasonal lifeguards which they admit did most of the "saving". So you math sucks. You need to add the seasonals into the equation. You have no business in the ocean if you can't swim. Darwin.
lol, what does a labor negotiation have to do with capitalism? Was there competitive bidding from a private firm? Who's pissed at the lifeguards?
Really, in what way? Negotiating = capitalism? I didn't realize they were synonyms. No, it really doesn't, as history has shown us. They would be earning a "market wage" if this had been open to competitive bidding.
It's actually more like one rescuee every couple of days per lifeguard and only a few of them (rescuees) require resuscitation. Besides the lifeguards have special tube-gizmos that allow them to avoid direct lip-to-lip intimacy. Yeah, I'd take the job at 35k if they'd let me daytrade between crises and if I could swim.
Synonyms? You're now putting words in my mouth but whatever. Yes it does. In this case, Newport Beach is not a very good negotiator. So agents negotiating athletes' salaries aren't part of capitalism?
I was in local government in S. Cal for years - same story everywhere. I always did think the full time lifeguards had the sweetest deal of all though - followed closely by the firefighters. As the clip says, these aren't even the guys doing any real rescues - that is done by the part time lifeguards at $15/hr. These full time guys just wander around the office and beach "administrating" which generally involves distracting the part time lifeguards and having them kiss your ass all day. If a part time lifeguard has the stomach to put up with this for enough years then he may get promoted to be one of the full time guys at $200,000/yr. So as you can see, it isn't exactly easy money. You basically sell your self respect and accept years of menial pay for a small chance at a cushy lifetime job as a parasite. Until the taxpayers wake up this will go on forever (in other words it will probably go on forever). All you can do is try to make people aware of the reality. The public is under the illusion that high taxes and social engineering are helpful and you have some ethical obligation to support this type of theft. By the way, bad as this story is, it's a trivial sideline compared to how much the banking industry steals from taxpayers.