Welcome to Amerika

You buy a house. You have to do some repairs, and you make some improvements. You've got a mortgage-you took a risk. But it's YOURS. In America, you are allowed to own things.

Now, you manage to find a good tenant, and rent the place out. After you sign the one-year lease agreement, you realize that you were stupid. Similar houses and apartments in the area are getting like 40% more per month!

But a contract is a contract, and you live with it, until the lease expires.

Meanwhile, things get tighter in a bad economy. You're not really losing money, but really wish you hadn't signed that idotic lease contract.

You warn your tenant that you'll need to raise the rent with the new contract, and you set some money aside, in case you lose him and have to lose a couple months' rent. He says he's sure you and he can "work something out". Hmm.

Now you present him with your new proposal. He asks you why you're raising the rent. You want to be diplomatic, so you point out that the first deal was 40% below market, and that money is tight.

He wants to see your "books", so he can "work with" you.

You want to punch him in the mouth. Apparantly he thinks he's your partner or something. But he was a real good tenant, and after some arguing, you decide to indulge him. You show him what you paid the plumber and electrician, property taxes, insurance--everything about the property, plusses and minuses.

He looks at this and says "where's the rest?"

"The rest what?"

"The 401k, 1099's from your investments, books on your other properties, tax returns--"

"Whoa! Why do you need to see that?"

"Well--how can I decide what I should pay you if I don't know how much you need?"

THIS IS AMERICA, NOT AMERIKA. IT'S NONE OF THE PLAYERS DAMN BUSINESS WHAT THE OWNERS MAKE. THE BAD DEAL THEY MADE IS EXPIRED AND THE OWNERS ARE DONE GETTING HOSED. IF THEY MAKE HUGE, MASSIVE PROFITS IT'S NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS--THEY OWN THE TEAMS.

THE TEAMS BELONG TO THEM. YOU ARE EMPLOYEES. THEY OWE YOU SALARIES, MEDICAL CARE, AND WHAT YOUR INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTS SAY THEY OWE YOU, AND NOTHING MORE UNTIL YOU BACK OFF AND MAKE A NEW CONTRACT.

And you're not "labor". You don't drive a truck or work in a factory. You live a dream. You PLAY a kid's game for a living. "Labor"...wash your mouths out with soap! Injuries, yeah. Tell that to a guy with one leg coming back from Afghanistan! The difference is YOU play a GAME and make a whole helluva lot more money.

Don't talk about the secretaries, businesses, coaches, scouts, and other employees. The OWNERS hired and employed them while YOU just played a game.

The real reason the players have forced this impasse is because they don't want to give BACK what the owners were stupid and weak enough to offer as a bribe in the previous contract.

And be honest: That was extortion.

The players now think of themselves as partners, morally entitled to 59% of the revenues in addition to their massive salaries and other compensation. They're not entitled to ONE percent!

Understand this: That was the 40% reduced rent in this story. The contract screwed the landlord for 12 months, but now it's over. The landlord will never get back all that money, but now just wants to make somewhere within a couple miles of what he should have been making all along.

The middle keeps moving farther and farther left, and the same people who were saying "both sides" are to blame 15 years ago are saying it today.

Pretty soon you'll all be standing next to Micheal Moore blaming both sides. Welcome to Amerika.