He stands 6 feet 7 inches, the size of a slugger, but Paul Volcker is a towering presence on Wall Street, not in Major League Baseball. Nevertheless, Commissioner Bud Selig recruited Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, to address owners and executives of all 30 major league teams on Thursday to provide his view of the nation’s crumbling economy . . .Nothing in the article indicates or implies that anyone was unhappy about having Volcker speak to them, but the cynical side of me pictures that scene in "The Natural" where Robert Redford rolls his eyes and then walks out when the motivational/self-help dude is speaking to the New York Knights. Yeah, there are some dolts in baseball's ownership group, but for the most part they're a bunch of millionaire and billionaire businessmen who, one would hope anyway, have an understanding of the state of the economy, and thus really don't need Paul Volcker to explain to them what's going on.
. . . According to several people who attended the meeting, Volcker discussed what led to the current economic plight and where things might be headed. His assessment was not upbeat, the attendees said.
Friday, November 21, 2008
"Losing is a disease, as contagious as the bubonic plague"
Bud Selig called in former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to put a scare into the owners about the state of the economy:
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8 comments:
The "blue ribbon" panel was a joke. Yeah, MLB went right into the crapper didn't it?
A sneaky little attempt at keeping contract offers down this offseason, IMO. I don't think it'll work, but I think that has a little something to do with it.
But I'm cynical...maybe Selig's just trying to be responsible and make sure everyone is informed.
Peter, I had the same thought. As Craig points out, these billionaires and big corps that own the teams should already be pretty well informed on the state of the economy.
As for contract offers, I'm in the camp who think the elite FAs will get the big, big dollars...the players below them on the pecking order....I think we'll see some changes there.
I think if we've learned anything from this crisis, Craig, it's that one shouldn't be so sure that millionaires and billionaires know anything about the economy.
Well as we all know, the Federal Reserve is at the heart of any respectable conspiracy theory/secret history- so you gotta figure Volcker is there to explain to the Illuminati approved MLB ownership group what's *really* going on. Because if you think the Secret Chiefs aren't behind this "economic emergency" you're not reading the right websites.
On the surface it seems strange given that obviously these men are highly successful at earning and keeping money.
But it's been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that quite often, when otherwise intelligent and filthy rich men own pro sports franchises, they often act the way teenagers generally act when it comes to saving and spending money inappropriately
Good point Leo. Owning a pro sports team is unlike owning other businesses ( or it is for some ). Men ( corporations are different ) do spend irresponsibly because ego and emotion sometime trump reason when it comes to their team.
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