Ben Affleck is an example of an actor about whom I have historically had little in the way of feelings at all. I’ve not been moved by much of what he has done onscreen (although I will say that I did very much enjoy The Town, which he also directed). Unfortunately, Mr. Affleck, who seems perfectly likable, appears to be another who’s happy to live the stereotype of the limousine liberal Hollywood actor – the person who, despite having financially benefitted in his chosen profession to a degree that would instill pride in the most ardent capitalist, thinks nothing of denigrating the very American system that has proven so rewarding to him.
Affleck appeared recently on NPR to speak about his latest project, The Company Men, which tells the tale of three guys (Affleck is one) who each must deal with being “downsized” from the large multinational at which they worked. From this platform, Affleck took the opportunity to opine more generally about the current state of corporate America, saying, in part:
“The banks shouldn't — people shouldn't make such a giant profit off just moving money back and forth. And CEOs' pay shouldn't be 200 times the average worker. It used to be nine times. OK, maybe it's legal and maybe it passes muster with shareholders. But there's something about us that fundamentally feels it isn't right."
Let me see if I understand this: Affleck doesn’t think it’s right that there’s a class of people out there who are making obscene sums of money for doing something other than real work, particularly when the little people who also work with them are being paid so much less.
Couldn’t that describe the life of a big-time Hollywood actor….like Mr. Ben Affleck?
I don’t know how many of you happened to see Michael Moore’s documentary called Capitalism: A Love Story. I did see it, and while Michael Moore and I would hardly be considered kindred spirits, I have always found some aspects of his creations to be rather spot-on. In Capitalism, once you’re able to get past the general, silly suggestions that rich always equals bad and poor always equals good, there is much to provoke thought regarding an America that continues to squeeze out its middle class at an alarming rate. Accordingly, I don’t have a problem with the finger-pointing at some of the more bizarre examples of CEO compensation to which we’ve borne witness during the recent years, but I do have a problem when the person pointing the finger is also a really, really rich actor who himself happens to be making roughly 200 times the salaries of some of those “average workers” on his films.
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Bob Yetman, Editor-at-Large at Christian Money.com (www.christianmoney.com), is an author of a variety of materials on personal finance and investing, as well as on topics of fitness and self defense, to include the recently-released book Investor's Passport to Hedge Fund Profits (John Wiley & Sons, Inc; www.investorspassport.com) and the new unarmed combat training DVD Thunderstrikes - How to Develop One Shot, One Kill Striking Power (Paladin Press; www.mikereevesonline.com).
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