The author is confused why "we" are OK with Robert Downey Jr. and LeBron James making millions of dollars. He proposes that is because we can see how they make

The author is confused why "we" are OK with Robert Downey Jr. and LeBron James making millions of dollars. He proposes that is because we can see how they make their money, so we are OK with it. I'd argue that it's because we can see where the money comes from, and not that we can see their skills on display. If you think "hmm, LeBron makes 10% of what his Jerseys sell, 10% of the Heat ticket revenue, and whatever he gets in endorsements" then most people are OK with that. I've paid to see a basketball game and if 100% of my ticket went to the players on the court I'd be very pleased. We can understand that all Americans who enjoy entertainment pay for it, and that some fraction of the money we pay goes to the entertainers themselves. When you talk about a high-paid finance executive, I'm not mad at their comp because I don't understand what they do, I'm mad because I don't see where they money came from. To the general public, what a hedge fund manager does is take a lot of money from rich people, play stocks all year, turn $X into $Y, and then take a cut of $Y. All of this money is in a pool that Joe the Plumber has no access to, and likely never will. The most true statement about wealth is "it takes money to make money" which has the corollary "it's very expensive to be poor". Once you have $10M, it's not too hard to turn it into $15M if you play your cards right. The rich have access to so many profitable endeavors (that are taxed at low capital gains rates) that most of us will never get near. Meanwhile the guy with $50 in his checking account pays a $15 fee for being too poor.