Peyton Manning Makes $33,000 Per Minute Playing in a Stadium Built on Hot Dog Vendor Tax Dollars

I'm watching Monday Night Football as I wind down my day here and that's got me thinking about perspective on how the Colts, its owners and the people like Peyton Manning who they pay millions of dollars to are ripping off the taxpayers in Indianapolis.  I mentioned this in my Big 3 on Friday and we covered this again on Happy Hour today.

The Colts and their stadium are being paid for with $600 million in taxpayer money and $100 million from the Colts...except that the Colts got a $50 million refund for getting out of their old contract with the city for their stadium, so really it's $50 million that the Colts put into the new stadium...except that the Colts sold the rights to name their stadium to Lucas Oil for $120 million.  So the Colts and its owners are guaranteed a profit of $70 million for the stadium built upon $650 million of taxpayer money.

And then the Colts turn around and pay just one player on their team, Peyton Manning, $100 million for a seven year deal signed back in 2004.  That means he's gonna make about $50 million in the three years.  Doing the math a little further and you realize this guy's gonna play in a total of about 25 games (8 per year for three years or so depending on how far the Colts get in the playoffs) in the next three years in Lucas Oil which are being funded with the so-called Peyton Bonds.

So the Colts beg the city $650 million dollars so they can pay ONE PLAYER $2 MILLION PER GAME TO PLAY IN THE STADIUM THAT THEY ARE GUARANTEED A $70 MILLION PROFIT ON?   Yeah, think about it -- Peyton makes $2 million every time he plays on the field.   That's $500,000 per quarter.  Peyton Manning makes $33,000 per minute even as the billionaires who own the Colts go begging the dudes selling hot dogs on the street.

This is what cronyism looks like.  This is what socialism looks like.  This is what redistribution of wealth from the poor the the elite and rich looks like.   This is what your Republican and Democratic parties have been doing with their time in Indianapolis.  And then they look around and wonder why the city, the state and the country are bankrupt.

Given this analysis today's bailouts for FNM and FRE and all the millions of homeowners who benefit from that bail out directly or indirectly, I have one parting thought for all consumers, team owners, bankers, homeowners, car companies, energy companies, farmers, cable companies, telephone companies and, well anyone, I suppose.  And those words might sound a bit like Dave Ramsey and that's not because my DVR just started recording his show again tonight -- Pay for it yourself.

PS.  Remember when it was the Baltimore Colts and they left because the politicians of Indianapolis were more willing to fleece their public than Baltimore's was?   Before Baltimore's politicians figured out they could get box seats using taxpayer money too...