Saturday, July 10, 2010

LeBron James and After-Tax Salaries

I've never heard of "Reason.com" until I read it in this morning's Wall Street Journal, but they had a pretty interesting take on James moving to Miami (for the record: I didn't watch the ESPN show, and I'm not really much of a NBA fan).

Here's the video, with the excerpt from the narrative below



But LeBron is only doing what more than half of Cleveland's population has done over the in the last 60 years: Getting the hell out of the place.

He didn't leave because of money, though some analyses show that he can take home more in pay in Florida despite a lower salary. Ohio used to be one of the lowest-tax states in the country. Now it's one of the highest.

That's what Clevelanders should be outraged about. Their economy has enough to deal with already without being put in a full court press by high taxes.

Cleveland needs to get rid of its savior complex. LeBron James could never have saved Cleveland--no single sports star or entrepreneur or bailout can--but there are definite, proven steps that any city can take to improve
life for its citizens.

I grew up in Toledo, Ohio. Toledo also has suffered a large decrease in population since the 1970's, including me and most of my high school buddies. Unfortunately there's just not much opportunity anymore in Ohio, so perhaps Reason.com has a point.

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