Showing posts with label golf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label golf. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Midweek Reading
State Sees Biggest Hike In New COVID-19 Hospital Admissions In 30 Days
Too Big to Fail: The Entire Private Sector
Covid-19 cases surge in some states as Americans celebrate Memorial Day weekend
White House Press Secretary: Golf Is Not OK While U.S. Mourns (Trump Exempt)
Scott Walker has a plan to make everything worse
Friday, February 15, 2019
Matt Kuchar, You're A Cheap Fuck
Matt Kuchar defends paying caddie $5K on $1.3M win: I 'don't lose sleep over this'
So maybe Matt Kuchar isn't losing any sleep over this, but a $44,000 difference in payment is a lot of money for most people. With Kuchar's $46 million in career earnings, and the fact that this caddie just helped him add another $1.3 million, he should have done the right thing and at least paid the caddie the typical minimum 5%. Kuchar would have still had $1,231,200 for himself.
It's no wonder most people view golfers as elitist and out of touch. Matt Kuchar is another prime example.
Kuchar won the Mayakoba Golf Classic and the $1.296 million prize that came with it in November. He paid Ortiz, aka El Tucan, $5,000 for his work that week.
Ortiz is not Kuchar’s regular Tour caddie, but a club caddie from Mexico who worked Kuchar’s bag during the tournament in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. John Wood is Kuchar’s regular caddie...
Kuchar eventually offered Ortiz an additional $15,000, according to the report.
Ortiz declined the offer. He was seeking $50,000, which is the value he placed on his work that week, according to the report...
Verbal agreements between players and Tour caddies come with the understanding that a caddie is due 5 percent of a player’s winnings, a number that can increase to 10 percent in the event of a win.
Ten percent of Kuchar’s victory at Mayakoba would be approximately $130,000...
“So I certainly don’t lose sleep over this. This is something that I’m quite happy with, and I was really happy for him to have a great week and make a good sum of money. Making $5,000 is a great week.”Kuchar's initial offer of a $4,000 payment to the caddie for winning $1,296,000 is .3%. Even increasing to $5,000 is just .4%. Adding $15,000, to bring the total to $20,000, is still only 1.5%. A typical 5% minimum caddie payment, in this instance, equates to $64,800.
According to Golf.com, Kuchar is 10th on the PGA career earnings list with more than $46 million.
So maybe Matt Kuchar isn't losing any sleep over this, but a $44,000 difference in payment is a lot of money for most people. With Kuchar's $46 million in career earnings, and the fact that this caddie just helped him add another $1.3 million, he should have done the right thing and at least paid the caddie the typical minimum 5%. Kuchar would have still had $1,231,200 for himself.
It's no wonder most people view golfers as elitist and out of touch. Matt Kuchar is another prime example.
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Journalism Is Dead
A 7-part series on the making of a golf course?
Really?
Really, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel?
This is the in-depth, investigative journalism we need right now?
Really?
Really, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel?
This is the in-depth, investigative journalism we need right now?
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Phil Needs A Mulligan
Phil Mickelson, a man who makes millions playing golf, is upset that he may have to pay more in taxes.
Sadly, the article goes along with this 63% fantasy. This is a common mistake in tax reporting - differentiating tax incidence (the amount of total earnings paid in taxes) versus marginal tax rate (the portion of earned income and the tax rate which applies to that portion). If one is going to write an article about some millionaire bitching about the taxes he/she pays, at least do the leg-work and find the actual tax rate.
We're in the second worst depression in the history of the country and Mickelson has the nerve to complain about not being as big of a millionaire? People are out of work and losing their homes, but Mickelson can't get that 5,000 square foot addition on his 4th home and that's equivalent and just as important.
According to Wikipedia, "Although ranked second on the 'all-time money list' of tournament prize money won, Mickelson earns far more from endorsements than from prize money. According to one estimate of 2011 earnings (comprising salary, winnings, bonuses, endorsements and appearances) Mickelson was then the second-highest paid athlete in the United States, earning an income of over $62 million, $53 million of which came from endorsements."
As Len Burman (Professor of Public Affairs at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University) commented, "Please stop whining and give thanks for being able to earn a fabulous living playing a game and selling golf clubs (even after tax). 99.999% of people would never have that option, no matter how hard they worked on their swing." [Burman also estimates, "In net, Mickelson will owe about 52% of his marginal* earning in federal and state taxes."]
Update:
Phil's agent and public relations people must have told him what a douche his comments make him look like. He's begun the apology tour.
*Marginal tax rate: tax payers are divided into tax brackets or ranges, which determine which rate taxable income is taxed at. As income increases, earnings will be taxed at a higher rate than the first dollar earned.
"If you add up all the federal and you look at the disability and the unemployment and the Social Security and the state, my tax rate's 62, 63 percent," he said. "So I've got to make some decisions on what I'm going to do."First of all, lets get what is obviously wrong out of the way - Mickelson doesn't pay 63 percent of his income back in taxes. I think all that sun on those beautiful golf courses must be burning Phil's brain.
Sadly, the article goes along with this 63% fantasy. This is a common mistake in tax reporting - differentiating tax incidence (the amount of total earnings paid in taxes) versus marginal tax rate (the portion of earned income and the tax rate which applies to that portion). If one is going to write an article about some millionaire bitching about the taxes he/she pays, at least do the leg-work and find the actual tax rate.
"There are going to be some drastic changes for me because I happen to be in that zone that has been targeted both federally and by the state and, you know, it doesn't work for me right now," he said. "So I'm going to have to make some changes."Yes, this poor man. He'll have to wait on that 9th home and 6th BMW.
We're in the second worst depression in the history of the country and Mickelson has the nerve to complain about not being as big of a millionaire? People are out of work and losing their homes, but Mickelson can't get that 5,000 square foot addition on his 4th home and that's equivalent and just as important.
According to Wikipedia, "Although ranked second on the 'all-time money list' of tournament prize money won, Mickelson earns far more from endorsements than from prize money. According to one estimate of 2011 earnings (comprising salary, winnings, bonuses, endorsements and appearances) Mickelson was then the second-highest paid athlete in the United States, earning an income of over $62 million, $53 million of which came from endorsements."
As Len Burman (Professor of Public Affairs at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University) commented, "Please stop whining and give thanks for being able to earn a fabulous living playing a game and selling golf clubs (even after tax). 99.999% of people would never have that option, no matter how hard they worked on their swing." [Burman also estimates, "In net, Mickelson will owe about 52% of his marginal* earning in federal and state taxes."]
Update:
Phil's agent and public relations people must have told him what a douche his comments make him look like. He's begun the apology tour.
*Marginal tax rate: tax payers are divided into tax brackets or ranges, which determine which rate taxable income is taxed at. As income increases, earnings will be taxed at a higher rate than the first dollar earned.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Sunday, June 27, 2010
A Golfing Con
"A golfing coup for Wisconsin," or so the Journal Sentinel declares.
Erin Hills, of Hartford, will host the PGA's 2017 U.S. Open.
The Journal believes this will encompass, "Gobs of television exposure and folks seeing the sights and spending lots of money in the state." For years the Journal has been backing any sporting event and/or stadium as a win-win situation. No questions asked.
Sadly, they don't mention the costs incurred by the public in hosting such an event. Which, alongside the economic principle of substitution, means sporting events are rarely economic-winners for their host.
I'm all for promoting the state and our many amenities and sites, and I'm an avid golfer, but blind boosterism does not equate to sound economic development analysis nor policy. This is great for Erin Hills, but the devil will be in the details as we get closer to the event and see what is required of the taxpayers in preparing (paying) Hartford and the golf course for this experience.
Erin Hills, of Hartford, will host the PGA's 2017 U.S. Open.
The Journal believes this will encompass, "Gobs of television exposure and folks seeing the sights and spending lots of money in the state." For years the Journal has been backing any sporting event and/or stadium as a win-win situation. No questions asked.
Sadly, they don't mention the costs incurred by the public in hosting such an event. Which, alongside the economic principle of substitution, means sporting events are rarely economic-winners for their host.
I'm all for promoting the state and our many amenities and sites, and I'm an avid golfer, but blind boosterism does not equate to sound economic development analysis nor policy. This is great for Erin Hills, but the devil will be in the details as we get closer to the event and see what is required of the taxpayers in preparing (paying) Hartford and the golf course for this experience.
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