maxiep

Please, let's not add taxes to the discussion. You would be surprised on a percentage scale how little wealthy people actually pay in taxes. Tax lawyers are really, really, really clever people. But again, it's not a discussion of relativism. All I said was that it was objectively a lot of money based on the goods and services one could purchase with it. Some people felt like creating an argument from the ether. All I tried to do was add a little economic theory to the party.

Besides, most of the rumors had Detroit offering only $28MM over five years. I gave the full benefit of the doubt by saying it was $1.5MM. It could actually have been over $4MM.

Utherhimo

who is going to the celebration?

why cant they ever have these things west of portland?

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WELCOME RUDY, BAYLESS and Batum to the Blazer Tribe: wear the Scarlet and Black with Pride. HAIL THE NORTH WEST! LONG LIVE OREGON!

00 this season is for YOU!!!! RIP!

BlazerCaravan

And not exactly cheap, either. If he's the type to have a tax lawyer setting up a shelter for him, he'll be paying for that lawyer, too. And relavtivism, no matter how you try to deny it, a relavent to the topic. 99.9% of us will never have the opportunity to earn 33mil over five years. Add in the new and supposed essentials, and you have a realtivistic discussion.

Hell, those of us making $60,000 *could* be living on $20,000 a year and saving the rest. But many of us consider the CMC apartment complex lower than the minimum, not because the CMC doesn't have a roof or walls or a floor on which to put your bed, but because, at the $60,000 income level, the essentials are higher. We "don't have to live like that". So, we have a queen-sized bed. We have cable. We live in a nicer apartment, or maybe we've taken the dive on a house (if there's a pair of us earning $60K each). We go out to eat a Mortons once every few months, and the nicer convenience restaurants more often. Not necessary to survive, but the baseline has been raised, the expectations higher for life.

There's no reason to think that, at 1Mil and higher, the expectations aren't higher, the baseline for "surviving" no higher than basic cable, a queen bed, 1000sqft, and a washer/dryer in each unit. Hell, he now needs a lawyer just to keep more of his money. That's an essential, and an expensive one.

You can't simply state that, in absolute terms, 1.5mil is a lot of money because it's more than 100K dollars or 1 dollar, and expect the discussion to accept that without context. Considerations (which you have ignored, like the Blazers not being a winner, and Detroit being a helluva lot better even without Joel) have to also be considered when valuing the Blazer money. It's almost like a "quality of life" conversion rate.

Anyway, I disagree with your assessment that Joel "gets to pretend to be loyal when he's actually just after the money" because you aren't really taking context into consideration, which to me leaves your argument cold and in the end book-smart-but-uninformed.

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Storyteller

Nothing like holding a rally at a time when the greatest number of people are free to attend....

What would have been wrong with a Saturday afternoon gathering?

It's_GO_Time

Today's Oregonian:

"Pat Casey said Friday that his decision to turn down a lucrative contract from Notre Dame and remain the the baseball coach at Oregon State had little to do with money.
It was more about the people"

I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking that money is not the only factor in considering what job to take . . . in fact to some, like myself, money is a small factor relative to other considerations.

It's_GO_Time

Because then they couldn't require . . . I mean strongly encourage . . . Blazer employees to attend.

I agree, Saturday would have been better.

It's_GO_Time

Yea that's it. You're the innocent victim in all these threads and do not bring any of this on yourself.

Ed O

Patterson and Pritchard are out playing golf with Ron Tonkin then. Sorry.

Ed O.

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Public Defender

I'd be interested in hearing from people who have been offered a lot more money for a similar job and turned it down. I have - because I liked my current situation, the new job would carried some unknowns (as virtually all new jobs do), the amount of money I was/am earning from my current job wasn't a *problem*, I liked the people I worked with, enjoyed the hours and conditions, etc.

I think this discussion about economics, while very intriguing, misses the greater point that decisions about where to work have as much to do with working conditions, quality of life issues, family influence, overall geography, climate, expectations (both of employer and employee), fringe benefits, and relationships with people (both at the old job and the proposed one), as they do with money. In some cases, the other things matter far more. Ask any human resources' director and they'll tell you - everyone's circumstances are different, every job offer is different, every decision is made for similar but different reasons.

Is $1.5 mil a lot of money? Sure. But, does it substantially influence the decision when all the other factors listed above are pulling someone in the same direction (as Joel Przybilla would have us believe)...? Only Joel knows for sure. Did he come to the place that offered the most money? Yes. Is that WHY he came? Don't know. All I do know is that the Blazers are better for it.

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It's_GO_Time

It's good to hear other opinons. I wasn't trying to say 1.5 million dollars, alone, wasn't alot, but that if you are signing a contract for 30 million, then hopefully an additonal 1.5 million (less than 1% of the five year contract) isn't a significant factor compared to all the other factors you mentioned above, when deciding where to work.

Job satisfaction, I would hope, is a huge factor when deciding where to work. I too (mentioned in another thread) was offered a similar position in So Cal with almost a 40% increase (with potential bonuses). Sounds crazy to turn it down, but when considering cost of living, expectations, livibility of the city and that I love my job and the outdoors, I didn't think it was that crazy to turn it down . . . but it was a hard decision.

I'm guessing here in Ptd, there are many such stories. I have friends who work in Intel that if they transfer to Santa Clara, get a cost of living increase and potential to move up the corprotate ladder faster. They decide to turn it down because they enjoy raising a family in the NW.

maxiep

By Jove, you've fallen bass-ackward into maximizing your utils! Well done!

The fact that you're still missing the point shows, however, that you need to attend more "business relationship" seminars. Oh well, as the Honorable Elihu Smails once said, "The world needs ditch-diggers too."

BlazerCaravan

That you didn't respond to my last post must mean I have your respect, since you seem to post only to belittle others.

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maxiep

Everyone has my respect until they show they don't deserve it. I only belittle those who cross the line first.

I didn't respond to your post because it was the same relativist argument as before. I wasn't making a relativist argument, in fact it's been proven through economics to be a fallacy. If you'd like me to respond to your post above let me know. But thanks for joining in on the callout.