A Democratic state senator in South Carolina was so offended by an op-ed in the local Times written by two Republican county chairmen that he has called for their dismissal along with a denunciation by the state party chair. What were the “disgusting, unconscionable” words that were “prejudice in its purest form?” They follow: “There is a saying that the Jews who are wealthy got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking care of the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves.” This was used to extrapolate, by example, how Senator Jim DeMint’s (fitting name) opposition to using earmarks for funding would save the state money and benefit everyone. Of course linking Jews to money has hit a sore spot ever since the original money-changers were bounced out of the temple, giving us all a bad rep for a few millenia. But of all the stereotypes regarding Jews, I’d pick prudence and frugality as the complimentary and benign.
I wish that the penny-pinching trait could be applied to the current Jewish Chairman of the Board of Carnegie Hall, a charity that never stops begging. The Charity Navigator gives it a three out of four star rating, with administrative and fundraising expenses coming in below 20% of their total revenue. Yet today’s paper reports that one stagehand earned well over half a million dollars in salary and benefits last year and four others earned close to that. If you gave money to Carnegie Hall last year, you should be feeling very stupid right about now. Where was the oversight on the part of Chairman Sanford Weill, who must have paid scrupulous attention while almost 1.5 million dollars in fees were funneled to his son-in-law’s architectural firm. It would be interesting to know just what the five stagehands did to merit compensation greater than the salary of the president of the United States. Carnegie Hall does not put on operas, circuses or other productions that are mind-boggling in their mounting. We’re talking about rolling pianos and some large instruments on stage. The base pay of musicians in the Philharmonic is $103,000/yr; I’m sure that many of them would have happily hauled their seats and instruments themselves had they realized what they could be earning. And those rare vocalists who achieve the pinnacle of their professions performing recitals at Carnegie Hall must be wondering when it became less profitable to sing for your supper than schlep.
The two Carolina senators have already publicly apologized for their grave error. I look forward to Chairman Weill’s apology in the next solicitation letter sent to subscribers, along with a detailed description of how the featherbedding in the stagehands’ union will be rectified presto and vivace.
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