Baseball and Gopvernment: The Lesson of Albert Pujols

Some of you may wonder why basebal is important enough for two blog articles over the weekend.  Indeed, this blog has pointed out that baseball--unlike football---is only a game.  Howver, sprts does provide some lessons for real life, as in the case of Albert Pujols and the California/LA Angels. 


You, as a baseball t3eam, would think that it would be NICE to have Albert Pujols.  I, personally, would have liked to see Albert Pujols end his career with the St. Louis Cardinals.  By the same token, yu--as a citizen--might think that it would be "nice" to have the government take care of you, and to have an extensive  governmment controlled health care system like ObamaCare. 


But, as a baseball team, the quesitn is NOT whether it would be "nice" to have Albert Pujols.  The questin is whehter yu can AFFORD Albert ujols, or whether "throwing money at your porblems" wil really give you the benefits you want.  Or will it merely DISTORT your team, and the marketplace. Albert Pujols, like ObamaCare and massive "stimulus" spending, may not really provide ou with what you expect. 


Sure, the New York Yankees remain competitive by SPENDING massive amounts of money, but they HAVE msassive amounts of money (not really mortgaging their future).  Even  so, teh Yankess can hardly be said to havveve gotten reeal "value" for the money they have spent.  They are NOT "dominating" baseball, or even the American League, despite the massvie spending.  However, for a team like the St. Louis Cardinals (and maybe the Angels), you can't AFFORD to spend money foolishly, and in counterproductive ways.  You need to develop a SYSTEM to be competitive, using the resources you have.  Some money you HAVE to spend (as the country HAS to spend a lot of money---although not necessariy as much as we do--on defense.  But mortgaging yur future to keep Albert Pujols would be a spending DIASASTER.  Lkike ObamaCare, and the Federl Government, Albert Pujols is a LUXXURY that the Cardinals simply could not afford, and spending that kind of money--which the Cardinals really don not have--for a doubtful beneftit, over "ten years" (just like ObamaCare will BANKRUPT us in the "out years") might well have DESTROYED the St. Louis Cardinials as a competitive baseball team in the future.  Yep.  I did just say that President Obama, and leftists in general, are in the process of DESTROYING the USA as the country it once was, without even the comfort of history shoiwng that massive government, and government PPENDING, WORKS. 


In baseball, you at least know that Albert Pujols has been SUCCESSFUL.  In all of history, and IN THEORY, massive government CENTRAL PLANNING and SPENDING have NEVER WORKED. (and cannot work, in theory, because NO human being knows enough to "polan" teh economy--cetainly not Obama or "Bailout Ben" Bernanke.  In baseball, by the way, as in almost ALL of sports (the exceptoin maybe being WOMEN"S BASKETBALL and Title IX throwing money at the relatively FEW women who WANT to be as much into sports as men), PRESENT black and Hispancic players do NOT receive PREFERENCE because PAST black players were discriminated agasint.  In sprots, where MERIT does matter, it is recognized as DISCRIMINATION to now descriminate in FAVOR of a "race" that once did nonot have the same opportunity as others.  Yep.  In sports, black players are NOT given PREFERENCE, ben to make up for CONTNUING (much diministhed) discrimination that balck people suffer in the world at large.  You say that "white" players have regularly received an ADVANTAGE over black players, forcing black players to be that much better to get their due.  That may have been true, such as in positions like quart3erback, but the difference is that, IN SPORTS, it is recognized as ABSURD to give PRESENT players a PEREFERENCE to make up for that injustice to OTHERS (or evena s SEPARATE "njustice" that the blackk sorts figure ay have suffreed growing up black).  "Sports" does have lessons for life, if we were not so bound land dtermined to act insane. In the same university, it may be recognized as ABSURD to give balck players PREFERENCE on teh sports tems (beyond lthe preference that their ability gives them), while a black person may be given PREFERENCE for medical shcool and law schol merely because of the color of his skin. Insane.  Sports gets it right, as "sports" was really FIRST to put INDIVIDUAL ABILITY above the insanity of racial discrimination. 


Enough.  You can take the analogy between sports and real life too far.  Nevertheless, you can learn lessons about "real life" from sports.  I think the St. Louis Cardinals were right not to "throw money" at Albert PUujols, despite the temptation to do so.  So far, helped by a weak Central Division, the Cardinals do not seem to miss Albert that much, and their future appears to be intact.  If only the Federal Government--raly,m we, as the public ultimately in control--were that smart, and did not keep SPENDING tofind a "magic waand" solution (the Angels' "solutin") to our problems, based on a mere man, or men, IMPOSING such "soluciton" on the entire country.  The "free market" is what allowed Albert Pujols to get so much money, but it is the very thing we are DESTROYING (as a county) in ffaovr of the false idol of CENTRAL PLANNING.  Wall Street may think Bailout Ben Bernanke is the economy's equivalent of Albert Pujols, even though Bernanke has been a FAILURE (unlike Albert), but that is even more absurd than the idea that even Albert lPujols can "sovve" all of the problesm of the Angels baseball team.


P.S  No proofreading or spell checkng (bad eyesight).