The premise is flawed. Value is determined by financial compensation supplied in a free market. People in these professions are paid what they are paid because that's what they can persuade employers is the value of their services.
Baseball, football and basketball players aren't overpaid. The work in an extremely competitive field organized around companies that value the financial return of their services so highly that they're willing to fork over sums of money sufficiently high to secure those services. If a team could replace a $5 million player with a $100,000 player, it would. It doesn't because another team is willing to pay that player $5 million for his services.
Occasionally I hear librarians say that our profession is underpaid considering the skills that we have to offer. I respond, "Then go into the private sector and offer your skills to the highest bidder. See what kind of price you can command." They don't.
I think that I could adjust to a world without the Internet. Working for Neatorama would probably be different, though.
Baseball, football and basketball players aren't overpaid. The work in an extremely competitive field organized around companies that value the financial return of their services so highly that they're willing to fork over sums of money sufficiently high to secure those services. If a team could replace a $5 million player with a $100,000 player, it would. It doesn't because another team is willing to pay that player $5 million for his services.
Occasionally I hear librarians say that our profession is underpaid considering the skills that we have to offer. I respond, "Then go into the private sector and offer your skills to the highest bidder. See what kind of price you can command." They don't.
So as long as I have a spoon, I can live with this problem.