Conventional wisdom has it that when an athlete claims a deal is “not about the money” that it is, in fact, precisely about the money.
In the same vein, when someone tells me that “I have no objection to markets, I know they work well,” all I hear is, instead, “I think commercial society is repugnant and I will say anything to convince others to spread my anti-human message.” How come when athletes say it isn’t about the money, large swaths of the media and public try to see right through it (regardless of whether it is true), but when someone claims their objection to something in society is not about anti-market fundamentalism, that nary an eyebrow is raised?
Here are two arguments I run across frequently:
What’s it gonna be? Markets are bad because they stigmatize people? Markets are bad because they de-stigmatize people? You cannot have it both ways. In other words, it IS about the markets, and it IS because people do not like to differentiate between costs and moral wrongs. And they do not like the idea that for one to survive in this world, all of us must work hard to produce something of value, and be willing to exchange with the billions of self-seeking strangers that are out there.
At least when athletes say it isn’t about the money, they aren’t using the same arguments
the first example you gave, pollution permits, doesn’t match up with your conclusion. the act of selling the right to pollute isn’t de-stigmatizing people, it’s de-stigmatizing the act of polluting. This act is what should be fundamentally kept immoral because other wise, people fail to see a reason for reducing it. putting it on the market may be immoral, but who’s to say it isn’t necessary for the betterment of combating global warming, this i agree with. however in this particular case, markets are bad at the moment, because the complicated issue of pollution permits and our inability to regulate it or even specify the details, opens up a large opportunity for criminal activities. You can have it both ways, it isn’t a black and white issue.