Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Tue, Apr 7 1992 Date: Tue, 7 Apr 92 05:44:02 EDT Message-ID: 04-07 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update April 7, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Tuesday morning in USA TODAY: Baseball; Labor; Pension. TODAY'S DEBATE - BASEBALL: USA TODAY'S OPINION: "You're out." That may be an irritating call when an umpire barks it at a player, but it's worse when barked at the fans. As baseball season opens, skyrocketing player salaries and escalating ticket prices are working together to price baseball out of reach of many fans and put the game's long-term popularity at risk. A baseball outing this season costs $85.85 for a family of four when parking, drinks, hot dogs and souvenirs are factored in. Despite the recession, the average ticket - $9.41 - has jumped 7.7% from last year, and 79% since 1982. The money helps pay baseball players, whose salaries will average $1 million this season - about ten times the pay of practicing physicians. ... Superrich players and owners may have forgotten that their success begins with kids peering down on the playing field, reliving the plays of Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson. OTHER VIEW: THOMAS V. DIBACCO, onetime shortstop, now a business historian at The American University: I'm getting just a bit fed up with the doomsday fans at USA TODAY greeting each baseball season with a rhubarb over escalating player salaries. But don't fret; the 1992 schedules will be played, payrolls will be met, and fans will be delighted by World Series time when the two best teams spar. As for the price that fans will have to bear for the nation's pastime, big salaries included - well, estimates suggest that the average ticket price will rise from last year's $8.73 to only $9.41. See how far a sawbuck will get you in any other field of live entertainment. Sure, some teams will have trouble making ends meet, but if some owners can't turn profits, others - even from Japan - are waiting to take the risk. If anyone needs a good lesson in Capitalism 101, baseball style, take a look at the Oakland A's, which last year had the biggest payroll in history - and for a fourth-place team. The A's are very good marketers, sending out a commission-sales force to get this small-market team enough fans to pay its bills. ... Bench the worrywarts. C'mon, play ball! VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON INFLUENCE LABOR UNIONS HAVE: TIMONIUM, Md., Betsy Wittelsberger, 29, early childhood aide: Unions still protect and defend workers. You have someone to go to if you have a problem. They fight for your rights and try to get things that workers deserve, like health care and salary benefits. I wouldn't mind being in a union. Then I would have someone to go to. VILLA PARK, Ill., Tom Vastine, 51, caseload specialist: I come from a family of union people and I'm pro-union, but I think they have outlived their usefulness. They don't seem to want to cooperate with management and want an adversarial relationship instead. Unions were good in the beginning, but they've become an albatross. LOS OSOS, Calif., Amy Johnson, 32, real estate broker: Business owners have to pay high wages, and the cost then gets passed onto the consumer. The consumers during this recession are not paying high prices, so the business owners, in order to stay in business, have to pay lower wages. Overall, unions are losing their power. SOUTH RYEGATE, Vt., Stephan A. Elliott, 46, life insurance agent: Labor unions are too strong. In the economy today, both sides need to learn to compromise. And labor unions don't have a history of doing that. I would take the position of the Caterpillar ownership that it is within their rights to hire anyone they want to work for them. MIAMI, Fla., Maria Jerkins, 50, school principal: They're still very influential. I deal with five different unions in my job, and each one has a contract that I use as an administrative tool. I think unions offer a certain level of protection for the worker who is unable to afford legal protection. There's a need for them. TOPIC - PENSION PLANS: PAUL YAKOBOWSKI, a research associate with the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C., was interviewed about pension plans by USA TODAY's Duane Freese. DO EMPLOYEES LOSE OUT AS FEWER COMPANIES PAY RETIREES A SET AMOUNT? If you're talking about spending the last 20 years of your career with one company, then a defined-benefit plan would serve you very well. The thing is nowadays the work force is much more mobile, people are jumping jobs and it's not uncommon even relatively later in the career. WHAT KIND OF PLAN BENEFITS THEM? Defined contribution plans (in which employees can set aside part of their salary tax free for investment, with the company adding to the contribution). The nice thing is they're portable. You can roll it over and take it with you. WHAT ARE THOSE PLANS CALLED? You have savings and thrift plans, profit-sharing plans can be a defined contribution plan, money purchase pension plans, Employee Stock Ownership Plans, 401(k)'s and Simplified Employee Pensions that are targeted towards the small employer. HOW COMMON ARE THEY? In the last decade the defined-contribution plans have continued to grow rapidly while the number of defined-benefit plans has generally leveled off. There's no reason to think that trend won't continue. Issues & Debate Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM