Monday, May 26, 2014

Why Does Judge Judy Make $47 Million a Year?



Okay, we've known for at least a year that Judge Judy makes $47 million. But a recent NYT profile made it clear that not only does the most biased "TV Judge" (Averted Gaze; sniff sniff) makes that much, but makes that much on just 52 days of taping. WTF.

I don't get it. I don't get reality TV in general, but that is an astounding thing, that number for those amount of days labor. It presents a classical economic conundrum. Is her "content" really that ... valuable a property? Does she present that much value?

The late Bill Buckley, not a fan of the Beatles, called them "awful" during the 60s. He preferred Bach. He said, in effect, that he would not quarrel with the free market assessment of what the invisible hand assigns value, but that doesn't mean he -- and other people of taste -- wouldn't rather be listening to Rosalyn Tureck performing Bach on the harpsichord.

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