Is Hank Steinbrenner a hypocrite?

Or is it just his fan base? Mike McDermott reports:

Steinbrenner also tears into the league's revenue-sharing system, which is meant to give small-market teams a chance to compete against his behemoth Yankee empire, calling it a "socialist system."

"Is it right? Is it even American? I'd argue no on both of those points."

The funny thing is that most Yankee fans support universal healthcare AND inequality for their baseball team.* Make up your minds!

The NFL works much better precisely because of the salary cap, and the parity which comes from revenue sharing. It is an equal opportunity sport, where superior management, skill and work ethic translate to victory.

On the the other hand, New York city is a huge baseball market, and the Yankees enjoy a huge revenue advantage relative to the other teams in its division and conference. So endless stupidity does not prevent playoff contention (e.g. Carl Pavano, Kyle Farnsworth, Jaret Wright, Steve Karsay, Mike Stanton, Kevin Brown, Javier Vasquez, Randy Johnson, Raul Mondesi ... having the best shortstop in the league play third base ... inferior farm system ... trading away their best prospects for over-the-hill former stars).

It's nice to be able to pay your bullpen more than some small market teams' entire payroll.

But equal opportunity is not about Robin Hood economics. It is about giving every individual a chance for competitive success, based not on relative income measures, but rather by every individual's management, skill, and work ethic. Of course, some folks are born into advantage. But there is no government program that can substitute for 2 responsible and loving parents--if you don't have that, you really start with disadvantage (which Barack Obama was able to overcome).

Incentives are everything. Any system that incents people to be their best will yield inequal outcomes, but also maximize outcomes for everyone. David Ricardo 101.

If you still aren't tracking with me, well imagine every baseball player who was tall and good looking and in the top 20% of pay and endorsement contracts only getting 2 strikes at the plate, and the shortest, ugliest, and poorest quintile getting 4 strikes with each at bat. Now that's silly (but it approximates our government sentiment much more accurately than I prefer).

*Not that most Red Sox fans understand economic consequences, either.