Tiger Woods, J.K. Rowling and Allan Moss, the chief executive of Macquarie Bank, have much in common. They manage global operations, they face fierce international competition, and they are very good at what they do. And each of them is extremely wealthy. The public doesn't seem to have any problem with the financial benefits that accrue to the world's leading golfer and a writer of children's books. But when it comes to a discussion of the pay packets of directors at the "millionaires factory" we lose all sense of perspective.
In response to the $33 million paid to Moss, a national welfare rights group labelled the amount as "excessive", "unjustified" and "harmful to the overall social fabric to our whole society". Last year Rowling reportedly earned three times more than Moss. As yet the author of Harry Potter has escaped accusations that her royalties are wrecking the social fabric. The welfare rights group didn't comment on the fact that the astronomical salaries and bonuses of Macquarie Bank's employees generate astronomical tax bills that pay for schools, hospitals and social security benefits.
Executives of public companies are singled out for special treatment because they are symbols of "capitalism" in a way that sportsmen and writers are not. If the way that Macquarie's executives were treated this week is the shape of things to come, it's no wonder that private equity is becoming so popular.
In Australia, if someone is lucky enough to be born with particular athletic prowess or artistic talents we have no objection to them becoming rich. Indeed, governments provide taxpayer funding and invent tax schemes so that they can make even more money.
Australians are uneasy when individuals use capitalism to enrich themselves, and the company that they work for, and the company's shareholders. We laud Woods winning 12 majors, but on the scale of social benefit created he simply doesn't rate against Macquarie Bank. In the decade since it was listed Macquarie has generated at least $40 billion of shareholder value. Admittedly some of this value is the product of monopoly profits, but a fair degree of intelligence and skill has been applied as well.
And it is only when Macquarie's deals go wrong, such as they have done recently in the case of Qantas and Alinta, that the degree of risk to which the bank is exposed becomes apparent. Making a $1.4 billion profit is a little bit more complicated than ensuring everyone turns up for work on time.
It isn't only the bank's executives who benefit. The superannuation funds that invest the retirement savings of average Australians have profited mightily from the work of Moss and others. Thousands of families have a stake in the continued success of Macquarie. Across the economy the efficiencies imposed by the bank on the assets it controls result in lower costs for business, and ultimately lead to a higher standard of living.
A double-standard is applied between billionaires and mere millionaires. Billionaire property developers for whom $33 million is small change are showered with honours and considered "nation builders". Yet the millionaires who have founded one of Australia's only world-class companies are pilloried in the press. On Tuesday, on talkback radio, the Prime Minister could only provide a half-hearted defence of Macquarie's achievements. One can only imagine the outrage if he had instead said: "Yes, $33 million is a lot of money -- isn't capitalism great! -- and that's why I am proud to lead a party committed to free enterprise".
The public reaction to Macquarie's salaries reveals a great deal about our attitudes to wealth and business. Many Australians are afraid, and even ashamed, of the financial rewards that come from hard work. In Australia we can afford to be ambivalent about success. The populations of China and India don't have that luxury.
It is emblematic that a few days before Macquarie Bank announced its record-breaking results, the ABC screened the publicly funded Bastard Boys, a blatantly political, anti-business diatribe that portrayed a world that was both familiar and comfortable. Thankfully that world is almost gone.
For many Australians (including our politicians) the world of $30 million bonuses to company executives is very unfamiliar and very uncomfortable. But it is a world we had better get used to.
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