When I saw the front page of today’s Washington Post, with its big story on Bill Clinton’s speaking-fee riches, it made me think of a sneaking suspicion I harbored while writing my working-for-free column last week.
The Post article says Clinton has gotten almost $40 million in speaking fees over the last six years:
His paid speeches included $150,000 appearances before landlord groups, biotechnology firms and food distributors, as well as speeches in England, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia that together netted him more than $1.6 million. On one particularly good day in Canada, Clinton made $475,000 for two speeches, more than double his annual salary as president.
So here’s my suspicion: That a significant percentage of people who work for free, plus a lot of those who accept lower salaries to work in government jobs, are doing so in hopes that they can clean up on the speaking circuit someday. It’s just a matter of foregoing income now in hopes of creating a “brand” that generates income later.
Even now, according the Post article, Clinton doesn’t get paid for 80% of the speeches he makes. It’s just that crucial 20%–plus a couple of big book deals–that has moved the Clintons from perpetual scrabbling to real wealth. We can’t all become profitable brands, of course, but even the faint hope of becoming one someday is a pretty powerful economic motivator.