Remember when you were a kid and all the neighborhood kids got together to play football and teams had to be picked? There was always the kid picked first – always a clear choice, dominant above all the rest. Then there was always the small kid in the leg braces wearing his retainer who was picked last.

Wall Street works in this exact same manner, except the government is almost forcing the teams to pick the retainer kid first.

In 2008, Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, the big kid that got picked first, signed a record breaking contract, signing with the Yankees for 10 years for a total $275 million.

The same arguments are currently being made in the business world today. Companies that received the government bailout funds in the fall and winter were faced with outrage from the federal government and the public for using the tax-payer funds to hand out multi-million dollar bonuses to their executives.

I think the two situations are very similar – except the Yankees used their own funds – and can be used to put the current situation in perspective.

Baseball teams, like all other businesses, want to make money. To do this they have to produce a quality product that their customers will want to buy. They have to field a winning team, which fans will want to come out and see. Also, by fielding a winning team, they extend their season and expand their revenue possibilities for the year.

The Yankees, just like all other baseball teams, have to compete in a similar manner to businesses in the corporate arena.

The goal is to produce the best product and therefore beat all competitors and make the most money. To do this, they need the best talent available.

This is the issue the public and members of Congress are failing to see currently. For the Yankees to succeed, they have to get the best talent in the industry; in this example it is Alex Rodriguez. They have to pay him his true value or someone else in the market place will woo the talent away from the Yankees.

This is the root of the issue we see in the current business environment. The federal government handed out money to financial institutions to prevent their collapse. For them not to collapse, they need the best talent to guide them through the disaster scenario they were living. They can’t do this without being able to pay the best talent for their services.

Whether or not you agree with the bailouts, you can’t call yourself a free market capitalist if you disagree with the pay compensations big banks were trying to hand out to their executives. They are just getting the best talent rather than getting stuck with the retainer kid leading the team.