« We're Off.. | Main | When Average Becomes Acceptable »
March 23, 2006
Noam Chomsky: Trust Fund Daddy
Mark Coffey over at Decision '08 relays the story of how Noam Chomsky, the tireless warrior against American capitalism, evidently doesn't hate the profit concept enough to forego protecting his considerable wealth in a trust fund. Peter Schweizer, writing in Canada's National Post, details the lucrative business generated by the Chomsky brand:
Chomsky's business works something like this. He gives speeches on college campuses around the country at US$12,000 a pop, often dozens of times a year.Can't go and hear him in person? No problem: You can go online and download clips from earlier speeches -- for a fee. You can hear Chomsky talk for one minute about "Property Rights"; it will cost you US79 cents. You can also buy a CD with clips from previous speeches for US$12.99.
But books are Chomsky's mainstay, and on the international market he has become a publishing phenomenon. The Chomsky brand means instant sales. As publicist Dana O'Hare of Pluto Press explains: "All we have to do is put Chomsky's name on a book and it sells out immediately!" [...]
Chomsky's marketing efforts shortly after Sept. 11 give new meaning to the term "war profiteer." In the days after the tragedy, he raised his speaking fee from US$9,000 to US$12,000 because he was suddenly in greater demand. He also cashed in by producing another instant book. Seven Stories Press, a small publisher, pulled together interviews conducted via e-mail that Chomsky gave in the three weeks following the attack on the Twin Towers and rushed the book to press. His controversial views were hot, particularly overseas. By early December 2001, the publisher had sold the foreign rights in 19 different languages. The book made the best-seller list in the United States, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Japan and New Zealand. It is safe to assume that he netted hundreds of thousands of dollars from this book alone.
Schweitzer notes that copyrights of several of Chomsky's book are now tax-protected in trusts established in his children’s names, and that Chomsky waves away charges of hypocrisy by saying "I don't apologize for putting aside money for my children and grandchildren."
Well, that's certainly understandable. It's a shame, though, that he had to settle for such a lousy return--I'm sure he would have done much better if he'd lived and worked in one of the peoples' paradises he's championed over the years.
Like the one in, oh I don't know--Cambodia?
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.thebernoullieffect.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/602
