Golden Globes and Inaugural Balls

A lot has been written recently on the costs of President Bush's 2nd Inaugural Ceremony. Most major media and the left are calling for Bush to cancel the events and spend the money on tsunami relief of on the war in Iraq. I wanted to link to some of the stories, but there were just too many of them to choose. Go ahead, click here for the Google search.

It is also Hollywood-pat-yourself-on-the-back season, starting with the Golden Globes tonight. I had heard that the presenters, nominees, and winners receive goodie bags and other expensive gifts. During last year's Academy Awards, winners received a goodie bag worth about $110,000. Nominees received a goodie bag worth about $45,000. These figures according to this Seattle Times article.

Let's just say that the goodie bags are the same this year and cost $110,000. On the Academy's website, there are 24 categories (it sure seems like more when you are watching). $110,000 x 24 = $2,640,000 in fun for the winners. Nominees, let's assume there are 4 per category (some categories have more and others have less) total: $45,000 x 24 x 4 = $4,320,000. Altogether, that's $6,960,000 for goodie bags. That doesn't include goodie bags for presenters, which I don't know how much those are worth, but for the Golden Globes, the estimate is around $38,000. There are 35 presenters so that equals: $38,000 x 35 = $1,330,000. Again, I don't know what winners and nominees get, but I'm sure it adds up.

Between the Golden Globes, the Academy Awards, the SAG Awards, the Emmy Awards, and the Grammy Awards, and every other possible other awards show, I don't think it is much of a stretch to conclude that the total amount given in goodie bags is near $10,000,000 per year. These happen every year, so over 4 years, it's close to $40,000,000. This is just on goodie bags. Not the pre-parties, the actual shows themselves, or the after parties.

The funny thing is, no one is asking that the awards shows be postponed and that the money saved on goodie bags be sent to tsunami victims.