In Reply to: That's not outrageous for corporate speaking fees. posted by mh on December 29, 2025 at 10:22:23
make it any less grifty in my book, but that's probably just me. It would not be completely off the mark to see most things that have been normalized, even in our lifetime, as institutionalized grift.
That said, I'm also equally revolted by Obama's $400K to 600K peaking fees. No talk ever given by anyone under any circumstances is ever worth that much as long as the justification is insight and wisdom. The only thing that justifies it is publicity, i.e., the bragging rights for saying that "so and so gave us a talk". And the person giving the talk thinking that the size of the check is validation of their otherwise utterly trivial and meaningless thoughts.
It's just corporate waste and personal greed. At the end of the day, these talks do not add any substantive value to anyone in any way.