But of course that’s not the real story. Why are the original refs being replaced in the first place?

The struggle between the owners and the referees is part and parcel of a much larger series of struggles between labor and capital. In this case, the two parties are separated by about 5 million a year. To put that in perspective, the NFL garners about 9 billion in revenue just this year alone.

You do the math.

Green Bay fans in particular are wishing the refs came back to work for the sanctity of the game. And yes, the quality of the games would be a lot better if the real referees were allowed to do their job. But this isn’t just about that. It’s about security after retirement. A sizeable portion of Romney’s “47 percent” don’t pay federal income tax because they are senior citizens. Do we want to live in a world where even after retirement, after you put your years in, you still have to hustle and grind just to make a living? Given the trends, perhaps a better question is “do we want to CONTINUE to live in such a world?”