I think we need to take a break from the current economy and look at the good things happening in the state of Washington: the sun has come out, the Seahawks drafted a great linebacker, the Mariners are winning and, better yet, the Yankees are losing.

If you think your boss gets mad when you head to the back room for two seconds to check the score of the Mariners game on your cell phone, just imagine what George, Hank and Hal Steinbrenner think of their $200 million roster.

Even with the New York Yankees jaw-dropping off-season spending they still managed to lose half of their first 20 games, while the Toronto Blue Jays roster payroll of just over $80 million is in first place.

But wait, it gets even better. The lowest roster payroll in Major League Baseball belongs to the Florida Marlins who have one of the best records in the league through the first 20 games.

In fact, the big acquisitions the Yankees made this off-season in C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira combine to make more money than the entire Florida Marlins roster - more than the San Diego Padre's and Pittsburgh Pirate's rosters as well.

The Marlin's best and most expensive player, Hanley Ramirez, will make $5.5 million this season, which itself is a lot, but 12 players on the Yankee's roster will make as much or more money this season than Ramirez will.

What is interesting is that even with the Yankees lucrative spending this season, the overall league salaries actually went down this season by 3.5 percent, according to a study by USA Today, after they had been going up in every previous season since 1995.

Although, why should we criticize the Steinbrenners for spending their money? It really comes down to commissioner Bud Selig who hasn't caught up with the NBA and NFL which both have salary caps to avoid this very dilemma.

It's not the Steinbrenner's fault that they have the money to throw away, unlike the many hard working Americans earning their paychecks, while pitcher Chien-Ming Wang makes $5 million to have an earned run average of over 34.
The fact is, Selig needs to get with the program and create a salary cap that doesn't allow teams like the Yankees to spend over $50 million more than the number two highest team salary - New York Mets spend just over $147 million.

As much as I would love to go on about Selig's job, it continues to amaze me how the Yankees can have three of the top five highest paid players in the league: Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira.

Not to mention a brand new $1.3 billion stadium that includes a dressing area that is 3,344 square feet with each locker containing a safety deposit box and a touch screen computer, because its not like any of the Yankees make enough to be fully satisfied.

But wait there's more - the clubhouse also features a weight room, lounge area, video room, training room, batting cages and a hydrotherapy pool with an underwater treadmill - yeah, seriously.

It is hard to imagine that there was a day when baseball wasn't about the money, wasn't about the steroids and was played the right way.

Didn't baseball used to be about going to the ball game with your dad and while your there you have yourself a hot dog and some Cracker Jacks. Now it seems like it has turned into an overpriced show where the people can spend $2,500 for a front row seat at Yankee stadium.

That's why I can't help but root for a team like the Marlins who are winning more games than a team that spends more than five times the amount on its roster.

The good news for Yankee fans is that the team has been so underachieving and so few of people have purchased these insanely priced tickets that the team announced it is cutting prices on all its premium seats like the $2,500 ones that will now be around $1,200 - from jaw-dropping expensive to just really expensive.

While there may be no limit to the Steinbrenner spending, it could at least be slowed down with a salary cap implemented, while giving teams like the Marlins a fair shot at obtaining big time free agents.

This would also make the game better to watch and more exciting since it would make teams more evenly matched.

Although I wouldn't expect this anytime soon because, after all, this is a business and if the Steinbrenners want to create themselves a multi-billion dollar theme park while many Americans struggle to save their money, that's their decision.