The NFL’s No. 1 draft pick Carson Palmer got a $14 million signing bonus from the Cincinnati Bengals. OK, it was $10 million upon signing and another $4 million in 22 months. Let’s do some comparison shopping, but don’t forget, it’s all relative:
$11.5 million: Annual cost of maintenance at Cincinnati’s public schools.
$12 million: A gift to Princeton University from Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein to create the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination.
$13 million: Total bonuses paid out by catalog business L.L. Bean to employees in 2003.
$14 million: Replacement cost for the 5,000 infamous Palm Beach, Fla., punch card voting machines with computerized counters after the 2000 presidential election.
$15 million: The Illinois Lottery Mega Millions jackpot.
