Arrogance,Hypocrisy,Greed, Avarice, or “Doing Business as Usual”?

Maybe I am being harsh here….but I think not. Nike is a global company headquartered in the United States, Beaverton, Oregon.  According to Wikipedia they employ about 50,000 people world wide. They employ about 11,000 people at their headquarters in Oregon. Their offshore employees work primarily in the production of the Nike products. They work in factories in Asia to include Indonesia and Vietnam.

If Nike’s costs are anywhere from .50 cents to $2.00 per shoe, and this is a figure I pull from thin air, (it could be less) they are making a killing. They pay no import tax, or tariff, to bring their shoes into the U.S.  They mark the shoes up to ….very high prices ….if you have paid for Nike shoes for your kids you likely could have paid from $70.00 on up.

What kind of mark up is that for an American Company to earn? A big one! And remember, since the recent Supreme Court ruling Nike is not just a company, it is a “constituent” with the same rights and privileges as you and me. It is just as deserving of the representation of their Congress Person, and even the President of the United States. Oh, and by the way, Nike (the constituent), can help these politicians get elected, and stay elected, with campaign support and potential other perks ( if you know what I mean ). Since this company gains all the benefits of being based in America without tax or tariff and it provides almost 40,000 overseas jobs where does this help America, and American workers?

Our political representatives are supposed to represent their constituents. This is why they are elected and sent to Washington. Now, however, the representatives represent their corporate constituents who wield much more power than you or me. It is inevitable the “corporate constituents” control their political puppets with the strings of corporate power and money. Nothing corrupt here though…it is legal thanks to our most unpolitical, all wise, Supreme Court.

As a related fact please see the video on Indonesian worker slavery. It would be a stretch for me to think our President would support Nike if he knew they were using slave workers, or even paying slave wages. (Lets think outside the deniability box since they can sub out work to other non Nike factories and still claim their factories are above board).

All so murky, dirty,and and evil, eh? One thing that makes corruption in America different than say in Mexico, or Latin America, is we pass nice clean laws making it all perfectly legal. In other parts of the world they just steal the money out right and say “too bad suckers”.

It will make you scratch your head and say to the Democrats…save all your creative election rhetoric (BS)about caring for women, children, and jobs in America, and even the environment. Oh, lest you think this does not to apply to the Republicans think again…these politicians are one and the same selling out America and Americans for their own political futures….all the while still representing “their constituents” .

The former police chief of Tijuana, Lt.Col. Julian Leyzaola, was shot by a gunman as he and his wife were exchanging money before crossing into the U.S. at Cidudad Juarez.  He was police chief of Tijuana in 2008 and was responsible for putting a stop to the out of control cartel killings. In 2011 he was appointed police chief of Ciudad Juarez where he cleaned house at the police department pushing out corrupt cops . At the time the city was known as “Murder City” with over 3,000 killings a year. He served for two years before retiring in 2013.  The shooting that occurred was likely connected to the many enemies he made during his time in command. He was shot once in the neck and once in the back and is in stable condition.  If you want to read a good summary of the Cartels in Mexico I suggest the book, “Midnight in Mexico”, by Alfredo Corchado. While a bit of a self promoting book it has very good statistics and will give you a history of what caused Mexico to be such a corrupt and Cartel owned country today.