Opus 2018-216: Nike Speaks

For a brief time it seems that a majority of Americans in almost every demographic have turned against Nike.  Well and good.  They deserve our contempt and not our business.  They really don’t care about the opinions of the unwashed masses but they certainly care about our business and until we get another Progressive government like Obama gave us we will not have a mandate requiring us to buy Nike shoes.  Can’t you see an Obamapod-care act requiring everyone to buy at least one pair of Nike shoes a year?

Some people have tried to sidetrack the issue by claiming that the shoes are made in Asia by people making 20 cents an hour.  They then decry the vulgar profits being made when they sell their shoes for so much money.  Neither argument is worth consideration.  They are simply distractions. 

First, let’s consider the 20 cents.  Is the claim true?  I have no way of verifying it.  The number may have originated the same way the statistics were generated about the environmental damage that plastic straws create.  What if it is true?  Then you need to get out a little more and realize how much of the world lives.  If someone in China gets paid 20 cents an hour to make shoes and is still working there a week later then that tells you that somehow that person is able to stay alive making 20 cents an hour.  In a way we cannot wrap our heads around with our air conditioning, smart phones and, yes, $150 Nikes, they are able to provide for their needs.  If they could not they would die of hunger or exposure.  Could they do it in Washington, D.C.?  That is a stupid question.  They don’t live in Washington D.C.  On our trip we talked to a waitress in Michigan and a waiter in West Virginia.  Both said their salary was $3.20 and hour.  Could I live on that?  No way.  Neither could they.  Did you ever stop to think that the bulk of the Asian workers income might come from bonuses based on production rather than the hourly wage?

Second, the reason Nike sells their shoe for so much is a twofer.  It starts with the fact that people will pay for it.  The only time I every bought any Nike shoes I paid $10 at an outlet mall.  I remember talking to a security guard at my school who had hundreds of pairs of shoes and he paid a lot more than $10.  It is enabled by a government that allows tariffs that benefit the Chinese rather than Americans. 

So get mad at Nike for the right reason:  They have glorified a race baiter who hates the country that has blessed him.  At the same time remember the federal administrations of both parties that have sold you down the river to the benefit of the rest of the world.  Be glad Trump seems to be trying to correct that.

homo unius libri