Month: June 2024

Nike: Find Your Greatness

Posted on | by Steve M. Windham, LLM, MBA, EA

Nike

Truth be told, I have not been a very big fan of Nike for many years.  This has been primarily due to their business practices where their endorsements pay a single athlete more than the entire annual payroll of a Southeast Asian manufacturing facility.  For example, Tiger Woods, over a course of 27 years, has been paid approximately US$500 million by Nike.  See: https://golf.com/news/how-much-nike-contributed-tiger-woods-fortune/

Conversely, Nike's factory employees in Southeast Asia are typically paid about US$3.50 per day, and they are often not paid the agreed upon wages.  See: https://cleanclothes.org/news/2023/nike-board-executives-under-fire and https://www.maquilasolidarity.org/en/nike-and-ramatex-should-pay-workers-in-cambodia.

There are some valid reasons for low pay in these countries.  Imagine the chaos if Nike and other Western companies paid US/EU wages in a region where few people make US/EU minimum wages.  For reference, the Federal minimum wage in the US is $7.25/hour.  See: https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/minimumwage.   In Europe, the minimum wage varies greatly, but even the lowest minimum wages are higher than what the average Southeast Asian factory pays Nike workers.  See: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Minimum_wage_statistics.

Keep in mind that an MD in Vietnam makes approximately US$46,000/year.   See: https://www.erieri.com/salary/job/medical-doctor/vietnam.  In California, a full-time fast food worker can make almost this much (~US$40,000), as the minimum wage for fast food workers in California is $20.00/hour.   See: https://www.gov.ca.gov/  The California basic minimum wage is $16.00/hour.  See: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_minimumwage.htm.

An entire book can be written on the business ethics of Western companies and the amounts they pay to their Southeast Asian factory workers.  Keep in mind, that many electronics and other goods are manufactured in Southeast Asian countries for extremely low rates of pay.

The point of my post is this: Nike made an incredible advertisement with their "Find Your Greatness" advertising campaign!  It can be viewed here:  Nike: Find Your Greatness (youtube.com)

Unfortunately, Nike still needs to find their greatness in paying their apparel workers an adequate wage in a safe working environment.

For more information, please visit:
https://www.maquilasolidarity.org/en/nike-and-ramatex-should-pay-workers-in-cambodia

 

Tax News — Week of 23 June 2024

Posted on | by Steve M. Windham, LLM, MBA, EA

United States
     California
     The California Supreme Court has ruled that the "Taxpayer Protection Act" must be removed from the ballot, as it would be a revision to California's Constitution.  This would require an amendment, rather than an initiative.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2021-042

Africa
     Kenya
     Passage of the 2024 Finance Bill has resulted in protest that turned violent, with several protesters killed and injured by the police.
     https://www.voanews.com/a/several-shot-protesters-storm-kenya-s-parliament-after-lawmakers-approve-tax-hikes/7674258.html

Europe
     Denmark
     Starting in 2030, in Denmark, cows and pigs will be taxed for their contribution to producing greenhouse gases.
 https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/cows-pigs-face-carbon-tax-in-denmark/7674742.html

 

Gaza Protests (UC Davis & UC Berkeley)

Posted on | by Steve M. Windham, LLM, MBA, EA
UC Davis Gaza Protester.

Updated on Saturday, February 15, 2025.

On January 30, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to, "Combat Anti-Semitism."  This Executive Order reads in part:

  • Deport Hamas Sympathizers and Revoke Student Visas: “To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”

See: https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-takes-forceful-and-unprecedented-steps-to-combat-anti-semitism/

While I understand that many people will scream that this is violative of the First Amendment, they need to be reminded that the protections afforded by the First Amendment are not absolute.  Many of these protesters have crossed the line from protesting to criminal activity.  And, many protesters have also engaged in speech that is not protected, such as: true threats, incitement, fighting words, and harassment.  In short, these protesters (as a whole) have behaved so poorly that I applaud President Trump's Executive Order to curb their behavior.

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For more than a month now, people have been protesting the war in Gaza, with most of these protests having been on university campuses.  I have had the opportunity to photograph these protests on two University of California campuses -- Davis and Berkeley.

While I am a staunch supporter of the First Amendment, many of these folks have taken it way beyond what is protected speech.  Assault, battery, trespassing, burglary, vandalism, violating campus policies (disrupting graduations, disrupting classes, disrupting exam weeks, blocking bus stops, illegal camping, etc.) have crossed the line from protected speech to criminal activity.

While photographing the protest at UC Davis, I was hit with an umbrella, had many other umbrellas, hands, and other objects shoved in my face and in front of my camera.  I had one "security" guard (who happened to be an unlicensed security guard) shine a bright light into my eyes.  They tried to harass and intimidate me by following me in a public place.  The whole ordeal has left me with a very negative view of these protesters.  Most of them have covered their faces because they know they are committing crimes and violating campus rules.  In short, they are scofflaws who cowardly hide behind masks and fences; many of them are completely ignorant as to what and why they are protesting.

The website CANARY MISSION has created a database of many of these dangerous individuals.  Click here to visit CANARY MISSION's searchable website.

Follow the link for more photos.

https://www.stevewindham.com/portfolio/photojournalism/gaza-protests/

UC BERKELEY 05.12.2024