Category: Financial Literacy

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

 

What is happening to Home Economics?

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

Home Economics is an interdisciplinary field of study that covers various subjects such as: family studies, food/nutrition, clothing/textiles, and consumer economics/personal finance.  In  recent years the field of study that was once referred to as Home Economics has been re-branded to Family and Consumer Sciences.

Most high schools, adult schools, colleges, and universities offer some or many of the courses that one would find in a Family and Consumer Sciences program.  In the local area the Greater San Francisco Bay Area / Greater Sacramento Metropolitan Area, there has been significant changes in the course and degree offerings at the college and university levels.

Solano College used to offer a degree in Home Economics.  This degree and certificate option was last listed in their 2011-2012 catalog.  View the Solano College 2011-2012 catalog here: http://www.solano.edu/catalog/1112/SCCCatalog201011.pdf.  Solano College still offers some Home Economics related classes, but the major no longer exists there.

UC Davis is in the process of phasing out their Textiles & Clothing and Fiber & Polymers degree programs.  See the links below for more information:

UC Davis Aggies Article:
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UC Davis Textiles and Clothing Webpage Announcement:
https://www.ucdavis.edu/majors/textiles-and-clothing/
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UC Davis Fiber and Polymers Webpage Announcement:
https://www.ucdavis.edu/majors/fiber-and-polymer-science/
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California State University Sacramento currently has a Family and Consumer Science program with four different areas of study.  For more information, visit their website at: http://www.csus.edu/facs/

This article is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all of the colleges and universities in the area that offer courses and majors in Family and Consumer Science, but rather to demonstrate the trend in Home Economics / Family and Consumer Science in education.  For those who are interested in Family and Consumer Sciences, there are various professional groups and organizations dedicated to Family and Consumer Sciences.  Among these are:

The Fairfield-Suisun Adult School offers several “Home Economics / Family and Consumer Science” courses.  Please visit us at: https://www.fsusd.org/fsas.  This summer, I will be teaching Consumer Economics and Personal Finance at the Fairfield-Suisun Adult School.