Here you have Nike, a large corporation that cheaply produces a popular product and then markets it to the affluent and poor alike in the United States of America. It is already radically overpriced. The logo has become a sort of popular icon, like a working-man's Gucci signature on the tag. It shows one pays handsomely to wear "the best" clothes one can buy.We could do one of two things. We could move all Nike clothing production back to the United States and have the company forced to pay minimum wages (whatever that is today) benefits packages, employee discounts, social security, etc. for the production of those shoes. The employees are happy, but now due to the cost of labor those shoes aren't quite so cheap to produce.
Or we could decide to be perfect humanitarians and offer the workers in foreign countries American minimum wage to produce those shoes. Never mind the fact that the wages they are currently paid is similar to what they would make at any other venue of employment in their region, and our giving them a substantially large amount of money by their standard could have a disastrous effect on their economy. Either way the cost of shoes production is going to rise, and do you think that the cost of Nike shoes could then possibly remain the same?
Like all companies, I am sure that Nike watches over a thing called profit margins. And corporations panic if profit margins decline. Just what effect do you think increasing the cost of labor would have on Nike apparel? Faced with a decimated profit margin, do you see the prices staying the same? Or is it more likely that the prices of these already outrageous products will escalate out of control to maintain profit margins, as far as the public will bear. As we've already seen, the public can bear a lot.
So I guess my whole point is, who cares? Morons are always going to want to pay too much for shoes and morons are always going to insist that we should compare other cutlures to the American standard of life and if they don't match up exactly call it exploitation. I say forget it. At least go find a cause that makes a bit more sense.
- C.
