Corporate Responsibility, Personal Responsibility, Nike, and Michael Jordan

We have all heard the stories of the near riots that occurred when Nike released a new version of Air Jordan sneakers several days before Christmas.  There were arrests, damage to stores, toddlers left in cars, and pepper spray all brought out while the frenzy to be one of the lucky ones who got a pair.  Sneakers that are now on sale on Ebay for almost double the original cost.
Activists in the Houston area have asked the Michael Jordan and Nike take responsibility for the violence that occurred when they went on sale and the violence that has occurred to those who have a pair.

“It is the responsibility of Michael Jordan and Nike to stand up and be part of the solution. Right now it’s a public safety issue with children wearing those sneakers,”
“The people that can least afford these shoes are buying them, and what happens as a result of that? Well there’s more crime,”

So, it is Nike and Michael Jordan who are responsible for the violence?
I have had pretty strong opinions on Micheal Jordan during his entire career.  As a lifelong long-suffering Knicks fan, Michael Jordan and his Bulls team was nothing but a source of disappointment for me.  But above and beyond the fact that the Knicks could never get past the Bulls and go onto to win a title one of the things that always did annoy about Michael Jordan was his insistence of saying nothing no matter what was going on.  When asked about endorsing a political candidate running against the sitting republican senator of his home state his response was:

"Republicans buy sneakers, too."

Jordan made millions and possibly billions from endorsements.  His life has always seemed to be about the conquest and the next thing.  Some call that arrogant, I have always preferred to look at as the "eye of the tiger" if you will.  He always maintained an edge that made him better and more competitive.  His juices for the next title, the next trophy, the next accomplishment kept him at the top of his game for the majority of his basketball career.  He made very few errors until the very end of career  and once he went to the management side of things.  He has every right to go out and make money.  I believe in capitalism so have at it.  But I, for one, have always been disappointed that they he didn't take some stands on important issues.  Such as child labor in China, the breakdown of the black family (while since it has come out that he had more than one affair while he was married, that could be part of the reason) as he had an image of a family man, who grew up in a close family, and many other issues.  But he always kept his mouth shut and picked up his next check.  The same was true of Tiger Woods.
I am not a believer in parents sitting back while their children idolize some sports or music star.  We should be showing our children the real heroes in our society, first responders who put their lives on the line to protect their communities, our volunteer military who willing go off to war to protect our rights, the people who work at shelters and food banks to help the neediest amongst us for little pay, and countless others who get up everyday and just try to do the right thing.  Parents should be living a life that their children will be proud to follow as they grow and mature.
But we have become a culture of entitlement.  One of the activists said himself that the people who can afford them the least are the ones buying them.  A Black Panther is saying that Nike is responsible for the thefts that are occurring to the people who lucky enough to get a pair of these sneakers.  Another said this:

“These shoes have always had a place of value in Black life,”

Maybe instead of going after Nike to lower the price to keep up with the demand (I will let go of that obvious ignorance of how economics work) they should be having the discussion with parents of the kids who were rioting.  They should be talking to the kids themselves about coveting a pair of sneakers instead of looking at what the Christmas season is really about.  Maybe we should be telling these kids that expecting your parents to spend almost $200 on a pair of sneakers when they don't have a great deal of money isn't such a great idea.  Take this moment to teach them about personal responsibility instead of what we want and when we want it.  Let this be a teachable moment about how if we really want something we need to go out and work for it.  No, instead they are saying that Nike should lower the price.  How low should the price be?  Should Nike also give some away at no charge for the neediest of people because after all these shoes are part of "black life".  What about the non blacks who want these shoes too and can't afford them?
While I would love to see Michael Jordan take a real stand for once, the truth is, this isn't his responsibility.  This is the responsibility of the care givers of these children and young adults who caused all the mayhem last week.  It is up to the individual to act in a responsible manner, not some athlete who hasn't been on the scene in more than decade.


Cross posted at  just a conservative girl

Please bookmark!

America's Budget at Standstill

The United States Congress is at a standstill on our 2012 fiscal budget: Democrats are refusing to introduce their own plan, Republicans are being stonewalled on theirs and President Obama's so unserious that not one member of his party supported it Wednesday.

Fun times in Washington.

With everyone politically dug in deep, and the President lacking all creditability, nothing will get done until both sides admit some unfortunate facts, and yes, compromise.

Fact #1: Entitlements accounted for over sixty percent of government spending in last year's budget, which means we spend three times more in handouts than we do in protecting those who receive the handouts. It doesn't need to be said, but the sacred cow must be slayed.

Fact #2: Government revenues must be raised to help eliminate our budget deficit, but by encouraging job creation and fostering economic development through corporate tax reductions to revive our economy to pre-recession receipts of $2.7 trillion.

Fact #3: American citizens expect their elected representatives to stay at work and craft a budget worthy of passage, and as such Congress should remain in constant session in Washington until a budget deal is reached; no vacations.

Congress passed on making the tough choices in 2010 for political reasons, and now some are hoping to exploit tough choices for political reasons, which only leaves the public annoyed and frankly dispirited.

This has to end now.

What say you?

My Name’s America and I’m a Debt-a-holic

Anyone who’s walked down the twelve-step path or knows someone who has, which is almost everyone in America, has heard the saying, “Until you admit you have a problem there’s no hope for a cure.”

We, as America have a problem: we’re addicted to debt.  Now is not the time to point fingers.  This isn’t the time to figure out whose fault it is or when was the fatal binge that sent us over the line from recreational user to addict.  Now is the time to man-up, to admit we have a problem, and take the first steps toward recovery.  And I’m not talking about some over-priced, jazzed-up, Betty Ford type recovery “Program.” I mean real recovery.  This won’t happen overnight.  It won’t happen without fears and tears and soul-searching honesty as we look in the mirror and admit to ourselves, “We aren’t controlling the debt.  The debt is controlling us.”

Like many survivors of the Summer of Love, and the other social scams of the 1960s, when so many of we Boomers danced in lock-step like lemmings at mass festivals loudly proclaiming our induhvidualism while wearing identical tie-dyed shirts and patched-up jean uniforms, I found myself one day admitting I was addicted to something.  No longer could I pretend I was taking the formerly magical something for fun. I was ingesting something that was bad for my body, because if I didn’t I’d get sick.  My body, my mind, my soul had become addicted, and if I didn’t keep flying I was going to crash.  I had that realization.  Step-by-step I learned to walk on my own again.  Maybe you’ve never had that experience personally.  Hold on to your treasured memories of missing that degrading rite of passage, because we as a nation are about to hit the wall.

If we don’t sober up and take the cure ourselves one day soon our friendly local debt dealers are all going to get together and pull an intervention on us, and that will not be pretty.  The austerity you place upon yourself is easier to bear than the austerity placed on you by someone else.  If we don’t seize these last few moments of independence to stand up and say, “My name’s America and I’m a debt-a-holic” before we can print enough funny money to pay off our massive debts the countries holding that debt will cut us off and we’ll have to go through withdrawals cold-turkey.  Or worse yet, we may be so strung out on living beyond our means that we’ll agree to anything the debt dealers demand if only they’ll extend our credit for a few more days.  The borrower is slave to the lender and he who pays the piper calls the tune.

It’s easy to pick out all the pet projects of the opposition and say those are what caused us to go over the line.  If we’re truthful we will see that it wasn’t just entitlements it was providing garrison troops to maintain the peace around the world.  It wasn’t just tax cuts it was also spending.  Truthfulness is a required ingredient for this cure.  It won’t work if we just stop drinking, because dry drunks just find something else to fill the hole in their souls.  It won’t be good enough to kick the heroin of debt just to become strung out on the methadone of printing money.  We can’t just click our heels three times and say “I wish I was home” as Bernanke pumps out billions of increasingly worthless paper dollars.  We can’t start using our Discover Card after the shop keeper cuts up our MasterCard and our Visa.  

Some fear the cure will be worse than the disease.  Some are afraid to admit there’s a problem fearing there will be a stigma.  We’re past time to worry what the other countries down the block are going to say.  We cannot hesitate because we’re ashamed all the other countries will point at us on the UN playground and say behind phony smiles, “America couldn’t handle their budget and now they have to live within their means.”

We can’t let divisions divide us.  We must remember we are the UNITED States.  We have to realize we cannot remain anonymous buying our debilitating debt on the corner from dealers who’re laughing at us behind our backs.  We cannot continue spending like drunken sailors at the first port-of-call in six months and expect that there will be anything left for the kids.  We’re sacrificing our children at the altar of our own desires.  It’s time to admit that being generous with other people’s money isn’t generosity, its theft.  It’s also time to realize that if everyone demands what they want no one will get what they need.

Yes, this will mean hard choices.  Yes, this will mean that we all must roll-up our sleeves, tighten our belts, and go to work for the long haul.  But we’re America.  We can do this.  Instead of expecting our representatives to bring home the bacon let’s ask them to balance the budget no matter how that may gore our sacred cow.  Perhaps it’s time we remember to ask not what our country can do for us, but ask instead what we can do for our country.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System.  http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.