Tag Archives: socialism

Sep 5 2018

Nike Value Takes a Knee as Colin Kaepernick Becomes Face of Brand…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on September 4, 2018 by

Nike shares fall Tuesday after the company revealed failed NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick will be the modern face of the brand.  It will get much worse; much worse.

It is only day #1 of the Nike decision to make Colin Kaepernick, and all of the controversy that surrounds him, the brand image of Nike sporting goods apparel; and today the stock dropped over 3%.

However, the current valuation drop doesn’t really tell the full story; because massive investment/branding moves like this are generally projected to increase share value, not lose it.  The financial loss is actually much more significant, and only beginning.

There is another problem.  Not only is Nike branding themselves based on severe political ideology; and not only is Nike selecting a failed athlete to express that image; and not only has this decision removed well over half of their potential customer base; but Nike has also decided to go much further.  Nike will present an entire line of Colin Kaepernick apparel and products. Essentially an apparel line for the Antifa audience.

Charles Robinson

✔ @CharlesRobinson

Details on Kaepernick and :

– It’s wide endorsement. He’s going to have his own branded line. Shoes, shirts, jerseys, etc. There will be Kaepernick apparel.

– Contract is a “star” deal on par with a top end player. Millions per year. Star deals also include royalties.

The Kaepernick-Nike product offerings could likely include: hoodies, masks, helmets, gloves and a full line-up of ‘Colin’s Riot Gear‘ for the most discerning combatants amid the social justice community.

From an investment perspective, this means Nike is putting massive amounts of money into a product offering that automatically has removed the top tier purchasers of their products.  In essence, Nike has made the fatal mistake in consumer product marketing.

Nike has decided to go from broad-based consumer appeal, to a very niche appeal for the most hard-core political activists who might also wear sporting apparel.

Here is an example of their target audience.

Occupy Wall Street / Antifa : “Believe in Something, Even if it Means Sacrificing Everything”…

“Just Do It”

It is stunning that any corporation would make this choice.  However, this is a Madison Avenue type pitch that is not uncommon amid the extremist elements of branding and image campaigns.  What makes this uncommon is the size of the company willing to accept this type of campaign.

The executive branding decision means if you wear Nike apparel you support cop-killers, Antifa, flag-burners and those who hate the values of the United States of America as expressed through law and order.

The 3% drop in value today is only the beginning.  The Nike brand will lose market share because they have branded themselves into a corner from which there is no escape.  Trust me, over time – someone, likely a whole bunch of someones, are going to get fired over this.

Reuters Top News

✔ @Reuters

Facebook, Nike drag Wall Street lower; trade concerns linger https://reut.rs/2MKAZdo 

Facebook, Nike drag Wall Street lower; trade concerns linger

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday as trade concerns lingered and declines in Facebook and Nike shares weighed on Wall Street’s major indexes, though data showing U.S. manufacturing activity accelerated in…

reuters.com

Hollywood Reporter

✔ @THR

NFL’s executive vp of communications and public affairs in a statement: “The social justice issues that Colin and other professional athletes have raised deserve our attention and action.” Read the full statement: http://thr.cm/KOJqqJ 

NFL Stands By Nike’s Colin Kaepernick ‘Just Do It’ Ad Campaign

“The social justice issues that Colin and other professional athletes have raised deserve our attention and action,” the league said in a statement.

hollywoodreporter.com

CNBC

✔ @CNBC

Nike shares tumbled today amid backlash from its new Colin Kaepernick ad campaign. https://cnb.cx/2MLbMiZ 

Sep 4 2018

Foreigners Selling UK Debt as Hard BEXIT appears


Armstrong Economics Blog/Pound

Re-Posted Sep 4, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

Foreign investors have been withdrawing on a large scale from British government bonds since July when the Conservatives seems to be splitting. Bank of England data released revealed a net outflow of £17.153 billion from foreigners in July, the largest since records began in 1982, Reuters reports. Even in June, there was still net capital investment from foreigners of 1.362 billion pounds. The decline in foreigners’ holdings is due to sales as well as to non-reinvested, expiring, bonds.  According to International Monetary Fund data, the UK has the largest current account deficit of the major industrial nations and is heavily dependent on foreign capital inflows. Theresa May’s refusal to stand firm and defend the people’s vote has seriously undermined the confidence in Britain.

We can see on our Capital Flow Map where we trace the net movement of capital that Britain has turned RED. We have been monitoring the significant net capital flight from Britain thanks to Theresa May. This is also one primary reason it appears that the British pound is still is a distinctive bear market trend with respect to the broader term.

 

While we did not elect any Monthly or Weekly Bearish Reversals, the pound is still is a broader bearish position at this time.

Categories: Pound
Sep 4 2018

Nike Decides to Make “Inspirational” Colin Kaepernick The Face of The Brand – Athletic Apparel For Social Justice Warriors…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on September 3, 2018 by

In the latest example of a corporation making a ridiculous decision to brand itself based on politics, Nike apparel has decided that Colin Kaepernick is the modern face of the brand:

“We believe Colin is one of the most inspirational athletes of this generation, who has leveraged the power of sport to help move the world forward.”

~ Gino Fisanotti, Nike’s vice president of brand for North America

Apparently Nike has been paying Colin Kaepernick since 2011, and made the decision to go full social justice as part of their 30-year anniversary.   As with prior endeavors for corporations who engage in political advocacy, this will likely not end well financially.

Sep 4 2018

Cryptocurrency Scam?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Cryptocurrency

Re-Posted Sep 4, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

There are way too many cryptocurrencies out there and even if we accept the theory that ONE will survive and become mainstream, what happens to the rest? This is the great unanswered question. You certainly cannot replace the dollar and central banks with thousands of currencies. We tried that once when Andrew Jackson revoked the Bank of the United States charter. We ended up with EVERY bank issuing their own paper money and we ended up creating the Great Depression of the 1840s that led to violence in the streets, defaults of State debts who tried to bail out failed banks, and eventually, a civil war that was not entirely over slavery. (You can buy catalogs of Broken Bank Notes that are published per state because there are way too many to be just one book).

There certainly is no possible viable economic system where there are thousands of cryptocurrencies. For the theory to even be viable aside from technology and every person being able to use computers or smartphones, In other words, the mere existence of a product does not necessarily mean that the product is working. After all, is a there has to be just one at least per nation. A single currency for the entire world will never work because not everyone has a current account and trade surplus. Someone must have a deficit. A single currency would result in exaggerated inflation and deflation globally in different regions. This is the problem with the dollar. If the Fed raises interest rates, it impacts the world because other nations are issuing debt in dollars. This is what results in losing DOMESTIC policy objective to INTERNATIONAL policy realities.

A recent study found that only 36 out of the top 100 cryptocurrencies has any working product. Most are just promises. Some people have gotten so caught up in this whole mess that they have lost a fortune. One borrowed $127,000 to invest in cryptocurrencies and lost 85%. Understanding that cryptocurrencies are no different from anything else. They are trading vehicles when you at least stick to the majors. Socrates picked the high in Bitcoin perfectly. How? Why? Very simple in fact. No matter what instrument you look at, the chart is not actually that instrument. It is a chart of HUMAN emotion relating TO THAT instrument.  The chart of silver from 1980 is similar to that of BitCoin. Back then, they were touting silver would go to $100. They swore it would do that any day for the next 19 years. We have people in Bitcoin swearing it is going to $100,000. That is such a joke for any currency to be worth that much would guarantee it cannot be used in commerce since most transactions are small.

 

No matter what bull market we look at, we find the same patterns. People get all emotional and rush in and buy the highs. The curious element is that they continue to believe the decline is only temporary. This seems to be standard human bias when people get caught up in the fever and lose all sight of history or reality.

This is why PROFESSIONAL traders have one PRIMARY RULE! ———–  Never marry the trade!

Sep 3 2018

Trump Tries to Deal with the Pension Crisis


Armstrong Economics Blog/Pension Crisis

Re-Posted Sep 3, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

 

Most small businesses do not offer retirement plans because the excessive regulation which drives the costs significantly higher. Trump’s new Executive Order is primarily designed to reduce those costs by streamlining the excessive regulation. The order further makes it clear: “Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Treasury shall consider proposing amendments to regulations or other guidance, consistent with applicable law and the policy…”

The biggest problem with retirement plans has been the pretense that they should be “conservative” and that has meant they buy government debt. As the Fed lowered rates to “stimulate” the economy, they have remained well below 8% for more than a decade which has sharply reduced the ability to plan for retirement using bonds. Unless people begin to select more private investment into equities, they stand to lose a fortune and find themselves unable to retire. The sharp decline in the birth rate has also created a dangerous situation. For centuries, you had children to ensure you would be taken care of in your old age. Socialism has destroyed the family unit and taxation with student loans has drastically reduced the earning ability of children to save no less take care of their parents. The entire historical family structure has been undermined and the pension crisis poses a huge social threat in the years ahead

Sep 3 2018

Civil Unrest for 2018/2019 Post Election Cycle – The End of the United States?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Civil Unrest

Re-Posted Sep 3, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: I have followed you for many years and read you daily. To the point, I was looking at the riots in LA 1n 1965 and then the riots in 1992, that being 27 years so I divided that by 8.6 and got 3.14, so I backtested 27 years and found more race-related riots etc. Does this mean we will see riots in 2019?

TM

ANSWER: Yes. Our model is broader, and it extends back in time much further and incorporates all countries. This sort of civil unrest will rise in 2019 after the election cycle. It will not be just a race issue. It will be politically oriented and broader. Nonetheless, the Democrats will portray Trump and the Republicans as racists for the election fueling the fire of both race and class warfare.

We are preparing a report for the election cycle. This year is crazy. There are so many people in Congress calling it quits. The Republicans who will be defending 40 open House seats this fall compared with the Democrats’ 20 all because of retirement announcements. Even Speaker Paul Ryan told his colleagues he would not seek election. What is going on is that there are those in politics who see the handwriting on the wall. Politics is doomed. Those retiring seem to comprehend that incumbents may lose this round for the Trump Revolution is spreading even to the Democrats with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 28-Year-Old Democratic in New York they call the  “Giant Slayer” because she was a bartender and unseated Representative Joseph Crowley, a 19-year incumbent, and Queens, New York’s political stalwart who had not faced a primary challenger in 14 years.

While the Democrats are cheering and claiming with 40 Republicans retiring it proves that Trump has destroyed their party. Of course, this is their perspective always focused on the hate the rich. Effectively, the “rich” have become anyone who actually works. Ocasio-Cortez is a member of Democratic Socialists of America which is cheering the return of Marxism. No matter what you show that Marxism has resulted in more people dying in class warfare and the failure of Russia, Eastern Europe, Venezuela, and China among many South American socialist agendas, the Democrats refuse to look at the evidence of such failure.

The rumor on the Hill is that the Democrats will REVERSE everything that Trump has done with taxes, trade, the Wall and the environment.  I have even been told that they want a 75% tax rate and that the top tax bracket should be lowered further. It has been the Democrats who are behind Geoengineering in the skies to reverse Global Warming. This is the entire problem with the United States. There is NO viable political system for the tax code looks like the brainwave of a mentally disturbed nut case. They do not understand that you cannot constantly move the taxes up and down. Companies leave just to gain stability. The Democrats in California are completely insane. They are now even considering letting illegal NONCITIZENS sit on public boards and commissions in California! This is all because they HATE Trump so much. They are advocating all-out economic class warfare that anyone sho donates to Republicans should be boycotted. They do not believe in free speech and the left has historically started more wars to force their opinions upon everyone else.

We are rapidly approaching the moment when the USA will collapse into political hatred and it will be the end of the “United” states. Like Rome, the diversity of political opinion will be devastating. Byzantine Iconoclasm was literally a war over icons. Some people took it literally that there should be no image of the gods. They would kill people who dared to even possess an icon. There were two periods in the history of the Byzantine Empire when the use of religious images or icons was outlawed at the demand of religious zealots in the Eastern Church who would fight over who would be emperor like we have today about appointing people to the Supreme Court.

The “First Iconoclasm”, as it is sometimes called, lasted between about 725 and 787 following Justinian II who was the first to place the image of Jesus Christ on a coin. This people lasted for about 62 years or twice the Pi Cycle. The “Second Iconoclasm” was between 814 and 842, which was reestablished by a usurper of the throne who then imposed his beliefs upon the empire. Leo V the Armenian (b 775; reign 813-820) became Emperor of the Byzantine Empire by forcing his predecessor, Michael I Rangabe, to abdicate and hand the throne to him. It was Leo V who initiated the second period of Byzantine Iconoclasm killing people who dared to protect their icons. Here is a solidus of Leo V. Note that there are no images of Christ. Leo V was eventually assassinated by supporters of Michael the Amorian, one of his most trusted generals, who then succeeded him on the throne. Iconoclasm was continued by Theophilos (b800-805; 820-842AD). The second Iconoclast period ended with the death of the emperor Theophilus. In 843 his widow finally restored icon veneration, an event still celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Feast of Orthodoxy.

We are indeed rapidly approaching the time when we will need to just turn out the lights on the United States. This internal battle between socialists who will NEVER accept the position of others to live and let live will build and it will tear the country apart. Perhaps this is why it is a sin listed in the Ten Commandments not to covet thy neighbors goods. Perhaps they understood that this only leads to anarchy and will be the destruction of the United States.

 

Sep 3 2018

Actions Have Consequences – Red Hen Restaurant Refusal to Serve Press Secretary Leads To Drop in Town Tourism…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on September 2, 2018 by

The Associated Press is reporting that a Virginia tourism board is initiating an emergency fund to compensate for a significant drop in business as a result of the Red Hen Restaurant refusing to serve White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders:

Stephanie Wilkinson and family, owners of Red Hen restaurant.

LEXINGTON, Va. (AP) — A small town in Virginia is trying to recover its image after The Red Hen restaurant famously refused to serve President Donald Trump’s spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

The Roanoke Times reported Sunday that a regional tourism board is pulling together emergency funds to boost its digital marketing campaign.

Normally that money is saved. But officials agreed the region is in desperate need of positive coverage.

The tourism board serves Lexington, where The Red Hen is located, and other communities that are about three hours from Washington.

The Red Hen incident in June prompted thousands of a calls and emails to the tourism office. They’re still coming in. The office received a letter on Thursday from a Georgia family that wrote to say it would never return because of what happened. (link)

Gee, who didn’t see that coming?

Sep 2 2018

The Transgender Language War


“If there is any issue that can rouse conservatives and drive them to the polls, it is this one, with good reason. They perceive that their way of life is at stake. They know that if gender activists prevail, they will be left with a world they neither recognize nor like very much. They will be unable to communicate their displeasure; the words will have been stolen from them.”

California threatens to jail health workers who refuse to use ‘preferred’ pronouns.

By Abigail Shrier

Posted By Ruth King on August 30th, 2018
If you want to control people’s thoughts, begin by commandeering their words. Taking this Orwellian lesson to heart, Virginia’s Fairfax County public school system recently stripped the phrase “biological gender” from its family life curriculum, replacing it with “sex assigned at birth.”
Without permitting parents to opt out, public schools across the country are teaching children that “gender” is neither binary nor biological. It’s closer to a mental state: a question of how girllike or boylike you feel. Students will fall anywhere along a gender spectrum, according to these educators.
So how girllike does any girl feel? The answer might reasonably be expected to vary throughout adolescence, depending on whether a girl was just dumped by a boy or tripped in the hall. Mishaps that once only compromised one’s pride now threaten a child’s gender identity, the ever-evolving claim to a “girl card.” As if adolescence weren’t already hard enough.
This is the left’s allegedly defensive battle, waged on behalf of an aggrieved microminority even as it sets its sights on broader ideological territory. Consider recent state and local actions punishing those who decline to use an individual’s pronouns of choice. California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation last year threatening jail time for health-care professionals who “willfully and repeatedly” refuse to use a patient’s preferred pronouns.
Under guidelines issued in 2015 by New York City’s Commission on Human Rights, employers, landlords and business owners who intentionally use the wrong pronoun with transgender workers and tenants face potential fines of as much as $250,000.
Typically, in America, when groups disagree, we leave them to employ the vocabularies that reflect their values. My “affirmative action” is your “racial preferences.” One person’s “fetus” is another’s “baby boy.” This is as it should be; an entire worldview is packed into the word “fetus.” Another is contained in the reference to one person as “them” or “they.”
For those with a religious conviction that sex is both biological and binary, God’s purposeful creation, denial of this involves sacrilege no less than bowing to idols in the town square. When the state compels such denial among religious people, it clobbers the Constitution’s guarantee of free exercise of religion, lending government power to a contemporary variant on forced conversion.
But individuals need not be religious to believe that one person can never be a “they”; compelled speech is no less unconstitutional for those who refuse an utterance based on a different viewpoint, as the Supreme Court held in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943). Upholding students’ right to refuse to salute an American flag even on nonreligious grounds, Justice Robert H. Jackson declared: “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, religion or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.” This is precisely what forced reference to someone else as “ze,” “sie,” “hir,” “co,” “ev,” “xe,” “thon” or “they” entails. When the state employs coercive power to compel an utterance, what might otherwise be a courtesy quickly becomes a plank walk.
In most contexts, I would have no problem addressing others in any manner they chose. If a therapist wants to be called “doctor,” far be it from me to point out that she has a marriage and family therapy license, not a medical degree. But the Constitution’s protection of free speech neither begins nor ends with good manners. It extends all the way from rudeness to meekness, protecting those who hurl insults and those who would rather say nothing at all.
To the extent that the transgender movement seeks to promote compassion for those who struggle with their biological sex, we should be grateful for it. To the extent that it seeks to regulate others’ perspectives—commanding them to ignore biology and obey the dictates of new, state-mandated perception—we should resist it as an incursion into our most sacred liberties.
“Words in their primary or immediate signification, stand for nothing, but the ideas in the mind of him that uses them,” wrote John Locke. Ideas are merely the concatenations of words; if you can compel the use of certain words, you control thought and force those who differ into silence. Often, that seems to be the actual goal of gender-identity enthusiasts, since the minuscule numbers of those afflicted with true dysphoria couldn’t otherwise justify the rewriting of all manner of school applications and government forms.
If there is any issue that can rouse conservatives and drive them to the polls, it is this one, with good reason. They perceive that their way of life is at stake. They know that if gender activists prevail, they will be left with a world they neither recognize nor like very much. They will be unable to communicate their displeasure; the words will have been stolen from them.
Ms. Shrier is a writer living in Los Angeles.
Sep 2 2018

Why Aren’t DC Movies as Good as Marvel Movies?


Published on Aug 31, 2018

Stephen Green thinks most DC Comics movie adaptations, in a word, “Suck.” Why can’t they be more like Marvel? What’s the secret recipe? Will Aquaman break the curse by breaking the character? Subscribe and become a patron-producer spreading the message of liberty around the world, in an entertaining way: http://BillWhittle.com/subscribe Members get an extra episode each week, plus a backstage video-pass to our pre-production meeting. Bill Whittle, Stephen Green and Scott Ott have produced a three-man news commentary and humor show for about nine years, every week. Watch this video at the source and comment at: https://www.billwhittle.com/right-ang… Follow the Right Angle Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RightAngleTV/ Join the Right Angle MeWe group: https://mewe.com/join/right_angle
Sep 2 2018

Fighting Addiction in Rhode Island


Published on Aug 30, 2018

State buys drugs for inmates and recently-release ex-cons to keep them from overdosing. It seems to be working. But should your state tax and Medicaid dollars go to buy drugs for addicts. Bill Whittle, Stephen Green and Scott Ott examine the value, the risk, and perhaps the demise of this strange festival. Subscribe and become a patron-producer spreading the message of liberty around the world, in an entertaining way. http://BillWhittle.com/subscribe Members get an extra episode each week, plus a backstage video-pass to our pre-production meeting. Bill Whittle, Stephen Green and Scott Ott have produced a three-man news commentary and humor show for about nine years, every week. Watch this video at the source and comment at: https://www.billwhittle.com/right-ang… Follow the Right Angle Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RightAngleTV/