In Bud Light Debacle Workers Should Fight Too

I stand firmly with the Bud Light boycott over the controversy surrounding putting transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney on their beer cans. And that's saying something since I am generally opposed to boycotts. However, when it comes to woke and cancel culture, which has permeated businesses of all kinds for some years now, I take a different stance.

Enough is enough.

The role of business is not to promote social causes or to necessarily have one position or another. It is to promote their products and services and make a profit. When they sway from this primary purpose, they jeopardize their ability to do that.

But it is not just owners and shareholders that suffer when a backlash happens. It's the workers who get hurt in the process as well.

Consumers who are unhappy with what a business is doing is going to make a stand against it with their wallets. As someone once was quoted as saying, "Every dollar we spend casts a vote for the kind of world we want to live in." In the case of the Bud Light controversy, consumers are speaking quite loudly about their unhappiness.

At some point the position the company is taking is going to affect the workers who produce the products and services and I think they should be fighting just as hard against this sort of thing as consumers are. It's their jobs at stake, after all.

Because let's not forget, while Bud Light is only one brand among many, consumers boycotting Bud Light aren't necessarily boycotting just that brand. They are boycotting the company behind it. Anheuser-Busch InBev. So, while one may consider that other brands being sold could pick up the slack, so to speak, that's not necessarily the case.

Workers need to stand up and tell the company they work for that this sort of thing doesn't do anyone any good. You are taking a stand for a group of people who represent only 1% of the population. The other 99% are standing against you and if profits fall, our jobs could be cut.

Granted, people in general do have short attention spans, and so it is reasonable to assume that perhaps this issue falls by the wayside sooner rather than later. Still, with losses looming around $7 billion and counting, and with woke and cancel culture becoming more and more disliked, the impact of Bud Light's decision to put Mulvaney on the can could well be a lasting one after all.

Part of the issue, I think, is that I don't think companies are necessarily getting the message clearly enough. The response from Anheuser-Busch InBev about the controversy, which was more of a non-response, seems to indicate that.

They sort of said to their customers, "We don't care what you think." And even if that's not word-for-word what they said, that's what customers heard. That was the essence of the company's response. "We are going to do what we want to do and you're just going to have to accept that and fall in line."

In other words, I don't think it is enough for just consumers to stop buying the products. I think other businesses should make a stand too and pull products from their shelves, and workers should step off the production line and say, "We're not returning to work until you understand your customers better."

You have to fight fire with fire. Because the woke and cancel crowd right now have all the fire, and a lot of it. The rest of us need to have as much fire individually as they do, because ultimately we will have more fire. We are the majority.

Whether or not workers would actually do this is debatable. Or even retailers. I understand, on a common-sense surface level why they might choose not to. Still, if the message is not delivered strongly enough, the other side will simply keep on winning, and the majority will have to continue to be bombarded with more of this nonsense that is becoming a deadly cancer on American business.

Like the way I write or the things I write about? Follow me on my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/jimbauerwrites where I post my blogs, articles and other writing from here and all the other places I write.

Steel and Aluminum Tariffs Right For Jobs

CALL ME A PROTECTIONIST IF YOU LIKE. I am actually okay with that. The truth, if you have kept up with me at all in the past, is that I side more with the idea of free trade than anything. That aside, I strongly support the American worker, and have long held that what we know to be free trade today really isn't free trade at all if those other countries we are competing with are not playing by the same set of rules.

What, in part, leads me to believe the way I do? For one, I think we had the best and the strongest economic times when we were leaders in manufacturing. It used to be that the largest companies were all manufacturers, and those factories employed many millions of workers and provided jobs that paid family supporting wages and offered family supporting benefits as well.

Granted, many of these manufacturing companies WERE unionized, and I am also strongly against unions—but that is for another day.

Nowadays it seems the largest employer in the United States is Walmart. Not that I have anything at all against Walmart, but let's face it. They don't offer the same kinds of job opportunities, wages, and benefits that the large manufacturing firms of the past offered. And many of those jobs aren't even full time.

I want to talk a bit about the recent announcement by the Trump administration that tariffs would be placed on imported steel and aluminum.

The fact is that over the years, and actually over several decades, we have lost untold numbers of jobs due to steel and aluminum imports, the bulk of which has come from China. The other industries notwithstanding, what has been left for the American worker are the REAL CRUMBS Nancy Pelosi

and her democrat cohorts should be talking about.

Taco Bell, McDonald's, convenience stores and the like are the largest employers in this country if you take away small business. And none of them pay a living wage, and I would argue offer little in the way of a career path either. Let's not forget that MANY of those small businesses are actually restaurants which also do not pay high wages.

One of the things Trump talked about during his campaign were the stagnant wages this country has suffered for a very long time, and the plight of the people in jobs that just don't do anything to help lift them up out of the doldrums and off the dole. While protesters marched in the streets demanding $15 an hour jobs flipping hamburgers, then candidate Trump promised the American people that he would fix some of the wrongs over many decades that left American workers no real choice but to trade in their steel toed boots for spatulas. He wanted to put America first, put the American worker first, and bring back manufacturing...

The heart, bread, AND butter that made for a vibrant and robust American middle class.

I have long argued as well that part of the issues that plague the inner cities can be directly tied to the loss of manufacturing jobs—and even probably contributed in a big way to the entire breakdown of those inner cities.

NOT EVERYONE IS COLLEGE BOUND, NOR SHOULD THEY BE.

And that is not to suggest that I think that black people, because I just mentioned the inner cities which have large black populations, are less capable of getting a college degree. But manufacturing was indeed a sector that provided for very strong earnings for people of all colors and all walks of life to get out of high school and go out and make wages that would one day afford them the opportunity to join the ranks of the middle class.

Think of the economy sort of like the ecosystem. Remove one food source and something else dies as a result. When you took out manufacturing from the economy, many people were impacted by this—and it is not necessarily a question of simply getting different jobs. It's a question of what quality of jobs were left in manufacturing's stead.

When you have family supporting wages, and when you feel good about the opportunities and direction in your life, you tend to be more rooted—and thus family values are stronger. The inner cities in particular, and in large part, lost a part of that opportunity and one can easily see the path it has lead us on.

Back in the early days of this country, especially as our economy began to become more and more dominant, of course the people of this country were doing well. When an economy is doing well, the cost of labor rises. Lesser economically developed countries could naturally have an advantage over the American worker since it would have the ability to produce certain goods cheaper by default.

HOW DO YOU FIX THAT?

Tariffs. Duties assigned to imported goods to bring those imported goods on par with domestic goods.

And by the way, to me that's real free trade. Competition. Not only that, but FAIR competition. Let's compete on the quality of the product, not the price. Why should a Chinese manufacturer have an advantage JUST BECAUSE they happen to be able to make the product for less even if, for argument's sake, the two products are exactly the same?

The steel and aluminum coming out of the United States is no different than the steel and aluminum coming out of China. The only difference happens to be the price. And the question I have is, if that is the only difference, why should the American steel worker or aluminum smelter have to suffer and lose his job just because China can make the same product cheaper? Why should that worker be forced to say, take a job at Walmart because not only has the steel and aluminum industry been winked out—but the automakers and the oven makers, and other manufacturers have also left town?

When this whole thing got started, and this is not a new argument for me either, the fact that we could get goods cheaper was a novelty. In the beginning people were still going to work everyday making a Ford, or making a Frigidaire, and it was neat that they could walk into a Kmart and buy something for less, stretching their already good wages even farther.

What actually happened is those Ford jobs went to Mexico, and those Frigidaire jobs went to China, and when they walked into a Kmart store to buy cheaper goods it was not because it was neat. It was because it was all they could afford. Because after the good jobs left, as they stood in line waiting to check out at Kmart, they found themselves in a position to also ask for a job application.

Do I like the fact that because of the tariffs the price of goods containing steel and aluminum will likely be higher? Of course not. At the same time, I do think we are long overdue in this country to get away from the bulk of American jobs being reduced to retail and fast food—if we can get Americans back to work in factories, making better wages, I think we all benefit from that. Even the companies we work for. I think the world benefits from it as well because honestly there will never be a time when there will not be a need for, nor a demand for imported goods. If Americans have better jobs, and make better money, that just means Americans will also buy more goods.

NO MATTER WHAT, WE ARE STILL A CONSUMER DRIVEN SOCIETY.

What the real outcome of this global market has been is to slow down what is the real potential of the American consumer to consume at the rate that they might otherwise consume. What is even worse, and again is for another day, is that we have also created an enormous problem in this country with consumer debt which now surpasses $1 trillion. It is safe to say that with all of that debt out there, and if we continued on the path of low paying service economy jobs—a huge portion of that $1 trillion debt might be subject to default.

THINK BACK TO THE SUBPRIME CRASH. THIS COULD VERY WELL HAPPEN TO THE ENTIRE CREDIT CARD INDUSTRY.

You can take an old adage here into account, if you will indulge me, that you cannot get blood out of a stone. If American workers are not making money to buy goods and services, and ring up huge debts just trying to keep up, there will be no money for anyone at the end of the day to collect. And what's more, the amounts you can collect will become smaller, and smaller, and smaller.

Part of the reason we have come to a place that even welfare rolls are so high is because people have been left with less choices to find meaningful jobs. Letting the Mexicans and the Chinese, and whoever else, to win just leaves everyone behind, including the Mexicans and the Chinese.

Let me get to one last point here. One thing Trump is proving is that America can compete. What has largely held us back, besides all of the initiatives of past presidents to allow for things like NAFTA and MFN status—and unions by the way—are regulations stacked on regulations and high corporate taxes. Those things, even more than wages I contest, have more to do with why American workers lost out, and continue to lose out to foreign competition in the jobs market.

WHAT'S MORE, it is also a large part of the reason many of those foreign manufacturers even have not operated in the United States. Taxes and regulations.

If Trump can continue to succeed in getting rid of burdensome regulation, can continue to exceed in lowering the corporate tax rates, and can continue to succeed in boosting the American economy as a whole, it will only make sense that Chinese and Mexican companies may decide to start building more things in the homeland.

Like Foxconn, for example, which is starting up a massive operation in Wisconsin.

What we need in this country is a return the good old days of old where the middle class is vibrant and abundant. We need to return to a time when people have money to spend and have money to save.

When you live in the most economically rich and successful country in the world, half the population should not simply be left to have to get by. The people of the country should have the opportunity to get ahead.

There are over 300 million people in this country, and that number continues to grow. Based on just simple math as to what that relates to in terms of consumption rates, the truth is that there is, and will be plenty of money to go around—you can support both strong American labor forces and you will still need plenty of imports just to keep up.

We have to right this ship. We have to restore manufacturing. We have to restore wages. We will have less people on the dole, and the government will actually take in more money, and so will the rest of the world as a whole.

The tariffs on steel and aluminum are a great place to start. Personally I want to see more of this. I want to see more deals renegotiated when it comes to trade. I want a level playing field. I want more Americans to have more choices when they decide what they want to do when they enter the work force. I want to see less Americans relying on the government and more American workers making family supporting wages. I want to see family values return. And even some of that may be possible if we can get back to a time when a single income household was more than enough and children had solid support and role models to guide their future lives, which only made the country better and stronger, and safer for that matter.

In the end it won't matter if my can of beer might cost a few cents more. I'll be making dollars more that will more than make up the difference and pick up the tab.

.@SecretaryRoss: "We're talking about a total of $9 billion of tariffs. That's about one half of one percent of the economy. So this business that 'the sky is falling' is just silly." #SundayFutures @MariaBartiromo pic.twitter.com/zHx3P49fKR

— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 4, 2018

We MUST Fix The Economy or Die

In business there are two realities; the way things should be, and the way things are. But at the end of the day what business is intended to do is to make as much money as possible, principally for the owners of the company. So you can't blame corporations for going overseas for labor if the balance sheets tell you that it just makes good business sense.

For years I have railed against the imbalances in our free market system, and that's saying something since I happen to be a strong proponent of the free market. But what I have argued is that what we have now is not really a free market at all. It's a market that is rigged and it's not necessarily because of the businesses, but because of policy which has made myriad deals with other nations which have served to suffocate the American worker, kill the middle class, widen the gap between the rich and the poor, and simply make our economy a real sour lemon.

I have long held that the key to the continuity of American progress economically is that we have to make things. Back in the day cheaper was a novelty. It was a convenience. People were making good money, and cheaper goods meant they could make it go farther. Now cheaper is a necessity. Median income has been nearly unchanged for the past 30 years—and that's a problem because inflation has not been stagnant.

You want to do the right thing and keep as much of your operations in the United States as possible. But when there are a multitude of things that hinder the sensibility of doing that, you are forced to rethink things and just "go with the flow."

Taxes, regulations, cheap labor overseas, unruly union leaders...

All of these things make it difficult for a business to operate within the margins and compete, not

only with foreign businesses doing business in the United States, but to compete with companies operating within its own borders.

Who knows this better than anyone? Businessmen. If you leave this sort of thing up to people who have never been in business what you wind up with are good intentions that look good in theory and on paper, but when put into reality it becomes clear to see that it's more than just a mess. It's a fucking disaster.

The simple truth is that both establishment republicans and democrats alike simply don't know what's wrong, and therefore don't really have the right solutions for fixing the problem. The democrats want to point fingers at the rich and big business, and want to tout unions who at one time had their place in the world, but are now corrupt and hugely bad for business, and who have done as much damage—if not more—to the stability of the American workers' wages than even the worst trade deals. And there are, of course, the trade deals, largely supported by the republican party in the interest of the free markets, which again, I argue aren't operating like a true free market at all.

Going with the "status quo" simply is not going to get it done. It's a failing proposition, and I think in part it is a large reason Donald Trump is getting so much traction in this presidential race. On the flip side, it may also be a part of why even a guy like Bernie Sanders at any stage in this race could ever be perceived by anyone to be viable—even for progressive liberal democrats. The signal, which is very clear, is that if guys like Sanders and Trump are resonating with voters it is because the majority of Americans—even if they are unclear exactly why—are finally starting to understand that they are no longer even running in place. They are going backwards. And if and until we address this matter, and right quick, it may be impossible to gain any traction economically.

Anyone who has ever had even a little bit of credit card debt knows that it is much harder to get out of debt the deeper in debt you go. If our economy is not fixed now. If the trade imbalances are not fixed now. If the trade deals are not renegotiated now...

We could lose our standing in the world as an economic power, and we may never get it back. Even if we finally work toward that goal, our country would be a second or third tier nation economically for the next 50-100 years.

Unfortunately, and I am a republican mind you, none of the other guys on the stage—not a single one of them except for Donald Trump—will do a damn thing to address the meat of why the economy is largely in the state that it is in.

Granted, Trump may not be able to get anything done either. I get that. But of all of the other candidates on the stage, he is the only guy stating what I have believed for years when it comes to jobs and business and the stability of the American economy.

Cheap labor has us by the balls and our hands our tied behind our backs so we can't loosen the grip.

But it's not just the cheap labor. It is simply a component. It's those fucking trade deals. The one thing we know of our history is that back in the day we knew there would be differences between one economy and another, and in order to level the playing field we made adjustments—tariffs. We have long gotten ridden of correcting imbalances by opening up Most Favored Nation status with countries like China. We've widened imbalances with deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)—George H.W. Bush pushed for it, and Clinton eventually signed it into law—and the most recent Trans-Pacific deal. We have allowed Japan to dictate what we can sell to them, and likewise China. We have allowed China, in fact, to tell us flat out "if you want to sell to us, you have to make it in China."

What America has become, and not just in terms of economics, is a giant sell out, and who has been hurt badly by this is us. The American people. And despite our ability to vote our leaders in or out, we really have not had much control on this issue. We've had to simply do what is necessary. But again, continuing along that path puts us in a very real and dangerous situation. We are at that certain turning point in our nation on this issue among other very important ones. It's do or die. We simply must get it right this time around. If we do not, America as we know it may well be lost forever.

Buying American Made Is Easier Than You Think

Every time I bring up the idea of buying more American made goods in order to help supply more cash to the American economy, and encourage businesses to identify demand for goods made in America, and essentially increase efforts to manufacture their products here, and provide more jobs to Americans who still are hard pressed to find meaningful work that pays workers good wages, I get met with dissent.

"Things cost too much to make it here," people say. "American companies cannot compete with lower wages in other countries."

I tend to find these accusations to be false. It sounds good. It's certainly what we have been led to believe by not only the companies who make things, but the government has touted this often as well, and always like to bring up the idea that this is a global economy, and that commerce with other countries is vitally important to the American economy and her people.

Yet the largest employer in the United States is currently Walmart, unemployment remains at considerably high levels, median income is down by nearly $4,000 per year per American, and for the last 30 or so years wages in America for the average worker has either declined, or been stagnant. The middle class is on their death bed, and the gap between the rich and the poor is ever widening.

The fact is that there are still things made in America, and they don't necessarily cost more than goods made elsewhere. It just takes a little extra time to look for things made here. Among some things still made in America, aside certain makes and models of automobiles, are socks, outdoor grills, water heaters, dishwashers and other appliances, plastic containers, glassware, cutlery, shoes, and many other items that people generally have a use for.

Consider something here that I find interesting. That is that there are approximately 300 million people living in America. If each and every American bought just $365 worth of American made goods, this would pour approximately $109.5 billion dollars into U.S. manufacturing. Not only would this provide an incentive for American companies, and even foreign companies, to do business here and employ Americans, but this would also assume that more money would be able to be collected by the IRS. More people working, making higher wages, and essentially having more buying power in the real economy means less people on the dole, less requirement for the government to engage in social programs which cost taxpayers huge dollar amounts, and at the end of the day this means more people able to afford any premiums that may be associated with American made versus foreign made goods.

In America it was fine at one time to think about benefits of globalization. Unfortunately I think we are seeing the proof is in the pudding that what globalization has largely done has been to cost Americans much needed work, benefits, and higher wages, and has forced Americans more than ever to struggle through their own financial woes with less ability to provide for their families and pursue their dreams, desires, and goals.

It's just $365 a year in American made goods. This generates $109.5 billion of revenue for American manufacturing. I think getting to a point where we think more and more about the importance of making things here, the more opportunity Americans will have to have to find American made products, and the easier it will be to slowly inch our way back up to doubling, and even tripling these numbers pouring into the American manufacturing sector of our economy.

American Flag Should Be Made in America

It's not a very big request is it? I mean, the American flag is our symbol. It stands for everything we stand for as a country. It seems to me that to ask that at least to have the American flag proudly made in the U.S.A. is a very small request indeed.

Oh, I get it's about money. And I understand that there are a ton of people who are going to disagree with me on the grounds that globalization is as much a part of America as perhaps apple pie is.

Still, with unemployment still at such high levels, I've said it a thousand times we need something here in this country. An American flag that proudly waves, proudly made here on our soil? Worth gold if you ask me.

It's not just about protectionism really. It's not about free markets and globalization. It's about American pride. It's about American patriotism. Nothing pains me more to see those beautiful red, white, and blue stars and stripes, and then see the words Made in China.

Call me anal retentive. It's okay. As I said in my blog about onion prices, I've been called that before. It's no sweat off my back. I'll not shed a single tear.

But neither will I buy a flag that is not made here if I can help it.

READ ON:
Where Can I Buy An American Flag
Compostable Potato Chip Bags
The Gift of Heartfelt Sentiment
PROFILE OF A PATRIOT