Colleges give Russell Athletics the Work Over

Ah, there is hope for our future-sort of. Yesterday news surfaced the Russell Athletics’ factory in Honduras laid off about 2,000 people declaring the reason is the bad economy; however the truth may be because factory workers in Honduras attempted to unionize for better working conditions and benefits. Information has risen that unionizing workers were harassed by factory managers and this obviously goes against fair labor practices here and abroad. Ironically Russell Athletic took the opportunity to blame the economy for their poor management and oversight of an overseas factory. Yes, even those laborers in Honduras have rights.

The news spread quickly and several colleges including the University of Minnesota, Penn State, Cornell and others have all cancelled their license agreements with Russell Athletic in regards to the allegations. What gives me hope for our future is students in Minnesota will be marching in protest to Russell Athletic and more and more students are seeing the value in industry and labor.

In reading all the economic news having studied economics and even worked in a global industry I am beginning to see a clear distinction between two separate theories. One theory is the “finance gurus and experts.” Personally these people remind me of the “Little Pigs” nursery rhyme. “This little piggy went to market, this little piggy cried wee, wee, wee, all the way home.” You got it, financier’s masterminds of stocks, investments, credits and mortgages.

The second economic ideology is developing businesses based on the supply and demand of goods and services. You research the consumers, find a demand and you supply the product or service to make a profit. This works on the small businesses, large corporations and as a nations import/export GNP. This would be a good way to get the US budget and deficit back on track; start producing here in the US and exporting goods to other nations. Look, we condemn consumers for spending more than they earn. Well, that is exactly what our corporations should be doing. We are not EARNING money at the global level, we are buying more, importing more and exporting less. It is these products and services that drive our economy and our society.

What is interesting to me is hearing the voices of college students and young entrepreneurs calling on industry and as one young man put it, “Economics 101.” It is good to see young people holding the bad behavior of corporations accountable. It is indeed their future, let’s here from the newly economic educated, because honestly, the financiers, pundits and so forth are not doing us any good. We need to start listening to people who understand the basics of economics, not people who just want to get rich on investments and hock credit.