Tag Archives: #Business

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But, but, but, it’s just so unfair! Caitlin Clark's new endorsement deals are all about the Benjamins

Caitlin Clark was the top NCAA women’s basketball player this past season, and was the number one draft pick by the Indiana Fever. She was the major reason that the Iowa Hawkeyes’ women’s team got more coverage this year, and that the women’s tournament drew a lot more viewers than the norm. And, as her rookie season begins, the advance television schedule shows that the Indiana Fever will get a lot more national television coverage.

WNBA salaries are far lower than those of NBA players. That’s just so terribly unfair, the advocates scream, but the WNBA’s regular season of 40 games is less than half of the NBA’s 82 game schedule, and the women’s games draw far fewer fans in the stands.

You know who else doesn’t get paid as much as NBA players? National Hockey League players, because they just don’t have as sizable a fan base.

And now, in what the advocates see as the ultimate insult, Miss Clark, who is white, got a high value shoe contract:

The Caitlin Clark Effect and the uncomfortable truth behind it

by Jim Trotter | Thursday, April 25, 2024

It’s not surprising that corporations are lining up like fans along arena railings to get Caitlin Clark’s autograph. The former Iowa star is a transcendent talent who has proven she is as proficient at breaking viewership records as scoring marks, drawing capacity crowds at home and on the road and even attracting 17,000 spectators to an open practice during Final Four weekend. Her WNBA jersey sold out within hours of her being drafted No. 1 overall by the Indiana Fever, and multiple teams have moved upcoming games to larger venues to accommodate “unprecedented demand” for Fever games.

So, it makes perfect sense that she has been hired to pitch everything from home and auto insurance to performance drinks, from trading cards to supermarket chains, from automobiles to financial investment firms. She’s not only deserving of every opportunity but also has earned every endorsement deal that’s been placed before her, including a $28 million Nike pact that includes her own signature shoe line, as reported by The Athletic.

That being said, we should not delude ourselves into believing her appeal as an influencer is based solely on basketball, because it’s not. Arguing otherwise is an affront to history and reality. Clark’s attractiveness to local companies and national corporations is heightened by the fact that she is a White woman who has dominated a sport that’s viewed as predominately Black; a straight woman who is joining a league with a sizable LGBTQ+ player population; and a person who comes from America’s heartland, where residents often feel their beliefs and values are ignored or disrespected by the geographical edges of the country.

Because sport and society are constructed from the same fabric, it’s impossible to separate them, which is why it’s foolish to act as if basketball is the only thing fueling The Caitlin Clark Effect. The primary thing? Yes. But not the only thing.

There’s more at the original, and the article is also reproduced here, for those who don’t like The Athletic’s registration process to see the article.

But can we tell the truth here? If you look at the sports schedules on ESPN, you’ll see mostly men’s contests, but the women’s games you do see are mostly ice skating, NCAA gymnastics, and volleyball, and especially beach volleyball with the athletes wearing bikinis, with basketball very much behind. Why? Because the executives at ESPN understand their audience, and know that their mostly male viewership would rather see pretty white women! Hey, I’m a normal man: I’d rather look at pretty women than less attractive ones.

The shoe contract? The execs at Nike don’t really care about some sort of ‘equality’ in sports; they care about selling basketball shoes! And if the viewership for women’s basketball has been driven up by the success of a white player, they’re going to ride that success to what they hope will be selling more shoes.

The racial component when discussing brand ambassadors may make people uncomfortable, but it’s a conversation that merits consideration. Sue Bird, who is White and gay and one of the legends of women’s basketball, addressed it in 2020 while discussing the league’s inability at that time to capture the country’s attention in the same way that the U.S. women’s national soccer team had done.

“Even though we’re female athletes playing at a high level, our worlds, you know, the soccer world and the basketball world are just totally different,” she said. “And to be blunt it’s the demographic of who’s playing. Women’s soccer players generally are cute little white girls while WNBA players — we are all shapes and sizes … a lot of Black, gay, tall women. … There is maybe an intimidation factor and people are quick to judge it and put it down.”

Miss Bird might, just might, have left something out. Her ‘partner’ is now-retired soccer star Megan Rapinoe, who has a long history of far-left activism and has alienated many people. And in stressing that “Women’s soccer players generally are cute little white girls,” she’s telling you a lot about some WNBA players, who aren’t necessarily that physically attractive. Miss Bird and Miss Rapinoe also just led some 400 current and former women athletes who signed a letter to the NCAA urging the protection of ‘transgender’ athletes, allowing them to compete under the ‘gender’ with which they identify rather than their actual sex. I wonder how they’d have felt if Dennis Rodman decided that he identified as a woman and tried to join the WNBA?

You know who else has lost popularity due to activism? LeBron James, the greatest current NBA player, though clearly on the downside of his career.

The businesses which have signed deals with Miss Clark — and there haves been more than just Nike — all have one goal in mind, and that’s to make money. American consumers who are influenced by whether Miss Clark sports a specific shoe? They are free people, able to take their own decisions, for whatever reasons they have.
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Also posted on American Free News Network. Check out American Free News Network for more well written and well reasoned conservative commentary.

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When a reporter has more of an agenda than an understanding of economics and business.

We have twice reported on the decisions of Wawa to close down some stores in foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadelphia. The late Josh Kruger complained bitterly about such.

This crime is not new, and The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Headhouse Square Wawa “will become the sixth Center City Wawa to shutter since 2020.”

So, you would think that an article in the newspaper on food ‘deserts’ in some Philly neighborhoods would at least mention crime. But, if you did think that, you would be wrong.

About 40 million people in the United States don’t have access to a full-service grocery store

The 2023 update of the Limited Supermarket Access Study examines the lack convenient access to health food options across the nation — and in Philadelphia.

by Lynette Hazleton | Thursday, March 21, 2024 | 5:00 AM EST

What food is available has everything to do with the food stores that are available.

When the food store is a full-service supermarket, like the ShopRite in Parkside, it usually means you will have the access to a wider variety, higher-quality and lower-cost food, explained Michelle Schmitt, a senior policy analyst at The Reinvestment Fund (TRF) as she walked around the bustling 15-year-old supermarket.

As you can see, the article wasn’t produced by the regular Inquirer staff, but the Leftist Lenfest Institute for Journalism, the non-profit which owns the newspaper. I have previously noted that, as a subscriber, I sometimes receive begging for donations letters from the Leftist Lenfest Institute.

When you don’t have the same access to high quality food as you do to chips, fast food and soda, it can contribute to an unhealthy eating pattern that can ultimately lead to chronic disease.

How is it that Lynette Hazelton, the Philly native who reported this story, couldn’t bring herself to note that the densely-populated rowhouse neighborhoods which make up a significant part of the city’s neighborhoods don’t really have room for a huge Giant Food Mart? Yes, there are corner bodegas in most of the neighborhoods, where you can get those chips, fast foods, soda, beer, lottery tickets, and the occasional bullet in your chest. But the kinds of supermarkets that Miss Hazelton envisions take up around ten acres when parking lots are included.

Schmitt is the main author of the 2023 update to the Limited Supermarket Access (LSA) study which determines who is and is not well served by their grocery store. The official definition for limited supermarket access is 500 people in a low income tract where urban members are more than a mile and rural shoppers are more than 10 miles to a full service store. It is the fourth update since 2010 and the first to include Alaska and Hawaii.

The big take away: about 40 million Americans live without easy access to healthy food options.

Take Parkside, Belmont and Mantua neighborhoods of West Philadelphia. Together they are home to roughly 48,755 residents. Virtually all the blocks are very densely populated, 66% Black and almost half the people had an annual income of $25,000 in 2021, the latest data available.

This was some sloppy writing. Did Miss Hazeltom mean that $25,000 was the median income?

While this is the neighborhood many traditional stores would overlook, it is the type of neighborhood that the LSA study showed was in desperate need of a supermarket.

OK, why would “many traditional stores” overlook those neighborhoods? The author noted that “Virtually all the blocks are very densely populated,” which means less available area to put in a ten-acre supermarket. The neighborhoods are mostly poor, and grocery stores “operate on razor-thin profit margins. The industry average is between one and three percent, far below other retail sectors. With such lean margins, grocery stores rely on high sales volume and inventory turnover to thrive.” Then you throw in Philly’s crime rate, and the obvious question is easy to determine: how could a supermarket make a profit there?

Supermarkets were once associated with suburbs, and by the 1970s seven out of every ten food dollars were spent there. But also supermarkets did not place their businesses in low-income communities which lead to real consequences.

This paragraph alone tells you just how poor Miss Hazelton’s article was. The source she hyperlinked told her that grocery stores in Philly were mostly the ‘corner grocery store’ type, operating in the rowhouse neighborhoods, yet somehow, she couldn’t figure out that those neighborhood structures dictated the kinds of grocery stores that were there. In more rural areas, we had “general stores” before supermarkets were developed, and many lament that so few of those old general stores exist. Alas! The old general store that was near where I now live went out of business, became someone’s auto repair shop for a while, and is now a small volunteer fire station. Kroger and Giant and Aldi forced those old country general stores out of business, but in the suburbs and rural areas, there was the physical room for supermarkets.

Perhaps it’s as simple as the reporter having more of an agenda than an understanding of economics and business.

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The 15-Minute City: Another exercise in Soviet economic planning! The oh-so-well-intentioned left seem to think they can 'design' how people live their lives.

Have you ever heard of the 15-minute city concept? As defined by Wikipedia, it is:

an urban planning concept in which most daily necessities and services, such as work, shopping, education, healthcare, and leisure can be easily reached by a 15-minute walk, bike ride, or public transit ride from any point in the city. This approach aims to reduce car dependency, promote healthy and sustainable living, and improve wellbeing and quality of life for city dwellers.

I will admit it: I hadn’t heard of this idea until seeing an article on it by William Teach of The Pirate’s Cove. Upon reading about it, and the concept, I was reminded of a couple of articles I read in Sunday’s Philadelphia Inquirer:

What happens after a Philly neighborhood’s last chain pharmacy shuts its doors

After the Grays Ferry Rite Aid closed this fall, residents there said they felt abandoned and had to devise new ways to get their prescriptions. Seniors without cars struggled.

by Erin McCarthy | Sunday, February 4, 2024 | 5:00 AM EST Continue reading →

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What could possibly go wrong?

Who could ever have predicted this?

Pronouns Ruin Prospects: Research Proves Hiring Managers’ Bias Against Non-Binary and Gender Queer Pronoun Users

by Ananyaa Bhowmik | May 30, 2023

Pronouns may be nothing new, but the idea that people may claim their own is still somewhat astonishing to some. Many people still succumb to the siren call of referring to people using binary pronouns.

While struggling to get used to something relatively new is understandable, what is not fair is using it as an excuse to promote bias, especially when it can keep people from earning their livelihoods. Yet hiring managers all over the world seem to be doing just that.

Simply put, research into recent hiring trends shows that resumes with genderqueer and non-binary pronouns elicit less than enthusiastic responses from prospective employers. Some applications are skipped over entirely, while others never receive a callback. A worrying trend, to say the least.

Why wouldn’t a responsible human resources manager discard résumés in which the applicant is telling him that he’s a walking, talking hostile workplace lawsuit?

It isn’t difficult to see where the issue is. If someone goes to the extent of specifying “genderqueer and non-binary pronouns,” he is telling his prospective employer that he finds the issue serious, and wants to be referred to in ways that most normal English-speaking people would not normally use. Whether deliberately or otherwise, such a person may be referred to with references of which he disapproves, and too many such incidences could generate a lawsuit against the employer. The human resources manager’s job is to do more than find the best employees; it is also to protect the company from lawsuits. And one of the easiest ways to do that is not to hire people who could be seen as increasing the probability of a hostile workplace lawsuit.

Legislative guidance introduced by NYCHRL clearly states that the “use the name, pronouns, and title (e.g., Ms./Mrs./Mx.) 15 with which a person self-identifies, regardless of the person’s sex assigned at birth, anatomy, gender, medical history, appearance, or the sex indicated on the person’s identification.” Despite that, recent research conducted by Business.com concluded that “More than 80 percent of nonbinary people believed that identifying as nonbinary would hurt their job search.”

I spent my career in an almost all-male industry, and it doesn’t take much imagination to see how a significant number of the men with whom I worked would react to a “genderqueer or non-binary” employee. Such an employee would receive little respect and be the target of disparaging remarks. Why would I want to risk having to discipline, and perhaps even lose several trained and experience concrete mixer drivers because there was one employee who specified references which were out-of-the-norm?

I’m retired now, and hadn’t handled any hiring duties the last eleven years during my career, so I, fortunately, never had to face any such silliness in my decisions. But I do know one thing: the job of any employee in taking hiring decisions is to do the best job for the company, and not the applicants.