09/5/18

Nike – Social Justice Warriors

So, I have long given up on the National Football League and, of course, it’s college football season, so who needs them?

Turns out Nike does and made the fallen angel Colin Kaepernick the centerpiece of their 30th anniversary “Just do it!” advertising campaign.

Image result for nike logo images

Doesn’t impact me – well, other than I am not buying any Nike stuff, but I’m a long time vintage Adidas guy anyway.

So, I got interested in what other social justice things Mighty Nike was involved in and, WOW, did I find out some troubling stuff.

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09/5/18

KPIs – Keeping Score

Big Red Car here keeping score on YOU!

KPIs, talking key performance indicators. Scorecards.

I thought I had written about this subject, but I cannot find it. Must be getting a little spacey, the Big Red Car.

So, today, I want to run through quickly a couple of key performance indicators you should be keeping track of at your company.

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09/4/18

Tired – That Special Kind of Tired

Big Red Car here with the Labor Day holiday in the rear view mirror. Rained all day in the ATX, but we love our September rains. Bring. Them. On.

Got me thinking about the number of times I’d worked hard and ended up bone crushingly tired.

It was a special kind of tired.

I wish that every man and woman in the United States could experience that phenomenon. Good hard back breaking work followed by a paralyzing level of tired. It gives a person worth.

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09/3/18

Accidental War With Iran

Big Red Car here on Labor Day thinking about a weird topic – accidental war with Iran.

The reason I am thinking about this is a recent threat I have seen in several Middle East periodicals suggesting that Iran will close off the Straits of Hormuz if the US imposes sanctions on the sale of Iranian oil.

The US has already begun to impose sanctions on Iran as of early August with another round of sanctions to hit in November of this year. The November sanctions will include sanctions on Iranian oil.

Image result for images iran navy

Small rocket-equipped Iranian vessels practicing attacking shipping in the Straits of Hormuz. The Iranians have a large number of such vessels and might achieve the element of tactical surprise in their first such attack.

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08/28/18

NAFTA – Rebranding?

Big Red Car here on a cloudy Texas day. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll crack 100F, but it’s a little cloudy today.

So, the big news on trade coming out of Washington and Mexico City is that the US and Mexico have agreed on a “new” trade deal. Have they?

The new deal is a bi-lateral deal between the US and Mexico. Mexico is on the verge of inaugurating a new president (1 December 2018), so the timing is a little dicey. The outgoing Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto, will have to obtain approval from the Mexican legislature. He is more likely to be an ally given his long history with the negotiations.

President Trump, reiterating his historic disaffection with NAFTA, has taken to calling this bi-lateral agreement the US-Mexico Trade Agreement.

Image result for images trump trade

“Yeah, so I told you I would re-negotiate NAFTA and, with Mexico, I have. Now, we need to get Canada into the deal. I can do it.”

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08/27/18

Exemplars – Corporate Governance

Big Red Car here safely returned from travels back to the ATX, ahhh, on Earth as it is in Texas! Warm old Texas!

So, the Big Red Car gets a call from a young fledgling company CEO (a compilation of three such calls with the names changed to protect the innocent) who says, “Big Red Car, do you have a good exemplar for a corporate Code of Conduct, a Board Charter, an Audit Committee Charter, a Nominating Committee Charter, and a Compensation Committee Charter?”

“Yes, I do, young fledgling company CEO, but do you know how to Google?” asked your Big Red Car.

“Of course, Big Red Car, my first child is named Google. Why?”

“So, Google and find some good exemplars. I suspect you don’t want to pay your lawyer to draft them for you. Correct?”

“Yes, Big Red Car. I need some corporate governance docs and I don’t want to pay a lawyer to draft them for me. I admit it.”

“Are you intending to just copy from an exemplar?”

“Why, no, Big Red Car, but I would like to see what other companies are using. Is that a crime?”

No, it is not. So, the Big Red Car sends the CEO to the corporate governance page of Dollar General: Corporate Governance.

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08/22/18

Universal Basic Income

Universal Basic Income, Big Red Car? Huh?

Big Red Car here lobbying for a paint job while talking up the latest experiments in the Universal Basic Income – also known as basic income, basic income guarantee, basic living stipend, or universal demogrant. They are all the same thing.

Advocates of UBI have for years sold the idea as a campaign to “eradicate poverty” while others have championed it as a means of unlocking the creative potential locked deep within all of us.

Those who lean right may consider it as a means to consolidate and eliminate all other welfare programs and thereby make government welfare more efficient.

You can get a discussion on a lot of different implications including poverty, unlocking potential, freedom from wage slavery, reducing crime, a response to technology and automation unemployment, welfare administration, gender equality, the recognition of uncompensated home work by women, and a ton of other ideas.

Please take a second to identify your thoughts on the subject.

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08/21/18

Texas Oil

Big Red Car here talking Texas oil, y’all. One of the worst reported business phenomenon is the enormous strength of American oil production and Texas’ part in that.

Y’all know all about the enormous flows from shale oil, fracking, and horizontal drilling, right? But, you ask, “How big is it, Big Red Car?”

As you can see, it is an impressive curve with a May 2018 monthly flow of 4,243,000 barrels per day. This is larger than any Middle East country other than Saudi Arabia. Hello, America!

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