>Aren't you supposed to be the one saying that *all* of Nike's
>marketing expenses and *most* of its distribution expenses are, from
>a social welfare point of view, a complete waste? That the sports
>stars in the commercials, the TV executives, the camera operators,
>the script writers, et cetera, should be doing something productive
>with their time like Serving the People rather than doing
>"marketing" for Nike?
>
>Just because Nike's profits are healthy rather than enormous doesn't
>mean that the parasitic capitalist superstructure isn't robbing
>third-world workers and first-world consumers blind...
Yup, from a social welfare POV Nike is a crime (though, as I've said before, I don't want to condemn the impulses to make or wear stylish shoes). But Nike is not a model of productivity even by conventional definitions.
Doug