Do as I say; not as I do

Ever noticed how often those with economic or political power wield it so gracelessly? Every little jumped up nasty piece of work and every scumbag company you can think of has a good sense of right and wrong when it comes to the behaviour of you and me, but the lines get a bit blurred where their own is concerned.

What makes it worse is when some of these low-lives support each other either inadvertently or even advertently (ever wonder why you never see that word?). Actually it used to exist, but has fallen out of favour, probably by accident or inadvertently.

A case in point is the furore that has arisen about the price of the new All Blacks supporters’ jersey. Fat cats addidas – and I put them into lower case deliberately, because they are the lowest of the low; want Kiwis to fork out $220 for one of these jerseys which were probably made by 10 year-olds in a sweat shop in Mumbai at a cost of about $0.22 each. Rebel Sport has momentarily found the rebel in them, and protested to addidas about their price, but the burghers at their Nuremburg headquarters are unmoved. They reckon Kiwis should stop whining and be happy to show their support for the All Blacks by forking out $220 for a jersey that will probably pull apart at the seams within twelve months. And not content with making the retail price in NZ outrageous, the swines have stopped Internet outlets overseas from selling the very same jerseys for less than half the NZ retail price to Kiwis. I think we should show the same level of support Adolf Dassler’s company has shown to us and stop buying ALL addidas goods until they get it.

Heartening though Rebel Sport’s stance seems, I fear it might just be a bit of cheap PR. They have already talked about dropping the retail price and taking a hit themselves to make the jerseys more affordable for Kiwis. However the cynic in me feels this could simply be a way of ensuring they are the only Kiwi retailer that will sell any. I hope I am wrong about this, and that they live up to their name and...Rebel.

What makes this whole RWC (yah -I said it) saga even more irritating is the message from authorities to NZ retailers that incidents of price gouging around the Rugby World Cup 2011 (and again) will be investigated and dealt with. How about this one, then?  Dassler was reportedly a member of the Nazi party and I’m sure his old namesake would have been proud of this move. On the other hand there is a suitable trial venue near to addidas’ headquarters so we should just assemble a tribunal and get on with it.

But the best example of a sauce that is okay for the goose not being okay for the gander is the American debt situation.

They racked up an international debt of a bit over $14 trillion US dollars and didn’t have any money left to run their country. So what did they do? Front up to their local trading bank and after duly completing an entire forest of paperwork and undergoing a dozen or so credit checks, walk away with a loan?

No. Don’t be silly. That’s what people like you and me have to do. These guys have got it worked out much better. Here’s how they do it.

Phase one: Raise the debt ceiling. Now this is not to be confused with the glass ceiling. That is too easy to break and anyway it’s only for women. This ceiling is probably on a block and tackle so that it can be raised or lowered at any time the government sees fit.

Phase two: Once the ceiling has been raised enough to make room for all the extra money they go to the Fed to borrow the pre-determined amount.

Phase three: No need for credit checks to get the money – all that is needed is a signed bill from the President or a signed President from Bill. I can’t remember which.

Phase four: The ‘loan’ is given; only it isn’t actually a loan. You see the Federal Reserve PRINTS the money the US Government wants.

Good scheme, eh? But how unfair is that? For most of my life I have been running my finances about as unsuccessfully as the US Government has, yet if I went out and got someone to print me a whole lot of money so I could help my financial situation I would be sent to jail for a very long time.

POSTSCRIPT: I have just read that Pussy Sports as they shall hernceforth be known has done what I suspected and lowered their retail price to $170 which is still nearly twice what overseas people are paying for OUR jersey. Thanks a bunch you wimps!