What A Crock of Bull!

Don’t look now but U.S. corporations are right up there with our politicians in having their societal priorities misplaced somewhere between the moon and their own.   Millions of Americans are out of work, yet there are huge corporations stock-piling millions of dollars for a rainy day.  What are they doing with the dough?

One would like to think that much of that money isn’t sitting in a vault buried deep in the mountains of Utah; that maybe---just maybe---highly profitable companies are investing in research and development, and, in their Human Resource departments to ramp up recruitment and hiring. 

It’s one thing to lose a job when a company is on the ropes financially; it’s another thing entirely when your Service Anniversary key fob is snatched from you (Indian givers!), and replaced with a laminated pink slip.

But worse still when the company is grotesquely profitable and horror of horrors…has millions of dollars to invest in corporate sponsorships.

The equation looks like this:

Profits = Corporate Sponsorships-Jobs = More Profits = Humongous Bonus!

In a previous post about my job loss I shared that not only was my soon-to-be-former employer grossly profitable with pockets of cash deeper than the mines of Moria; but they also tossed $1.2 billion into Europe to take over a similar company there to---as they giggle wildly in the press release---“expand our worldwide footprint”.

Would that be the shoe-print you left on my back as you bowled me over and prepared to toss me out the door?  But I digress!

As if that weren’t insult enough, a little detective work unearthed this little gem: company-that- shall-not-be named sponsors a NASCAR Sprint Cup racing team, to the tune of over $30 million per year. 

No, your eyes do not deceive!

Thirty million dollars for a modified stock car to drive around racetracks all over the country and keep the brand name front and center and front-of-mind with a bunch of drunken and sunburned speed freaks. 

Keep in mind this figure does NOT include monies spent buying billboards or advertising or even the signs on a section of outfield wall at baseball and football games across the rest of the nation!

We're talking mucho dinero!

But perhaps the most jaw-dropping sponsorship of the company that shall not be named was revealed today; by said company, in an email to soon-to-be-departed employees…proudly touting the fact that not only does the company sponsor Professional Bull Riding events (think jousting without the lances and shields, and with big ass calluses); but also sponsors a BULL RIDER!

For those in need of descriptors, think NASCAR without the wheels but with hair and lots of cow chips.

Now, the fee to sponsor bull-riding events and I guess brand the creature with your company logo not withstanding, if we merely figure out how many jobs at $35,000 per year that $30 million NASCAR investment would net were it used properly we get upwards of 85,000 jobs.

For real giggles, consider this is ONE company and ONE sponsorship. 

If every company that spent billions on corporate sponsorships simply halved their participation and used the found money to create jobs, unemployment would most certainly come down and the economy show renewed signs of life.

It’s alright to lift your jaw up off the floor; if you do it quickly I don’ t think anyone will notice that you might just be as taken aback and appalled by this load of bullshit as I was.