New Balance are better for my arthritic, old feet anyway. And they cost 1/3 of Nikes.

New Balance

They actually manufacture stuff in the United States. And sell athletic shoes in widths.

Nike lost my biz when I learned of them giving high-dollar shoes to gang leaders.

That violated my SC (socially correct) and MC (morally correct) rules.

I've been off Nike from the beginning. During my track days I tried those first ones, waffle-soled, greatly ballyhooed. They were crap. Got a pair of Pumas to replace them and soared from there. I've been a New Balance guy for decades now. Better for people's feet, and last a long time. I agree with HMLA-267, & Allan L., too. F Nike and their attempted manipulative marketing malarkey. Swoosh this.

I've been buying NB for years and years. Nike is overpriced.

Nike is the company that promoted and defended Paterno and after the revolting abuse still promotes and benefits Michael Vick. They get NONE of my money.

Hey, let's punish Nike, what a great idea!. If they don't enjoy paying our taxes then we need to remind them that we're doing just fine with our food-cart economy. We don't need their stinking high-paying jobs around here.

New Balance on my feet.

Add me to the list of haven't bought a Nike product in years.

Apparently what I do is not reflective of any mainstream sort of values because NIKE flourishes.

Hey it's AMERIKA

We don't need their stinking high-paying jobs around here.

They're not as high-paying as they'd have you believe. They keep the numbers secret, but feed the public bulls**t that the Ginny Burdick types can repeat.

New Balance for me for the past 20 years. But I have Fred Flintstone feet though.

So if New Balance should take advantage of this new tax deal, you all will wear what now?

What would really be ripe, is if Nike used Dr. Retread's offer to cut an even better deal out of state. It could happen as business is business.

I believe that Nike has a distribution center near Memphis.

New Balance, made USA

GOT great price at Exchange, free shipping.

Durability first rate.

I don't buy Nike in the first place..
If you go to their Beaverton campus you know to never buy one thing from these arrogant freaks.. This is one company with the just do it logo, I wonder why the owner didn't just do it with a face lift with that ugly face with all that money.. Yea, just do it, don't go around bein that fugly dude !!!

They're not as high-paying as they'd have you believe.

I would agree to that. There is a huge support system of low level employees there, who make wages very similar to retail employees. And that the state is basically taking everything that Nike feeds at them at face value, with no audit or investigation, is sad...but it's to be expected from the Legislature that doesn't seem to do much anyways. It's as if they are 90 "super-voters" who vote on everything just by the title of the measure and watching the TV commercials, and without reading anything else.

I believe that Nike has a distribution center near Memphis

You mean, the one that USED to be in Wilsonville in a vacant building that I think some solar power company was eyeing for (with millions in public subsidies and tax breaks with)?

Another New Balance lover here. Was introduced to them in the Portland store in the downtown mall. I drive miles for them in my current city.

I never liked Nike products either. Nor many of the athletes they used for marketing.

Count me another New Balance fan. Wide feet. I've had one pair of Nikes in my life, about 1982 or so. Never since.

I wonder where Nike reports its sales to, say Fred Meyer, as taking place?

At the Memphis, Tennessee Nike distribution center?

In Cinncinatti, Ohio where Kroger "lives"?

At the Freddie's warehouse complex in Milwaukie, OR?

I'm sure Nike's sales take place in whatever of those three jurisdictions have the lowest tax rate.

And the elitist snob in me says that is Tennessee.

Outside of the relatively small volume at the Nike sore in PDX, Nike doesn't sell at retail in Oregon. I doubt that a consumer level boycott of Nike products in Oregon would have a substantial impact on Nike's earnings, or sales, in Oregon and therefore very little impact on Nike's tax liability to Oregon.

With the "single factor - sales" formula which Oregon requires of corporate income filers, I'd bet that Nike's state corporate income tax paid in Oregon is very close to zero.

Certainly Nike pays some property tax in Washington County, though Nike has minimized that, too. It certainly doesn't pay property tax to Beaverton, having also bought a "fix" from the Legislature for that.

Nike is real good at buying "fixes" from the Legislature. Reminds me why the Southern Pacific Railroad was incorporated in Kentucky (yep, Kentucky, not California nor Delaware) for so many years. SP of course bought legislatures everywhere in addition to Frankfort; Sacramento, Austin, Baton Rouge, just being samples of SP's portfolio.

By contrast, I suspect that Fred Meyer / Kroger pays whopping corporate income taxes to Oregon. Awful hard for Freddie's to argue it doesn't make "sales" in Oregon. I also suspect Freddie's total real estate tax bill in Oregon exceeds that of Nike.

It sure would be interesting for a bunch of good economists, accountants and auditors, as an academic exercise, to figure out just what is the dollar cost of public services Nike consumes in Oregon each year, and compare that to Nike's tax payments, both income and real estate.

Among the costs for public services Nike gets are the cost of the absurd traffic jams in its primarily car access headquarters which Nike imposes on the local jurisdictions; the pollution those cars cause, and the impact upon local school districts of he kids of Nike employees. No way he real estate axes paid by hose employees cover the school costs.

I have a gut feel that Nike receives more in public services in Oregon than it pays in taxes.

Figuring the real estate taxes paid is easy.

Figuring income tax paid is harder. Anybody wanna' hold their breath waiting for Uncle Phil g to allow anybody outside DOR to look at the Oregon corporate tax return?

Between the various SEC filings; annual reports, and various prospectuses one might get an approximation, but I doubt it would be very accurate as to income taxes.

And chowder heads like Ginny Burdick, who lack two brain cells to rub together, natter on about that "...wonderful, wonderful..." company, Nike.

Yeah, right.

Years ago I swore off Nike because of their labor practices in China- as a matter of fact I try to NOT buy anything not made here- it's a slog, but I sure save money when I cannot find that object I think I want. Seriously. I'll do without.

If you divide those high salaries by the number of hours a typical Nike employee puts in during a pay period, the numbers don't look quite so good. For example:

For a 40 hour workweek:
$75,000/2000 hours = $37.50/hour and the equivalent of 50 40-hour work weeks.

For a 45 hour workweek:
$75,000/2250 hours = $33.33/hour and the equivalent of 56.25 40-hour work weeks.

New Balance fan here, as well. And, yeah, wide feet.

I was just reading the article by Beaverton's mayor in the Trib. They're eager to roll over and give Nike anything it wants if it goes with possible expansion plans of its current campus (and into Tek's campus) in Beaverton.

Nike has already had Beaverton and Washington County under its thumb for some time. Now it's got the State. If it decides to build in the South Waterfront, no doubt Portland will be eager to kiss its unmentionable parts with gusto as well. Heck, our City Council would probably give Nike Ross Island if it thought it could get away with it.