April 14, 2016

Pentagon Bribed Shoe Company to Push Through Trade Deal

New Balance fell silent, but the contract never came.

Welcome to the most recent example of cronyism in America. In the past, shoe company New Balance used to vocally oppose the Obama administration’s Trans-Pacific Partnership. It worried that an influx of shoes from places like Vietnam would hurt its business. Recently, the company restarted its opposition to the deal because the Department of Defense failed to uphold its end of a secret deal where it would consider New Balance for the contract outfitting military recruits with its athletic shoes. New Balance fell expectantly silent, but the contract never came.

As Jim Geraghty of National Review writes, the Pentagon’s offer to New Balance was essentially a bribe for the company’s cooperation. “This is why big government is bad,” Geraghty opined. “Eventually it accumulates so much economic power that it inevitably starts throwing its weight around in a manner that punishes dissent. The Department of Defense is supposed to pick the best shoes available for the men and women in uniform; if it’s New Balance, great; if it’s another company, great. It’s not supposed to make major expenditures of taxpayer money dependent upon public acquiescence to the administration’s view.”

Indeed, the corporate clamoring over the recent bathroom bills show it’s bad for business to buck the leftist agenda.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.