Internet entrepreneur Steve Berra is in the news again. This week in dramatic fashion he took to the web with a heartfelt diatribe centered on the plight of the American small businessman. In keeping with the militaristic theme of the Berrics he describes nothing less than “a war being waged upon small businesses” in the United States, where plucky entrepreneurs are “taxed to death on both the state and federal level,” and also they are “over-regulated” and unable to compete with larger corporate rivals. An uphill battle in the best of times that has proven the undoing of ventures like SkaterAde, IceLounge and Chris Gentry’s rap career, and Berra assures the viewer that “in the current economic climate, [skate shops] don’t stand a chance without your support.”
Now it might be too easy to caricature Steve Berra as Ron Paul with a five o’clock shadow and military jacket. Even if they do share similar views on gun control and pork flu and look alike. This post will not try and explore whether or not Ron Paul is Berra’s true father, even though it may even be actually true, but instead focuses on Steve Berra’s core issue which is undue economic burdens upon citizens and their little stores. Here he also is in line with RonPaul. Take this recent screed for example.
Ron Paul talks about Tax Freedom Day, a hypothetical holiday which is “celebrated” today, April 13, and symbolizes the fact that Americans are slaving away 3.5 months, or 28.2% of this year to fulfill the government’s voracious appetite for confiscatory taxes, corrupt bailouts and wasteful stimulus efforts.
What was going on at the Berrics on 4-13? The site archives are too hard to search to know for sure. But what is true is that the famed skatepark is launching its own mail-order website, as described in a recent message to shops regarding the “unified” program, which allows shops to harness the Berrics web traffic to promote their own brands in a localized fashion using the power of Google maps or something.
Many of you have also asked about our Canteen and if we are going to expand it into a fully stocked mail order. The answer is yes and no. Yes we are expanding it, but no we are not going to be fully stocked with everything. We are primarily going to focus on pro endorsed product and most of that pro product will be our team riders. On every page of the Canteen we will encourage that everyone check their local Berrics Unified shop first before purchasing anything online.
All this, even despite the fact that many shops now operate an online component. We know what the business-minded among you are thinking – would this not put Joe’s Board Store in direct competition with Berrics.com? Perhaps or perhaps not, but Berra has thought of this, and harkens back to another conservative touchstone, namely Ronald Reagan’s concept of trickle-down economics.
We do not find it a threat because both Eric and I firmly believe in the old saying, “a rising tide lifts all boats”, in other words, general prosperity is good for all. The Berrics is flourishing and prospering and it wants you to as well.
In his video soliloquy Steve Berra refers at one point to the Unified effort as “one of three initiatives” that Berrics is launching; with the mail-order business being a possible second, one can only assume that the third will be Berra’s candidacy for the US Senate. As the Republican party faces a potential identity crisis, battling between itself over a move to the center or further to the right, it might not be surprising to see Berra to sail under the banner of a third party in his crusade against government waste and overzealous regulation of the small business man. With a flair for rhetoric and an internet grass roots network already firmly in place – again, taking a page from the RonPaul – expect Berra to launch a full-scale assault against the perverted Washington plutocrats who insist on perpetuating a two-tiered economic system, after he wraps his “Battle Commander” section.
Tags: conservativsm, government waste, politics, Reaganomics, regulation, Ron Paul, Steve Berra, taxation with or without representation, the Berrics, the Federal Reserve, the pork flu, Unified
November 21, 2009 at 3:49 pm |
Eleventeenth post, booooshies.
November 21, 2009 at 3:56 pm |
For some reason all I could think of was “Consolidated.” Weird, right? That there’s been a company doing this for years? And Berra is sponsored by a huge shoe company that has sponsored, among others, wakeboarders? Why do wakeboarders need shoes?
Berra takes himself way too seriously.
I wish Old Dirty Gerwer had some means of transmitting his lunacy to the masses a la Fantasy Factory / Wednesdays with Reda.
November 21, 2009 at 4:08 pm |
Actually Al, they sponsor wakeskaters, and wakeskaters do indeed wear modified skateshoes in the water. The boards have griptape, and their feet are not connected. I actually have seen a friend of mine get a package from them with waterproof versions of a Daewon pro model.
Not saying I advocate it, but just givin’ you the facts.
And I think that Consolidated lost people years ago.
November 21, 2009 at 7:15 pm |
making money off the backs of skateboarders has never been so disguised
November 21, 2009 at 10:14 pm |
What is truly messed up about his “economic” views isn’t how reactionary and uninformed they are but that a bunch of groms will think it is true. I’m always amused by those who hate taxes since they never have an answer when you ask them how society will fund silly infrastructure like roads, sewers, dams that create hydro-electricity that allow businesses of all kinds to function. Let alone the internet which was created by DARPA aka the U.S. government which allows Berra to have his website on which he can sell adspace.
Additionally, Berra is showing how duplicitous he is by having Salman Agah lurking in conversations all over blogs like this and forums like Slap pretending to be a Berrics Unified supporter. These are the kinds of tactics big business do in order to silence their critics and here I was thinking that Berra wanted to save the mom & pop shop yet he is behaving no different than the large corporate monoliths.
In Canada the Berrics sells their products through West 49 only. West 49 is the Zumiez of Canada. So does that mean that the small Canadian independent skateshop isn’t worth saving or does he think those dumb Canucks won’t realize that it’s all about profit for him.
November 23, 2009 at 9:35 pm |
you, my friend, are misinformed about money and taxes.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-515319560256183936#docid=6076118677860424204
November 21, 2009 at 11:26 pm |
I couldn’t even get past the fact that he was trying to pull off wearing kufi.
November 22, 2009 at 2:22 am |
like aqua-socks?
November 22, 2009 at 2:49 am |
Shops other than West 49 carry Berrics products here in Canada. No, wakeboarders definitely do not need shoes or any encouragement for that matter. And Steve Berra for sure needs to head a 3rd party; he is now the Ross Perot of skateboarding. Imagine an interview with him and Steven Colbert
November 22, 2009 at 3:48 pm |
I didn’t know shops oher than West 49 did….or my local shop is too small and unimportant to carry it. Curious, who else carries their stuff?
November 23, 2009 at 11:08 pm
again, misinformed.
November 22, 2009 at 4:13 am |
That’s not a kufi.
November 22, 2009 at 4:53 am |
After 2 years and 1500 posts, this is the first idea of Berra’s to blowup in his face. I never thought he’d last this long.
I don’t see what the big deal is.
November 22, 2009 at 5:42 am |
Haha Berra is so Republican
November 22, 2009 at 6:58 am |
the original post, and twelve comments and no one has even mentioned the advertising fees he is charging shops to be a part of unified. because you don’t even need to mention it, the plan for mail order is bad enough. he says it’s only for products from team riders but if you’re selling boards and shoes you’re taking money away from shops. i really hope this fails, and berra never has enough power to punish the shops and individuals who have spoke out against him, because you know he would if he could.
November 22, 2009 at 9:18 am |
In the real world, 5k a year is pretty cheap for advertising space. If a shop doesn’t have that in their budget, then the way they’re running their business might have some problems.
The issue wasn’t the fees. To anyone born prior 1989 the whole video is misleading and comes off as a tactic for the Berrics to increase cash flow whether that may or may not be the case. People saw the video, then checked the facts, and the whole thing just came off shady. Had he explained that they were going to archive local skateshops all over the U.S. on their website by selling advertising space this shit would have never blown up.
Again, I don’t think it’s a big deal.
November 22, 2009 at 9:29 am |
Btw $1440 is the lowest rate $5280 is the highest. if anyone cared…
November 22, 2009 at 9:39 am |
“firing off like an AK-47”? who writes this stuff? Sounds like the same dude who wrote all those famously bad poems, like
I am the new christ
crucify me, baby!
November 23, 2009 at 1:10 am |
Watching him talk is just so infuriating
November 23, 2009 at 2:25 pm |
I think SB is still trying to figure out the web business. I’m basing that on few assumptions:
1. video hosting isn’t cheap.
2. the site goes down often
3. pro and ex-pro skaters are running it.
November 23, 2009 at 2:46 pm |
http://haveboard.com/the_berrics_unified_pay_to_play/
November 23, 2009 at 4:23 pm |
this ought to shake him: http://www.freeberrics.com
November 23, 2009 at 7:10 pm |
-seriously the worst pro- footy I have ever seen……this makes his skit in “the End” look like God Father 2