Our outrage at “MAGA practices” does not mean that it is rational to attack franchise businesses specifically. It would not be fair, even to the franchisors, because all of these companies have ceased operations in Russia and we cannot suspect them of sharing Donald Trump’s views.
The big question today, which all European countries must decide together, is: Will we buy large quantities of weapons from the United States or will we rely on European manufacturers? The answer to this question should not rest on emotions, but on accurate calculations and judgment.
A call to boycott American products has appeared on social networks because of President Trump's policies. Interestingly, in addition to products that are produced in the USA or at least outside our country by American companies, the list includes franchise enterprises such as: KFC, "McDonald's", "Burger King", "Domino's Pizza" and so on. A bunch of products that are produced in our country by enterprises that are registered under the Bulgarian Commercial Law are also included.
Unfortunately, if we boycott franchises, we will punish ... Bulgarian companies owned by Bulgarians, where Bulgarians work. Check out for example "Samex" - the company that holds the KFC franchise. The orange clown doesn’t care about our companies that pay to work under popular brands.
Of course, the boycott enthusiasts reply to us, and I quote verbatim, that „in the case of franchise, the franchisee receives a percentage of the turnover, but the lion's share of the profit goes to the franchisor“.
This is not only a very general statement, but also does not correspond to the truth, because in fact the franchisee works at his own expense and at his own risk. He simply pays a kind of „rent“ for the use of the trademark. Therefore, the launch of such, to put it mildly, ill-considered appeals must stop, because these are ideas for worsening the situation, and not for getting out of the „stuck situation“, as Winnie the Pooh would say.
I am also outraged to the core of my soul by the MAGA president's the outbursts (although this could and should have been expected, but everyone hoped that with the elections the clowning would end...), but it does not seem rational to me to deal with franchise businesses. It would not be fair, even to the franchisors, because all these companies have ceased operations in Russia and we cannot suspect them of sharing Donald Trump's views.
The big question today, which all European countries must decide together, is: Will we buy large quantities of weapons from the United States or will we rely on European manufacturers? The answer to this question should not rest on emotions, but on accurate calculations and judgment.
Can we produce within the EU or throughout Europe the quantities of weapons and ammunition we need? Do we have European analogues to most American models? And so on and so forth...
Here comes the question of tariffs - whether if we continue to buy priority American weapons, will an agreement be reached on Trump's notorious tariffs. It is clear that such issues are not resolved on Facebook, which, by the way, is also American, as other participants in the discussion have already reminded us.
The same discussion can be held about liquefied gas. We, thank God, also have pipeline supplies of natural gas from Azerbaijan, but other European countries rely heavily on American liquefied gas. The same question arises there - if we increase supplies of American liquefied gas, will the issue of tariffs be resolved?
Unfortunately, I suspect that in some of our governing circles, the discussion is at the level of the discussion on Facebook. Even below the level of the one on Facebook...