NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/misc/consumer/21039

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From: [e-mail] (Thomas W. Day)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,sci.electronics,soc.culture.japan,misc.education,misc.entrepreneurs
Subject: Re: America doesn't have a clue: (was DOES AMERICA SAY YES TO JAPAN? - Off track!!)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 21 Dec 92 17:38:01 GMT
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In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Joel Kolstad) writes:
>It sounds to me like Japan has some rasty nasty trade barriers set up, but
>I'm not really sure that I'd like the U.S.'s government to erect our own
>trade barriers to try to cause Japan to drop some of there own.  Here's
>why:

>1) I believe that Japan exports less than 20% of its GNP to other
>countries.  Granted, a good chunk of this is going to the U.S., but even if
>the U.S. government decreed that absolutely no Japanese goods could be
>imported into the U.S., I don't think Japan would be effected that
>drastically.

If you limited all of their access to America in direct proportion to our
access to Japan (property ownership, investment and tax advantages, and
import tariffs) they would be effected in the extreme.  Make that access
retroactive and they would be flattened: ie: they would lose control of CBS,
California and other area real estate, and major market investments.

>2) (And this is the one I care more about) There is simply no American
>competition in some products that I really like; for instance, some
>Japanese made products that I could NOT buy "Made in the U.S.A." even if I
>wanted to: My Casio DBX-1000 touchscreen databank watch, my Technics
>XLP-700 portable CD player, my Panasonic KXT-4000 cordless phone, my Sony
>SRF-M43 walkman.  I would be really upset if I could no longer buy these
>goods.

I'm not impressed by the "I'm willing to sacrifice my country for toys"
attitude.  And it's one I share too often.  We simply haven't figured out
that this is war and we don't have any chance of fighting it.

>I really think that people should buy whatever they want from whomever can
>provide it at the best price, keeping in mind that product quality
>contributes a lot to the overall price of a product.  As long as you have
>skills that are in demand somewhere in the world, you'll be able to get a
>job.

Try getting an engineering job in a Japanese company.  Try getting that job
in Japan.

>I have no great affinity to the U.S. in particular -- it's a great
>country . . .

It's more than a "great country," it's your country.  This attitude is why
we are going to lose the economic war.  We are so tolerant of the
dissolution of our own country that we will let it disolve without protest.

>The arguments about Japanese companies undercutting U.S. companies to put
>them out of business is interesting, but I don't think that the government
>needs to intervene.

And you don't have to worry about that.  The government is bought and paid
for, by Japan.

>Someone's going to hit me for saying this, but it'd do a lot of people some
>good to go read some of Ayn Rand's books, and possibly Ray Kroc's
>autobiography as well.

Sorry, I don't have time for romance novels with half-baked economic
theory.  Ray Kroc is another matter, but what he built is not half as
complex as product design and maintaining long term manufacturing
dominance.  The service industry is simply no substitute for manufacturing
products.  Manufacturing is the basis of any solid economy.  We are giving
it up because it is difficult, not because we are too advanced to be
bothered.