From: aj843@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Robert L. Stone)
Newsgroups: sci.research
Subject: Re: Japanese Economic War (?)
Date: 14 Dec 1992 21:34:08 GMT
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From: "Robert Stone(student)" <rls@pennsy.med.jhu.edu>
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llarsen%peruvian.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Loren) writes:

>In article Robert L. Stone writes:

RLS> Well, to my reading the recently posted article "Does America Say
RLS> Yes to Japan?" does anything but declare the superiority of the
RLS> Japanese system...in fact it serves as an introduction to the
RLS> Japanese business system and shows how that system is not compatible
RLS> with its counterpart in the United States in its present form.
RLS> As to the "recent events" recounted they do little to refute the
RLS> arguments of the paper or reverse the flow of capital from the
RLS> United States to Japan.
|> 
|> >I recall when the CIA was being criticized for the "ten feet tall"
|> >syndrome, in which our analysts supposedly gave the KGB credit for
|> >being invincible, only to discover the truth behind the facade when
|> >the Soviet economy and polity finally collapsed.  The latest
|> >version of the "yellow peril" writings seems much the same to me...
|> 
RLS> I'm afraid I fail to see the relevance of this argument.  The
RLS> Japanese are not engaging in unfair practices by keeping all U.S.
RLS> (and other 'foreign') companies out of their markets because the CIA
RLS> overestimated the KGB years ago?  Come on!

LL>It's perfectly relevant to the argument.  Your interpretation of this 
LL>excellent example makes me question the logic you argue with very seriously.
LL>If our government and media make the Japanese out to be a much larger threat
LL>than they actually are, the people of the US (who don't shy away from too many
LL>fights where national pride are concerned) will rally to the cause.  Bush
LL>believes we did that and won the cold war.  I think we did that, won the
LL>cold war, but not for that reason- that's another discussion though.

Excellent argument?!?  One must look to alternative motivations, which you
begin to do but fail to follow through.  There was obvious motivation for the
CIA to overestimate the KGB years ago - since it would lead to increased funding
for the CIA.  The motivation when it comes to Japan is exactly the opposite - to
underestimate the threat.  Why? because large numbers of government officials
from the Reagan and Bush administrations (and earlier administrations as well)
are *hired* by the Japanese to convince the U.S. people that all is well.  Reagan
himself did this a few years back and was paid $2 M by the Japanese.

|> >Well, I say that the Japan of today only claims to be a free-
|> >market, democratic society, but has not yet been able to shake off
|> >its feudal roots and structures, which is what MITI, the keiretsu,
|> >the status of women, and on and on are all about.
|> 
RLS> The operative word here is *Claims* - the article (as well as the
RLS> excellent PBS Frontline: "Losing the War With Japan") points out,
RLS> Japan has made little to no effort to move to a free-market economy
RLS> open to any other country.  Agreement after agreement have been made
RLS> between the U.S. and Japan regarding trade practices...and all of
RLS> them have been broken by Japan.  The MITI seems more analogous to a
RLS> committee for economic war with the keiretsu as the branches of the
RLS> military for that war rather than the remnants of Japan's "feudal
RLS> roots."

LL>I fail to see why it makes any sense for Japan to want economic war with us.
LL>First, we are their best customer, if we don't thrive economically neither do
LL>they.....

I agree it doesn't make sense from a global perspective, but the transfer of wealth
continues nonetheless.

|> >Those of us who believe in free market economics and free
|> >government know that our system has the laws of mathematics on its
|> >side and, given enough time, will emerge superior.
|> 
|> While I believe in a free market (as long as it is open to all)
|> as well as free government, I fail to see how transferring the
|> wealth of the U.S. to Japan at an incredible rate counts as our
|> system "having the laws of mathematics on its side."  That transfer
|> is in fact taking place at a rate that by the year 2000 Japan will
|> surpass the U.S. and become the wealthiest country on the Earth.

LL>What do the Japanese really have?  An increased and insatiable desire for
LL>American goods?  American real estate?  So what?  They love anything that
LL>is American.  They are very good customers and will be even better customers
LL>in future if we are intelligent about it.  

So what?!?  The Japanese are good customers ONLY when it comes to purchasing
American *means of production* NOT American products!  Once they own the capital
suddenly the trade barriers go down for a newly Japanese company.  One example
of this is the U.S. beef industry.  There were and are barriers to keep U.S. 
companies out of Japan regardless of the demand there for beef.  However, several
Japanese companies have purchased large ranches out west and seem to have no
trouble getting their product back to Japan.  Is there a pattern here?

LL>I don't believe the threat of Japan is as serious as many would like us to
LL>believe.  American business has serious challenges ahead as does the rest of
LL>the country.  I believe that in the coming years, Japan and the US will 
LL>continue to grow closer to interdependence and begin to build on our 
LL>enormous wealth potential together.

LL>Loren

I wish this was the case.  Of course the primary point of my previous post, that
U.S. wealth and capital is being transferred to Japan, is unrefutable.  Japan has
been given a choice between prospering WITH other countries or AT THE EXPENSE OF
other countries, and it has chosen the latter.  This post also [conveniently]
deleted the idea that U.S. law should be changed to act as a mirror to Japanese
law to put all companies on an equal footing before the hemmorhage of U.S. capital
goes beyond the point of no return.

RLS

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-- 
   _____  __    _______"Wake the neighbors and phone the kids,
  / __  // /   /  ____/it's time for viewer mail. Actual letters
 / /_/ // /__ /____  /from actual viewers, if they weren't, could
/_/ |_|/____//______/I do this?" aj843  (Bob Stone, Baltimore MD)
From: Roger.Firestone@f349.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Roger Firestone)
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