From: thomasd@tps.COM (Thomas W. Day)
Subject: Re: America doesn't have a clue: (was DOES AMERICA SAY YES TO JAPAN? - Off track!!)
Organization: TPS
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 22:14:01 GMT

In article <1992Dec22.195635.25474@Happy-Man.com> josh@Happy-Man.com (Joshua_Putnam) writes:

>As is the ongoing collapse of Japan's artifically-inflated bubble
>economy.  Is there any reason to believe Japan will be able to
>succeed with long-term efforts to circumvent market forces?  

Certainly.  There are many reasons, one is that our own government is so 
easily bought off.  Another is that they have long-term plans to organize 
their efforts with, unlike American companies that are unable to make any 
plans outside of their stock schedules.  

>>Thus the free trade model cannot be used with Japan. 

>This is quite a leap of logic.  

I don't see that.  If the Japanese don't obey the rules of free trade, using 
a free trade model is erronous.  

>>Instead a
>>mercantilist model must be used, hence the arguments for protectionism,
>>symmetrical barriers with respect to Japan, etc. until they sign on
>>to the assumptions of free trade principles.

>That such a program works by trampling on the moral rights of
>people whose livelihoods depend on continued free trade with
>Japan never seems to enter your discussions.  

You mean the service industry people who sell their products, or the 
government officials who live from their bribes?  The basis of a solid 
economy is still manufacturing.  Discounting the nation's future for a few, 
or a lot of, retailers is short-term thinking.  Not the kind of thinking our 
opponents will be doing.

>If the U.S.
>government opts to destroy some of the millions of jobs created
>by trade with Japan, what compensation do you propose to those
>whose lives have been disrupted?  What moral justification is
>there for interfering in their freedom of association and trade?

If the "freedom of association and trade" went two ways, there would be no 
justification.  That isn't the case.  Even more important, it is a mistake 
to think that reselling their products in exchange for minimal prices on our 
natural resources is the same thing as participating in the 1st world 
economy.  We are being treated like a 3rd world, incapable of manufacturing 
our own products and we are, by your own words, liking it.

>>Everything else is noise and self-serving propaganda by the Japanese
>>and their apologists.

>Such mud-slinging is most unbecoming.  Many patriotic Americans
>do not support Big Brotherish attempts to set up the government
>as our economic nanny.  That you are comfortable letting the
>government control your spending habits does not give the
>government the right to control others' spending, too.

If it were "unbecoming" enough to be important how the words were said, the 
Japanese wouldn't be slinging the word "racist" everytime someone attempts 
to control them.  The government "nanny" is the only protection individual 
companies and people have from Japan's industrial/government monster.  They 
have the finances to spend more on lobbying our government than any company 
in the U.S.  If you don't want to save your country, get out of the way and 
let someone who cares do the job.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers