At 12:26 PM 12/26/01 -0500, Spudboy100@aol.com wrote:
>Left alone, I expect American companies could easily weather dumping from
>Japan or elsewhere.
>
>Chuck Kuecker>>
>
>This seems to have been historical fact, as the term is used. However, if you
> observe the Japanese economy over the last 11 years, their economic bubble
>has burst. So, do you sense that this is because of their united
>corporate-governement policies undertaken by the zaibatsu? Or was this
>caused by other factors, besides their protectionism, and economic "warfare"
>concept?
Personally, I think it is a case of them overextending themselves as well
as dumping, which costs them for every item sold. The stock market built up
the values of some companies beyond reasonable levels, and things just
finally leveled out again. Being basically Libertarian, I like to believe
that a large part of the bursting bubble was due to their own government's
"aid" backfiring at last.
The biggest problem with the Japanese' market tactics is not only that we
lost so much of our infrastructure in high-tech fields when American
companies went under - as has been pointed out - but we are now terribly
dependent on foreign firms for parts for our own industries. Too often,
companies discontinue parts used mostly by American firms, thus
hamstringing production. Not to be too chauvinistic about it - our own
Motorola's semiconductor group is famous for killing off single-sourced
parts after getting businesses to design them into their products.
I think an ongoing problem with businesses is the process of forecasting
eternal growth of the market. Expecting 5% to 10% growth is not reasonable
in many markets, once the saturation level is reached. For example, cell
phones - the marketers now have to push different colors and styles, rather
than new features, because almost everyone who wants one already has one.
Plants built on the prediction of an endless demand are now being shuttered
and the workers laid off. This kind of effect may have been part of the
Japanese collapse.
Chuck Kuecker
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