From: Terry W. Colvin (fortean1@mindspring.com)
Date: Sat Aug 18 2001 - 10:03:49 MDT
MacAlan Thompson wrote:
>
> Charlie
>
> And that's the nature of the "game" as played by the U.S., beat 'em down,
> then build 'em up. Same as we did with the Germans after WW II.
Also, the Marshall Plan was good for business, too. No consumers or too few
consumers with money to spend on our goods and services is bad for business.
> I guess we learned a collective lesson after WW I when we supported the
> idea of keeping the Germans down in the dumps militarily and economically
> for so many years, which bred a generation of malcontents who came back to
> bite us, and the far western Euros, in the ass in 1939.
Although the governments and cultures of Germany and Japan are radically
different than before World War II, I still have this gut feeling that the
Germans and Japanese still consider themselves superior to the rest of the
world. If we fight them in another war (and perhaps win?) should we just
occupy their countries for a much longer time?
> It's best to win, but not always best to treat the downfallen as dirt
> afterwards.
Either that or the Old Testament to kill every man, woman, child, and animal
in the kingdom.
> The Japanese and the Germans had one significant advantage in heavy
> manufacturing, too. What they were left with after WW II was in ruins, and
> they were able to rebuild with the "latest" technology when they had the
> funding, mostly in the '50s and later. As I seem to remember from the
> papers in the '70s (mostly BKK Post and such), we were still working along
> with 1920s and '30s technology, for example in the steel industry, and just
> couldn't compete. We bit the bullet, dismantled a bunch of that old stuff,
> rebuilt, and got on track again, at a heavy price.
That's right, our urban renewal paved the wave for latest technology plants.
Also, Dr. Deming provided the model for quality control up front instead of
at the end of the manufacturing process.
U.S. steel production spanned the period of roughly 1870 to 1950 in forging
rails for the railroad expansion, farming implements/buildings, and the
growth of taller buildings including skyscrapers in the larger cities. The
U.S. sidestepped steel as a vital industry by concentrating on specialty
steels and other metals for aircraft, surgical tools, and the space program.
Japan kept doing business the old way in a protected market while the rest
of the world learned about quality control, improved marketing of new and
improved products/services, cheaper labor (overseas sweat shops), and more
protection from economic espionage.
> On the economic side, that's a matter of just flat hard work on their part,
> and a wee bit of government protectionism on their side, too. Remember, it
> wasn't so long ago that we, me too, looked down on anything labeled "Made
> in Japan." Mid '50s? Early 60s?
Yes, hard work and close cooperation between industry and the government.
Government in the United States is anti-business even while promoting business,
a schizophrenic attitude.
First, South Korea competed with Japan in Asia and now China is heading down
that same road. I've been watching the quality control and price of VCR
rewinders made in China improve dramatically in the last few years. Now if
they apply that to the military, "anything goes."
> Oh, well, I'm out of it now, time for another home brew.
I'm half in and half out of it, time for another Coca-Cola or RC Cola.
Terry
> Mac
>
> At 09:05 AM 08/15/2001 -0400 wrote:
> >Anyone with a problem with the Japanese and the state of affairs in
> >Japan. Anyone jealous or pissed that they have came so far in so few
> >years after we bombed them back to the Stone Age, blame one man, and one
> >man alone. His name was General Douglas MacArthur. After the war, when
> >MacArthur became the new emperor of Japan, he wrote the Japanese
> >constitution, which is based on our own constitution. He took all the
> >land and all the power away from a select few and gave the woman the right
> >to vote. He never let the Japanese lose face, even in the aftermath of
> >getting totally humilated. The oriental mindset, being what it is, took
> >advantage of MacArthur's kindness, and with billions of dollars worth of
> >aid from Uncle Sugar, took the ball and ran with it. Now, 56 short years
> >after we bombed this small country to smitherens, they compete with us on
> >equal footing. My daddy use to tell me, "son, the United States is just
> >like Rocky Marciano". "He would knock you out, then tell !
> >!
> >you he was sorry, and help you b
> >ack to your corner". A truer statement was never made.
> >
> >Charlie
--
Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1@mindspring.com >
Alternate: < terry_colvin@hotmail.com >
Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html >
Sites: Fortean Times * Northwest Mysteries * Mystic's Cyberpage *
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