🚀 go-pugleaf

In <C0n9Cx.5Gv@icon.rose.hp.com> scott@mothra.rose.hp.com (Scott Bobo) writes:

>And while everyone applaudsour government's domestic efforts at "trust-
>busting" and "free trade", our government continues to permit free access
>to our market for two of the largest cartels in the world:  Mid-east Oil
>and Far East Memory.

I'm not sure what one has to do with the other. OPEC exists to keep oil
prices high and is a (collapsing) government cartel. However, let's re-
strict the discussion to issues related to computers.

I'm glad you said Far East memory. South Korea is busily undercutting the
Japanese at the moment. If S.K. manages to dominate memory for awhile, 
someone else will take the market from them. 

                  <Various references to MITI deleted>

You need to keep up on your geography. There are no agreements among memory
producers in different countries (by the way, don't forget Siemans [Germany]).
I'm not going to bother with a detailed rebuttal. Among other matters, your
arguments are outdated (several years). Memory is an example of a U.S. in-
dustry whose clock was cleaned. Microprocessors and computers are a counter-
example. Far Eastern companies were getting crushed by nimble U.S. manufac-
turers. That's why Hyundai (S.K.) moved its entire design and production
facilities to the U.S. What comes around goes around.

>The reason that Japan is so obviously successful in this war and the United
>States is not is that the government of Japan has adopted tactics appropriate
>to the world market of the 90's, while the United States is still saddled
>with  policy dating back to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.

What bothers me about these sorts of arguments is that they are irrelevent
to U.S. competitiveness. I think you have a valid point about MITI. However,
I don't think that we should adopt the oligopolistic systems of economics
that Japan has. It doesn't fit the strengths of our culture. There are ex-
amples of failed cooperatives.

>Open your eyes.

Wide open.

>Scott

Paul