Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/12/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]In fact, today American workers (whether blue or white collar) work longer hours and in worse conditions than workers in most other rich countries. Been there, done that. It is true that the U.S. camera industry (and much of its consumer electronic industry) was wiped out by first Japanese, then other Asian competitors who could offer better quality at a lower price. This is normal development; today, most "Japanese" electronics products are manufactured outside Japan (e.g., my Sharp electronic organizer was made in Malaysia). It is a myth that Japanese companies enjoy a greater degree of government support than U.S. ones, perpetrated mostly by incompetent managers of declining industries in the U.S. looking for an easy scapegoat. The car industry provides a wonderful example: until serious foreign competition arrived, American cars were terrible. Now that the Japanese have taken 1/3 of the U.S. market, the quality has improved markedly. Also, the success of Japanese-owned car plants in the U.S. (such as Honda in Ohio) shows that there is nothing wrong with American workers. It is a matter of good management and investment. Nathan B. D. Colen wrote: > Absolutely not true. The third statement does not suggest, imply, or prove > anything about the first statement. The fact that there may be workers > overseas who are acculturated to working long, hard hours at low pay does > not in any way suggest that American workers are either lazy or stupid. It > may suggest that they are not corporate slaves. It may suggest that they are > not human oxen. It may suggest that they believe there is more to life than > "work." It does not, however, suggest that they are either lazy or stupid. > > I am not an economist, but I would suggest that we no longer have a photo > industry because we were undercut by the Japanese several decades ago when > they began producing quality photo products at low cost - producing them at > low cost because their standard of living, and thus wages, was infinitely > lower than ours, and their industries have government support. - -- Nathan Wajsman Overijse, Belgium Photography page: http://members.tripod.com/~belgiangator/index.html Motorcycle page: http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/downs/1704/index.html