On Fri, 14 Jun 2002, Benjamin Kowarsch wrote:
> You are invited to replace the name "Germany" with something else, ie
> "Hypoland" and read the scenario again.
Ok. But am I understanding that you feel that Japan took the
"Hypoland" course? If Japan is different from "Hypoland," how and
why is this?
> With all due respect, Curt, there can be absolutely no doubt about the
> benefits of markets and competition....
There is indeed doubt that having completely unregulated and
unrestrained markets and competition is always a good thing. If this
is not what you're proposing, you should indicate what restraints and
regulations are acceptable, and what restraints and regulations are not.
> As a lesson in how "theoretic" the effects of not being competitive are,
> you may want to ask the generation of perpetual unemployed in the
> shipbuilding areas of Northern England, Germany and Poland how much they
> lost out as a result of their governments protecting their domestic
> shipbuilding industry to death.
Straw man. My opinion is that *sometimes* protectionism is bad,
and hurts far more than it has any hope of helping. Sometimes not.
So your ability find examples of cases where it has hurt really
doesn't affect my argument at all.
> Why is it that Nokia is number one in the GSM world ? Why is it that
> Samsung is number one in the CDMA world ? Don't tell me that there was
> no benefit for the Japanese economy if their manufacturers where up
> there with Nokia and Samsung.
It is not a given that, had there been no protectionism, Japanese
handset manufacturers would be "up there with Nokia and Samsung."
There is also the possibility that they simply would not exist at
all, having been driven out of business by the other manufacturers.
Or there's the possibility that the lack of protectionism would
have given us a phone system like that in Europe or the U.S., and
these manufacturers would still be producing blank-and-white,
text-only phones with no e-mail, web, Java, GPS, or cameras, and
we'd be exchanging messages via SMS. Certainly in this scenario
the Japanese consumers would be far worse off than now.
> Besides, one may argue what is of greater value, the gimmicks you
> described or the competitiveness of the Japanese industry in
> international markets.
From my point of view, the gimmicks I describe, certainly. Probably
from the point of view of a lot of other Japanese, too.
cjs
--
Curt Sampson <cjs_at_cynic.net> +81 90 7737 2974 http://www.netbsd.org
Don't you know, in this new Dark Age, we're all light. --XTC
Received on Fri Jun 14 13:14:15 2002