Is Pearl Harbor Today’s Detroit?

[add]

yes, a few things in common are:

Japan
money
power

Edited December 7, 2008 by apparently

[add]

Then: Mitsubishi built the fighter aircraft know as the A6M Zero that attacked Pearl Harbor
Now: Mitsubishi builds cars that compete (fight) with the big three

Edited December 8, 2008 by apparently

[kenrockthefirst]

How is a free market economy anything like the geopolitical situation in the 1930's and '40's? The Big Three got caught flat-footed building giant gas guzzlers that suddenly nobody wanted, and have built poor quality, uninspired cars for years that in the absence of the gas guzzlers, nobody wants. They have no one to blame but themselves for their collective predicament.

[homeschoolmom]

If I were to notice a lot of Mitsubishis crashing in to Fords on the highway with no warning whatsoever, I might agree...

[LouisvilleFan]

I think the question is intended to ask, Is Detroit Today's Pearl Harbor?

And the answer is No.

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='apparently' post='1721851' date='Dec 7 2008, 07:22 PM']yes, a few things in common are:

Japan
money
power[/quote]

Except that Japan wasn't all that powerful when they attacked Pearl Harbor and they definitely weren't awash in money. All that came after we built Japan from the ground up and made them into the economic success they are today.

A better metaphor of Detroit would be kamikaze pilots. If only we would let them die.

[add]

[quote name='LouisvilleFan' post='1723967' date='Dec 10 2008, 10:39 AM']Except that Japan wasn't all that powerful when they attacked Pearl Harbor and they definitely weren't awash in money. All that came after we built Japan from the ground up and made them into the economic success they are today.

A better metaphor of Detroit would be kamikaze pilots. If only we would let them die.[/quote]

manufacturing and economics have taken the place of guns and bombs, this trade war has sunk our battleships.

kamikaze pilots are akin to “dumping” -- that is, deliberately selling their products below cost in an effort to run American companies out of business.
[url="http://www.heritage.org/research/tradeandeconomicfreedom/bg577.cfm"]LINK:[/url]

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='apparently' post='1724033' date='Dec 10 2008, 12:53 PM']manufacturing and economics have taken the place of guns and bombs, this trade war has sunk our battleships.

kamikaze pilots are akin to “dumping” -- that is, deliberately selling their products below cost in an effort to run American companies out of business.
[url="http://www.heritage.org/research/tradeandeconomicfreedom/bg577.cfm"]LINK:[/url][/quote]

Hmm... except we still have a Department of Defense, and they are plenty busy. Of course, Japan does not (if they do, it's obviously a limited military).

Of course, the great irony is that we have tens of thousands of Americans employed by Japanese automakers and many more thousands of jobs sustained by those factories. Economics doesn't work like the military: in trading, both sides are made better off.

And I also disagree with correlating "dumping" products below cost to a kamikaze strategy. Kamikaze pilots deliberately give up their lives. A company or industry that's deliberately losing money does so to create a future situation that will be more prosperous for themselves. No kamikaze pilot plans on surviving, much less thriving, in the future.

Besides, no auto manufacturer that I'm aware has been accused of dumping products on our shores or elsewhere, unless you're thinking of the Prius, which is an isolated incident that was necessary to build a base of hybrid market share. The only carmakers selling vehicles below cost are Ford, GM, and Chrysler.