I don't follow. My cousin went to Japan for a while and found that Pampers Diapers? (Import) were way more expensive like you said. How does the Jap consumer really get hurt? The Japs also produce diapers so it is not like they must buy Pampers. I would think they only get hurt if they insist on buying foreign made stuff.

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Me neither. Who wants to go back to crappy American-made electronics? GE could become the Lucas of the Americas.

I'm just saying that unsymmetrical trade restrictions is what usually calls for short-sighted people to recommend higher tariffs.

Why do the British like warm beer?

What's left of their teeth are heat/cold sensative?

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“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

Because Lucas makes their refrigerators.

Nice.

THE THREE BAKERS (taken from another site)

Imagine, if you will, simpler times, not too long ago.

Imagine a moderately-sized town, nestled in a great valley in the mountains. The land in the valley is fertile and rich. There’s a vast lake, and two rivers. There are fields and woods and orchards. All manner of businesses thrive in the town; there are farmers and blacksmiths and fishermen and cobblers and coopers and ranchers and midwives and schoolteachers, just to name a few. In the summer, the children swim in the lake and in the streams; in the winter, they pelt each other with snowballs.

In this town, there are maybe a dozen or so bakers. Three of those bakers—who have lived in the town for a long time—have spent the last decade or so getting really good at baking fattening (not to mention expensive) cakes and pies.

However, tastes have changed over the past few years. The townspeople’s appetites for fattening cakes and pies have diminished. The three old bakers are still in business, but times are tough for them.

Meanwhile, the other bakers have worked very hard at anticipating the changing tastes of the townspeople, and are baking whole wheat bread and muffins—items that the townspeople do want to buy.

One particularly hot and dry summer night, disaster strikes: a horse, startled by the scent of a wolf, rears up and kicks over a lantern. The barn the horse is in catches fire. The fire is initially contained, but glowing embers of hay are borne high up into the air, and rain down all over the town. Dozens of fires spring up.

The townspeople spend all night heroically fighting the fires, and manage to put them all out; the town is saved. But in the harsh morning light, the townspeople—singed and covered with soot—see that a full 10% of their town has burned. Some people are homeless; other people’s savings have been wiped out. The economy of the town dives into a recession; much rebuilding lies ahead.

The three inept bakers, while merely struggling when times were good, are now in serious danger of failing. They raise a great hue and cry. The mayor calls a town meeting.

The three bakers stand and address the crowd. “We know times are tough,” they say, “but look at all of the people we employ. If we shutter our doors, what will happen to them? What will happen to the millers whose flour we buy? What will happen to the farmers, whose wheat the millers buy? We are an indispensable part of the economy. You cannot let us fail.”

But then a wise old man in the crowd comes forward to speak. His name is Ludwig von Mises.

“It is true that if you were to fail, many people would be affected,” von Mises says. “Millers will face tough times. Wheat farmers will feel the pain as well. In truth, everyone listening hear tonight will probably be affected in some way, and our town is already facing hard times.”

“But this pain will be short-lived. Who is to say that the miller whose business fails because you can no longer buy his flour must become a beggar in the street? Who is to say that the farmer whose wheat the miller no longer buys must suffer the same fate? The farmer can plant other crops. The miller can pick up the carpenter’s hammer, or the butcher’s knife, or the fisherman’s tackle, or even the accountant’s pen—professions to which he can transfer the skills he learned as a miller far more effectively than he himself might realize.”

“Furthermore,” he continues, “your existence does not necessarily make us richer. The farmer grows the wheat; the miller grinds the wheat into flour; you bake the flour into cakes. But when you throw the cakes into the trash for want of buyers, you have squandered all the toil and effort of not just yourself, but the miller and the farmer as well.”

“In truth, then, by wasting resources producing products that no one wants to buy, you are making us all poorer . We would be richer if you were to fail, because the farmer and the miller would redirect their efforts to enterprises that would actually be of benefit and thus profitable.”

“Finally,” von Mises says, “what message would we be sending to the other bakers? They worked hard to understand the changing tastes of their customers. They have not foolishly wasted time and effort baking items that our townspeople don’t want to buy. I can think of no greater sin than to punish them for their wisdom and prudence by rewarding their competitors for their incompetence.”

“I’ve lived in this town all of my life. I can remember when the three of you were young and strong. But we cannot jeopardize the future of this town for memories of past glory. The true test of a business is not whether it can survive in good times, but whether it can survive in bad times. If you cannot change and adapt, then for the sake of our town, you must stand aside, so that healthy businesses can take your place.”

With that, Ludwig von Mises sits down.

The three bakers look out into the crowd. In the faces of the townspeople, they see some degree of sympathy—but they also see their answer writ there as well. Shamefaced, they sit back down. The mayor calls the town meeting to a close, and the three bakers return home.

The three bakers’ names? Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors.

In this story, the three bakers are not villains. The townspeople feel both nostalgia and sympathy for them. And I daresay that many people also feel at least a little nostalgia and sympathy for Ford, Chrysler, and GM.

But it is also clear that Ludwig von Mises is correct; a business that is squandering resources making products that people don’t want to buy is a drain on the economy, not a benefit to the economy—no matter how many people that business employs. Bailing out a failing business is precisely the wrong thing to do, especially in tough economic times. This is one of the tenets of Austrian economics.

(To learn more about Austrian economics, just Google “Ludwig von Mises” and click the first link; it will be the home page of the Ludwig von Mises Institute.)
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So then by this logic, if we doubled the price of foriegn autos, US consumers wouldn't get hurt. We could still buy domestic autos. Or the numbers imported could be restricted. We could still buy available domestic autos. Not only are the Japanese consumer hurt, but so are American manufactures. Some american products are world class or the best out there. Is it fair, the price gets jacked up and there fore not competative.
Tom

James, Tammy, Carrol.

Trying ......


.... not working.....

I'm just saying that it seems that is what the Japs are doing.

You are right. It ISN'T fair. Now go tell that to the Jap govt.

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Too bad yanks didn't realise that back in the 70's when they started dumping their subsidized junk in the US. Too late now. Waking up after the show's over wont help you now.

- Peter.

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And it makes a fine point for them going out of business. If that is your point, I have agreed with it, agree with it and will agree with it.

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I hear they are getting a taste of their own medicine with China products. Sort of like we're getting more of the same. I think a lot of this is due to old antiquated laws, taxes and trade treaties. Much of this has to do with cold war docturine. We let the rest of the Free World have an unfair advantage, while they rebuilt. This help keep the idea of communism from developing in some countires. Then we applied this to try and develope capitolism in communist countries. It worked to an extent in Eastern Europe and the USSR. I don't think it is working in China though.
This is also a replay of the Steel Industry of the 70's. Some of the problem was the cheap importation of off shore steel. Other was not much modernization in the US steel industry. The other porblem was some companies owners using their's as a piggy bank. Some of them closed the dooor, took the retirement fund and headed to Florida.
I'm just saying that it seems that is what the Japs are doing.

'You are right. It ISN'T fair. Now go tell that to the Jap govt. '
No, we need to tell our government or give them the boot. Fair is Fair. If other countries take us for chumps, we need to level the playing field.
Tom

If it wasn't for the dread terror Socialism, the government could've gotten equity stakes in the financial institutions and could then make financial institutions use the money for what it was intended -- loaning to others. Like say, the car companies.
Instead of temporary equity stakes though, we ended up just redistributing the wealth of the country to big business in exchange for nothing.

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That will be difficult because of the "bread and circuses" approach they take. They hand out little goodies here and there and you won't want to get rid of them lest your goodies go with them.

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