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Originally Posted by Botnst
If you look at history since the renaissance, the profit motive has been the driving force behind everything from exploration to science to music.
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Again, I would go with need on a lot of these things. Political maneuvering is part and parcel of the profit motive and of need.
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There are no guarantees in a free market. If the American automobile industry fails to compete effectively then they will go out of business. The profit motive is still there. American car companies are merely poor competitors. How about Toyota -- think they innovate and compete for the good of mankind?
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The American auto industry is just an example, you can see their type of view in most American business. They may go out of business soon, but that depends on whether the government continues to interfere on their behalf. Regardless, they should've died a while ago.
I didn't say profit motive doesn't exist. But many innovations are driven by creativity, by desire, and by seeking better/more knowledge in one's industry. I don't think Honda's development of variable valve timing, eventually copied by the whole industry (minus of course the Americans), was solely due to profit motive and I doubt it had a major impact in that arena. In France, when HDTV came out, all the channels just switched over. There were no HDTV packages, extra cost or what have you. An innovation came out, they saw it was better, and they switched.
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Why did we get hit first? Because we share an ocean with Japan, Korea and China.
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I don't know what you mean by hit first.