Re: [Amc-list] Dec 7th 1941 PEARL HARBOR DAY

[Frank Swygert <farna@xxxxxxx>]

Oh we won the war, no doubt about that! Then we helped rebuild the beaten countries into allies rather than keeping them down and setting the stage for another war -- like the Allies did when WWII ended (with protests from Woodrow Wilson, who had the foresight to see that "punishing" the "enemy" would just set the stage for another war later on...). 

The Japanese and German industries learned a lot that US execs forget. In the Japanese business culture the future of the company has always been at the fore-front of an execs decisions, not just short term and personal profit, as it seems to have been for the big US companies for way too long. It's like execs don't care if the company lasts of not as long as they get what they want out of it and stock holders are happy. Stock can't ride high all the time, there are costs involved in rolling out new product, research and development, etc., that have to be paid for. The life of the company has to take precedence over paying dividends to stock holders or there will never be anything to pay -- there has to be some lean years between high marks. 

Quality control is another issue. Americans tend to develop things then let them "run their course" rather than continually improving. A lot of smaller businesses build, run until major overhauling/refitting is needed, then sell out or go out of business. Overseas they make more capital investments and plan on running the company for a much longer period. It seems that as long as a company stays in business through the top-dogs careers hover here they are happy -- just pay them their severence/bonus for getting a good buyer and they retire happy. Who cares about all the workers getting laid off? That's why there have been labor issues through the 70s. 

Someone said they didn't think the Japanese companies were good to work for. I disagree. I haven't worked for one, but do know several people who have. They don't coddle workers like the big three are forced to do. If there is work, everyone works. If there isn't, there are lay-offs. You have a job and all the details and expectations are laid out. If you don't want to meet those expectations, find another job somewhere else. For the most part the expectations are fair. The workers generally have more flexibility and say in how the work is done and what amount of work is fair -- they use a "tiger team" approach (something I have been involved in at big depot bases). 

My wife has had more problems with US companies being abusive than friends who work for Japanese auto companies. The attitude at more than one US company has been "do what we say or hit the road -- there's three people outside who want your job". Might be true to a degree, but you don't treat your workers like that. Lots of mandatory overtime. If there's that much overtime, more workers are needed. No point in overworking what you have! With fair labor laws (state or federal) there are no need for the unions. The unions tend to get a bit greedy, or have in the past. Looks like they are willing to negotiate a bit right now, but only after the big three went begging for money. If there had been more willingness to negotiate they might not be begging for a bail out. Of course that works both ways -- I wouldn't be willing to give a nickel an hour up if I knew big execs were getting millions in bonuses when the company was hurting enough to ask me for a cut. 

--------------
Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:28:33 -0500
From: Don <don_nsx@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

Jeffery wrote,,,,,,,,

"You would think we would never forget, but  unfortunately, Americans still
buy every car Japan can send us.  It must be a temporary memory lapse."

Yes, the Japanese and the Germans are building our preferred cars.
The history books say we won the war, but I guess they haven't ALL been written yet.
Don

-- 
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars" 
Magazine (AMC)
For all AMC enthusiasts
http://farna.home.att.net/AMC.html
(free download available!)


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