Coffee! Kopi luwak (Indonesian pronunciation: [ˈkopi ˈlu.aʔ]), or civet coffee, refers to the coffee that includes part-digested coffee cherries eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus)
Posted on 03/10/2017 8:57:25 PM PST by TBP
Coffee! Kopi luwak (Indonesian pronunciation: [ˈkopi ˈlu.aʔ]), or civet coffee, refers to the coffee that includes part-digested coffee cherries eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus)
Permit me to enjoy rambling on this topic. In the early 80s, I was a lieutenant stationed for four years in Japan in Sasebo city (Nagasaki state) at the same naval base and ammunition depot the Japanese used in WW2. And there I met the love of my life and so I've been widely exposed to Japanese culture ever since.
It's dangerous to generalize because there are always exceptions. But what the hell... it makes for a fun discussion anyway ;- )
I believe you are correct: our U.S. advantage in industrial might was a huge factor in beating the Japanese in WW2.
And another factor I would add is better strategic thinking. The Japanese excel in engineering and craftsmanship. It's highly necessary given the mountainous terrain and constant torrential rains from typhoons, earthquakes, volcanos, tsunamis (today actually marks the 6th anniversary of Fukushima).
So ingenuity in construction and engineering was needed to control, for example, the rivers of Japan to avoid city flooding. So engineering dexterity has formed the Japanese character way back through the samurai days when they built those incredible castles like the White Heron at Himeji.
On the other hand, America is a huge, flat country where the ravages of nature are less of an issue. This difference in geography explains why Japan has an excess of engineers, and America has an excess of lawyers -- to battle over the bountiful opportunities the land offers!
So if ingenuity in the design and manufacturing of battleships enabled the mighty Yamato and Musashi to be built, our strategic dexterity allowed America to defeat Japan at Midway, in part because we cracked the code of their radio signals. Our superiority in signal intelligence was decisive in that battle -- even though a lot of our torpedoes failed.
Now I have read that Yamamoto had serious misgivings about going to war with America because he had studied at the Newport Naval War College and knew our character well. But I have no doubt that if he refused to attack Pearl Harbor, he would have been forced to commit seppuku.
Another key American advantage, I surmise, is having commanders with the presence of mind to act correctly and decisively in moments of terror.
At the Battle of Leyte Gulf, for example, Admiral Halsey made the dumb decision of sending his Task Force out on a wild goose chase. Meanwhile he left his shipping and McArthur's army badly exposed off Leyte, and this allowed the Japanese to sail down from the North and into the Leyte area unopposed.
However, the Admiral's grave error was made up for by the excellent presence of mind of a few lowly destroyer skippers. On their own initiative, they attacked the Japanese force in what they knew was practically a suicidal attack on a much larger force.
Their ships were sunk, but their attack succeeded because it scared the Japanese commanders into retreating. If the Japanese they had only forged ahead, they could have surely dealt the Americans a severe blow.
Trump, to my mind, exemplifies the same strategic smarts that enabled those destroyer commanders to turn the tide at Leyte.
Spending a fraction of the money that supported Hillary's giant political machine, he nonetheless understood the bigger picture and wisely out-admiraled the Dems to victory.
Top picture is the USS Intrepid at the Battle of Okinawa.
Bottom picture is the Battle of Midway.
Japs in WWII over-thought everything.
A real war between super powers will be over before there could be any thought of gearing up to wartime manufacturing. What we have on day one is it.
Hopefully Pres. Trump is going to ensure we have day one superiority.
Depending on China for manufacturing raw materials borders on criminal imo.
I wouldn’t trust any main structure made from Chinese steel, including bridges, building reinforcements.
They have been shown to adulterate, shortcut,bastardize, just about everything coming from them.
We have seen it in foodstuffs, building materials, clothing, you name it.
“I don’t know if there is enough Kona to even be competitive in the normal coffee market.”
It was posted here some time ago that coffee can be labeled “Kona” with just a tiny amount of actual Kona coffee added to some other bean.
There is a native coffee that grows in the Everglades.
http://www.south-florida-plant-guide.com/wild-coffee.html
We need higher taxes to feed the leviathan state, more bureaucrats, less freedom to choose, and less competitive industry!
Get rid of corporate taxes and income taxes and go back to tariffs and sales taxes. They are truly voluntary as they are based on consumption. Don't want to pay the autosales tax? Don't buy one. Tax on cigarettes? Don't smoke. Tax on a plate of smoked trout and scrambled eggs with toast? If that sounds good to you then you'll pay the tax, but it will be your choice. Man, that sounds good right now. I'm hungry.
Ah, who did we steal the production from?
Or did you mean "steel," the metal?
A better example would one that I've used -- that is critical to support a major industry: rubber for car tires. Rubber trees don't grow in the U.S., and something like 70% of the world's rubber is produced in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. Imposing a tariff on rubber would make U.S.-built cars more expensive.
As is usually the case, it will come down to political influence first and foremost ... which means a tariff system will end up just as convoluted, useless and ineffective as ObamaCare (versions 1.0 or 2.0).
Coffee was discovered in what is now modern Kenya by a goat herder noticing that the goats who dined on wild coffee berries were awfully perky.
It wasn't long after that when the first Arab slave traders moved in to set up shop. Coffee is a labor intensive crop and the followers of Islam weren't going to do that work. Of course, they took on local partners who converted to Islam, including a famous family which would produce one U.S. president.
Unless you live in Hawaii or PR, I can't imagine how someone could grow American coffee. Arabica (drinkable) beans only grow at high altitude (6,000-ish feet) in the tropics. Under cloud cover. Without those conditions, no worky.
<holodomor>
Ain't irony great?
</holodomor>
Too labor intensive?
Or the workers would suddenly disappear for days at a time?..................
Gee, I wish the ag industry would hurry up and invent hybridization already.
Could someone who knows about tariffs, please answer these questions:
If the purpose of tariffs is to raise revenue, then why don’t we have tariffs on everything applied equally?
If the purpose of tariffs is to protect American industry, then why don’t we have tariffs on anything produced in the US?
To me, a hodgepodge of tariffs at different rates looks far more like politicians rewarding favored industries (contributors) and punishing enemies.
Having said that a tariff on coffee beads is not a good idea because their are no potential domestic source of coffee beans. However, I like consumption based taxes in general over income taxes.
Many other countries on earth put tariffs and regulations on imports of American goods and we do not reciprocate. Like CHINA.
Why are we not allowed to reciprocate when other nations are allowed to cheapen the price of their goods artificially? We are in a trade war where we don’t fight. We just lay down like a pussy and screw our own economy, at least up until January 20th.
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