In order to make a compelling case along these lines you've got to provide some documented evidence that Japanese companies were selling electronics and/or autos in the U.S. for less than it cost to produce. Autos are a terrible example in any case, since this was one industry where the Japanese had no need to "dump" product in the U.S. market. By the mid 1980s many U.S. consumers were willing to pay more for a Japanese car than for an American one -- simply because by that time the quality of the Japanese car was far superior.
Everyone wants to be a millionaire, but nobody is willing to pay the price of products or services made by millionaires. This is why so many of our jobs have been moved overseas, and why so many jobs right here in the U.S. are filled by illegal immigrants. We simply don't want to pay "American" prices for the products and services we use every day, but we insist on believing that we can charge "American" prices for the products and services we produce every day. That's really all there is to it, and as long as we insist on maintaining this illusion of affluence we are going to be facing the same recurring dilemma.
And from your 299 above:
By the mid 1980s many U.S. consumers were willing to pay more for a Japanese car than for an American one -- simply because by that time the quality of the Japanese car was far superior.
In 1983 our company built a home for Mort Myerson partner of Ross Perot which was used as a retreat for EDS officers as well.
The stone mason a grand character named John who was featured on a "This Old House" episode needed a new truck.
He returned to the site with a Toyota flatbed (the cabinet guy from Boston had a Datsun flatbed) which brought on the attack by four carpenters from Dallas Fort Worth who'd finished the airport tower there and bled union.
John replied, "Why should I pay a guy in Detroit forty dollars an hour?"
I stayed out of it, happy with my 57 Chevy stepside, but John's comment was apparently amplified judging by market trends since that time.
Roger Hedgecock filling in for Rush favored the passage of CAFTA; no caller could enunciate a cogent argument against it.
Roger explained it has strategic value as a counter to Chinese influence in the hemisphere noticeably with Venezuela, but Brazil, Cuba and elsewhere as well.
New Mexico's Republicans Steve Pearce and Heather Wilson voted Yes; Democrat Tom Udall voted No.
Udall represents the sanctuary city Santa Fe whose city council resolved noncooperation with the former INS, now CIS.