Replies

You would probably lose that bet. The Japanese do not have the most spotless record for business ethics and adherence to international laws protecting IP. But the Chinese are in a different class entirely. They have no regard whatsoever for western business ethics and international law.

And they have been greatly assisted by the fact that accountants with MBA's have been running most American companies for the past fifty plus years and to them quality much less the value of employing a work force at wages that allow them to buy the company's products are entirely alien. At a business seminar in Shanghai a presenter told us that at best, after allowing for the costs of setting up production, shipping product back to the USA, etc. an American company operating a plant in China will save 25% on their US production costs. That's in spite of the huge difference in labor costs.

Twenty five percent is a huge figure to someone trained to look for pennies saved and who has all the empathy for their fellow countrymen as a snake has for a rat. Or that once a Chinese factory has begun production upwards of ninety percent, unreported to the US partner, goes out the back door under a different or even the same pirated label. If one knowingly goes into business with a thief who is to blame when one is robbed?

The fun part is that the new “best customer” for towelhead supplied oil is gonna be the Chinese.
Those fun folks with mafia business practices and 1.5 billion expendable people to enforce the terms.

The party may be ending in the mideast. I see a lot of sheiks having to swap their Lamborghini back to a camel.

I can’t see Mopar importing/selling Jap vehicles with components constructed from pirated plans, but who knows. One thing I and everyone else know is China’s quality is as suspect as 0bama’s honesty. Now there’s a race to the bottom!

And they have been greatly assisted by the fact that accountants with MBA's have been running most American companies for the past fifty plus years and to them quality much less the value of employing a work force at wages that allow them to buy the company's products are entirely alien.

Ford did not create a market for his products by overpaying his employees. He created competitors, because he had to charge more to cover cost of the padded wages. As the competition squeezed him on price, he zeroed out product variety and R&D, thereby inviting yet more competition. Shades of what happened to Detroit in the 80's, except the Japanese had a trump card - their cars were not only cheaper and more fuel-efficient; they were more reliable. Without the Plaza Accord that drastically raised the value of the yen against the dollar, Detroit's automakers would be pushing up daisies today.