European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 5, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns Anthony Lewis the stars and stripes sunday april a 1997 Quality products needed to fix oiling . Industry when president Reagan imposed punitive tariffs on Japan because of us gains in the microchip Market in ii it finishing the reckoning David Halberstam fascinating Book on the decline of America s Auto Industry and the Rise of Japan s. How ironically the president s action underlined the powerful themes of in Book. Here again a us Industry that handled the world frittered its leadership away. The government instead of teeing the problem ahead and helping to plan a solution came in at the last minute witha profound underlying reasons for trouble remain untouched Japan is outpacing the United slate across a wide spectrum of Modem Indus try. Its products Are beautifully designed reliable competitively priced. American did not Start to buy japanese can be cause we were prejudiced in favor of Japan. We bought them because the were belter cart. The reckoning exploring what happened at Ford and Nissan drama Tizes the reasons that America hat fatten behind. . Auto management was complacent indeed arrogant in its Assumption of permanent dominance. Short term prom was the prime goal what will Che Node Market Ray finance men came Andrew j. Glass to dominate the car men and the blocked proposals for new designs As too expensive. American cars were stodgy. The japanese had their Eye on the future. Nissan began with Lumpy underpowered cars unsuitable for the . Mar Ket. But it and the others went boldly for new design and advanced engineering. Quality control was another japanese Learned it from an Ameri can ignored in his own country. . Auto executives finally visited Japa Nese plants in the 1980, they asked where the repair areas were for faulty can taken off the Assembly line. Wedon t have to repair our cars a guide replied. Well then where Are your in Spect Ortt the workers Are the inspect behind such stories Are differences of attitude the japanese practice a kind of communitarian capitalism. Creed is Notin Vogue. The Ideal is working together for common goals. Executives do not get huge bonuses As american executives often do even in indifferent Yean. Mili Tant Auto unions lost out and work assignments Are made without the intricate Niles that govern american labor relations. To meet the japanese Challenge the United Stales wit have to make significant changes in attitudes and official policies. What is needed is no secret a dozen economists and sociologists have written books on the subject and David Hatic Rustam tells the Story in convincing human terms. We need longer economic vision. That Means investment in real things products instead of corporate raids. I Means planning that dread word in our political orthodoxy. To invest in the future we need More saving. Americans today Are consumption Happy consuming 3 percent More than we produce. We rely on a vast in flow of foreign capital policy could change that and at the same time Cut the frightening budget deficit a policy for example of imposing a modest lax on consumption to encourage saving. We Are desperately behind Japan i education. How can we be serious about the future when what we pay teacher expresses contempt for their function we do not want a levelled egalitarian society but we need one whose values Are not reflected in millions for Wall Street speculators and pennies for those who form our children s minds. Those Are some of the real needs the make Reagan s Tariff move against Japan look Well sad. Sudden economic tantrums do not make a policy. But along with the need for Long term change in this country we do have to think about Short term Trade concerns. Someone brought up on belief in free Trade finds it hard to understand per haps i mean hard to admit that the world is not a perfect Market where free Trade will make everyone Richer. It is world with a billion unemployed and with a tendency to move production i Tolow wage countries. Ii it a world with a Good Deal of government intervention Al ready. Are we free traders prepared to see United Stales that makes no High value product no automobiles no computers if not we Muir face the need for some marketing arrangements. That requires serious Trade policy not tantrums. Sud Den actions like the Reagan tariffs Are More Likely to Hurt us than Imprest the japanese. The Long and the Short go together. Trade arrangements to preserve Market sector for . Products cannot be justified unless the time gained ii use to work for genuine improvements in our competitiveness otherwise America Consumers Are being soaked simply to provide temporary profits to a handful of Htu Vort Tomti non so Van Iron Gote Colls attention to the n for c in the p the up Side of Ira Gate is that i focuses attention on the need for compe tence in the presidency. Now there s a striking thought Doe the need for competence in the presidency really need attention focused on it yes As a matter of fact it does. The need for competence in the presidency seems to have pretty much supped our minds in the 1980s. We knew there was something we were forgetting. Now we know what. Anyway this new attention id the for c in the p As . Wodehouse would have put it is Good. If Ronald Reagan bad breezed through two terms the next time somebody who was charming handsome committed and a great speech maker came along How could behave been kept out of the White House if a detractor had said that this new Guy seems to build his world View around maternally relevant often erroneous anecdotes and that he has never read a Book that was t assigned and hat he has an unusually Strong interest in Day time sleep somebody else would have said so what look at and the debate would have been Over. The nation is fortunate to have been spared this sequence. It was pushing its Luck. If Tran Gale had t happened to Rea Gan something much worse might have happened to the next Reagan. Now that the n for c in the p i recognized Here s a modest proposal the next Batch of people who want to be president should be Given a multiple Choice test definitely nol an essay test too Many politicians already answer questions As if they re taking essay tests there should be say a Hundred questions chosen by non partisans. Such a test would serve two useful purposes 1 in extreme cases it could Weed out or at least Embarrass some unqualified candidates. If most candidate were to scare in the 60s and 70s, but one Guy came out in the 20s, that would be data Worth knowing. 2 the candidates might do a Little constructive worrying about the Lent. In the months before the real action begins while they Are taking elocution Les sons and perfecting their Palter on the few issues they like to talk about they might also spend same time studying the issues in general. This could t Hurt the nation. The test questions should t be to terribly hard. The idea should t be to find voracious readers or people wit photographic memories but simply to Weed out novices and Ign Orami which country is most dependent an foreign Oil a the United states b Japan c saudi Arabia the United states biggest trading partner is a Japan b Canada c Iran. The portion of income tax Revenue that goes to paying off the Federal debt every year is closest to a 40 percent Al 20 percent c 5 percent any candidate who answers c to an of those questions should definitely be subjected to special scrutiny. What is the Case against such a test that its results might be taken too seriously that s what some people used today about presidential debates. They would say the Job of the president in t to debate so Why judge candidates on their ability to debate Bui it turns out thai the american Public is perfectly willing to Vole for the Guy who loses the Are just one Small Factor influencing voters. Why would a test be any More influential All americans have Felt victimized by a lest at one time or another. The won t have any difficulty remembering that one test does t Tell everything that Worth knowing. Anyway even if people would misuse the test results so what they should have the right to. This is a democracy we can t Start sparing voters information on the grounds that they would t know what to do with it. What other reason is there forgot having a test that it would be too degrading for the candidates come people March in parades. New Tun to hams a
