European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 5, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The stars and stripes sunday april 5.1967 columns Anthony Lewis Quality products needed to fix oiling  when president Reagan imposed punitive tariffs on Japan because of its gains in the microchip Market. 1 was just finishing the reckoning David Halberstam s 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 the Book. Here again a . Industry thai had led the world frittered its leadership away. The government instead of seeing the problem ahead and helping to plan a solution came in Al the last minute with a Blunderbuss. The profound underlying reasons for trouble remain untouched. Japan is outpacing the United Stales across a wide spectrum of Modem Indus try. Its products Are beautifully designed reliable competitively priced. Americans did not Slan to buy japanese cars be cause we were prejudiced in favor of Japan. We bought them because they were belter cars. The reckoning exploring what happened at Ford and Nissan drama tites the reasons thai America has fallen behind. . Auto management was complacent indeed arrogant in its Assumption of permanent dominance. Short term profit was the prime goal what will the Dock Market say finance men came Andrew j. Glass to dominate the car men and they blocked proposals for new designs is Loo expensive american cars were stodgy. The japanese had heir Eye on the future. Nissan began with Lumpy underpowered cars unsuitable for the . Mar Ket. But it and the others went boldly for new designs and advanced engineering. Quality control was another Factor. The japanese Learned it from an Ameri can ignored in his own country. When . Auto executives finally visited Japa Nese plants in the 1980s, they asked where the repair areas were for faulty cars taken off the Assembly Tine we Don t have to repair our cars a guide replied. Well then where Are your inspectors the workers Are the inspect  behind such stories Are differences of Altitude. The japanese practice a kind of communitarian capitalism. Creed is not in Vogue. The Ideal is working together for common goals. Executives do not gel huge bonuses As american executives often do even in indifferent years. Mili Tant Auto unions lost out and work assignments Are made without the intricate rules that govern american labor relations. To meet the japanese Cha Lei the United states will have to make in Flam changes in altitudes and official policies. What is needed is no secret. A dozen economists and sociologists have written books on the subject and David Halberstam tells the Story in convincing human terms we need longer economic vision. 1 Means investment in real things nuts instead of corporate Rajh it Means planning that dread Wor i our political orthodoxy. To invest in the future Wared More saving. Americans today of consumption Happy consuming Jar cell More than we produce. It Ethan a vast in flow of foreign can Jet policy could change that and at to tame time Cut the frightening  a policy for example of Imp Lnig a modest tax on consumption  saving. We Are Domera Tely behind Japan in education. My can we be serious about the future Aien what we pay teachers  for their function we do Dpi want a levelled egalitarian so piety jul we need one whose values Are not a pieced in millions for Wall Street Aton and pennies for those who i our children s minds. Tare some of the real needs. They Hake Reagan s Tariff move against Japan look Well sad. Sudden economic Lan turn Job not make a policy. But along with Jhc need for Long term change in Tbs country we do have to think about Jet term Trade concerns. ,. Someone brought up on belief in free Trade finds it hard to understand per haps 1 mean hard to admit that the world is not a perfect Market where free Trade will make everyone Richer. It is a world with a billion unemployed and with a tendency to move production into Tow wage countries. It is a world with a Good Deal of government intervention Al ready. Are we free traders prepared to see a United slates that makes no High value products no automobiles no computers if not we must face the need for some marketing arrangements. That requires a serious Trade policy not tantrums. Sud Den actions like the Reagan tariffs Are More Likely to Hurt us than impress the japanese. The Long and the Short go together. Trade arrangements to preserve a Market sector for . Products cannot be justified unless the Lime gained is used to work for genuine improvements in our competitiveness. Otherwise american Consumers Are being soaked simply to provide temporary profits to a handful of  youth my Hwi Lintn i Angote Cas attention to the n for c in the p the up Side of Ira Gate is that it focuses attention on the need for compe tence in the presidency. Now there s a striking thought. Does the need for competence in the presidency really need attention focused on it yes Ai a matter of fact it does. The need for competence in the presidency seems to have pretty much slipped our minds in the 1980s. We knew there was something we were forgetting now we know what. Anyway this new attention to the n for c in the p As . Wodehouse would have put it is Good. If Ronald Reagan had breezed through two terms the next time somebody who was charming handsome committed and a great speech maker came along How could he have been kept out of the while House if a detractor had said that this new Guy seems to build his world View around marginally relevant often erroneous anecdotes and thai he has never read a Book that was t assigned and that i has an unusually Strong interest in Daj Lime sleep somebody else would a said so what look Ai  � and the debate would have been Over the nation is fortunate to Havi neen spared this sequence. It was pus Jung its Luck. If Ira Gate had t happened to Rea Gan something much worse morn have happened to the next Reagan., now that he n for in the p is recognized Here s a to Daft proposal the next Batch of people Veo want to be president should be Sivji a multiple Choice test. Definitely Rel an essay lest Loo Many  answer questions As if they re if King essay tests there should be soya Hundred questions chosen by non artisans. Such a test Houpt serve two useful purposes 1 in Mireme oses in could Weed out or at least Embarrass some unqualified Candida la if most candidates were to score i the 60s and 70s, but one Cuy Fame Only the 20s, that would be Villa Worth growing. 2 the candidates might do a Little constructive worrying about the lest. In Weed out no which i the months before i Reab Lullion begins while they Are taking locution Les sons and perfecting uie Patur on the few issues they like to Jjck about they might also spend some not studying the issues in general  i Hurt the nation the test quest is should t be Loo terribly hard. Of idea should t be to find voracious readers or people with Mories but simply to and ignorant try is most dependent on foreign i a the United states b Japan saudi Arabia United states biggest trading Partti Ittis a Japan b Canada c Lari e portion of income tax Revenue goes to paying off the Federal debt year is closest to a 40 percent percent c s percent any candidate who answers c to any of those questions should definitely be subjected to special scrutiny. What is the Case against such a test that i i results might be taken Loose piously thai s what some people used to say about presidential debates. They would say the Job of the president in t to debate so Why judge candidates on their ability to debate put in turns out that the american Public is perfectly willing to vote for the Guy who loses the debates. Debates Are just one Small Factor influencing voters. Why would a test be any More influential All americans have Felt victimized by a test Al one time or another. They won t have any difficulty remembering that one lest does t Tell everything that s 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 voices information on the grounds that they would t know what to do with it. What other reason is there for not haying a Lesi that in would be Loo degrading for the candidates come on. These people March in parades. Nan Voa tinn Muni Senta