European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 10, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday february 10, 1992 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary William f. Buckley  pay Price for Leisure so Don t complain the japanese have a harder time of it than the americans do when the time comes to Trade insults. That has to do largely with Hollywood which Over the years has fashioned the paradigmatic Beauty. Marilyn Monroe wins Over miss Tokyo of any year and no male in japanese films is As internationally idolized As Gary Cooper or Clark Gable or Cary Grant. So when americans set out to disparage the japanese we tend to Anim advert on their appearance a yellow a a dwarfish a a Slit eyed and All of those unpleasant ethnocentric things. The japanese lose out at the level of counter cracks about physical appearance though they do use  mostly they rely on characterizations. In recent weeks we have been a Lazy a a self indulgent and  that a Nice. What regularly follows a japanese insult is a japanese apology. These come in with scripted regularity along the lines of the speaker did not mean to suggest anything unfriendly yesterday when be said that americans Are Lazy shiftless and bored. So we Retreat to the figures which in recent weeks give Good news and bad. What a especially bad is our continuing neglect in the younger generation of science and math. Recent tests conducted among schoolchildren of various Ages show us behind the former soviet Union Only just ahead of Ireland and substantially behind the entire asian Community. Is there a reason for this Well yes. The japanese have 60 Days More schooling per year than americans they get almost three times As much Homework and they watch one fifth As much television. The Good news is that . Productivity continues to Lead the world. The Jap anese Are Only 80 percent As productive As a a a i5 be productive. A recent Issue of the econ we Are the germans Only 75 percent As Mist Magazine gives a wealth of information some of it encouraging some of it dispiriting. Workers wages in America have not risen in the past 20 years and at $15 per hour Are less than wages in Western Germany $23 and Japan $16. The reason for this is a flood of immigrant labor and the Rush of women to work. In America employment has a jumped by a phenomenal 50 percent since 1970.�?� this Means a Large labor Pool with resulting downward pressure on wages. A but fears about falling living standards Are exaggerated a the economist reasons. A once the figures Are adjusted for changes in the number of hours worked and increases in fringe benefits and bonuses and then adjusted correctly for inflation real family incomes in America have risen Over the past two  the surprising news Given the gloom and doom about Trade balances is that in 110 critical technologies the United states dominates 43, the japanese 33, the europeans and others 34. Our Trade deficit has shrunk from $160 billion to $72 billion in the last four years. While our manufactured exports Are up 90 percent growth in the rest of the Industrial countries in the organization for economic cooperation and development is 25 percent. Even in 1991, in a worldwide recession our manufactured exports Rose 7 percent while the of cd a Rose 1.5 percent. Japan has 17 percent of All manufactured exports. We have 18 percent not bad. A the Star performer was the Iron and steel Industry its exports quadrupled in the five years prior to 1991 in Dollar terms. Exports of aircraft electrical machinery pharmaceuticals telecommunication equipment and clothing All More than doubled Over the same  the economist notes another weakness than that of american children who do not learn the multiplication tables and know More about Bart Simpson than about Hamlet we Are not investing enough Money in our capital Plant. One reason for this is the existence of our Large labor Pool. If it is cheaper to use muscle Power Why automate another is the emphasis we have put on military technology. If you want to buy a space Wagon that will Circle the Globe at 18,000 Miles per hour the United states is your ticket. Yet in our concern to Excel in military hardware we have developed skills that Are simply not very useful to car manufacturers or to makers of air planes that Arentt permitted to go faster than the Speed of sound. But the Long View of the situation has to be Between National Pride and realism. Some japanese most of them elderly have worked As Many As seven Days per week in Pursuit of economic Progress. Americans tend to have moved in the other direction. The emphasis Here is on a Shorter workweek. It is Odd to recall that All Banks used to be open until noon on saturday and that mail was delivered twice a Day. In the end people will elect to reflect their own priorities in their work schedule and must not complain. There is a Price for Leisure. But who says it Isnit Worth it just remember done to complain. C univ Oral press Syndicate Haynes Johnson in 1992, America faces a test from within the japanese of All people should know better. Its not Only bad form to insult Good allies and partners. Its also stupid to attack them when they Are Down and feeling most vulnerable. Yet that a what japanese leaders have done twice in the last few weeks repeating a Cycle in which High ranking officials there have publicly disparaged America and americans. The insults began when Yoshio Sakurauchi speaker of the lower House of parliament castigated american workers As Lazy and illiterate. Prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa further inflamed american passions by charging that America a May Lack a work ethic Quot and suggesting that some americans have forgotten How a to live by the sweat of their  he also blamed part of . Economic woes on the numbers of College graduates who flocked to Wall Street during the 1980s rather than choosing careers a producing things of  six years ago then prime minister Yasuhiro Naka Sone boasted that Japan was far ahead of the United states As a Well educated and a intelligent  he attributed part of americans problems to its racial ethnic makeup saying a in America there Are quite a few Black people puerto Picans and  his implicit slur was expressed More explicitly four years later by then Justice minister Seiroku Kajiyama who compared prostitutes in Japan to Black americans who move into White neighbourhoods and a ruin the  in the Best of times such comments would infuriate americans and heighten anti japanese feelings. In today a troubled America they strike with special Force amid growing fears about this nations economic future and Long term prospects. The japanese Are not alone in expressing a belief that America is in decline. Many europeans among others make the same Points albeit More diplomatically poor old America used to be great can to get its act together sad to see How its slipping. Americans need no jibes from . Competitors to remind them of their internal problems. Here at Home evidence accumulates that increasing numbers share such pessimistic views. Not Only is consumer Confidence at an All time Low Confidence in the political and economic system also is being seriously shaken. Americans know theirs is a system under stress in the midst of fundamental testing. They also know that problems will linger Long after this recession ends. Not since the great depression has an economic slump Cut so wide a Swath affecting everyone from top executives to the shrinking Middle class to declining Blue Collar workers and rising numbers of those in poverty. For the rest of this decade National life will be dominated by cities and states bankrupt critical Public services slashed health care clinics closing hospitals in distress benefits Cut or eliminated violent crime increasing infrastructure crumbling Basic manufacturing and corporate White Collar jobs permanently lost. These problems and increasing evidence of Public cynicism about All institutions and leaders make it Likely that divisions among winners and losers will increase exacerbating tension among races regions ethnic groups and economic classes. These conditions raise questions about whether something fundamental has gone wrong and if so what Are the causes and possible solutions. Have american values changed has the belief in americans uniqueness in its representation of something far greater than its Many disparate parts changed does common National purpose exist and where Are the leaders who will articulate it if such leaders emerge will people follow them is there no More american dream in a Way the japanese taunts could prove helpful if they stir americans to the kind of concerted action that japanese treachery sparked 50 years and two months ago. Concern about precisely that response led Japan a greatest Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to Tell exultant officers after the successful attack on Pearl Harbor a i fear we have Only awakened a sleeping giant and his reaction will be  but americans problems Are not with outside forces. In 1992, it faces a test from within a of its economic and political will. Does it still have the National character to respond and to win with this column i am taking a one year leave of absence to travel throughout the United states gathering material for a Book on american attitudes and values a personal political and economic a set against the backdrop of this presidential election year. In this project 1 plan to address questions raised in this column. C the Washington Post