A Lesson From Japan
For years I’ve marvelled at the ineptitude of the American auto industry. It confused me how the supposed backbone of the American economy seemed to pride itself in making wasteful and uninspired cars and trucks in the face of overseas competition that was quicker to embrace value, function, and styling. Since I was a wee little lad, I’ve always wondered why anyone would buy a Ford when they are less reliable and arrogantly disregard both beauty and efficiency. The buyer may be stupid, but even fools learn from their mistakes. Ford and its compariots ode to putrifaction is a reflection of the cult of arrogance that has spread from CEO on down in these ‘jewels’ of American manufacturing. Guess what? 
You COULD do wrong, and you DID do wrong because you bought into your own mythology. Wake up. Develop self-awareness. Why do you deserve a bailout if you remain entrenched in your morally and fiscally bankrupt business practices? The reason you are failing is not the credit crunch. That may have ripped the warm blanket off your corpse and brought it to an immediate crisis, but this has been brewing for a long time. You have betrayed America in these last decades by feeding on the brain-rot of uneducated nationalistic fervor (sometimes confused with patriotism - a highly misunderstood essence). I will not buy a car because it is American. I will buy a car because it is a good car. I want to buy a car that represents the competitive and quality product that I know America is capable of producing, but the hobbled together trash that you slap an American flag on is an insulting jab at the greatness that supposedly defines America. With power comes responsibility. Take yours now. Respect your consumer. Do not fly private jets to Washington to rattle a pauper’s cup in front of a bailout committee. Do not moan about the difficult financial situation you have so effectively been molding since the 1980s. The American people are suffering and will continue to suffer at your hands, but now it is time to stop the bleeding. You are an arm of America broken and cancerous in a thousand places. Surgery is a risk, but what motivation would a surgeon have to donate his time to mend you when he knows you will refuse your medication and skip out on rehab. Instead, I pray your disease will be amputated. Until you can be regrownf from stem cells, you will be replaced with a robotic Japanese-designed prosthetic that functions without a myth of Godliness oozing from every pore. An arm that is not the prototype it was in the 1980s. A prosthetic that takes the bus to work, that cuts its pay to five figures until its body has recovered, and that respects the people that it is responsible for. Until this day comes, I have not one ampule of pity for myself or my fellow Americans. Let us tighten our belts, read a few books, and start eating ramen noodles. All seasons pass, but this winter is just beginning.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/business/2008/11/02/lah.japan.ceo.pay.cut.cnn
(basically I’m just agreeing with Ben’s previous post) -kerb
1 year ago