Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!sri-spam!mordor!lll-tis!lll-lcc!unisoft!gethen!farren
From: farren@gethen.UUCP (Michael J. Farren)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Japan and Semiconductors
Message-ID: <565@gethen.UUCP>
Date: 12 Jan 88 06:48:32 GMT
References: <9679@udenva.cair.du.edu>
Reply-To: farren@gethen.UUCP (Michael J. Farren)
Followup-To: talk.politics
Organization: There's Unix there in Oakland
Lines: 101

First off, I've redirected followups to talk.politics.  Please don't
post your replies to comp.sys.amiga, this doesn't belong here any more!

In article <9679@udenva.cair.du.edu> news@udenva.cair.du.edu (netnews) writes:
>The UNITED STATES is the GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD
>
>Do you dare to argue with me ?

Sure do.  We haven't been THE greatest country in any area that I can
think of for years.  We share the honor in some areas, but in others
are far, far behind.

>semiconductors: OK, we may have lost the 1 meg market, but IBM has had
>		4 meg DRAMS for some time now.

Go out and buy an IBM memory part.  Go ahead, I'll wait.

>Japan may have enjoyed a small market share advantage,

Huh?  I may be misremembering, but I thought the Japanese share of the
256K RAM market was more like 75%.  This is NOT a "small market share
advantage", it's an overwhelming one.

>but America, particularly TI is fighting back. Additionally, Japan is
>way behind us on processors (no 80386s or 68030s or 78000s)
>and companies liek Motorola and Intel are keeping the U.S.competitive.

How about the V70, which by all accounts is a pretty nice chip?  
I agree on one point - right now the U.S. enjoys a bit of an advantage
in the area of innovation.  I see little reason to think that this
will necessarily continue, and, in fact, unless we start to move quickly,
we may well find our lead gone in the next 10 years.  Government
support of innovative projects in Japan will have results, and if we
haven't made some concerted efforts ourselves, there's a good chance
we'll be left behind.

>competitiveness:The United States is increasingly competitive in the world
>		market for industrial goods.

Hardly.  We enjoy a priveleged position, in that American industrial goods
have long been the standard for the world.  This is changing, rapidly.
In almost every major market area, America's supremacy is being challenged.
We may not yet have lost the race, but they're catching up fast, and in
some areas, like automobiles and consumer electronics, have left us in
the dust.

>(do you see any competition for McDonalds ?)

No, I must admit that there is no competition in the area of mass-produced
second-rate food.

>American financial institutions are among the largest in the world.

As I would expect in a society where money is the only metric of
success.   This is also not something which is immune to change,
and if the third world starts to default on loans en masse, U.S.
financial institutions might not be quite as superior in the future
(a scenario which is, unfortunately, not a fantasy).  At least, those
that survive won't be.

>greatness:	It is domestically and internationally UNTENABLE, UNTHINKABLE
>		AND OUTRAGEOUS that Japan or W. Germany could EVER be a 
>		superpower.

You had better start thinking, rather than emoting.  Japan, if not already
superior to the U.S. in world economic power, is not at all far behind,
and is certainly more of a superpower than Britain is.  In fact, many
could make a good argument showing Japan as the pre-eminent factor in
the world economy, supplanting the U.S.  In any event, we are rapidly
entering a world in which the concept 'superpower', with its implied
assumption of a sole reservoir of economic and political power residing
in one nation, is meaningless.

The longer it takes for this country to realize that we can no longer
consider ourselves as the reigning power in the world, in any sense
save (perhaps) militarily, the longer it will take us to decide to take
those measures which will ensure our ability to compete in a world where
this is true.  Chauvinistic statements like "This country is the
greatest in the world" make no more sense in the real world of today
than do the cries of "We're The Greatest" do from 49er's fans.  Much
as it may be a pain in the pride to admit it, in both cases "We're one
of the greatest" makes a lot more sense today.

>Well, I apoligise for my outburst in favor of my country. I felt it was
>neccesary!

No apologies necessary, really.  I certainly bow to noone in my faith
in this country and its people.  Just because we aren't the greatest
in every area across the board doesn't mean the country doesn't have
every right to be proud of what we have accomplished, are accomplishing
now, and will accomplish in the future.  We've done great things.  We
will, most likely, continue to do great things, and this is something to
be proud of, indeed.  It's important, though, to realize that we aren't
the only place in the world where great things are being done, and that
those accomplishments also deserve recognition and applause.

-- 
Michael J. Farren             | "INVESTIGATE your point of view, don't just 
{ucbvax, uunet, hoptoad}!     | dogmatize it!  Reflect on it and re-evaluate
        unisoft!gethen!farren | it.  You may want to change your mind someday."
gethen!farren@lll-winken.llnl.gov ----- Tom Reingold, from alt.flame