International labor standards would be a good place to start and include in them international health, safety and environmental standards. The Japanese like this ISO, QSO international standard stuff---if the USA did it up in a big way---I'll bet the Japanese would go along. International Labor Standards-2001. Be there or be square!
Of course, we have some real almost in the third world areas in our own country that would benefit from international standards too.
Your email pal,
Tom L.
Steve Perry wrote:
> Tom and Doug,
>
> Hey, I like the sound of this quite a bit. And I got an idea where some
> of that idle Japanese capital could go. Japanese television could begin
> airing public-service "Save a Western Consumer" spots modeled on the
> save-hungry-children commercials. They could be narrated by Sally
> Struthers (no--this needs someone who looks hungry in *every* way:
> Calista Flockhart, say) reading from a phonetically translated script:
>
> "This is Steve, a 40-year-old American. His Japanese car is eight years
> old, it burns oil, and if it breaks down, he doesn't have a cell phone
> to call for help. He doesn't own any of the Billboard Top 50 CDs. Most
> of his stereo components are more than 10 years old. The only DVD
> players he has seen are on showroom floors.
>
> "He wants so much, and it would cost so little. For just US$100 a day,
> you could support a Western consumer like Steve--and the global consumer
> economy--and receive a photograph and letters from your foster consumer
> in return. Won't you help?"
>
> > ----------
> > From: Tom Lehman
> > Sent: Monday, February 08, 1999 12:08 PM
> > To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> > Subject: Re: Poor, Helpless, Weak Japan
> >
> > Dear Doug,
> >
> > Let me see if I got this straight, what your saying is that
> > accumulation at this
> > point in time isn't in the best interests of the Japanese or for that
> > matter the
> > rest of the world and that the Japanese should start spending a little
> > bit of
> > that accumulated cash on a world -wide basis. Or am I putting words
> > in your
> > mouth.
> >
> > Your email pal,
> >
> > Tom L.
> >
> > Doug Henwood wrote:
> >
> > > Rob Schaap wrote:
> > >
> > > >G'day Doug,
> > > >
> > > >You write of Japan:
> > > >
> > > >>For sure, the talk of collapse so fashionable in the
> > English-language
> > > >>press is >way overdone, but you can't run an accumulation engine
> > on sub-5%
> > > >>profit rates.
> > > >
> > > >Er, why not?
> > >
> > > Because: 1) it's not worth the additional risk of investing in
> > production
> > > when riskless assets, like U.S. Treasury bonds, pay almost as much,
> > and 2)
> > > over the long term, since tomorrow's investment is funded from
> > yesteray's
> > > profits, you couldn't sustain the high levels of investment
> > necessary to
> > > keep the accumulation engine running with such low profits.
> > >
> > > Doug
> >
> >