Editorial Comment: Japan's Tragedy and Americn Joblessness

Can Japan’s Tragedy Open Doors in Our Economy?

It is becoming clear that the Japanese economy will take a very long time to recover from the havoc wreaked upon it by the recent earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant damage.  Aside from the humanitarian factors involved, which are enormous, for the time being (and that may be years) Japan will not be able to continue to play its role of supplier of automobiles, automobile parts and most importantly, electronic devices and electronic components to much of the world.  Without these items, many other countries, spared the cataclysmic physical damage done to Japan, will nevertheless suffer economically.  Without Japan to play this role, an understudy must step in.

This can afford the United States the opportunity to solve its potentially chronic unemployment problem as well as return it to its role as a manufacturing nation supplying products to the world.  The electronic components necessary for computers, TVs, cell phones and communications devices of all sorts, and these devices themselves, can be produced in the United States.  We have the technology and the labor force to accomplish that.  The same goes for automobiles which can be totally manufactured here as well as automotive parts for existing vehicles and those already being manufactured here.  We did this for years and we can do it again.

We cannot, unfortunately, sit on our behinds and wait for American business to determine whether or not doing this can be profitable and to pick and choose for which particular Japanese role they can step in to fill as an understudy.  The government must step in to make certain that the United States fills that role, even if this means subsidizing American business with low-cost loans to accomplish this.  The government might even build the necessary manufacturing facilities here, if they do not already exist, and lease or sell them to businesses at a bargain price.  This would require government spending, always frowned upon by conservatives, but it would truly be an investment which would be repaid many times over by the benefits which our economy would accrue.

I haven’t heard these ideas expressed yet by anyone in government here, but I would wager that India and China are already in line to audition for the role of understudy.  For example, all Honda Civics have been manufactured in Japan and right now, their production is suspended.  It would be tragic for their assembly line to be reactivated in China or India, or even Korea.  Bear in mind that often, when a talented understudy takes on a role, the original star may have difficulty getting back their job once they have recovered. 

The United States cannot let this opportunity pass us by.  We have the physical and intellectual resources to make it happen.  Let’s do it.

JL