Cwlondon:
Interesting post....from many points of view that are much larger than simply the audiophile marketplace.
I am one who is going to agree with your colleague as regards the looming issues that are very real and will cause major disruptions in our society. To say, as a society, that we have been decieved and mislead is IMO not stretching the truth. I believe that the fear of "flight of capital" is very real. By the same token, right now, that capital really has nowhere else to go if it is seeking both safety and return. If it is seeking primarily safety, than there are other choices.
By the same token, it seems to me that the really big lesson in all of this is that it is our society that has, since WW2, sowed the seeds of our own dilemna. It is we who have shown the world a better quality of life, and sold them our products (and our syndicated television re-reruns) with this quality of life as a lure. Now, to our dismay, they have decided that they want it for themselves and in many ways are willing to work harder for it than we are. Should we blame them?
But we are not alone in this. Right now, the emerging world NEEDS access to our consumption. If all of the worlds drug users stop cold turkey, all of the worlds dealers stop cold turkey as well. Without the American consuption, the Chinese manufacturing machine (which already suffers from a dramatic lack of pricing power...observe the changes currently going on in their internal policies) will cease to have sufficient customers to justify its existence.
This is not to minimize our own problems. Our leaders have done a miserable job of taking care of business, and we as voters have done an even poorer job of our duty of choosing appropriate leaders.
When Japanese products first appeared in the market after WW2, they suffered from all of the same problems that you have so accurately described. Look at them now.
In the bigger global picture, we are all in this together. We all need each other...rich and poor...and we need to take care of each other...rich and poor.
Interesting post....from many points of view that are much larger than simply the audiophile marketplace.
I am one who is going to agree with your colleague as regards the looming issues that are very real and will cause major disruptions in our society. To say, as a society, that we have been decieved and mislead is IMO not stretching the truth. I believe that the fear of "flight of capital" is very real. By the same token, right now, that capital really has nowhere else to go if it is seeking both safety and return. If it is seeking primarily safety, than there are other choices.
By the same token, it seems to me that the really big lesson in all of this is that it is our society that has, since WW2, sowed the seeds of our own dilemna. It is we who have shown the world a better quality of life, and sold them our products (and our syndicated television re-reruns) with this quality of life as a lure. Now, to our dismay, they have decided that they want it for themselves and in many ways are willing to work harder for it than we are. Should we blame them?
But we are not alone in this. Right now, the emerging world NEEDS access to our consumption. If all of the worlds drug users stop cold turkey, all of the worlds dealers stop cold turkey as well. Without the American consuption, the Chinese manufacturing machine (which already suffers from a dramatic lack of pricing power...observe the changes currently going on in their internal policies) will cease to have sufficient customers to justify its existence.
This is not to minimize our own problems. Our leaders have done a miserable job of taking care of business, and we as voters have done an even poorer job of our duty of choosing appropriate leaders.
When Japanese products first appeared in the market after WW2, they suffered from all of the same problems that you have so accurately described. Look at them now.
In the bigger global picture, we are all in this together. We all need each other...rich and poor...and we need to take care of each other...rich and poor.