Our White Collar Nation
5 January 2010When I first read this article from The Stone I was amused by its simplistic view of the world. Clicking on the “trenchant observations” link below partly confirmed my assumptions:-) However, I guess many would agree with the general theme. So, other than Wall Street kleptomania and a dysfunctional government, what went wrong? Is the problem merely one of finding a solution to the Triffin Dilemma? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triffin_dilemma) and then all will be well or has, for example, Japan already out white collared the US?
Today, with the ability to componentize a company, and separate its marketing from its production from its distribution, it’s more obvious when the jobs have shipped to another state, or another country. But the history of work in America is an inexorable, inevitable shift to the work of the mind.
And I, for one, think that’s a good thing. Because the more people we have engaged in medical research, or designing great electronics, or simply making trenchant observations on our internet economy, the better for us.
We are a White Collar nation, and our future is very bright.
http://www.cenedella.com/stone/archives/2010/01/our_white_collar_nation.html
4 Responses to “Our White Collar Nation”
January 8th, 2010 at 10:55 am
Panasonic: The Next Solar Giant?
OSAKA, Japan (TheStreet) — In its annual management report issued during the Japanese business day on Friday, Panasonic(PC Quote) set a goal of using its recent acquisition of SANYO to become an alternative energy giant.
SANYO has been a key player in the solar cells and rechargeable batteries, and Panasonic predicts a tripling of its annual sales in the next three years leveraging this alternative energy lead-in from SANYO.
Panasonic’s outlook on green energy is as bold as it gets: the company said it plans to be the No. 1 green-energy company in the electronics space before its 100th anniversary in 2018.
The big alternative energy dreams are part of a new yardstick being used by Panasonic management: it wants to have multiple key products that hold a top market share in the world, for a total of 10 trillion yen or more in sales and 10% percent or more in operating profit and return on equity.
In sales, Panasonic is predicting generation of more than 3 trillion yen from the energy systems business, including energy creation and storage systems.
In solar specifically, Panasonic’s plan to invest approximately 100 billion yen from fiscal 2011 to 2016 to increase production of SANYO’s solar cells. Panasonic aims for the No.1 market share in Japan in fiscal 2013, and one of the top three companies in the global market in fiscal 2016.
Some of the discussion in the Panasonic annual management policy was pure-play eco-fluff, talking of eco-consciousness and using the word “green” as if it were printing the verbal equivalent of how much green the U.S. Federal Reserve has been printing.
http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/10658160/1/panasonic-the-next-solar-giant.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA
January 8th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Japan braves bond markets with high-risk plans, talks down the yen
Japan has appointed its sixth finance minister in eighteen months and opted for yet another high-stakes shift in economic strategy, this time ditching its strong-yen policy and reverting to fiscal largesse in hopes of pulling the country out of deflationary perma-slump.
The change of tack by the world’s second largest economy sparked jitters on Tokyo’s bond markets and may have implications for the global currency system, leading to a revival of the yen “carry-trade” that helped fuel the last international asset bubble.
Deputy premier Naoto Kan is to take over the finance ministry. A high-spending populist and an advocate of radical stimulus measures, he is a stark contrast to the outgoing Hirohisa Fujii, the aging apostle of financial orthodoxy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/6947459/Japan-braves-bond-markets-with-high-risk-plans-talks-down-the-yen.html
Japan Inc goes for broke?
January 8th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Willem Buiter warns of massive dollar collapse
Americans must prepare themselves for a massive collapse in the dollar as investors around the world dump their US assets, a former Bank of England policymaker has warned.
Excerpt:
He said that the dollar had been kept elevated in recent years by what some called “dark matter” or “American alpha” – an assumption that the US could earn more on its overseas investments than foreign investors could make on their American assets. However, this notion had been gradually dismantled in recent years, before being dealt a fatal blow by the current financial crisis, he said.
“The past eight years of imperial overstretch, hubris and domestic and international abuse of power on the part of the Bush administration has left the US materially weakened financially, economically, politically and morally,” he said. “Even the most hard-nosed, Guantanamo Bay-indifferent potential foreign investor in the US must recognise that its financial system has collapsed.”
He said investors would, rightly, suspect that the US would have to generate major inflation to whittle away its debt and this dollar collapse means that the US has less leeway for major spending plans than politicians realise.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/4125947/Willem-Buiter-warns-of-massive-dollar-collapse.html
Meanwhile USA Inc. bumbles along in lala land.
January 12th, 2010 at 3:34 am
Japan tech needs M&A but patent war more likely
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60907920100111