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[bobf <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

Wow, Wendy.  I believe President Reagan was strictly a 'big picture" type 
leader.  And, I haven't a clue why he would have been involved in the minutia 
of trade compromise.  But, your post certainly taught me something that 
happened during his administration that I was not aware.  Thanks for taking 
your time for that thorough explanation.......................

----------------------------------------------------------------------


--- On Mon, 1/12/09, Wendy <crazygardens AT verizon.net> wrote:


> Thank you.  President Reagan was clueless on a lot of
> things.  He was personally responsible for the demise of the
> electronics industry in America.  I'll explain.  It is
> all because of apples.  Not Apple computers, but the fruit. 
> I saw this in his press release speech when it happened and
> yelled at the TV, "OH NO! You stupid ASS!"  Japan
> was concerned about their traditional apple farmers. 
> Japanese apple farmers take great pains to ensure that their
> apples are perfect.  It is one of those traditional,
> ritual-like things.  As a result, apples are very expensive
> and considered a special treat.  The Japanese Prime Minister
> (can't remember his name right now) was concerned that
> because of the influx of cheap American apples, the
> traditional Japanese apple farmers would be forced out and
> they would see the end of something that is revered as part
> of traditional Japanese culture.  Reagan offered to limit
> the export of apples to Japan if the Japanese would offer to
> limit the export of something to our country.  The Japanese
> Prime Minister offered to limit the export of microcircuits
> to America.  Reagan excepted and was all proud of himself
> for negotiating a trade treaty all by himself.  ASS!  Let me
> explain.  As most of us are aware, the Japanese people love
> their high-tech gadgetry and have been the driving force for
> just about all of it from cameras, to cell phones, to HDTV,
> to well, you get the drift.  Almost all of the revolutionary
> advancements in telecommunications (especially since Reagan
> also broke up Bell Telephone and put an end to Bell Labs,
> America's think tank for telecommunication technology
> and research) have been funded by the Japanese government. 
> The fruits of their research was offered freely to anyone in
> the world who could put it to use.  Like I said, the
> Japanese people love their gadgets and they don't care
> who makes it.  And the more people who like to tinker, the
> faster technology advances.  Reagan's little apples for
> microcircuits trade effectively put an end to our ability to
> play in that game.  In the early '90s, while working at
> NASA, I tried to procure some CCD camera arrays from a
> Japanese company and could not even receive documentation on
> them because I had a USA address.  That was when it really
> hit home how much damage Reagan did to the American
> electronics industry. Today there are almost no electronics
> made in America.  Even our military electronics is made via
> over-seas firms and incorporated as modules. Component level
> design/assembly of state-of-the-art equipment is no longer
> an option for us.  There are no TV's, cell phones,
> satellite systems, digital camera's, camcorders, etc
> made in the USA today thanks to Ronald Reagan.
> 
> Wendy
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "bobf"
> <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
> To: "Wendy" <crazygardens AT verizon.net>;
> <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2009 8:42 AM
> Subject: Re: [Homestead] Atlas Shrugged - Fiction to fact
> in 52 years
> 
> 
> > You make a very good case , Wendy.  One correction is
> that I think President Reagan wanted to get the government
> off the backs of 'all' business --big &
> small--not just big business.  He also wanted to keep the
> government off 'my' back and yours, something I do
> find appealing.
> > 
> > Unfortunately, he didn't account for the
> rapacicious greed and hubris inherent in this present
> generation of moneychangers invilved in big business and
> banking; not to the degree that the Congress would become
> nothing more than their errand boys.  And had he know that
> most all of the titans of banking and industry would  become
> and support liberal democrats, he might have been red-faced.
> > 
> > I liked your critique, though, as much as I liked the
> original article.  I think that thousands of bankers; big
> business CEOs and board members; and other various
> moneychangers 'and' politicians should be under
> federal and state indictment , right now.
> > 
> > It will not happen, though. They own or frighten
> almost all of the politicians, regardless of party
> identification.  Only Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, Jeff Flake
> and a few others will stand up to them, and those who do are
> considered 'fringe' or 'nuts'..........
> > 
> >
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > 
> > 
> > --- On Sat, 1/10/09, Wendy
> <crazygardens AT verizon.net> wrote:
> > 
> >> From: Wendy <crazygardens AT verizon.net>
> >> Subject: Re: [Homestead] Atlas Shrugged - Fiction
> to fact in 52 years
> >> To: bobford79 AT yahoo.com,
> homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> >> Date: Saturday, January 10, 2009, 8:19 PM
> >> Mr. Moore draws parallels to Atlas Shrugged that
> do not
> >> exist.  Atlas Shrugged is about economic collapse
> due to the
> >> imposition of socialistic policies (an attempt to
> even out
> >> everyone and their status in society). What is
> happening
> >> today, is a result of Reganomics -- give the
> wealthy the
> >> freedom to do what they do best (i.e. make money)
> and wealth
> >> and prosperity will "trickle down" on
> everyone
> >> else.  This crisis is NOT the result of too many
> >> regulations, but the result of insufficient
> oversight and
> >> regulation of the flow and use of money at the
> very top of
> >> our economic structure. Remember "Get the
> government
> >> off the backs of big business"?The real
> wealth of our
> >> economy was sucked up and pocketed by those at the
> top.
> >> Nothing "trickled down" and no one at
> the bottom
> >> experienced any prosperity.  Small businesses were
> bought
> >> out by the giants.  Common folk were tricked into
> turning
> >> over their money to brokers and
> "investors" who
> >> gave them worthless pieces of paper and
> artificially
> >> inflated properties.  Small businesses are gone
> and the
> >> common folk are bankrupted.  After Common Joe was
> >> financially raped, they took those notes which
> were backed
> >> by Bankrupt Joe and repackaged them as another
> sellable
> >> commodity (money markets, hedge funds, etc) (think
> making a
> >> silk purse out of a sows ear) and marketed them to
> those who
> >> were only marginally wealthy or wanted to pretend
> that they
> >> were. Completely opposite scenario.
> >> 
> >> Wendy
> >> 
> >> 
> >> > >From this am WSJ .  I am a fan of Rand,
> as are
> >> many others.  But, I am >one (rarely mentioned,
> but
> >> 'is' mentioned in this editorial); that
> has a
> >> >problem with a seemingly lack of compassion in
> her
> >> ideology.  Anyway, >this is an interesting
> commentary of
> >> how today's events seem to mirror >much of
> the
> >> fictional plot lines in Atlas Shrugged....bobf
> >> >http://cartoonbox.slate.com/stevekelley/
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > OPINION: DE GUSTIBUS JANUARY 9, 2009
> >> >
> >> > 'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to
> Fact in 52
> >> Years Article
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > By STEPHEN MOORE
> >> >
> >> > Some years ago when I worked at the
> libertarian Cato
> >> Institute, we used to label any new hire who had
> not yet
> >> read "Atlas Shrugged" a
> "virgin." Being
> >> conversant in Ayn Rand's classic novel about
> the
> >> economic carnage caused by big government run amok
> was
> >> practically a job requirement. If only
> "Atlas"
> >> were required reading for every member of Congress
> and
> >> political appointee in the Obama administration.
> I'm
> >> confident that we'd get out of the current
> financial
> >> mess a lot faster.
> > 
> >> >
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >