Robert Reich Resorts to the "P" Word

Modern Parable: GM vs. Toyota

This modern day parable below has been floating around for approx. one year now. (Hindsight is a terrible thing, unless you’re not an American middle class white collar citizen.) Fast forward to one year later, as the nation’s 22 Secretary of Labor, premiere Obama supporter and elitist gatekeeper extraordinaire, Robert Reich, has penned this thoroughly pistic, plundering piece brandishing the “p” word (protectionism) once again, at the plebes. Oh, those secretaries of labor… who are they working for, again? No matter. The white collar rabble (yes, even on the Left) are down with this whole divide and conquer, Reality TV Paris Hilton inspired “new media”hash in this have/have-not race to the bottom. (As if, disappearing jobs and healthcare were hot…) HA! Party on!

The Great Canoe Race

A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (General Motors) decided to have a Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.

They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat and not enough were rowing.


Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.


They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes, new equipment and extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.


The next year the Japanese won by two miles.Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment.


The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India.

Sadly,

The End.


Here's something else to think about:

Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories OUTSIDE the UNITED STATES, claiming they can't make money paying American wages. TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants INSIDE the UNITED STATES. Recent quarter's earning results:


TOYOTA makes 4 billion in PROFITS

FORD racked up 9 billion in LOSSES

If this weren’t true, it might be funny. Party on!

-2Truthy