Monday, December 22, 2008
News Things Are Tough All Over
Posted by Dan Savage on Mon, Dec 22, 2008 at 5:05 PM
Uh...
Toyota Motor, the Japanese auto giant, said Monday that it expected its first operating loss in 70 years, underscoring how the economic crisis was spreading across the global auto industry.
Toyota is going to lose money this year—the first time that's happened since the company was founded in 1938. Toyota somehow managed to turn a profit in 1945—when Japan was losing a war and gettin' nuked*—but not this year, not 2008. Yikes.
* Inappropriate use of the passive voice there. Should probably read, "...when we were nukin' its major cities."
1
That's okay, deflation is heading to the Puget Sound.
Pretty soon all it will take to be a Master of the Universe is a part time job at Wal*Mart:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/25739-…
2 beds, 1.0 baths, 890 sq ft
For Sale: $9,000
(Yes, NINE Thousand...)
That's okay, deflation is heading to the Puget Sound.
Pretty soon all it will take to be a Master of the Universe is a part time job at Wal*Mart:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/25739-…
2 beds, 1.0 baths, 890 sq ft
For Sale: $9,000
(Yes, NINE Thousand...)
2
Whenever I get down about the coming collapse of the world economy I just turn to my friends and say that I'm so excited for "The Greatest Depression!" and do jazz hands like Judy in the poster for A Star is Born. Is that too gay?
3
^passive
4
Dan, you're surprised that Toyota turned a profit in 1945, the year Japan was "nuked"?
Okay....
What part of war profiteering/war economy don't you understand?
What do you think had happened in the runup to Japan being "nuked"?
Rampant Japanese militarism and military spending ring a bell? Spending which would have involved all Japanese industrial companies, Toyota not being the special exception?
And, uh, let's not forget that the civilian casualties that resulted from our "nuking" Hiroshima and Nagasaki - which were appalling, regardless of what Japan itself had enacted - were nothing compared to our firebombing Japanese cities under McNamara/Lemay, which resulted in far more civilian casualties, destruction and disease.
Yes, that McNamara. Another white guy with an apparent penchant for bombing Asians, as the US Vietnam conflict would confirm.
Sorry, Dan, after a nuking joke, let's get back to making fun of Rick Warren. A guy who's obviously VERY, VERY threatening. Or so we're led to believe. (I can't believe I'm in the position of defending this creep, but seriously, that's how offbase and exaggerated your criticism of the invocation speaker has been.
Okay....
What part of war profiteering/war economy don't you understand?
What do you think had happened in the runup to Japan being "nuked"?
Rampant Japanese militarism and military spending ring a bell? Spending which would have involved all Japanese industrial companies, Toyota not being the special exception?
And, uh, let's not forget that the civilian casualties that resulted from our "nuking" Hiroshima and Nagasaki - which were appalling, regardless of what Japan itself had enacted - were nothing compared to our firebombing Japanese cities under McNamara/Lemay, which resulted in far more civilian casualties, destruction and disease.
Yes, that McNamara. Another white guy with an apparent penchant for bombing Asians, as the US Vietnam conflict would confirm.
Sorry, Dan, after a nuking joke, let's get back to making fun of Rick Warren. A guy who's obviously VERY, VERY threatening. Or so we're led to believe. (I can't believe I'm in the position of defending this creep, but seriously, that's how offbase and exaggerated your criticism of the invocation speaker has been.
5
In response to the profit during war thing, I think a lot of industries in Japan were conscripted to help with the war effort. Toyota was probably making tanks for the land war in Asia at the time.
Although, they must not have made too much of a profit before the war. Otherwise, we would have dismantled them like we did with all the gigantic corporations over there during the occupation.
Although, they must not have made too much of a profit before the war. Otherwise, we would have dismantled them like we did with all the gigantic corporations over there during the occupation.
6
UH that's because making munitions is ESPECIALLY profitable during a fucking war.
Geez.
Geez.
7
@6 That was meant to be sarcastically asshole-ish but it came out actually asshole-ish and I apolgize.
8
@ 1, It's a 1974 mobile home, which doesn't include the lot its on. Most parks don't want homes that old and will make you remove them. To move it to your own plot of land would be around $17,000 or having it demolished, $ 8,000. If they actually allowed you to leave it on the lot, you would have to pay lot rent: $390 and up. Plus, most of them are age 55+.
@ 2, Too gay would be soft shoe & "Putting On The Ritz" when you pick up 800 thread count sheets for 75% off at "Linens and Things" going out of business sale.
@ 2, Too gay would be soft shoe & "Putting On The Ritz" when you pick up 800 thread count sheets for 75% off at "Linens and Things" going out of business sale.
9
Must be all the money they're losing on the Prius.
10
Maybe we should nuke 'em again to profitability?
11
Passive voice isn't verboten it's your choice and it's a good choice when the actor isn't the main focus. So unless you're debating morality of nukin', "cities in Japan were nuked" is a-okay, grammatically speaking.
I'm sure in Japanese they have an even more passive indirect way to say that, too!
I'm sure in Japanese they have an even more passive indirect way to say that, too!
12
You know what, I'm rather sick of fellow Americans thinking we should be ashamed for bombing Japan. Japan started the war, not the US, and Japan attacked us first. If bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought an end to the war and saved one American life, then I'm heartily glad of it and only sorry we couldn't have bombed them the day after Pearl Harbor.
For the record, before I'm dismissed as some sort of ultra-conservative kook, let me say that I'm pro-gay-rights, pro-gay-marriage, voted for Obama, morally opposed to abortion but don't want to see it outlawed (don't want a return to the coathanger days), but otherwise rather liberal in my outlook. But don't go trying to make America feel guilty for ending a war we didn't start. God knows, we've got enough else to feel guilty about these days.
For the record, before I'm dismissed as some sort of ultra-conservative kook, let me say that I'm pro-gay-rights, pro-gay-marriage, voted for Obama, morally opposed to abortion but don't want to see it outlawed (don't want a return to the coathanger days), but otherwise rather liberal in my outlook. But don't go trying to make America feel guilty for ending a war we didn't start. God knows, we've got enough else to feel guilty about these days.
13
Oh come on, we didn't nuke their major cities. Hiroshima, maybe number 10, Nagasaki, probably not even in the top 20. Probably the equivalent of hitting Jacksonville, Florida and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Merry Christmas!
14
abel,
I recommend you watch "The Fog of War" in which McNamara compares the firebombing of 67 Japanese cities during the war, to the less lethal bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Given the thoughts you have expressed, I think you will get a lot out of the film. I had preconceptions about the bombing, changed my mind later in life, then watched McNamara in the film, and - it wasn't so much that my mind was changed again, but that he changed my view of the actions in a larger way.
It is a fascinating film.
I recommend you watch "The Fog of War" in which McNamara compares the firebombing of 67 Japanese cities during the war, to the less lethal bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Given the thoughts you have expressed, I think you will get a lot out of the film. I had preconceptions about the bombing, changed my mind later in life, then watched McNamara in the film, and - it wasn't so much that my mind was changed again, but that he changed my view of the actions in a larger way.
It is a fascinating film.
15
So much for that argument that unions are the cause of the auto-industry problem. I believe Toyota's non-union, correct?
16
OK, I can understand Toyota being profitable during the war, like all the heavy industries they were certainly in bed with their own military-industrial complex. What I want to know, is how the hell they managed to make a profit from '46-'52? They must have been sucking MacArther's cock big time.
17
@13 Doesn't matter that they were modest sized cities, it still got the point across. And besides, it makes more sense to nuke Jacksonville and Albuquerque, and occupy Detroit, New York and LA.
18
You pop a nuke on 'em after all that shit in the islands.
19
@4 my fingers thank you for posting that so I don't have to.
20
Those nukes saved almost a million lives. If they were available after Pearl Harbor, they should have been used, and in quantity.
If we had dropped a few on North Viet Nam in 1958 or so, 58000 Americans would still be alive, and Viet Nam would be a jewel of freedom in Asia.
Bush should have nuked Mecca after 9/11. Then we would not need to have invaded Iraq.
Nothing gets the point across to savages better than a mushroom cloud.
If we had dropped a few on North Viet Nam in 1958 or so, 58000 Americans would still be alive, and Viet Nam would be a jewel of freedom in Asia.
Bush should have nuked Mecca after 9/11. Then we would not need to have invaded Iraq.
Nothing gets the point across to savages better than a mushroom cloud.
21
@ # all you dumb fucks who think nuking Japan was necessary. If you're still under the delusion that WWII was Good vs. Evil then you need to stop imagining things.
Virtually all of Europe was fascist. The war was basically fascists fighting fascists. France, England... yes them too. Yes the holocaust was the worst mass killing in recorded history, but don't forget crap we pulled like the fire bombing of Dresden, the fire bombing of Tokyo... inviting and pretty much forcing Japan to attack Pearl Harbor killing our own troops/civilians, forcing all Americans of Japanese decent into internment camps, Eisenhower's POW camps that killed over a million Germans (which is totally cool cause he became our President a few years later) oh... yeah and we dropped two nukes, the first on a city with women and and children and all that jazz (a quarter of a million of whom are still living today that were effected by the radiation)...
...but we're the good guys right? Yeah we had to do it.
Virtually all of Europe was fascist. The war was basically fascists fighting fascists. France, England... yes them too. Yes the holocaust was the worst mass killing in recorded history, but don't forget crap we pulled like the fire bombing of Dresden, the fire bombing of Tokyo... inviting and pretty much forcing Japan to attack Pearl Harbor killing our own troops/civilians, forcing all Americans of Japanese decent into internment camps, Eisenhower's POW camps that killed over a million Germans (which is totally cool cause he became our President a few years later) oh... yeah and we dropped two nukes, the first on a city with women and and children and all that jazz (a quarter of a million of whom are still living today that were effected by the radiation)...
...but we're the good guys right? Yeah we had to do it.
22
Andy is another leftist fool who doesn't understand the real world.
You need to grow up, son.
Put down you marihuana and put on your counry's uniform. You'll understand the real world in a hurry.
You need to grow up, son.
Put down you marihuana and put on your counry's uniform. You'll understand the real world in a hurry.
23
Mr. Lord Basil, the problem is people like you convinced they understand the "real world" ...if you're so naive to think putting on a uniform and fighting will shape a correct world view.
Keep on suggesting stuff like "Bush should have nuked Mecca after 9/11" ....yeah that would have ended the threat from Islamic extremists... except for the 8 million Muslims in the US who would turn on us not to mention the 1.8 billion in the rest of the world. So congratulations you just turned a 1/4 of the earth's population against us and started a small civil war. Any more foreign policy gems?
Keep on suggesting stuff like "Bush should have nuked Mecca after 9/11" ....yeah that would have ended the threat from Islamic extremists... except for the 8 million Muslims in the US who would turn on us not to mention the 1.8 billion in the rest of the world. So congratulations you just turned a 1/4 of the earth's population against us and started a small civil war. Any more foreign policy gems?
24
So it's ok for me to step on kittens if I'm "otherwise liberal"?
25
@21
Then that's exactly the problem. You're also attempting to find moral direction/judgement on actions undertake in a war. There is no point in attempting to gain a moral high ground when discussing a war. It's like seeing who can lay claim to being on top a mountain of feces.
Lord Basil does have a point. Japan did bring the first physical blow and we responded in kind. You are also right of course that WWII was simply fascism vs fascism. It's a war though, and while I hate to trot out a cliche, under whom would you have rather lived? Nazi Germany, the USA, Britain or Japan?
Then that's exactly the problem. You're also attempting to find moral direction/judgement on actions undertake in a war. There is no point in attempting to gain a moral high ground when discussing a war. It's like seeing who can lay claim to being on top a mountain of feces.
Lord Basil does have a point. Japan did bring the first physical blow and we responded in kind. You are also right of course that WWII was simply fascism vs fascism. It's a war though, and while I hate to trot out a cliche, under whom would you have rather lived? Nazi Germany, the USA, Britain or Japan?
26
We had close family friends on both sides of the Pacific Theatre of War, as it was bizarrely referred to during WWII.
I've found a couple of books useful in understanding what was going on in Asia before US involvement.
The first is "The Rape of Nanking" by the late Iris Chang, who killed herself several years ago. It explains how the Japanese were brainwashed to commit so many atrocities against Chinese civilians.
As a contrast, "Wild Swans" gives the larger 20th century context for some of those Chinese (female) civilians.
Bizarrely, the crimes perpetrated against the Chinese by the Japanese cannot add up to the 70 million Chinese killed by Mao.
I've found a couple of books useful in understanding what was going on in Asia before US involvement.
The first is "The Rape of Nanking" by the late Iris Chang, who killed herself several years ago. It explains how the Japanese were brainwashed to commit so many atrocities against Chinese civilians.
As a contrast, "Wild Swans" gives the larger 20th century context for some of those Chinese (female) civilians.
Bizarrely, the crimes perpetrated against the Chinese by the Japanese cannot add up to the 70 million Chinese killed by Mao.
27
I highly recommend John Dower's Pulitzer-winning "Embracing Defeat," about the aftermath of WWII in Japan. He mentions how the American GIs were shocked to discover how impoverished the Japanese were, and to realize that, even without the nukes, they were on the brink of surrender already.
Also, the major war machine companies like Toyota and Mitsubishi were able to smoothly transition their operations into other heavy industry production. In the weeks after the A-bombs and surrender, high level officials in these corporations and in the military and government basically had a free-for-all scramble to hoard the stockpiles privately. Later they made huge profits by leaking these onto the black market, even while the Japanese people starved and wandered homeless. Want to know why heavy right-wing elements still dominate Japanese politics? Why they can get away with outright denial of established war-crimes? 'Cause they still gots the $$$ from the war! (In part thanks to MacArthur's support of conservative politics in Japan.)
Just goes to show that evil fascist rulers are evil fascist rulers wherever you go.... All that sound a fury over patriotism and serving and protecting the nation, but in the end, the people will suffer, and the rich and powerful will continue to screw the world with their millions.
Incidentally, in case anyone is curious, the only major Japanese car company that did not have a hand in Japan's bloody exercise in imperialism was Honda.
Also, the major war machine companies like Toyota and Mitsubishi were able to smoothly transition their operations into other heavy industry production. In the weeks after the A-bombs and surrender, high level officials in these corporations and in the military and government basically had a free-for-all scramble to hoard the stockpiles privately. Later they made huge profits by leaking these onto the black market, even while the Japanese people starved and wandered homeless. Want to know why heavy right-wing elements still dominate Japanese politics? Why they can get away with outright denial of established war-crimes? 'Cause they still gots the $$$ from the war! (In part thanks to MacArthur's support of conservative politics in Japan.)
Just goes to show that evil fascist rulers are evil fascist rulers wherever you go.... All that sound a fury over patriotism and serving and protecting the nation, but in the end, the people will suffer, and the rich and powerful will continue to screw the world with their millions.
Incidentally, in case anyone is curious, the only major Japanese car company that did not have a hand in Japan's bloody exercise in imperialism was Honda.
28
history nerd,
Wow! I'm going to have to check the Dower book, sounds fascinating. Thanks for the recommendation.
Wow! I'm going to have to check the Dower book, sounds fascinating. Thanks for the recommendation.
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