High Definition Television

Japanese seem to have a head lock on High Definition Television (HDTV). The advantages of HDTV are obvious. The pictures are crystal clear. They show a lot of detail. They can be enlarged without losing the detail.

The FAA wants to equip all the air traffic controllers with HDTV monitors. Sadly enough, the only bidders on the contract are the Japanese.

HDTV is not compatible with the present color or black and white TV. It is designed for satellite transmission. Most U.S. TV is transmitted on the ground. In addition, HDTV is not compatible with present U.S. broadcasting equipment. HDTV is new technology. To use it the U.S. will have to change over completely. It will have to abandon its present TV broadcasting, transmission and cable technology and facilities. Viewers will have to buy new sets to receive the programs. The Japanese HDTV system is incompatible with present U.S. home receivers, color or black and white.

Japanese Dumping

The initial Japanese penetration of the U.S. TV market came in 1968. In that year the Japanese dumped black and white televisions in the United States. The U.S. industry protested but to no avail. An estimated $400,000,000 in custom duties was not assessed. What could the Japanese think except that the U.S. government didn't care. So Japan stockpiled a huge number of color TVs and in 1975 dumped them on the U.S. market. In 18 months the Japanese share of the U.S. market jumped from 14% to 50%. U.S. companies drowned in red ink and Japan bought them. Only one of 28 U.S. manufacturers survived.

U.S. industry did not fail to perform, but the U.S. Government abandoned U.S. industry, refusing to enforce international laws on dumping, let alone support the U.S. electronics industry. A young man steals a car and gets five years in prison. The U.S government allows Japan to steal the U.S. television industry and calls the complainers Japan bashers and says U.S. industry is not competitive. (Nobody is going to jail for stealing' billions of dollars of S&L funds either thanks to our permissive government.)

The US. Answer

General Electric was permitted, by the Justice Department, to buy RCA. The idea was the U.S. needed an industrial electronics giant to compete with the six industrial electronics giants Japan has. Of course, the first thing the new GE did was sell it's newly acquired RCA television production facilities to Thompson, a French manufacturer. Some giant.

Probably, unknown, to the new GE management, the new GE also acquired the David Sarnoff Research Center. The David Sarnoff Research Center was the research arm of RCA. The Sarnoff lab was (are?) working on a high definition television system. The RCA system is fully compatible with the present U.S. television system. It will not make obsolete any previously manufactured U.S. television sets. Even the old (or new) black and white sets can be used with the new system.

In the meantime, the Department of Defense is worried that the Japanese now control the electronics production necessary to run the U.S. Military. They are offering grants and contracts to U.S. companies to revive the U.S. electronics industry. They are particularly high on High Definition TV. The reason is that HDTV is the beginning of a completely new television and computer technology. The new technology will combine TV and computers in a highly sophisticated way. The FAA is studying the Japanese proposals (they got three) and are trying to decide if they can wait for a U.S. manufacturer to catch up.

Is GE Serving the National Interest?

GE was allowed to buy RCA so the U.S. could compete with Japan. GE has the HDTV technology, in embryo, in a lab they acquired when they bought RCA. Probably to finance part of the acquisition and trim 'fat' they sold their TV production facilities. The new GE should get back into the television business taking advantage of research they already own. They could leap-frog the Japanese into the next generation of TV and computers compatible with our existing system. They should license the David Sarnoff lab inventions to the military, and to U.S. manufacturers.

To Compete or not to Compete

If they license the technology to Japan, or any other foreign country, the new GE should be broken up into the old GE and RCA. Maybe even more pieces could be spun off to start several nuclei of manufacturing competence to re-establish the consumer, industrial and military electronics industry in the United States. If they sell this technology to foreign investors they should be barred from defense contracting as well. Should the bottom line come before the national interest? Each company has to make its own choice, but it should not be at the expense of the national interest and economic hegemony of the United States.

Impeach the Rascals Out

We should also begin to think about impeaching U.S. government officials, including the President, the Vice President, the Trade Negotiator and the Trade Negotiator's Senior staff and Senior staff in Commerce and Defense if willful negligence is showed toward the U.S. international trade position. When the U.S. economic hegemony is eroded, the magnates of the empire do not suffer. It is the middle and lower class of the nation that must take the brunt in higher costs, lower wages, and the obligation to pay the debts with their taxes. This is treason in the same way as giving military secrets to Russia. Who do we have most to fear — Russia or Japan? Paranoia over Russia results in a larger than necessary defense budget which is for the most part provided by domestic labor. Giving our economic hegemony to Japan means lower prices for consumer goods (until monopoly status is achieved by the Japanese) at the expense of jobs.

Lets Play the Game for Keeps

Requiring U.S. industry to compete and providing incentives for new domestic corporations to enter the field is the only way back. We have to organize domestic industry the way we organize professional sports. We need the American Electronics Conference and the National Electronics Conference both making up the U.S. Electronics League. We need to use the international trade laws to our advantage and 'kill the umpire' for making bad calls. Another decade of giving away the farm will result in total capitulation to Japanese economic superiority. We are be coming a Japanese farm team in the game of international trade.

. . . Ted Sudia . . .

© Copyright 1989
Institute for domestic Tranquility