U.S.-Japan Trade Situation

I disagree with your editorial (Jan. 20), “Message to Tokyo,” and other similar articles because I feel it is high time we abandon our self-righteous attitude and stop blaming others for our self-inflicted malaise.

Forty years ago the then U.S. Steel Corp. published full-page advertisements in the New York Times, declaring they cannot compete with German companies as they have brand new, postwar rebuilt factories and we have still antiquated mills. Our steel companies still cannot compete as proven by USX’s new union contract. Further, in contrast to other countries, our industries have never been export-minded. This lack of ambition and the lack of a national drive to export to pay for our imports are a good deal the cause of our huge trade deficit. In addition, we lack the necessary research and development in the private sector as it has to pay high taxes to support the $300-billion-a-year military.

The dollar devaluation of 1971 and the one of the last two years will not cure our ills, no more than the many British pound devaluations since 1919 have helped Great Britain.

As a consequence of all this, the financial Armageddon is at our door. The Wall Street boom is not based on earnings of companies listed but on flight from the dollar. Our devaluations cause a wild sellout of U.S. property to foreigners who don’t know what to do with the $900 billion we have flooded the world with.

We need a Winston Churchill who promised the British in 1940 nothing but sweat, blood and tears and not presidents of the type from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan who promise always that paradise is around the corner. Blaming others for our ills is no cure.

KENNETH K. AUSTIN

Northridge