”Selling Out” by Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins, Contemporary Books, 339 pages, $19.95.
”Selling Out” makes the case that the United States must wake up and smell the tea, or in the case of ”judo economics” at least wake up and count the Japanese-made cars on U.S. roads and the Japanese-owned buildings on U.S. streets.
The case is easy enough to make. Scores of Nissans, Toyotas and Hondas ride ahead of some of the rubberized bumpers of the General Motors Corp. or Ford Motor Co. models on the road.
Compact-sized radios and tape players bounce from the waists of many Americans, who may not know the title of the latest song but know the names of Japanese electronic manufacturers, such as Toshiba and Sony.
As for land, the Japanese can`t seem to get enough of it here. They are fast becoming the landlords of many major U.S. office buildings. In Chicago, the Japanese have bought or built 13 major downtown buildings in recent years. For example, Nissei Realty invested $141 million in a joint venture for the 41-story Prudential Plaza in 1986 and Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, the world`s largest bank, paid about half that amount for an office building at 101 Wacker Dr. Nissei also is helping finance a 64-story building next door to the Prudential.
Another giant Japanese bank, Sumitomo Trust, paid $50 million for the Xerox Center in the heart of downtown Chicago, and a joint venture between a Japanese life insurance company and a Japanese bank expects to complete the $360 million AT&T Corporate Center in downtown Chicago in 1989.
The list goes on, and so does ”Selling Out” in a monotone narrative of what the Japanese have bought, what they are planning to buy and how U.S. shortsightedness has helped to make it all possible.
Every so often the authors seem to whisper a disclaimer that they are not bashing the Japanese and that other countries have gone on a buying spree in the United States. Other countries-such as Great Britain, the Netherlands, Canada, West Germany, Switzerland, France, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Sweden-traditionally have had their hands in the U.S. economy by taking over factories, advertising agencies, farms, mines, dairies, publishing companies and casinos. But ”Selling Out” is clearly about Japan and America.
”Selling Out” also discusses Japan`s ”judo economics,” a policy that deflects protectionist pressure because of Japan`s huge strength in U.S. markets.
”Import-hungry American consumers have been spending billions of dollars on Japanese cars and video equipment while the nation`s manufacturers were buying sophisticated components from Japan,” the authors write. ”The Japanese then use the surplus dollars to step up their direct investments in the United States.”
Some of the more interesting stories ”Selling Out” tells are ones in which high-ranking Americans have sold out to realize their individual goals. This point is made in one account that details a propaganda campaign orchestrated by the high-powered Washington lobbying firm of Gray & Co. Gray was hired to smooth the way for Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone`s 1985 visit to the United States.
There are other stories like the one on Gray & Co. that show how Japan made inroads in the U.S. with help from the United States, and there are brief insights into such colorful characters as real estate baron Shigeru Kobayashi. ”Selling Out” lives up to its title in showing what America has lost with the influx of foreign investment and what it stands to lose in the future.
The book presents facts showing the country`s future is being sold down the river, but the book falls short of offering a convincing analysis of the causes of the trend, the harmful effects, if any, and possible remedies.
