U.S. lifted restrictions on Japanese autos in late 1985, but what if different time?

The Reckoning, David Halberstam, 1986, page 657:

" . . . The brief period of artificial prosperity ended in late 1985 when the voluntary restrictions on Japanese cars were relaxed. . . "

https://books.google.com/books?id=n...ficial prosperity ended in late 1985"&f=false
This whole chapter where the U.S. negotiates 'voluntary' import restrictions with Japan and later lifts them is undercovered and potentially has some rich PODs.

In particular how might the U.S. have managed the transition without the loss of so many middle-class jobs? (the auto industry both emblematic and a bug chunk on its own)
 
Here's an academic arguing that there was nothing inevitable about the decline of the U.S. labor movement in the later decades of the 20th century. [I say, ever since the 1970s]

doc. file --> http://www3.nd.edu/~jwarlick/documents/PS10000-20000GRAFFLECTURE.doc

And I'm familiar with the rejoinder that labor unions were an equal partner in the days when Detroit was profitable, unconcerned, and lazy. But let's take that a step further, and do a labor union wank, a just getting lucky wank, etc.
 
I'm not an expert on this at all, but I remember reading about William Deming and his principles of quality control and business management. Deming is considered to have had an enormous influence on Japan post-war, and many credit him with inspiring Japan's economic recovery and subsequent economic miracle.

Perhaps his ideas take off in America instead of or in addition to Japan? Certainly it would be a very different world if America, and the west in general, remained manufacturing countries and not the "social welfare and clients of social welfare" states they are today :D.
 
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If Detroit had listened to Deming . . .

The conventional answer is that it would have taken Japan longer to catch up.

But, maybe Detroit would have been so far ahead that most industrialists in Japan would have chosen to go into other areas and we would have had a different, but equally interesting future.
 
There are a couple of statistics that I remember from the time.

Japanese autoworkers were paid about the same as UAW workers (just a little less), but

1) Japan had 1 person in management for 10 workers actually building cars, while the US had 1 person in management for EVERY person building a car.

2) healthcare. Healthcare and other costs in the US were about equal to wages paid. Japan's companies paid much less (partly due to cheaper healthcare, partly due to a national healthcare system).


In other words, whatever the problems with the auto unions (and yes, there certainly were problems), they were the least of the reasons for the US's lack of competitiveness.
 
Full credit to Japan if true, but straight up, I really question whether, like in 1978 Japanese autoworkers were making almost as much as UAW union members in the United States?

And I ask this even though I've read that the social norm in Japanese companies was for the highest paid executives to receive approximately 10 times (?) the annual income of the lowest paid worker at the same company. The U.S. ratio started out a lot more top heavy and has become even more top heavy over time. I suspect the Japanese ratio has too, although not to the same extent.
 
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Also if there is one manager for every worker they really aren't managers are they? They are workers with the title of manager and are paid at that rate.
 
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