Weak US Dollar Means Nintendo Favors Europe For Now

timeOday writes "The LA Times is reporting that the new Nintendo Wii Fit is hard to find on US shelves, due not only to strong demand but also the United States' declining status in the world economy: '"[Nintendo] is also is shrewdly maximizing its profit by sending four times as many units to Europe, reaping the benefits of the strong euro," says Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities. "The shortage demonstrates one consequence of the weak dollar. We're seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere."'"

Comments

Oh the humanity

[Anonymous Coward]

I feel like a Canadian

how long until US quarters get stuck/rejected by Canadian vending machines and laundermat washing machines

Re:Oh the humanity

[Antiocheian]

I am not from the US, but I can assure you that your di to buy consumer electronics is a big advantage for your own economy.

At the same time, you sell cheaper to other countries which means more exports for you. In fact it's the first time in my life I saw an advertisement for a Dodge in local TV.

Re:Oh the humanity

[Anonymous Coward]

environment stuff has little to do with manufacturing leaving the us (europe has far stricter environmental laws and a now-stronger manufacturing base). It's the us's strange infatuation with imaginary property laws that does it. Patents favour lawyering skills over engineering skills.

Re:Oh the humanity

[ozamosi]

Also, while our European governments steal all our money for taxes, we use it for better things than throwing bombs at some desert...

Re:Oh the humanity

[PixelScuba]

Wait... your initial point made sense... but your last half is some ridiculous rant against environmentalism. What says we can't save the Spotted Owl AND Increase our industry. We can be environmentally conscious as well as industrially advanced. The problem is that industry is lazy and would gladly steamroll the environment to save a buck.

I consider myself to be an environmentalist... MOST environmentalist don't say "Don't chop down trees" they say "Chop down what you need and reseed the forest, using technology that limits the impact on the surrounding earth". We can have both strong environmental policy as well as a powerful industry.

Re:Oh the humanity

[homer_s]

We no longer manufacture things in the US, basic big stuff like steel, etc. We just depend on buying it cheaper overseas....

Here is a pop quiz that may be of help to you:

1) In what year did U.S. Manufacturing output reach its all-time peak?
a. 1966 b. 1976 c. 1986 d. 1996 e. 2006


2) In what year did U.S. Manufacturing revenue reach its all-time peak? (inflation adjusted)
a. 1966 b. 1976 c. 1986 d. 1996 e. 2006


3) In what year did U.S. Manufacturing profits reach their all-time peak? (inflation adjusted)
a. 1966 b. 1976 c. 1986 d. 1996 e. 2006


4) In what year did U.S. Manufacturing exports reach their all-time peak? (inflation adjusted)
a. 1966 b. 1976 c. 1986 d. 1996 e. 2006


5) Average annual compensation (wages + benefits) for US manufacturing jobs is
a. $36,000 b. $46,0000 c. $56,0000 d. $66,000


6) What are the relative sizes of the US and Chinese manufacturing sectors?
a. China outputs 2.5 times the US b. Equal c. The US outputs 2.5 times China


7) Which country produces the largest share of total world manufacturing output?
a. China b. Japan c. Germany d. France e. US


The answers if anyone cares about facts: 1-e,2-e,3-e,4-e,5-d,6-c,7-e

Re:Oh the humanity

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't think of anything better than that.

Re:Oh the humanity

[homer_s]

Well, the data I have is from 2006 and I'm too lazy to look up newer data.

Re:Oh the humanity

[MvD_Moscow]

You don't have much understanding of economics or globalization, do you? I also like the tree hugger angle, really American of you... Utter ignorance mixed with smug self confidence. You talk bullshit and you're proud of it.

Okay, now this might be kind of hard to understand, but just imagine for a minute that the communist/liberal/homosexual/tree hugger conspiracy doesn't exist. Instead, try and think how people live in other parts of the world, specifically what most people call the 'developing world'. Have you considered how wages and living standards might differ in the 'developing world'? You do realize that the vast majority of labour intensive industrial operations (such as steel) tend to requires very little skill? So why the hell would anyone want to setup a still mill in the US when you can do it for a lot cheaper in some other part of the world.

Let me give you a more concrete example. In Ukraine (its a country in Europe, it has a pretty highly educated workforce and a pretty large industrial base), a salary of $20K is considered pretty damn good, especially if you live outside the capital Kiev. And I am not talking about some shitty job in a steel mill, even a management position with a $20K salary is considered pretty good. Now what do you think an average American still mill worker gets paid per year? is $35K a fair estimate? So why shouldn't business simply setup shop in Ukraine, spend a little bit more on transportation and save the bunchload of cash.

I know that it's easy to make up excuses about the tree huggers ruining everything, but unfortunately sometimes you have to use your brain and think straight. Industrial production is never coming back to the USA! Not unless Americans are going to accept Bangladesh style wages/living standards.

And what power are you talking about? The power to make you sound retarded? You live in America, you have one pro-business party that has a fascists/right wing and another socially liberal/centrist wing.

Right wing armchair economists are such a laugh. Though I guess I shouldn't be laughing, crying would probably be more appropriate.

If you want to look for the real reason behind Nintendo's decision, I suggest you read up on interest rates. You might learn some interesting things that you never knew about, like how the fed essentially bails investors whenever they fuckup which leads to retarded behavior (among other things that contributed to current economic instability).

Re:Oh the humanity

[flyingsquid]

On the bright side...well, maybe some of those industries will come back, but, that takes time...and with all the tree huggers over here taking so much power...it still may not happen. I like a nice clean world too...but, strike a balance guys....if it comes to the US failing, and a couple of spotten owls, I'll feel sorry for the owls, but, I gotta say humans and our needs take priority.

I disagree with this argument for a couple of reasons. First, the assumption is that conservation is somehow altruistic. It isn't. Having a healthy environment is a selfish thing. It means that you don't have to worry about the air or the water making your children sick. It means you can hunt deer, catch fish, and grow vegetables in your yard and actually eat them. It means you can eat sushi whenever you want. It means being able to take your family out for a walk and being able to show them something besides a strip mall. Fuck the owls, I want the environment saved for me and my kids.

Second, I disagree with the idea that raping the environment is the way forward. It's a short term solution. Unquestionably, cutting down all the redwoods would create a few jobs and make some money, but once you'd finished, you'd be right back where you started. The way forward is investing in infrastructure, technology, and education. Lay down broadband, improve the quality of our primary and secondary education, make college education affordable for any kid who works hard in high school. Invest in alternatives to oil- you'd simultaneously help reduce our dependency on mideast oil and create a product the rest of the world would want to buy. Build more mass transit, which would create jobs, reduce energy consumption, and provide the infrastructure to help the economy grow. It's not a situation of having a liveable environment or a good economy; we have to try for both.

Re:Oh the humanity

[the eric conspiracy]

That is absurd. The US has been running deficit budgets (to pay for wars) and balance of payments for decades. Consumers have not been saving; in fact the rate of savings in the US is negative.

Other parts of the world with strong economies have IP laws that are just as strong as in the US and are doing fine.

It is all about unwise fiscal policies that are resulting in the decline of the dollar.

Re:Oh the humanity

[efornara]

Well, this may be a sign of things to come. We no longer manufacture things in the US, basic big stuff like steel, etc. We just depend on buying it cheaper overseas.....however, what if this continues from Wii to other more important things we need in the US? We're fscked if all the industry we shipped overseas stops selling back to us.

On the bright side...well, maybe some of those industries will come back, but, that takes time...and with all the tree huggers over here taking so much power...it still may not happen.

I like a nice clean world too...but, strike a balance guys....if it comes to the US failing, and a couple of spotten owls, I'll feel sorry for the owls, but, I gotta say humans and our needs take priority.

Nintendo could just increase the price in dollars, but evidently they think they can make more money this way. Maybe they are afraid to lose the "affordable console" label in people's mind.

This has nothing to do with essential items; they will be shipped to the US, because they will be bought regardless of the price.

I don't like tree huggers too, but I think we are a long way to go before we reach the "human needs vs spotten owls" stage. Now it feels much more like "human fabricated wants vs cities with clean air".

Re:Oh the humanity

[Jafafa Hots]

In his figures, a single copy of Windows Vista counts more towards "manufactured goods" than does a mid-range stereo receiver... one copy counts as more than a dozen shovels.

When you count Britney Spears CDs, Windows, Bewitched and Gilligan's Island DVD box sets, etc. as "manufactured goods," yeah, we turn out a lotta shit.

TVs, electronics, appliances, clothes, shoes, tools, household goods, various other hardware - not so much as we used to.

Re:Oh the humanity

[cayenne8]

"environment stuff has little to do with manufacturing leaving the us (europe has far stricter environmental laws and a now-stronger manufacturing base)."

No...I didn't mean it was reason it left...but, is an impediment to it returning. We can't seem to even get to drill for our own oil off the coasts of FL or CA....even with great breakthroughs in safely drilling without spills. We can't seem to build any more refineries any longer, nor build Nuke plants...too much NIMBY.

I think it is going to hurt us even more in the future. Like I said above (amazingly modded down to hell), I hope to strike a balance...between ecology, and the needs of modern man for materials and energy...

Re:Oh the humanity

[homer_s]

What are you referring to as "manufacturing output?" Just try finding an American-made TV set, computer, video game unit or other electronic device.

How about gas turbines and jet engines (to name 2 off the top of my head)? Oh, they don't sell those in Walmart, so that does not count...well, I concede, America does not make anything.

Re:Oh the humanity

[Admiral Ag]

Is this a joke?

In a post that is riddled with historical inaccuracies and plain daft statements, this stands out:

"Of course, typical Americans; cleaning up after europe shits all over the place. Abolishing slavery."

WTF? That's a party you were particularly late to (just like both World Wars). You might want to check on the dates for European countries abolishing slavery (hint: generally before you). And as for reinstating civil rights, of course you remember what happened about 40 years ago, right?

Congratulations on making yourself look like an ass and giving your fellow Americans a bad name.

Re:Oh the humanity

[homer_s]

And where do those raw materials, or even parts for those jet engines come from?

You are correct, the USA should immediately cease producing value added goods and produce iron ore and silicon.

Re:Oh the humanity

[hairyfeet]

IIRC the writers were forced to come up with that lame premise because the backers of the film thought the public would be too stupid to get what they had originally intended. What it was supposed to be was that we ARE the machines--that is,our minds are used like a giant distributed neural net. That our dreams are really our subconscious minds trying to interpret the data being sent to it.

And while I think it would have made for a more thought provoking story,I'm afraid I have to agree with the backers. Because every time I've tried to explain that to non techies I end up staring at blank faces. You ever try to explain something technical to a non tech and watch as their eyes glaze over and they get this "deer in the headlights" look about them? That is what I got when i tried to explain distributed computing. But that is my 02c,YMMV

Re:Oh the humanity

[Anonymous Coward]

Iraq war was at least as pointless as the Vietnam war. Saddam was no threat other than in the eyes of the American public bombarded by the propaganda campaign of the US government.

If you read Israeli Kuwaiti security reports about Iraq their assessment was; Iraq is essentially a failed state extremely week from a decade of sanctions and poses no security threat.

Being defenseless is of course a prerequisite for the US to invade as we won't pick on someone that could actually defend themselves (would not be a very productive way to run an empire)

The worst atrocities Saddam committed was while he was SUPPORTED by the US. This is hugely important piece of information that gets downplayed with "the enemy of our enemy is our friend". But the US was supporting both sides of the Iran/Iraq conflict so there is no moral ground to stand on.

The problems of Saddam at his worst was he was being supported by an external all powerful military force with deep vested interests in resources of the area, giving him free hand to commit atrocities in the name of "stability" now Iraq has a government in place that commits atrocities in the name of "democracy" with the same power structure. This is not lost on Iraqis. The victims flesh burning white phosphors in Fallujah and the tortured of abu ghraib probably don't care much about the semantics.

Re:Oh the humanity

[the eric conspiracy]

I am sorry, but I am familiar with IP laws in most of the rest of the developed world. I have 12 patents in my name that have been issued in multiple countries. Japan is actually more lenient in granting patents than the US. The EU is a little more strict but not much. In other areas (copyright) most countries have either a 50 year or 70 year post-mortem copyright period. The US is not at all unusual with it's 70 year period.

Yes China's situation is a bit different as a developing nation but it is rapidly becoming normalized with the rest of the world as they are starting to develop their own "imaginary property". They are now a member of WIPO, the Paris convention, the Madrid Agreement and have a State Patent and Trademarks office. While enforcement is spotty the trend is obvious.

Any claim that the US economy isat a disadvantage due to IP laws is hooey.

Re:Oh the humanity

[couchslug]

There is a surprising amount of industry in the US, but it doesn't get publicity. If you are willing to do skilled manual labor there are plenty of jobs for pipe weldors and other metal fabricators that cannot be outsourced. Caterpillar sells plenty of generators overseas too.

The American worker needs to become competitive and that means aggressively seeking education and job-specific skills. It is our duty to OURSELVES to be adaptive, multi-skilled, inquisitive, self-teaching, and to hustle for work. People who refuse to do that deserve what they get. Our competitors aren't doing anything we cannot CHOOSE to do.

As for any "green" obstacles, vote and organize others to vote. Don't forget to vote against the "oilgarchy" who are a MUCH bigger obstacle than the "greenies" they blame-shift onto!

Re:Oh the humanity

[thetoadwarrior]

Of course, typical Americans; cleaning up after europe shits all over the place. Abolishing slavery, abolishing monarchies, reinstating civil rights and real courts, cleaning up the mess left in the Middle-East by the English (I'd love to applaud the people who drew those maps up, geniuses amongst men they must have been to mix kurds, sunnis, and shias), and defending Europe as much as they could from facists, from communists. Europe abolished slavery first and its citizens generally get more protection where as the US tends to favor business.

As far as Isreal, I didn't hear the US object to giving them the land and it's the US that defends Isreal these days more than anyone else.

Going after Iraq for 9/11 isn't cleaning up after Europe. It's making an excuse for Jr to do what daddy didn't do. Though Bush senior, in general, while being called a wimp was more sensible and at least was leaned more to being a sensible republican. It was he who helped make businesses accomodate people with disabilities. Just as Nixon made an attempt to help the environment with creating the EPA.

Since the Clinton era, the republican party has really gone to hell. In fact US politics in general have gone to hell. That's what's hurting the US more than anything and it makes me glad I've moved out of there years ago.

Re:Oh the humanity

[Anonymous Coward]

I was in Fallujah from 2003-2004. Willy Pete's (white phosphorus) was never used as a "bomb". White Phosphorus is used in illumination rounds, which burn up long before they hit the ground. I never heard of any incident regarding white phosphorus bombs being used. Those pictures you see on google could have been caused by many other methods. If you are willing to say that the majority of the news you see on T.V. is propaganda (which it probably is) than you should also accept that much of what you see on the internet is bullshit as well.

Re:Oh the humanity

[xaxa]

Also, while our European governments steal all our money for taxes, we use it for better things than throwing bombs at some desert... And what exactly do you use it for? I'm always hearing how universal healthcare costs Europe less per capita than the US system costs our government. Now if your not going to war (where most of our budget goes), and spend less on healthcare then us, what are you doing with all those taxes? Excellent question! I've searched around, and UK tax is spent on:
- Social protection, £159bn
- Personal social services, £26bn
- Health, £105bn
- Transport, £20bn
- Education, £78bn
- Defence, £32bn
- Debt interest, £31bn
- Industry, agriculture, employment and training, £21bn
- Public order and safety, £33bn
- Housing and environment, £22bn
- Other, £62bn

What those things mean is defined by the UN. For the UK, most of 'Social protection' is social security benefits, i.e. money given to the unemployed, families, retired people etc.

For more detail than you could possibly want, see the HM Treasury Report.

But I think you might have wanted me to say name other things I notice in daily life, other than healthcare, that I don't have to pay for. I'm not sure, since I haven't lived in the US and don't really know how life works there. If I lose my job, I can ask for "Jobseeker's Allowance", and I'll be given £46.85 a week (so long as I prove I'm looking for another job). Other things like that are listed on Direct.gov.uk (e.g. benefits, free travel, pensions, student loans, ...)

Re:Oh the humanity

[menace3society]

In fact, it is. Well, not Detroit, but Japanese, Korean, and European car mfrs are opening plants in the USA (mostly the South) faster than the Big Three close them.

The problem is not the USA, not really. The problem is the culture of entitlement that the automotive cartel fostered in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. They could charge whatever they wanted for cars, since they were about the only game in town (back then, if you wanted an import, it was a Rolls or a Ferrari, and at that point you don't care about price anyway). They made up for this by giving obscene benefits packages for employees, and in the 70s when Japanese imports started to outdo in price and efficiency, they stupidly agreed to even more boneheaded benefits packages for people who got laid off.

If they had the balls to say to the UAW, "You know what? From now on, you're getting fair wages for the work you do for us and only current employees get benefits," they wouldn't be so hard up. But there's too much of a culture of failure among management, and the UAW would throw a hissy-fit strike if they tried it.

It really boils down to the need for nationalized healthcare. If we had that, this whole problem wouldn't exist.

Re:Oh the humanity

[cayenne8]

"ou are correct, the USA should immediately cease producing value added goods and produce iron ore and silicon."

No..not at all, you miss the point. We should strive as much as possible to be as completely self sufficient as possible, or risk our independence to the rest of the world if for some reason where we get stuff from, decides to withhold resources....

Think about the risk we currently run with oil dependence from foreign sources. Now..extrapolate that to other raw goods.

Re:Oh the humanity

[HalAtWork]

Oh, you laughed at us when you were on top, but I bet you wished you accepted our quarters now!

Re:Oh the humanity

[vandan]

In Iraq there was a dictator

Get over it. He was your biggest ally for decades. The fact that you lost control of him is your own stupid fault.

who testing chemical and biological weapons on his own people

Bullshit. It was the US doing the testing. Saddam merely used what the US gave him.

who violated so many UN human rights charters

So? Go and invade Israel if you're so concerned about UN human rights charters and resolutions.

And it help fight the slow death of small, often ignored countries like Lebanon

WTF?

In vietnam communists wanted to control the country

That's quite a simplistic view. I forgive you, considering your other way-off statements so far. Communists HAD taken over Vietnam, and had MASSIVE backing from the population. That's no reason to invade and carpet-bomb the place with napalm and chemical weapons ( the same weapons you were just crying about Saddam using ).

Of course, typical Americans; cleaning up after europe shits all over the place

Hardly. It's more like MAKING all the shit and expecting everyone else to call it flowers.

Abolishing slavery, abolishing monarchies, reinstating civil rights and real courts, cleaning up the mess left in the Middle-East by the English

Oh fuck off. The US was built on slavery, and the remnants of it are still very much alive today. Abolishing monarchies? What do you call George Dubya, commander in chief? What's the point of abolishing something and replacing it with the same thing, but a different name? Why not try some democracy instead? Huh? And as for cleaning up the mess in the middle east, I believe you're FUCKING up the middle east. You must have a pretty warped idea of what's going on over there. You're American, right

Re:Oh the humanity

[FST777]

Here in the Netherlands, US cars are advertised on the radio by mentioning the continuing fall of the dollar in a news styled manner while cheering is heard on the background. I'm not joking.

Re:Oh the humanity

[vandan]

Germany used slave labor including child labor through 1945 and France and the rest of the chest-thumping Europeans allowed it as long as Germany wouldn't attack. Europeans abolishing slavery before the US is false. Or did you conveniently forget that?

1) The period of fascist control should be excused
2) Germany doesn't represent all of Europe

The Soviets used slavery until at least the mid 1960's.

They weren't soviets. A 'Soviet' was a workers' council ( literally translated as peoples' advise ). What happened after Stalin came to power was nothing to do with the Soviets.

Many in the Muslim world today have slaves. They are called women.

That's just racist trash. There's not a single Muslim family I know where I'd say that the female was treated like a slave. But if I look at society more generally, I'd say that Western ideology includes treating women like slaves. For example, my wife is pregnant, and due to give birth in 1 month. She gets 1 year maternity leave, but it's all UNPAID. She, and all other women, are expected to take care of the baby and home generally, for FREE. Now sure, my income supports her ( just ). But not all women are that lucky. What's more, when she goes back to work, the wages she earns will be about 70% of a males' wage, not because she's less skilled or capable, but just because Western society treats women like that. I'm sure it's the same in your country. In fact, I'm sure you support this. So lets not bring out the racist BS while conveniently forgetting our own shit, OK?

Re:Oh the humanity

[ccollao]

sort your own backyard first. Please, don't send them to south america again... We are finally doing ok, since the US Army is looking to the other way around. ;)

Re:Oh the humanity

[Wildclaw]

I'd say that Western ideology includes treating women like slaves. For example, my wife is pregnant, and due to give birth in 1 month. She gets 1 year maternity leave, but it's all UNPAID. She, and all other women, are expected to take care of the baby and home generally, for FREE. Not all western countries are the same of course.

Here in Sweden there is 480 days of paid parenthood. I am not sure how big percentage of the salary that is is.

However, one interesting thing to note is that these 480 days may be distributed in any way between father and mother. This is relativly new, and one of the things implemented to decrease gender discrimination here in Sweden. It is a very good law. Not only does it help women who want to keep working. There are also many new fathers that would like to spend more time with their children.

The biggest remaining gender discrimination here in Sweden is probably the wage gap which is hard to explain. There is work being done to reduce it, but it is hard without understanding the real reason for it. As you say, women aren't less skilled or capable, so how come they on average have lower salaries.

Is it concious discrimination by those setting salaries, or maybe unconcious discrimination. Or are women less likely to ask for salary increases? Until we fully know the answer to those questions it will be hard to fix it.

Re:Oh the humanity

[eli pabst]

If they were not in a cold war with us, they would allow their yuan to float against all others The reason they want to peg the yuan to the dollar is financial. If the value of the dollar suddenly dropped to 1/2 the value of the yuan, then Chinese-made goods suddenly become twice as expensive to their largest market.

In addition, they would be building DEFENSES weapons, not offensive. You realize that they have a minuscule navy that makes it impossible for them to project military power outside of their region, right? It's going to be a long ass swim from China before you need to worry about Chinese military aggression in this part of the world.

There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about China, but neither of those are one of them.

Re:Oh the humanity

[DAldredge]

USian isn't a word.

Re:Oh the humanity

[ravenshrike]

Ah, but if you include social protection in your base tax, then you have to include SocSec and MediCare/MedicAid in the US tax rate, in which case military spending is third. That's right, the US spends over double what it does on the military on basic social welfare.

Re:Oh the humanity

[ravenshrike]

Credible sources? Were the sources french perhaps? Cause those sources were sooo good at reporting the Jenin incident. ALL info from a war zone is incredibly suspect unless you can find at least 10 minutes of unedited footage that takes in the entire scene. As for 'eyewitness reports' well, ask 10 different witnesses who committed a crime and you'll get 10 different descriptions. And that's without assuming that some of them are trying to lie.

Re:Oh the humanity

[Jafafa Hots]

Wasn't there a thing where we were going to start counting fast food jobs as "manufacturing" recently?

Re:Oh the humanity

[aliquis]

I don't say it's a valid source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ifs_news/hi/newsid_4442000/4442988.stm

Re:Oh the humanity

[aliquis]

It really boils down to the need for nationalized healthcare. So make it happen? Can't be that hard?

Re:Oh the humanity

[Wheely]

Please check your history. England was one of the first European countries to abolish slavery. THe principles of which were set in 1772. The slave trade did, however, continue particularly in the west indies despite a growing ant-slavery movement. These abolitionists even started buying large tracts of Africa in order to create free areas where potential slaves would be safe.

The British completely outlawed the slave trade anywhere in the British Empire in 1807 under the punishment of death and also took action against African leaders who refused to accept the abolition.

Re:Oh the humanity

[RiotingPacifist]

It's going to be a long ass-swim from China before you need to worry about Chinese military aggression in this part of the world.

There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about China, but neither of those are one of them. hyphenation FTW

Re:Oh the humanity

[Boetsj]

Yep - the "low-dollar-weeks" at our Dutch Chrysler dealerships have been extended!
... let's just say I'd rather not drive a Daewoo ;)

Re:Oh the humanity

[Doctor Faustus]

She gets 1 year maternity leave, but it's all UNPAID.
If you're suggesting the government should pay her for full-time parenting for a year, I'd say that would be worth considering. However, people usually want employers to do it. Why should it be their responsibility to pay her for a year to not work (for them)?

when she goes back to work, the wages she earns will be about 70% of a males' wage
Probably less. It's women taking time off for childrearing that are bringing down the average, and you only get to the 70% by factoring the higher wages of women who don't do that.

This is indeed sexism, but it's not from the employers; it's from individuals and their own views of women's and men's places in the world. Until men are sacrificing their careers for their children at the same rate as women, it's going to stay that way. The only thing I'd say is unjust from the employer side is when they assume a woman is going to put them second behind her children or want maternity leave, and she has no intention of having kids, or her husband will be doing most of that work.

Re:Oh the humanity

[Doctor Faustus]

I forgive you, considering your other way-off statements so far. Communists HAD taken over Vietnam, and had MASSIVE backing from the population.
Even that's too charitable to us Americans. The Vietnamese took over Vietnam, needed to pick a government and economic system, and picked communism. As I understand it, it was more about ending colonialism (French) than establishing communism to them.

Re:Oh the humanity

[CompSci101]

OK. I know I'm an American and all, but I could swear that Canada is, in fact, on top of the US.

Don't try to further confuse my already small grasp of geography with your Canadian lies!

C

Re:Oh the humanity

[glgraca]

Just as in the Iraq war, the threat in Vietnam was contrived. The Vietnamese were seeking independence from France and actually sought help from the US. The US on the other hand, was afraid of losing the French to the USSR, because De Gaulle threatened to switch sides and join the communists (and the US couldn't see through this stupid bluff). So the US went along and helped the French, and when the French saw they could not win, they left the US with a war against a people who should have been their ally to begin with. How stupid can it be for "The Land of the Free" to aid France (Liberté, ectera, ectera...) in a colonial war?? Lots more juicy details can be had in Barbara Tchumann's excellent "The March of Folly".

So, does this mean

[Daimanta]

that Europe won't recieve everything 4-12 months later than Japan and the US? Still waiting for SSB:B...

Bush

[Boronx]

I wonder if this has anything to do with Bush running up trillions in debt and making everyone hate us?

Re:Bush

[dvice_null]

> All bush did was speed up the process

That is a very nice way to say "he doubled the national debt within few years".

Re:Bush

[Goaway]

Cynicism is no substitute for insight: http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

Re:Bush

[Daimanta]

"People get the interest over time and theoretically expect to get principle in the future. Now the Fed/Treasury control the money supply and have paid the interest for however many years, so much of that money they received has to be handed back. Where are they going to get the principle from? Creating more debt of course, which then also has to be paid back, and so on..."

Sounds like a Ponzi scheme(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme), only this one is goverment sanctioned.

Re:Bush

[nuzak]

> Maybe I won't have described the process perfectly correctly

ALL money based on an arbitrary valuation is inflationary. Backing it with a shiny metal provides something of a natural cap to inflation, but it's not like there wasn't hyperinflation when our money was "good as gold". In fact, banks were collapsing left and right throughout the 1800's when we were solidly on a gold standard.

> Check out money as debt on google video.

Certainly do so just for edification, but it's eye-rollingly bad stuff. Full of ominous conspiratorial whisperings, and a general emphasis on how evil the whole notion of debt is. How about thinking of it this way: debt is an added valuation on time. And time is about as universal a commodity as it gets.

Re:Bush

[jackharrer]

It's "slightly" more than your Money as Debt on youtube. I've passed through 2 tough years of economics, so I can assure you it's not so simple. Other thing is that debt is kept pretty stable in proper economy, it's wars and such that imbalance it.
I suggest you start from Economics for Dummies as definitely you lack some knowledge.

BTW: all references to "educational" materials on youtube should be classified the same as kittens on treadmill...

Re:Bush

[MillionthMonkey]

I wonder if this has anything to do with Bush running up trillions in debt and making everyone hate us?

Well look at it this way.

The government is the only entity that can effectively control the amount of currency in circulation. It is the only entity that can create and destroy money by fiat; it can print currency, it can create funds to lend to central banks, and it can destroy the money it created.

The government takes money from you every year in April. Someone has to repair roads, pick up garbage, provide for the common defense etc. Asphalt, garbage trucks, and missiles cost money. The government prints this money and spends it. It's all OK because it picks your pocket, pulls out dollars, and destroys them to account for it. And you shouldn't complain because you get to drive on nice roads with no garbage or foreigners.

What if they didn't take your money? That's what George W. Bush did. He figured you'd like him more if we skipped the part where the money comes out of your pocket and gets burned up in order to close the books on the services you receive from the government. So the money escaped your pocket (or at least your $300 consolation prize did), and suddenly all this money that had been spent paving the roads and collecting garbage was suddenly appearing at Wal*Mart for its second life, and it got spent a second time to buy more garbage, predominantly imported crap from overseas. Basically the government printed crap dollars, we spent them on imports, giving sellers overseas dollars that they promptly exchange for their own currencies. The currency exchange markets are quickly overwhelmed by dollars. These quickly end up parked in immense T-Bills held by foreign banks, who would like to unload them but cannot risk damaging their value by flooding the dollar markets with their own holdings. But the value of the dollar is deteriorating anyway, much to everyone's dismay- because dollars are the most widely held currency in the world. And we owe them to everybody. You see how awkward this is.

Let's say now you're sitting on a loading dock with 500 Nintendos on pallets. Do you want to turn them into dollars? Heh heh heh heh heh.

But the invisible hand has a way to correct everything. Maybe someday we can make our own Nintendos.

Re:Bush

[mentaldrano]

What's so bad about inflation? As long as it's controlled, consistent, and reasonably low (1-4% per year), the net result is simply a tax on hoarded money. That's a GOOD thing.

Wealth isn't money - wealth is money changing hands! Any money that's just sitting around is a net drain on the economy, and makes it harder for the central banks to manage things. Money must be invested to be useful - even a savings account is useful.

Besides, inflation hurts the rich way more than the poor, as long as the minimum wage is adjusted properly. That it hasn't been doesn't mean the whole idea is bad.

But... Wii Ain't Fit over HERE!

[joocemann]

Europeans are already fit! Wii need it here so we can earn our dubba-chee!

Bah Humbug

[neokushan]

I hate how Europe always gets shafted, especially when it comes to gaming.
Rarely do we ever get a title released here first, even titles that were developed here tend to get released in the USA first.
What's more, Nintendo, Sony AND Microsoft have all indicated that they don't care for Europe.
Sony is probably the worst offender, by giving us a stripped down PS3 at nearly twice the price as the US and Japan (There's only so much "tax" and "import costs" can account for).
Rock band is actually cheaper to import from the US than it is to buy in the shops (it's almost twice the price when you buy the set and the game!). This is really nothing new, but it's still infuriating the way we get treated.

Re:Bah Humbug

[Stevecrox]

I agree completely with this, Rock Band was released in the USA more than 7 months ago because activision want to make an extra buck (by selling exclusive rights to xbox360) I have to wait an unknown number of months before I get the privilage of buying it on the PS3. Not only that but the cost of the game is greater than twice the american version (its normally double) In America you complain about a $450 console, how do you feel about paying ~$350 (£140) for a game?

Its pretty much for those two reasons, I won't be purchasing Rock Band. I still can't like th Wii (games are far to simple and easy for me) but hopefully this will start a trend where the gaming companies actually start to care for Europe.

Re:Bah Humbug

[Tweenk]

Slashdot is no better at European discrimination. I wanted to post a whiny comment about expensive Lego bricks in Europe, but some dork at /. decided to stay with ISO-8859-1 and this prevents me from using the Euro sign.

Re:Bah Humbug

[CoriolisSTORM]

You wanna talk about getting shafted, try buying a decent Volkswagen over here in the states.

Re:Bah Humbug

[neokushan]

Raise the VAT Tax? The Value Added Tax Tax?
So THAT'S why we're getting ripped off so much, we're actually getting taxed twice as much!

This does not make sense

[Chapium]

If there is such strong demand, why not raise the price?

Re:This does not make sense

[Doppler00]

Good question. Nintendo is losing quite a bit of money by not raising the price of the Wii to match market demand. I think in the U.S. people are too used to seeing the price of electronics fall yearly, but with our rapid inflation rate, that's not going to happen anymore.

Nintendo should just go ahead and silently raise the price a little. Sure, there will be some anger but I don't think it would hurt their brand very much. They could always just say "because of the weakening U.S. dollar..." and I think people would get the point. Heck, even U.S. companies are doing that now.

Re:Heh.

[Anonymous Coward]

So, the *Wii* sucks because employees at your local department store buy them all up against the agreement Nintendo made with the store?

Cost of localisation

[tepples]

Rarely do we ever get a title released here first, even titles that were developed here tend to get released in the USA first. I'd imagine that the number of customers per language is higher in North America and Japan than anywhere in Europe. Do Nintendo of Europe and the European Union even allow publishers to make an English-only release (for Irish and UK customers and intra-EU importers) followed by a multilingual release?

Re:Cost of localisation

[neokushan]

I've no idea, but there's no real reason to hold a title back from the UK just because they haven't translated it into French, Italian, German and Spanish (assuming it's not one of those titles with a language select in it, which are rare these days).
It wouldn't be so bad, but they never bother to translate American English into British English, so really, what's the point in waiting?

Re:Cost of localisation

[l-ascorbic]

The EU has no rules stating that companies have to release multi-lingual stuff. Individual countries (France) have rules related to language, but I think that mostly applies to advertising. There's nothing to stop them just releasing it in the UK and Ireland, so long as they don't prevent people elsewhere importing it if they want to.

Re:Cost of localisation

[miscz]

Yes, at least in here in Poland it's a regular practice. What's totally fucked up is that english ones usually cost up to twice as much as the localised ones. Add that we aren't used to this kind of translations (movies in cinema are almost exclusively subtitled and TV uses voice-over via Gavrilov translation) and it just feels wrong to hear our language used by Stroggs and other alien invaders.

Re:Cost of localisation

[shermo]

Thanks for that Gavrilov link.

It brings back memories of watching porn in Poland dubbed by one male with a thick russian accent. We couldn't understand a word they said, but it was the funniest thing we'd seen in a while.

Re:Heh.

[drinkypoo]

Nintendo is trickling just enough Wiis (yech) into the US sales channels to keep up interest while feeding markets that are actually making money. Unfortunately, the citizenry of the US rested on its laurels and consequently our nation has been conquered from within in the name of profit, and our economy has successfully been attacked and destroyed. The effects are only now starting to become apparent, compared to what's coming. The point is, the Wii isn't a joke, the US Economy is - and it's going to take a lot of sweat to correct it.

Re:Language barriers

[EvilNTUser]

Or how about just initially releasing it in English for the vast majority of gamers who simply want to play the game? Even weirder is how the games are delayed even in those European countries that don't get a localized version.

With the US dollar this weak...

[RealGrouchy]

I'd have expected the headline to say "Nintento Favours Europe"

- RG>

Re:With the US dollar this weak...

[maxume]

The relative value of dollars and Euros only matters if Nintendo has some bizarre goal of minimizing the nominal amount of currency that they receive.

That people are willing to pay more in the Euro zone is why they are sending the units there. It costs $90 and 90 Euros. Given the relative exchange rates with the yen, people are paying the equivalent of $140 for the game in Europe. If people were willing to pay $140 in the US, the weak dollar wouldn't be bothering Nintendo any.

Re:Language barriers

[Splab]

Indeed, in most countries in the EU the target audience does speak a fair amount of English anyways.

Sorry. US Market no longer leading Europe

[PKFC]

Turns out Europe overtook the US gaming market for FY2007.

I hate hearing the whining of the article repeated elsewhere: "We're seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere." That link I just posted says Japan is #1 in sales at $11.5 B USD, Europe is #2 at $11.4 B USD and US only pulled in $10.7 B USD. So companies aren't ignoring their largest market; they're giving the leftovers to the third largest market. Deal.

Re:Sorry. US Market no longer leading Europe

[Guppy06]

"I hate hearing the whining of the article repeated elsewhere"

TFA talks of the North American market. Tack on the Canadian numbers to those of the US and I'm sure you'll see the total top the Japanese numbers.

Repeat after me...

[Maudib]

There is no correlation between a weak dollar and the strength or status of the U.S. in the world economy. A weak dollar is not inherently bad either as it makes our exports more attractive and competitive.

It always amazes me. When the dollar is strong everyone says the U.S. is loosing economic power because of trade imbalances (weak exports). When the dollar is weak and trade exports are much higher, then people claim the U.S. is loosing economic power because of the weak dollar. Obviously neither interpretation is accurate. A strong dollar can be good and bad, a weak dollar can be good and bad. In this case American video game exporters are probably benefiting from less competition from Nintendo.

Such simplistic interpretations remind me of mercantilist theory, which is similairly idiotic. Carry on.

Re:Repeat after me...

[Oktober Sunset]

That's true, but the US is still going down the toilet.

Re:Repeat after me...

[Gregb05]

b-b-but... they took er JERBS!

Re:Repeat after me...

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no correlation between a weak dollar and the strength or status of the U.S. in the world economy. Of course there is. The less the dollar is worth to anyone else, the less economic power the US has in relation to them. This is obvious. If the dollar is extremely highly valued then those dollars could be used to buy up Japanese industries. If the Yen is highly valued then those Yen can be used to buy up US industries (if the Japanese want them). Some fluctuation is normal but it's silly to pretend that those fluctuations don't represent changing economic power.

A weak dollar is not inherently bad either as it makes our exports more attractive and competitive. This is true. Also vomiting isn't inherently bad either as it removes unhealthy comments from your stomach. However, falling currency values, like vomiting, arise as a reaction to a problem. The US economy has real problems.

Re:Repeat after me...

[fermion]

It is interesting theory. There have been a couple fascinating articles on this, the latest I have seen is this.

Basically what it all boils down to is who has the economic growth, who has the money to support a large military, who has the money to buy off locals, and who has a compelling alternative government. A century and half ago, the powers were Spain and England. England had everything except cash and economic growth. Mosty people were kind of happy with the english way of life, and england had military power. However, due to england's lack of cash, it had to borrow money from the colonies, which meant that England was no longer a free agent. When you owe someone lots of money, you are no longer your own person.

My main disagreement with the article is that the US has been in a real position of power for 100 years. We had some success in the early 20th century, but we never made it to international status due to the robber barons which put us in a hole that we did not crawl out of until the 50's, but not really until 70's. At this point we have had two solid generations of superpower status. We are not leaders in economic growth, and the middle class which used to defined growth is becoming non existent. The weak dollar is just making the middle class even smaller. Now, the government and the populous has to borrow,and who are we borrowing from, the chinese.

One thing I heard about england is that it was not growing economically, and this what caused the loss of power. While the us is, we do not seem to be growing in such a way to increase spending and consumption. Those with median income and below has seen almost no growth in income over the past 40 years. Those with top 20% of income has seen their income jump 30% or more. Unless the economy is being based on yatchs and butlers, this is not a way to build a broad based economy.

So the way to fix the economy is socialization. Spend 2 trillion a month on a war. Create new redundant departments to spend more money. Pump money into the economy be giving away cash. Don' bother with structural changes, don't worry about money that can't be paid back, just socialize, just like britain.

Of course it is not the weak dollar that is the issue. It is the lack of discretionary income. It is the the fact that we are soon going to owe 40% of debt to foreign agents, who are now free to call us for favors, and we can no longer pressure. These facts put us back a pre-super power standing. What were the issues? Growth? We aren't on top. Debt? We owe everyone. Cash? We have none. Military? The F-22 is our cool jet, but the f-35 is yet to be built, and everything seems to be ineffective against kitchen table IEDs. The weak dollar is not the cause, but it is a symptom. We need to get serious about innovation, and serious about true fiscally conservative values.

Re:Repeat after me...

[Tom]

There is no correlation between a weak dollar and the strength or status of the U.S. in the world economy. Wrong, for two reasons.

One, lots and lots of countries have, over the past decades, hoarded US$ as reserve currency. They see investments of billions, in some cases trillions, of dollars rapidly deflate.
Two, the world markets have changed. Point #1 is true because for a long time you could buy anything, anywhere in the world, with US$. That's changing. Thus your devalued currency is falling not only in purchasing power, but also in reach.

And this feeds back directly to the strength and status of the US because the US is a huge importing nation. Since there's little it exports, there's little you - as a foreign country with three times your GDP bound up in US$ - can do to get rid of your rapidly declining reserve. You can buy some high-tech, and that's essentially it. The US exports too little to spend your money, and other countries aren't really interested in taking it, because they're also trying to get rid of the crap.

The net effect of that is that the US becomes less and less important as a trading partner, because what they offer - US$ - is becoming worthless slips of fancy paper that you're desperately trying to get rid of, instead of getting even more of them.

That's a lot of loss of strength and status compared to a time where most of the world was trying hard to do business with you.

Re:It's not just a weak dollar issue....

[bonehead]

I spent mine. It all went into the gas tank and to the power company.

Re:Heh.

[drinkypoo]

Methinks you are being sensationalist. If anything, the "recession/depression" that we are going through will stimulate a tide of social-programs that will benefit the overall welfare of the country more than the sales of a few million Wiis could.

I mentioned the Wiis as signifier, not as a possible spur to economic recovery, and your attempt to distract from the actual conversation by depicting it as anything else is disingenuous at best.

With that said, a tide of social programs is one possible outcome. It was a possible outcome during the Great Depression, too, but in actuality we never really recovered from that until we began to receive and benefit from economic concessions from Germany and Japan following WWII.

This time it's hard to imagine where the money is going to come from. I'd like to see the public works projects, but they couldn't even bother to go save people's lives in New Orleans. I'm just not seeing it, sorry. Seriously, where does the money come from?

You doom-and-gloom predictions of "a lot of sweat to correct it" simply miss the point of what's really wrong.

I really meant blood, but I didn't want to seem overly melodramatic. On the other hand, blood is the cost of the way we do business today - do you have any idea of what percentage of the shit we buy from China is produced in government-owned-and-operated forced labor camps filled predominantly with people whose primary crime is that they were the nails sticking up the farthest and they needed laborers? People are literally put into labor camps for being Christians... where they make the plastic shit that we hang on our christmas trees.

Closer to home, though, I really don't see things changing for the better without a major upset. I hope to be wrong.

Market?

[Anonymous Coward]

"largest market"? Last I checked, the EU had more inhabitants than the USA.

Just saying.

A Simple Lesson in Global Ecomonic Reality...

[flajann]

While there is some truth in what you say -- and reporters make copy by selling "bad news", however they spin it -- the real question is: how weak is too weak? If markets begin to skip selling in the US in lieu of more lucrative markets elsewhere, I really don't see this as a "good thing". The US has lost much of its manufacturing and production capacity to other countries, so there is nothing in place to make up the short fall.

The US is a war-driven ecomony, which is unfortunate on many fronts, let alone creating weapons and systems that kill innocents en masse -- there's an associated brain drain, and the goods created in most cases have no material use that would enhance wealth -- but rather, these devices are designed to destroy wealth as well as human lives.

China has manufacturing capability up the ying-yang (no pun intended), and as I've stated before, if they were to choose to stop propping up the USD, the US would have far more to loose than they would. Also keep in mind the Euro markets that they could -- and probably are -- transistion to if they're smart.

No, I'm afraid this is a different situation. It might be "ok" for the dollar to have *some* weakness from time to time, but you can't tell me it would be fine if the bottom fell out on the dollar entirely.

we haven't been attacked, we've been sold out

[Scudsucker]

and our economy has successfully been attacked and destroyed

First went the unions, then went the blue collar manufacturing, and now the white collar jobs are leaving due to outsourcing. And all so the top 1% can have their annual 15% increase in income while having their taxes dramatically reduced under Regan and Bush II, while the rest of us have seen our payroll taxes go up. Smashing, yea capitalism.

a sure sign of the decline of the usa:

[circletimessquare]

americans who raise their hackles when faced with the scarcity of a video game console

the very existence of this story is a sign of the decline of american society

"where's my blinking flashing noisy shiny drug!?"

you can rest assured any serious society on the move isn't obsessing over video game consoles

now go ahead, mod me a troll. prove me yet more right

Re:Language barriers

[mikael_j]

This depends on what country you're in, here in Sweden most people speak english well enough that until recently few games were translated to swedish, to this day many of the big titles (guitar hero, gta series, WoW and lots of others IIRC) are not available in swedish versions, yet we have to wait until the release of the versions of games translated to german and french before they're released, in english, here.

/Mikael

Re:It will all end on Jan 20, 2009

[truthsearch]

43.75 percent arabic and 6.25 percent african negro Being muslim in Kenya makes one Arabic? That's a new one for me.

Re:Language barriers

[MemoryDragon]

I beg to differ. Few people speak English in Europe, except in a few countries like the Netherlands. You probably just hang around with English speakers only and don't see the reality. Pretty much everyone in central northern and western europe speaks english to some extent. The only exceptions probably are southern spain, rural france and probably southern italy. Eastern europe is pretty well equiped, people learn english like crazy there you might get a problem in rural areas but definitely not in cities.

Re:Language barriers

[Endo13]

In other words, about 95% of Europeans who play video games.

Re:Language barriers

[vidarh]

I've traveled quite a lot in Europe over the last 25 years, and yet I've never had a problem finding people who speak English everywhere I've gone. Now, if they don't like you they might not want to speak English to you, but the trick to avoid that problem is to not act like an arrogant prick, and ideally to try to speak the local language, however limited your skills are, first. I find trying to speak the local language works everywhere in the world - when you do people tend to fall over themselves trying to be friendly and helpful, and suddenly people put a hell of a lot more effort into speaking understandable English to you.

It's been 15 years since I last came across anyone in mainland Europe that didn't speak any English at all - a very helpful French shop owner in a tiny town in Provence that, when he realized we were talking past each-other with my limited French, stopped a couple of random people who were passing by his shop and got them to translate.

On my last proper visit to Paris a couple of years ago it had been 12 years since last time I'd spent any amount of time there (I'd been on a couple of business trips where I spent 3-4 hours in town and then went back to London) in fact, I find it hard to practice my French as contrary to my last holiday there every French person I came across switched to English the second I had problems finding the right word, or butchered their language too much (my French teacher used to say that the one thing you should always make sure to get right in France is the sounds - if you pronounce things correctly you'll get away with almost anything - so far I think she's been right)

Quid pro quo?

[frisket]

Why is this surprising? US companies have been doing this in reverse for a few centuries: this is why so many products are available in the USA which are unheard-of in Europe. It's not just American insularity, although that may be a component: it's just what the companies fondly believe to be market forces (usually they're wrong anyway, but that's the principle).

Where to begin!?

[MisterSquid]

Your post is so reactionary and simple-minded that it certainly seems to have been written by an American, short on rationality as it is. In fact, in the last day or so /. has had several posts like yours modded up because they say absurd things such as the high cost of oil is due in part to the restrictions on domestic drilling.

If you think the US economy is in the shitter because of environmental protections you are an embarrassment to the genetic legacy your ancestors have bequeathed you.

The US economy is in the craphole because of the massive debt that has been leveraged against insolvent debtors. This came in the form of the mortgage crisis and its effects have reverberated and multiplied through the banking system. This has led to a crisis in commercial credit which has taken away the ability of consumers to fuel the economy which further erodes the ability of the banking system to maintain solvency. The causes of the credit crisis caused by the tanking of the mortgage system has not yet finished and we are likely to see much worse before it stops.

Regarding the offshoring of manufacturing and environmentalism, the real impact of environmental legislation in the United States is not to preserve non-human species, but to protect humans themselves. Look at the places where mining companies, steel refineries, chemical manufacturing plants, and pulp mills have operated and what you'll find are poisoned water tables and insanely elevated cancer rates. Additionally, the relative low-production of minerals from mining is due mainly to evisceration of the lands where valuable resources once existed, not due to the governmental restrictions on development.

For you to say something like "the tree huggers over her taking so much power" is laughable. Opening all the protected lands in the US would to natural resource exploitation do virtually nothing to fix the GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS let alone the paltry problem of the US economy stumbling against the stronger European economy. The kind of neanderthal thinking that bad economic times can generate amongst people is amazing and your post is an example of such stupidity.

Environmentalism has not caused the US economic crisis. Bad banking practice has.

Re:Where to begin!?

[Chrisje]

I second that motion. In Europe, the Governmental banks had to intervene in order to keep the same crisis from hitting the EU. Slowly but surely, the US mantra of "the market will fix anything" is eroding. It just goes to show that you need a fair bit of regulation in the financial sector (as in any sector) because the market will ultimately fall victim to stupid greed and short term thinking.

The funny thing is that TFA also mentions an interesting tidbit which is preposterous:

"We're seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere"

Now I've worked for HP for the past twelve years. I assume everyone knows that HP is from Palo Alto originally, and a very, very solid American company. Now since 1996 already the EMEA region has been responsible for 42% or more of the total HP revenue in the world, followed by The Americas and then APJ. Since China and India are ramping up economically, it wouldn't surprise me if the US is now competing for that second spot with the APJ region.

This notion is not just something that lives inside of large corporations like HP, but can easily be verified on Da Innerweb. If you add up the Gross National Product of member-state countries of the EU from numbers you find on CIA World Factbook, or if you simply look at wikis or reports on this, you will see that the EU has a GDP that is 15% higher than the US. Now since the US are ~300 million and the EU are ~400 million people, the GDP per capita is still a bit lower than the US', but this is also due to the fact that the newer member states such as Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia are all former Warsaw Pact members who still have a bit of growing to de economically.

To cut a long story short, in 2006 the EU was already putting more value out there than the US. And the decreasing value of the Dollar might be good for the US' export position, but the bottom line is that the US are no longer the biggest market on the planet. It hasn't been. For years.

Re:Heh.

[homer_s]

Ah yes. More regulation to correct a problem created by regulation.

Here is a question for you - why is that Houston,TX which lacks zoning laws restricting industrial, commercial and residential construction to specific neighborhoods, did not experience the boom/bust in real estate that other major cities did? And this in a city where population growth was among the highest in the nation?

Just because you think something is a good idea does not mean it is. No one person can have enough information to know what the most productive use of a resource is. It takes collective wisdom in form of people exchanging resources freely with the price system transmitting the information to get the most productivity out of a resource.

Re:What...

[frisket]

The price they charge is a different matter. Most American companies and their Asian imitators work on the entirely false assumption that Europeans have more disposable income than Americans. I have no idea where this comes from, when it's patently untrue, but Apple have believed it for decades, which is why Macs are twice the price here that they are in the USA. Don't forget most Marketing people have the brain-power of a small gnat, and blithely believe everything their colleagues tell them (and like most professionals, myself included, spend far too much time talking to people in the same business instead of getting out for a bit). So it only takes one spark of suggestion to make the whole hive believe that Europeans will buy more of product Z than Americans will, even when the facts and the pricing make it impossible.

Ah, but European developers give better plots!

[Gazzonyx]

Yeah, but you guys also get games that I wish I could get here in the US. European game developers tend to gives games much better plot lines than the US game developers. For instance, I love the X series, and I had to scour the local games shops to find a copy of X2 and X3. Games with plots just don't sell as well here as games with explosions. Give me a well thought out plot before explosions, I say. That means I'm usually relying on German and UK based companies to deliver the goods.

On the contrary ...

[JoeBuck]

... they love Europe, because you guys are willing to pay twice as much!

Re:Americans AREN'T skilled (says Toyota)

[NFN_NLN]

If I was BMW I'd love to settle back in Detroit; little competition from GM/Ford, tons of skilled workers...

Queue sound of music stopping to a screech...


"Toyota has stated it will build a new factory in Canada instead of the US because of concerns US workers are less skilled."

"Toyota President calls American's stupid"
http://forums.motortrend.com/70/38630/the-general-forum/toyota-president-calls-americans-stupid/index.html

Re:Heh.

[homer_s]

Dallas is an up-and-coming technology center...There has been a TON of new technology businesses that have setup shop in Dallas in the last decade...

Shouldn't that have increased prices in Dallas more than the other places like Phoenix, Florida and California? Why didn't that happen?

But consolidation in the last decade has hurt the abilities of the markets to function the way they are supposed to.

Can you give a few examples of consolidation and what aspect of the workings of markets that it has hurt?

What a coincidence

[PPH]

OPEC is doing this with their oil as well.

Nobody wants dollars any more. That their value hasn't collapsed completely is due to the fact that every foreign national banking system has a vault full of dollars. Unloading them all at once would be the biggest run on the banking system you've ever seen. So oil (and many other commodity) producers 'officially' trade their product in dollars. Unless you happen to have Euros, Yuan, or some other desirable currency. Then you get a discount.

Re:What a coincidence

[PPH]

Stupid to announce it. Not so stupid to do it.

Exporters like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela may already be accepting foreign currencies for settlements. They just aren't going to advertise it. Not until they can divest themselves of most of their dollar reserves and are willing to write off the rest.

In fact, the secret discount rate for those who offer to pay in other than USD may already be significant. Its like my Club Card at Safeway. The non-member price is set higher than the club price (advertised). Also, I get an additional discount, based upon my spending history, zip code, and whether the lady running the register thinks I'm cute and pushes the 'extra discount' button. The Saudis might be pushing that 'cute' button whenever someone flashes a role of Euros.

Re:It will all end on Jan 20, 2009

[oldspewey]

raised in Jakarta by his white mother and various arab men Thanks for clarifying ... last time I was in Jakarta I could have sworn the place was populated with Indonesians, but I now realize I was in fact surrounded by extremely clever Arabs who were impersonating people of Malay/Melanesian descent.

Re:Heh.

[xaxa]

The thing is, more and more businesses are actually located in those suburbs you seem to hate so much.

I grew up in a suburb of NYC, and have spent the last year living within biking distance of downtown Boston. The thing isn't that I hate suburbs specifically. I am a huge supporter of the ability to choose family-friendly suburban life over city-living.

I think we need more family-friendly city-living: more ground space saved by building high should be spent on parks and playgrounds.

Even weirder

[Moraelin]

... is the fact that the UK too used to get most games 1 year after the USA. And don't think that any actually got internationalized to UK English and voice actors with UK accents. Mostly it was the US game, 1 year later. No idea if that's still the case, but it wouldn't surprise me too much.

Even weirder was buying a US import version of Sega's PSO for the Dreamcast, over half a year IIRC before it got released in Europe. The weird thing is: the US version already had all the language options. I don't mean just that it also had Spanish, but it also had German and French. So someone from the USA could jolly well play the game in German or French, but the people in Germany or France weren't supposed to.

Exactly what they needed that delay for, I don't even know. Certainly not for translations.

Re:Even weirder

[jsebrech]

Exactly what they needed that delay for, I don't even know. Certainly not for translations.

Marketing. They needed to spread out the marketing effort through time so they could do it with a fixed team.

Nothing to worry about.

[Anonymous Coward]

This isn't at all a symptom of the relative weakness of the dollar to the Euro, it's actually a perfect example of the complex self-regulation mechanisms of the global market.

More Wiis in Europe -> More gaming options for Europeans -> More gaming hours for Europeans -> Less working hours for Europeans -> Less, and lower quality, European goods -> Less demand for European goods on the US market -> Stronger dollar relative to the Euro.

So what's the problem?

Re:Heh.

[RobBebop]

I couldn't agree more. But like I said, out-of-control real estate prices are a major urban concern. Also, another reader mentioned that cheap housing has a significant impact on local crime. High-crime areas are definitely not good for families.

So in addition to parks, I think urban schools that are hands-down better than suburban options would be a boon for the "family-friendly" cities that you speak of.

That makes a change for once

[thetoadwarrior]

Europe gets the shaft in gaming compared to Japan and the US. Hopefully things will balance out and we won't be treated like lepers by gaming companies.

Re:Language barriers

[imsabbel]

There is a HUGE difference between "somehow able to communiate in English" and "being able to enjoying an english piece of media"

WTF?

[theolein]

I really meant blood, but I didn't want to seem overly melodramatic. On the other hand, blood is the cost of the way we do business today - do you have any idea of what percentage of the shit we buy from China is produced in government-owned-and-operated forced labor camps filled predominantly with people whose primary crime is that they were the nails sticking up the farthest and they needed laborers? People are literally put into labor camps for being Christians... where they make the plastic shit that we hang on our christmas trees.

What the fuck is that? Please show me where you got that information on China putting people into labour camps to produce commodity goods?

Excuse me for saying this, but that paragraph makes you look like an ignorant dumbass. China is booming because, surprise, surprise, they embraced capitalism, and Chinese companies work very hard and pay very low wages, and their products sell well because of the resulting low prices. China is not a free country and open your mouth and criticise the government too much and you will get arrested, but they actually have a Chinese branch of the Catholic church (the Vatican and China have resolved a lot of their differences).

The last time China put people into labour camps for being Christian was during the Cultural Revolution, about 40 years ago.

You know, if people like you would actually read the news on occasion, and pay a little attention to what's happening beyond your borders, your economy might profit as a result of that enlightening knowledge.

O RLY?

[nicolaiplum]

I've been trying to buy one of those Wii Fits that are supposedly all over Europe and I can't find any for sale in the UK.
Amazon.de has some, that's all I can find. No English versions anywhere.
I'm sure some 'leet slashdotter knows where there's a secret stash in the UK, and they may even tell me, but that doesn't change the fact that they're effectively unobtainable in the UK too.

Re:Language barriers

[Thowllly]

There is a HUGE difference between "somehow able to communiate in English" and "being able to enjoying an english piece of media" Yeah, but probably not the way you think... It's much easier to learn enough to understand a language, than it is to communicate in it.

which state?

[fantomas]

Interested:
Which State is this?

Why do people confuse "England" and "United Kingdom" so much and use the terms interchangeably? (for your own health and safety, please don't make this mistake when visiting Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland)

Curious... thanks in advance...

Re:which state?

[zsau]

Same reason people confuse Holland and the Netherlands. England's the bigger part with the stronger economy and has been for long and consistently enough that that's all that counts. Also, "England" (and "Holland") has the advantage of being much less of a mouthful and much more of a normal country name than "the United Kingdom". See also the US being called "America".

Also, for the same reason people called roads "roads" and turnips "turnips": Because that's what people in our society do. It's not intended as a slight against the Scots, the Irish or the Welsh, but it's merely the convention.

Re:which state?

[FST777]

Because the Brits do the same with "Holland" and "the Netherlands"...

Re:which state?

[Serious Callers Only]

I just use them as various words for the same thing This won't make you popular with someone not from England, though English people generally won't care.

UK = England + Wales + Scotland + Northern Ireland
GB = Old fashioned term for England + Wales + Scotland
England = England
Commonwealth = lots of former colonies + UK

So you'd generally be safe using the UK where you would normally say 'England'.

Re:which state?

[RiotingPacifist]

England = England
great Britain = physically connected countries = England + Wales + Scotland
United Kingdom = England + Scotland + Wales + Northen Ireland
commonwealth = all the places we conquered (Australia, etc)

generally though nobody really notices the distinction between the 1st three even though the difference between GB/UK and England is becoming significant as Scotland gains more independence

Re:which state?

[ozamosi]

This is the Netherlands. To the left, note "Noord-Holland" and "Zuid-Holland".

Mexico

[Roadmaster]

Yes, well, here in Mexico we enjoy a nearly 100% markup over US prices (the Wii is US $470 and Wii Fit will run you US $150). And indeed you can see mountains of boxes in stores, even walmart stocks tons of wiifits and wiis. So while a lot of them will languish for a while on the shelf, Nintendo knows that those who sell will give them a really huge profit. By ignoring the economic reality of the country, where a cheaper console would indeed move a larger number of unis, they maximize their profit by catering to those who would indeed pay those sums for the console. Sadly that excludes about 98% of the population.

Largest?

[Zebra_X]

"We're seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere"

Wiki indicates that there are approximately 495 million people[1] within the borders of the EU member states.

So America is not really "their largest market". The conversion rate is much more in favor of the EU residents.

We'll get our Wii Fits eventually, but only after people whos dollars are worth more than ours.

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union

Re:Heh.

[Tom]

we never really recovered from that until we began to receive and benefit from economic concessions from Germany and Japan following WWII.

This time it's hard to imagine where the money is going to come from. You've already said it: WW3. You justs elected the guy with the family experience a few years too early, and he was a dumbass who probably ruined his brother's chances.

I seriously do expect that the US will start a major war to beef up its economy. It definitely can't afford to go without a war at this time, I'm pretty certain it can't support a peace-economy anymore.

Re:Their Largest Market...?

[polar red]

EU finally realizes its dream of becoming one shiny happy country the point of the EU is peace through economic integration; don't forget we went through 1000 years of conflict.

Re:Language barriers

[kjots]

Your experience is obviously as limited as your intelligence (see, we can be pretty condescending down here in Oz too. I mean, "bombastic"? C'mon!).

Re:8 Trillion in debt, it's a no brainer

[Chrisje]

Paying for the national Debt through the Gas Pump? When I was in California recently, I payed some four dollars for a gallon of gas. And I laughed my ass off because it's NOTHING! You people are funny with your "Gas prices are affecting daily life" billboards.

I can't even f#$%ng remember when I last saw gas that cheap in Europe and / or Israel. Think about it. That's roughly a dollar .five per liter. One dollar five per liter means roughly 70 Euro cents per liter. Damn. In most parts of Europe you pay 1.50/1.60 Euros per liter of gas. This includes Israel, at around 8 shekel. Granted, US fuel is of lower quality (87 octane rather than our 95 and 98), but still...

And if you still think gas prices are too high, I got one word for you: Compact. The rental agency had a "mid-size" for me. A chevvy impala which could house a small indian tribe. Compact in the US is a mid-size family car everywhere else.

Not happy with the gas price? Don't buy a four ton truck that guzzles five gallons to the mile then. If all of y'all would invest less in pick up trucks with "In God we Trust" stickers on the back, you might find your gas prices quite agreeable.

Damn fools.

Subject

[Legion303]

Well hey, look on the bright side: if the US dollar value keeps plummeting, corporations will start outsourcing their computer work there.

quote of the day in TFA :-)

[slashbart]

>> "They know that Americans will be just as fat a few months from now" when Nintendo will have more units available, he said.

OK, let the flames begin!