Vizio and economic policy

The Wall Street Journal ran a story earlier this week that was about the entry of cheap TVs into the U.S. market but succeeded in illustrating so much more. Some excerpts:

Vizio is a fraction the size of Sony and Samsung Electronics Co., both leading brands in the U.S. flat-panel market. Yet Vizio shipped 12.4% of North America's liquid-crystal display, or LCD, TVs in the last quarter of 2007. That's just behind Sony's 12.5% share and Samsung's 14.2%, according to research firm iSuppli Corp. Overall, Vizio's sales have multiplied to just under $2 billion last year, up from $700 million in 2006 and $142 million in 2005, according to the closely held company.

...Vizio chief executive William Wang was prescient. A native of Taiwan and a former marketer of computer monitors, he was struck by a 2002 ad for a $10,000 Philips flat-panel TV. He sensed an opportunity. Rather than sell the sleek sets as luxury items, he figured he could make flat-panel TVs that were affordable to average consumers.

Back then, the computer-monitor business had largely transitioned from clunky cathode-ray tubes to flat panels. Mr. Wang knew many of the parts in flat computer screens were used in flat-panel TVs. Tapping his computer contacts in Taiwan, he calculated he could get enough parts to qualify for a bulk discount and use them to make inexpensive TVs.

To fund the effort, Mr. Wang borrowed money from friends and family. He also mortgaged his home in Newport Beach, Calif., eventually raising $600,000. While he wanted to name the new company "W" after himself, he settled for "V" after learning that a hotel chain had claimed the letter. V launched in October of 2002.

...For Gabe Billings, a 33-year-old stay-at-home dad, price was the main concern when he purchased a 37-inch Vizio from Costco this month. Mr. Billings, of Eugene, Ore., says he isn't so brand conscious when it comes to TVs. "I didn't see any point in spending hundreds of dollars more for something I won't be able to tell the difference, once I get home," says Mr. Billings. He says he spent $749 for the Vizio, versus the roughly $1,100 charged for bigger-name models.

So here we have an educated immigrant from Taiwan who risks his financial future all so that Americans can enjoy flat-panel televisions at cheaper prices. And how do we help promote other such success stories? We don't. We have so many educated workers that want to come here that we hold a lottery to award visas instead of letting them all in. We castigate the big discounters such as Sams Club that sell such TVs as destroying small town America. American-based businesses that design their products at home and outsource the production to Taiwan and China -- such as Vizio and Apple -- are slammed for sending jobs overseas. The imported products, despite being designed in the U.S., are criticized as contributions to the trade deficit and mortgaging America's future. The actual money that the founder of the company makes is taxed at a 35% rate in addition to capital gains -- and both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama think he should pay more!

The people who contribute the most are seen by too many people in this country as public enemy #1 -- and the people doing the criticizing are those who claim to have the solutions to our alleged vast economic ills.