The Collegian

Issue date: 11/25/08 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Scott Cullinane

A massive looming economic transition is staring the world in the face and it will affect us all. The first example of this is poisoned candy from China; the second is the failure of the United States auto industry. Each of these stories exemplifies the economic change the world will see in the coming years.

China has a history of exporting dangerous products, from harmful sea food to toxic tooth paste. The latest addition to this list is milk powder laced with the industrial chemical melamine, which has killed a handful of people and made some 60,000 others sick. The bad milk powder has been used in making everything from Halloween candy to chocolate sex toys in the United Kingdom.

The corrupt government in Beijing has done their best to cover up these incidents when possible, or when forced, has taken extreme action by making examples of a few. Proof of this was when they executed Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of the Chinese food and drug administration for corruption. With China's economy slowing down and facing stiffer competition from other developing nations they will need to seriously deal with the corruption and product safety problems to stay competitive. This will be a huge domestic undertaking for the Chinese; it will require their government to find a way to operate far more efficiently to make this happen.

Related to this is the American automotive industry. The car industry, between the assembly, the supply chain, and the dealerships, are a major employer of people in America. Yet, the unions have sucked the auto makers dry and combined with the fact that no one much wants to buy an American car, the industry is in a very tough spot. The American auto sector will have to undergo a major, fundamental change, or die. They will have to become more competitive and more efficient. Limping along on handouts from Congress is not a viable option.

Both the Chinese manufacturing sector and the U.S. automotive sector are major forces that have leading roles on the world's economic scene. Both will be forced to change in the coming years. This change will definitely be painful, but it will happen. We can take comfort in the fact that this transformation is not only going to happen here in America, but overseas as well. In the long term it will be better for all; band aid solutions to the current situation will do us no good.

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