The China Syndrome
The China Syndrome
One of the more intriguing stories of 2007 was the emergence — long overdue — of concerns about the safety and quality of some Chinese-made products. These worries were especially pointed when it came to the lead-based paint used on many toys made in China, a development that led to the few remaining Vermont handcrafted toymakers seeing blizzards of orders far in excess of what they could comfortably produce. Many other businesses wished they had such problems.
In some cases, the use of lead-based paint wasn’t necessarily the fault or doing of the Chinese manufacturers who fabricated the toys which were then sold in the U.S. under well-known brand names. Sometimes it was pressure from our side to keep costs low that forced them to cut corners. Other Chinese manufacturers were simply less scrupulous, careless or indifferent to the potential health hazards.
China has become the workshop of the world when it comes to a vast array of commodities largely because its labor costs are so low. They’ve also improve their manufacturing standards, this year’s lead-paint dust up notwithstanding. That’s a position it may not enjoy forever — other even lower cost countries in the Far East are bidding to attract manufacturing to their borders. Ultimately, that’s good news for American consumers. We worry about jobs being exported overseas, but in the main these are lower end jobs most American don?t want — working in dangerous, mind-numbing factory assembly lines isn’t what most folks want to do when they grow up. We can’t even fill the job openings a dynamic economy creates right here, which explains in large part why we have so many immigrants, some legal, some not, who want to come here. And P.S. — we like being able to go to Wal-Mart or some other discount store and be able to purchase clothing and virtually everything else made in China for a fraction of what it would cost if it were made here.
The point is — you can?t have it both ways. You can’t buy a U.S. made consumer product for the same amount as an identical Chinese-made one. You get to choose between the satisfaction of supporting a domestic manufacturer or spending less money. Most people seem to prefer spending less money.
The U.S. is still one of the world’s leading manufacturing nations thanks to investments in technology and an educated workforce that is more productive than other nations. We also have an economy that is twice the size of China’s, measured by gross domestic product. That may change as China’s industrial march continues, or it may come to a screeching halt is any one of the numerous problems bubbling underneath the surface in China — from the environment to a one-party government that has to corral many problems and keep provincial bosses in line — were to blow up. Those are real possibilities, and may not be welcome news either in the long run.
But back to toys and lead paint. Happily there is still a market for handcrafted toys and people willing to make them. But globalization of the world’s economy is a fact of life and it?s not going away, however much some may wax nostalgic for the old days of belching factories and their unsafe working conditions. They also employed lots of people and paid well. It also allowed many folks the luxury of stopping their education after high school, going to work at the mill and being able to support themselves and a family. Modern manufacturing has come a long way and we could use more of it in Vermont. But it will be a very different kind of manufacturing than our grandparents knew. It will require a smart, intelligent workforce that needs more training than the typical high school is set up to supply.
And it’s time to stop fretting about the lack of goods made in America and how everything is made in China. It’s not their fault. It’s a lot less stressful if you focus on the flip side of that equation — the money you have to spend on other things you want.