An Out of Control Global Economy

Al Meyerhoff writes in the Huffington Post:

What was she thinking? CNBC commentator Erin Burnett got a huge laugh when her comments on China were broadcast on Jon Stewart's Daily Show. "I think people need to be careful what they wish for in China. If China were to say start making toys without lead in them, or food that isn't poisonous, their costs of production are going to go up. And that means that prices at Wal-Mart here in the United States are going to go up too." Her utter lack of irony blew the audience away.

And yet, she's right. Here's why. We live now in an out of control global economy - one created by a Second Industrial Revolution - with consequences more far reaching than the first. Some of these are well known, such as trading high paying jobs in the West for low paying jobs elsewhere, with trade deficits turning the U.S. into a debtor nation -and China holds the mortgage. But this ongoing global shift also adversely impacts the food we eat and the products we buy. China trade, especially if not exclusively, demonstrates how we further open our borders to imported goods at our peril. This is not xenophobia. This is a price we pay beyond the one on the sticker, when food is grown and processed without regulation or inspection, when goods from t-shirts to toasters are manufactured by the lowest bidder.

To read more:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20070916/cm_huffpost/064573