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Mathieu St-Pierre
Everybody on this tiny green Earth has a right to equal opportunities. Be it education, food, lodging, and transportation. The issue is not what the people want, it's what the Earth can give, and can take.

Almost overnight, China has become the world's foremost financial power and with money comes the desire to consume, and lots of it.

We, in North America, have had the last Century to adapt our needs and wants to goods being made available through industrialization and increasing technological advances. Think Henry Ford and the Model T and everything that he and it brought to our continent.

consumption on the rise

To this day, we still consume far more than we really need (I'm guilty) but when I read, watch or surf the news, the words China and growing markets have become synonymous with millions, billions, investment, development, buying, selling, building, expansion, increases, and biggest.

China is seemingly bursting at the seams with money and business opportunities, and everybody wants in. Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, Volkswagen, to name a few, are pouring freight trains worth of cash into the country to build cars to meet the ever increasing demands for more. And more. This list obviously does not include all the home-grown manufacturers that cannot build new cars fast enough either.

The Ex-Big Three have pledged millions and billions to build new plants, assembly lines and manufacturing facilities to build more cars in order to supply the country and the world with more. In business terms, it makes boatloads of sense as every manufacturer in this market has massive gains in sales to show for their investments. How long can the good times roll though?

This tsunami of production and consumption cannot be sustainable for ever... What will be left on the other side of this gynormous wave?

Again, EVERYONE has a right to new cars, clothes, furniture, and everything but the pace at which they are consuming is scaring the pants right off of me, and that in itself is a scary thought...

With the growing global energy crisis, pollution, and everything else that comes as by-products to mass consumption, how long will it be before these increasingly worrisome issues become more than simply things to come? In fact, the reality is that I don't think we are ready for reality.

China is revolutionizing the world and the car business but at what cost? Are we (who's we?) supposed to do something about this?
Mathieu St-Pierre
Mathieu St-Pierre
Automotive expert
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