Criticism On “In Toledo, the ‘Glass City,’ New Label: Made in China”
This story is a classic example of how industries and technologies interrelate in complex ways. When you lose most of your auto industry to foreign competition, other industries decline as well: glass and steel, for example. Will aluminum and rubber be next? High-power solid-state electronics almost certainly will.
The US has one or two years to take the lead in electric cars and related infrastructure, or at least to hold its own in domestic markets. If it fails, the resulting loss of technological infrastructure will likely be irreversible.
Folks who want to preserve the status quo and keep relying on oil are not just undermining our energy security. They are consigning our national industrial and technological infrastructure to permanent also-ran status.
As for glass, electric cars need it, too. But their needs are for light weight and aerodynamic shape. If we don’t make electric cars, we’ll be buying the glass (or perhaps transparent plastic) in them from Asia, too. In a world of explosive global progress and innovation, standing still in one industry, especially one as important as cars or energy, is the kiss of death.
