Surreal Smog

Recently I was given an article that told in great detail how China has been reacting to its massive smog/polluted air problem over the past few years. Quite frankly, I feel that the government’s actions to control the problem haven’t been enough even with the article’s talk of the new regulations that factories and coal plants in the country will face. My lack of faith in this motion is due to several key factors. The first factor is the fact that the businesses being regulated by the new sanctions are in practically complete control over politics and government legislation passage in the country. Unlike the U.S., China has only just recently been industrialized (compared with the rest of the world) and seem to have reached the major point in their country’s life over whether or not government should have power over companies in the country (effectively being the same question America faced and decided on during the first Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson era of presidents). However, unlike the American experience, it seems that the Chinese government has already given the businesses too much power and can’t do anything to retract that power ,at least for a long time. This will undoubtedly stall any and all things relating to governmental regulation of industrial jobs and businesses, which will only lead to the current problem of smog in China to get even worse. The second factor is the fact that this issue has been going on for way longer than it should have already, so much so that it’s becoming a new norm and has been capitalized on by other commercial businesses, such as those who sell facemasks. This will even further stall legislation since fixing the problem will eliminate what is now being seen as normal in China and, while it may receive praise from the people, will give the industrialists an even better reason to stall on bills: the possibility of recession without intense government action taking place (an amount of action it seems the Chinese government is not willing to use). These are just a few of the reasons why I think the change the people of China are looking for will not come for a while now, even with governmental and industrial compromise.