Assuming we don't then global recessions must be a fabricated condition that presumably the majority of the seven billion inhabitants of the world do rather badly out of, while a handful are profiting quite happily. Presumably if everyone was doing badly then we could find a way of cross-cancelling debts to everyone's advantage.
There has been a theory that the UK has put itself in a vulnerable position over recent decades by whittling down its manufacturing and engineering sectors. An economic crisis exposes our reliance on service industries and we look enviously at Germany whose engineers appear to give the country a foundation that lessens the depth of recession and speeds recovery. The debate continues about what we have done and need to do in terms of technology and training to get us back on the road to self-sufficiency.
Incidentally I am not saying we are in a global recession, but there is certainly global caution and more significant consequences were being mooted as the Chinese stock exchange wobbled and collapsed. And it is China that is the interesting point here. It is the world's second largest economy has also become the world's factory. While it has millions involved in manufacturing it is now also ramping up its ranks of qualified engineers, signalling intent at least to add high value engineering to high volume manufacturing.
It doesn't, however, seem to have stopped the Chinese stock market falling off a cliff, so maybe having such an industrial base isn't so critical. More likely the quest for quick profits in the financial sector has overheated once more and this is just one of those periodic adjustments. Sadly such adjustments can cost jobs - proper engineering jobs – whatever the country. But perhaps, without wanting to trample on others misfortune, this lack of economic stability in the Far East could be another reason (and there are already plenty) why engineering design and manufacturing work best together on home soil.
