This is Chengdu, China. It is what America will look like if Republican deregulation continues unhindered.
A few weeks ago, I was on a tour that was scheduled to visit Tibet but at the last minute, the Chinese Government barred all foreigners from visiting there. Instead, we got to stay in scenic Chengdu.
I bring this up because some talking head on television defending Romneys' involvement at Bain claimed that companies are only outsourcing because too much regulation in the United States prevents their investment here, and if only we would vote for anti-regulation Republican politicians, companies would not be tempted to send jobs overseas.
Chengdu is one of those huge (15 million people), bleak Chinese cities where those proverbial American jobs have gone. When one lands in the airport, the smog, even indoors, is overwhelming. A mask is handy. The city is in the Sichuan (Szechuan) Basin which hold the fumes from the abundant traffic mixed in with the perpetual fog. It evoked some early childhood memories of Los Angeles smog in the mid 1960s.
The city has not entirely recovered from the Sichuan Earthquake of 2008 that killed about 70,000 people. Most notoriously, large numbers of children were killed due to shoddy construction of the schools.
Construction regulations were insufficient and poorly enforced, so school buildings were especially fragile though it is in a seismically active zone. As for the air quality, if there is any restraint on emissions, it is not apparent to anyone breathing cough! the air.
Regulations have a purpose, and even if lobbyists have muddled them, they do keep an even playing field among corporations. They constrain industries from cutting too many corners at the expense of wages and environmental quality. If we cut regulations so as to compete with places like Chengdu, then more American cities will come to resemble Chengdu.