Could the Economic bust in the US be a good thing in the long run?

Here's the scenario: the US has been flush with cheap goods ever since industrialists discovered they could make and transport goods cheaper from halfway around the world than they could by making them where they will be consumed, paying the local workers a decent wage. That decent wage also creates more consumers for their goods.

The Chinese are now finding that their goods can't be sold at any price, because consumers just aren't buying anything, and manufacturers are closing shop and moving out of china.

The future could be (and this is a big "if," assuming logic exists in board rooms), that Western labor unions will either die the horribly wretched death they deserve, or that they will agree to reasonable terms. This will make the Western manufacturers look again at making goods where they are sold, eliminating transport costs, and again, creating the consumers they desperately need.

Nah, it'll never happen, because it makes sense.

Bloom Off The Rose For Chinese Car Industry | The Truth About Cars: "The good new times are over in China. According to reports published by J.D. Power, the increase in auto sales has slowed down to 6.7 percent this year, as opposed to 22 percent in 2007 and 26 percent in 2006. An analyst at the usually well-informed Nomura bank in Japan sees China’s auto sales growth slowing to 3.8 percent next year, and 6.4 percent in 2010."