SO SAD – AT 6:37 P.M. ET:  It was sad enough for Volvo, once the industrial symbol of Sweden, when it was sold, but at least it was sold to Ford.  Now, another sale...

HONG KONG — Ford Motor reached an agreement on Sunday to sell its Volvo subsidiary to a Chinese conglomerate, in the clearest confirmation yet of China’s global ambitions in the auto industry.

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, based in Hangzhou, agreed to pay $1.8 billion for Volvo, with $1.6 billion in cash and the rest in a note payable to Ford.

The sale of one of Europe’s most storied brands shows how China has emerged not just as the world’s largest auto market in the past year, but also as a country determined to capture market share around the globe.

COMMENT:  How pathetic.  First, it demonstrates the joke that Sweden, which Western leftists like to look to as the ideal society, has become.  Today Sweden is a rapidly declining nation, some of its cities overrun by Muslim immigrants who have no intention of becoming Swedish.  It has lost its industrial symbol, Volvo, and replaced it with more socialism.

I have no idea why Ford couldn't make Volvo work.  Maybe the Chinese, with lower labor costs, will have more success. 

And in America, GM is now controlled by the government. 

China is rising, and its military is growing markedly stronger each year.  It has bought a huge chunk of our national debt.  It is, however, a massive nation beset by problems, including substantial unrest and dissent. 

The competition between China and the United States will probably become the major international economic story in the next half century.  We can win this, if the government gets out of the way and lets American entrepreneurship loose.

March 28, 2010