A time when the global economy is cranking out goods, and products are coming in from overseas might not be the best time to cut staff on the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

But that’s what has been happening. Consumer Protect Safety Commission staff members have been cut by 10 percent.
Meanwhile, according to The New York Times, China accounts for up about 60 percent of all consumer product recalls — including toys covered with lead paint.

A recent story in The Times discussed the most recent recall of Thomas and Friends train toys from Chinese factories. They were coated in lead paint.

Another toy, a fake eyeball, was discovered to be filled with kerosene. Still another toy, an infant rattle, was deemed a choking hazard.

Chinese goods made up every one of the 24 toys that were subject to recall this year.

The question is: What are we missing? Consumer advocates contend that the Consumer Product Safety Commission is nowhere near as vigilant as it needs to be.

The times quoted Janel Mayo Duncan of Consumers Union, which publishes the magazine “Consumer Reports.”

She said of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, “They need more money and resources to do more checks.”

While there have been many issues with China recently, including contaminated food, the issue is broader than China. While that nation has rapidly been developing its manufacturing ability, there are other developing nations out there that could follow in China’s footsteps with similar quality-control issues as they develop their manufacturing systems.

If the United States is going to live in a global economy that its trade policies have encouraged, then we must have the ability to monitor and detect shoddy or dangerous goods in a much more effective way than we are now.

That means paying attention to the ability of the government to protect consumers — even if that means reversing some of the staff cuts made during the past few years, or even adding staff and capabilities.

The United States helped to make this new global economy. Now let’s be able to defend ourselves from some of its ill effects.

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