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| Tell me, what is your opinion on "Globalization" ?
Posted: 5/16/2008 12:20:45 AM | Globalization, like many great geopolitical ideologies before it, is now officially dead. Despite the near-religious conviction with which it was originally conceived, a growing vagueness now surrounds its original promise that nation states were heading toward irrelevance, to be replaced by the power of global markets; that economics, not politics or arms, would determine the course of human events; that growth in international trade would foster prosperous markets that would, in turn, abolish poverty and change dictatorships into democracies.
Yet, contends Saul, little has transpired as predicted. The collapse of Globalism has left us struggling in a paradox — a chaotic vacuum. Instead of surrendering or sharing sovereignty, governments and citizens are reasserting their national interests. The United States appears determined to ignore its international critics. Europe is faced with problems of immigration, racism, terrorism and renewed internal nationalism. Many of these issues call for uniquely European solutions born out of local experiences and needs. Elsewhere, the world looks for answers to African debt, the AIDS epidemic, the return of fundamentalism and terrorism, all of which perversely refuse to disappear despite the theoretical rise in global prosperity.
In addition to the negative aspects of Globalism, Saul also objectively analyzes its successes, such as the astonishing growth in world trade and the unexpected rise of India and China, which seem slated to become twenty-first-century superpowers.
Insightful and prophetic, The Collapse of Globalism is destined to take its place as one of the seminal books of our time. | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/16/2008 4:32:22 AM | I've never understood what the big deal was about globalization to begin with.
For one thing, it's not 'new' by an stretch of the imagination. If it wasn't trade and commerce it was imperial conquest and colonization going back to before we bothered writing this stuff down.
Secondly, it's hardly dead. More to the point, why would it be ? Apart from the fact that Mother Jones is as relevent to a discussion of globalization as fish are to driving, there's no good reason to believe that anything has actually changed in terms of how the global marketplace operates. It's the same since Adam Smith opened the floodgates to private investment wherever those with money cared to direct it. For that matter, he just helped expand the franchise more than anything else.
If this magazine wants to sound the bell announcing the death of globalization, they'd better be prepared to come up with a particularly narrow definition of it because globalization is neither dead nor even suffering a mild cough. | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/16/2008 4:48:10 AM | Globalization was just a catch phrase for extending "most favored nation" trading status with more partners, like China, that didn't meet the previously stringent requirements, or that had been on our "bad boy" list.
Kodak had cameras and parts imported from England and Germany since before WW1.
The "spice trade" has been going on with the "Far East" for centuries.
The first automobiles imported into the US were French- around 1900.
In recent years it has meant wholesale export of manufacturing jobs offshore, so manufacturing companies can circumvent labor laws (including wage and tax requirements), labor contracts (unions), environmental regulations, and liability suits. That trend has accelerated and shows NO indication of slowing down, as now even customer service jobs have been sent to India.
What I find most disturbing is the lack of ethical backbone that "globalized" corporations demonstrate in allowing child slave labor, flagrant acts of pollution, and poor quality control in the manufacture of products to be exported to the North American and European markets. | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/16/2008 4:57:03 AM | Globalization, by itself, isn't a bad thing.
Look at something like the American sugar producers, a rather small group of individuals, and the hammerlock they have on the price of sugar in the USA. That means the price of sugar in the USA is much more expensive than the world price.
As Canada learned, working under NAFTA, it can be a good force in making business far more competitive. It also opens markets up, and creates a far more competitive market.
So far, so good.
Globalization's problem, in it's current incarnation, is that it opens an unequal playing field up that pits workers from different countries into direct competition with one another. If we look at two counties like Canada and the USA, those workers have roughly equal costs of living - and hence salary needs.
Do the same with Mexico or China, and there's no way either worker can compete with THOSE workers.
Unless some way is found to balance out this inequality, it means North American workers will wind up accepting Third World wages - or be simply seen by corporations as too expensive.
Corporations have no loyalties, except to profit. CEO's can make fortunes putting people in their own countries out of work - as they have. | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/16/2008 5:09:44 AM | Historically, globalization, that is to say--the homogeneity of cultures-- has been in motion since Yeshua told His disciples to "go into all the world" and Christianize all nations; or we could time it back to Marco Polo or Cristoforo Colombo, or any intrepid warrior-adventurer who set out for God, Gold, Glory or whatever other motive.
The names have changed, the pace has quickened, but the players are fundamentally the same kind of folk who have always sought to bring "uniquely European solutions" to a world they perceive as badly in need of fixing.
Problem is that unique , distinct and independent cultures and societies don't necessarily see themselves as awash in the misery of their ignorance and badly in need of "uniquely European" fixes--and why should they be?
The world has been awash in uniquely difficult messes brought about by uniquely European & American solutions: everything from slavery to the destruction of entire indigenous civilizations and ways of life; to Coca Cola stands and burger joints in every corner of the world.
Until we have something better to offer than what we have been trying to pass off as our new, improved "unique European solutions" to the rest of the world we are going to wind up with the usual messes. | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/16/2008 7:44:20 AM | | Globalization has been replaced by "the flattening of the world". If you have not read this book I highly recommend doing so as it gives an amazing oversight of how economics are changing the face of the world and in doing so it is equalizing countries on a global scale. | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/16/2008 8:14:24 AM | unequal playing field
The field is unequal for a numbers of reasons, the most important of which are, in my view, political and economic. For example, the United States cheats Canada on softwood lumber because the political influence exerted by the lumber lobby outweighs the negative economic and political consequences. It's also fair to say that some governments are very determined and skilled when it comes to gaining export markets. Japan and South Korea strike me as good examples of this. Canada, at least under the Liberals, hasn't really paid much attention to trade.
unequal ... costs of living
North American "cost of living" includes a lot of things: consumerism, conspicuous consumption, extravagant and wasteful use of energy and enormous expenditures on clothes, cars, leisure activities and entertainment. Third World workers are cheaper partly because they don't come with a McMansion, a Hummer and a plasma TV.
there's no way either worker can compete with THOSE workers
Workers in Canada and the United States should be embarking in a massive effort to improve literacy and numeracy, to pursue greater education and better job skills, to start new business and to find better, more efficient ways of doing their jobs. Otherwise, why should anyone pay them more for something that can be obtained more cheaply elsewhere? | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/16/2008 9:21:39 AM |
North American "cost of living" includes a lot of things: consumerism, conspicuous consumption, extravagant and wasteful use of energy and enormous expenditures on clothes, cars, leisure activities and entertainment. Third World workers are cheaper partly because they don't come with a McMansion, a Hummer and a plasma TV. Workers in Canada and the United States should be embarking in a massive effort to improve literacy and numeracy, to pursue greater education and better job skills, to start new business and to find better, more efficient ways of doing their jobs. Otherwise, why should anyone pay them more for something that can be obtained more cheaply elsewhere?
Excellent points. For some insane reason, whenever the budget needs to be trimmed, our short-sighted politicians prefer to trim investments in our future- such as education and health care, as well and upgrades, or even routine maintenance, in infrastructure .
Always invest in things that will appreciate, or pay dividends. Education and health care pay off with an educated, skilled, healthy workforce. Infrastructure provides a solid framework for commerce. | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/16/2008 3:14:15 PM | Unfortunately the "excellent points" do nothing to remedy the situation you alluded to previously, and I quote:
What I find most disturbing is the lack of ethical backbone that "globalized" corporations demonstrate in allowing child slave labor, flagrant acts of pollution, and poor quality control in the manufacture of products to be exported to the North American and European markets.
So the workers of this country couldn't compete even on starvation wages. | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/16/2008 7:48:54 PM |
Unfortunately the "excellent points" do nothing to remedy the situation you alluded to previously, and I quote: What I find most disturbing is the lack of ethical backbone that "globalized" corporations demonstrate in allowing child slave labor, flagrant acts of pollution, and poor quality control in the manufacture of products to be exported to the North American and European markets. So the workers of this country couldn't compete even on starvation wages.
Clearly, some of our trade policies need to be reviewed and renegotiated to ensure workers who make product for sale in the US are treated decently and work in safe environments, that environmental standards at least equal to those in the US are applied to offshore manufacturing facilities making product for sale in the US, and that they meet acceptable standards for quality.
This should be even more stringent as applied to health care products and medicines.
This will, of course, raise the prices of products imported into the US, which might not be such a bad thing.
The trick is to see how this is an opportunity. | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/17/2008 5:09:24 AM | | After 40 years doing R&D work for the chemical industry I have some insight concerning pollution of our earth... aw hell anybody with eyes and a brain should have that, but I know a little more about what goes on and is covered up and the hush money paid. That's not a problem for the manufacturers "over there".... yet. Pollution is one of the biggest reasons for sending our dirty manufacturing industries to them anyway. | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/17/2008 6:21:10 AM | It's not dead. To bad for us. Look at the effect Globalization is having on us (the United states) now. Our leaders have bought into this global community stuff. We have become dependent on oil from other countrys, and dangerous, cheaper products from china. Many of our jobs are going out of the country where the people who are doing them will work for less,and where the standard of living is lower. Our borders are so porous invaders just walk in. (yes I did call them invaders) And our dollar falling in value like a rock. Once strong industrys are failing at an alarming rate. And our leader are trying to fix all the damage we did in another country when our nations finest stepped in and kicked there buts. Get real, we have problems here. We can not police the world. And we are obligated to fix their problems ether. If we do not somehow get control of the rampant Globalization in sanity, we are going to find ourself under global control,and living in a world wide police state.  | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/17/2008 6:57:03 AM |
I think it's great for the 10 percent elitist freaks who run the world, bullshit tyranny for the rest of us !
Actually, that’s more like 0.5% and “bullshit tyranny” for the 99.5% of the rest of us.
China and India have billions of consumers that cannot afford a pot to pee in. Globalization is essentially moving manufacturing from the developed world to these 3rd world countries because manufacturing creates wealth. Service industries do not create wealth. Even though this movement will substantially make countries like the USA much poorer, the loss of say 300 million consumers will not be missed in light of the gain of 5 billion new consumers. This is in the best interest of today’s international mega corporations, the same ones that can afford to lobby Congress for these benefits. Placing more and more governmental regulations on businesses here is the major driving force in accelerating the move of “our” manufacturing to become “their” manufacturing. If you are part of that wonderful 0.5% of the elitists, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.
If your plan entails giving all Americans a college education, think again. An economy cannot exist with more than about 10% of its population with advanced degrees or it just results in McD workers and garbage collectors having college degrees. | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/17/2008 7:36:01 AM | "Globalization" is for the naive, the word that is. There is no "globalization", there is
de-democratization globally. For instance, Canada-US-Mexico's citizens never voted
for the "Peace and Prosperity Agreement" which moves these 3 countries under 1 set of laws and rules, etc. and more importantly that citizens did not have a voice in.
What we see is a non-elected body making laws for citizens of these 3 countries.
In Europe, there was votes by citizens in the formation of the European Union but in
the aforementioned citizens are not being told of the ramifications of the unification of laws under a foreign body or power. NAmerica is being unified without it's citizens
being informed via the mass media except Lou Dobbs CNN. The heads of the Counsel of Canadians and the Canadian Action Party and the NDP told me that they are not able to get the mass media to print about the North American Union. So these are on
the net. The gov'ts rely on the investment markets to place their debt paper and those that control the investment firms that sell gov't debt paper into the markets want
a Union of the Americas, a Union of Asian Countries, and they have a European Union
already. Each will have their own regional gov't as the EUnion does already and then there will be a governing body over these 3 governing bodies.....and you will not be able to elect any official in all of these 4 higherachial governing bodies. They globalized corporations do and will have more control over these 4 governing bodies. Just to give you a flavour of the laws that can get passed without your knowledge by these 4 governing bodies, "Natives shall not be entitled to any of the proceeds of gambing on the reserves." This means that at some future date that the
governing body can revoke current share revenue or profit agreements between domestic governments and aboriginal governing bodies, this was in NAFTA according to a promonent benefits consultant in an article in Benefits Canada magazine. According to the Reverend for the Toronto Police, the UN passed a law that the agent of consent to have sex is 9 years of age.....the UN in some future revamped form will be the governing body over the 3 other governing body. In a conversation with a Canadian that lived in SAfrica and was one of the military's top defence stratigests,
he stated that same law. When the full 4 new global governing bodies are in full power
then we will see the completion of what we see in a minor form currently, the commoditization of all including human life. Owning of human life and that means enslavement. Anyone will be able to buy or sell human's legally, that is what prostitution is.....it's a person selling their self except now it will be a global market.
The same will occur on all skills and the market price will fluctuate according to demand just as you see with the gas station price signs that rotate in a flash with market price. All commerce will be done with "debt card" so that controllers of the
4 new governing bodies get a % of all commerce done globally. UK police announced in "The Guardian" a reputable newspaper that UK police will be micro chipped. The Toronto Star had an article "Medical Science wants to micro-chip you" about the new US gov't approved micro-chip for human implantation. The Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church told the Prime minister of Greece that there will be no European Union single identity number for Greek Citizens and the PM offered to have a Greece
Single identity card number and the Partiarch said no there will be NO SINGLE IDENTITY NUMBER FOR GREEK CITIZENS because it begins with three numbers
that are related to enslavement. In Toronto, I was at the Silver Dollar Tavern to hear
an singer and I joked with the door man that wanted to rubber stamp my wrist that at
least it is better than in Europe where you have to be chipped to enter a VIP club.
He went into a rage, "I got chipped in Europe to get in a VIP club and it bloody well hurt like mad!" Globalization is known in the highest circles as the ultimate control by an ultimate economic governing body that has nothing to do with democracy.
Be aware and be wary of words, ie: globalization. Meaning of words is being changed and to their opposite. Keep in mind that we do not control the defining of words and that a governing body decides this and then it is put out via the mass mediums. That body is advised by social scientists that understand the impact of words on the mind of the listener so they design manipulative wording to motivate humans towards the governing bodies objectives. When words with like sounding pronunciations are spoken orally then the listener is unable to immediately know which of the like words the speaker is referring to but those in the know do. ie: Freedom becomes Freedum.
Globalization will turn out to be "Freedum" for the 6billion human masses. Look at TV
and media content and if your intelligence is still switched on and you are a questioning person then your mind will ask, "Who would want to see this junk?
Its junk for the mind." (Look at MTV and critical question it's content)
The younger generations are being dumbed down except where the controllers want the young to head towards, which is "disconnected from humanity", look at the young on the subways with their Ipods and they are not present with others on the same train.
The sound levels are such that it can carry through most of the subway car and what the outsider hears is a constant repeated rift or sound. If you were listening to a vinyl analog record and it repeated the same rift over and over again then you would get upset and jump up and move the arm over because the record has a scratch and it is skipping back to the same rift but Ipod listeners will listen to repetition incessantly.
Repeatition in this way is hypnotic and "drums in" the same sounds over and over
into and imbeds that sound in the ipod listeners brain area for "numbers" as digital music is numerical and contains only two numbers "0" and "1", repeated over and over again in different order to make up the variations in sounds and computer processes.
Those that spend significant portions of their lives around electro-magnetic computing devices are deeply affected by the absorption of.....well do some of your own research and find out about all of the aforementioned so you can decide for your
self what "globalization" is and where it is taking humans of which you still may be one
of the decreasing numbers of full functioning critical thinking humans. AdvisorX | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/18/2008 6:02:53 AM | .5 % can not run any thing unless we let them, we have no one to blame for any thing but the person that we see in the mirror, it's time , past time to exercise our rights as citizens of free nations.
We elect those who represent us, they are no different then we are if they are not doing the job are not doing what is in the best interest of our countries then they should be fired and replaced with those who are willing to represent us
Our country and our allies are in trouble globalization will help no one, I find it unbelieveable that any one could ever have believed that globalization would benefit any one but those who already had money. The world will not be a better place when the economies of the free world collapse
We now have a tool at our disposal, it's more powerful then money, we have a way to communicate and exchange ideas, we have the internet, we can force change, all we need now is to organize and put forth a united front. IT'S TIME TO TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRIES TO ENSURE THAT OUR CHILDREN AND FUTURE GENERATIONS HAVE THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT WE HAD, IT'S OUR OBLIGATION AS CITIZENS TO PROTECT AND PASS ON THE FREEDOMS THAT OUR ANCESTORS FOUGHT AND DIED FOR | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/18/2008 6:42:10 AM | | Globalization means humanity has eveloved to the point where it is finaly stupid enough to put on a silver platter and hand over that which every tyrannt throughout history has dreamed of and that is to rule the world....the will to resist long since replaced by materialism,sloth,indifference and peace ans slavery at all cost. | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/18/2008 6:59:48 AM |
We elect those who represent us
Yes, we do have the right to vote but what happens when there is no one out there running that represents our personal position? The current USA Presidential race is a perfect example. No matter who wins, my views will not be represented. The news media I feel is very bias and they cover stories or do not cover stories to convey a point of view that I do not share. Since most people decide things based on the news they hear, the news media has a very strong control over the voting outcome. Add to that all of the rich and powerful forces that can afford to lobby congress and get their way which is virtually always in the lobbyists interest and not at all in the interest of the people.
I find that the more the government introduces "safety nets" the more freedom I personally forfeit and the more expensive living a modest lifestyle becomes. The government is more in peoples faces now then it ever has been before and we have no say in what goes on even though we are allowed to vote. Typically in the private sector I have the option to spend my money as a way of voting for what I want or do not want. I do not have the option with government because they tap directly into my paycheck whether I like it or not. | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/18/2008 7:27:45 AM | globalization's....is..an unequal playing field that pits workers from different countries into direct competition with one another. If we look at two counties like Canada and the USA, those workers have roughly equal costs of living - and hence salary needs.
Do the same with Mexico or China, and there's no way either worker can compete with THOSE workers.
Unless some way is found to balance out this inequality, it means North American workers will wind up accepting Third World wages - or be simply seen by corporations as too expensive.
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This is the biggest issue I agree, I am all for importing bananas from Panama, coffee from Africa, etc...but if we can make or grow something in USA...and another country does it by polluting the air, contaminating the oceans, and treating workers almost like slaves..thats not fair to any worker from either country. | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/18/2008 8:14:01 AM | Advisor,
Your interpretation of the North American Union is almost correct. There is, and has, been a continuous push to "consolidate" the Western world.
This first occured with Europe in the aftermath of WW2 when "nationalism" was blamed as the reason for wars and "internationalism" introduced as the proposed solution.
This was followed by the formation of "international" institutions whose primary aim was to dissolve "national" power -- examples include the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, etc. In contemporary terms, it is the formation of the North American Union (Mexico, Canada, USA), etc.
Advisor your information is not new but you are looking at it from a very negative viewpoint. You also fail to address the emerging world powers of Brazil, India, China and Russia (The BRIC Thesis)
Your "World Government" mentality is impossible and will never come to pass. The closest the West came to achieving this was in the aftermath of WW2 with the Baruch Plan for World Government -- Stalin rejected America's offer and launched the Cold War which obviously still continues to this day with Putin.
It's quite ambitious to believe that the world is heading towards such Unions -- but will they materialize? Most likely no. Yes this occured in Europe, but to say it will occur in North America and Asia and the rest of the world fails to take into consideration the fact that nationalism still rules most of the world -- not internationalism. | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/18/2008 10:41:35 AM | Chances are there will never be any one running who matches all of any ones positions so you vote for which ever candidate that you share the most with or you can vote for the one candidate who's views are perfectly in line with yours, you can see his/her face in the mirror
When you talk about the government remember you are the government, your vote will count when you use it, your opinion will count when you express it | |
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| Tell me, what is your opinion on Globalization ?
Posted: 5/18/2008 11:57:22 AM | equalizing countries on a global scale.
This is the result of globalization in a nutshell.
The richer countries (like us) become poorer, while the poorer countries (like China) become richer.
NAFTA is one of the bigger steps in the globalization process. Some of our politicians (even my least favorite Bush) are now realizing the effects of this "equalization" on our standard of living.
Globalization, like many great geopolitical ideologies before it, is now officially dead.
I disagree. Rather than being dead, it is instead a harsh and living reality for those of us richer countries who are on the downslide. | |
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