Your take on globalization

Today, we had the vice-president of a major US corporation as guest speaker at our university here in Europe. What I found rather interesting is how the company considers globalization to be a necessity for further development. He stressed that they engage in continuous innovation and are capable of dealing with major transitions (while moving out of businesses that do not provide much value to both the company and customer anymore).

I wanted to ask him whether he sees globalization as a purely positive tendency, since many people tend to propose the opposite: that globalization is to blame for the current high unemployment rates, especially across the States. Unfortunately there was no time left to ask him so, but I'm curious what people here on ATS think.

Is globalization a good or bad thing and can it be blamed for weaker economic performance, especially in the US or is it perhaps that the US is not as good anymore as it once was at continuous innovation? I have seen Americans saying here on ATS that they want 'made in the US' products, but the thing is - our (Western) economies have transformed from industrial-based to service-based and you can argue that's bad, but in business, only those corporations that understood the necessity of embracing change and progression while sticking to core values and visions, survived changing environmental conditions.

Or is it perhaps the world that is catching up with the US and the West, thus making it more complex to remain innovative and competitive?

reply to post by Mdv2


great video....wonder whats to come

reply to post by Mdv2


i think you nailed it in your last sentence. the age of american dominance is coming to a close as the other major powers realize that they can call some of the shots, too. as more of our "real work" jobs go overseas, we become more and more of the "service economy" you mentioned, putting us in a weaker position than we've ever been. americans are allergic to hard work, yet still want to live like we're top dog.

add to that the natural fact of globalization and America looks like its slipping by the wayside. I think things like the internet and seeing pictures of the earth from space have forever changed our world and our species. now that we are confronted with the fact that we're "all in this together" here on Spaceship Earth, the march toward a one-state is inevitable.

that being said, the corporate powers of the world are working behind the scenes to ensure that that global union benefits them the most. hopefully these mideast revolutions are organic, and not fully infiltrated and organized by TPTB, that way we already have a force opposed to the Corporate Government which has insinuated itself into the global control structure. I can't recall the name of the organization, but there is a movement that meets annually in an attempt to organize a Global People's Republic in response to the NWO Corporate Government.

I think that the human race becoming more unified is a good thing at the end of the day. the road to get there may be hard to travel, though. even the People will be reluctant to let go of nationalism and sovereignty, though an ideal Global People's Republic would benefit the commoners. the problem is getting that unified republic to be "ideal." global power structures open the door for global-scale corruption and oppression. there is no way to ensure that only "good" people are elected or installed in a world government, so there will always be the lurking specter of greed and lust for power. It certainly has its drawbacks and susceptibilities, but either way, the march toward globalization is on and there no stopping it.

If you're interested in the themes of global government and totalitarianism, I'm sure you've read 1984 and Brave New World. You might want to give We by Yevgeny Zamyatin a read. It's a Russian novel and if you can find the Mirra Ginsburg translation, that one's the best. It has a lot in common with 1984 as far as plot goes, but predates it by a couple decades and deals with the idea of Man's primal nature existing in constant conflict with our desire to impose order and structure and justice and equality on the chaotic world we live in!

Capitalism and globalization together are bad.
Love and globalization is good.

Originally posted by User8911
Capitalism and globalization together are bad.
Love and globalization is good.

way to sum up my four paragraph, rambling, ranting response in one succinct sentence!

Originally posted by RicoMarston

Originally posted by User8911
Capitalism and globalization together are bad.
Love and globalization is good.

way to sum up my four paragraph, rambling, ranting response in one succinct sentence!

I didn't even read your post before I posted, sorry if you felt targeted.

reply to post by User8911


what?! no i was complimenting your summarization skills, i didn't feel slighted in the least. we are in fact in total agreement. you put into a mere two sentences what i took considerably word wordage to describe. if a love-based human union arises, we will live in relative peace and paradise. if the capitalists have their way, we are all debt slaves forever!

Originally posted by RicoMarston
reply to post by Mdv2

 

I think that the human race becoming more unified is a good thing at the end of the day. the road to get there may be hard to travel, though. even the People will be reluctant to let go of nationalism and sovereignty, though an ideal Global People's Republic would benefit the commoners. the problem is getting that unified republic to be "ideal." global power structures open the door for global-scale corruption and oppression. there is no way to ensure that only "good" people are elected or installed in a world government, so there will always be the lurking specter of greed and lust for power.

I wholeheartedly agree that the concept of globalization is good and that I believe that it would allow us, mankind, to live as sustainable and as possible (as increased efficiency of resources leads to a higher level of sustainability). However, we cannot let go easily of thinking within boundaries. In other words, we are afraid to live in a world with no borders, a world for everyone. And right now, it probably is impossible anyway. I am of opinion that this world will go through another bloody war, perhaps more, before we come to realize that we should unite as one people, not unite as individual nations.

And that's were the problem starts. Leaders are often power-hungry psychopaths without any sense of integrity and globalization could only work if we would have a leadership that would really act in the interest of the world and its people. Considering that the risk of power abuse is already so enormous with the world divided up in various countries, imagine how dangerous it would be if we would have a regime that would abuse its power position. The world would end up in chaos.

my take on globalization?

commie pinko liberal socialist utopia much like star trek was and yet in that vision of future there was still murder chaos, and greed and war.

a zebra cant change its stripes.

even if globalization and capitalism were to combine you will still have the haves and have nots.

there would still be a centalization of power with those few elites calling all the shots.

imo pretty much the same place we are now nothing will be different.

reply to post by Mdv2


Globalisation merely contributes to rapid resource consumption and reinforces corporate dominance of all industries. In a capitalist system which relies on perpetual growth, the more power companies have to operate without regulation, ultimately the more harm will come to the planet and the depletion of our resources will continue at an increasing pace as profit is put ahead of people and planet.

END:CIV Documentary

This documentary takes an interesting look at the world from the point of view of the people directly affected by globalisation and an increasing corporate monopoly on our land and our resources.

There is nothing wrong with globalization. This creates competition and opens up new markets. Look at what happened when china and japan cut themselves off from the rest of the world. The Western powers who were more open took over.