| Economic globalization has stealthily crept up on us | | | | dollars owed to it, both countries would be forced to |
| over the last fifty or sixty years. The economy | | | | default. |
| downturn has exploded suddenly by comparison in | | | | What would happen next? Either the collapse of |
| the last eighteen months (as at March 2009). This | | | | trade or a massive devaluation of the pound and the |
| article will show you how the two are inextricably | | | | dollar to render them worth only a fraction of their |
| connected. | | | | previous value. And each of these outcomes would |
| Economic globalization and the economy downturn | | | | be disastrous to China, whose economy depends on |
| are almost like two sides of the same coin. But most | | | | the present charade continuing ad infinitum. |
| people are unable to see it that way. How many | | | | Already the recession has impacted this arrangement. |
| people can actually say they've been aware of a | | | | Spiraling unemployment in the west has led to a |
| phenomenon that can be described as "globalization"? | | | | collapse in demand for consumer goods, and this in |
| It exists in the public perception as only a hazy idea, | | | | turn has led to a sharp rise in unemployment in the |
| even a good one, for is it not the reason why we | | | | far east including China. |
| can buy all those must-have gadgets in their | | | | Economic globalization, long held dear by |
| eye-catching packaging for such low prices? | | | | establishment economists and ignorant politicians, is |
| Here in the UK, and I know in most other western | | | | proving to be a disaster for every country. It's the |
| counties as well, we have in our shops and | | | | modern-day equivalent of "free trade", which caused |
| showrooms cars, TVs, electronic gadgets and | | | | so much suffering to the working classes of western |
| household goods at prices well below what they | | | | countries throughout the nineteenth and twentieth |
| once commanded, and this has been the case for | | | | centuries. It embraces the "free movement of |
| many years now. It's nothing to do with the reduced | | | | labour" and the "free movement of capital" that are |
| prices ushered in with the credit crunch as retailers | | | | policies enshrined in the treaties of international |
| try desperately to boost flagging sales. | | | | bodies such as the corrupt, so-called "EuropeanUnion". |
| No, these manufactured goods are cheap because | | | | What these fine-sounding slogans really mean is that |
| the labour force that works long hours in far eastern | | | | huge, international manufacturing corporations |
| factories is prepared to accept wages that we in the | | | | responsible for producing everything from cars and |
| west could never live on. They're happy to accept | | | | computers to essential medical and technical |
| the equivalent of $50 or so a week, often less, and | | | | equipment, and everything in between, are free to |
| the Chinese government is happy to have a healthy | | | | slash their labour costs by moving production to the |
| trade surplus and comparatively full employment. | | | | far east ("free movement of capital") and if the |
| But the fact of the matter is that these cheap | | | | poor, wretched working people of the west find |
| consumer goods come with a fatal side-effect. | | | | they are subsequently out of work, why, they can |
| Anyone with a couple of brain cells to rub together | | | | move around the globe until they find a job ("free |
| knows that we really should be making these | | | | movement of labour"), provided they will accept the |
| products ourselves. After all, we in the west for the | | | | lowest wages being paid anywhere. |
| most part produced the technology and the genius | | | | The collapse in manufacturing capacity that this |
| that led to the invention and development of these | | | | process has brought about in western countries may |
| electronic marvels in the first place. So why is it that | | | | have benefited the Superclass of David Rothkopf's |
| we have to import them from the far east? | | | | book, who undoubtedly own and control most of the |
| Another thing is this. How long can we go on doing | | | | world's wealth, including its productive capacity. But it |
| so before we as a nation run out of money to pay | | | | has been disastrous for individual nations, including the |
| for them? | | | | ordinary working folk. The cost is not just financial, |
| Certainly in the case of the United Kingdom and the | | | | but social as well, as unemployed youngsters with no |
| United States, we ran out of money long ago. Both | | | | future turn to drugs and crime, encouraged to do this |
| are effectively bankrupt states, unable to repay their | | | | as they are by insanely liberal criminal laws. |
| foreign loans if repayment were demanded. This is | | | | Next time you hear some university professor or |
| unlikely, perhaps, because if China, for example, being | | | | politician praising globalization / free trade or warning |
| the leading creditor country of both the UK and the | | | | us against "protectionism" you may want to challenge |
| USA, demanded repayment of all the pounds and | | | | them along the lines set out in this article. |