I agree in spirit with some of the ideals of globalization, but in practice I see some serious problems.
1. Some nations have been irresponsible with factory wastes, and in insuring the safety of their products... even more than we were... and our factories have been fairly irresponsible. While it may be nice to at least not have the factory waste washing over our doorsteps so to speak, global warming, and other negative effects of polution will spread to the whole world.
2. Kind of a silly concern but an annoying one. We seem to have made, China, Vietnam, and other countries full of small oriental people in charge of making clothing. These peope apparently cannot concieve of large German blooded western women. LOL I am so tired of having to buy my coats in the men's department... and shuffle through a thousand dresses to find one with large enough sleaves. I try on 'ladies' coats and they are too tight in the shoulders, I can barely squeeze my arms in the sleaves and sometimes it won't work at all. The things won't go past my forearm. It's like they think that two hundred pound women who take a 2 x, or 18 size all have broomstick arms, narrow shoulders, and are only larger in the belly and butt. That's just not the case. I tried on the biggest coat they had in a couple of stores. I was HUGE in the bottom half, but it was so tight in the shoulders and arms, I could barely move. Some American manufacturers used to do that, but most knew better. These Chinese manufacturers have no idea how to fit American Women. I feel like the hulk trying to put on Chinese clothing. It's all busting at the seams.
3. What is going to happen to all the mill workers? The mills and factories paid unskilled and semi skilled workers incomes in the median range. Now these people are not qualified for anything much over minimum wage. The government advises people to go to college, but in some cases that just isn't practical. Some people lack either the money, the brains, or the ability to go that long without a paycheck to go to school. Plus if EVERYONE goes to school... then there still aren't enough jobs in those high paying fields to go around once they get out.
4. Global Media has WAY too much power. Think about it. The MEDIA selects our political candidates. Say 20 democrats and 20 republicans all announce they are running for president in the primaries. The media picks out which ones of them will get media coverage. Last election they were all over Hillary, Obama, and McCain. A few others, like John Edwards got a sniff of publicity, mostly negative. It has been the same way every election for a long time. Were it not for the internet we couldn't even get a complete list of the candidates, and most people don't even fool with looking it up. Then the media chooses WHAT to tell us about these people. They are the ones who publicize or hide scandals, they are the ones who choose whether to make a big fuss over a candidate making an inappropriate statement... and also deciding what is inappropriate. When something happens anywhere in the world THEY decide whether to tell us or not, and of course time and space do not permit that they tell us everything. They create and report propaganda, and that has always been the job of the press, but now with only a hand full of corporations being in charge of all TV, Movies, Radio, Magazines, Newspapers, and etc... well how are we to know they aren't all selectively weeding the news to serve their own interests? Not only that if they decided to they could play different sides against each other and start wars.
5. So far there aren't enough jobs to go around. Consumerism has slowed down in the states because necessities cost more than people make, and many people are out of work. Without US consumerism, the whole world's economy suffers.
6. Which brings me to the next point... with all our economies tied together, if one suffers we all suffer, and if the US goes down, it will take the whole world with it. This has always been true, but the more interdependence we create, the more it will be that way.
7. It's just been an excuse for the rich to exploit more people even more effectively. It's creating sweat shops all over the world to replace the mills and factories we had in the US. The rich corprate bastards are saving money, and making a killing. Wages are down and prices are up here in the US, but in China, a bunch of 10 year olds are working for a quarter a week... in deplorable conditions. INitially things made in these countries were cheeper, but since AMERICAN companies are claiming credit for producing these products they are just as expensive as ever, even though they are shoddy, poorly constructed, mostly because made by ten year olds who are probably hungry. Also because the materials are unsafe, not sturdy, and contaminated with improper chemicals and bacteria.
There's been babies killed by Melimac in their formula. There been babies killed by their baby bed rails falling on them and choking them. There's antifreeze in our toothpaste for god's sake, and our own FDA is lax enough on food, but they don't even have one.
The answer the Chinese government came up with last week was to haul out some guy they scapegoated for a bunch of that kind of stuff, and shoot him... and while I might consider that for those Bank of America executives myself, well... I guess that isn't very nice, or a mature way to handle things.
8. International trade and travel spreads disease. Where once an epidemic in one part of the world could be contained, now it spreads world wide very very fast. Depending on the disease and possible vectors, it could be transfered not only by people, but by the products themselves, and by any insects, rodents, or even birds who stowed away during transfer. I found a dead bird in a cardboard box with some hardware Bear bought... IDK where it came from but it was badly decomposed and a very gross discovery. Wherever it came from in that one case it could happen again. Also sometimes animals and birds survive shipping, and they get to places that are not their natural habitat, and that always causes problems. IT's always happened too, that's how we got certain species of ants... in plants that were shipped from mexico... and how the English Sparrow found it's way here. It's always happened, but the more we trade goods, the more accidental trading of germs bugs, rodents, fowl, and small mammels... and these kinds of things are what causes world wide epidemics.
9. WE suffer more because we have an inflated economy, where everything costs more... and so does Europe for that matter, but people can come from India, work here in the IT field, for a year and then go home and retire in glorious wealth from what they can save while they are here... if they stayed here it wouldn't last them two months.
Unless Americans decide to retire in India, then it really isn't fair. Personally I don't want to live in India. It's a beautiful place, but they treat their women like crap.
10. Since 2000 the rich have been getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Some Repubs have accused Obama of trying to redistriubte the wealth, but a vast amount of wealth redistributed itself in the pockets of the rich over the last decade... and we HAVE to get some of it back for the 95 percent of us who aren't rich. Cause overall most people are loosing their standard of living, and some have been plunged into poverty...
It's not all globalization, but it is they uncontroled exploitation of a whole new set of workers. Our government needs to tax and regulate this whole situation, and force them back here, while we still have enough buying power to make a difference to them. If not... well the world will come to a grinding hault, and we will be plunged into another dark age.
I see nothing wrong with small import export companies, buying craft type items from other lands, and selling them for those of us who enjoy things like that. I see nothing wrong with SMALL companies doing anything they want to do, but HUGE corporations are profiting too much, and giving too little in return to ANYONE in any country. They buy politicians like American Consumers used to buy stuff at the dollar store. They hire lobbiests, and go in and plunk down the cash and the senators won't dare go against them. I hoped Obama would stop that from happening, but you see with the health care fight, that a lot more politicians are worried about whether the insurance companies can still make outlandish profits than they are about anyone's health.
Health care is just one of the things that has priced itself out of the market for over half the country.
The problem isn't really import and export, or globalization, the PROBLEM is that the corporations have grown too large for anyone to control, and they are taking advantage of everyone, in every country, either by charging them too much for goods, or too little for labor, or both, and soon... well there will be no money for them to get, because the American and European Consumers will not have anything left to give them. The 10 year old kids paying their quarters, for goods, are not going to support these corporations, and everything will fail. We used to have anti-trust laws to protect us from huge businesses swallowing each other up, and getting bigger and bigger, but apparently that isn't working any more.
In short Globalization has become a vehicle of big business to exploit the poor all over the world in a more efficient way. I think it could be handled differently to our benefit, but first the ugly giants must be toppled.