Friday, February 4, 2011

Globalization Part 4: Reining in globalization

Globalization is capitalism fully unleashed. A fully globalized company recognizes no national boundaries and does not owe any allegiance to any country but to the board of directors. Even shareholders are excluded; they have no real say in the running of the company. If capitalism is the nationality of the company, then the board of directors is the parliament, and the shareholders are the citizens. The currency is pure greed.

Many Western countries have been usurped by capitalism. Decisions are made not to protect the social welfare of the populace, but to keep the mega corporations happy and profitable. A company that is loyal to its own country should want to keep the jobs for its own people, so that the money will circulate within their own economy. But this is not what is happening. In the name of globalization the people in the Western countries have been sold out such that they no longer enjoy the same job and income security as their parents and grandparents did.

It is time to rein in globalized capitalism while the government still has the means to do so. It has to undo some of the damages committed by the globalization madness. It is time to protect local industries and local jobs, rather than indulging in cheap imports while shedding local jobs. The government cannot sit idle while year after year the industrial output shrinks. Service industry is not the answer to lost factory jobs; eventually the service industry will also shrink when the factory job market shrinks. Left unchecked, Australia's economy (and also those of other Western countries) will become completely dependent on mining and agriculture. The economy and the quality of life will go south... or East, to be precise.

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