Globalization

Globalization is a very broad, encompassing term, sometimes driven by historical and technological factors. For all intents and purposes, I'll be focusing on the neo-liberal version espoused by many Western governments, which has been a primary precipitant in the ongoing financial breakdown crisis. Effectively, this form of globalization is just another variant of plunder, pillage and mass impoverishment, with the projection of military power being the means that it is carried out, and large scale capital accumulation by a small oligarchy being the primary outcome. They use political destabilization, separatist movements (divide and conquer), and economic coercion to force their interests on other nations in the "periphery". To them, periods of civil unrest is when the greatest profits can be made, as those are the points when assets can be effectively stolen from nations. Our foreign policy is defined by the need to secure markets and raw materials at a steep discount. The ... Read more

For working Americans, the results of globalization have meant an influx of shoddy goods from China, the outsourcing of a huge percentage of decent jobs, and a steady reduction of real wages since the Reagan 'revolution' started us on the current downward spiral. For more specific information on how we got into this mess, I suggest reading: THE WRECKING CREW by Thomas Frank. http://us.macmillan.com/thewreckingcrew UPDATE: Now it looks like Obama joined the crew.

Well, when you don't care who you bang, everyone associated gets to figure out what that burning sensation is, I suppose...