Globalization: The Good...The Bad...and The Ugly

Globalization is a key word politicians and economists started throwing around at the end of the last century. Every one who knew what it meant wanted it to happen. If you had listened to those people back then, you would think it is the end of world hunger, but it is not by any stretch of the imagination.

All globalization does, is open new markets to domestic companies anywhere in the world. Basically, I make new shoes in Taiwan, package them in Malaysia, ship them to the U.S. and sell them at a local store in Nashville very easily thanks to Globalization. The only real difference Globalization offers is size, it is a copy of a major economy, only on a much bigger scale.

The good things about Globalization is that it improved lifestyles all over the world. People who live in countries that embraced Globalization have moved up the food chain. Globalization also improved the economic and social status of women not to mention almost dissolve child labor. Globalization made it so simple that a guy in New York can move 1 Billion dollars to Hong Kong with a push of a button.

The bad aspect of Globalization is leaving smaller markets behind. Those economies that were behind 50 years ago are much more behind respectively because of Globalization. This also leaves small economies that have embraced Globalization dependent on it. Imagine the difficulty in having a country's economy fluctuating with World changes, too unstable.

The ugly part of Globalization is having countries with big economies like the United States dictate the global market. When the U.S. economy rises it rises and when the U.S. economy declines, it declines. During the last year, the United States economy was crumbling due to many U.S. specific reasons (housing market bubble, lack of products made in U.S., lack of regulations in the last decade, etc) which left the World's economy crumbling as well.

German and Spanish scientist have compiled data to show the downward spiral the European economy is taking, not to mention other economies are suffering, like North Africa and Southeast Asia. Ironically, economies that have not invested much in Globalization and thought to be left behind because of it like African, South American and Arabian Gulf countries, have thrived this past year, because the failure of the Global economic system has not affected them at all.