3 ms·
Globalization in the manner it has happened has lately struck me as akin to drinking from a firehose. While it's led to an increased standard of living (in the
by jdpedrie 8y ago
Globalization in the manner it has happened has lately struck me as akin to drinking from a firehose. While it's led to an increased standard of living (in the form of wages in the third world and lowered prices in the first), the speed at which it happened caused displacement far faster than the cultures could adapt.
If your industry disappears over 30 years, it's easy enough to stop hiring new people and draw down as the old retire. If it dies in five years, the dislocation is immense and it becomes nearly impossible to cope. The same problem of rapid change plays itself out in the developing world in different forms; rapid urbanization, pollution, dislocation from traditional ways of life.
If, as the article suggests, globalization has indeed slowed, perhaps the breathing space that slowdown provides will in the long run be a good thing. Deal with the problems we've created before doubling down on the instigating issue.
- rossdavidh 8y agoI have often thought that globalization has often been a means of sending 1st World volumes of manufacturing into places with 3rd World environmental, health, and safety laws. It took us time to build up our EHS standards to their current level, and our volume of manufacturing took time to build up also. If all demand were satisfied in countries with equivalent levels of EHS to the target market, the amount of pollution, etc. would plummet quite a bit just from that alone.