Korean Job Discussion Forums

[michaelambling]

I think this quote might eloquently sums up what's happening in the world. (Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7924876.stm)

Since I haven't lived in my home country for almost 8 years, I have welcomed globalization and sung its praises as an opportunity for consumers globally to have a better variety of products and for workers to have greater mobility not just in their country, but the world. I've sniggered at those who say "globalization is killing indigenous cultures"--if I were a poor African farmer, I'd be much more interested in having enough food to eat and knowing enough English to trade at the markets, rather than have my culture preserved. In my experience, people who say this are middle class or wealthy westerners.

I digress.

I am uncertain which of two interpretations to make of the current situation:

1. Globalization has a dark side that I never saw before--the world's economy is now so interlinked that if one big country fails, they all do. If countries insulated themselves by emphasizing domestic trade and building up a local surplus of goods and wealth, they can protect themselves for when another country goes under.

2. Globalization has nothing to do with this--after all, when the Great Depression hit, it hit the entire world, not just America. The '89 recession was global as well, before globalization was entrenched. Globalization might even save the current crisis, by encouraging international cooperation on a long-term solution and international banking laws that preserve/spread wealth and stop terrible things like tax havens and money laundering.

I think I'm leaning towards the second. What do you think?

[Kuros]

Of course globalization has a dark side.

All technology has its dark side, and globalization is a direct function of the technologies that allow us to communicate, travel, and trade across continents like never before.

You know whats coming . . .

To oppose globalization itself is like being a luddite. Technology changes the way we interface and interact, and its true it presents new problems, challenges, and makes us more interdependent. However, in the end, its just a medium, and its best to embrace what you can of it and adapt, being cognizant of its dangers and its limits.

And lastly, its easy for me to say all this, because as someone who has traveled and experienced some of the world (although many of you are more advanced than me in this respect), globalization plays to my advantage.

[mises]

Globalization means many different things.. Cultural, economic, financial, trade etc. Clearly the system as it was was unstable, but this doesn't mean we pack up our chips and go home. The proper response is to isolate what went wrong, and correct it.

What we had was one form of an interconnected economy. The exporting states sold to Western consumers (through China, or directly China and other East Asian states). Western consumers paid for it with debt, often from the vendors. This is quite silly, in retrospect. But a more balanced system can be achieved, I hope.

[Ya-ta Boy]

China and Korea demonstrated that the extreme form of protectionism didn't pay off in the long run when they pulled back behind their borders and adopted a smug superior attitude and limited interaction with the outside world. Just because you stop changing doesn't mean the rest of the world will. It's better to pool efforts, figure out what went wrong and attempt to rectify the mistakes.