Summary Notes
Name: Ilsse Rodriguez Date: September 30, 2011
Topic: Globalization and its Specter
-Who is involved: Everyone is involved in some way in the
globalization process.
-Emphasize: Globalization is downgrading humanity. It is making the
rich richer and making the poor poorer. It is not keeping things in
balance. It is over stepping democracy.
The main focus is on the working class.
-The cause is globalization. Corporations taking over. Corporations
not providing for their workers. Corporations not balancing anything.
-The consequences are Impoverishment, Inequality, Volatility,
Degradation of democracy and Environmental destruction.
-Summary
This article written by Jeremy Brecher, Tim Costello and Brendan
Smith is titled Globalization and its specter. The article focuses
on the causes of globalization and the aspects of it along with the
consequences it leaves. Globalization leaves behind
it a trail of impoverishment, inequality, volatility, degradationof
democracy and environmental destruction. According to this article
the globalization transition is an "epochal change".
But, unlike past epochal changes and economically based
transitionsthis one focus more on corporations and less on the
individual.
There has been a structure change in work, "workers have
increasingly lost all rights except the right to sell their labor power".
(31)Globalization has also reduced the power of the state, not to
mention the nation or country as a whole.
Corporations hold so much of the economy in their hands that they
can use this to manipulate anything they want in the government.
They can threaten to leave and establish elsewhere and this can
severely damage a country. Everything is now seen one big market,
there is no individualism now. "The past quarter century of
globalization has seen not a reduction but a vast increase in poverty."
(34) Globalization has made low wage jobs become even more low
wage in recent years. Corporations can now go to countries where
workers are paid very little do work. Therefore creating less jobs at
home. This in turn makes the competitors of corporations such as
these have to offer low wages also. The balance of the rich and the
poor being disrupted is also a consequence of globalization. The
power corporations can have over government officials is also
becoming more and more dominant. Another big and very worrisome
consequence of globalization is the destruction of the environment.
Countries have to compete for investment in turn they must lower
their environmental protections. Globalization in itself Is becoming
very degrading to every individual on this planet along with its
appointed officials who should be protecting their rights.