Off Post Entry: Why Not “Bill Of Rights” Globalism?

Hi James:

Here’s my perspective about "WHY NOT “BILL OF RIGHTS” GLOBALISM?". Perhaps that perspective is due to my being more of an “antique” than the rest of you (okay, okay, so I’m a geriatric T-Rex bordering on being “archeological”….so sue me!). Anyway, here goes:

“Globalization” is neither a “good” or “bad” thing. It’s simply the natural evolution of economic and trade developments over the last forty years or so. In some respects, the United States, was one of the original and strongest advocates for it from the moment it became independent. Free and untrammeled or unobstructed trade, particularly across the ocean seas, anywhere its ships could reach, was the primary motive force driving its foreign policy relationships with any country. Many of its 19th century and 20th century conflicts and contentions with other nations(the British, the French, the Algerians, the Japanese, etc.) derived from that fundamental mantra….freedom of the seas, and free trade, with anyone willing to do so.

It’s still the foundation of all our foreign relations with anyone. America has never really cared what or how any nation was governed, or by whom, or what its internal M/O might be….as long as that didn’t interfere with whatever trade arrangements we might have with it. That outlook still underlies all our international dealings today. What goes on inside someone else’s borders, is none of our business….unless, of course, any kind of instability, political conflicts, or social contentions, threatens those trading interests of ours. Frankly, that doesn’t make us any different than any other “trade” focused nation, but, we’re the USA, and we’re supposed to be different…..or some such.

WWII was probably the defining or watershed moment which changed the previous eras of mostly bi-lateral trade arrangements. It rudely awoke the world to the fact that such wide open,” wild, wild, West” type trading arrangements, only led to those kinds of globally suicidal conflicts which, with the advent of atomic weapons, and other weapons of mass destruction, made these no longer feasible.

So, the corner or foundation stone of what we today call Globalization, was set down in 1945-46 with the international Breton Woods monetary conference. Of course, since the USA’s economy was the only one still left standing after WWII, and almost everyone else’s in the world was either destroyed, or in shambles, the Dollar was designated as the yardstick by which everyone else’s currency and economic recovery could be measured. In turn, that gave us a tremendous economic advantage, which lasted for about thirty years. Boom times for us! We were the world’s COSTCO/WALMART for everything anyone might need or want….wheat, corn, agricultural products of all kinds, manufactured goods, automobiles, aircraft, heavy equipment, ship building, steel, cement, textiles, pharmaceuticals, etc, etc.,etc.. We were the world’s cornucopia. Until… those formerly ruined economies started cranking up again. Slowly, at first, and then more rapidly, they started producing more and more of their own goodies, not only needing less of ours, but, horrors…. exporting their stuff to us besides! And, because they had had to rebuild their economies from scratch, they were mostly using the cutting edge of new technologies, allowing them to produce at better quality and cheaper rates than our guys here at home. These, meanwhile, kept to the same old ways of production and marketing, until it became obvious that they had to completely redo their means and methods of production. But that was too great a capital cost to do here at home (not to mention all the new labor and other regulatory crap our governments had imposed during the intervening period).

Combined with the post-Colonial and Cold War tensions, it was obvious there had to be some kind of new mechanisms to prevent another globally devastating conflict like WWII. The United Nations was a first baby step in that direction, along with NATO. Now, we began working for multi-lateral deals, which included monetary exchange and capitalization rules, using things like the IMF, the WTO, and The World Bank.

But our guys here at home soon realized that such developments were a unique opportunity to overcome some of the trading handicaps they were facing because of these. So were born the “Multi-nationals”….corporate entities which took advantage of all the loop-holes, and gaps, tunnel vision bureaucracies and national governments had either missed, or overlooked. For over a decade our guys roared off like latter-day robber barons, buying up everything in sight (keep in mind, we still had most of the world’s hard cash at the time), building and creating complex global commercial and trading entities which resembled nothing much than kudzu plants on steroids. Vertical integration, and lateral expansion, was the way to go. The French journalist Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber laid it out best with his book – Le Defi Americain – (The American Challenge). We literally owned and controlled almost every aspect of financial and economic activity in the world. And the arrival of the jet-age just made it better.

Granted, our abilities to mobilize massive capital funding, and project management methods, were much admired (and still are), and, our multi-national outfits did provide a fair amount of “rising tide” effects on many so-called developing countries. But it also caused a lot of unintended resentments, and envy (something which underlies much of the global terrorism of today). A lot of that generated by the arrogance and imperious methods our multi-nationals used to operate. If they couldn’t negotiate a deal, they bought off or corrupted local governments, to get their way. Money was no object.

But like all things, the hey-day of our multi-nationals began to wane. Others, began copying our models and system. The leading and sharpest of these being Japan. Before long Japan was beating our guys at their own game, and then some. Meanwhile, Europe had finally gotten its act together, and now began developing the EU(European Union).

With the advent of the computer age and the internet, all of sudden everyone was connected, and that opened the way for the rest of the world to jump in. Everyone could play, with just a touch of a key on a keyboard, a farmer in Iowa could make a deal with someone in East Asia, South America, or anywhere else. Finally, after Mao and his old guard had faded away, China, along with India, jumped into the water, wheeling and dealing, just like our guys once did. Fortunes were made, and lost, and made again, almost every day. Trade, has become the world’s biggest casino, for almost any kind of commodity, product, or idea. The old concepts of national barriers, controls, regulations, etc., are being steadily eroded away, that’s…..globalization.

For the most part, there are mostly upsides to all that. The downside, however, is that with everyone being so inter-twined and connected, financially, and otherwise, if one party in the remotest corner of the globe catches a cold…..everyone else….sneezes! The recent financial implosion is a prime example of what can happen with that.

Ironically, despite our own faults, failures, missteps, and so on….our economy is till the top one of the world, seconded closely by Japan, while moving up fast into third place….comes China! Where it all goes from here, is anyone’s guess. But I suspect that, once nationalistic perspectives are sufficiently diminished, we will see the evolution of regional economic arrangements, instead of the hodge-podge of what we have today.

We see the embryos of that in different parts of the world. Here in the Western Hemisphere we have NAFTA, and CAFTA, with ultimately perhaps something from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego forming one giga-economic unit or region. In Asia, there already is ASEAN, as a comparable evolution, sweeping down in a long arc from Korea to New Zealand. In Africa, despite all the post-colonial inter-tribal conflicts still extant, there are some signs that similar economic developments are gestating. Europe, of course, has still not quite completed its economic integrations. It probably won’t until it manages to include Russia with it.

India and China, while powerful economic engines on their own (mainly due to their massive populations, which generates an internal market demand for whatever they produce or consume), may end up associated more with either or both ASEAN and our Western Hemisphere, than any others. If that comes to pass, the world’s geo-political center of gravity/balance will shift from the old Atlantic World….to the Pacific World….and that, might perhaps inaugurate a millennium of prosperity and tranquility this world has never yet seen in its history (yeah, I know, I’m still from Missouri….we’ll just have to wait and see if it comes to pass!).

As for the Middle East, despite its oil and gas resources, until it rids itself of its political and religious extremism of one kind or another, it won’t really be much of a player. It simply is not economically multifaceted like the rest of the world. It may thus remain in a long term economic dependency upon the rest of it, to supply what it needs for its populations. And if those singular resources begin to diminish, or, become less needed elsewhere, it will no longer have the means to actively participate in the world’s economic systems.

Such is the picture of “globalization” today. What the panorama of it will be like tomorrow or in the future…who knows? But the economic world as we know it has changed, regardless of how we might feel about it. Those nations that adapt to it, will prosper. Those that don’t….will not.

For us, the big question is….which are we?

CENTURION

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