If not globalisation, what?

"These have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the beast" (Rev. 17:3).

 

erm, who has one mind?, and which beast?
Oh unless you mean British Telecom? They are quite a beast of a corporation
privatised some time ago but theyre still a beast, yeah thats another one - BT are such a rip

Anyhow this is turnin into the nationalisation fanclub so my point being
how would this nationalisation stop the imperialism, you can still have nationalised companies and an imperial government

 

Well before the push for deregulation here in the states in the eighties and nineties it worked very well for our utility companies. Then we had the breakup of Ma Bell, only to twenties years later see ATT once again from mergers and attritition become the big player again, with all the power and monoply she once had but way less regulation and accountability. Who has benefited from that?

 

Actually I pocketed about $3000000 from that - nah just kidding you !

But really we have to be pragmatic in the sense that the idealists who run the world may not be conforming to our ideals. In other words we can only be pragmatic about it and deal with the world as it is. I am just saying I dont think this steamroller is going to stop in the face of any opposition, but then I think the opposition isnt going away either. I just hope it doesnt escalate because in order to bring about their changes they are resorting to making all states around the world into police states. Its not just the economics of the thing its the politics of it that is worrying.
Sometimes I just think ah what the hell - let them do what they want its no use opposing it, and other times I get angry about it,
In the middle of it all is just this wondering about how it can all be resolved
but theres a heluva lot of war and bad feeling in the world today and my feeling is either the opposition has gotta give way or the capitalists do

 

Well, as I see it Globalization was invented to do one thing: make money.
It's not a new concept, by the way. Portugal kicked off festivities in the 15th century, with Spain quickly following suit. Great Britain pretty much perfected the model by the dawn of the 20th century.
However, those versions of globalized "exploitation" were somewhat different than today's version.
Consider: at the height of Great Britain's glory, the poverty of workers in the capital of its Empire (London) was astounding. For hot news on that topic - read Jack London's "People of the Abyss."
Now - they were poor for a reason. Great Britain had brought the sweatshops home to roost on native soil.
Our 21st century version of Globaloney is far more pervasive, however, because modern technology allows much greater control of far-distant productions, and nations do not need to be "colonized" and kept up by their conquerors. This is not a political exercise at all. It is a purely economic one.

One thing I ponder - what will happen to the Honda manufactured and assembled in a dozen different countries - the 12,000-mile Kiwi fruit, the 10,000-mile Nikes and designer whatnots - as the cost of energy (fuel) rises?
The result of that - would no doubt be the contraction of globalized trade zones.
The European community would be one - regionalized....stretching I imagine, from the Urals to Scandinavia, and the U.K.
Southeast Asia another - from Inda to Japan (with perhaps Australia and New Zealand thrown in.)
North America would become its own zone (including central America).

Each one of these zones would include economically powerful nations - still exploiting weak sister nations for cheap labor.

Modern globalization happened at all, because governments loosened the controls on corporate power.
At the peak of North American industrialization - corporations were quite content to manufacture at home, and pay blue collar workers well.
But remember, after WW2 America manufactured for the world. Since they have de-industrialized, that has exactly reversed.
As long as you can make obscene profits manufacturing a running shoe half a planet away, then you'll do it.
Consider the contrast:
From 1950 into the 1980's - a blue collar worker manufacturing mass-consumed products could live a middle-class lifestyle in the highest cost-of living lifestyle on the planet.
This worker has been replaced by one who earns rather on the level of an ambitious junior highschool student. In many places, and in many cases, if the whole family pulls together, they can eke out a marginal existence.
That's quite a switch.
It happens because production costs (cost of labor) has been reduced to less than 10% of the final wholesale selling price.
It happens because market theology dictates to corporations that they must do this, or perish.

Globalization is not spreading wealth around the planet equitably. (Consider Africa.)
It is in fact concentrating wealth at an ever-growing pace - into the pockets of a tiny elitest few. Pick your continent - there they are.
As the game ramps up (think of Parker Bros. Monopoly....) we thumb our noses at the fates. Global warming, peak oil depletion, massive political upheaval, cheap nationalistic pissing contests abound, testosterone as per usual running amock...

And one just has to laugh at all the rhetoric spouted variously about the glories of the multicultural mosaic, the linking of like sensibilities around this sad little planet.
It's a tightrope walk, along a thin little razor's edge.
How long can globalization survive?
How long can we survive it?

 

This is completely false. Are you joking? How many long distance options do you have? How many cellular phone companies? How many broadband providers? And you have VOIP. There is far more competition than ever before.

 

Well here in California which was one of the first states to deregulate, now funnels everything through ATT once again, Pacific Bell/SBC has been eaten and absorbed. Check your land line phone bills in California.

Pepik, I can see you've bought into the republican stance on everything. But I am probably older than you and remember how things were, and how they are now.

 

You are ignoring the questions you can't answer. So what if some local companies merge. It is not a monopoly anymore - like I said, how many long distance companies can you choose from now? How many cellular providers?

I think you have been taught to hate business, which is too bad. Its better to have a balanced view of things.

But anyway, can you explain why there is a universal service fund if telecoms have been completely abandoned to the evil corporations? We're talking billions of dollars here.

http://www.universalservice.org/about/universal-service/

 

ATand T is not a local company it's a national big league player. Yes they now control the California market, like they did before deregulation.

This should make me feel more secure?

 

If it doesn't make you feel more secure, I'm sure they'll be happy to have their billions back.

Please explain how AT&T monopolises the California market for long distance, cellular phones, broadband, and VoIP. They don't.

 

A documentary on Globalization by James Martin - a 17yr old trainee journalist in the UK.

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We fight it by stemming the tide of rabid capitalism and return to a more agrerean society, which values the productivity of the individual, rather than allowing the rich to get even richer on the labor of the poor. In this way, we can build a society were the individual has meaning and purpose rather than working as a life long wage slave to the corporate machine.