Globalization

There are both pros and cons to globalization. Although, right now I believe there are more negative things than positive things about globalization. I think that when globalization first started it was with good intentions. People were just thinking about how nice it would be to get goods and materials from other countries and have a nice flow of products around the world. Now, as globalization has progressed and people have become greedier, there are more negatives. One of these negatives is the outsourcing of work to other countries. The reason these jobs are being moved is because the cost of labor can be pushed way down in some other countries, where people will work for anything. These people are working in terrible conditions, they are forced to work overtime, and they are paid ten cents an hour. These jobs are not helping any of these workers get anywhere in life. They are also not helping the economies of any of these sorts of countries, which was a goal of globalization. Globalization is supposed to help these countries, not hurt them. Globalization further exposes the inequalities in the world, which are inevitable, but then creates an even more unjust world. This happens through the exploitation of the workers in these countries that are underdeveloped. Since the economies of these countries are not boosted through the process of globalization, but other wealthier countries are, there is an even bigger divide between the wealthy and the poor. The wealthier countries keep getting wealthier and gaining more power, but the poorer countries keep getting poorer and nothing is there to help them develop further. Also, globalization is not controlled democratically, so it cannot represent the people of the world at large. This helps explain the growing divide between the rich and poor countries of the world. Globalization also intensifies long term problems around the world, such as the deterioration of the environment. Since large corporations are moving all over the world, there is pollution in countries that have never had significant amounts of it before. Globalization can’t really be controlled. The progression of technology, which drives globalization, cannot really be predicted or controlled. Also, apart from some minimal rules of competition, there is no single set of rules for the entire world to follow. There are some positives to globalization though. There is more ease in the transportation of goods all over the world. Also, the communication between the individuals and corporations of the world is increased. Although the exploitation of workers in underdeveloped countries is a horrible thing, there is an advantage to the cheaper cost of employment. The goods made in the underdeveloped countries drive the prices of products down, which would theoretically stimulate the economy. There is another problem created with this though. Large corporations that can afford to globalize drive the prices down and reduce competition with smaller businesses. It is easier for monopolies to occur with globalization. Overall, I think that globalization has more issues than positive assets right now.