The current era of globalization is one described by Friedman as “shrinking the world from a size small to a size tiny.” Although this can take on the meaning of many different ideas, he insists that the core of this statement focuses on commerce. During the thriving dot-com boom, a surplus of money was available in the US but shortly afterwards the regulations and limitations caught up to the once-thriving companies. In order to stave off profit declines, spending had to be cut. In order to accomplish that, many jobs were shipped overseas where they could be done for far less the price than people were willing to do them here. Many of the Middle Eastern people previously migrated to the US to work but they were leaving behind their culture, family, and friends. Fiber optic cabling was laid in the Middle East and the capacity for worldwide communication and cooperation increased. This has spawned the ability to offer services from across the world. Many Middle Easterners can now work from their home country, producing the same value to the company while costing them less. This is how the playing field is “being leveled” in Friedman’s mind.
As part of this flattening of the world there are other ideas and concepts being introduced that have begun to change how trade and commerce works on a global or local level. Not only are individuals in the US being empowered by this rise in connectivity between residents but also the Eastern nations are expanding and beginning to converge on the levels of technology available in the more advanced regions. For us, that means at least two things. As individuals, we are thrown into a world of competition which means we lose the pedestal we used to stand on. But it also means, as small businesses, we can now outsource to a pool of inexpensive labor which will help small businesses focus on higher-value activities. The small business owners can put the spot light on negotiating and complex concerns while the outsourced labor is taking care of the grunt work in the background.
Although Friedman mainly focused on the effects of globalization on the economy and workforce, there are many other areas that it will play a part in. Education, media, economics, and culture are some that it will drastically affect. Globalization is not simply connectivity between commerce of nations; it is the essence of joining nations together and pooling their best resources. When these resources complement each other they can be beneficial to both parties. This is the general idea behind economics’ reason for trade and I feel that it can easily be applied to the real world and globalization.
The power that is derived from the connectivity between nations is most obviously drawn from the high speed network connections that fasten any two computers in the world together. Friedman takes the stance that the connectivity will furnish the “power for individuals to collaborate and compete globally.” I agree with him but he has given such a limited scope on what that power will really allow a person to do. Simply by having access to the internet, there are unlimited possibilities for self-improvement. Having access to millions of educational websites at the push of a button offers the opportunity to learn anything you want, when you want. Unprivileged citizens here and afar have the ability to earn a college degree online. Physical boundaries no longer bind the individual from being out of reach of their hopes and dreams.
As far as global news goes, as a nation, we used to only rely on a couple mainstream outlets that were likely to spin the news however they preferred. In more recent times, thanks to the dawning of the internet, news can come from sources stationed anywhere in the world and even individuals through the use of blogs. In the past, as well as current, media conglomerates have had interest in spreading misinformation to influence nations of people to think one way or another. This self-serving interest is slowly diminishing due to the openness of the internet. Unfortunately, with congressional acts such as Net Neutrality, these uncensored channels of information may be silenced by the federal regulations put in place. China still deals with the censorship to this day with the repressing of Google. As globalization becomes more prominent, freedom of information will definitely come right along with it.
With the advantages of globalization come some disadvantages that may or may not be worth the jump into the 21st century. Only recently has Japan moved from isolationism to being one of the top world producers. They managed to do this through learning the very basics of science for a number of years, through the Dutch, before being exposed to inventions or machinery that were being widely used throughout the Western world. Their strong grasp of the basic sciences allowed them to easily take hold of the concepts used in clocks, steam engines and similar gadgets. This is what led them to become leading innovators and technologists into the 21st century. Unfortunately some pieces of the culture disappear due to world influence. The fact that Japan was never colonized is what made it unique. It would sometimes be nice to be able to say that the politics of the 21st century did not overrun every facet of the globe.
Trade between countries is a factor of much disagreement among people of all nations. Beginning in 1995, the World Trade Organization began handling tariff prices and trade agreements between countries. They have been harshly criticized for being the culprit of destroying small-business agriculture throughout many different nations. Tariffs seem to make sense from the perspective of your homeland country but when you look at them from a small-business farmer, things change. Some tariff prices are so high that they remove any ability to make profit for agriculture farmers and many beef farmers in developing countries. In rich countries, those farmers would likely be subsidized by the government but the same thing cannot happen in a developing country due to lack of funds. Eventually the small-business farmers go out of business and this can cause a lack of quality in types of agriculture. For example, monopolistic banana farmers in South America have been able to take over the industry and drive small-volume farmers into the ground simply by producing lower quality bananas. The end result is that, here in the US, we get a lower quality product for a similar price due to tariffs. By advocating trade in your home country through the use of tariffs, you are avoiding the entire point of a free-market society. You also miss out on many of the advantages of low prices to boot. It also gives the ability for people in power to exploit the system through negotiations with other countries.