Reply #3: The concept is right, but the context is wrong [View All]

[Ecotopian]

The primary reason that we're facing terrorists is because of our rightist political relationships with other nations so that corporations can thrive. What creates hatred with other nations are when our corporations exploit and abuse hard working people.

Globalization as it's currently set up, will only keep the working people of the world poor, and the elites rich. It's heavily skewed towards the upper class. In essence, it's pure unrefined capitalism without any of the social mechanisms that correct its failures. This will bleed the western world dry, and create enmity and disdain for the system world-wide.

What we need to fight terrorism is to stop interfering with their culture by weaning the west off of it's addiction to oil by relying on alternative energy sources, to stop selling them military goods, and develop a more peaceful dialogue with them. Once we have a more peaceful relationship, then we should trade with them, but only through small business so that the exchanges of culture and trade remain with the most people, providing them wealth. The only possible advantage to elites doing this is for the manipulation of people throughout many nations. There would be very little if any cultural exchange between elites (with the exception of some artwork they may bring into their homes which amounts next to nothing) so the value of international exchange is a moot point.

Globalization really isn't that bad, so long as it operates under the conditions where local economic viability is preserved, earning ability is similar, and environmental degradation doesn't occur. However when cities collapse due to the inviability of their local economic base, when people in India can be paid a small fraction for the same kind of work that people do here, and when Brazil, Madagascar, and Indonesia have to cut down their rainforests for exported goods that can pay off their international debts, the supporting argument for globalization falls flat on its face.

I agree that globalization should occur in the sense that as many people as possible from as many nations as possible should trade with one another, but under an economic system that accounts for environmental losses & gains, and social costs. In addition business organizations should be exclusive to one nation (no transnationals or multinationals), and nations should have the right to put limits on how many goods come in so that they can preserve their economic viability.