Globalization and the Downsizing of the American Dream

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by Kevin Danaher

Just about every day we hear something about globalization. The mass media give us the impression that the impersonal forces of the "free market" are knitting together the peoples of the world into a seamless quilt. We are led to believe that things will steadily get better if we can just keep governments from meddling with the market forces that lead to more growth and efficiency.

Yet we also know that jobs are being lost to global competition. We know that the global environment is being threatened on a number of fronts, from global warming and the deterioration of the ozone layer to the extermination of species and the poisoning of the world's water supply. We see refugees and immigrants by the millions roaming the planet, in search of jobs and protection from armed conflict. We also know that inequality is getting worse: fewer and fewer large corporations own more of the world's productive resources while millions of people are unable to sustain their families. Many of us have a gut feeling that the global economy has gone awry. We would do well to trust our feelings.  This booklet addresses this crucial issue: how the globalization of the economy undermines the quality of life in the United States. The decline in our standard of living can be seen in numerous areas:

1. As U.S. corporations have expanded their global reach they are better able to put the U.S. workforce in direct competition with foreign workers, thus increasing their profits while driving down our wages and general standard of living.
2. Global corporations are better able to use technology to downsize their workforces, thus creating anxiety among working people who no longer feel secure about the future of their jobs.
3. As global corporations become less dependent on any particular nation, they have less interest in supporting any government with taxes. This results in a shrinking tax base and what is referred to as a "fiscal crisis of the state" (the tendency for government expenses to outrace revenues).
4. By using the rationale of "global competition" to drive down the living standards of the majority, the corporate class has shifted more and more wealth from our pockets to theirs.  This growing inequality is producing resentment and rebellion-here and abroad.

   Yet all is not gloom and doom. The globalization of finance, production and trade is being followed by the globalization of grassroots democracy. Individuals and grassroots groups are gradually building an alternative society guided by social justice and environmental sustainability rather than by greed. We conclude with ways for you to get involved in this movement to construct alternatives to top-down globalization.

   Do We Want Just a Market, or a Just Market?

What can we do about it? Plenty!

Building an Alternative

As Tom Athanasiou says in his excellent book, Divided Planet: "Our tragedy lies in the richness of the available alternatives, and in the fact that so few of them are ever seriously explored."

The technical means exist for feeding, housing and educating all the people on earth: it's mainly a matter of developing the political will to build a sustainable and equitable world economy. The goods news is that there are thousands of groups struggling to create more democratic control of the capitol and the capital. What needs to be done?

 

Check out these resources:

Ten Ways to Democratize the Global Economy will give you plenty of ideas and concrete ways to get involved in the struggle to make our economy more democratic.

Like  getting involved with the struggle for Fair Trade, a movement to ensure that everything from the gifts we buy our loved ones to the coffee we drink in the morning is made in ways that benefit local communities.