Explaining the very real benefits of globalization (LP.org)

LP.org ^ | 1/06/04

[Libloather]

Explaining the very real benefits of globalization

Globalization isn't ruining the world -- but is actually offering millions of people in third-world countries the opportunity for a better life.

That was the message delivered by Ronald Bailey, science correspondent for Reason magazine, at a Globalization Forum sponsored by University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Libertarians.

"Globalization is the only way to make hundreds of millions of poor people rich," Bailey told an audience that included a number of anti-globalism activists. "I don't mean rich in terms of greed, but in terms of opportunity."

In his presentation, Bailey argued that globalization raises living standards, helps protect the environment, and promotes social progress.

For example, Bailey argued that so-called sweatshops operated by multinational corporations -- Exhibit #1 in the case against globalization -- typically offer workers twice the salary available in domestic industries.

Those higher wages create a rising standard of living that reduces the need for child labor and offers more educational opportunities for women, he said.

Bailey also said globalization helps prevent environmental destruction by improving agricultural yields, which means that less land is needed for farming.

"Subsidiary farming is the single most [environmentally] destructive process in the world," he said. "Hungry people pose the largest threat to the environment."

Without the technological advances spread by globalization, said Bailey, an additional 1.5 billion acres of land around the world would be damaged by primitive farming methods.

Bailey did acknowledge that globalization tended to diminish "cultural diversity" -- but said it was a minor sacrifice compared to the life-saving benefits of globalization.

Richard Goldman, president of the UMBC Libertarians, told the Retriever Weekly that he thought the forum was a success.

"There are a lot of misconceptions about globalization," he said. "I think that this presentation helped to provide a realistic picture of the way globalization is moving, and the benefits that it can bring."

Globalization usually refers to political reforms that promote freer trade, fewer tariffs, and reduced government subsidies across a global market.

The Globalization Forum was organized as part of the college's National Homeless and Hunger Awareness Week, November 16-22.

[Libloather]

Mikhail Gorbachev is another big fan of globalization...

[CWOJackson]

Ah...those wacky libertarians again.

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[luckydevi]

Tell me one thing about the piece that was wrong

[CWOJackson]

LOL! All after the opening word basically.

[luckydevi]

So capitalism is bad for the poor

[CWOJackson]

That is up to them and their individual nations...not up to us buying into the globalization concepts of open borders, unrestricted immigration and unrestricted trade as espoused by the lp.

[luckydevi]

The piece did not talk about immigration, but rather trade and the harmful effects of farm subsidies.

Do you support farm subsidies and are you anti-trade?

Newsflash: Conservatives support free trade( paleoconservatives and leftists do not)

[CWOJackson]

It's all part and partial to the lp's ideas on globalism which you must well know. You can't separate out parts one from the other.

[luckydevi]

Well it is becoming obvious to me that you are going to ignore the piece and use this thread as means to attack the messenger/s instead of the message.

As for the LP, I have no idea what their stance is on immigration. However, a great deal of libertarians do not support open borders.

[CWOJackson]

"As for the LP, I have no idea what their stance is on immigration. However, a great deal of libertarians do not support open borders."

LOL! You don't know what the lp's globalization stance is but you know how libertarians think? Sure...

[JSteff]

Read the following carefully;

"For example, Bailey argued that so-called sweatshops operated by multinational corporations -- Exhibit #1 in the case against globalization -- typically offer workers twice the salary available in domestic industries."

Poorly worded but not unlike what is often argued on FR... in other words.... even at what we consider low wages and sweatshop conditions the workers are making twice what they could in their locally owned industries.

What is wrong with that arguement?

[CWOJackson]

I'm happy as hell for the kids in the sweat shops...I'm sure it beats midnight basketball.

I also have examined the lp's arguments regarding globalization, not just this tiny piece of the issue.

[luckydevi]

Yes actually I do

Paleolibertarians do not support open borders, the Lew Rockwell crowd and a great deal of Austrian economists( read Hoppe, Hans-Hermann).

Immigration is one of many issues which libertarians disagree on.

[CaptIsaacDavis]

Anarchist thugs and LIARS ALL -- the LP is a haven for degenerate swine who just love to suckle the teat of communist tyranny in China and Cuba, or wherever they can get lower cost goods made by concentration camp inmates.

[ETERNAL WARMING]

So was Karl Marx.

[ETERNAL WARMING]

Newsflash: Conservatives support free trade

Newsflash: So does the Left and the Communists. Bill Clinton signed NAFTA, or did you miss that?

[luckydevi]

NAFTA was created under Reagan and Bush 1