Posted on 02/02/2009 11:35:19 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
When globalisation goes into reverse
By Gideon Rachman
Published: February 2 2009 19:10 | Last updated: February 2 2009 19:10
There are rock festivals and book festivals – and then there is the annual globalisation festival, otherwise known as the World Economic Forum in Davos.
For the past decade, the Davos meeting has brought together big business, high finance and top politics to promote and celebrate the integration of the global economy. Whatever their business rivalries or political differences, the Davos delegates all agreed that the road to peace and prosperity lay through more international trade and investment – globalisation, in short.
But this year the forum has had to confront a new phenomenon – deglobalisation. The world that Davos Man created is slipping into reverse. International trade and investment is falling and protectionist barriers are on the rise. Economies are shrinking and unemployment is growing.
The symptoms of deglobalisation are all around us. Last week, it was reported that global air cargo traffic in December 2008 was down 22.6 per cent compared with December 2007. Abhisit Vejjajiva, prime minister of Thailand, told the forum that tourist receipts in his country had fallen by about 20 per cent year-on-year, in line with the general decline in international travel (and stripping out the effects of the temporary closure of Bangkok airport). In the US and Europe, governments are scrambling to bail out not just banks but also car companies. But, as the European Union has long acknowledged, “state aid” to national industrial champions is a form of protectionism.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
Ping!
Nationalism by any other name... is NAZI... or is it YATZEE...
“national industrial champions”
Champions??? That’s a joke right?
I just LOVE the smell of deglobalisation in the morning!
It smells like... victory.
ATLAS SHRUGGED.
=^D
The big push for globalism came only because certain wealthy interests made trillions off it.
Globalism was a bubble dependent on debt and easy money and cheap energy for long distance transportation of goods. We have returned to cheap energy but there is no more easy money flooding America and the globe to purchase the “fruits” of globalization
The more a foreign trading partner produces for you, the more he will raise his price for the labors of his consumers and grow strong. If you then lower his price, he will prepare his people for conflict with you rather than be deposed by them.
Globalization based upon honest nations trading honest goods and services in a free market are one thing, very healthy. Pity, that “globalization” has nothing to do with honest nations providing honest goods and services, let alone the concept of “free market”.
AMEN!
I would add only two points here.
First, you left off the part about the "rock stars," the "I-banking" crowd at the top raking of gazillions while beggaring and buggering the rest of us.
Second, we have cheap transportation because demand is way way down. It will remain cheap for some time because of over investment in global transportation infrastructure.
Tell me exactly what goods and services were being traded by racking up fees for default insurance on debt bonds, insurance that you could not pay off on junk paper that never should have been printed. But that WAS the world of "i-banking."
... and honest banks... and honest politicians (LOL)... and honest lawyers (LOL)
oh my God, I’m laughing.
heh heh. Might as well laugh. I Can’t play a fiddle.
Yup. As I said, honest anything had nothing to do with it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.