Globalisation - WTF Have We Done ?

Most of us have heard of ‘Globalisation’. Its usually sold to us as a positive; they say that its an international market for companies and that for consumers there is a wider range of products to choose from. They also sell it on creating a greater level of investment in developing countries which can be used for economic reconstruction, and of course, all of that is true - but to what extent?

Both UKIP and Donald Trump made a big play on curbing globalisation’s influence in the EU referendum and US election but I bet the average man on the street doesn’t realise why it isn’t good and just how much control and influence the big corporations actually have over our lives these days.

And you can’t say we weren’t warned about globalisation. In 1938 President Roosevelt warned that “the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism.”

The subject of globalisation has many strands and is really too big for one blog so I just thought I'd give a flavour of what I think some of the issues are.

Who Are They?
These days the large companies like Starbucks, Amazon, Shell, Microsoft, McDonalds etc, reach right across the world. They have offices and factories in many different countries. They also have the financial resources to develop an underdeveloped country by introducing Western automation in production and advanced technology. This does change the lives of people in these underdeveloped countries, but not always in a good way.

Corporate globalisation has been around for a while; it’s crept into our lives almost stealth like, in reality it’s already taken over the world. Over half of the world's top 100 economies are not countries but corporations. Here’s a few examples:

• The oil people, Shell's revenues are greater than Venezuela's Gross National Product
• Asda/Walmart's revenues are bigger than Indonesia's
• General Motors revenues exceed the revenues of Ireland, New Zealand and Hungary -  combined !!

These multi-national corporations essentially own the world. It's a scary thought isn’t it? The world is in effect owned by these greedy corporations. Many are convinced that corporate globalisation is not only responsible for the economic mess we find ourselves in today but that it’s also responsible for the environmental mess we now find ourselves in. I must admit, it’s hard to disagree.

And don’t forgot, corporate globalisation has no conscience. The only thing these massive corporations truly recognise is profit. They have no other motive; no other reason to exist. Human, national and local values are all virtually non-existent in their corporate culture, and for me, that's why corporate globalisation is such a bad idea.

So What is There to Actually Like?
Not a lot really. Globalisation operates mostly in the interests of the richest countries, which continue to dominate world trade at the expense of developing countries. Today the role of the Third World in the world market is mostly to provide America and Europe with cheap labour and raw materials. There are no guarantees that the wealth from inward investment will benefit their local community. Generally all the profits are sent back to the developed countries where these Multi-National Companies are usually based. 

Multi-national companies with their massive economies of scale, may drive local companies out of business, (we’ve all seen our local shops disappear when a new Tesco comes to town). If it then becomes cheaper to operate in a different country, the Multi-National Company just closes down its factory and makes local people redundant, we’ve all seen it!

An absence of strictly enforced international laws means that Multi-National Companies may operate in the Third World countries in a way that would not be allowed in developed countries. They may pollute the environment, run risks with safety or impose poor working conditions and low wages on local workers – all in the name of reduced costs and increased profits.

Globalisation is also a threat to the world's cultural diversity. Quite simply it drowns out local economies, traditions and languages and simply re-casts the whole world in the mould of America and Europe. An example of this is that a Hollywood film is far more likely to be successful worldwide than one made in India or China, even though they both have thriving film industries.

Corporate globalisation and the environment
Corporate globalisation has no respect for the beautiful world we were given! We started with such a precious environment, a world so rich in resources, rich in water, in trees, in land! Rich in fish and animals, fertile soil and awe-inspiring forms of life.

What has globalisation done with the beautiful world we were given as a home? What are we doing with it?

We have polluted our water, our land, our air. Over and over we’ve polluted the ocean with oil (Remember the big BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?). We've made deserts where there were once green meadows. We're reduced to bottom-trawling the ocean for fish, irrevocably destroying the ocean bed environment and irrevocably damaging the ocean eco-system. 

We've chopped down the rain forests, turning that awesome canopy of trees into charcoal to feed the factory furnaces in developing countries. We've irrevocably harmed the global environment in the process. As a result we've destroyed or seriously reduced whole populations of wild animals. All for the sake of corporate globalisation.

Who Benefits Really?
In reality, nobody benefits. The people are even poorer than before. The globalised corporations get a little richer - that's all !!

In 1950, the average income of the people living in the wealthiest countries was 20 times the income of people living in the poorest countries. Now, the average income of the wealthiest countries is 60 times that of the poorest countries. These people have not been aided in the least. They have been harmed, not helped, by Western industrialisation and corporate globalisation.

Indoctrination and The Politics Of Globalisation
Until now our politicians have been unwavering in their support for corporate globalisation, why? Well for a start you only have to look at how many of them benefit personally from it when they’re in office or after they’ve left. How many sit on the Board’s of these corporations? How many have non-exec positions with these companies? How many have a pension gravy train with these companies? How many actively ‘work with’ lobbyists from these companies? Simple answer is – most of them ! 

I found this interesting quote from the late Tony Benn, a politician who refused to side with the corporations:-

“What's happened is big corporations have seized governments and taken them over, making the state much stronger in the interest of corporate finance. That's what has happened. The people who control market forces have taken over the state. I met an old governor of Ohio a year ago, and he said to me, "You'll never have democracy while big business buys both parties and expects a payoff from whichever one wins." We're not represented anymore. We're managed on behalf of global capitalism, and that's why in Seattle and Prague and everywhere else in the world, people are beginning to stir, because they realize they're being managed now. Nobody represents them”

And he was right. The fact that globalisation has never worked for the majority of poorer people is ignored by policy makers and business leaders. This is what people like Trump and Farage picked up on and played on with success.

Even the media (who are mostly large corporations) spin Globalisation as a positive as it suits their masters to do so. The description of globalisation on the BBC website reads :

“What is globalisation?
Globalisation is the process by which the world is becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of massively increased trade and cultural exchange. Globalisation has increased the production of goods and services. The biggest companies are no longer national firms but multinational corporations with subsidiaries in many countries.” 
No negatives there then, big is beautiful !!


So How Do These Corporations Extort the Governments
Multi-national corporations use their global reach to extort governments. Want to force Google to pay their taxes? No thanks, they'll save money by moving operations to another country, and thus they're given tax breaks instead, and the rest of us have to pick up the tab.

A simple analysis says the global corporations want the gift of low taxation. To get that they say, to a government, "We'll build a factory in your country. That will employ people and will get you votes. Now, where are those low taxes and tariffs you promised us?". That, if you like is the Nissan model. It's importance to our Brexit-beleaguered government was only too evident last year, as was Google announcing a UK HQ.

And what of the "Google Model"?
Google is, without doubt, a huge global player. They clearly twist governments' arms all over the world to get what they want. But what is it that they offer in return?

They don't employ that many people. Their local workforce in the UK is a few thousand high-earners (average Google salary in the UK is £160,000 a year). They are hardly an important player as far as most of us are concerned. They don't create a supply-chain regional economy in the way that manufacturing does. So no trickle-down effect.

So why are Google and their like so important to the UK government? I can only think it's because, like Murdoch and his brethren, they are being relied on to drive the consumer dream which keeps the masses nicely sedated. I am probably being too simplistic - or maybe I'm just plain thick?

Western Health
Public health disasters contribute to the sense of rupture. After falling for decades, for instance, death rates among middle-aged white people are now rising. Among the likely causes are obesity and diabetes, pain killer addiction and liver failure, diseases whose carriers are corporations. This then leads to more corporations producing pharmaceutical products to help treat this poor health thus creating more wealth - you getting the picture? 

What’s The Answer?
The solution is simple. respect the earth and all living things. Don't exploit either for personal or financial benefit. Break the traditions that have put us in this mess and live according to the problem we all face, not according to where profit is to be found. But it isn’t that simple in a world dominated by the economy.

Corporate Globalisation is the bane of our world. Any world based around monetary governments is bound to breed corruption and tyranny. I must admit, I really don't know what the answer is. I don't think grassroots lobbies work anymore, I don't think the voice of the people is heard anymore, because the governments are pretty much run by large corporate interests. The biggest crime I feel is the death of the human innovative spirit - Do you honestly believe someone would be permitted to build a substitute for oil in this globalised corporate environment?

Where companies pay local taxes in the local markets they operate in it increases democracy, freedom and choice rather than reduces it.  Mega-corporations don't pay tax. At the very best they pay a 10th to a 20th of the tax that would have been paid if all businesses were SMEs.

The greed and the hidden agenda of the huge corporations are not very different from the exploitation of the underdeveloped nations by the more developed ones. Slavery and exploitation have different names in different times and settings. The rich are becoming richer and the poor poorer. The corrupt, corrupter!

One thing we could do about it, would be to move to a more regulated form of capitalism. The following are all ‘quick-wins;.

• The minimum wage should be increased by a third to make it more like a true living wage.
• All financial transactions to tax havens should be taxed
• There should be workers representatives on company boards
• We should have a national investment bank like the German KFW bank.
• The railways should be nationalised or run on a ‘not-for-profit’ basis 
• There should be a national energy company to compete with the current private companies.
• The Government should give money to Local Authorities and Housing Associations to build affordable houses.

These things might not be a revolution, but they would change life for the better. I know I sound like Jeremy Corbyn with some of this but hey, my views are broad, I do accept some left wing stuff makes sense.

The best many of us can do on a day-to-day basis is to divert our capital from the corporations to small, local, independent shops that keep communities alive, that employ more people in better jobs, and which are likely to give better deals to producers. Not perfect - but a step in the right direction. There again, a lot of small companies survive only because they have access to Amazon's marketplace so whichever way, it's not black & white.

Going off the last twelve months and looking forward, the main argument in politics will no longer be right versus left (which is mainly used as a means to demonise anti establishment politics) but ‘Globalisation versus Localisation’