Globalization-Good, Bad, Ugly

Globalization has benefited a select few in both developed and developing countries, the so called elite, educated and especially those who are equipped with skill set, and also possessing an initial economic endowments.

In the same vain   it can be stated that it has impoverished and weakened many others, in particular the poorest and the most disadvantaged /dispossessed masses in either world.

It is also true that many millions of people all over the world have been lifted out of poverty trap, extreme inequality and inexplicable humiliation- No one could undermine those positive benefits.

But the darker   side of globalization the most brutal   one, must be also  kept in mind, for they outweigh the positive benefits stemming out of this process. The social, economic and cultural fabric   has been devastated beyond any repair or redemption.

The rapidly technology driven benefits, cheap transport, fall in communication costs, internet revolution, access to better and quality goods, and so on also coexist with greater agflation , rising energy prices , deteriorating environment , climate change, acute  water scarcity, vast pools of cheap labor and dwindling middle class ,experiencing  erosion  of real wage.

Globalization and free trade debate has ensured neither fair trade nor prevented the emergence of protected trends.

Jagadish Bhagavati’s well known simple argument that individuals having tooth brush and tooth paste, respectively, can trade with each other, in a free market environment at a right price and get their  teeth brightened and healthy, is very much appealing to defend economic globalization.

But ground level reality, gives an altogether  a  different message .Global  recession induced  fall in demand  world wide and rising resource prices dominated and frustrated    by the oligopolistic and monopolistic  MNCs, have adversely affected  growth, and cry all over the world is: we want more jobs. As is to add insult to the injury SEDC, is also calling for austerity measures, even while  working out some kind of bailout? Where are we heading?