What is "Globalization" Globalizing?

This is a central part of the story that the press has been referring to as "globalization." But this is an odd, evasive term that does not clearly name what is happening. It seeks to name the fact that something is spreading across the globe. But it also seeks to avoid naming what that something is.

The answer explains why the press doesn't want to name it: what is being globalized is capitalism--and all of the value associated with capitalism.

When a man sees that there are unlimited opportunities before him and that hard work and effort bring rewards, he is implicitly taught that he is in control of his own fate. And when he is continually rewarded for taking that control, he is implicitly taught that it is possible for life to consist of unobstructed enjoyment rather than resignation to duty.

This is a great paragraph… under a truly free system, a Citizen’s duty is to maintain individual liberty for all Citizens. There is enjoyment in this kind of duty. Property ownership is an essential liberty, but it is important to note that communities particularly thrive when the entire community holds a strong commitment to the ideals of individual liberty. Take the scenario where a subset of a community, say, a small group of successful entrepreneurs begins to acquire property without the community’s commitment to their individual liberty. The community will not grow together but instead be ripped apart by the thievery of those members of the community who do not respect liberty of the entrepreneurs to own property. So it is good to bestow the highest honors to Citizens who do their duty to protect your liberty as quickly as they do their own. From what I understand, corruption is high in India and corruption is not an easy hurdle to overcome. But if it can be done here in the United States, there is no reason to believe it can't be done anywhere else in the world... India has a very bright future!

Well, of course capitalism is the cause of prosperity. Given the overwhelming evidence of the 20th century, only a New York Times reporter would regard this as a surprising or controversial conclusion.

I love it! What a delicious swipe at the New York Times' staffers. They deserve it. And more.

>Well, of course capitalism is the cause of prosperity

Capitalism
is as hard to define as
is evolution.

"Global" companies
are not Ayn Rand creations.
Almost all of them

are more influenced
by foreign government deals
than consumer needs.

Global companies
abstract supply and demand.
Film companies here

get really big cash
distributing overseas.
So they cut deals with

foreign studios
to import foreign films here
no one wants to see

because foreign firms
then let US firms open
more US films there.

Studios get cash,
we get awful foreign films,
and the pay structures

for US actors
and crews get driven down by
studio access

to foreign labor.
Globalization does suck,
unless you're within --

directly within --
one of the global concerns
abstracting the world.

Capitalism is as hard to define as is evolution.

Are you preparing a setup here? One can insist that ANYTHING is "hard to define," show that lots of people use lots of different definitions for it, and then attack others for choosing just ONE instead of simply asking which one is being used.

IF you had led with such a question instead of a statement, I might have replied with:

"Capitalism ... is simply the freedom of ordinary people to make whatever economic transactions they can mutually agree to." -- which is quoted on one of the pages in my first post to this thread.

Thanks for the ping!

After reading the article, I wonder if it is really is capitalism at work. If India is loosening its socialist protectionism and China is abandoning Marxist ideology, it doesn't follow that they are running to embrace capitalism, does it?

To me, the real proof will be in seeing if the creators are allowed to keep and exploit their gains.

BTW, didn't China recently revalue their currency? How is that panning out?

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