Sunday, October 23, 2011
Super People
Although this article is not directly about globalization, it does address the increasing world competitiveness in our society. There has been, in the past twenty or thirty years, a Great Academic Leap Forward that has both resulted from and contributed to growing inequality in American society. Children start to work hard for a successful future from a very early age, and being brilliant is just not enough anymore to get into a good college and to lead a 'successful' life. In today's globalized society, students also have to compete with other "Super People" from all over the world, and because colleges and universities want a diverse student body, being foreign is often an advantage in itself. But the greatest advantage of all is simply having money. Rich people can practically buy their children "Super" resumes by sending them to build schools in Bolivia or the like. (Not to say that all this volunteer work is bad; it isn't. High achieving students do a lot of good in the world.). But just like the wealth gap in American society, the gap in education and intellectual capital is growing. While rich kids all over the world are achieving higher than ever before, the quality of education in poor, inner-city schools is the same as ever. The globalized world had led to an even more over-worked and success-driven society in which some people are winners and some people are left behind in the dust before they even know the race has started.
Let’s Admit It: Globalization Has Losers
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/opinion/sunday/lets-admit-it-globalization-has-losers.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=globalization&st=cse
Globalizations creates both winners and losers. This can be seen clearly in the auto manufacturing sector where the American workforce has been greatly reduced while the Mexican, Indian, and Chinese workforces have been increasing because labor in those countries is much cheaper. Instead of trying to create more jobs for Americans in the manufacturing sector by starting wages very low, the focus should be on expanding industries in which the U.S. is ahead now, like service industries such as education, entertainment, digital media, and financial services. Education is also an important part of being a "winner" in the globalized world. Although the U.S. government should not take complete control of private industry, it should help to create more "winners" by, for example, using tax incentives to encourage new companies to create new high paying jobs, providing visas to entrepreneurs, and making public financing markets easier to access.
Globalizations creates both winners and losers. This can be seen clearly in the auto manufacturing sector where the American workforce has been greatly reduced while the Mexican, Indian, and Chinese workforces have been increasing because labor in those countries is much cheaper. Instead of trying to create more jobs for Americans in the manufacturing sector by starting wages very low, the focus should be on expanding industries in which the U.S. is ahead now, like service industries such as education, entertainment, digital media, and financial services. Education is also an important part of being a "winner" in the globalized world. Although the U.S. government should not take complete control of private industry, it should help to create more "winners" by, for example, using tax incentives to encourage new companies to create new high paying jobs, providing visas to entrepreneurs, and making public financing markets easier to access.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Thomas Friedman: How Did the Robot End Up With My Job?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-did-the-robot-end-up-with-my-job.html?ref=thomaslfriedman
Friedman's main point in this article is that the high rate of unemployment in the U.S. today is not only the result of the current recession, but is also due to what he calls "The Great Inflection." By "inflection," he means that the number of workers needed for any one job is decreasing. The cause Friedman provides for "The Great Inflection" is the increasing interconnectedness of the world that has created a constantly growing pool of labor. Wider competition puts more people out of work, but unlike blue-collar jobs that have been outsourced in the past, the white-collar jobs that are put at risk because of wider competition are not being transferred to any one location. More interconnectedness allows the best workers and machines from all over the world to get jobs, while being average or even good, Friedman argues, is not enough anymore. However, new connectivity in the world also makes it much easier to create a new job, so Friedman concludes that the school system must teach and inspire students to be innovators or to make themselves stand out instead of settling for average or good enough.
Friedman's main point in this article is that the high rate of unemployment in the U.S. today is not only the result of the current recession, but is also due to what he calls "The Great Inflection." By "inflection," he means that the number of workers needed for any one job is decreasing. The cause Friedman provides for "The Great Inflection" is the increasing interconnectedness of the world that has created a constantly growing pool of labor. Wider competition puts more people out of work, but unlike blue-collar jobs that have been outsourced in the past, the white-collar jobs that are put at risk because of wider competition are not being transferred to any one location. More interconnectedness allows the best workers and machines from all over the world to get jobs, while being average or even good, Friedman argues, is not enough anymore. However, new connectivity in the world also makes it much easier to create a new job, so Friedman concludes that the school system must teach and inspire students to be innovators or to make themselves stand out instead of settling for average or good enough.
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