This cartoon by John Backderf shows the negative effects of unlimited globalization controlled by corporate America in the Americas. The title "globalization Über Alles," meaning globalization above all, and the reference to "out benevolent lords and masters" depict globalization as an extreme and totalitarian effort by rich corporates to make a lot of money and exploit the rest of the world. Brazil is Home Depot's lumber yard, Argentina is a source for Whoppers and Big Macs for Burger King and McDonald's, and countries below Mexico in Central America are places for 27, 25, 24, 23, and 22 cents a day wages. These countries and many others have lost their true names and are labeled by what they are exploited for. In addition, China is being towed next to South America because workers there are also being exploited or extremely low wages under inhumane working conditions. Backderf has a negative view of outsourcing, which is shown by labeling Mexico as "Your Former Job," showing that many American jobs have been outsourced to exploited Mexican workers in sweat shops. Backderf also shows that globalization is not for the general good of Americans by labeling "Easily Duped Souther Voters," "Gullible Cowboys," and "Cooperative Gun Nuts" on the map. This creates the image that rich, powerful businessmen are manipulating the citizens of the U.S. to go along with their plans for globalizations, even though globalizations will only hurt people. Backderf also groups the FTAA protestors and the relocated IRS and SEC headquarters on the Falkland islands to show that corporate America has overpowered them. In this new FTAA where globalization is above all, free trade rules and there are no taxes or regulations on corporate actions or trade.
Like any major change, globalization has both positive and negative aspects. However, it is clear from the cartoon above as well as the article "Let's Admit it: Globalization Has Losers" that globalization has a negative influence on far more people than it has a positive influence on. Although globalization opens up many new opportunities for jobs to people all over the world, it also opens up most areas of the world for large corporations to exploit and from which companies can glean resources. Despite these problems with globalization "über alles," if globalization is controlled responsibly and regulated so that workers are not mistreated and resources aren't exploited, it can be used to connect poor, rural workers to the global economy and help pull them out of extreme poverty, like in the article "Workers of the World, Employed." This impact sourcing, a type of outsourcing, can help people in very poor areas, but it usually takes jobs from more developed areas. It therefore extremely important that the quality of education is increased in developed countries so that people in those areas have more skills to be able to create their own new jobs as Thomas Friedman suggests in the article "How Did the Robot End Up With My Job?" Most of the effort to improve education should be targeted at the poor and lower middle classes, who have little chance of traditional success without a high quality education, and have little chance of getting a high quality education without traditional success, as the article "Super People" asserts.
