1. Claims of Globalism
Globalism is mesh of inter-reliance at a multi-continental level whereby, there is exchange of people, information, and capital between continents. An increase in Globalism is termed as Globalization while a decrease is De-globalization.
Globalization integrates global markets and liberalizes them
Globalism integrates global markets via the inter-reliance among the continents and liberalizes global markets through the divide between a state’s economy and the government, such that there is minimal interference from the government. The absence of government interference increases social interaction among the continents and the exchange of technology, labor, and wealth.
Globalization is unavoidable and permanent
The establishment of inter-reliance among the continents has been going on and will continue to take place. Factors such as reliable transport, reliable and speedy communications have contributed towards increased activity between continents. The changes brought about by globalism are permanent. The efficiency of communication and transport sectors influence globalization, efficiency increases the rate of globalization.
Globalization is independent
The integration of the global markets is a phenomenon is the result of the need for various continents to interact and to exchange resources. This phenomenon is independent from human interference. This claim is not entirely true since government policy such as trade agreements and policy on immigrants can determine the rate at which globalism expands or detracts.
Globalization benefits all
This claim is not entirely true, but businesses and individuals have found opportunities through the inter-continental networks and pursued them and successfully expanded the business or increased sales. On the other hand there are factors that do not impact positively, for instance the access to cheaper labor or cheaper raw materials from an outside continent negatively impacts or local industries as well as the increase in the rate of unemployment.
Globalization spreads democracy
The interconnectivity and interaction of people from various continents leads to exchange of ideas, culture, and political views. Globalism acts as a catalyst for the spread of democracy to areas that experience the oppression of authoritative leadership. For instance, the Libyan and Egyptian populations learnt on the benefits of democracy through social interaction with other states and ended up demanding for change of political structure to a democratic one.
2. Capitalism and Socialism
Capitalism is an economic and political structure of a nation, whereby the state citizens can own property search as land, and businesses. In Capitalism, the government can also own property and businesses, but does not interfere with its citizen’s ability to own resources legally. Capitalism has characterized increased competition among citizens, which also translates to a higher rate of economic growth, since there is no limit to the amount of wealth that one can acquire. The competition for wealth results in the some citizens having more wealth than other citizens, which results in the occurrence of social classes namely the poor, middle class, and the rich. On the other hand, Socialism is an economic and political structure, whereby the government owns all the economic resources, manages their production, and redistributes them to its population. Socialism aims at distributing wealth equitably by re-distributing the wealth. In Socialism, the individual’s ability to own private property such as land is limited. A less aggressive population characterizes a socialist populace since they cannot accumulate their individual wealth.
3. David Ricardo, John Maynard Keynes and Adam Smith
David Ricardo came up with the Comparative Advantage theory that states that there is mutual benefit between two trading countries, regardless of how they compare economically and in terms of labor. Ricardo was in favor of free trade or laissez-faire economics whereby businesses are free to operate without interference from the government. John Maynard Keynes is the father of modern macroeconomics and he believed that the government should play the role of controlling money supply and monitoring businesses. Keynesian economics are practiced today whereby governments solve inflation and recession problems via money supply control measures. Adam Smith believed in laissez-faire economics whereby businesses operate without restrictions on manufacturing, without barriers to commerce, and without tariffs. The problem with laissez-faire economics is the increased possibility of exploitation by businesses through reduced wage payments, reduced product quality, and other risks such as the formation of joint/shared monopolies with the intention of exploiting consumers.
4. Keynesian economics vs. Neo-Liberal economics
Keynes stated that inflation was a result of increased investment over savings, while recession is the outcome of increased savings over investment. Keynes believed that demand creates supply. Unemployment is a result of reduced money expenditure increased wages should reduce unemployment since unemployment is a sign of an increase in the number of Discouraged Workers. Companies should increase wages so as to increase overall expenditure which is similar to a Fordist Economy which insists on paying worker high wages, so that he/she can by the produced product in large quantities. Increased spending is an attempt to equate wealth distribution, since one persons’ spending is another persons’ earning. Recessions are a product of reduced expenditure hence the government should borrow money and use it to boost the economy and repay the debt once the economy is stable. Keynes’ theory stresses on increased spending and reduced savings.
Keynes theory bases itself on the constant circulation of money in the economy to avoid economic stagnation. The government should play a major role on the control of business activities as well as money supply. Neo-liberalism on the other hand entails a set of economic ideologies that aim at changing the business environment in favor of private businesses through reduced restriction from the government and reduced levies, with a view of hedging the loss in profit that the private businesses have experienced in the period of the last 25 years.
5. Nirvana for corporations
The U.S. hosts some of the largest and most influential corporate firms in the world. These corporations are a source of employment to the American population as well as a supplier to the populations needs. The corporations are America’s largest employer and they pay the largest amount of tax due to the large incomes generated by the corporations. America is capitalist; the citizens are free to form corporations for doing business locally and abroad. The political atmosphere is also favorable for the formation of corporations as well as the availability of labor, established communication and transport networks, and several opportunities to explore.
6. Socialism vs. Capitalism
Socialism attempts to distribute wealth equally among its citizens through the central control of resources and their redistribution to the whole population, hence all resources and economic ventures are owned and controlled by the government. A Socialist government thrives in an authoritative style of leadership whereby the government dictates its will on the people, who have no choice in the decisions of their leaders. The redistribution of wealth among the population and limitation in owning private property, leads to a population with a reduced rate of production and a less ambitious workforce. This is visible nationally via a slow economic growth for socialist states. On the other hand, Capitalist states allow their citizens to venture into business and to own property without limitation, for this reason theses states are characterized by hardworking, ambitious, and competitive labor force that strives to accumulates as much wealth as possible. This translates nationally via rapid economic growth. Capitalist states are synonymous with Democracy hence; the population has the power to elect its leaders and to influence the policies of the nation.
The competition for resources leaves some citizens with more wealth than others, which results to social stratification as product of un-even wealth distribution. Uneven wealth distribution classifies citizens into middle class, the rich, and the poor. This classification gives rise to the Power Elite (in rich class) who end up influencing the politics of the state. The Power Elite’s influence of the country’s politics leads to the dissatisfaction of the other lower class groups since the government no longer looks into their demands. Capitalism is better than socialism since it encourages the population to work hard for their earnings and their dreams. Capitalism also allows people to own properties and businesses. Lastly, Capitalism is synonymous with democracy whereby the people have the power to elect or impeach their leaders who are to represent and act to their needs.
7. Inside Job
Inside Job is a movie that explains the probable activities that took place and led to the financial crisis of 2008 in America caused by the misconduct of some corporations in the financial sector. The movie shows how managers to big investment banks can lie to their clients and misguide them to invest on a faulty security so that they can gain for the loss of their client. The movie also shows that the rating of the financial institutions is questionable since corporations with ratings of AA and AAA collapsed in the 2008 financial crisis. The film also exposes corporate fraud, for instance, Lehman Brothers manipulated its books to inflate its assets, and to reduce its liabilities. Corporate misconduct is also evident in the sale of securities to clients, which the investment bankers knew would fail.
The investment bankers would then head on to benefit from the bogus securities by betting against them, then failing the bogus securities. In 2001, investors lost a total of $3 trillion from internet stocks sold to them, that the investment banks knew would fail. The government took a significantly long time to respond to the damage caused by the investment banks. The slow response from the government was a sign of lack of competence of the government officials, since they should have studied the structures of the investment banks and seen their collapse coming as well as the repercussions of declaring them bankrupt. The government also took measures to save some of the investment banks by offering them bail out money which Federal Bank chairperson Bernard Bernanke and Henry Paulson requested from the government a total of $ 700 million for bail out, but took no effort to save the majority of the American population who had lost their investments.
8. Citizens United case
The non-profit organization, Citizens United, aims at the restoration of government control to the American citizens through measures such as advocating for the ban of corporate financial contributions on a political candidate of choice. Corporations can spend as much money as they wish on political candidates, but it is a requirement that the amounts spent are subject to laws of disclosure. The Citizens United organization supports a pluralist power set up, they advocate that the government encourages and protects diversity, since the individual or corporation is selfish in nature. They want to curb corporate funding of political candidates, which are made with the expectation a favor when the candidate wins the election.
9. Power Elites
The Power Elites a few people who are in power and own the most wealth and they determine important decisions of a country. These few rich people own the big companies and they serve as board of directors in several other companies thereby resulting to Interlocking directorates, Direct-interlocks, and Indirect interlocks. The power Elites fund preferred candidates via their corporations with the intention of getting some favors when the candidate wins and so that the candidate can serve their interests.
10. Instrumentalist and Structuralist view
Instrumentalist view is a Marxist view that the view that the state’s people directly serve the ruling capitalists who possess the powers of the state, the interests of the few capitalists come before the interests of the majority of the population. On the other hand, The Structuralist view prefers that the society’s interests come before the individual.
11. Government Decision and inequality
Government policies such as the policy on immigration, affects the inequality gap between the haves and the have-nots. The accommodation of policies that accept cheaper labor from immigrants reduces the cost of production for the corporations, while increasing their sales due to population increase. On the other hand, the same policy will negatively impact on the local population by lowering the pay they can receive due to increased competitions from cheaper immigrant labor as well as an increase in the population of Discourages Workers. This immigration policy makes the corporations richer while weakening the local labor market.
12. Barriers to democracy
One of the barriers to democracy in America is the lack of additional parties that have strong ideologies as opposed to the two major Democrat and Republican parties. There is a need for new ideologies to arise, that can deal with the challenges that face America today, which the Democrats and Republicans have failed to tackle. The government system should also be in a position to accommodate a change in power structure, such that there is compromise instead of the winner take all system. A system that accommodates a coalition government can take advantage of positive ideologies from different political parties.
Works Cited
D. Stanley Eitzen et al, et al, In Conflict and Order. (W.W. Norton, 2010 3nd edition).
ISBN: 0205625134
