The Globalization AGENDA - Forgotten History

According to the Pearson Institute International Economics "Globalization is the word used to

describe the growing interdependence of the world's economies cultures and populations

brought about by cross-border trade in goods and services technology and flows of investment people

and information...The wide ranging effects of globalization are complex and politically

charged. As with the major technological advances globalization benefits society as a whole while

harming certain groups." Miriam Webster defines it as "the act or process of globalizing the state of

being globalized especially the development of an increasingly integrated global economy marked

especially by free trade free flow of capital and the tapping of cheaper foreign labor markets."

Who or what is pushing for globalization? How is globalization possibly a good thing? How is it

possibly bad? What are the main concerns many people have about it? Hello I'm Colin Heaton

military veteran historian author and welcome to this episode of Forgotten [Music] History

[Music] The German born American Economist Theodore Levitt is credited with creating

and coining the term "globalization" in a 1983 article titled "The Globalization of

Markets". To many people globalization is the uniformity of nations into a single entity a

mutually agreed upon arrangement connecting trade currencies immigration even politics. To others

globalization is a clarion call to a socialist superstate where independent nations would lose

their autonomy their populations would lose their individual rights and laws identities and cultures

and become absorbed into a one world movement for better or worse. Examples of globalization include

intergovernmental organizations. Globalization has made it possible for the international

organizations to be created through treaties between many different countries. Examples

include the European Union the United Nations the World Bank the World Trade Organization and the

international Monetary Fund. 2- Intergovernmental treaties. Many governments across the world have

engaged in treaties or trade policies that make it easier for international investment

and trade. These treaties called free trade agreements including the North American Free

Trade Agreement or NAFTA and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) are examples.

3- Multinational corporations do business in many different countries. Globalization

is the reason that multinational businesses exist. For example globalization allows major

US corporations to sell their products to Mexico Europe Africa South America Australia and China.

Some would argue that we are already globalized with regard to our economies and exchange of

currencies and that may be very true. Yet this is not a new or unique condition. For over 3,000

years as the barter system began to fade even ancient cultures and societies were trading on

an international scale and they used the same basic currencies of precious metals as their

economic base. Middle Eastern kingdoms traded with Europeans for medals such as gold silver iron ore

and copper. Chinese silk was sold to the Greek and Roman Empires and spices and precious stones from

India have been found in ancient burial sites in northern Europe. Ivory from India and Africa

was traded all over the known world as was olive oil from the Mediterranean regions. Wool and wine

from Western Europe found its way to Asia with much of its international traffic being on the

famous Silk Road as well as the growing fleets of merchant ships reaching ports on three continents.

These were in fact dynamic international transactions and trade flourished but was