Globalization!?!?!?!?

Current event; Globalism and American Trade Policy

The presentation started off with Allan Gibson introducing Donna Lee. She has been working for over 20 years, has taught at a few universities, written a handful of books and received highly accredited awards for her achievements. She is a senior lecturer of political economy and is regarded as an expert on the topic.

Her main presentation was on globalism and the impact that the American trade policy has on it. She started off talking about what globalism is and how it really doesn’t have a true definition. The main point I got from it was the nature of how the internet and other impacts created this borderless world we live in. This system is an unstoppable force, a problem with no passports meaning anyone anywhere can be affected.

To get to her main point, the fact that with Neoliberalism and the logic of competitiveness we live in a world were the market controls the economy. Her main example was the import/export of cotton. Years ago with the New Deal a system to subsidize farmers was put in place so they would receive money from the Government to keep their business alive. This is an outdated way now. When you look at African countries and the impact our subsidies have on them its tragic. She showed us that New deals Farm bill gives some 280 billion over 5 years to subsidize farmers. How are developing countries suppose to compete with this. Statistics show that 73% of that money goes to only 10% of the farmers. So some are getting rich while others suffer. She stated that this system is not about free trade or globalism. Studies have shown that North America, Europe and Asia perform a large amount of intra trade, this is regional, not global. The major cotton producing countries in Africa would be aided tremendously if our system of subsidies was abolished. They cant compete with us and their annual  production is going down($43 million in Mali alone). With the removal of subsidize the price of cotton would go up 18-28%. This would help out an African country tremendously.

Therefore, I do see the fact that the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. It’s a bummer to see that our trade policies adversely effect so many.