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The illusion of freedom is a dangerous deception that effects many educated Americans, insufficiently aware, if at all, of the feral nature of our capitalist based system. Corporate megaliths, gone global, are increasingly abandoning the face of responsibility to national interests. The welfare of American citizens is of little or no consequence to the mostly anonymous dominant stockholders and corporate officers, whose only concerns are for the well-being of their vehicles of capital. When a corporation becomes diversified internationally, so that the course of local events does not interfere with over-all profits, the concept of domestic obligation is no longer valid.
In feudal times, one’s masters were known, perhaps even susceptible to a petition of grievances, or a request for redress. The lords ruled their holdings, small or large, for their own advantage, not for the benefit of the people. Yet the crafts and tradespersons, progenitors of the middle-class, understood the system and however reluctantly, accepted their place in it. In the information age, the lords of profit are mostly removed from pubic access, shielded by great wealth and the power to control the content of the media. Their immense resources allow them to select politicians to reassure the public that we live in a democracy. But it is closer to reality to conclude that we live in an oligarchy, where policies are determined by a small cabal that are not necessarily in the public interest.
The twentieth century struggle for equitable allocation of resources between management and labor has been resolved by outsourcing blue collar jobs, or obsolescing workers by using electronic technology. The workers who once answered the call to strike, walked the picket line, confronted scabs, fought company goons, endured hardships to obtain a fair share of the American dream are virtually extinct. They have been replaced by lower middle class computer specialists, strategically divided by cubicles that discourage unity, or low wage service personnel, insufficiently equipped by education or inclination to influence policy. Yet the media and our leaders persist in proclaiming that we live in a democracy.
In a world still consisting of nation-states, each concerned with national interests, globalization only benefits those who gain from the diffusion of capitol. The average citizen will receive a lower standard of living. The disadvantaged will have few alternatives to low paying service jobs. When American oligarchs were confronted with foreign competition in the 1960’s, they packed up their cash and went abroad. They chose to invest internationally in advanced industrial enterprises, pioneered in Japan, Germany and other innovating nations. They left rust belts behind for their former employees and families, because it wasn’t profitable to retool obsolete factories, burdened with high labor costs, that now could be dispensed with.
The complex economics of Globalization make it exceedingly difficult for the average citizen to intelligently decipher the benefits and disadvantages accurately. Certain facts have become clear. Those capable of participating in the dispersal of capital and business will profit from the new opportunities. The diversification of capital will reduce the assets of middle class Americans, as the playing field they were accustomed to is leveled to allow for newcomers abroad. This will result in lower incomes and diminished opportunities for a better life for their children.
The working poor and disadvantaged will also suffer as the American tax base declines, thus reducing funds for social services and other supplemental assistance. The loss of support will not be compensated for by private charities and foundations with their own mission agendas, who will not dispense funds mainly to support a poverty population. The working poor, struggling to subsist on low-paying service jobs, will not have the resources to better educate their children to prepare them for the opportunity to compete for a better life. That opportunity will now be offered to select third world children, beneficiaries of the new global system.
American corporations are increasingly seeking tax shelters abroad. The reality of our economic future is painfully obvious in a simple premise. Reduced corporate taxes, plus reduced income taxes, minus increasing government and personal expenditures, equals disaster. Limited groups and individuals will profit immensely from the global marketplace. The American middle class, that once luxuriated in amenities that were formerly for the privileged class, must now make do with less. There is little doubt that Globalization will benefit many people in third world countries who can take advantage of the new world economy. Since capitalism is never concerned with ethics, the harm done to the American way of life has become a moot issue. It remains to be seen if the benefits of the Information Age will accrue to hard working Americans, who may not be qualified for the jobs of the future.
