Klein Blog 4

 Reed Klein

Professor Shirk 

POLS 170: International Politics

4/20/22

Why Globalization is great for the world but bad for America

This is not an American politics class, but I am an American so writing about this topic from this perspective makes a whole lot of sense to me. My argument is simple, globalization is a positive thing for the world, as it helps to spread the skills and technology of wealthier nations, to the more impoverished ones. The issue for America though is that globalization has caused American work to be outsourced to many of these impoverished nations where it can be done for cheaper. Well-paying labor jobs are far fewer in abundance today in 2022 than they were just a few decades before, and I believe globalization is partly to blame for that. Politicians of all nations look to cut corners by any means necessary, regardless of whether they say they want to spend or save money. This is why American politicians in the late 20th and early 21st centuries were very happy to sign various free trade agreements. While these agreements do have their upsides in terms of giving more of the world access to a plethora of goods and services and allowing culture to spread far easier, this larger-scale access for the world to obtain means that these other places can now produce them. Many other nations, especially places like Mexico and China have less strict labor laws, which means that they can and will produce goods that used to be made in America, with the tradeoff that it will be cheaper for everyone involved. However nice it may be that you or I can buy smaller items like clothing or even bigger items such as vehicles for cheaper, there is an absolute drawback to that. That person who is arguably working in slave-labor-like conditions in a factory overseas contributes to one less person not working in a manufacturing plant a few hours west in Youngstown. The sadder thing about that is once upon a time, a factory job was a well-paying job, a job in which someone could work to support their family of 4 or 5. This is also not to say that none of these jobs do exist, but the US Bureau of Labor says that we have possibly lost up to 7 million-plus manufacturing jobs in the past 50 or so years. Another common misconception about the loss of labor is that the people who have come out as protectionists and want to protect American industry are somehow radical socialists and Anti-American, with a Donald size exception that of course, but it is irrelevant to this argument. I personally contend that the people who speak out in favor of protectionist policies are people who care about the average American. It does not really matter how much less your Ford Focus may cost if it is made in Mexico, but the difference in money if it was made in Michigan could go to hardworking American who is working hard to support their family, without the cozy college degree that you or myself may have. This is not an argument about whether you need a college degree or not, but an argument that you should be able to forge your own path and not have to do the same thing everyone else is doing.