While I was on the way back to Ann Arbor from a hockey match at Michigan State University in Lansing, Aaron asked my opinion on globalization. I said to her that I generally believe globalization is good but the only thing that is making it not work are the restrictions forced on trade. Taxes, tariffs, subsidies etc. are preventing globalization.
Though the restrictions are bad, I went on further and told Aaron, Louisa and Amy that I understand why there are restrictions to trade. Smaller economies, I used Malaysia as an example find it very hard to compete with the US and Europe on the global scale. Malaysia needs and wants to protect its local industries. When a small tiger spars against a fully grown lion, certainly the cub is nothing but a dead meat. The only way to help the cub is to protect it and only let the fight happens after the cub has grown into a mighty tiger.
As I continued to vomit my thoughts, I said though restrictions done by the developing countries are acceptable due to the analogy, the restrictions imposed by the developed nations are a bit unfair. If the US and the EU really want globalization, they should be fair to the developing countries, in particular the Asian tigers and the Latins, by abolishing the subsidies and tariffs that are enforced on industries and imports. While eliminating these restrictions, the US and EU shouldn’t expect the developing countries to do the same thing at the same time. The developing countries should be given extra time to adapt to free trade and let their local industries to gain sufficient capital to compete internationally. Until the developing countries have done that, globalization will never work the way it should have been.
And before the conversation topic moved on to the upcoming Aaron’s Rosh Hashanah celebration, I said both parties on each side of the fence, the advocates and the oppositions both have valid points and both are right. To decide which are you, you only need to see where you are. If you are rich, you possibly would be the advocates; if you are otherwise, most likely you will oppose it.
I said that in the Mercedes drove by Louisa with Aaron seemingly to agree. Amy was quietly thinking about it and the GPS kept on its mission to annoy us. Though I managed to convince them, the idea that I threw out had begun to hunt me down while I was trying to get some sleep after doing my statistics homework on correlation and regression later that night.
On the comfy bed, my mind raced to find a better way to explain why some people think globalization is bad and why I believe in a world without border. Thus, I tarried with a pillow under my head and a blanket covering my body for almost two hours. As the precious sleeping time slipped from my clumsy fingers, my thought brought fruit.
If I could rewind the time and be with those three girls of whom I am growing fond of, I would say globalization is like standing in the middle of the Diag during a warm day, naked with the surrounding strangers staring at you. (My apology to all non-Michigan readers. The Diag a huge students’ square with green grasses and trees around it. During a warm day, no doubt it is the densest place in the town of Ann Arbor.)
How do you feel?
The feeling certainly would be insecurity because there is nobody to help you out. There is nobody for you to call out for help. You are alone, naked.
Similarly, globalization describes the same thing, only that you are possibly wearing a tie with a black coat on. Similarly, it’s like a typical graduating undergraduate. After three, four or five years of college, finally you are facing the real world and you have no idea what you want or have to do. All you see is the sheer magnitude of reality bites. All you see is an omnipresent fierce competition to gain the ultimate objective of this world – money and power.
Nobody is saying hi, nobody is saying howdy; everybody is minding their own business.
But, between freedom and dependency, which would you choose?
I do not know about you but I prefer to be independent, free of all things, dependent on nobody. Therefore, I to a certain degree believe in globalization.
As a note, being a green certainly does not contradict with this belief. Damage to the environment is done by the irresponsible industrialists, not by globalization itself.
And oh, the Wolverines lost to the Spartan 4 – 1 and I think I was responsible for the first two goals scored passed Amy. I’d stopped the ball but the ball somehow went to a Spartan player. I stood there like a statue, not amused by my own mistake. Sigh…
The second goal happened simply because I was out of position but I guess I could shift the blame to Aaron since she was the one that asked me to support her. =)
