Globaloney: Unraveling the Myths of Globalization

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Mike Veseth's book is organized into a set of eight essays about different subjects on globalization and how their rhetoric effects the debate of globalization. Mike (I'm a former student, so I can call him that) takes great pains argue that the those who oppose globalization use rhetorical devices that hammer home their point, even if there is no real point. They present images and cleverly drawn descriptions and anecdotes that help prove the point, but careful study of the anecdote proves them not so universal as a descriptor of globalization. Mike's eight chapters focus on different case studies that have been used in the past to describe globalization, particularly its negative effects. Each of the chapters is particularly interesting, and chapters 3-8 all stand up by themselves as independent essay that attack current thinking about globalization's effects on countries and individuals. The best two chapters in the book are 4 and 5, about football (not the American kind) and wine. Mike is obviously the most interested in these two because he did the most work for these, and his work reflects his interest well. He is now working on a full length book on Globalization and wine; I can't wait for that. Mike spends Chapter 3 knocking down the thesis that basketball is an example of globalization, as it has spread out from America, especially since the Dream Team in the Olympics of 1992. Mike argues in Ch3 that basketball was already everywhere across the world from the YMCA spreading it but after 1992, it opened up. He takes Ch4 to argue that soccer is a much better phenomenon to explain globalization, because it is truly global and penetrating into all forms of life international, well, except the US. It is because it is not a spectator sport in the US that Americans refuse to acknowledge its prevalence and it is truly the most dominant sport. Mike's chapter about wine is simply fantastic. Basically, he argues that globalization of the wine industry has both created winners and losers. It has drive some companies out of business, but created new industries in places where no one was sure if they could survive. He particularly goes into the development of the New Zealand wine industry and how because they have come to the forefront of the wine stage. Mike uses all of these different case studies to argue that globalization isn't necessarily a good or a bad thing, it simply is. Globalization does create winners and it does create losers. The losers usually are inferior products that can't compete. But sometimes they are regional products that perhaps have qualities that make them important. He points out that if they do, usually they have defenders that use globalization techniques (market them to new markets) to keep them alive. In conclusion, (he'll hate me for using that phrase) Mike's book is fantastic if you are looking for great review of globalization and some amazingly interesting facts about both sides of the debate. If you want

The main thrust of this book is that both pro-globalization and anti-globalization interests tend to use overheated arguments not supported by much in the way of evidence. The book succeeds quite well at this and I recommend it on that basis. The book doesn't address what in my opinion are the main reasons why globalization is a problem. The truth is that globalization is simply a fantasy based on cheap oil. Globalization is popular because the problems associated with the global production and transport of cheap goods, such as pollution and depletion of resources, are easier to ignore when the problems themselves can be moved across international boundaries. (Who cares if those weird foreigners poison themselves or cut down their own forests?) Sadly, an economy in which ordinary food items and other basic necessities are shipped for thousands of miles between producer and consumer is not an economy with a long-term future. In this context, I think that quibbling over which side of the debate uses the most misleading metaphors and anecdotes is a little silly. Veseth also seems to accept without question the idea that expansion of an economy is a good thing. Veseth spends much time discussing some of globalization's success stories, such as the New Zealand wine export business. Veseth sounds a note of caution here, as he mentions the overexpansion of New Zealand vineyards--the usual result of a big success in the global market. Veseth doesn't follow this up by questioning whether expansion of global markets is desirable at all. If you read this book, I would recommend pairing it with some others to provide more perspective, such as Daly's "Beyond Growth" and Kunstler's "The Long Emergency".

Globalization simply doesn't work. It can't work. Since adopting globalization, the USA has lost much of its manufacturing sector along with the decent paying jobs to off-shore suppliers. But the third world countries have also lost as they are forced to play a game of beggar-thy-neighbor by constantly undercutting one another with lowrer wages and looser environmental protections. This book explains why so many oppose globalization in steadily increasing numbers.