No economic model can compete with Globalization. It has lifted billions out of poverty, virtually eliminated famine, and provided untold riches that our ancestors could only dream of. Despite the pros and cons of globalization, it is doomed to fail.
Chapters:
00:00 – What Is Globalization?
01:24 – History of Globalization
02:38 – Modern Globalization
05:34 – Globalization After the Cold War
07:35 – Pros and Cons of Globalization
13:11 – Anti-globalization in the US
16:48 – Fragility of Supply Chains
18:57 – Geopolitical Pressures on Globalization
25:17 – Population Collapse
BY PIKE PRODUCTIONS
Abridged Transcript:
The device you are using to watch this video made over 100 border crossings before it reached your hands. Raw materials were extracted in central Asia so that individual components could be manufactured in Taiwan which used machinery from central Europe to meet design specifications that were drafted in South Korea, China, or the US to reach final assembly in east Asia and made compatible to run on operating systems designed in the US. Components used in a single iPhone rely on over 200 individual suppliers. To say that your device had to make over 100 border crossings before being unboxed is probably an understatement.
This complex web of commerce is achieved through the process of Globalization. Safe shipping lanes and a global commitment to international trade make this all possible. Globalization has increased the quality of life for more people than any other economic system in human history. People around the world have access to more goods at lower prices than ever before. Best of all, globalization lifted billions of over a billion people out of poverty. No other economic policy has done more for the extreme poor than globalization.
And it’s all going to come to an end soon.
Global trade is nothing new. Anyone who even knows just a little bit about history knows has heard of the silk road or the triangular trade. However, these early globalization trade networks lacked safe and secure passages. Piracey and kleptocracy made foreign trade incredibly expensive and risky. Global trade was isolated within specific European empires. The English, French, Spanish, and others, all had their own trade networks and rarely traded with one another. Of course they would steal from each other during times of war which happened often. The lack of cooperation between European powers made it easier for pirates to roam in the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas.
If ships could evade pirates, their cargo may still be plundered by rival nations. It was quite common for competing European powers to steal each others cargo. The English would steal from the French, the French would steal from the Spanish, and pirates would steal from everybody. Clashing colonial powers would make foreign trade unreliable, and in turn more expensive. This would be the norm of global trade, until 1945.
By the end of the end of the second world war, there would be only two global powers, each with their own sphere of influence. But unlike the USSR, the United States would emerge as the world’s sole naval power. While the Soviets would hold eastern Europe and central Asia, America would have the oceans. All of them.
When Western Europe had their turn with controlling the global oceans, that power was used to exclusively enrich the mother country. A mix of colonization and state sponsored monopolies were all designed to generate wealth for the homeland. When Americans took control of the seas, they had a different idea. Scared by the horrors of the world wars, the United States decided to use their naval superiority to grant free trade across all nations, including their very recent enemies.
Everyone could participate in this new, free global trade network. The high cost of providing a global navy to keep shipping lanes safe would be paid entirely by the Americans. There was only one catch to participate in this free global trade network: you would have to be firmly anti-Soviet. Despite this geopolitical mandate, a new era of global trade was unleashed. The days of cargo ships being stolen by rival nations or pirates was over. If your country lacked natural resources or food, it could now be easily imported without needing to bow to a European colonial master.
And this was just the beginning. The free trade network would eventually be opened up to communist China in 1979. The golden age of globalism had arrived.
