Globalization

What kind of impact will globalization have on America? Negative aspects include:

-- Millions of Americans have lost jobs due to imports or production shifts abroad. Most find new jobs--that pay less.

-- Millions of others fear losing their jobs, especially at those companies operating under competitive pressure.

-- Workers face pay-cut demands from employers, which often threaten to export jobs.

-- Service and white-collar jobs are increasingly vulnerable to operations moving offshore.

-- U.S. employees can lose their comparative advantage when companies build advanced factories in low-wage countries, making them as productive as those at home.

(For more, check out “The Pros and Cons of Globalization” http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_17/b3678003.htm)

So, it is understandable that it is cheaper to build a factory in China, for example, and have Chinese workers make a product (such as sneakers). It would cost more than it is worth to run an American factory with American factory workers making such menial products. This is an older example of the types of jobs that have been exported; however, this is a growing phenomenon due to the low cost of labor in other countries.

This raises an issue in America; it assumes that most people will become educated and enter into specialized careers. We will become doctors, lawyers, CEOs, etc. etc. What about the people who cannot afford the education necessary to attain these positions? What about the people who do not have the intellectual capabilities? Normally, these people would probably become service workers, but if these jobs are soon going to be outsourced this lower/middle class group will become the poor/lower class. And those who have the drive, the money, and the time will succeed. America will become a nation without a middle class.