There is a lot of literature out there on the subject of globalization. One interesting book is The Case Against the Global Economy (and For a Local Economy), pub. 1996, available at http://www.100Fires.com , along with many other books on the subject. This books is a collection of largely leftist essays on the issue, and many of them are well-written and quite compelling.
Someone mentioned their fear of homogenization of culture, referring to the possibility that multinational corporations will have their stores in each and every country, city, and village on the planet. For example, we will shop the Gap and eat in McDonald's when we visit the Andes. This comment overlooks the obvious. These businesses rely on getting cheap labor and resources from somewhere. (e.g., Indonesian sweatshops making Nike apparel http://web.mit.edu/dorourke/www/activism.html).
Slashdot Mirror
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=P TO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch- bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=200500717 41&OS=20050071741&RS=20050071741/ United States Patent Office - Patent 20050071741
and
US Patent Office Link http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/
There is a lot of literature out there on the subject of globalization. One interesting book is The Case Against the Global Economy (and For a Local Economy), pub. 1996, available at http://www.100Fires.com , along with many other books on the subject. This books is a collection of largely leftist essays on the issue, and many of them are well-written and quite compelling.
Someone mentioned their fear of homogenization of culture, referring to the possibility that multinational corporations will have their stores in each and every country, city, and village on the planet. For example, we will shop the Gap and eat in McDonald's when we visit the Andes. This comment overlooks the obvious. These businesses rely on getting cheap labor and resources from somewhere. (e.g., Indonesian sweatshops making Nike apparel http://web.mit.edu/dorourke/www/activism.html).
Damn fine post.