Globalisation

[Admiral Yi]

Winner.  Goods are cheaper.  US companies have access to more customers.  I can invest in foreign markets.

[derspiess]

Yes, apropos a remark made in another thread, it is probably automation  and technological innovation that is costing us the old industrial jobs rather than competition from abroad.

Can't blame immigrants for that, though.

Can we blame them for you? 

[Zanza]

Winner. I work in the corporate headquarter of a company that sells its products in like 150 countries. The domestic market would be way too small. Chinese and American luxury consumers pay my salary. I've personally lived in several other countries and travelled extensively.

EDIT: Germany in general - though not all individuals - is a huge globalisation winner.

[Barrister]

I'm a provincial government employee in a job that is largely unchanged from even a century ago.  So in a lot of ways I'm unaffected by globalisation.

But still I can purchase goods made from all over the world at very low prices.  I have on several occasions travelled internationally.  I have certainly benefits by globalisation to that effect.

[derspiess]

In my career I've been pretty unaffected.  My wife's current job wouldn't exist without it, though.

[Zanza]

Excellent book on Globalization I read recently:
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674660489

Globalisation has changed fundamentally since the internet revolution in the 1990s. Whereas 20th-century trade involved competition between countries, 21st-century trade is fuzzier, with supply chains crossing borders. An American academic, working in Geneva, argues that, while it might be difficult to help the losers, reversing the trend is even harder.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I think we should include, as well as the direct economic benefits, things such as greater food variety - I remember British food from 50 years ago, pretty grim 

Then there are things like computer games. It is not just that sales are better due to a worldwide market, but because the market is so unified we can get specialist games that appeal to various interest groups.

[Valmy]

I hope those alt right kids realize the damage their reactionary policies might do to their computer game access.

[Admiral Yi]

Hey Tricky, did they still have rationing when you were a kid?  I do know it went on surprisingly late.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Hey Tricky, did they still have rationing when you were a kid?  I do know it went on surprisingly late.

It was over by the time I was born, but I spent my early childhood in Germany, Hong Kong and Singapore where the food was comparatively good, so the return to England was disappointing. My grandma produced fantastic home-baked stuff but that was a rare highlight 

[Tamas]

I think we should include, as well as the direct economic benefits, things such as greater food variety - I remember British food from 50 years ago, pretty grim 

Then there are things like computer games. It is not just that sales are better due to a worldwide market, but because the market is so unified we can get specialist games that appeal to various interest groups.

Indeed. Technological progress in general has favoured the lower classes throughout history. (it basically made things that were exclusive to the rich more widely available) It is just the sad way of things that they always had to be dragged kicking and screaming into a better age.

[PRC]

A winner, unless you view globalization through the lens of climate change caused by man with all the increased shipping, air traffic and greater industrialization that may be associated with it.

[Valmy]

A winner, unless you view globalization through the lens of climate change caused by man with all the increased shipping, air traffic and greater industrialization that may be associated with it.

I am working on it!

[Josquius]

I think we should include, as well as the direct economic benefits, things such as greater food variety - I remember British food from 50 years ago, pretty grim 

Then there are things like computer games. It is not just that sales are better due to a worldwide market, but because the market is so unified we can get specialist games that appeal to various interest groups.

Indeed. Technological progress in general has favoured the lower classes throughout history. (it basically made things that were exclusive to the rich more widely available) It is just the sad way of things that they always had to be dragged kicking and screaming into a better age.

People tend to prefer something more profound than things?

We are heading in an interesting direction with this one. The value of material things drops ever lower, manufacturing is getting ever easier. 
I just can't see an entirely idea, service and entertainment based economy supporting so everyone.

[Duque de Bragança]

Hey Tricky, did they still have rationing when you were a kid?  I do know it went on surprisingly late.

It was over by the time I was born, but I spent my early childhood in Germany, Hong Kong and Singapore where the food was comparatively good, so the return to England was disappointing. My grandma produced fantastic home-baked stuff but that was a rare highlight 

If food was comparatively good in Germany back then I understand why I was still not impressed by food in the UK in the '90s.