canadians & globalization

Last week columnist David Crane from the Toronto Star (one of my local newspapers) wrote and article entitled Don’t discount the positive side of globalization to which I barely paid attention because it didn’t provide any new information that readers from this blog would already be aware of. I had my own attempt to provide positive arguments for globalization with the post pro-globalization. However in his latest article, Globalization column touched a raw nerve, Mr. Crane admits the reaction of the (Canadian) public to his previous column was:

much more negative than I had contemplated, and much more pessimistic about our own future.

A quick scan of some phrases in the replies he received will give you an idea of what the concerned readers had to say:

“growing polarization of the rich and poor”, “wages are on a downward spiral due to trade”, “corporate oligarchy with no sense of responsibility”, “growth in poverty, disappearance of the middle class in developed countries and the radical further enrichment of the wealthy”

All of which are topics I have discussed in the recent past in this blog: Corporations and their irresponsible behavior, statistics supporting the argument of the scary gap between rich and poor, even some thoughts on the outsourcing culture.

So, Mr. Crane, if you are really interested in maintaining a real debate about the pros and cons of globalization I invite you to participate in a medium where there is space for all the arguments without having to limit your thoughts to the space allowed by your newspaper.

I realize this is a popular topic and our challenge this year is to promote this blog more aggressively so those people reacting to a Sunday’s column have a permanent space to channel their concerns and do something about it.