It’s Globalization, Stupid

Globalization is the primary cause of the collapsing economy and job market in America, a fact which is blatantly obvious but ignored in the latest CBS 60 Minutes program on Newton, Iowa.

The show, which was otherwise excellent and perfectly captured the frontline problem facing all of America, and indeed the West, detailed a litany of woes which has struck Newton, starting with the closure of the Maytag washing machine plant.

Maytag’s famous washing machine, invented in the town over 100 years ago, provided the impetus for much of the town’s success, employing 5,000 people and a host of peripheral smaller businesses which supplied services to that corporation.

The CBS program mentioned, but glossed over the facts behind the closure of the Maytag plant, mentioning only in one line during the entire program the reason why it had closed.

Maytag was bought out, and by 2007 the factory closed; many of the jobs went to Mexico. No one knew it then, but these were the opening days of the Great Recession,” said the program, before quickly moving on to interview several people, including the mayor, who had lost either their jobs or a large part of their livelihoods as a result.

Most of the people interviewed had heartbreaking stories to tell. They explained how shops had to close, staff had to be laid off, and in one case, a weeping mother explaining how they never thought they would be in the position where they did not know how they would be able to afford to send their daughter to college.

As tragic and true as all these stories are, no one dared mention the real cause of this economic collapse: globalization.

Maytag Corporation was a $4.7 billion home and commercial appliance company, headquartered in Newton from 1893 to 2006, when it was bought out by the Whirlpool Corporation.

That corporation then closed down the Newton operation and moved production to its Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, manufacturing facility because “it [was] cheaper” in terms of labor costs.

Whirlpool used this same rationale to fire 700 employees from its Fort Smith, Arkansas, plant in 2008, and from its Evansville, Indiana, plant in 2008.

At that last location, some 1,100 people were left unemployed as production moved to Mexico.

“These initiatives strengthen Whirlpool’s industry leading position while also improving productivity and efficiency across our North American manufacturing platform,” David L. Swift, president, Whirlpool North America, claimed at the time.

“It is a with a heavy heart that we announced the decision to close our Evansville plant,” a handout given to employees at Evansville read.

“This business decision is the result of a global study and is not a reflection of our employees or their work performance.”

A news report quoted one employee, 46-year-old Robert Gross of Mount Carmel, Illinois, as saying that employees were still stunned and upset that the company was moving the jobs to Mexico.

“You guys are making a lot of money, but you guys are sending our jobs to Mexico. It’s just not right,” Mr. Gross said he told a company official.

The reasoning behind the globalization concept is as follows: big business believes that if it can lower its manufacturing costs, it will sell more items on the retail market and thus make bigger profits.

This rationale would be valid except for one very obvious flaw, which was highlighted in the CBS 60 Minutes show, namely, that when the jobs go, so does the disposable income of the retail market.

At one stage in the CBS program, the reporter said that he attended a local foreclosure sale, and no one bid on anything.

That’s because no one has any money,” came the retort from his audience.

And that sums it up. Globalization would work if an economy could keep going without manufacturing anything.

But for any economy to be viable, it has to manufacture something to sell. Once an economy loses its manufacturing base, its unemployed consumers will eventually run out of money to keep buying cheap Third World-manufactured goods, and then the whole system collapses.

This is the lesson, ignored of course, which is self-evident in the CBS program.

Watch it here and weep, not only for the poor victims portrayed therein, but also for the deliberate suppression of the dangers of globalization.

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Category: Establishment News

Comments (4)

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  1. Sharon H says:

    Our Founding Fathers would have considered exporting jobs out of the country to be a traitorous act against the people of the United States. Now it is supported and encouraged by the government (in spite of all the talk about "creating more jobs" rhetoric). My have things have changed!

    Perhaps it should come as no surprise that greed has trumped loyalty to one's country.

  2. John Schmidt says:

    The article is right on the money. Americans that are unemployed can't buy anything, specially washing machines! Americans are, to put it simply… dumb. How many of you disdain American cars and buy Toyotas? Look at Germany. Why do you think its a powerhouse? Because it exports and their people are loyal to their products. Same with the Japanese, you don't see them buying American cars do you? Or for that matter anything American. Except scrap iron. Wake up people. Now we have to borrow from the Chicoms to even pay for our wars. Can you believe that? Let me repeat it again. We have to borrow from the Chinese to pay for our wars! Does that make sense to you? Has it sunk into you how low this country has sunk?

  3. JamesinUSA says:

    Not only is Globalization stupid it's down-right RETARDED! And It's for this reason that we need a nationalist economy where making huge amounts of money one can wallow in like a dog in dirt is GREAT, but it's not necessarily the only consideration we as a people should be thinking about. Another reason is keeping our fellow Americans with a job that can provide a living wage, retirement, healthcare , and the ability to produce as many white babies as possible. If this should mean my paying a little more, or hell even lot more,than it's worth it! Independence, racial integrity, a future for our children should count for something. Never before should the saying " YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR " have more meaning than it does today.

  4. John says:

    Globalization is certainly the root cause of many of our economic ills, the problem is that the elite will not address it because they benefit from globalization. It doesn't matter whether you vote Democrat or Republican, the new religion is a push towards further off-shoring. The average American is getting barraged with its effects, and then soothed over with electronic benefits added to their food stamp cards. The average American is nothing but a mindless consumer for the elite to be exploited as a malleable and conditioned creature who will forever be too indebted and blinded by frivolities.

    There needs to be a concerted push towards the destruction of the globalist system, human freedom, liberty, and our prosperity depend on it.