The Role of Globalization in Promoting Inequality in the United States Essay

The Role of Globalization in Promoting Inequality in the United States and the World - Essay Example On the other hand, it has been highly criticize by those who view it as an advancement of uncontrolled capitalism, and as a threat to social cohesion, which undermines social welfare. In a bid to understand the role of globalization in promoting inequality, this essay seeks to answer the following question; what is globalization? What does unequal distribution of globalization effects around the world mean? What relationship exists between inequalities and globalization? By addressing this questions, the paper underpins the role of globalization in promoting inequality in the United States and in the world. Discussion Role of Globalization on Poverty and Inequality In John A. Powell and S.P Udayakumar’sRace, Poverty and Globalization, Powell and Udayakumar look into the role of globalization on poverty and inequality in certain nations. Powell and Udayakumar define globalism as the process by which capital, goods and services move freely among countries. As globalization advan ces, national boundaries become more permeable and less relevant, allowing multinational companies to open branches worldwide. In most developing nations, the cost of living is sky-rocketing every day; the consumer goods are expensive and the governments’ adoption of a market oriented economics translates to loss of consumer goods subsidies. People in South America are forced to work under poor work conditions with low pay if they are to earn a living due to globalism. Inequality exists because while the U.S and other first world governments report budget surpluses, the people of color in this poor nations and in the U.S in general are not able to meet their daily needs. The government does not help improve housing for the low income earners and the homeless; the public schools attended by these minority races are in poor condition; and the government still has not found a proper solution to provide medical attention and social services for the poor. Globalism in the U.S is p articularly hostile to people of color; civil rights movements, women’s movements and environmental movements are marginalized in an economic arena by the wealthy and political figures in the economy. Effects of Globalization on the U.S Worker A closer look at Wal-Mart, America’s largest retailer, and one is able to draw conclusions as to the revolutionary power of retailers over manufacturers in America today. Retailers are no longer dependent in the local manufacturer; they continue to push for the move of production offshore which translates to reduced costs on their part, â€Å"everyday low prices† for the customers and low wages for the local worker. This new policy of reducing costs to the minimum leads to loss of jobs in America to the globalization trend of moving production offshore, where the cost of labor is cheap and readily available. This puts thousands of Americans on unemployment. At the same time, â€Å"globalization has transformed retailers l ike Wal-Mart into the powers of the economy, the center of business, and the manufacturers have become the vassal, the serf, who has to bid for the retailers,† says Nelson Lichtenstein, a professor at the University of California Santa Barbara. Wal-Mart’s major strategy is to operate at the lowest costs possible and to go global; most local manufacturers have had to either abide by Wal-Mart’s policy or risk losing shelf volume. This translates to workers in these companies suffering due to low wages imposed by these manufacturers in a bid to fit in with Wal-Mart’s policy of low prices. Manufacturing companies like Rubber Maid have had to risk losing volume since Wal-Mart could not take the price increase proposed by Rubber Maid to counter the