This is part one of a five part series on the global economy

EMOTION AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
By Bob Confer

Most Americans have at one time or another damned the Global Economy. Many fear the dawning of this newfound global prosperity and cite free trade as the end of the American Way of Life as revenues and resources travel out of and into our borders at record paces. On the flip side, many others look at the transforming marketplace with glee and feel that it is rife with benefits that far outweigh any negatives. Not a day goes by that this issue is not debated at length by individuals from both sides of the story and all walks of life. Quite often these discussions become heated, if not utterly frustrating, as everyone has their own unique opinion that is driven by emotion more than anything.   

The economy has become an emotional battlefield and, at once, has the ability to frighten and delight, the former emotion appearing to get much more of a following. Such worry has its roots in the fear of change. It is one of the most basal of our fears, and justifiably so, as there exists such a great unknown when comfort zones are torn asunder. When one looks at the incredible pace at which our world is changing and how our nation’s role within it has changed as well, the ability to properly ascertain the pros and cons is clouded by this raw fear. We are accustomed to our nation being the number one economic force in the world, the veritable center of the economic universe. Our nation has held this position ever since the English Empire’s worldwide grasp slackened in the late 1800’s. This role, which has an air of tradition for America, has shrunk considerably over the past decade as the marketplace has become more global in its size and scope. America is rapidly becoming a player in - rather than the driver of - the world economy. As they see our influence weaken and wealth starting to become more spread out, many Americans have become fearful of our well-being as they have no inkling as to what the future holds for us.

A secondary emotion (which truthfully may be more of behavior than emotion) that feeds off this fear of change is the hatred of dissimilar people. That is, unfortunately, a path of thought that too many Americans have followed in economic analysis. Patriotism - and the monetary safety of America - pulls at the heartstrings when analyzing the supposed predicament that we’ve been placed in. It tends to be taken too far as this patriotism has personified itself in the form of ugly ethnocentrism. As our citizens go about wrongly believing that every job lost in America is due to China, India, Mexico, and the like, a sense of hatred brews within the innermost recesses of the mind. Often with purpose, but more often than not with an innocent subconscious reaction, these nations and their citizens are frowned upon and many of the participants of our nation’s economy would just assume see these other nations suffer in relative squalor as they have for decades.   

The media is of no help in sedating these emotions, as it tends to promulgate an atmosphere of raw fear. Atrocities, sadness and fear sell newspapers and airtime. That being said, the press tends to highlight plant closings and downsizings the nation over while ignoring the steady, often remarkable, growth of small-and-medium-sized businesses in the USA. The press is always quick to point the finger at free trade as the root cause of the aforementioned closings. In most cases these assessments are in complete error as many firms move to tax havens within our own borders or downsize due to increased efficiency. Yet, such truth can never be told on air because it’s not as compelling as a sound bite from, or video of, a heartbroken soul adversely affected by the pretenses of Global Evil. It’s this sort of stimulus that exacerbates the misconceptions of free trade as the compassionate side of the human mind vicariously feeds off other people’s sorrow.   

Debating what impact the global economy has or will have on America is not an easy task. It becomes a tenuous analysis due to the human side of it all. The inability to separate fact from fiction is the direct result of raw human emotions clouding logic and creating an overall ambiguity that won’t soon be remedied.