This is the final part in a five-part series about the global economy

GLOBALIZATION AND THE COMMON GOOD
By Bob Confer

The other side of the world is suddenly becoming a much better place thanks to something we’ve always taken for granted and they’ve never had until now.

Millions of people in China, India, and other parts of the Far East are experiencing consumerism and economic health brought on by mass production. After centuries of toiling in the fields and lingering in the global market and political scene as second-rate entities - if not poverty-stricken third-world countries – these nations, which represent most of the world population, are finally reaping the benefits of Western-style capitalism or, in China’s case, a mongrelization of capitalism and socialism.

By the Western World outsourcing to the East an economic boom has occurred at a stunning and unprecedented pace. In less than a decade manufacturing has turned these lands into wealth-creating nation states and has changed their political systems’ views of economic development. Now their plans are ambitious, yet proven to be attainable, rather than staid and slow-moving as in decades past. New cities are starting from scratch, old cities are becoming modernized, and the dirt-poor of the rural communities are migrating to these invigorated urban areas and satisfying their dreams.

This ever-growing national wealth has fostered a better way of life for millions of Asians. Newfound incomes have empowered their people and have created a consumption-driven middle class. India’s middle class has more than tripled in twenty years and in another twenty years is estimated to be half of India’s population. In just five short years China’s middle class has gone from 15% to 20% of overall population and the goal shared by Chinese politicians, business leaders, and citizens alike is a middle class that is, by 2020, 40% of China’s 1.3 billion inhabitants.

These formerly-poor individuals are reaping the benefits of an improved way of life. With money in hand, they now find themselves with the same social and materialistic wants, needs, and desires that have been the core of the Western economy and society for many moons. After making a variety of what were to them new and strange items for Westerners, they have found a need for the same and are buying consumer goods galore and craving many more, which in turn is driving their economies into becoming manufacturing meccas that will support their own needs more than it will the needs of the Western World. 

Despite sentiment among some concerned Westerners to the contrary, the burgeoning economies of Asia will not mean transference of wealth out of the Americas and Europe. As mentioned above, in the very near future Asia will be too busy satisfying their own needs to keep pilfering production jobs from the West. And, simultaneously, Asia will find a need for consumer goods that the West manufacturers and designs, things that aren’t necessary, but strongly desired by middle classes. This all means that in the future most economies on this planet will mirror one another in terms of production and consumption and all nations - save the inner portion of the African continent – will be wealthy and healthy.           

In conclusion to the past five weeks of economic analysis, one must realize that as it becomes increasingly more “Westernized” in terms of economy and society, the world is turning into a much better place. Quite truthfully, it is becoming a much smaller and more intimate place as well. Formerly far-flung lands are now our key trading partners, and all citizens the world over are becoming increasingly more dependent on the physical and intellectual production of all other nations. No longer is the global marketplace a stark contrast of the “haves” and “have-nots”. Now, most areas are experiencing the benefits of consumerism and capitalism. The times are good and are destined to be even better…not only for the Far East but for we here in America as well.