It's a strange paradox in that folks on the political left can run around shouting things like "we're being battered by globalization" (Pollina 2007). Yet, these same people come out swinging for more regulations and taxes that will further contribute to the battering. Either these people don't truly believe in the opportunities of globalization or they believe government intervention can "protect" us from it.
If globalization is such a danger to our way of life how does "putting your head in the sand" with protectionist ideas help? Why the idea of willingly and vigorously competing in the global market to the betterment of all never occurs to this group is beyond me.
For the few readers who still think that perils of not vigorously competing in the global market is a naive fantasy of a few Tigers consider this passage from Philip Bobbitt's book "The Shield of Achilles" (p667).
"Eventually, all the leading members of the society of market-states may come to accept views similar to these: that capital markets have to become less regulated in order to attract capital investment and that capital has to become more global in order to achieve the maximum returns on investment; that labor markets have to become more flexible in order to compete with other, foreign labor markets and to keep jobs at home that depend upon producing products at a cost that can compete with the products of states that have lower labor costs; that if the world economy is to grow access to all markets has to be assured and trade has to become less regulated; that a state's trade policy will have to become more free if that state's goods are to be able to penetrate foreign markets and thus participate in this growth; that government subsidies, spending, and welfare programs have to be managed in order to permit more [private] investment in infrastructure and to allow greater private savings (which will lower the cost of investment); and that tax policy has to provide incentives for growth in order to attract enterprise and to maximize innovation and entrepreneurship... if these states do not heed those recommendations... other states will gain a decisive advantage over them."
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