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In his national bestsellers Secrets of the Temple and
Who Will Tell The People, William Greider exposed the inner workings of
the Federal Reserve and showed how the realities of political power in Washington
are undermining representative government. Now, in One World, Ready or Not,
Greider focuses his incomparable reportorial skills on the global economy and
the seemingly inexorable economic integration of the planet. The
global economy is the leitmotif of the end of the twentieth century. Driven by
the logic of modern capitalism, the global economy, a product of the Third Industrial
Revolution, ia a wondrous free-running system that is reordering the world as
it transforms the lives and economic prospects of workers, corporations and nations.
Having traveled the globe and talked to factory workers, corporate CEOs, economists
and government officials, Greider contends that the global economy is sowing "creative
destruction" everywhere: while making possible great accumulations of wealth,
it is also reviving forms of human exploitation that characterized industry one
hundred years ago and raising profound questions about the relevance of the nation-state
in the face of impersonal market forces. Greider explains
the dynamics of the global economy in terms of human struggle -- of diverse peoples
and nations, rich and poor alike, facing a multiplicity of opportunities and dangers.
As manufacturers in search of greater returns on investment move their assembly
lines to low-wage countries, the globalization of industrial production is resulting
in excess supplies of goods and labor, which, in turn exert downward pressures
on prices and wages. The deregulation of cross-border capital flows has opened
new opportunities for currency traders while allowing unfettered speculation on
a scale that can overwhelm the resources of even major governments. Meanwhile,
the high interest rates that global investors charge to finance the growing debt
of rich nations threaten the modern welfare
state, with the attendant risks
of class conflict and social chaos. As Greider makes
clear, the actions of multinational corporations and finance capitalists are no
longer guided by the national interests of their home countries, but by the imperatives
of the free market. Indeed, governments themselves, both rich and poor,, have
harnessed the fates of their economies -- and of their citizens -- to the logic
of global capitalism. As the global economy's contradictions
multiply and its instabilities deepen, are we doomed to relive the world depression
and the rise of violent fascism experienced in the early twentieth century? Greider
believes we are not, provided we are willing to recognize the dangers for what
they are -- threats not only to our middle-class lifestyles but also to social
peace in rich and poor countries alike. And provided national governments can
be persuaded to reassert their powers to regulate players in the global market
and protect communities and the rights of workers everywhere before it is too
late. William Greider is the National Editor of Rolling
Stone magazine. His previous books include Secrets of the Temple, which
won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Who Will Tell The People, which was
nominated for a National Book Award; and The Education of David Stockman and
Other Americans. He lives in Washington, D.C. |
