Even in major industrialized nations such as in the United States and Great Britain, there is deep discontent with the current leadership, both in the executive and legislative branches of government, that made one University of Chicago economist and former Obama White House advisor, Austan Goolsbee, say recently on a forum on BBC, that if the U.S. had a parliamentary form of government, there would have been three coalition governments over the last three years.
Why is that? A nation’s economic fortunes are, more so now than ever before, not only inter-dependent and linked with another nation’s economic fortunes, but also with nations that trade with their original trading partner. With more nations coming on-line into the global trading space, something the world has not witnessed for thousands of years, at this level, decisions that are made elsewhere have the direct effect on jurisdictions both near and far. It is like having both a wife and a mistress or having, as some do, several wives. Unless someone is exceptionally sound like a Solomon-type person, and able to manage their affairs wisely, there is a pretty good chance no matter how many good, rational decisions a person makes on behalf of the government, the bad, irrational decisions made elsewhere will negate the good ones that were made on behalf of the government.
To mean, basically, that presidents and prime ministers who oversee their governments have little control over the affairs of their respective states, and therefore, the global economy. Hence, the great discontent among the global electorate which manifests itself in various ways, from violent political overthrow to more sedate street protests. What we are moving to is not, as some have argued, a post-globalism mind-set where we revert to a more “reclusive” self-sufficient sustainable model, which is important in any case, but a one-world-order, where people will look to one person to oversee the affairs of the planet. Or, in other words, the global trend-lines suggest that we are heading to a place where there is less nationalism, not necessarily because we are in favor of it, but because that is the nature of the global economy and the way capital and other means of production move.
MATT PHILIPS
Mangilao, Guam
