Bookraft

A theme is beginning to emerge in the North American Press and Book markets, and it is that the USA has the distinct possibility of becoming the next Great Britain, falling swiftly from World political, economic and social pre-eminence and becoming and also ran first economically and then inevitably politically, militarily, educationally.

Sure some measure of military or cultural or financial position may linger on longer than the declines elsewhere but the writing is on the Wall of books on globalization:
Thomas Friedman - The World is Flat - is most comprehensive look at the causes and consequences
Lou Dobbs - Exporting America - defines the permanence and consequence of Outsourcing on US economy
Peter G Petersen - Running on Empty - scathes both parties for using petty, private issues to swing elections over any substance, outsourcing is a key example
Clyde Prestowitz -3 Billion New Capitalist - a sobering assessment of the strength of Emerging Countries
Jeremy Rifkin - The Loss of Labour - a full 10 years ahead of its time on many of the issues
Pietra Rivoli - Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy - following globalization through the trenches
Joseph Stiglitz - Globalization and Its Discontents - preceeds The World is Flat by 1 year, but less complete
Louis Uchitelle - The Disposable American - best view on the costs of outsourcing and offshoring

Now what is happening of late, perhaps stimulated by the hapless War in Iraq, is a series of confirmatory articles in a diverse array of journals, magazines and newspapers:
Business Week Feb 2003 - One of the earliest articles on Global Job Shifts
Harvard Business Review Oct 2006 - Emerging Giants - how to compete against the 3rd World Powerhouses
Harvard Business Review Oct 2006 - The Rise of Corporate Nationality - counter viewpoint on an aspect of globalization
Mckinsey Quarterly - Beyond Cheap Labor - How even developing economies of Mexico, South Korea, Poland are losing to cheapest labour
The Economist Sept 16th 2006 - The New Titans - describes the emergence of India, China as major economic players
The Economist Oct 21st 2006 - America Drops, Asia Shops - the rest of the world does not downturn with USA
Foreign Affairs May/June 2006 - The Globally Integrated Enterprise - IBM CEO's Palmisano's view on globalization
Foreign Policy December 2005 - Sinking Globalization - could global trends be scuttled by policy folly

Now why make any reference to the War in Iraq - what is its relationship with the World Globalization ? Well for some reason the Press has become a not a leading indicator of trends, especially major global economic trends, but followers. For example, one of the best books on Globalization, Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat, is really about 2-5 years behind the main events - the emergence of India, China and Eastern Europe as major outsourcing and offshoring powers as much as economic stalwarts. All started in the mid 1990's and reached their peak in 2002-2005. And the flattener events have an earlier cycle reaching peaks in in the mid and late 1990's. So if Friedman's book of early 2004 (but updated in mid 2005) leads the parade, what does that tell you about the prognosticatory power of Economic books and reports.

Or more tellingly, the willingness of the Press to be bearers of bad news. Yes some could argue that they don't want to get it wrong with premature assesments.

But look at the Economist article of September 16th 2006. Several of the articles are frankly alarm level warnings:
Playing Leapfrog - If today's rich world does not watch out, it could become tomorrow's relatively poor world:Target USA
A Topsy-turvy World - How long will emerging economies continue to finance America's spendthrift habits ?
Unnatural Causes of Debt - Interest rates are too low. Whose fault is that: Target USA and Developed countries
Coverage of Globalizations and its Downward Econonomic Consequences by the major Press eerily echoes Robert Woodward's trilogy on the War in Iraq. Bush at War from July 2003 and then Plan of Attack from September 2004 could be viewed as apologies for the neocon approach to Iraq war. However, State of Denial which appeared in September 2006 could also be viewed as stepping on the band wagon that was the inundation of books and treasties about the mistakes and follies of the Bush administration in its Iraq policies. Are we getting served warmed over truisms well after the fact on globalization and its consequences ? The above reading lists give a good starting point to reach your own conclusions.