Nobodies in the Conclusion to His Book

Nobodies

In the conclusion to his book Nobodies, John Bowe argues that the vast inequalities of wealth and power in the globalized world make the common arguments for "free markets" and "free trade" highly suspect. In fact, he sees labor coercion as well as environmental degradation as the likely result if global regulations are not placed over the global marketplace.

Bowe has the stronger argument here. As he states, "People like Friedman and many world and business leaders might honestly believe in freedom and justice as much as anyone else. They just have the benefit

What Bowe is pointing out is that not just the Friedmans, but also typical Americans have no idea how the people that make their goods live, whether in Tulsa or in Saipan. The critics are usually white males and Republican who have never left the United States. They do not know and do not want to know about the human suffering that goes into providing the low prices for the goods and services that they consume. Such people have not lost their good paying jobs to outsourcing and do not have to take a minimum wage job at someplace like Wal-Mart or Starbucks to make ends meet. They think that the forces of globalization have made workers in third world countries such as China freer. They do not have to face seventy-five hour work weeks and a police state which will oppress them if they step out of line. They do not live in slums and have to deal with gangs and poverty.

Just as environmental regulations, workers compensation and the minimum wage have come to America, they must also come to the globe's poor to lessen their misery. For those who argue against it, Bowe concludes the book poignantly "But to anyone in this world today who feels compelled to go on TV and talk democracy -- any writer, any politician, any corporate advertising person invoking Go out into Go live in their huts, eat their rice and plantains, squat on their floors, and listen to their babies cry.

Sniff some glue and pray with them. Try to get justice from their police if someone hurts you. And then come back and let's talk about freedom" (ibid. 278).

The biggest critique of the free trade argument is that it is not based upon fact. "Laws" of economics are not laws of physics like the laws of gravity. They are made up whole cloth to justify the system as it is and to guarantee that the status quo is maintained no matter what. Herein lies the problem with the libertarian, free trade argument. Its advocates do not live in the reality that they trumpet about. Rather, it is a fantasy world with no basis in reality. However, this is what is being sold to justify the tremendous human suffering and slavery that is a part of the system of globalization. Somehow, if we are just patient, things will get better.

Bowe is absolutely right about a global minimum wage. There has to be a way alleviate the sufferings of the common people of the world and halt the falling of real wages. Otherwise, America will become just another third world country and slum once all of the jobs are outsourced and Americans are forced to accept the full effect of falling wages like every other poor person in the world.

As Bowe argues quite effectively, this may be complicated, but we have not other choice. We may already have passed the point of no return where revolution is inevitable and violence will be involved to try to solve the problem. As he states well: "Why, one wonders, is it so hard to imagine that some combination of these approaches couldn't or shouldn't be encouraged in the Third World? Instead of a It might be tedious. And it might be difficult. But there really isn't much of an alternative (ibid. 274).