Global Elites know one thing: Globalization caused the rapid spread of this coronavirus pandemic—COVID-19. Foreign Affairs posted this on March 16, 2020, “Not only has globalization allowed for the rapid spread of contagious disease but it has fostered deep interdependence between firms and nations that makes them more vulnerable to unexpected shocks. Now, firms and nations alike are discovering just how vulnerable they are.”
That’s the legacy of globalization.
We’ve off-shored too much. We’ve grown too connected.
A pandemic is a plane ride away.
Borders are porous.
We don’t really screen to keep the potentially sick out of the country.
This COVID-19 pandemic started in China. It is the Wuhan Virus—the Chinese Virus. When it began is a mystery. Perhaps early December as the World Health Organization (WHO) claims. Perhaps a bit earlier on November 17 as reported by the South China Morning Post.
Whatever the case, the disease spread.
In China.
And as business travelers and tourist spread out from Hubei—the point where the Black Death started during the 1300s—the virus spread.
Our interconnection with totalitarian China combined with China’s inept response to the early stages of the disease made us vulnerable.
And we remain vulnerable as much of our critical medical manufacturing takes place in China.
We wouldn’t build our tanks in China. Why should we give them market dominance in key sectors of our health economy?
And Globalists know these structural problems exist. It is a feature, not a bug of globalism.
I’ve written over and over about the importance of borders and the challenge of globalism.
The strains of globalism create a populist backlash. This is increased when the spoils of globalism enrich a small class of coastal elites at the expense of the great mass of people in the heartland.
Combine the social-political strains with the dangerous failures of globalism, and why should we want more of it?
Perhaps, a little bit less would be the best response at this time?
But, the Elites like Kristalina Georgieva Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund want the exact opposite. They want more integration. More coordination.
That’s the case Georgieva made in a March 16, 2020, blog posted at the IMF: “While quarantining and social distancing is the right prescription to combat COVID-19’s public health impact, the exact opposite is needed when it comes to securing the global economy. Constant contact and close coordination are the best medicine to ensure that the economic pain inflicted by the virus is relatively short-lived.”
And, to make it clear: “All this work—from monetary to fiscal to regulatory—is most effective when done cooperatively.”
And, for those who cooperate with the IMF: “The IMF stands ready to mobilize its $1 trillion lending capacity to help our membership. As a first line of defense, the Fund can deploy its flexible and rapid-disbursing emergency response toolkit to help countries with urgent balance-of-payment needs.”
And just to recapitulate: “Because, in the end, our answers to this crisis will not come from one method, one region, or one country in isolation. Only through sharing, coordination, and cooperation will we be able to stabilize the global economy and return it to full health.”
Georgieva is right about many things. Cooperation often is good for the global economy. However, the subtle push for greater global integration is clear.
And that’s exactly what got us into this mess in the first place.
A healthy global economy might requires some limits on globalization and greater autonomy for individual states.
Doubt that?
Look at the ineffectual response of the globalialists’ dream state—The European Union.
It couldn’t effectively respond to Greece—a tiny economy and tiny nation. When a real crisis hit Italy, the technocrats of the EU couldn’t deliver any help.
China—the cause of the pandemic—has done more for Italy.
That’s globalization for you.
It sounds good on paper, but it fails to deliver on its promises.
And even more globalization will lead to even more disappoint for the peoples of the Western Democracies.