Globalization, a journalist's view

["John Gelles" <jjgelles@xxxxxxxx>]

	Tom Friedman of the NYT is the journalist. "The Lexus and the
	Olive Tree" is the view.  He is a booster of the new global
	competitive market (digital and real) but would boost even
	harder a global safety net that reflects our best instinct and
	talent not the meanest..

	He presents a modern post-ideological-warfare view of global
	capital movements, as well as, global trade in goods and services.
	Global politics is never far from his main focus. Writing readable
	journalism, unencumbered by irrelevant economic literature, but
	interested in Shumpeter, Keynes and Marx,, he is able to say both
	what's happening and what's wrong with our habits and values.

	Two things, at least, are wrong.  Things are moving too fast
	for anyone to enjoy anything.  And too many people are being
	made poor with no decent safety net or standard of living aimed
	to help those most in need.  The result will be, as always, poverty
	and violence that nobody wanted -- but nobody cared to prevent.

	Friedman cares.  Do we?

		John Gelles

	P.S.
		The book has 18 Chapters:

		Table of Contents
		Opening Scene: The World Is Ten Years Old ix

			Part One: Seeing the System

	1.	Tourist with an Attitude	                         3	
	2.	The Lexus and the Olive Tree	            25	
	3.	...And the Walls Came Tumbling Down	39	
	4.	Microchip Immune Deficiency	            59	
	5.	The Golden Straitjacket	                        83	
	6.	The Electronic Herd	                        93

			Part Two: Plugging into the System

	7.	DOScapital 6.0	                                  123	
	8.	Globalution	                                  141	
	9.	Buy Taiwan, Hold Italy, Sell France     165	
	10.	The Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention  195	
	11.	Demolition Man	                                  219	
	12.	Winners Take All	                      247	


		      Part Three: The Backlash Against the System

	13.	The Groundswell                                267
	14.	The Backlash	                                 285	

			Part Four: America and the System

	15.	Rational Exuberance	                     297	
	16.	Revolution Is U.S.	                     307	
	17.	If You Want a Human Being, Press # 1    331
	18.	There Is a Way Forward                    349	
			


	A book review, in depth, would make a fine seminar here.
	Perhaps divided into four parts.  Meanwhile, here is a blurb
	from the publisher.

	http://www.lexusandtheolivetree.com/aboutbook.htm

As the Foreign Affairs columnist for The New York Times, Friedman
has traveled to the four corners of the globe, interviewing people from all
walks of contemporary life--Brazilian peasants in the Amazon rain forest,
new entrepreneurs in Indonesia, Islamic students in Teheran, and the
financial wizards on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley. Now Friedman has
drawn on his years on the road to produce an engrossing and original look
at the new international system that, more than anything else, is shaping
world affairs today: globalization.

His argument can be summarized quite simply. Globalization is not just a
phenomenon and not just a passing trend. It is the international system
that replaced the Cold War system. Globalization is the integration of
capital, technology, and information across national borders, in a way that
is creating a single global market and, to some degree, a global village.

You cannot understand the news or know where to invest your money
or think about where the world is going unless you understand this new
system, which is influencing the domestic policies and international
relations of virtually every country in the world today. And once you do
understand the world as Friedman explains it, you'll never look at it quite
the same way again.

With vivid stories and a set of original terms and concepts, Friedman shows
us how to see this new system. He dramatizes the conflict of "the Lexus and
the olive tree"--the tension between the globalization system and ancient
forces of culture, geography, tradition, and community.

He also details the powerful backlash that globalization produces among
those who feel brutalized by it, and he spells out what we all need to do
to keep this system in balance. Finding the proper balance between the
Lexus and the olive tree is the great drama of the globalization era, and
the ultimate theme of Friedman's challenging, provocative book--essential
reading for all who care about how the world really works.

	http://www.lexusandtheolivetree.com/aboutbook.htm