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Personally I don't see so much negativity in economic globalization which has been practice by the British, French and the Dutch in the earlier colonial empire building to early 1940 prior to the IMF and World Bank, to the extent of implementing the so-called "beggar my neighboor policy" which ccording to Joseph Stiglitz, chief economist to the World Bank from 1997 to 2000, the would-be financial regulators lost their way when they forsook their mandate and instead became enforcers of the "Washington Consensus", a doctrine formulated by the US Treasury and the IMF. This consensus upheld the free movement of capital, fiscal austerity and market liberalisation. Stiglitz explains how these policies have set the scene for a sequence of disasters that bear comparison with the wrenching dislocations of the Great Depression: notably the Asian financial meltdown of 1997-8, the failed transition to market economy in Russia and many former Soviet-bloc states, and the current "deregulation crisis".
Wikipedia gives the following interpretation to "Beggar thy neighbour, or beggar-my-neighbour, policies are those that seek benefits for one country at the expense of others. Such policies attempt to remedy the economic problems in one country by means which tend to worsen the problems of other countries. The term was originally devised to characterize policies of trying to cure domestic depression and unemployment by shifting effective demand away from imports onto domestically produced goods, either through tariffs and quotas on imports, or by competitive devaluation. More recently, beggar thy neighbour policy has taken the form of reducing domestic inflation through currency appreciation. This improves the terms of trade and thus reduces cost-inflationary pressure in the appreciating country but tends to increase cost inflation in the country's trading partners".
"Beggar thy neighbour" strategies of this kind don't only apply to countries: overgrazing provides another example, where the pursuit by individuals or groups of their own interests leads to sub-optimal outcomes. This dynamic is also known as the "tragedy of the commons."
In short even if the intention of the government policy is sound but mess up by the people who runs the program - take the case of Paulson - bugnled all the way - even the bailout was ill conceived. WHERE IS THE MONEY? Goes to big and fat bonuses to executives. It is unbelievable what they do.
The reality out there in our economy and society is more and much more complicated with interlinkages of competing and conflicting interest groups.
Take care Mike and like a good boyscout - BE PREPARED!
Leonidas
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