Globalization can also be seen positively in a country where the economy has doubled in the past fifteen years, Vietnam. Even though the vast majority of Vietnam is still poor, this is changing due to globalization. First of all, globalization has clearly made the workers’ lives better. For instance, child labor was outlawed in 1988 and now it is considered an outdated myth. At the Nike factory, workers need to be older than 18 to work at foot wear, and at least older than 16 to work at apparel. The average age of a worker there is around 24 to 25 years old. The reason why so many children had to work before was because their parents needed them to in order to help support the family, but since they are now able to make more money, this is no longer a necessity. Therefore, the number of children working dropped by 2.2 million in ten years. This means that these children now have a chance to go to school and make a career for themselves. Another way in which the workers had their lives improved at Nike after globalization is financially. Nike pays about $54 per month for their workers which is a high salary for their standards and can be compared with the payment a teacher or doctor receives. This salary is also very high when compared to the minimum wage in the country which is of $15. The workers that work for Nike also have some other benefits such as healthcare subsided, free meals, commerce close to the factories, a park for workers to relax during breaks and restricted working hours. Many people left and came back. They preferred to work at Nike rather than at a farm because at the farms they had to work fourteen hours a day and it was not as clean and did not have food. Globalization has given people the chance to buy and decorate their own houses which would be unthinkable beforehand. Despite all that, anti-globalists have scary visions of the future for what multinationals must do. They fear the monopolies that they could create within a country. However, multinationals are actually less powerful because free trade controls them in a way because of competition. It is also those multinationals which are helping Vietnam get wealthy. For example, Nike gives micro loans to people who want to start businesses but that do not have the capital to do so. Local companies are benefit from multinational companies arriving because they boom and grow because they have the multinationals to copy. Finally, Nike has opened their factory doors to outsiders so that they can see for themselves what Nike is doing in Vietnam. There have been over one thousand visitors in the past year including college students, diplomats and other businesses. This is a good move because it enables people to be able to see for themselves how globalization is affecting positively the lives of the people in Vietnam.
Finally, another area in which globalization has played an important role is in Africa. For instance, Kenya would have been prospering if they were allowed to own land. However, Kenya cannot grow because capitalism cannot take place and people cannot start their own businesses. One of the reasons why people cannot start businesses is because they simply to not have enough money in order to do so and also to buy machines. Another reason is because there is a really large corruption within their politics. After there was a boom in the Kenyan market, small changes can be visualized. One of the changes mentioned was that before people used to have only around four different changes of clothes but now they can afford having different clothes. The problem within the Kenyan economy is that in their country they can grow crops and have cows and others but they cannot export to Europe. The reason for that is because the European Union imposes taxes. The only area in which taxes are not imposed are in the flower business. It is predicted that if the EU did impose tariffs of the flowers as well the country would be greatly affected and there would be a social impact and farms would have to close down. On the other hand, if the EU allowed all other goods into Europe the Kenyan economy would do really well. Therefore, in a way it can be said that Europe is shitting Kenya out from global capitalism. Another problem with the issue that no one is allowed to own land is because there is no motivation. The reason for the lack of motivation is because if you do not own land, you cannot expand. Another reason as to why Kenya should open itself up for globalization is because Taiwan used to be just as poor as Kenya, but now after their economic boom and their democracy, they are 20 times richer than Kenya.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the director was proving a thesis that globalization is good and it would solve the problem of poverty if it were to increase and be unrestricted. The examples of three different areas have been given. These areas are Taiwan, Kenya and Vietnam. Taiwan used to be extremely poor until they opened themselves up for globalization and now they have been prospering a lot more. Vietnam is also receiving many new advantages by letting multinationals, such as Nike, into their economy and by adding a capitalistic economic system. Kenya, on the other hand, is still not part of this globalized society and a clear line can be marked between their economy and their lifestyle and the economy and lifestyle of countries that have allowed globalization into the system. The one area of products that Kenya is allowed to export to Europe, the flower business, plays a very important role in their economy and it would not be the same without it. Therefore, it can be concluded that globalization has been increasingly, and will continue to play an important role for countries that are under development. In order for them to grow and prosper, there needs to be a capitalistic system which is as un-restricted as possible.
