I think it would be incredibly difficult to make the argument that cycles of poverty, health, and development did not affect every aspect of global issues. Between outsourcing, the Internet, travel, and the plethora of acronyms for the numerous global organizations (WTO, NAFTA, GATT, WHO, IMF, etc.) the world has indeed shrunk to the point where disruption anywhere means disruption everywhere. Examples of this are happening in the news everyday. Just in recent years we have seen how small fluctuations in China’s economy has a ripple effect on economies throughout the world, including Wall Street and the NYSE. With massive international travel we have seen the emergence of possible global pandemics (e.g. SARS). Environmental disasters, such as the 2004 earthquake/tsunami in the Indian Ocean devastated local economies, not only from industry destruction, but also from the massive drop-off in tourism. Recently, there have been links showing that the US economic recession (or “slowdown” if you’d prefer) has precipitated a similar global trend with the value of the Euro dropping and even braking China’s expansion. An even more obvious example, especially in the comparatively-spoiled-with-gas-prices US, would be the effect of OPEC’s price regulation on nearly every aspect of global society, from transportation to agriculture to manufacturing.
Further, as mentioned in the other blogs, the contribution of poverty and inequity to social unrest and terrorism has profound implications for the global community. While not always true, it has been shown that there is an inverse relationship between a person’s degree of fundamentalism and their socioeconomic status. Therefore it could be argued that we only endanger ourselves through the suppression and exploitation of other countries and/or cultures.
Of course the effects need not always be negative. For instance, a total of $10 billion worldwide has been pledged to the victims of the 2004 tsunami. Without the globalization of media, economics, and trade such a massive coordination could not have been organized. While I am not aware of any solid data, one could imagine that the ability of the globalized media to raise awareness and to connect people with important causes is immeasurable.
Two interesting/pertinent facts I came across:
- 54% of web-traffic to NBA.com is from international visitors
- Nearly 25% of the U.S. national debt is owned by foreign governments ($321 billion to China, $640 billion to Japan, $98 billion to OPEC)
- The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) consists of 11 countries: Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.
For reference and ease of use here are the Millenium Development Goals with some of that depressing information:
Millenium Development Goals
- Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
- 1.2 billion people live on $1 dollar/day or less
- 800 million suffer from hunger even though food production has doubled since the 1970s
- Achieve Universal Primary Education
- 121 million children are out of school
i. 65 million girls
ii. 56 million boys
- Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
- 575 million women are illiterate
- Only 85 countries have reached gender parity in primary school enrollment
- Reduce Child Mortality
- 11 million children under age 5 die of preventable diseases
- Improve Maternal Health
- Every minute a woman in the developing world dies during pregnancy or childbirth
- One in every 16 African women will die as a consequence of pregnancy
- Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, & Other Diseases
- 42 million people live with HIV/AIDS
i. 92% are in developing countries
- One additional year of education for mothers reduces the under 5 mortality rate by nearly 10%
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