The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism Chapter 1 – The Storm Upon Us William Greider

Chapter one, The Storm Upon US, is an introduction to the rest of the book. In this chapter, Greider discusses a new machine which symbolizes the economic revolution. He brings forth some key issues in order to understand the machine. He wants everyone to see the machine before beginning to try and understand it.

This new machine is ‘strong and supple’, and ‘reaps as it destroys’ This new machine is ‘strong and supple’, and ‘reaps as it destroys’. It is more complicated and powerful than anything that has preceded it while ignoring what is familiar. It gives off ‘wealth and bounty’ while leaving behind ‘furrows of wreckage’. The machine is run by skillful hands but no one is at the wheel. It moves on its own forward motion and guided by its own appetites. The machine is ‘modern capitalism driven by the imperatives of global industrial revolution’.

Greider says in order to try and understand the machine one must first see it and to see it one must understand the people. He describes how the people react to the economic revolution around the world. First, he visited Bangkok, Thailand where and elephant was injured when it was sideswiped by a truck. This invoked an editorial piece on the price of prosperity. The elephant was once symbolic of the Thai culture, but now cars have overtaken the roads. The country is highly congested with automobiles because the people are buying cars faster than the government can keep up with building transportation. This could make for Toyota’s largest overseas market. The next visit was to Poland to take a look at the new Warsaw Stock Exchange. It saw immediate growth in 1993 but crashed the next spring. However investors were not fazed. Meanwhile industrial steel workers were on strike. The steel union arose from the communist regime in the 1980s, but is now owned by an Italian Conglomerate. In Indonesia, four Korean businessmen were dining in a restaurant with all four of them on cell phones. This shows the emerging technology in the global market where people can call to anywhere from anywhere. In Japan, the Sony Corporation may soon have the majority of its employees outside Japan. In the USA, Boeing 777 shows America’s innovation in advanced technologies, however the powerful masterpiece is produced in 12 different countries. People from distant places are connected and there are no boundaries to this global economy. Although it does seem out of control, people can help control their own destiny.

Notes Far Eastern Economic Review Warsaw Voice Wendell Willkie Representations of the Intellectual Head to Head : Coming Economic Battles Among Japan, Europe, and America New York Times Financial Times Wall Street Journal Global 500 Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy International Monetary Fund The Virtual Corporation: Structuring and Revitalizing the corporation for the 21st Century. Please Note: Note 8 can be fully accessed using Penn State’s LIAS system.