Behind the scenes of America’s political turmoil in 2020 is a struggle between globalism and nationalism.

Many of our great corporations have become international in scope.  This is true of Asian and European as well as American corporations.  Companies like Microsoft, Google, Ford, General Motors, Honda, and Toyota have interests, employees, and production facilities in countries on every continent.  The loyalty of corporation executives is to the company and its bottom line and not so much to the nation in which they live or where their company is headquartered.  It is truly a world economy.

This globalistic approach unleashes the power of the huge international conglomerates. Business decisions are no longer so encumbered by nationalistic considerations, and greater efficiencies may be achieved.  If money can be saved, the company will build a plant to produce a product in Ghana and close a plant producing the same product in Ohio.  Three years from now, perhaps it will be time to close the Ghana operation because of a more efficient production facility in Mali.  Lower costs mean lower prices for consumers and greater profits for the corporation.  The only losers are the suddenly unemployed production workers in Ohio and Ghana.

That is an oversimplification.  The machinations of modern corporations are far more complicated than that.  Nevertheless, it gives you a general idea of what is going on.

As stated before, executives in these multinational businesses tend to be globalists in their thinking.  They are just as much at home in New York, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, or Tokyo.  It is a brave new world in which the old national boundaries count for not so much.  Many businessmen, economists and internationalists consider this a positive development.  Others are not so sure.  Business decisions are made far from those workers whose lives they impact, and corporate executives often show little or no concern about the effect of these decisions on the lives of workers.  The fiscal bottom line what matters most, and the board room of a multinational corporation tends to become a cold and calculating place.  This is attributable in part to the somewhat amorphous state of international business ethics.

The globalists have been very unhappy with President Trump.  Our President has rejected globalism in favor of an America first policy designed to protect American jobs.  He has thus far had some modest success in implementing this policy, and if reelected he promises to do even more.  The globalists hate him for this.

What do you think?