Interesting choice for next encyclical...

It was interesting to read on CathNews the other day that Pope Benedict's next encyclical looks as though it is going to be on the subject of globalisation.

About 14 months ago I wrote a story on globalisation which received a fair bit of coverage at the time. It was based on a lecture given by the visiting Jesuit academic, Fr John Coleman (pictured), who was visiting Australia at the time giving a series of lectures on Globalisation. I placed a copy of the story on my own website. That single story is today responsible for more visits to my website than all the others that are there put together - including stories that have "sex" in their subjects. ("Sex" is reputedly the most "searched" term typed into any of the search engines.)

A number of the stories in my own personal archive today now have permanent links in other mainstream media, such as the ABC website, including this one on globalisation. Consistently though, day in day out, week in week out, the largest number of searches of my own website come from people all around the world seeking information about "the positives and/or the negatives of globalisation".

For a long time I was intrigued by this and put it down to the fact that the subject of "globalisation" must be a popular subject for university assignments around the world. It seems though that might be only part of the story. Globalisation seems to be a big issue in the minds of many.

The economic rationalists seem to see globalisation as the big hope for the future economic development of the world. Others see it as something to be feared and a threat to their own jobs and livelihood. Just the other night on television down here there was yet another story on the export of IT jobs to India. That is a subject that comes under the broad category of "globalisation".

Personally, I have mixed feelings about the subject. Yesterday I went to K-mart and ended up purchasing a new hydraulic jack set. (i.e. the sort of thing used by garages to lift up vehicles to do repairs underneath.) For decades I have wanted to own one of these long-handled hydraulic jacks used by garages to quickly jack up a vehicle. They have always been viewed by myself as a luxury item though and out of my price range.

Yesterday at K-mart they were selling not only the hydraulic jack but one of those little beds on wheels that you can lie on and slide under the vehicle, a tool dolly (something one puts one tools on and it slides around on the ground with you while you're under the vehicle), and two adjustable stands that you can slide under the vehicle to hold it up.

The whole package was only $109. It is made and packaged in the People's Republic of China. It is no longer a luxury item and I will effectively pay for it today when I replace the front wheel bearings on my van compared to what I would pay were I to get a serviceman to do the job. This is a very concrete and personal example of one of the benefits of globalisation to me personally.

China today seems to be where Japan was forty or fifty years ago in terms of becoming the manufacturer to the world. Look at the Japanese people today. Not too long ago we in the West used to look down on the Japanese people. Today Japan is one of the centres of economic power in the entire world. Her car manufacturers are powering from strength to strength while all the major car giants in both Europe and America struggle for profitability, and in predicting the needs of that vast international community who are the end users of cars.

On the negative side globalisation does carry with it many negatives. One of the biggest of them is that increasingly these large global mega-corporations who are the chief promoters of globalisation are largely beholden to nobody. They have internal economies that are now larger than the economies of many nations. Through what is almost "sleight-of-hand" accountancy they are able to shuffle their budgets around from country to country and pay little tax in any country. By carefully "balanced out where they are generating profits and where it is costing them" to make it appear as though they are running at a loss or making minimal profits. Who really knows except the accountants employed by these major corporations because there is today no government big enough to be able to stand up to them.

The proposed new social encyclical on globalisation by Pope Benedict is to be welcomed. We should all look forward to its publication with much anticipation.

Tom Scott is the pen name of the editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne.

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