A question from Yahoo! Answers:

With globalization at a point of no return what is the future for US workers?

Lets face it -you gotta export to sell our goods and services to the countries selling us most of what we buy in the US..
When you elimnate the impact of all gov.,fed/state/local the military and all the support directly or indirectlly of the people who have jobs because of Government we’re only talking30-40%%of total work force and the majority of their work is paid for by people who work for or because of the gvernment———————-
So what are we going to export except money and related prodict—-not much demand overseas for lawn boys or fast food workers———–what?———–What is the future of the US economy and its direct effect on you?

Let’s face it — you live in a dream world…

The U.S.’ imports are equivalent to about 15% of the U.S. GDP, imports, approximately 10%. So your point about “the countries selling us most of what we buy” is simply wrong; most (about 85%, to be precise) of what you buy is still made in the good old U.S. of A.

The largest trading partner of the U.S., in spite of the recent rise of China, is still (surprise, surprise!!!)… Canada (you didn’t know this, did you?) And the source of Canadian competitive advantage is very simple: Canada has a (much less expensive) single-payer health care system, so instead of providing expensive health care benefits, employers pay an additional payroll tax, which costs them about half of what health benefits cost in the U.S.

Also, there is no such thing as “globalization at a point of no return”. If you read The Economic Consequences of the Peace by J.M. Keynes, you will learn that sentiments similar to yours ruled in Europe about 1900. Globalization between 1880 and 1910 was in many respects more profound compared to the one we see today (in particular, international movement of labor was much more extensive than today). And it pretty much ended when World War I began…