Globalization is the driving force constructing political platforms, economic

infrastructure, environmental awareness, and cultural diffusionalthough it has proven to be

excellent at creating an interconnected world, it does not go without saying it has setbacks. The
largest setback that has arisen due to the rapid interconnection of the world would be, the
externalities of internationalizing trade and finances. The most negative feature of globalization
is the externalities that occur from internationalizing trade and financenamely the questionable
power of transnational corporations, transnational dependence, global divisions between the
northern and southern economies, liberalization of financial transactions, and brand dominance.
With the liberalization of trade and finance, gigantic flows of capital are spread around
the globe through the mediation of digital technologiesmarkets are cyber-linked to one
another, connecting the world in a way like never before. Ultimately, this allows money to be
moved globally with very little government interventionmaking it problematic when it comes
to trying to regulate the outflows of wealth, and how it is evenly distributed. This is one of the
characteristics of the neo-liberal ideology that has come to dominate global economics, and has
allowed for the transformation from national corporationsinto transnational corporations.
Nike, Adidas, Walmart, McDonalds, Apple; these are just a few of the transnational
corporations that have come to dominate the global marketsand it isnt only American
companies. Consider Nokia, the Finnish based transnational corporationit has connections to
120 countries, employing over 100,000 people, and 22,000 fins in Finland alone. Its global
dominance and wealth has had significant integration into the Finnish economy, making Finland
the most interconnected nation in the world, but at a price. Nokia makes up two-thirds of
Finlands stock prices and exports one-fifth of Finlands total exports; producing a large portion
of Finlands tax as well, its no question why the nation has become dependent on this

transnational-corporation. As some Fins fear, this allows for the nation to be at the knees of just a
handful of CEOs. (Steger 55-56)
Finland exhibits the power a transnational corporation directly influences over a nation,
now we will consider the indirect influence a corporation has over a nation. Consider the
manufacturing capital of the worldChina, it manufactures the products for Dell, HewlettPackard, Nokia, Toshiba, Apple, etc. Such investments into the Chinese economy dont come
without the drawbackmany TNCs invest due to Chinas lack of fair business practices, and the
large investments far from encourage them. As Franzen can attribute, before embarking on his
journey to Ningbo China, he was promptly informed by the internationally growing Daphnes
Headcovers, She wanted me to know, in any case, that the suppliers workers in China were
averaging twice or nearly twice the local minimum wage. (Franzen )While in The Way of The
Puffin Daphnes may pay 2x the local minimum wage, the minimum wage would still be far from
what developed nations would call a livable wageand the companys investment doesnt
encourage it to become one.
Nations wouldnt encourage the integration of TNCs if it wasnt the equivalent of the
nations that sheltered the TNCs as becoming global economic super-powers; this concept
division occurs, and this concept of brand dominance. Focusing on the division aspect of global
economics, the nations that house transnational corporations become some of the wealthiest and
economically stable in the world: North America, Mexico, Europe, China, Japan, and South
Korea (Steger 53). Realize, a division of economic power occurs between the Northern and
Southern hemisphere. As TNCs have collectively accounted for over 50% of the worlds GPD,
the nations that do not house Transnational corporate headquarters fall victim to be taken
advantage of by the TNCs, and the nations that house them.

Nations are thus then taken advantage of by other nations due to economic global
divisionto better understand this concept, consider this excerpt from Antigua-native Jamaica
Kincaid, When you sit down to eat your delicious meal, its better that you dont know that most
of what you are eating came off a plane from Miami. And before it got on a plane in Miami, who
knows where it came from? A good guess is that it came from a place like Antigua first, where it
was grown dirt-cheap, went to Miami, and came back. (Jamaica 14 way. From the excerpt we
get this concept of how America takes advantage of Antigua and its less developed economy; it
diminishes natural resources at dirt-cheap production costs and then has it shipped to the
country, because well, its more lucrative to import dirt cheap resources (food) from an
undeveloped economy than it is to grow and manage food in the country that is doing the
importing, the USA. But this is only half of the problem.