Frank Focuses on Good and Bad of Globalization
By Morgan Kelly
WASHINGTON – Globalization is a good idea poorly executed, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, said in Switzerland last week at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting of politicians, educators and businessmen who discuss ways to expand the economic benefits of globalization.
The meeting’s theme was corporate social responsibility, and Rep. Frank, who supports the benefits globalization brings to poor countries, had a basic message: more Americans would support the global economy if there were higher international environmental and labor standards and more assistance for those losing their jobs because of globalization.
“Nobody tells the working class, ‘You’re going to be the ones to sacrifice for these countries,’ ” he said in an interview in his Capitol Hill office. Globalization’s impact, he added “could be improved by requiring and following minimum standards for labor and environment. There also needs to be a universal system of health benefits.”
American workers are hurt by lower environmental and labor regulations in developing nations such as China and India that reduce operating costs and attract American businesses overseas, Rep. Frank said.
President Bush is not putting enough pressure on foreign countries to raise their standards, said Rep. Frank, who is the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.
Dana Perino, a spokeswoman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, disagreed, saying the President has done a lot to persuade foreign competitors to improve environmental standards, including pledging $500 million over the next four years to help developing nations with environmental improvement.
“We are working with those countries so they can grow and improve the way of life for their citizens and develop economically without having negative consequences on the environment,” Ms. Perino said.
The fact remains that American industrial areas like the South Coast have lost thousands of jobs to cheaper foreign markets because of globalization.
“It’s had a very negative effect in southeast Massachusetts ,” Rep. Frank said. “The garment textile industries in Fall River-New Bedford have been lost to foreign trade.”
The South Coast has lost several thousand jobs in the last 20 years, said Paul Vigeant, executive director of the South Coast Development Partnership, an organization that promotes the South Coast as a business location. Many have been lost to foreign countries with cheaper labor, especially in the garment industry, which requires low-capitol and unskilled labor.
But, Mr. Vigeant said the region’s textile industry-not including garment manufacturing-has grown and is stable. In other areas, the South Coast is shedding its industrial skin and moving toward more service jobs-from medicine and legal services to food and personal service. Mr. Vigeant’s partnership is promoting life-science industry and marine science research development.
“New opportunities are evolving in our region every day,” Mr. Vigeant said. “People forget that New Bedford ‘s economy was at the top of the world stockpile. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think we can have that name in the world again.”
