Friedman is an apologist for globalization. His shtick is to tell us how globalization brings wonderful economic prosperity to the developing world without addressing the economic, political, or environmental effects on the vast majority of people. He ignores the problem that for every job created in the developing world, one or more is lost in the developed world. He sees reduced costs and proclaims them good because economic prosperity in the western paradigm will bring happiness to the world.
Friedman's the Candide of the business school darlings and nothing reinforced this for me more when I saw him ogle a golf course in the deserts of the UAE for his The Lexus and the Olive Tree TV series. In typically old-school imperialist manner, he walks about this lush green golf course in Dubai proclaiming how marvelous this is, how such cultural intermeshing must be a great thing as it symbolizes how money and desire can bring us our dreams. He ignores the environmental impact and the resource investment required to keep this golf course going, but more importantly fails to understand what a golf course in Dubai means to the people of Dubai who aren't zipping about in Italian supercars. He completely misses the cultural impact of a western sporting venue to the vast majority of people in the country who question if all of these things (the World Islands, the al Burj, etc) make any sense, if they aren't all follies built for a very select few and what will happen to they, the littlle people, when the oil runs out.
Friedman also completely neglects to focus on what development in these countries means to the legions of unemployed, uninsured, and underemployed back in the western world who are angry that companies from their own countries, in concert with the enabling of their respective governments, are shutting down factories, closing offices, and reducing economic opportunities among the people who used to have. People who have never had something tend not to be so vocal or angry as people who have had but no longer do. The backlash, the unintended consequences, are completely off Friedman's radar. I saw him going from new office to new office in Mumbai talking to thoroughly westernized and dressed Indian managers of call centers. He marveled at how cheap it was, even given the tolls and training, to establish call centers in Mumbai, doing everything but jumping up and down and waving a flag at how this increased economic prosperity in Mumbai will surely lift all ships. Again, he neglected to address the effect that this outsourcing has had. Customers of these companies are very frustrated that the English skills of these people aren't remotely good enough to make communication easy, coloquialisms go completely missed, and that many of them are just reading from a problem-solving flow chart. If your problem isn't chartable, you don't get a resolution to your problem. Managers of these centers universally have no authority to do anything more than reiterate what the customer service rep has just told the customer.
The worse the economy gets, the more Friedman's happy flat world of global integration becomes precarious. Industrialized democracies have growing populations at all strata of society who are increasingly dissatisfied with the globalization economic model. Back when it was just the blue and pink collar jobs that were being outsourced, there was relatively little opposition as years of decimation of organized labor in the industrial world has greatly weakened the political power of the lower classes. As more and more jobs, now including many college-required jobs are outsourced, the bulk of the wealth holders are becoming angry and looking for their government to take action. Unlike the lower paid workers, these classes have economic and political clout though arguably not as much as they think given that the percentage of national wealth throughout the industrialized world is increasingly held by the very rich. If this trend continues, Mr. Friedman cannot help but find some very angry people who want to maintain their standard of living and will demand government action to make it happen. This is particularly true in the United States where the level of social welfare is shockingly poor compared to Europe.
I'd love Friedman to interview a middle aged couple with two kids hoping to go to college but who won't make it on scholarships. In our economy college is increasingly necessary just to provide basic necessities for a family yet underemployment is such a growing problem that the real income of these families after adjustment for price and monetary inflation, is actually declining. College costs, along with other such necessities as health care, food, and energy, are increasing faster than inflation too which means every year, fewer and fewer students will be able to attend college. They will be stuck in low-paying jobs, with no or few medical benefits, no pension, unable to maintain their standard of living, and any ideas of retirement or college for their kids will be dashed.
This situation cannot be maintained and history shows this situation results in serious social upheaval up to, and including, overthrow of government and armed conflict. I have visions of legions of poor people rioting in TriBeCa or on Fifth Avenue, breaking into the homes of the very rich and plundering them, killing or imprisoning political leaders, and establishing a new reign of terror.
They will find the very rich will not be at home. They'll all be in Dubai playing golf in the desert.