Still, the facts are on globalization’s side.
Even with free trade, American jobs are actually safer than they were 30 years ago. Yes, political candidates will spend the fall telling Americans we’re all about to lose our jobs. But, “the typical worker had a 10 percent chance of losing his or her job between 1975 and 1976,” writes labor policy analyst James Sherk in a recent paper from The Heritage Foundation. “Today, only 5 percent of workers lose their jobs over the course of a year. Job security has increased markedly over the past generation.”
In his Newsweek piece, Gross compared globalization to the recent Olympic Games, where China finished a close second to the U.S. in total medals, and actually won more gold medals.
But that doesn’t necessarily show that the United States is slipping; it just proves the rest of the world is playing the globalization game, too, and gaining ground. The reality is that American athletes had a better Olympics this year than in 2004, when we won 36 gold and 102 medals overall. In 2008 we won the same number of golds, but 110 medals overall. It’s just that China improved its performance to close the gap.
“Americans returning from jaunts abroad can’t help but notice that the distinguishing features of modern capitalism, many of them developed in the United States, are being put to greater effect overseas,” Gross writes. And while that’s true, it just means we’re facing a challenge, to improve everything from our cell-phone networks to our roadways. And competition improves performance.
The Chinese purportedly use the same word for “crisis” as they do for “opportunity.” That’s fitting. Globalization, and the free trade that it brings, has been and still remains a great opportunity for Americans -- if we’re able to stop seeing it as a crisis.