Globalization and Energy

There is a split in both parties on the issue of globalization. Business Republicans favor globalization because it gives them access to international markets and international labor. Nascar Republicans oppose globalization because they believe that it compromises national sovereignty and gives away power to international “bureaucrats.” The more highly educated Democrats favor globalization because they believe that it will lead to world peace and the Third World rising out of poverty. The labor Democrats oppose globalization because it has cost many of them their jobs.

All of the above have a point.

Having made a lot of money in the computer industry in 1990s only to see my industry crash and many jobs go to India, I have seen both the good side and the bad side of globalization. In 1990s, the labor Democrats and the software-industry Democrats were on different sides. The first were against globalization because their jobs had moved to China and Mexico; the second were in favor of globalization because their industry was booming. Now that the jobs in both fields have gone abroad, they are in the same boat. And while most software professionals remain internationalistic in outlook, there are any number of them who are taking the side of labor.

I have an education in economics, and I know for a fact that global trade creates great prosperity. It also however creates losers, and many of these losers are so through no fault of their own. An American laborer cannot compete against a person in China who can do the same job for $2000 a year, and an American programmer cannot compete against a person in India who can do the same job for $5000 a year and has a master's degree.

What should be done? On matters like these, I seek what I call a positive middle path. I seek to see what's right on each side and combine it and do away with what's wrong on each side. It is rightful to seek prosperity and economic opportunity; it is wrong to not care about your country and your people. It is rightful for working people raising families to want some kind of financial security; it is wrong to deny Third World progress, consumer prosperity and business opportunity in the process.

My belief is that there is enough prosperity that gets generated by global economy for business and the consumer that there should be resources available to re-hire the dislocated workers. I believe that there is in fact a way to provide jobs for the dislocated workers – both technical people and laborers. It is called energy conversion. Creating a smart energy infrastructure – through efforts either private or public – would put to work both the brains and the brawn. What do I propose?

I propose this: Putting into place the Hydrogen Transmission Network (http://htnresearch.com). This technology would provide for both the water and the energy needs of humanity through a single non-polluting process. Two inefficient infrastructures – the energy grid and the water delivery system – would be replaced by a single seamless network. Vast number of engineering and construction jobs would be created. And the result will be fulfilling people's water and energy needs in a way that provides relief on both the freshwater resources, which are in many places inadequate or running out, and a vast relief on the atmosphere, the oceans and the climate.

There are many who see global warming as a liberal ploy to take over the economy. I for one do not care one bit whether smart energy is implemented by business or government for as long as it's done. American infrastructure owes to both business and government. The railroads were implemented by industrialists, and the highway system was implemented by the government. Either one can do the job.

Problems like these are solved best through applying intelligence and ingenuity – something that has been very influential in America until it was attacked as narcissism or sociopathy on the Left and as arrogance or ungodliness on the Right. I seek to bring that spirit back. Embrace energy innovation and see jobs in both labor and technical sectors return to America. The result will not only be a better America. It will be a better world.