De weerslag van de globalisering in rijke naties

Door Chris Giles

Een populaire weerslag tegen globalisering en de leiders van de grootste bedrijven van de wereld veegt alle rijke landen, toont een opiniepeiling FT/Harris.

De grote meerderheid van mensen in de V.S. en in Europa willen hogere belastingheffing voor de rijken en betalen zelfs kappen voor collectieve stafmedewerkers aan teller wat zij geloven ongerechtvaardigde beloningen en de negatieve gevolgen van globalisering zijn.

Het bekijken de globalisering aangezien een overweldigend negatieve kracht, burgers van rijke landen aan overheden kijkt om de slagen te beschermen die zij is uit de liberalisering van hun economieën om met nieuwe landen gekomen handel te drijven hebben waargenomen.

Those polled in Britain, France, the US and Spain were about three times more likely to say globalisation was having a negative rather than a positive effect on their countries. The majority was smaller in Germany, with its large export base.

Corporate leaders fared little better, with 5 per cent or fewer of those polled in the US and all large European economies (except Italy) saying they had a great deal of admiration for those who run large companies. In these countries, between a third and a half said they had no admiration at all for corporate bosses.

In response to fears of globalisation and rising inequality, the public in all the rich countries surveyed – the US, Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain – want their governments to increase taxation on those with the highest incomes. In European countries, a large majority want governments to go further and to impose pay caps on the heads of companies.

Europeans still overwhelmingly support the principle of free competition within the European Union, contrary to Nicolas Sarkozy’s wishes at the recent European summit, but in France, Germany and Spain, the populations want their political leaders to play a larger role in managing their economies.

The depth of anti-globalisation feeling in the FT/Harris poll, which surveyed more than 1,000 people online in each of the six countries, will dismay policy-makers and corporate executives. Their view that opening economies to freer trade is beneficial to poor and rich countries alike is not shared by the citizens of rich countries, regardless of how liberal their economic traditions.

The issue of rising inequality is now high on the political agenda of every country and will feature prominently in the 2008 US presidential election.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

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