RE: Hang on a minute...

I'm not sure that it is. Western nations have very high (and rising) rates of depression, not to mention other health problems, energy consumption, and environmental damage. I'm not saying that we shouldn't try to stop violence and poverty--I'm just very skeptical that big business is the answer.

Also, the homogenization of culture is a huge issue; anything that reduces our diversity reduces our survivability. If we lose other ways of looking at the world in favour of a global monoculture run by large corporations, we will collapse into a culture based on the satisfaction of fleeting material desires and little else; and we'll be doomed if that way of doing things no longer fits environmental conditions.

Trade is certainly preferable to violence and poverty, but I am concerned by who controls that trade--I am not convinced that our only choices are state-run or corporate-run economies.

I think it was Freidman again in The World is Flat, or maybe the UBerkeley History of Information course available on iTunes that made the following argument: Everyone thought the internet would homogenize the world, culture, and language, but instead, you saw a resurgence of a plethora of fringe communities pop up because of their ability to form virtual communities. For example, let's say you speak Welsh. Now you can chat with lots of Welsh speakers worldwide, whereas it would probably die out if you tried speaking Welsh to your American neighbors.

I think I heard the same phenomenon is happening in the music industry. Big commercial bands are dropping in favor of more local/Indie or whatever because I can download it.

The same is true of cosmopolitan vs. provincial fashions, especially with the ability to rapidly respond to local demand.

While it's true there is a lot of mediocre cheap commoditized crap on the market, consumers also look for a way to differentiate themselves and are more empowered to do that now too.