This report is about Globalization. Globalization can be very prosperous for a country or it could ravage a country's economic currency. Malaysia's Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, used the World Bank meeting in Hong Kong to speak out against the evils of Globalization, after Mahathir's stock and currency were scourged by global and local investors.
Dr. Mahathir's economic stock and currency were ravaged because he did not use his money wisely. He was over borrowing and over building. He built the two largest office buildings in the world, but he lost money from that because there was nobody to rent the space. The KLCI, the Dow Jones of Malaysia, fell forty eight percent in 1997! .
When U.S. Secretary of Treasury Robert Ruben was talking to Mahathir he referred to Globalization as an electronic herd. " The electronic herd is often an anonymous stock, bond, currency traders, and multinational investors connected by screens and networks. The herd knows whom it rules. But the rules of the herd are pretty consistent. They are the rules of the golden strait jacket,".
said Mr. Ruben. .
The electronic herd is made up of two groups, the " short horn cattle " and the " long horn cattle. " The short horn cattle are all the people who buy stock and sell stock, have bonds and currencies around the world, and who move their money around on a very short - term basis. This includes Merrill Lynch and anyone who has a P.C. and a modem who can trade on line all over the world. The long horn cattle are multinational companies like General Electrics, the IBM's, and there are many more. .
Supermarkets have now replaced Superpowers as mega markets. The mega markets are Tokyo, Frankfurt, Sydney, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bombay, Sao Paulo, Paris, Zurich, Chicago, London, and New York City. By 1997 twenty-five supermarkets controlled eighty - three percent of the world's equities under institutional management and accounted for half of the world's market capitalization.