The Cold War engulfed the entire world for nearly half a century. Since the chaotic system that set the communist Soviet Union against the democratic United States, a new world order has emerged. This system, called globalization, has revolutionized the way society thinks, moves, communicates, and functions. As defined in Lexus and the Olive Tree by international business connoisseur Thomas Friedman, globalization is, "the inexorable integration of markets, nation-states, and technologies to a degree never witnessed before the spread of free-market capitalism to virtually every country in the world-(9). This system of globalization is beneficial to the high-speed world of today. .
Globalization improves the quality of life for citizens living in poverty-stricken regions of the world. When large, multinational corporations such as Dell Computers, British Airways, and America Online are in search of quality labor at a low cost, workers can be found in developing third world countries. The wages paid to overseas employees encompass a greater value than what appears on a paycheck: "The AOL subsidiary in the Philippines paid its workers in 1999 about $5.50 a day, the [Far Eastern Economic Review] reported, which is 35 percent more than the legal minimum wage [in the Philippines] it is a first step to bringing a whole new generation of Filipinos into the Fast World -(52). The amount made by the Filipino worker in a day is only a couple cents over the American minimum wage per hour; the job, however, opens doors to a previously unattainable lifestyle filled with technology, growth, and knowledge. Staples such as food, water, and clothing that were formerly difficult to acquire become more easily obtainable to underprivileged families across the globe. New employment is only a starting block for the never-ending chain of globalization: "More economic development leads to more prosperity for more people; and more prosperity tends to lead to more pluralism and political liberalization; and greater liberalization tends to lead to democratization- (153).
