This was ALWAYS destined to happen

Me, to myself: They thought WHAT was a good idea???

I was reading Carney’s speech, and it was excellent. It was brave, and took guts. And IMO, he’s absolutely right. I feel relieved someone finally said this on a global stage.

The thing that has me reeling is: Who thought global interdependence and globalization was a good idea in the first place?!?!?!?
It was a really, really, really stupid idea.

What does it mean? It means that as a global nation, countries agreed to specialize in the commodities they chose to, and rely on other countries to provide them with the other things they needed.

To simplify, that’s like the US saying: We’ll do vegetables
Australia says: We’ll do beef
England says: We’ll do tea
China says: We’ll do electronics

And then they trade. So everyone has access to everything they need and don’t have to spend the money to cultivate all the different things they need themselves.

On the face of it, this is actually a lovely idea. Global relations strengthen. Everyone has a reason to be friends. We have lots of things to talk about. It’s cheaper. Everyone makes tons of money.

What there was NO accounting for was, what happens if there’s a bully?

There was no system of accountability put in place. No real checks and balances. WHAT?!!!! <Clutches head in disbelief>

There are a few reasons this floors me:

1) They were coming off a series of wars against bullies who tried to seize global power. That was the REASON for this conversation in the first place. No one in the room said: Hey guys, great plan, but just one small thing… what do we do if someone tries to do THAT (points to the entirety of human history) again? What if someone uses their commodities to coerce other countries into doing what they want, even if it’s wrong for the planet?

They can easily do it. I’ll charge you extortionate rates for you to keep shipping your goods to my country.

I’ll cut off your supply of my goods.

I’ll stop buying your goods when you don’t act as I think you should.

What then?

2) Human nature is generally widely understood.

With no consequences, a bully will always emerge. It doesn’t matter if 9 of the 10 people playing the game all agree to follow the rules and then do because that is what is good and right. It just takes one person to see that and use the integrity of the others to their own advantage.

Have you watched a child grow up without consequences? They become a literal monster. Throwing books and punching their parents. Biting their teachers. Screaming at the top of their lungs when they don’t get their way.

Human nature.

It is built into the way we function to test the edges of our boundaries. It’s a safety thing. When we know where our boundaries are, we know where we are safe. Where there are no boundaries we will continue to test.

Even those of us who are the most stringent rules followers have an area where we say “Eh. It won’t hurt anyone” as we watch one more episode of our favorite TV show past our bedtime, as we sneak one more Starburst, or play 10 more minutes of our favorite phone game.

At times I have been known to drive above 65 on the freeway!! I know. Shocking!

3) As I am deep in the world of learning how to put a deal together, I’m learning about how to hedge your bets, how to include failsafe plans, and how to protect money if the worst thing happens…. There are so many ways and places that you reassure people: These are all the ways we will protect against things going wrong. And even if they do, this is what will happen…

You’re telling me that there are more failsafe plans that go into a deal of $800K, than go into planning the future of the entire world?!? HOW?

To me, a simplified version of that conversation went like this:
US says: We’ll do vegetables

Australia says: We’ll do beef
UK says: We’ll do tea
China says: We’ll do electronics

John (maybe? If John existed): E-excuse me, what if there’s a bad actor?

UK: Right! Great question, John. Does everyone promise to be good?

All countries: Yes!

UK turns to John: See? Everyone promises.

Australia: Maybe we should have a committee that oversees something bad when it happens…?

UK <sighs>. US & China <side eye Australia>

UK: Fine. Let’s have a committee. Actually, let’s have a few committees. They’ll be in charge of making sure everyone does what they agreed to.

India: What will they do?

UK: They’ll write strongly worded letters

US & China high five.

*Meeting adjourned*

Polite request: Next time there’s a conversation that goes down like this, that decides the fate of the world and all the generations for hundreds of years to come…

Permission to be in the room? 🙋🏻‍♀️ SMH