The cost of globalization

Today's NYT has a terrific story on the effect that loss of factory jobs has on people in southern Ohio. The stories of human suffering remind me of a telling anecdote about General George Marshall, chief of staff of the Army during WWII. Marshal was an austere man--there were only about six men in the entire Army who called him "George," but when he prepared the strength figures for FDR, he made sure that the casualties were in a contrasting color (red?), because, he said, "otherwise they become just numbers." Maybe that gives a clue as to why Marshal authored the Marshal plan and won the Nobel Peace Prize. But I digress.

We can't stop the effects of globalization, and its benefits (to people who lived worse before even sweatshop jobs were available, for instance) outweigh its costs, but that is no excuse for letting the victims of economic change suffer unnecessarily. The candidates--both Republican and Democratic--should be asked frequently what they will do for people such as those profiled in the NYT story.