Are we all talking about the same thing, I wonder.

>>Globalisation is already ending. It seems to have started with the production of furniture and sheet & bar steel back to the US. "insourcing" as it is now called is spreading. One news item today, more Honda cars are exported from the US than are imported.<<

Bazz, none of the above has anything at all to do with "globalization ending".

Insourcing - or more accurately in this context, re-shoring - is about reviving local manufacturing capabilities that previously outsourced parts or all of their production to countries with a lower cost base. Either the labour costs in the target country have increased to make the venture non-viable, or the company has found a way to manufacture more cheaply, locally. Neither the process nor the result has the slightest relevance to "globalization" per se.

On the question of Honda exports from the US, that surely indicates the success, not failure, of globalization?

Colour me puzzled by your reasoning.

To me globalisation means manufacturing where cheapest and shipping
the goods around the world.
However what is happening now as growth falters due to increased energy
costs unemployment is increasing and people once employed in the
service industries are finding their jobs paying less.

Globalisation worked fine while growth was rampant but it fails as the
GDP and growth decreases and everything gradually becomes local.

The Honda case you mention is an example, energy costs have risen in
Japan, because of their nuclear problems and 8 one million barrel
tankers have to arrive in Japanese ports EVERY day. This cost of
shipping oil and coal is driving Japan to the wall.
The rising cost of shipping their manufactures will soon cease export
and everything will become local.

I know that the rising cost of energy is an unpopular notion that many
people are unable to stomach, but it is relentless and unstoppable.

Bazz as you know I disagree energy prices are too high in this country.
Recent,this last week, promises that prices will fall, electric power from the provider seems to agree with me.
But even more important,in fact wiping power out totally is Labour costs.
We can never compete there nor should we try.
Nothing even a global war can stop global trade.
In its own way it existed not long after we left the caves objects from across the world traded for other needed goods.
I continue to believe in youth.
With no0 room for doubt in my mind they will find other fuels when needed.
Remember not long ago our oil for lighting came only from whales seals and Penguins.

Ha, yes Belly I know what you are saying.
Well electricity price may fall, perhaps because taxes are changed.
I have not heard that coal is getting cheaper.
It can only get more expensive.

Not sure what you meant by this;
But even more important,in fact wiping power out totally is Labour costs.
We can never compete there nor should we try.

Cost of transport will stop trade. Even sailing ships will be too costly now.
There will be room for small expensive components, even air freight
for expensive items, eg computer chips.
Bulk transport of food will put that food out of the reach of poorer people.

You said;
With no0 room for doubt in my mind they will find other fuels when needed.
Remember not long ago our oil for lighting came only from whales seals and Penguins.

With 7 billion people now, how long will the penguins last ?
The search for alternative fuels is looking very dodgy.
Nuclear is now I think out of the question for financial and insurance
reasons.
We no longer can raise enough finance to build nuclear in time.
We have hopes like "Cold Fusion" hiding in the wings but that is the
type of hope we now rely upon.
It is doubtful if we have enough time to finance and build enough
wind & solar systems provided we solve the other problem, storage !

Remember we only have to perhaps 2017 to 2022 to get the project
well under way, and the politicians are showing no interest at all.
As Mr Micawber said, "Something will turn up".
They are just an echo of you Belly !

That's more of a symptom than a definition, Bazz.

>>To me globalisation means manufacturing where cheapest and shipping the goods around the world<<

Merriam Webster describe globalization as the "development of an increasingly integrated global economy marked especially by free trade, free flow of capital, and the tapping of cheaper foreign labor markets"

In their view - and in mine - the desire for increased economic integration comes first, and is then evidenced by such things as balancing labour costs across economies.

Free trade is another symptom of globalization which, if you think about it, is an important prerequisite of the use of cheaper labour in country B over country A. There's no point in setting up a factory in a low-cost labour zone, if the product is priced out of its destination markets by prohibitive tariffs.

Globalization in its fullest sense has been of massive benefit to pretty much everyone. Remember when China started getting serious about manufacturing? Since then, half a billion of their people have been lifted above the poverty line; meanwhile, Australia has enjoyed a mineral-led boom that has fed us all extremely well indeed.

Sorry Bazz but gee you miss read my thoughts.
No way I think our new fuels will be boiling down wild life.
And my thought that wages of less than $60 a month vs ours was not the issue.
Holden and Ford are leaving to get those type of wages not ours.
You have not heard of the recent commitment of out two biggest electricity seller to reduce prices?
Nothing to do with tax, a large amount was to build new power lines as that finishes prices will fall.
And Bazz you have every right to your doom and gloom thoughts on fuel/energy.
I am unconvinced that the sky is falling and made my references to Penguins to highlight today,s great changes from what once was.
And confidently refer to a Patent office thought 80 years ago*that every thing that can be invented has been invented* just as wrong as it was then.
cheers