Good points Rabi.  I'll bet the Chinese Goverment is pulling their hair out over the loss of ignorance there.  But the trade off is openning market doors. 

Speaking of which.  Won't Stock markets also need to combine and streamline eventually?  Can NASDAQ, stay a seperate entity, for instance?  I can imagine a virtual cyberspace market capital.  A place that all trading funnels through and is "controled".  From oil to gold.  From steel to tech.  Not a real city location.  But a computer controlled market, controlled from many and various locations.  Which doesn't seem to be the trend currently.  Which again seems odd considering the direction of World Trade.  But, maybe it is the trend?  Many countries are rushing to get Stock Markets up and running.  A finger in the possibly huge pie being made? 

I see Canada is about to become an oil player far beyond what it was.  Several billion barrels locked up in dirt in Alberta, which is now being unlocked.  Well at least they speak english, ey?  Sort of.

*Deftly grabs the maple doughnut*

That's a good question Nuke.  I think that some markets will have shifts as newer technologies arise.  Consider solar power.  Right now everyone gets their power from the grid.  I can imagine this shifting radically if getting solar panels on one's house saves you money.  Currently I think you pay something like $20K for a solar power system for a relatively small house.  I don't think most people pay that much in energy over a short enough time to make it worth it.  Then there's the power storage which I've heard needs maintanance or replacement every 5 years and it's not cheap.  When the cost of energy goes high enough or the cost of the product comes down, we'll start seeing more and more houses with solar (or some alternative) power.  The industry will shift from consumers of energy to producers of it.  People could buy a surplus of panels and sell the energy back to the grid and we just wouldn't need power plants anymore.

If you mean going back to that way of life Nuke, I don't think so, but if some technological breakthrough would allow a person to have a "mini farm" in a small place perhaps.  I don't think people really want to put forth the effort even if there was such a technology.  Unless we are hit with some global calamity, I don't think so. 

Also a word on large corporations ruling the world [market].  This is really already happening I suppose but even (or especially) in the U.S. small business is still thriving.  It is thriving partly because of the large corporations.  I think there is give and take. 

In one of the darker corners, there sat a gentleman. You couldnt really make him out. The haze of smoke pervading the room was not helping things. He has been silent for a while, listening to all the Sires ingage in speculations. He must have been speculating silently to himself for all of a sudden he burst out aloud:

"Sir Black, combination of capital markets as you speak of is not likely to happen. While globalization thing may dictate that humanity is on a trajectory towards the ultimate unitarity, not all aspects of life have to become so also. When a chap wants to buy a beetle he goes to a VW dealership, but if he wants to buy a Ram he will go to a Dodge dealarship. Each dealership deals its own product. Same is true of capital markets. When corporations that deal in substitute products combine, we all get poorer. We are poorer because we have less choices in our consumption. If life is poorer today than it was yesturday, then there exists what I call "wealth potential". Simply put -- wealth potential=people's desire for veriety. That is the single most influential factor that will keep giving birth to new organizations/corporations to replace the old ones. Competition shall be alive so long we are confined by limits of aging. Old oligarchs die & there is no garanty that his successor will be just as successful in keeping the kingdom in tact and expanding.

Now unitarity in the legislative field is inevitable. It is inevitable because people desire stability above all things. Laws and regulations and strict adhearance to them provides us with stability. So as long as communications allow it, municipalities will tend to mutate and unite into the most stable form. I do happen to believe that we are at that time when finally a global municipality is sustainable. Which municipality will be the future winner, I do not know. I do know however that the fittest will prevail".

Your probably right in most of your statement Mr. M.  But three words jump out at me.  When, Corporations, Combine.  When Corporations combine.  Yes, think of the wealth potential, and what is attached to wealth?  Power.  What attaches to Power?  Corruption.  I'm sorry, but I can not agree with the rosy picture painted.  Call me Black Heart here, but in reality, and through history, the corruption of power through wealth is well documented.  I don't see Mega-Corporations allowing young upstart competition.  They will either be bought out or forced out.  IF, (big word there) Corporations one day instruct the behavior of Nations.  It's a big if for sure.  But it is not impossible.

I suppose with all this conjecture at this point, my question would be to you sir, do we procede blindly?  Having faith in the goodwill of men in high places?  Or....,do we begin to question the direction, causes and effects of Globalization?  I say "rage against the machine".  Best to keep the Machine on the defensive and answering to the masses, then the very possible alternative.

The Masses answering to the Machine.