The Golden Straitjacket: Here To Stay

Thomas L. Friedman paints a shockingly realistic portrait of the state of our world in a very creative and intriguing way, using the concepts of the Golden Straitjacket and the Electronic Herd to explain how free-market capitalism and large multinational corporations have risen to the spotlight and are leading the future. Friedman portrays a reality that is either do or die - either accept the straitjacket with all its golden rules and tight parameters, or attempt to thrive without the confines of this economic powerhouse and suffer as a result. While I am able to see how Friedman's article could be one-sided and unwilling to delve into other possibilities for a successful economy, I believe he does account for how limiting and constricting the Golden Straitjacket can truly be. This is precisely why he chose to use a straitjacket as his model of clothing. A straitjacket binds a person, restrains them from movement, and narrows their options to the simple stretching of their legs. He could just as easily have chosen a sweater or a jacket but these would not have represented the binding mechanism that accompanies a country's choice - because it is still a choice now, even though it is inevitably the only future - to enter the contract of free-market capitalism. I'm sure we would all love to have multiple sizes of the straitjacket, with multiple patterns and multiple colors, an assortment of choices, but what it comes down to is that the future is situated behind that computer screen, among the Electronic Herd of this world, in the capital stored in that bank, in being able to accomodate to the reality of the straitjacket. And is there anything wrong with having a clear future in store, with having one option and "one size fits all?" Doesn't this simplify things a bit? And for those who argue that Friedman's argument assumes that free-market capitalism and donning the Golden Straitjacket is not the only way to thrive, we must keep in mind that no other successful alternatives have really been produced and as far as I'm concerned, no force can compete with the power of the straitjacket. Friedman doesn't simply assume these things on the basis of his own opinion, he uses a variety of examples and sources. As he states, commenting on the Golden Straitjacket, "It is not always pretty or gentle or comfortable. But it's here and it's the only model on the rack this historical season," and that's the way it is, for now at least.