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 Globalization and Localization 
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Globalization and location strategies
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How is globalization different from localization? Suppose you work for a company that, until now, has operated

exclusively in the U.S. However, your company is now opening a major office in Germany, and you need a website to go

with it. You'll be offering pretty much the same products and services in both countries, with only some minor

differences. In this case, you'll focus on localization issues - to localize your U.S. website to Germany.
 
Now suppose instead that your company has major offices in a dozen countries, and you need a web presence in each of

these 12 countries. Before you decide how to localize for any given country, you'll want to create an overall strategy.

And you'll want to put into place a framework that codifies and supports this global strategy. The creation of this

strategy and this framework is globalization. These two initiatives - your globalization strategy and your globalization

framework - will provide uniform guidance for your 12 separate localization efforts.
 
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 29 January 2011 
  

 Globalization versus localization
by Patricia Pitchon

Studies show the need for politicians to promote small-scale, locally interdependent production and trade of goods in

order to create self-sufficiency and reverse the damaging effects of globalization. 

Many recent studies, including a United Nations report and various analyses in The Case Against The Global Economy

(abbreviated here as CAGE), examine some of the damaging effects of an increasingly globalized economy. All authors

referred to here are from the latter study unless otherwise stated.

Globalization is a process which entails the free movement of capital, goods, services and labour around the world.

Currently both capital and goods do move freely, and services such as banking, telecommunications, media and

advertising will do so increasingly. Labour mostly moves freely either in the managerial category or, sadly, at the

increasingly desperate end of the scale with illegal migration. The vast majority of working people in the world,

however, stay put.

The engines which drive the globalization of the economy are multinational companies. There are some 37,000

multinationals, and between them they account for four-fifths of world trade. About 75 per cent of all trade in the world

is between multinational economies. Many of them are wealthier than entire nations. Of the 100 richest companies in

the world, 60 are nations and 40 are multinational companies. They drive trade and investment policies, and have

powerful social, economic, political, environmental and cultural impacts.

The latest agreements on trade and investment to which 100 nations now adhere, the so-called Uruguay Round of the

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (known as GATT), include profound changes which speed up the globalization

process, particularly in services, and weaken the powers of individual governments. Countries participating in GATT

used to have the power of the veto. Now they do not. Decisions used to have to be unanimous. Now a majority decision

is sufficient. What this means is that the power of multinationals to determine trading and investment activities is greatly

increased, whereas the power of governments to mediate between competing interests and needs in society, such as

social and environmental needs versus corporate needs to expand and increase profits, is severely diminished. This is

deemed a "victory for free trade", for "unfettered markets" free at last of cumbersome government regulation, and the

promise is prosperity for millions of people.

A democratic deficit

The way in which the 500-page GATT document passed muster is shocking. Ralph Nader points out (in CAGE) that he

offered any congressman in the United States $10,000 for the charity of his choice if he would answer 10 basic questions

about the new GATT agreement. Only one congressman took up the challenge, and read the full text, after which he

changed his mind and voted against it. But it seems, from Nader�s account, that most did not read the full text before

voting. There is no reason to imagine that Europeans in various parliaments were more diligent in this regard. Many

read summaries, but not the full text, before voting. In Japan, members of the Japanese Diet received the full text in

Japanese only after voting.

The Press had no access to the deliberations, and consumer and citizens� groups were denied representation in the

process which culminated in the final document. But powerful corporations had both access and influence. There is

nothing wrong with corporate aims, which include expansion and growth to increase profits, and whose primary duty is

to shareholders, as they so often state. But the real question is how far corporate aims should replace the aims of the

nation state or even regions or federations, or local governments. As James Goldsmith points out in his book, The Trap,

a nation is not a company. Its aims must take account of the common good, it must consider the public interest, and

social, cultural, environmental and political considerations cannot be excluded. The corporations seem to have emerged

as a new, unaccountable, unrepresentative and unelected powerhouse, with the consent of governments but with

inadequate representation of many sectors in society.

Unfavourable impacts

Many phenomena we are suffering today are effects of what many analysts now think is a combination of excessive and

unnecessary corporate activity and inadequate governmental control.

We can see some of these effects in greatly increased air pollution, as more and more goods travel ever further, even to

regions able to produce these goods themselves but unable to compete with powerful conglomerates on price. Mongolia,

for example, has 25 million animals from which butter can be produced locally, but currently it is helpless against

conglomerates which can transport it from far away and sell it more cheaply there. This is deemed "a victory for

consumers", although many prospective Mongolian consumers have become impoverished as a result of this type of

competition, and the true cost of the extra pollution created by transporting the goods is not counted either.

We are witnessing the poisoning of rivers and lakes due to harmful chemicals; the thinning of the ozone layer; the

ghostly and abandoned town centres with the disappearance of small, local shopkeepers and the drive to lower workers�

wages; the shocks caused by the sudden unemployment of thousands of people at a time; the furious pace of new

technologies applied constantly to the workplace to replace ever more workers; the massive displacement, by giant

agricultural concerns, of local farmers who then drift to the cities to become urban paupers; the pressures that this drift

to the cities places on already stretched services such as electricity, water and sewage disposal, particularly in many

Third World cities; and the disappearance of precious forests at an irreplaceable and therefore unsustainable rate. The

loss of local products is accompanied by the appearance of dreary, standardized food worldwide. The disappearance of

local culture and local diversity is accompanied by the appearance of the same mediocre and often violent films

worldwide, and so on.

Case studies

Mander and Boston (in CAGE) looked at the effects upon local communities of the activities of the giant US food

retailer Wal-Mart. They maintain that Wal-Mart usually locates itself just outside a town centre and manages to take

customers away from the commercial centre by keeping prices as low as possible, moving sector by sector to undercut

the local competition. Because of its size it is able to sustain losses for a long time. Local businesses start to disappear

and the town centre becomes a ghost town. The authors claim that several studies indicate that for every job Wal-Mart

provides, as many as 1.5 jobs are lost. The Wal-Mart jobs are at the low end of the economic ladder; it rarely pays

more than the minimum wage. Dating is forbidden among employees, who until recently, at least, also had to pass lie-

detector tests. Workers have to work long and irregular hours for no extra pay; these hours are called "free hours". No

labour unions are permitted.

What is needed is the large-scale promotion of the small scale

There are other serious effects. Mander and Boston quote an Illinois study which found that the increased cost of roads,

water and sewage as well as security, telephone communications and other services outweighed the sales and property

tax revenues the new giant stores generated. When surrounding businesses go bankrupt, regional income and the

community�s tax base both decline, together with funds required to maintain adequate municipal services. Wal-Mart�s

profits do not benefit the local community, since profits are repatriated to the head office elsewhere. Disastrously, the

new trade rules (both NAFTA and GATT agreements) allow corporations to repatriate money from anywhere in the

world. Yet one study by the University of Massachusetts quoted by Mander and Boston (Wal-Mart Watch, December

1994) indicates that every dollar spent on locally owned business had "four to five times the economic spin-off of a

dollar spent at Wal-Mart", because traditional, local businesses usually channel their profits back into the community in

various ways.

This particular study leads to an important conclusion, namely that the real issue is not "free trade versus

protectionism", but rather "globalization versus localization". Specifically, in the United States citizens are beginning to

mobilize to find ways of keeping money in the local community and of having a greater say over what happens in their

communities. In the case of Wal-Mart, small businesses are fighting Wal-Mart in legal battles in 20 states, as are some

church groups, unions, manufacturers and municipal governments. In 1993, for example, a court in Arkansas awarded

around $300,000 to three local pharmacists because Wal-Mart had sold merchandise below cost to drive them out of

business. At the beginning of the decade, Wal-Mart was growing at a dizzying pace, with a new North American store

opening somewhere every three days, and with Wal-Marts planned around the world.

Plant breeding and patents

Vandana Shiva and Radha Holla Bhar, in a study entitled �Piracy by Patent�, describe a major calamity for the

countries of the South, because new rules allow commercial plant breeders to make often very minor alterations of

genetic structures of plants, after which the seeds are patented by the companies concerned and sold back to the

communities which first provided them freely. The true cost of hundreds of years of work and accumulation of local

knowledge in constant and gradual improvement of seeds (something farmers have done traditionally over the centuries)

is never acknowledged, much less paid for. In effect, freely given genetic resource materials are "returned" to the South

as a commodity with a price tag. The main culprits in this form of piracy have been large corporations who argue that

they must have free access to what is the common heritage of mankind, but the benefits, when the materials are

technologically altered, often in ways which are not significant, suddenly become corporate property and must be

protected by patent. The United States government has been in dispute with countries such as India because they have

not wanted to recognize these so-called "intellectual property" patents, and it complains about the loss of some $200

million by its corporations per year in royalty payments for agricultural chemicals. However, a study by the Rural

Advancement Fund International of Canada found that the plant-breeding work of Third World farmers over thousands

of years, together with the discovery by them and care of medicinal plants, would mean that the United States should be

paying them some $300 million per year for royalties on farmers� seeds that the United States uses, and some $5 billion

for pharmaceuticals now sold in American drug stores.

Some champions of this commercialization of life forms (which includes micro-organisms such as yeasts, algae, bacteria

and viruses, many of which are patented by large multinational companies) have even suggested that the farmers� rights

to save seeds should be abolished. Instead, the farmers should pay royalties when the seeds are used to grow crops

which they sell. The obvious long-term consequence of this alarming trend is the steady impoverishment of millions of

farmers.

Farmers who developed seed and animal breeding stock and natural pesticides will lose their independence since they

will have to pay high prices to corporations for products they were once able to provide for themselves. The new GATT

rules make the monopoly of life forms and processes easier and threaten farmers everywhere. In effect, they protect

corporate agribusiness from already vulnerable farmers.

The long haul

Many forms of dislocation result from indiscriminate globalization, where the imperative is ever greater, more

predatory and unsustainable growth, with an accompanying and often dreary standardization of many aspects of life as

well as the loss of political and cultural self-determination. Essentially, the process has many worryingly undemocratic

aspects, such as growing wealth, and hence ever greater political influence, concentrated in the hands of comparatively

few, and massive social dislocation as its logical consequence. Many studies point to an ever-widening gap between rich

and poor. Wealth appears to be rushing upwards into the hands of powerful shareholders and corporate moguls, rather

than trickling down. (In the United States, 40 per cent of the nation�s wealth is currently concentrated among one per

cent of the population.)

As Helena Norberg-Hodge (writing in CAGE) points out, what is needed is not the large-scale promotion of the large

scale, but the large-scale promotion of the small scale. This represents a shift away, in her words, from global

dependence and towards local interdependence. One consequence would be that many people could remain on their land

as self-sufficient smallholders in many Third World countries. The whole world cannot live in cities and many would not

want to if they could survive on their land. Another would be less pollution as fewer goods are transported across long

distances around the world to places which can provide them locally. A third would be an increase in locally

accountable entities and therefore a corresponding increase in local responsibility.

This implies the need to reverse many of the present trends and policies, to stimulate local production and local trade

and decrease global trade. This, in turn, implies reform of corporations as they now stand and reform of major trade

and investment rules.

Politicians made these rules, and they can change them. There is nothing inevitable about "unfettered" free markets

which unfetter some and fetter so many others, consigning millions to a loss of local self-sufficiency, cultural diversity

and political autonomy. The logic of corporations cannot become the logic of nations. Markets have the power that they

have, and corporations who benefit from these markets have the power that they have, because politicians everywhere

have acquiesced in this project.

(Sources and further reading: States of Disarray, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, 1996. The

Case Against the Global Economy, ed. Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith, Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 1996.

Globalization in Question by Paul Hirst and Grahame Thompson, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1996.)

From the April 1997 issue of Share International.

-----------

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Globalization Vs. Localization How is globalization different from localization? Suppose you work for a company that,

until now, has operated exclusively in... Jump to text �

Index

12:   Localisation Vs Globalisation: Clarifying the Terms

Colin Hines

CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION versus INTERNATIONALISM

It is crucial to make a clear distinction between, for example, a global flow of technology, ideas and information to

rebuild sustainable local communities � that is, a supportive �internationalism� � and the process of globalization. In

essence, the latter is the systematic reduction of protective barriers to the flow of goods and money by international

trade rules shaped by and for big business. It pits country against country, community against community and workers

against workers. That is the point of it, because such a structure and process is the route to maximizing profits.

Internationalism can be thought of as the flow of ideas, technologies, information, culture, money and goods with the

end goal of protecting and rebuilding local economies worldwide. Its emphasis is not on competition for the cheapest,

but on co-operation for the best.

Linguistic clarity is vital since the advocates and beneficiaries of globalization misuse the indisputable benefits that can

accrue from such constructive international flows to justify the destructive process of globalization. In tandem with this

misleading approach is invariably a promise that some day the growth resulting from globalization will somehow trickle

down to benefit the majority.

CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION

This is the ever-increasing integration of national economies into the global economy through trade and investment

rules and privatization, aided by technological advances. These. reduce barriers to trade and investment and in the

process reduce democratic controls by nation states and their communities over their economic affairs. The process is

driven by the widespread lobbying of large corporations who use the theory of comparative advantage, the goal of

international competitiveness and the growth model to achieve the maximisation of their profits. It is occurring

increasingly at the expense of social, environmental and labour improvements and rising inequality for most of the

world.

LOCALIZATION: A COHERENT AND JUST ALTERNATIVE

Localization is a process which reverses the trend of globalization by discriminating in favour of the local. It ensures

that all goods and services that can reasonably be provided locally should be. Depending on the context, the �local� is

predominantly defined

as part of the nation state, although it can be the nation state itself or occasionally a regional grouping of nation states.

The policies bringing about localization are ones which increase control of the economy by communities and nation

states. The result should be an increase in community cohesion, a reduction in poverty and inequality and an

improvement in livelihoods, social infrastructure and environmental protection, and hence an increase in the all-

important sense of security.

Localization is not about restricting the flow of information, technology, trade and investment, management and legal

structures, which further localization. Indeed these are encouraged by the new localist emphasis in global aid and trade

rules. Such transfers also play a crucial role in the successful transition from globalization to localization. It is not a

return to overpowering state control, merely governments� provision of a policy and economic framework which allows

people, community groups and businesses to rediversify their own local economies.

The route to localization consists of seven interrelated and

self-reinforcing policy areas. The basic steps are:

� reintroduction of protective safeguards for domestic economies;

� a site-here-to-sell-here policy for manufacturing and services domestically or regionally;

� localising money, such that the majority stays within its place of origin;

� local competition policy to eliminate monopolies from the more protected economies;

� introduction of resource taxes to increase environmental improvements and help fund the transition to the Protect the

Local, Globally approach;

� increased democratic involvement both politically and economically to ensure the effectiveness and equity of the

movement to more diverse local economies;

� reorientation of the end goals of aid and trade rules such that they contribute to the rebuilding of local economies and

local control.

Under these circumstances, beggar-your-neighbour globalization gives way to the potentially more co-operative better-

your-neighbour localization.

(See Colin Hines, Localization � A Global Manifesto, (London: Earthscan) 2000.)

� from Prosperity, June 2003

Next

Best matches for localization vs globalization
12: Localisation Vs Globalisation: Clarifying the Terms... Jump to text �
Localization is a process which reverses the trend of globalization by discriminating in favour ... Jump to text �On

Glocalization: or Globalization for some, Localization for some Others
Zygmunt Bauman
Abstract
Globalization cuts both ways. Not only does it valorize the local in a cultural sense, it constructs the local as the tribal.

Processes of geopolitical fragmentation give those in power even more room to manoeuvre. Glocalization involves the

reallocation of poverty and stigma from above without even the residual responsibility of noblesse oblige. Geographical

and social mobility are dichotomized; populations are refigured as tourists and vagabonds. Globalization thus reinforces

already existing patterns of domination, while globalization indicates trends to dispersal and conflict on neo-traditional

grounds. The privileged walk, or fly away; the others take revenge upon each other.

fragmentationglobalizationglocalizationnation statetribalization
CiteULikeComploreConnoteaDel.icio.usDiggRedditTechnoratiTwitterWhat's this?

[CITATION] Balancing localization and globalization: exploring the impact of firm internationalization on a regional

clusterR De Martino, DMH Reid� - � & Regional Development, 2006 - Routledge
Cited by 30 - Related articles - BL Direct

Balancing localization and globalization: exploring the impact of firm internationalization on a regional clusterR De

Martino, R Mc Hardy� - Entrepreneurship and � - ingentaconnect.com
This paper explores the impact of firm internationalization on regional industrial clusters. The
past decade has witnessed the popularization of two intertwined trends in geographic
competitiveness: globalization and localization. While previous research has sought to ...

Balancing localization and globalization: Exploring the impact of firm internationalization on a regional clusterR

DeMartino, D Reid� - Relation, 2006 - en.scientificcommons.org
Publisher version can be found at www.informaworld.com.. RIT community members may access
full-text via RIT Libraries licensed databases: http://library.rit.edu/databases/. This paper explores
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[CITATION] Balancing localization and globalization: Exploring the impact of firm internationalization on a regional

clusterR DeMartino, D Reid� - 2006 - Taylor & Francis (Routledge)

Balancing localization and globalization: exploring the impact of firm internationalization on a regional cluster pp.R De

Martino, DMH Reid, SC Zygliodopoulos� - udesarrollo.cl
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JOURNAL Balancing localization and globalization:exploring the impact of firm
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Balancing localization and globalization: Exploring the impact of firm internationalization on a regional clusterR

DeMartino, D Reid� - Relation, 2006 - en.scientificcommons.org
Publisher version can be found at www.informaworld.com.. RIT community members may access
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[CITATION] Being in the world: globalization and localizationJ Friedman - � globalization, and modernity: a Theory,

culture �, 1990 - Sage Publications Ltd
Cited by 378 - Related articles

[CITATION] Being in the World: Globalization and LocalizationJ Friedman - citeulike.org
Jonathan Friedman. Theory Culture Society, Vol. 7, No. 2. (1 June 1990), pp.
311-328. 10.1177/026327690007002018. globalization localism.
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Being in the World: Globalization and LocalizationJ Friedman - � , globalization, and modernity: a Theory, culture &

�, 1990 - books.google.com
Being in the World: Globalization and Localization Jonathan Friedman Introduction From 1970
to 1980 the population of North American Indians increased from 700,000 to 1.4 million including
the creation of several new tribes. The world network of stockmarkets are overcapi- ...

[CITATION] Being in the World: Globalization and LocalizationJ Friedman - Theory, Culture & Society, 1990 -

tcs.sagepub.com
Being in the World: Globalization and Localization Jonathan Friedman Introduction From 1970
to 1980 the population of North American Indians increased from 700,000 to 1.4 million including
the creation of several new tribes. The world network of stockmarkets are overcapi- ...

[CITATION] BEING IN THE WORLD: GLOBALIZATION AND LOCALIZATIONJ Friedman - Theory, Culture and

Society, 2009 - elibrary.ru
Поиск в библиотеке, Расширенный поиск. ...

[CITATION] Being in the World: Globalization and LocalizationJ Friedman - Theory, Culture & Society, 1990 -

tcs.sagepub.com
 
FROM WIKIPEDIA
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Internationalization and localizationFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
For the term in economics, see Internationalization. For Windows-specified term, see Multilingual User Interface. For

other uses, see localization (disambiguation).
 
Screenshot of software programs localized to Italian.In computing, internationalization and localization (also spelled

internationalisation and localisation, see spelling differences) are means of adapting computer software to different

languages, regional differences and technical requirements of a target market. Internationalization is the process of

designing a software application so that it can be adapted to various languages and regions without engineering

changes. Localization is the process of adapting internationalized software for a specific region or language by adding

locale-specific components and translating text.

The terms are frequently abbreviated to the numeronyms i18n (where 18 stands for the number of letters between the

first i and last n in internationalization, a usage coined at DEC in the 1970s or 80s)[1] and L10n respectively, due to the

length of the words. The capital L in L10n helps to distinguish it from the lowercase i in i18n.

Some companies, like IBM and Sun Microsystems, use the term "globalization" for the combination of

internationalization and localization.[2] Globalization can also be abbreviated to g11n.[3]

Microsoft[4] defines Internationalization as a combination of World-Readiness and localization. World-Readiness is a

developer task, which enables a product to be used with multiple scripts and cultures (globalization) and separating user

interface resources in a localizable format (localizability).[5]

This concept is also known as NLS (National Language Support or Native Language Support).

Contents [hide]
1 Nomenclature
2 Scope
3 Business process for internationalizing software
4 Coding practice
5 Difficulties
6 Cost vs benefit tradeoff
7 See also
8 External links
9 Notes
10 References
 
[edit] NomenclatureThe support of multiple languages by computer systems can be considered a continuum between

localisation ("L10n"), through multilingualisation (or "m17n"), to internationalisation ("i18n").

A localised system has been adapted or converted for use in a particular locale (other than the one it was originally

developed for), including the language of the user interface (UI), input, and display, and features such as time/date

display and currency. Each instance of the system only supports a single locale, and there is no explicit support for

languages that are not part of that locale (although the character set may coincidentally be usable for other languages).
Multilingualised software supports multiple languages for concurrent display and input, but has a single UI language

which cannot be changed. Multi-locale support for other features like date, time, number, and currency formats varies

as the system tends towards full internationalisation. In general, a multilingualised system is intended for use in one

specific locale, but is capable of handling multilingual content as data.
An internationalised system is equipped for use in a range of "locales" (or by users of multiple languages), by allowing

the co-existence of several languages and character sets for input, display, and UI. In particular, a system may not be

considered internationalised in the fullest sense unless the UI language is selectable by the user at runtime. Full

internationalisation may extend beyond support for multiple languages and orthography to compliance with jurisdiction

-specific legislation (in respect of copyright, for instance) and other non-linguistic conventions.
The distinction arises because it is significantly more difficult to create a multi-lingual UI than simply to support the

character sets and keyboards needed to express multiple languages. To internationalise a UI, every text string employed

in interaction must be translated into all supported languages; then all output of literal strings, and literal parsing of

input in UI code must be replaced by hooks to i18n libraries.

It should be noted that "internationalised" does not necessarily mean that a system can be used absolutely anywhere,

since simultaneous support for all possible locales is both practically almost impossible and commercially very hard to

justify. In many cases an internationalised system includes full support only for the most spoken languages, plus any

others of particular relevance to the application.

[edit] ScopeFocal points of internationalization and localization efforts include:

Language
Computer-encoded text
Alphabets/scripts; most recent systems use the Unicode standard to solve many of the character encoding problems.
Different systems of numerals
Writing direction which is e.g. left to right in German, right to left in Persian, Hebrew and Arabic
Spelling variants for different countries where the same language is spoken, e.g. localization (en-US, en-CA, en-GB-oed)

vs. localisation (en-GB, en-AU)
Text processing differences, such as the concept of capitalization which exists in some scripts and not in others, different

text sorting rules, etc
Plural forms in text output, which differ depending upon language[6]
Input
Enablement of keyboard shortcuts on any keyboard layout[7]
Graphical representations of text (printed materials, online images containing text)
Spoken (Audio)
Subtitling of film and video
Culture
Images and colors: issues of comprehensibility and cultural appropriateness
Names and titles
Government assigned numbers (such as the Social Security number in the US, National Insurance number in the UK,

Isikukood in Estonia, and Resident registration number in South Korea.) and passports
Telephone numbers, addresses and international postal codes
Currency (symbols, positions of currency markers)
Weights and measures
Paper sizes
Writing conventions
Date/time format, including use of different calendars
Time zones (UTC in internationalized environments)
Formatting of numbers (decimal separator, digit grouping)
Any other aspect of the product or service that is subject to regulatory compliance
The distinction between internationalization and localization is subtle but important. Internationalization is the

adaptation of products for potential use virtually everywhere, while localization is the addition of special features for use

in a specific locale. Internationalization is done once per product, while localization is done once for each combination

of product and locale. The processes are complementary, and must be combined to lead to the objective of a system that

works globally. Subjects unique to localization include:

Language translation
National varieties of languages (see language localization)
Special support for certain languages such as East Asian languages
Local customs
Local content
Symbols
Order of sorting (Collation)
Aesthetics
Cultural values and social context
[edit] Business process for internationalizing softwareIn order to internationalize a product, it is important to look at a

variety of markets that your product will foreseeably enter. Details such as field length for addresses, ability to make

the zip code field optional to address countries that do not have zip codes, plus the introduction of new registration flows

that adhere to local laws are just some of the examples that make internationalization a complex project.[8]

A broader approach takes into account cultural factors regarding for example the adaptation of the business process

logic or the inclusion of individual cultural (behavioral) aspects.[9]

[edit] Coding practiceThe current prevailing practice is for applications to place text in resource strings which are

loaded during program execution as needed. These strings, stored in resource files, are relatively easy to translate.

Programs are often built to reference resource libraries depending on the selected locale data. One software library that

aids this is gettext.

Thus to get an application to support multiple languages one would design the application to select the relevant

language resource file at runtime. Resource files are translated to the required languages. This method tends to be

application-specific and, at best, vendor-specific. The code required to manage date entry verification and many other

locale-sensitive data types also must support differing locale requirements. Modern development systems and operating

systems include sophisticated libraries for international support of these types.

Some tools help in detecting i18n issues and guiding software resolution of those issues, such as Lingoport's

Globalyzer.[10]

[edit] DifficultiesWhile translating existing text to other languages may seem easy, it is more difficult to maintain the

parallel versions of texts throughout the life of the product. For instance, if a message displayed to the user is modified,

all of the translated versions must be changed. This in turn results in a somewhat longer development cycle.

Many localization issues (e.g. writing direction, text sorting) require more profound changes in the software than text

translation. For example, OpenOffice.Org achieves this with compilation switches.

To some degree (e.g. for Quality assurance), the development team needs someone who understands foreign languages

and cultures and has a technical background. In large societies with one dominant language/culture, it may be difficult

to find such a person.

[edit] Cost vs benefit tradeoffIn a commercial setting, the benefit from localization is access to more markets. Some

argue that the commercial case to localize products into multiple languages is very obvious, and that all is needed is a

budgetary commitment from the producer to finance the considerable costs. It costs more to produce products for

international markets, but in an increasingly global economy, supporting only one language/market is scarcely an

option[citation needed]. Still, proprietary software localization is impacted by economic viability and usually lacks the

ability for end users and volunteers to self-localize[citation needed], as is often the case in open-source environments.

Since open source software can generally be freely modified and redistributed, it is more amenable to localization. The

KDE project, for example, has been translated into over 100 languages.[11]

[
[edit] External links Look up internationalization or localization in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
 Wikibooks has a book on the topic of
FOSS Localization

Globalyzer - Software Internationalization Product
Lingoport - Software Internationalization Product, Expertise, and Services
World Wide Navi - Software Internationalization Tool
Jayanda� at Games Convention Online 2010 - Presentation for a Business Talk about Localization Pitfalls, held at the

Games Convention Online 2010
i18nblog - Blog on Internationalization (i18n)
[edit] Notes1.^ "Glossary of W3C Jargon". World Wide Web Consortium. http://www.w3.org/2001/12/Glossary#I18N.

Retrieved 2008-10-13.
2.^ IBM Globalization web site
3.^ Wiktionary g11n definition
4.^ Microsoft "Globalization Step-by-Step" guide
5.^ MSDN.microsoft.com
6.^ GNU.org
7.^ Blog.i18n.ro
8.^ Internationalizing a Product: Product Internationalization 101
9.^ Pawlowski, J.M. (2008): Culture Profiles: Facilitating Global Learning and Knowledge Sharing. Proc. of ICCE

2008, Taiwan, Nov. 2008. Draft Version
10.^ Globalyzer.com
11.^ For the current list see KDE.org
[edit] References.NET Internationalization: The Developer's Guide to Building Global Windows and Web Applications,

Guy Smith-Ferrier, Addison-Wesley Professional, 7 August 2006. ISBN 0-321-34138-4
A Practical Guide to Localization, Bert Esselink, John Benjamins Publishing, [2000]. ISBN 1-58811-006-0
Lydia Ash: The Web Testing Companion: The Insider's Guide to Efficient and Effective Tests, Wiley, May 2, 2003.

ISBN 0471430218
Business Without Borders: A Strategic Guide to Global Marketing, Donald A. DePalma, Globa Vista Press [2004].

ISBN 978-0976516903
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Privacy policyAbout WikipediaDisclaimersBest matches for localization vs globalization
and localization. Globalization can also be abbreviated to g11n. Jump to text �
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 Internationalization
Home  Resources  Techniques  Topics  News  Groups  About   
 Localization vs. Internationalization
Intended audience: anyone who is wondering about the comparative meanings of internationalization and localization.

Question
What do the terms 'internationalization' and 'localization' mean, and how are they related?

Answer
Everyone has their own preferred definitions for these terms. We provide some general, high-level descriptions here of

how we tend to use these terms on the W3C Internationalization site.

Localization
Localization refers to the adaptation of a product, application or document content to meet the language, cultural and

other requirements of a specific target market (a 'locale').

Localization is sometimes written as 'l10n', where 10 is the number of letters between �l� and �n�.

Often thought of only as a synonym for translation of the user interface and documentation, localization is often a

substantially more complex issue. It can entail customization related to:

1.Numeric, date and time formats
2.Use of currency
3.Keyboard usage
4.Collation and sorting
5.Symbols, icons and colors
6.Text and graphics containing references to objects, actions or ideas which, in a given culture, may be subject to

misinterpretation or viewed as insensitive.
7.Varying legal requirements
8.and many more things.
Localization may even necessitate a comprehensive rethinking of logic, visual design, or presentation if the way of doing

business (eg., accounting) or the accepted paradigm for learning (eg., focus on individual vs. group) in a given locale

differs substantially from the originating culture.

Internationalization
Definitions of internationalization vary. This is a high-level working definition for use with W3C Internationalization

Activity material. Some people use other terms, such as 'globalization' to refer to the same concept.

Internationalization is the design and development of a product, application or document content that enables easy

localization for target audiences that vary in culture, region, or language.

Internationalization is often written 'i18n', where 18 is the number of letters between �i� and �n� in the English word.

Internationalization typically entails:

1.Designing and developing in a way that removes barriers to localization or international deployment. This includes

such things as enabling the use of Unicode, or ensuring the proper handling of legacy character encodings where

appropriate, taking care over the concatenation of strings, avoiding dependance in code of user-interface string values,

etc.
2.Providing support for features that may not be used until localization occurs. For example, adding markup in your

DTD to support bidirectional text, or for identifying language. Or adding to CSS support for vertical text or other non-

Latin typographic features.
3.Enabling code to support local, regional, language, or culturally related preferences. Typically this involves

incorporating predefined localization data and features derived from existing libraries or user preferences. Examples

include date and time formats, local calendars, number formats and numeral systems, sorting and presentation of lists,

handling of personal names and forms of address, etc.
4.Separating localizable elements from source code or content, such that localized alternatives can be loaded or selected

based on the user's international preferences as needed.
Notice that these items do not necessarily include the localization of the content, application, or product into another

language; they are design and development practices which allow such a migration to take place easily in the future but

which may have significant utility even if no localization ever takes place.

The value of internationalization
Internationalization significantly affects the ease of the product's localization. Retrofitting a linguistically- and

culturally-centered deliverable for a global market is obviously much more difficult and time-consuming than designing

a deliverable with the intent of presenting it globally. (Think back to the Y2K effort and trying to "undo" two-character

year fields that were built on the assumption of "19xx").

So ideally, internationalization occurs as a fundamental step in the design and development process, rather than as an

afterthought that can often involve awkward and expensive re-engineering.

T
Author: Richard Ishida, W3C, Susan K. Miller, Boeing.

Content first published 2005-12-05. Last substantive update 2005-12-05 GMT. This version 2010-09-27 9:48 GMT

For the history of document changes, search for qa-i18n in the i18n blog.

Copyright � 2005-2010 W3C� (MIT, ERCIM, Keio), All Rights Reserved. W3C liability, trademark, document use and

software licensing rules apply. Your interactions with this site are in accordance with our public and Member privacy

statements.
Localization versus globalization.

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globalization.

In his introduction to this special issue on the architecture of Peninsular Malaysia Coordinates:

"Malaya" redirects here. For the federation of Malay states prior to formation of Malaysia, see Federation of Malaya.

For the 1949 American film, see Malaya (film).  and Singapore, guest editor Chris Abel examines the complex history an

nature of Southeast Asian culture and shows how the interaction of global and local technologies, conditioned by

climate and ecology, provides a stimulating vision for 21st century development in a rapidly expanding part of the world.

Looking at Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (kw�`lə lm`pr), city (1990 est. pop.  or Singapore today, it is easy to conclude

that the forces of a globalised consumer culture have all but won. Both cities, but especially Singapore -- the city

Western critics love to hate -- exhibit all th visual attributes of familiar Western models: the central business districts;

the air-conditioned office towers; the kitsch condos; the McDonalds franchises; the shopping centres all selling the same

consumer products; the jam-packed highways spreading out into the suburbs, and the suburbs themselves with their

Dallas-inspired mixture of neo-classical and Spanish-style villas. What is left of the original urban fabric of Chinese-built

shophouses with their arcaded five-foot-ways, has been cut back to ever smaller enclaves of usually dilapidated streets

or expensively tarted up but lifeless conservation areas. Otherwise, the odd urban fragment, temple or mosque serves as

an occasional reminder of an earlier, other world, hanging on by the skin of its teeth. For many visitors, it adds up to a

disappointing and disturbing spectacle of cultural abdication abdication, in a political sense, renunciation of high public

office, usually by a monarch. Some abdications have been purely voluntary and resulted in no loss of prestige. . In a

typical comment, Rem Koolhaas Remment Koolhaas (born November 17 1944 in Rotterdam) is a Dutch architect,

architectural theorist, urbanist and "Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design" at the Graduate School

of Design at Harvard University, USA.  recently summed up his own visit to Singapore with the disparaging dis�par�age 
tr.v. dis�par�aged, dis�par�ag�ing, dis�par�ag�es
1. To speak of in a slighting or disrespectful way; belittle. See Synonyms at decry.

2. To reduce in esteem or rank.  remark that it was 'the only Chines city with its own Chinatown'.(1)

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Imported cultures

Yet all is not quite what it seems to the Eurocentric eye. Comparisons between globalised and apparently uniform

present and a supposedly purer Asian past misrepresentmis�rep�re�sent 
tr.v. mis�rep�re�sent�ed, mis�rep�re�sent�ing, mis�rep�re�sents
1. To give an incorrect or misleading representation of.

2.
..... Click the link for more information. the essentially complex nature of Southeast Asian culture. Even prior to

colonisation, the region had been exposed to layer upon layer of imported cultures which had been localised localised -

localisation  over time, and adapted to regional conditions. Hybridisation was not so much the exception as the norm.(2)

When it did arrive, colonisation brought with it a whole new set of cultural imports to be absorbed, both Western and

non-Western. Singapore, for example, was never a Chinese city of the same kind as those on mainland China, but

developed in the typical dualistic du�al�ism 
n.
1. The condition of being double; duality.

2. Philosophy The view that the world consists of or is explicable as two fundamental entities, such as mind and matter.

3.  pattern of a colonial city, with a European half and a native half, the latter -- already virtually a separate Chinatown

-- populated by expatriate Chinese who migrated to seek their fortunes in Raffles' new trading post trading post

See post. .

The history of Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur is the largest city in Malaysia; it is also the nation's capital. The history of

Kuala Lumpur began in the middle of the 19th century with the rise of the tin extraction industry.  is even more

complicated, since British colonists not only founded a city, as with Singapore, where no indigenous urban culture

existed, but Chinese and Indian immigrants encouraged by the British soon dominated the rural Malay population,

creating not only the typical, but misnamed mis�name 
tr.v. mis�named, mis�nam�ing, mis�names
To call by a wrong name.
 
misnamed
Adjective

having an inappropriate or misleading name:  native urban fabric of shophouses and temples, but also an awkward

cultural and political situation for Malaysians to cope with ever since. The eagerness and apparent indifference to

conservation with which Malaysian planners and architects have embraced more recently imported models of building is

therefore, at least in part, due to a lack of identification with much of th local urban heritage. Something of the sort also

applies to post-colonial Singapore, which is viewed by proud Singaporeans as an Asian city, not so much because it

looks like one, but because it was created by Asians, as opposed to the historic rumps which were originally built, or

otherwise controlled, by their erstwhile colonial rulers.

Structure of Asian cities

Aside from these historical complications, it is questionable whether cultural difference can be assessed solely by

reference to the forms of buildings. This is not to say that architecture is not important, but that it is not the only

measure of difference. In particular, experienced analysts warn against the habit of foreign architects and planners of

imposing preconceived pre�con�ceive 
tr.v. pre�con�ceived, pre�con�ceiv�ing, pre�con�ceives
To form (an opinion, for example) before possessing full or adequate knowledge or experience.  (i.e. Western urban

models on Asian cities, which may look superficially similar to modern Western cities, but in fact function very

differently. T.G. McGee, for example, explains that the economic cultures of Western cities are distinguished by the

impersonal nature of the principal economic unit, the firm, which selects and treats its employees strictly according to

according to
prep.
1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.

2. In keeping with: according to instructions.

3.  their specialised economic value.(3) Work and family life are completely separate. The economic cultures of Asian

cities, by contrast, are based upon two parallel systems: a modern, firm-based economy, and a pre-industrial urban

economy, comprising complex networks of diverse and usually small operators and activities, all functioning within

extended systems of kinship. In the latter, family life and work are intimately interconnected, and employment

opportunities are generally spread as widely as possible within the family, even where underemployment un�der�em�

ployed 
adj.
1. Employed only part-time when one needs and desires full-time employment.

2. Inadequately employed, especially employed at a low-paying job that requires less skill or training than one

possesses.  is the result (in effect the system safeguards against the problems of unemployment).

One does not have to look far to see this dual economic structure at work, even in Singapore. The country boasts

vigorous cottage industries alongside its more obvious high-tech corporate enterprises.(4) The dual system is most

evident in the multitude of small family businesses which still characterise the older sections of the city. But take a walk

through the middle of any public housing estate or suburban shopping centre and the same diverse services, open-air

food stalls and cottage industries abound. Take another few steps and look underneat almost any high-rise housing

block and you will find the ground floor -- specially reserved for the purpose alive with a row of tiny shops and eating

places, run by individual entrepreneurs and their family helpers, all bustling with activity, in stark contrast to the

graveyard atmosphere associated with Western housing estates. Out of sight, operating from within some of the flats

themselves, more industrious family enterprises may be found. The same dual economy is visibly active in Kuala Lumpur

and other Malaysian cities, especiall so in the older city of Georgetown, on Penang Island, where cottage industries and

five-foot-way traders still dominate the city and make their untidy presenc felt in an infectious street life.

Challenging Western domination

Many would argue that these are no more than signs of a temporary truce between opposing and irreconcilable forces,

the last gasps of a more complex Asian urba culture, soon to be swept away by the global economic pressures which

have already brought not only depersonalised firms into Asian culture, but also all the other uniform elements of the

Western city. Globalisation in this view is a one-way street Noun 1. one-way street - unilateral interaction; "cooperation

cannot be a one-way street"
unilateralism - the doctrine that nations should conduct their foreign affairs individualistically without the advice or

involvement of other nations

2.  an irredeemable centralising force, concentrating economic and cultural power into fewer and fewer centres

composed of ever larger economic units, most of them based in the Western industrialised Adj. 1. industrialised - made

industrial; converted to industrialism; "industrialized areas"
industrialized

industrial - having highly developed industries; "the industrial revolution"; "an industrial nation"  countries. As such,

the process continues what had already begun with colonisation. The recent explosio in information technology, so the

argument runs, has lent a new impetus by facilitating the global circulation of capital and resources to suit Western

interests, and raising the stakes beyond anything yet seen.

Much of this picture is based on the assumption that Western developed countrie will go on dominating the world

economy as they have done for centuries. That assumption is now seriously undermined by the economic dynamism of

the Asian-Pacific region, of which Malaysia and Singapore are prime exemplars, and the related change from an

Atlantic-based world economy towards a Pacific-based one dominated by the competition between Japan and the US.

How long it will be before the emergence of China finally tips the balance in favour of the Asian-Pacific countries

remains to be seen, but only the most die-hard observer could claim that continued Western domination is a foregone

conclusion.

Global paradox

Even were this not the case, other convincing arguments have arisen for not taking the pattern of increasing Western-

oriented centralisation and standardisation for granted. Challenging the model of a homogenised Adj. 1. homogenised -

formed by blending unlike elements especially by reducing one element to particles and dispersing them throughout

another substance
homogenized

blended - combined or mixed together so that the constituent parts are indistinguishable  world future, Stuart Hall

Stuart Hall may refer to: People

Stuart Hall (presenter) (born 1929), British radio and television presenter
Stuart Hall (cultural theorist) (born 1932), British cultural theorist and first editor of the New Left Review.
 argues that globalisation has its own unanticipated imperatives, and that the very processes which typify global

economic and cultural activity carry within themselves their own tensions and contradictions.(5) In order to extend their

markets into new areas, multinational corporations

Main article: multinational corporations
 are finding it increasingly necessary to adapt themselves to the particular demands of local consumers, which means

bending their activities and production lines to suit local cultures as well as other regional factors. In meeting these new

demands, the shape of the multinational corporation multinational corporation, business enterprise with manufacturing,

sales, or service subsidiaries in one or more foreign countries, also known as a transnational or international

corporation. These corporations originated early in the 20th cent.  is rapidly changing from a centralised institution with

corporate headquarters in the North, to a more flexible confederation of smaller and semi-autonomous units, better able

to respond to local conditions. It may all b just another subterfuge sub�ter�fuge 
n.
A deceptive stratagem or device: "the paltry subterfuge of an anonymous signature" Robert Smith Surtees.  designed to

disguise the same old corporate ambitions, but, as Hall suggests, it just might lead to a more diverse and unpredictable

global culture than that usually envisaged.

In similar vein, in his book, Global Paradox, John Naisbitt John Naisbitt (born Jan. 15, 1929; Salt Lake City, Utah) is

an American author and public speaker in the area of futures studies. He is best known for authoring the international

bestsellers Megatrends, which was written in 1982 and Re-inventing the Corporation.  argues that the demand for

increased flexibility and quickness of response is compelling large firms to down-size in order to compete effectively in a

diversified global market.(6) Small firms, by contrast, are finding that affordable information technologies and flexible

tools of production are greatly increasing their rang of operation, creating hitherto undreamed-of access to new world

markets and in the process creating unexpected competition for the established multinationals. As Naisbitt puts it: 'The

bigger the world economy, the more powerful its smallest players.' Small is not only beautiful, it is also efficient; the

virtues of pre-industrial economies are rapidly becoming also the virtues of post-industrial ones.

Such arguments tie in with the more abstract but equally compelling theories of self-organising systems which first

emerged in the '60s and are now enjoying renewed attention trader the general rubric RUBRIC, civil law. The title or

inscription of any law or statute, because the copyists formerly drew and painted the title of laws and statutes rubro

colore, in red letters. Ayl. Pand. B. 1, t. 8; Diet. do Juris. h.t.  of complexity theory. Viewed in these terms, which are

rooted in biological and ecological models, the organic processes which are leading towards centralisation and

integration on a global scale, are having equal and opposite decentralising Adj. 1. decentralising - tending away from a

central point
decentralizing

centralising, centralizing - tending to draw to a central point

centralising, centralizing - tending to draw to a central point  effects on a sub-regional scale. The result may sometimes

look like chaos and fragmentation at a local level, but is more accurately described as a spontaneous adjustment of

human activity to cope with exposure to a larger and less predictable world environment.(7) The whole reciprocating

process is boosted by an environmental crisis which demands at one and the same time a global awareness of the

interconnectedness of all things, and local action to raise levels of self-sufficiency in such vital areas as food and energy

consumption. If there i such a thing as an emergent global culture, it may well arise out of these complementary

processes.

Pacific Age vision

The architecture in Malaysia and Singapore that is now surfacing out of this caudron is, true to Southeast Asian

traditions, a hybrid of imported and local elements. Many of the heading architects in the new movement received their

professional education abroad, in the UK or Australia, and were thus exposed early on to an international architectural

culture. For those belonging to the first and second generations of post-war Modernists to return to their origins, the

benefits of the exposure were often offset by the later realisation that they were ill-equipped to understand and respond

to their own regional culture. What has followed has been a slow and difficult process of re-education, with few clearly

defined goals other than a shared conviction that Southeast Asian architects must somehow strive to belong to both

architectural cultures, the local and the global.

The approaches to these apparently conflicting demands are many and varied, but overriding all is a growing consensus

that if the new architecture is to meet the challenge of the environmental crisis, then -- aside from more parochial issues

-- it must be firmly grounded in ecological principles. At the very least, it should be a tropical architecture, responsive to

and expressive of it geographical and climatic situation. The technological means for achieving this end range from

timber-framed structures updated from traditional models, to high-tech materials and techniques of production. But the

works that define the movement share a common pragmatic concern with energy conservation, combined with a

celebration "A Celebration" was a non-album single released by U2 between the October and War albums in 1982. It is

probably better known for its B-side, "Trash, Trampoline and the Party Girl" (later shortened to "Party Girl"), which

has become a fan favorite throughout the  of the lush tropical nature and a climate that invites open-necked shirts and

year-round open-air living. The result now emerging is a loose-limbed, permeable, generally lightweight architecture

that is recognisabl modern in the best experimental sense of that ambiguous description, but is als true both to its

specific locations and to a Pacific-wide tradition of framed building.

What is most significant is that the search for an authentic tropical architecture appropriate to its time and place should

also now be taking in the wider urban environment, represented conceptually and empirically -- by the cit in Southeast

Asia Southeast Asia, region of Asia (1990 est. pop. 442,500,000), c.1,740,000 sq mi (4,506,600 sq km), bounded roughly

by the Indian subcontinent on the west, China on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the east. . The idea of the tropical

city, or, as it is more ambitiously called, the intelligent tropical city, is increasingly now the focus of attention from both

theorists and official planners, driven by the growing realisation that idealised Adj. 1. idealised - exalted to an ideal

perfection or excellence
idealized

perfect - being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish; "a perfect circle"; "a perfect reproduction"; "perfect

happiness"; "perfect manners"; "a perfect specimen"; "a  urban models based on other climates and cultures do not

apply in this part of the world, what is needed instead is a home-grown model. What was a vague but attractive notion is

rapidly taking shape in a number of as yet unrealised, but far sighted plans and projects in both Malaysi and Singapore.

They portray a 21st century vision of sustainable urban development, based mainly on energy-efficient, decentralised

Adj. 1. decentralised - withdrawn from a center or place of concentration; especially having power or function dispersed

from a central to local authorities; "a decentralized school administration"
decentralized  and pedestrian-oriented urban subcentres connected up to the main city centres by mass rapid transit

Noun 1. mass rapid transit - an urban public transit system using underground or elevated trains
rapid transit

public transit - a public transportation system for moving passengers  systems -- already in operation in Singapore and

under construction in Kuala Lumpur. For intelligent, read a city with a self-regulating infrastructure and a population

plugged into a global culture's resources via the information superhighway. For tropical, read a city and architecture

tailor-made for its natural and cultural ecology Cultural ecology is ecology including humans. It studies the relationship

between a given society and its natural environment - the life-forms and ecosystems that support its lifeways. . It is a

particularly fitting vision for the Pacific Age, in which the local informs the global and vice versa VICE VERSA. On the

contrary; on opposite sides. . The extraordinary thing is that in Southeast Asia it could just become a reality.

1 The remark was made in a lecture By Rem Koolhaas on Singapore, at the Architectural Association, London, on May

7 1994.

2 O.W. Walters, 'History, Culture, and Region', in Southeast Asian Perspectives Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian

Studies Southeast Asian Studies refers to research and education on the language, culture, and history of the different

states and ethnic groups of Southeast Asia. External links

Resources on Southeast Asian Studies
, 1989. See also Chris Abel, 'Regional Transformations', The Architectural Review, November 1986.

3 T.G. McGee The Southeast Asian City, London: G. Bell and Sons, 1967 and The Urbanisation Process in the Third

World, London: G. Bell and Sons, 1971.

4 Margaret Sullivan Can Survive, La: Cottage Industries in High-rise Singapore, Singapore: Graham Brash, 1985.

5 Stuart Hall, 'The Local and the Global: Globalization globalization

Process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming

standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated

communications and transportation  and Ethnicity', Anthony D. King (ed) Culture Globalization and the World-System,

Binghampton: Macmillan 1991.

5 John Naisbitt Global Paradox, London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 1994.

7 Chris Abel Adaptive Urban Form: A Biological Model, unpublished thesis submitted to the Architectural Association

School of Architecture The Architectural Association School of Architecture (more usually known as the AA or AA

School of Architecture) is one of the leading architectural schools in the UK. Its wide-ranging programme of exhibitions,

lectures, symposia and publications have given it a central position in , 1968; 'Evolutionary Planning', Architectural

Design December 1968, and 'Urban Chaos o Self-Organization?' Architectural Design, September 1969.

8 See, for example, Ken Yeang The Tropical Verandah City, Kuala Lumpur: Asia Publications, 1986; Tay Kheng Soon

and Robert Powell, 'The Intelligent Tropical City', Singapore Institute of Architects The Singapore Institute of

Architects (Abbreviation: SIA; Chinese: 新加坡建筑师学会) is a voluntary organisation based in Singapore which

represents local registered architects.  Journal, November/December 1991; and Azman B. Hj. Awang, 'Kuala Lumpur --

Towards Becoming an Intelligent City', Majalah Arkitek, September/October 1992.

Chris Abel taught architecture in the Science University of Malaysia, Penang, from 1981-82, and is the National

University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (Abbreviation: NUS) is Singapore's oldest university. It is

the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered.  from 1985-86, and is

currently senior lecturer at the University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a leading research and

teaching university in the city of Nottingham, in the East Midlands of England. It is a member of the Russell Group, and

of Universitas 21, an international network of research-led universities. . His forthcoming books, Regional

Transformations and Architecture in the Pacific Age, will be published next year by Butterworth Heinemann and

Academy Editions respectively.
COPYRIGHT 1994 EMAP Architecture
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 1994, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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\LOCALISM?
Eugene Volokh, October 26, 2007 at 6:35pm] Trackbacks
Rupert Murdoch and Media "Localism, Diversity, and Competition":
Jack Shafer (Slate) opines on the subject, and I think gets it quite right.

(link)Freddy Hill:
It is interesting how often regulators and "regulatees" (what's the right word,

anyway?) are often driven by a common interest to raise barriers to entry and create

oligopolies.
10.27.2007 12:18am
(link)martinned (mail) (www):
L.S.,

And yet, I think there would be good reason to consider imposing similar rules to

those in banking. In banking, no merger or acquisition is allowed if that puts the

resulting company over 10% of the market. (Put simply.) The rationale is the

extreme importance of the banking industry for the whole market, where you don't

really want to imagine what happens if a bank that is responsible for 50% of the

market goes bankrupt. Also, of course, you don't really want one person or one

company to have that much power over the economy. (Especially if that one company

belongs to the Russian or Chinese government.)

Mind you, organic growth is of course not prohibited. Similarly, there is a big

difference between Murdoch starting a new company, and making it a success, and

him buying up existing papers and networks. A carefully crafted (FCC) rule, that is

clear and as narrow as possible, would encourage organic growth while at the same

time stopping one person or company from having too much control over the kind of

debate that is essential to a free society.
10.27.2007 10:26am
(link)Allen Asch (mail) (www):
I have watched and complained about Fox News for many years, but I would never

want to "regulate it" out of its First Amendment rights, certainly not on the basis of

lack of diversity. I just wish Rupert Murdoch was honest and called it "conservative

news" instead of "fair and balanced." This dishonesty leads to my bigger problem

with Fox News (and the possible threat Murdoch represents to the Wall Street

Journal) which is that Fox News lowers journalistic standards and trust in

journalism (admittedly already pretty low).

Everything involving humans has to include some bias, but Fox News bias is

qualitatively different. Most news outlets have a bias toward controversy,

sensationalism, and corporatism. Fox News has those plus clear ideological bias

demonstrated by many people. If you're interested in my personal evidence of Fox

News bias, I was able to put together a YouTube playlist with DOZENS of examples

in my free time that you can see at:

Fox News Bias

I most worry that Fox News has this "poison the well" strategy to make people think

all journalism is as "fair and balanced" as Fox News. And, without the press as an

independent check on government and economic powers, our liberal democracy will

suffer.

So, just because Federal Communications Commission member Michael J. Copps

made the wrong criticisms of Rupert Murdoch, we shouldn't, therefore, assume that

Murdoch does not deserve a lot of legitimate criticism for the negative results of the

"diversity" he brings to journalism.
10.27.2007 12:04pm
(link)Ramza:
Yes this company is so fair and balanced. Sending cease and desist letters to McCain

about McCain using video clips in ads and on his website from a Republican Debate

(which Fox News hosted), while not doing the same thing to Giluanni when

"American's Mayor" does the same thing on his website.

Source
10.27.2007 1:17pm
(link)Libertarian1 (mail):
Alan wrote: I just wish Rupert Murdoch was honest and called it "conservative

news" instead of "fair and balanced."

Would you similarly favor having the NYT putting "liberal news" on their

masthead? Ot CBS "the liberal news with Dan Rather".
10.27.2007 1:48pm
(link)Allen Asch (mail) (www):
Libertarian1 wrote:

Would you similarly favor having the NYT putting "liberal news" on their

masthead? Ot CBS "the liberal news with Dan Rather".

I don't think Dan Rather has been on CBS for awhile and, if you forgive the violent

analogy, comparing Fox News bias to the bias at those other outlets is like

comparing targeting civilians to collateral damage: it's a matter of intent.

As I pointed out, everything involving humans includes some bias, but Fox News bias

is qualitatively different. Most news outlets have a bias toward controversy,

sensationalism, and corporatism. Again, Fox News has those PLUS such clear

ideological bias I was able to put together a YouTube playlist with DOZENS of

examples just in my free time that you can see at:

Fox News Bias

Do you have similar evidence of a pattern of ideological bias at other news outlets?
10.27.2007 2:19pm
(link)eric (mail):
So intentional bais is better than unintentional bais pe se. That cannot be correct.

Bias is bias. The degree of bias is largely a matter of opinion. Just because you hold

a strong opinion about Fox News bias versus CBS bias does not make Fox more

biased than CBS. Your opinion that big three bias is towards "controversy,

sensationalism, and corporatism" may misaccount for certain bias. Take the Jena 6

or the Duke Rape scandal. You might account for the awful reporting from network

news on these events with sensationalism. However, it can certainly be argued that

there is a systematic bias towards reporting biased towards so called "civil rights

activists." It seems to me to be a strong case. I also believe that Killian documents

controversy is particularly reveiling regarding CBS.

The intelligent watcher will notice the bias and take the news accordingly. I like Fox

News' Brit Hume program. I recognize his bias and watch accordingly.
10.27.2007 2:40pm
(link)Smokey:
Allen Asch:

I do not watch Fox News. Nor CNN, C-BS, NBC, ABC or the rest of the

spinmeisters' news. In fact, I don't watch TV. Therefore, I'm reading your critique of

Fox with some objective amusement. Pot/kettle, and all that:
I just wish Rupert Murdoch was honest and called it "conservative news" instead of

"fair and balanced."
Really? And you unquestioningly accept that CNN is "News you can trust"??

If CNN and most of the mainstream media had the honesty you demand of Fox, they

would inform viewers that they broadcast from the extreme Left point of view.

Otherwise, why would their nutroot cronies at the DU, DailyKos, etc., jump up and

down shouting "Yippee!" when a so-called 'debate' is hosted by one of their own

propaganda organs?

And...
Fox News has those plus clear ideological bias demonstrated by many people.
So do the others - and to a greater degree. After all, they've been practicing their

uberlib bias for a lot longer than Fox.

Fox News must be giving viewers what they want, because Fox is eating their

competitors' lunch. Aren't they? It's called the "free market," Allen. Viewers tune in

to watch whatever they want.
10.27.2007 2:48pm
(link)Murmur:
Otherwise, why would their nutroot cronies at the DU, DailyKos, etc., jump up and

down shouting "Yippee!" when a so-called 'debate' is hosted by one of their own

propaganda organs?

Can you explain what the heck this means? People shout (not speak, "jump up and

down and shout") "Yippie!" when some network hosts a debate? What are you

talking about? Who has ever done such a thing?
10.27.2007 3:01pm
(link)Brian K (mail):
objective amusement
HAHAHAHA...you!? objective?

So do the others - and to a greater degree. After all, they've been practicing their

uberlib bias for a lot longer than Fox.
if the "but clinton did it too" defense didn't work then, why would it work now?
10.27.2007 3:10pm
(link)Libertarian1 (mail):
Alan, apparently bias lies in the eye of the beholder, Even the NYT's own omnisman

said that of course the NYT is a liberal newspaper. If you don't actually see or

believe that than than I am afraid your objectivity is seriously compromised. I see

nothing wrong with political bias by the media. It is just frustrating to read over and

over again that Fox is biased but the NYT, Wash Post, CBS, NBC, ABC, Time and

Newsweek are not.

That the bias is designed to be subtle doesn't make it less so. It usually lies in what

the editor deems to be news and to therefore empahsize. As an example ripped from

today's news. The fire in San Diego. There is enough new rapidly developing

material there to fill any paper. But have you read and heard of the comparison

between the response in California and the response years ago in Louisiana after

Katrina. Different state, different tragedy, different political party in local control

and several years in which to learn. Choosing what to emphasize is by definition a

bias. The MSM consistenly chooses the liberal slant to emphasize.
10.27.2007 3:16pm
(link)Smokey:
Brian K:
HAHAHAHA...you!? objective?
HAHAHAHA...you!? objective, Brian??

Thanx for [unwittingly] supporting my contention that they're all biased. But some

folks only want Fox News to go away.

But the market has already decided: viewers prefer Fox News over the others. It

probably has never crossed your mind that most folks might want conservative news.

Do you think they're the imbeciles, and you're Einstein?
10.27.2007 3:35pm
(link)Randy R. (mail):
There may be bias in the media, but it certainly isn't extreme liberalism. Sure, much

can be liberal, but the mainstream media has been very slow to criticize the Bush Ad

on just about anything, but were very quick to criticize the Clinton Ad on just about

everything.

I hardly think the cheerleading they did in the runup for the Iraq war was liberal. In

fact, they refused to cover the many protests that were held in major cities.

I know for a fact that the NY Times didn't stop the anti-gay slant until certain editors

retired in the 1980s, and even then they were hardly pro-gay.
10.27.2007 3:37pm
(link)taney71:
My main problem with news channels or news programs is when they get to their

"round table" segment. For most of my life these programs/channels would have any

number of talking heads on (5, 6, 7) and try to debate the issues. Well, most of the

time what we got was a liberal moderator and 3 or 4 liberals debating and maybe

one token "conservative." Much the same today with Chris Matthews and George

Stephanopoulous (spelling?) former-Democratic staffers as moderators. On This

Week (ABC) the regular panelists include George Will (conservative), Cokie

Roberts(liberal), Sam Donaldson (liberal), Fareed Zakaria (moderate), Martha

Raddatz (no idea-guessing moderate), Torie Clarke (conservative), Donna Brazile

(liberal), Jay Carney (moderate), Clarie Shipman (no idea-guessing moderate), E.J.

Dionee (libera), Robert Reich (liberal), David Corn (liberal), Kathrina vanden Heuvel

(liberal), Mark Halperin (liberal...remember the 04 memo affair?), Joe Klein

(liberal), and David Brooks (conservative).

So out of the line up of people who regularly appear in this one show got:

3 conservatives
9 liberals
4 moderates

Not very scientific but it does present an alarming picture. Even if you combine the

"moderate" with the "conservatives" you don't get the number of liberals that

appear on the show. One might argue that the 3 conservatives appear regularly and

the liberals not so often. I tend to agree somewhat with this argument. However, only

George Will is a series regular and he is often set against at least two liberals. Most

of the time the "moderate" in the group is arguing a "liberal" position (generally the

only time that doesn't occur is on the issue of Islam/terrorism when Fareed Zakaria

is on).

It's a bit more balanced on some of these shows than it was but not by much. The

McLaughlin Group I believe has Pat Buchanan and some other conservative guy but

still generally tilts way left primarily because of the windbag McLaughlin (although

Buchanan is to blame for some of this cause he often sides with the liberal element on

foreign policy).

Fox News largely changed this one-sided debate. Instead of putting a bunch of liberal

talking heads on they put conservatives. Still they do a much better job on the

Sunday program of dividing ideology. For instance, the NPR women and Juan

Williams always appear along with Bill Kristol and Britt Hume.

With that said, I still watch/listen to all the shows. Mostly though I make sure I catch

the Sunday talk shows (ipod has made this much easier).
10.27.2007 3:49pm
(link)taney71:
Oh, I might add that ALL the talk shows do a good job of interviewing politicians

(and by good I am saying they don't show a political bias that I can tell). The news

segments tend to be the same just different focus on what is covered.
10.27.2007 3:54pm
(link)Brian K (mail):
Thanx for [unwittingly] supporting my contention that they're all biased.
i just found it hilarious that you thought you were somehow free from bias even

though everyone else is biased.

(i also never claimed i was objective...but you did in a post using "uberlibs". how's

that for irony?)

"It probably has never crossed your mind that most folks might want conservative

news. Do you think they're the imbeciles, and you're Einstein?"
nice strawman. is this more of your objectivity?
10.27.2007 3:54pm
(link)Murmur:
But the market has already decided: viewers prefer Fox News over the others.

Yes, of the tiny, virtually insignificant portion of the U.S. that watches cable news

(<1% of the population), Fox has a greater share. This is cause for triumphalism?

Why? People also prefer Coke to water, but that doesn't mean Coke is good for you.
10.27.2007 3:55pm
(link)Brian K (mail):
But the market has already decided: viewers prefer Fox News over the others.

Even though you consider nbc, cbs, abc, etc. as all liberal news sources, then you

don't you compare fox news ratings to the sum of all of the liberal news sources? fox

is number one in the average viewership, but it doesn't beat out the sum of the liberal

sources. so i'd say the market has decided that viewers prefer liberal news.

haha...that's not even the whole picture. as this article describes, cnn beats out fox in

several important ratings.
10.27.2007 4:22pm
(link)Michael B (mail):
"I don't think Dan Rather has been on CBS for awhile and, if you forgive the violent

analogy, comparing Fox News bias to the bias at those other outlets is like

comparing targeting civilians to collateral damage: it's a matter of intent."

Wow. Firstly, Rather was only the successor to Uncle Walter himself, and then held

that position for over 20 years. More importantly, he's but the tip of the tip of the

iceberg, a reflection of the broader set of problems and issues. Too, his more renown

episodes are merely the most blatant instances of commentary being forwarded as

news. Or if you'll forgive a violent analogy, it would be like accepting Uncle Walter's

opinings on Tet as "objective journalism" or like accepting the many, many

reporters who echoed - in their "news" pieces - the political sentiments of Kerry,

Kennedy and others who assurred the country the Sandinistas were the voice of the

people, or the North Vietnamese had "no interest" in any type of violent reprisals

against "their people," their "fellow countrymen," in the South. Then, when we

pulled the plug on our earlier promises, somewhere between 400,000 and 800,000

former South Vietnamese were variously murdered, and that only accounts for the

dead, not the lives otherwise oppressed and destroyed.

Such historic examples, from two and three decades ago and more, reflect the

broader reality; such examples are not anomalies. Of course that is to transcend any

mere violent analogy. Reductive news-speak is a powerful presence and the

manifestly rich and telling irony is that in castigating Fox's "fair and balanced"

advertising you are tacitly, or not so tacitly, accepting the idea that others are "fair

and balanced." Irony is one applicable word, concerns with intellectual and moral

myopia come to mind, willful blindness as well, yet other benighted themes as well.
10.27.2007 4:37pm
(link)Murmur:
Such historic examples, from two and three decades ago and more, reflect the

broader reality

Yeah, it's not like anything has happened in the media in the last 30 years. Why are

you relying on decades-old examples to prove a point about today? What relevance

does a newscaster who retired 25 years ago have to today's media landscape?

Reductive news-speak is a powerful presence and the manifestly rich and telling

irony is that in castigating Fox's "fair and balanced" advertising you are tacitly, or

not so tacitly, accepting the idea that others are "fair and balanced."

Simply because someone recognizes that Fox's "fair and balanced" slogan is just

that, a slogan, doesn't mean that they uncritically accept every other news source as

fair and balanced.

Irony is one applicable word, concerns with intellectual and moral myopia come to

mind, willful blindness as well, yet other benighted themes as well.

You realize this nonsense relies on a fallacious argument, right? Just making sure

you're aware, you don't seem to know.
10.27.2007 4:51pm
(link)Michael B (mail):
"Why are you relying on decades-old examples to prove a point about today?"

In a word, relevancy. The reason is because they were such decidedly prominent, and

in point of fact genuinely historic examples, examples that additionally helped to

forward murderous reprisals. If you don't comprehend the relevance of that, for

example to the current crop of talking heads and attendant casts and crews of

reporters, etc., or likewise the relevance of Dan Rather, or Uncle Walter - then you

don't understand much. There are ample other reasons as well, e.g., removing the

argument away from present social/political animosities.

And you do realize you're sneering, and nothing more, right? Here's the deal, if

you're going to forward something as "fallacious," you actually need to argue the

point you're seemingly attempting. Simply pontificating, as if it's to be accepted via

fiat from on high, is not a form of non-fallacious argumentation.

To imagine so is to imagine a type of pure and unmitigated: non-sense.
10.27.2007 5:42pm
(link)Murmur:
In a word, relevancy. The reason is because they were such decidedly prominent, and

in point of fact genuinely historic examples, examples that additionally helped to

forward murderous reprisals.

And the relevance of these examples to today's media landscape is what, exactly?

You act as if nothing has changed in the last 30 years--why?

Here's the deal, if you're going to forward something as "fallacious," you actually

need to argue the point you're seemingly attempting. Simply pontificating, as if it's to

be accepted via fiat from on high, is not a form of non-fallacious argumentation.

That someone thinks "X is not Y" does not imply they also believe "not X is Y."

Simply because someone recognizes Fox's "fair and balanced" for what it is, an

advertising slogan, doesn't mean they automatically believe CNN is fair and

balanced, though I understand how grasping such an idea could be difficult for

someone who lives within a "with us or against us" binary.
10.27.2007 6:09pm
(link)Michael B (mail):
Ok, a final response.

Firstly, no, I didn't so much as come close to "acting as if nothing has changed."

(And you're the one pontificating about binaries and nuance!) What I did was note

that some prominent aspects of the situations are (tellingly) similar - and very nearly

parallel - both in terms of the partisanship, the presumption concerning which side

has a better grasp of the truth and facts (as viewed both from short and longer term

perspectives), and in terms of the real-world risks involved, though this time the risks

have more domestic import whereas previously the risks were geographically and

tactically/strategically remote, at least in the more immediate aftermath of April,

1975. Other factors as well come to mind.

"That someone thinks "X is not Y" does not imply they also believe "not X is Y.""

I'll walk you through it. The formal logic is right as such (as formal logic), but the

application herein and everything else is either wrong or bias dressed up as fact. The

other commenter I had responded to, in terms of the fuller quote, stated the

following, emphasis now added:

"I don't think Dan Rather has been on CBS for awhile and, if you forgive the violent

analogy, comparing Fox News bias to the bias at those other outlets is like

comparing targeting civilians to collateral damage: it's a matter of intent.

"As I pointed out, everything involving humans includes some bias, but Fox News

bias is qualitatively different."

Iow, in attempting to forward the notion of such a stark contrast, represented in

alleged "intent" and the yet more preposterous allegation, via analogy, of "targeting

civilians" vs. "collateral damage," the result is to cast a binary scenario, a nearly

manichean script, despite the allusion to "everything involving humans includes some

bias."

So, you're not so "fair and balanced" yourself. Indeed, even the simplest and most

basic comprehensions have eluded you. Which fact has not stopped your

demonstrated bias from posing as fair and balanced commentary.

That hole you're in? You dug it yourself. Keep digging.
10.27.2007 7:04pm
(link)Smokey:
To add to taney71's post above, another major problem with the alphabet news

spoon-feeders is that the 'conservatives' that are carefully pre-selected by lib news

directors - who are then certain to be safe from any really major attack on their

boss's leftist viewpoints.

Those putative conservatives hand-picked by the liberal media are also highly paid

by the same media - and they are unlikely to risk those hefty paychecks by biting the

hand that feeds them.

Certainly there are methods available to get true conservative viewpoints on these

shows. The first requirement is to have conservative organizations select the

spokespeople for their point of view, rather than allowing the liberal media to select

them; that corrupts their message.

Is there any nationally-known conservative in the mainstream media who continually

raises the issue of who represents the average taxpayer??

But there is never ending, constant hand-wringing over the assumed plight of union

members, racial minorities [every group but caucasian - can't have that], gays, prison

inmates, misunderstood terrorists, illegal immigrant scofflaws, people who

deliberately refuse to buy health insurance for their children, Islamist whiners, and

every other special-interest group imaginable.

Who represents the working people who are expected to pay the freight? Congress

overspends like drunken sailors, then eyes the ordinary taxpayer like a ravenous

wolf looks at a free-range lamb. Where is our spokesperson?? It certainly isn't our

congressional "Representative," who has long since been bought and paid for. As

Ronald Reagan commented, "Republicans think every day is the Fourth of July, and

Democrats think every day is April Fifteenth.

Let's face it: the liberal mainstream media sets the agenda, and they will never allow

a strong voice representing the taxpayers to do so. Taxpayers are expected to just

understand why each group must have more and more of their income, and then shut

up and open their wallets. Any sentiment to the contrary is kept out of the broadcast

commentary.

Oh, and Brian K,: It may be that you were misreading my response to Allan A, and

assuming that I claimed to be objective on everything. If you re-read it, you'll see that

I was not saying that. I'm a conservative, it's true, and proud of it. And that, of

course, makes me Right!

We still friends, aren't we?
10.27.2007 7:52pm
(link)Libertarian1 (mail):
Murmur wote: That someone thinks "X is not Y" does not imply they also believe

"not X is Y." Simply because someone recognizes Fox's "fair and balanced" for

what it is, an advertising slogan, doesn't mean they automatically believe CNN is fair

and balanced

If one challenges Fox as not being fair and balanced and then fails to add "of course

the other MSM are also not fair and balanced" it strongly implies you think Fox is

the only exception. if not why not say so.

I would imagine you would reply they are the only ones who use that phrase in

advertising. But equally erroneous is "all the news that's fit to print". Why don't you

attack that?

In my mind when I read news articles, not op-ed, and say to myself either good point

or why did they bring that up, it is reflective of the bias of the writer. Most of the time

when I read the NYT I wonder why they chose that aspect to emphasize. Almost

always it is in line with their liberal philosohy. IMHO, the news should be fact

oriented not opinion oriented.

As a matter of interest all Fox had to say was "Fair and Balanced" not we are

conservative. Everyone who was a news junkie instantaneously knew they were

placing themselves in opposition to the liberal alternatives.
10.27.2007 8:14pm
(link)Brian K (mail):
It may be that you were misreading my response to Allan A, and assuming that I

claimed to be objective on everything.
I'm only doing that if you equally mischaracterize my statement into something

outside of the topic of this post. I think your biased in a lot of things...but I would say

in everything.

We still friends, aren't we?
haha...sure...you can never have too many.
10.27.2007 9:05pm
(link)Brian K (mail):
but I would not say in everything.

that's a pretty crucial typo on my part.
10.27.2007 9:14pm
(link)J. F. Thomas (mail):

OMG, in what bizarro far right world is Cokie Roberts a liberal?
10.27.2007 10:51pm
(link)Dave N (mail):
OMG, in what bizarro far right world is Cokie Roberts a liberal?
I do not know her views but her father did not become House Majority Leader nor

was her mother given a seat on the House Rules Committee because either of them

was conservative.
10.27.2007 11:02pm
(link)J. F. Thomas (mail):
Is there any nationally-known conservative in the mainstream media who continually

raises the issue of who represents the average taxpayer??

And who smokey, do you consider the "average taxpayer". I think I am a pretty

average taxpayer and I think the problem with the tax system is that all income,

regardless of its source, is not taxed at the same rate (I have never understood why

capital gains should be taxed at a lower rate than earnings from actual work). I also

think that that the marginal rate on high incomes should at be higher (at least to

make up for the fact that they don't have to pay FICA and medicaid taxes on those

higher incomes).

I also think that if people looked at the health insurance premiums pay at work as a

tax, they would look on "socialized" medicine a lot more kindly.

Oh yeah, and I will believe in the myth of the liberal MSM when the "labor" news

gets as much air time or ink as "business" news.
10.27.2007 11:03pm
(link)Montie:

The rationale is the extreme importance of the banking industry for the whole

market, where you don't really want to imagine what happens if a bank that is

responsible for 50% of the market goes bankrupt. Also, of course, you don't really

want one person or one company to have that much power over the economy.

Given the history of banking regulation in the U.S., I am skeptical of any claim that

any banking regulation was written to ensure (a) the stability of the banking system

and (b) competition within the banking system.
10.27.2007 11:47pm
(link)David M. Nieporent (www):
I also think that that the marginal rate on high incomes should at be higher (at least

to make up for the fact that they don't have to pay FICA and medicaid taxes on those

higher incomes).
There is no "medicaid tax" -- presumably you mean "medicare" -- and they do have

to pay medicare tax on those higher incomes. The cap on medicare taxes was

eliminated long ago, back in 1993.
I also think that if people looked at the health insurance premiums pay at work as a

tax, they would look on "socialized" medicine a lot more kindly.
I think that if people looked at politicians as terrorists, they would look on socialized

medicine a lot less kindly, as long as we're making up fake hypotheticals. Since the

essence of taxation is that it is money forcibly taken by the government, "health

insurance premiums paid at work" are not a tax. They're salary, given in non-cash

form because the government distorts the market with tax breaks.

Oh yeah, and I will believe in the myth of the liberal MSM when the "labor" news

gets as much air time or ink as "business" news.
This is the nonsenscial gibberish left-wing cliche you're parroting. No left-winger

who says this has ever been able to explain what on earth "labor news" is, or how it

differs from "business news."

It doesn't make sense in any context, even if there were a difference; the amount of

time given to a story is orthogonal to ideology. A media outlet could spend all its time

on "business news" by only covering stories which make "business" look bad.

Would the lack of "equal time" for anti-labor stories demonstrate that this outlet

was conservative? Obviously not. It's the slant of a story, not just the time spent on

it, which evinces bias.
10.28.2007 9:00am
(link)A. Zarkov (mail):
J. F. Thomas

“(I have never understood why capital gains should be taxed at a lower rate than

earnings from actual work).”

Here is the theory. A long-term capital investment is inherently risky, that’s why

we have theories like Capital Asset Pricing Model. The lower tax rate is supposed to

compensate you for the risk. We want this to encourage capital investment so an

economy can grow and new products invented. Some countries don’t tax long-

term capital gains at all, for example Germany. Here is a table of international

capital gain tax rates. Note from the table that the US has a high rate compared to

most other countries in the table.

Another problem with the capital gains tax is that in the US it’s not adjusted for

inflation. Thus you could be taxed for holding an asset that has not increased in real

value. Taxing nominal gains at the full income rate would make many investments

unattractive.

Now you might not agree with this theory, but that’s the explanation of why

capital gains taxes are lower that taxes on income. Note also that when risk is

removed as with a zero-coupon bond, the holder is taxed every year on the basis of

an “imputed income,” making the effective tax on this kind of asset very high.

With inflation you could end up worse off. But this shows that risk an important

element in tax policy.
10.28.2007 10:16am
(link)LN (mail):
Wait, don't you get compensated for the greater risk of long-term capital investments

with, um, higher returns??

I agree with you on the issue of taxing nominal gains versus real gains, and that tax

policy can encourage society as a whole to either invest more/consume more... but

the government doesn't need to compensate people for risk.
10.28.2007 10:58am
(link)A. Zarkov (mail):
“Wait, don't you get compensated for the greater risk of long-term capital

investments with, um, higher returns??”

If by “return” you mean total expected return (as distinguished from rate of

return) then the answer is yes. But the same is true for a fixed income investment

with no risk, the longer you hold it, the greater your accumulation. If we tax both

equally, then we increase the attractiveness of a fixed income investment over a risky

capital investment.

“… but the government doesn't need to compensate people for risk.”

It sure does if it wants people to make long-term capital investments. Like I said, a

zero coupon bond with a fixed rate of return is taxed a lot more than, say, a stock

with the same expected rate of return held for the same period. Now you could argue

that we should have a holding period of more than one year to qualify as a long-term

capital return. That’s another story.
10.28.2007 1:32pm
(link)Smokey:
LN:
Wait, don't you get compensated for the greater risk of long-term capital investments

with, um, higher returns??
Something needs to be clarified here: the government is not trying to 'compensate'

investors for anything. Rather, the government is trying to encourage investors to put

their money into sectors of the economy that it perceives are essential to growth.

And the one-year holding period was originally proposed to keep short term traders

from benefitting. Most politicians don't really understand markets, you see.
10.28.2007 5:16pm