> I don't see the social welfare structure being reduced, but
> globalization is happening whether we like it or not, and it affects
> everybody. Management is forced to reduce costs or be put out of
> business.
Europe can cut its social safety net in half and still be ahead of the US. The changes that you are talking about are relatively minor adjustments, not a wholesale dumping of welfare provisions a la Korporate Amerika.
As to the "effects of globalization" - capitalism has always been a global and globalizing system, as the bearded one already pointed out. How is 19th century globalization different from today's globalization?
What we are witnessing is not "globalization" or any surge thereof, but a change in the power structure in the developed countries produced mainly by the demise of the Soviet empire and introduction of new communication technologies. To make a long story short, that change gave rise to right wing reaction hell bent on dismantling welfare state institutions build when labor and social democrats wielded more power. Just ordinary right wing vindictiveness and reaction - nothing particularly global about it.
Wojtek