EURP-SOCIALSIM

Is European socialism better? Uh, we wouldn’t know. –We Read It [So You Don’t Have To]– Newsweek [newsweek@email.newsweek.com] To help protect your privacy, some content in this message has been blocked. If you are sure that this message is from a trusted sender and you want to re-enable the blocked features, click here. Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 2:11 PM To: Joel Snell Attachments: Suggest a book for review, e-mail us! || Trouble viewing this email? View online August 20, 2010 Subscribe Now Share:
    Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food by Paul Greenberg     Why We Hate the Oil Companies: Straight Talk From an Energy Insider by John Hofmeister     ‘Pornland’: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality by Gail Dines     Cocaine Nation: How the White Trade Took Over the World by Tom Feiling     The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years by Sonia Shah     The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America by Andrew McCarthy See more    
BUY THIS BOOK Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? How the European Model Can Help You Get a Life Thomas Geoghegan
“We Read It” reader: Mike Giglio Is socialism really so bad? Geoghegan argues that people are happier, healthier and better off in a European (read: German) social democracy, which gives them more bang for their tax buck — and strengthens capitalism to boot. Then he makes you read about his vacations.
  What’s the Big Deal? Since the government bailouts, healthcare reform, and the takeover of General Motors, “socialism” has become the dirty word of American politics. Geoghegan takes on the worthy task of exploring what it really means and — gasp! — whether it’s the remedy for an ailing America. The question seems especially relevant now that Germany, the hero of Geoghegan’s story, is leading the West with a booming economic recovery. Unfortunately, Geoghegan doesn’t answer it. He draws half-baked conclusions from things like watching Germans read newspapers and having “the perfect cup of coffee” instead.
  Buzz Rating: Hum The Financial Times lauded it and the Wall Street Journal trashed it.

  One-Breath Author Bio Geoghegan is a widely respected labor lawyer and author. Last year his failed bid for Rahm Emanuel’s congressional seat built support in progressive circles.
  The Book, in His Own Words “What bothers me is that Europe does better than us both at capitalism and socialism. It’s unfair that they seem to be beating us at both” (page x).   Don’t Miss These Bits

1. What’s Germany got that America doesn’t, anyway? How about six weeks of vacation, for starters? And a thriving industrial sector and a strong labor force, too, Geoghegan says. In big companies, workers have powerful councils and half the seats on the board; that’s all in addition to wage-setting regional unions. “It’s not just that working people get an extra chicken in the pot; more important, they get the right to stir the pot. In America, by contrast, it’s only the postgrads and guys at Goldman who get to stir the pot” (page 114).

2. In other words, socialism! But not the kind outraged Republicans scream about. “This is not your father’s socialism, i.e., state socialism” (page 112). Geoghegan argues that Germany’s worker-based socialism strengthens democracy by getting people involved and capitalism by fending off the mass layoffs and plant closures that have crippled U.S. industry. It’s why Germans still, like, make stuff — the type of high-quality goods that have them leading the world in exports.

3. It’s about more than numbers. Who’s better might be measured by per capita GDP, which is much higher in the States. But, “maybe these numbers mislead us” (page 12). Geoghegan wonders (he’s often short on coherent analysis, see below) whether America’s GDP is inflated by things like health and defense spending, and also by constant working, which might create a rather unsettling “dystopia-type economy in which ‘consumer’ wants would be ‘producer’ wants, so people could buy computers, join gyms, hire other people to live their lives” (page 65).

Swipe This Critique Stats and studies are scattered here and there. In lieu of rigorous analysis, Geoghegan fills the book with rambling accounts of his trips to Europe, conversations, conjectures and inner musings. Take this passage: “Europe’s in collapse? Fine. I’m not going to argue. Go there. See it. Then come back here and look around. And don’t tell me our GDP is higher. Or our GDP per capita. Or our employment. My eyes tell me it’s not. As for Europe, are you going to believe the business page or the travel section? Look at the pictures. Don’t read the words” (page 10). Gradebook Prose: Geoghegan tries to keep things conversational, and the book is billed, in part, as a travelogue. It often reads like a mundane vacation diary. Construction : Geoghegan’s various European vacations, dating back to the 1970s, are mashed together and mixed with a host of unidentifiable characters. Aesthetics: Pretty uninspired. America is the processed white bread in front; Europe’s the baguette on the back.     Subscribe    Unsubscribe    Newsweek.com    Privacy Policy To prevent this email from appearing in your junk mail,
add Newsweek.com as a safe domain to your e-mail manager. Copyright © 2010, All rights reserved
Newsweek
395 Hudson St.
New York, NY 10014   Paging and Bottom Toolbar   Connected to Microsoft Exchange var a_fShwInfBr = 1; var a_fShwAtt = 0