"Why has America's economy grown 55 percent faster than Germany's over the past 25 years?" asks an editorial in today's
Wall Street Journal. "The Germans think they know. Americans suffer cruel inequality. They work three `McJobs' just to survive. They take on more and more debt to maintain their standard of living. Washington hides the true state of unemployment by locking up millions in jail. And forget about getting decent health care." Olaf Gersemann, Washington correspondent for Germany's largest business weekly 'Wirtschaftswoche', came along earlier this year and exploded all these myths with his
new book "Amerikanische Verhaeltnisse: Die falsche Angst der Deutschen vor dem Cowboy-Kapitalismus". On each score where Europeans think their system is superior, Gersemann shows that the Americans have actually pulled ahead." He concludes the continental economies of Europe provide no meaningful advantage over the United States. The greater market freedoms in America create a more flexible, adaptable, and prosperous system than the declining welfare states of Europe. Plus: The
Cato Institute has published Gersemann's book
in English with a new title, "Cowboy Capitalism: European Myths, American Reality".
