Re: Easterbrook's new book

[Jurriaan Bendien <bendien@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Why not rebut point by point ? E.g.,

If he says,

The American work ethic shifted, so that the average American
now works 350 hours a year — 9 or 10 weeks — longer than the average
European.

Then,

This is meaningless, because (1) is working longer without holidays a virtue
(2) what do you get back for the work in terms of income, (2) the hard work
leads only to more debts.

If he says,

American fertility rates bottomed out around 1985, and began rising.
Native-born American women now have almost two children on average,
while the European rate is 1.4 children per woman and falling.

Then,

of course the fertility rates will be different if you have a different
demographic structure. That difference in demographic structure is
fundamentally due to the occurrence of two world wars on European territory.
Europe has as many immigrants entering as the USA. Sex is easier in the USA
and cars are cheaper there, now what.

If he says,

The gap between American and European G.D.P. per capita has
widened over the past two decades, and at the moment American
productivity rates are surging roughly 5 percent a year.

Then,

What productivity measure is being used ? More capital produced per worker
which can be used by bosses to incur more debts and fund more wars ?

If he says,

The biggest difference is that over the past two decades the United
States has absorbed roughly 20 million immigrants. This influx of people
has led, in the short term, to widening inequality and higher welfare
costs as the immigrants are absorbed, but it also means that the U.S.
will be, through our lifetimes, young, ambitious and energetic.

Then,

Have a look at the immigration data for Europe.

If he says,

Working off U.N. and U.S. census data, Bill Frey, the indispensable
University of Michigan demographer, projects that in the year 2050 the
median age in the United States will be 35. The median age in Europe
will be 52. The implications of that are enormous.

Then,

People who are older are, other things being equal, also wiser and make
fewer stupid mistakes. The juice that oils the wheels of American capitalism
in the short run, might mean ruination for all in the long run, with the
rest of the world paying it off.

If he says:

As we settle down to the Thanksgiving table in a few days, we might
remind ourselves that whatever other problems grip our country, lack of
vitality is not one of them.

Inquire into who or what we should really be giving thanks for.

If he says,

In fact, we may look back on the period
beginning in the middle of the 1980's as the Great Rejuvenation.
American life has improved in almost every measurable way, and far from
regressing toward the mean, the U.S. has become a more exceptional nation.

Then discuss at whose expense this improvement has occurred, exactly.

If he says,

The drop in crime rates over the past decade is nothing short of a
miracle. Teenage pregnancy and abortion rates rose in the early 1970's
and 1980's, then leveled off and now are dropping. Child poverty rates
have declined since the welfare reform of the mid-1990's. The black
poverty rate dropped "to the lowest rate ever recorded," according to a
2002 study by the National Urban League. The barren South Bronx
neighborhood that Ronald Reagan visited in 1980 to illustrate urban
blight is now a thriving area, with, inevitably, a Starbucks.

Then point out the misrepresentation of the facts this contains.

And so on...

J.