[lbo-talk] David Brooks, so worried

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Mon Oct 13 10:00:00 PDT 2008


If millions of people are in misery in Europe, it doesn't help them one fucking bit if maybe two or three more million are in misery in the u.s. -- especially if the trend linein Europe is for the worse, as seems to be the case.

And the European (esp. the French) _verbal_ (MERELY verbal) disapparoval of the U.S. invasion of Iraq should not hide the fact of their _material_ appoval of that invasion and of their carefuo following of the u.s. lead in the isolation of Iran.

Even from here it really ought to be obvious, as I once pointed out (non-tautologically) that capitalism is capitalism.

Carrol

Andy wrote:
>
> On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 12:23 PM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> > I can understand your annoyance with Americans' idealization of the EU, but
> > I don't think you really appreciate how primitive things in the U.S. can be.
> > You just don't have the massive numbers of people living in absolute
> > poverty, the scores of millions without health insurance, the middle ranks
> > constantly on the verge of impoverishment, etc. It's tempting to believe
> > that societies that are not all that unlike ours can do a lot better than
> > that.
>
> It's also easier to dismiss what quantitative advantages there are
> when you already enjoy them.
>
> I'm reminded of that quip about who does and doesn't like luxury.
>
> --
> Andy
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