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Summary: Hilarious, yet cogent
Review: This should be required reading in the high schools of America. Those who travel have a new appreciation of the American legal and economic system. P.J shows why.
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Summary: P.J.'s best: More than humor
Review: I have always enjoyed P.J.'s writin.hope I succeeded in not pigeon-holing him. "Eat the Rich" contains a lot of his painfully funny satire and sense of irony. More than any of his previous works, though, this books demonstrates a great intellectual passion. Without preaching, he moves the focus of the text from laughing at the tragedy of international monetary folly to what it is that we can do, but refuse to do - perhaps because of our own good nature, perhaps not. Whether you agree with his market analysis or not - and he makes a very good case, though some credit must be given to Castro, et al. - O'Rourke leaves the reader wanting to act.
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Summary: His best since "Parliament of Whores"
Review: Very funny, even if you don't agree with the economics. If you do agree with the economics, it is great book to loan/recommend to non-libertarian friends for (hopefully) subtle enlightenment.
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Summary: An excellent read from P.J., as usual
Review: As far as I can tell, the premise of the book, economic navel gazing, is just an excuse for PJ to go to various places and write nasty things about them. Which is fine as far as it goes for us fans of P.J. O'Rourke, but for those familiar with his prior writings there are no surprising conclusions on the subject of political economy. But heck, his stuff is always fun to read, though sometimes the effort involved in tying everything to economics an arrive at the conclusion that free markets are good seems to distract him from the equally, if not more important task of being funny.
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Summary: P.J. is as funny as ever
Review: I was waiting for the release of O'Rourke's lastest work for a long time and, I am happy to report, I was not disappointed. P.J. pulls off something in this book that I never thought would be possible: he makes learning about economic princples both easy and fun. O'Rourke's sense of humor permeates almost every page of this book and even if you have only a passing interest in economic theory (as I do) you will still enjoy his trademark travel stories and his sharp wit. Overall, a great read. Now I have to start counting the days until his next book comes out...
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Summary: P.J. strikes again. Another smart and superbly funny book.
Review: What can you say about P. J. O'Rourke? Today's answer to Jonathan Swift and H. L. Mencken has done it again with a fascinating new book on Global Economics. As ever, P. J. is tremendously funny, while at the same time making telling points about why things are the way they are in the world today. One of the best popularizers of libertarian thinking around today.
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Summary: Intelligent, cogent and vital
Review: As supply increases prices fall; the demand curve moves in inverse proportion to supply; and economics is as dry as the bleached bones of Adam Smith. At least that is what you were lead to believe by that stringy-haired Marxist who taught ECON101. In his humorous, pointed and informative treatise, "Eat the Rich", P. J. O'Rourke has contravened at least one rule of economics - He has established that it is by no means boring. Indeed he has elevated it to a spectator sport. In "Eat the Rich" O'Rourke builds economic theory from keen observation of various governmental, social and economic systems. He begins with the bustling center of American capital, Wall Street, where he vividly describes the chaos inherent in the capitalist system. In the course of his exposition of the money capitol, he notes that he found the one thing he never expected to find, "Transcendent Bliss". Yet transcendent bliss does not seem so far out of line when one considers that John Locke, an eighteenth century political philosopher, concluded that the right to property was the guarantor of liberty, and Thomas Jefferson took the notion a step further equating it with happiness. While O'Rourke clearly expounds such economic truisms he manages to avoid the ponderous philosophic explanations constraining most commentators. From Wall Street "Eat the Rich" visits Albania, Sweden, Russia, Tanzania and Cuba. The description of each country is on-the-mark. In his description of Moscow, for example, he notes, "The traffic signals are timed to let three battalions of crack airborne troops and a hundred missile launchers through before the yellow caution light comes on." The reader can imagine the old Soviet Politbureau directing traffic from their platform in the event of an electrical outage. He shows how the absence of the rule of law in that country has lead to the rise of the Russian Mafia - "The only way to enforce a contract is, as it were, with a contract--and plenty of enforcers. What would be litigiousness in New York is a hail of bullets in Moscow. Instead of a society infested with lawyers, they have a society infested with hit men. Which is worse, of course, is a matter of opinion." The romp through each country shows a different side of economics. In Albania it is capitalism in anarchy. In Sweden it is socialism in a stable, moral society. In Cuba it is the worst of all worlds. Yet all the pictures placed side by side, clearly illustrate that a stifling of individual liberty (including property rights entailing an incentive to work and invest) will make a nation poor. Indeed, this descriptive collage goes further to show what Adam Smith and classical economists ever since have endeavored to explain - Money is not wealth, the wealth of a society is inherent in the goods and services it produces, and sufficient production only occurs when there is an incentive to produce. O'Rourke spends a few chapters explicitly explaining economic theory. Though sarcasm and skepticism run deep in this work, these qualities allow the reader to be entertained while getting to the nub of economic thought, as when the advantages of the division of labor are demonstrated by comparing the relative productivity of John Grisham and Courtney love in units of BS - BS serving as the mathematical symbol for what you would expect. To characterize O'Rourke as the economic Carl Sagan, would be a mistake. He does not so much popularize its study as he journalistically exposes it to scrutiny, allowing the reader to extract information that will be useful in daily life. That most of his conclusions reflect the conservative theories of the Austrian school of economics seems only to be incidental to his observations. O'Rourke shows he is aware that economic application has a significant influence on society. He pointedly notes, "Socialists think of society as a giant, sticky wad. And no part of that gum ball--no intimate detail of your private life, for instance--can be pulled free from the purview of socialism. Witness Sweden's Minister for Consumer, Religious, Youth and Sports Affairs. Socialism is inherently totalitarian in philosophy." He is correct. Why should the government be in any way involved in the religious or consuming or sporting aspects of our daily lives? "Political systems must love poverty--they produce so much of it. Poor people make much easier targets for a demagogue." It is a keen observation. History has shown that free societies have been eroded and eventually washed away by the demagoguery of politicians calling for the redistribution of wealth. It happened to the Roman Republic in the First Century AD, culminating in the rise of the Empire. It is happening now with our own system. We have politicians buying votes by advocating policies that in the end will only degrade the productivity of our economic system (creating less wealth for everyone) and will surely undermine personal liberties. If the book has a flaw, it is that it lacks an index. It would be nice to be able to use this work as a quick and ready reference. (However, this flaw has been remedied in the reviewer's copy through injudicious use of a red pen and dog ears.) "Eat the Rich" should be on the bookshelf of every thoughtful conservative, ready to thrust into the hands of the young skulls full of mush who come home from their liberal arts education thinking Lenin and Che Guevara are modern heroes. It should be mailed to every congressman who thinks society can be advanced through a redistribution of wealth. More, it should be read, studied and enjoyed by every person who considers taking the life of a nation into his hands by walking into a polling booth.
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Summary: Funniest Man Alive
Review: Bringing libertarianism to the masses, PJ O'Rourke is truly the funniest man alive. This book doesn't fail to live up to his amazing earlier works, and will leave you laughing out loud, your jaw hurting from so much mirth. The man is brilliant.
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Summary: So funny you'll learn economics instead of falling asleep!
Review: I have never met P. J. O'Rourke, though I've always wanted to. (We probably wouldn't get along, as I don't drink much and wear a hat.) So I have no reason to say this other than the fact that it's true: He is the funniest man on Earth. It's my contention that humor that is *about* something is far funnier than humor that is nothing more than a grab-bag of exaggerations and incongruities, Dave Barry style. Dave Barry is good--I have all his books too--but every time I get another one, I have this feeling that I've heard all these jokes before. Only the words are different. P. J. O'Rourke's books are almost always about something--GIVE WAR A CHANCE was about the Gulf War, mostly--that matters. War matters, even dumb wars like Vietnam, though they don't all matter the same way. ALL THE TROUBLE IN THE WORLD was about a lot of things that matter in a hurtful sort of way, though the king on that throne is bad government. The significance of the subject matter is what makes the humor so pointed--the absurdities of the Gulf War are far funnier than talking about pigeons letting go on some slob's head. So in his latest volume P. J. takes on economics. This matters more than anything else on Earth, pretty much, because life on Earth is about work and wealth and what's for supper. I never learned economics because it's taught by men who are basically mummies without the wrappings. The books are unreadable, the graphs devoid of any connection to the real world. Finally, 25 years after getting out of school, I find an economics book by a guy who's still breathing. Furthermore, it's so painfully funny that two days later it's etched so firmly in my head I can still remember nearly all the points he made. Many of these points are made in the course of P. J.'s trademark travelogs. The one to Albania (during which he explains how the recent pyramid schemes slagged the entire country's economy) was the best in the book--if perhaps the grimmest. The humor here is pretty black, but once you read it you will understand Albania almost completely, and be damned glad you live in Des Moines. This approach isn't for everybody. The politically correct will hyperventilate with fury. Economists will suspect they are being skewered. (They are--but economists are notoriously bad at drawing correct conclusions.) Socialists, environmentalists, Democrats, and Swedes will shake their heads and sigh: If only this guy were on *our* side. I've already gone on too long. Definitely read this book. I haven't quoted any of the humor because the humor doesn't lie in one-liners. You have to read it all. If you do, you will laugh your butt off--and come out of it understanding a little better why the rich are rich and the poor are poor.
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Summary: Excerpt from Eat the Rich
Review: GOOD CAPITALISM: Wall Street
"Debt means that you're renting your money to someone. Equity means you're buying something from him. If you buy a share of a corporation's common stock rather than buying its corporate bond, you own part of the corporation. You don't get a mere loan payment, you get the profits. Specifically, you get the profits that are left after the corporation settles its tax bill, pays off its bond debts and other prior obligations, gives enormous bonuses to its top executives, uses part of its earnings to buy other corporations and Indonesian real estate, and retains another part of its earnings in case it needs to buy more Indonesian real estate. You get those profits, or, rather -- since there are, say, a couple million shares of common stock outstanding --you get 1/2,000,000 of those profits." "This is your 'stock dividend.' Oh, and because you're one of the owners of the corporation, you get to vote. This means that once in a while you receive something in the mail called a 'proxy statement.' The proxy statement allows you to give your vote to the people who are paying themselves enormous bonuses. Either that or you can travel to the corporation's annual meeting (held in Indonesia this year) and stand up in the back and holler shrill questions like some Ralph Nader fruitcake." "You rarely buy common stock for the dividend and almost never (unless you're buying 1,000,001 shares) for the voting rights. You buy stock because you have one of those opinions mentioned earlier. You think other people will think this stock is worth more later than you think it's worth now. Economists call this -- in a rare example of comprehensible economist terminology -- the 'Greater Fool Theory.'" "Speaking of folly, you can also invest in the commodities market. This is where you buy thousands of pork bellies and still don't know what you're going to have for dinner because, in the first place, you're broke from fooling around in the commodities market and, in the second place, you're not completely insane. You didn't actually have those pork bellies delivered to your house. What you did was buy a 'futures contract' from a person who promises to provide you with pork bellies in a couple of months if you pay him for pork bellies today. You did this because you think pork belly prices will rise and you'll be able to resell the delivery contract and make out like a ...perhaps 'make out like a pig' is not the appropriate simile in this case. Of course, if prices fall you've still got the pork bellies, and won't your spouse be surprised?" "This is how booms and busts develop in the marketplace. And these booms and busts can have larger consequences such as in 1929 when stocks were crashing, banks were collapsing, and President Hoover was hoovering around. Pretty soon, you could buy the New York Central Railroad for a wooden nickel, except nobody could afford wood. People had to make their own nickels at home out of old socks which had also been boiled, along with the one remaining family shoe, to make last night's dinner. So the kids had to walk to school with pots and pans on their feet through miles of deep snow because no one had the money for good weather. My generation has heard about this in great detail from our parents, which is why we put them in nursing homes." BAD SOCIALISM: Cuba
"The big restaurants were nationalized and in a nation that's suffering severe food shortages, this meant that only rice and beans were available to foreigners who had dollars. Ha-ha-ha. Hard-currency joke. I could get anything I wanted-lobster, steak, Cohiba cigars actually made by Cohiba and rum older than the prostitutes sitting at all the other tables with German businessmen." "Of course the embargo is stupid. It gives Castro an excuse for everything that's wrong with his rat-bag society. And free enterprise is supposed to be the antidote for socialism. We shouldn't forbid American companies from doing business in Cuba, we should force them to do so. Bring them ashore with Marines if necessary. Although I guess we've tried that." "And the Cubans are stupid for rising to the bait. There's another little island next to a gigantic, powerful country that threatens to invade and enforces an embargo. And Taiwan has done okay."
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