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Readers Digest Gary Marshall tucks into P.J. Rourke's
Eat The Rich: A Treatise On Economics
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P J O'Rourke has never been afraid to tackle big subjects. Previous books have attempted to explain the entire US Government, refute the arguments of the environmental lobby, and describe the bits of the Gulf War that CNN wouldn't broadcast. With his latest book, "Eat The Rich", PJ sets his sights on possibly the biggest question of them all: "Why do some places prosper and thrive, while others just suck?" To answer this question O'Rourke embarks on more globetrotting, this time calling in at Cuba, Tanzania, Russia, Sweden and Hong Kong - among others - to try and find out why some countries are obscenely successful and others aren't. How can the tiny island of Hong Kong be such an economic success while Tanzania, rich in natural resources, is a dismal failure? Despite the serious subject matter, O'Rourke gleefully takes pot-shots at every target he can find, whether describing Russian Mafia wives as having "covered their bodies in Elmer's Glue and run through the boutiques of Palm Springs buying whatever stuck" or pointing out the flaws in economic theory. "A society can produce both guns and butter, they say, but if the society wants to produce more guns it will have to - because of distribution of resources, capital and labor - produce less butter. Using this example you'll notice that, at the far reaches of gun-producing efficiency, Howitzers are being manufactured by cows. And this is just one of the reasons we can't take economists too seriously." | |
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