Cowboy Capitalism: A Lesson in Logic for Free Markets

But thankfully, given the timeless nature of this debate, author Olaf Gersemann offers much more than the redundant pro-con arguments spewed so often on the talk show circuit, weaving fact with insight so expertly and concisely that readers already in support of capitalism will find themselves parrying an imaginary sword against the perceived enemies of American ways, thrusting a quick succession of "take that" strokes before inflicting the final "so there" blow. And for those who favor the economic and government systems of Europe, specifically France, Germany and Italy, over those of America's?

Well, the intellectually honest supporters of European ways will have to admit their discrepancies of logic after reading this comparative analysis, while those of purely partisan and ideological frames of mind will be, rather unluckily and, unmercifully for them, mowed by a Gersemann machination of irrefutable evidence. This will occur within the first half of the book.

Take, for example, the view of Germany's leading unionist, Michael Sommer, who holds on page 123 that American workers need "three or four jobs to feed themselves."

"Not quite," Gersemann quips, unleashing a torrent of "take that" hard evidence that relegates this disdainful notion of America's workforce to the category of ludicrous - cute even. "In 2003, on average, 5.3 percent of all employed Americans had more than one job. That's not even one in 19. Most of those people worked either one full-time and one part-time job or two part-time jobs. Only .2 percent worked two full-time jobs."

But Gersemann's attention to detail is so great that he won't even let this miniscule percentage of Americans who do work more than one job, both full- and part-time, slide without scrutiny. It seems of these multiple job-holders, roughly "two-thirds work a second job for financial reasons" that include the desire for "extra money" and to reduce debt, while only 1.5 percent cite a need to "stay afloat" as motive for extraneous employment.

The "so there" in this example comes quickly; the "average wage earner in Germany has to pay almost two-thirds of any additional euro earned as taxes. That might lead even those who would otherwise like to work a second job to refrain from seeking one," Gersemann writes.

The stated reasons for Germans' lacking penchant for multiple jobs aside for a moment, this chapter also reveals an implied intellectual duplicity on the part of the Europeans: How can we Americans hold three jobs yet still be regarded a collective fat and lazy breed? Gersemann doesn't raise this point, but given his aptitude at factually debunking all the common political albatrosses slung about America's neck, from charges that low U.S. unemployment stems largely from high U.S. imprisonment rates to criticisms of a U.S. job market permeated with low-wage positions, he doesn't really have to resort to blatant, in-your-face type rebuttals. He has the evidence.

Too good to pass, however, is this one quote from Chapter Ten, used to highlight the oddities of European attitudes condemning the American service market - a market that's key, Gersemann shows, to the growth of any economy and key to the reason America is so thriving - as inundated with menial positions. Citing Nobel prize-winner Joseph Stiglitz, Gersemann's capture of European hypocrisy is priceless.

"You Europeans have a funny way of complaining. This is like saying: "You Americans did create a lot of jobs. But they are lousy jobs. We Europeans didn't create any jobs, but if we had, they would have been good jobs."

This is the stuff of which this book is comprised, short narrative parries followed by lengthy, well-researched explanations that deal the ultimate and final blow to those who would still insist the American method of producing absent stringent government oversight and control is both outdated and unsuccessful. And this is also the stuff which makes this book a good read for both the economic scholar and layman beginner.

While the economist will surely find a feast of statistics and methodical insight from which to draw conclusions and present findings that can stand the test of the most overeducated of peers, the average American, less versed in economic terminology, less schooled in the intrinsic details of market influences and fluctuations, will nonetheless be carried to a level of understanding that will instill, at the least, a need to share this newfound knowledge with those perhaps hapless family members and friends who have not yet discovered the joys of economic analysis.

But at the best? Cowboy Capitalism will surely prove a means of holding accountable those politicians who, destructively as one must conclude after reading this book, seek to transform our system of free market into a mirror of European government intervention.