In this column Sheldon Richman takes a look at a new book that claims European-style welfare states are superior to American “capitalism.” I put capitalism in snicker quotes because Sheldon’s argument is that we don’t have anything close to capitalism.
The Europeans don’t really have socialism either. What we have are two somewhat different variants on corporatism. Both restrict liberty and productivity. Alas, no one gets to try real capitalism without moving to one of the tiny number of places where government doesn’t treat anyone as a resource to be exploited for the benefit of politically-connected interests.
