Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Eat the Rich - PJ Rourke

PJ Rourke writes an entertaining account of his understanding of wealth and economics. He sets off on a journey across the world to figure out why certain countries are doing well and why some are not. So he starts with 'good capitalism' with Wall Street in America.


Then he heads to Albania and sees 'bad capitalism' in Albania where the country is under no control and everything is falling apart with pyramid schemes and all sorts of problems like crime and poverty. He examines 'good socialism', in Sweden where everyone is well taken care of and there's no poverty. But Rourke feels that perhaps they lost out on becoming even richer since they decided on socialism. He visits Cuba and checks out 'bad socialism' which is pretty bad. The couple he meets who cannot leave Cuba for some reason has a bad story to narrate. Also, the mention of Hemmingway's mansion in Cuba was interesting.

It's funny and entertaining. He explains economics and tries to make a case but I am beyond theories at the moment. The stories stayed and he is a very entertaining writer.

1 comment:

Narayana Pillai said...

As usual great narration from you sir. Thank you for sharing.