Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? : How the European Model Can Help You Get a Life

The acclaimed labor lawyer and prizewinning author Thomas Geoghegan asks: where are we better off—America or Europe? In an idiosyncratic, entertaining travelogue that plays on public policy, Geoghegan asks what our lives would be like if we lived them as Europeans. Sneaking out of his workaholic American life, he takes five trips where he tries to understand so-called European socialism firsthand. Though he first tries France (which has become a rhetorical stand-in for the continent as a whole in many Americans' minds), he eventually ventures into Germany to see what some call the "boring" Europe. There he finds the true "other"—an economic model with more bottom-up worker control than that of any other country in the world—and argues that, while we have to take Germany’s problems seriously, we also have to look seriously at how much it has achieved. Social democracy may let us live nicer lives; it also may be the only way to be globally competitive. This wry, timely book helps us understand why the European model, contrary to popular neoliberal wisdom, may thrive well into the twenty-first century without compromising its citizens' ease of living—and be the best example for the United States to follow. Germany is more generous than the U.S.: The average number of paid vacation days in the U.S. is 13, versus Germany’s 35 New mothers in the U.S. get three months of unpaid job-protected leave and only if they work for a company of 50 or more employees, while Germany mandates four months’ paid leave and will pay parents 67% of their salary to stay home for up to 14 months to care for a newborn. U.S. life expectancy is 50th in the world, compared to Germany’s 32nd. Tired of working 'til you drop and not going anywhere? Try to imagine your life in a full-blown European social democracy—especially the German version. In an idiosyncratic, entertaining travelogue written in a “chatty, anecdotal style [that's] appealingly digressive and winning” (Publishers Weekly), Thomas Geoghegan explains the appeal of “boring” Germany, where workers sit as directors on the big corporate boards and ordinary people have six weeks off and retire with pensions like golden parachutes.

Free public goods, a bit of worker control, and whopping trade surpluses—the German version of “European socialism” doesn't sound too bad. Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? explains where you might have been happier—or at least had time off to be unhappy properly. “Written with humor and candor, making for an easy, fun read” (AARP Bulletin), it is also a “timely, cogently argued, laugh-out-loud-funny book” (Katrina vanden Heuvel). And it tells us why Americans should pay attention to Germany, where ordinary people can work three hundred to four hundred hours less a year than we do and still have one of the most competitive economies in the world.

Tired of working 'til you drop and not going anywhere? Try to imagine your life in a full-blown European social democracy & mdash;especially the German version. In an idiosyncratic, entertaining travelogue written in a "chatty, anecdotal style [that's] appealingly digressive and winning" (Publishers Weekly), Thomas Geoghegan explains the appeal of "boring" Germany, where workers sit as directors on the big corporate boards and ordinary people have six weeks off and retire with pensions like golden parachutes. Free public goods, a bit of worker control, and whopping trade surpluses & mdash;the Ge Try to imagine your life in a full-blown European social democracy, especially the German version. Free public goods, a bit of worker control, and whopping trade surpluses? Social democracy doesn't sound too bad. Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? reveals where you might have been happier—or at least had time off to be unhappy properly. It explains why Americans should pay attention to Germany, where ordinary people can work three hundred to four hundred hours a year less than we do and still have one of the most competitive economies in the world. Geoghegan explains the appeal of "boring" Germany, where workers sit as directors on the big corporate boards and ordinary people have six weeks off and retire with pensions like golden parachutes. Free public goods, a bit of worker control, and whopping trade surpluses . . . the German version of "European socialism" doesn't sound too bad. Explains why the worker-friendly European model for employment, especially that of Germany, may thrive well into the twenty-first century without compromising its citizens' ease of living--and may actually be the best example for the United States to follow.--[source unknown] I Know No Europeans -- Where You'd Be Happier, Or, The Story Of Isabel And Barbara -- I'm Sorry I Picked The Germans -- Germany Is Dark -- Clash Of Civilizations -- After The Krise (2009). Thomas Geoghegan. Includes Index.