Eat the Rich (P.J. O'Rourke)

P.J. O'Rourke is a very funny man. P.J. O'Rourke is a very well traveled man. This book shows both of those things, it does not teach you about economics. If you want a book to teach you about a very few group of countries from a VERY distorted very of the country, this is most definitely the book for you. However, if you are looking for a book that this one seems like, which is a book on economics, this should be skipped. O'Rourke has a strong conservative bias, and fails to realize the American system of individuality may not work around the world the same way it does here. Overall, I would skip this book.

Although the book's a propaganda piece of O'Rourke's Libertarian views, it's a lot of fun to read and gives some insights into the life in places where one will hardly even travel to.

Smug rich people and their propagandists don't make me laugh, no matter how cute they think they are. Regarding why some countries are poor and others rich, it's not complicated. The rich nations have been imposing disastrous neoliberal economic policies upon the poor nations that concentrate wealth, destroy local economies, and decimate labor and environmental protections. Generations of invasions and colonialism haven't helped matters either. Moreover, those people who work for economic justice are often oppressed by the state forces the rich countries arm and train. For example, the U.S.-backed Colombian forces and paramilitaries kill a couple hundred union activists each year. Subtle Voices: Cries from Colombia and The Profits Of Extermination: How U.S. Corporate Power is Destroying Colombia O'Rourke does what the rest of the corporatists do, they co-opt the brand "conservative" while they divert their audiences from the realities of geopolitics. For some actual understand... Read more

PJ O'Rourkes books crack me up. But you still can learn from them. This book is a funny, but true, perspective on various economies. Not from a real scientific perspective, but rather "the Man on the Street".

Barring none, this is the place for a novice P.J. O'Rourke reader to start. He has been in a slight slump as of late, but he is at his peak here. I loaned my first copy to someone who never returned it. If I lose this copy, I would buy it again. This is O'Rourke's essay on economics, in it he analyzes why some societies work economically and why some do not, regardless of geography or access to natural resources. It has often been said that to be funny you first have to be smart. Here O'Rourke demonstrates that he knows more than a little about free market economics. He posesses keen powers of observation and an even sharper wit. His innate intelligence comes through. How much funnier would he be had he not burned out all those brain cells in the '60s? It's not likely he could be! This one is hard to top.