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09/03/2010

A commentary by Hamburg economics professor Thomas Straubhaar claiming Obama's fiscal strategy is too European for America has provoked heated reactions from SPIEGEL ONLINE readers in the US.

"Either the US follows the American Way -- an approach characterized by a shared history, economic success and constant progress -- or the US will have to adjust itself to the 'European' way, sparking economic and social tensions in the process," wrote Straubhaar in the opinion piece. "If the US manages to revert to its former ways, there is potential for hope. If not, the American age will have really come to an end."

Readers from all sides of the political spectrum respond with passion to the piece. "This reads more like a fairytale version of American history than anything approaching reality," wrote one reader. Others were more positive. "Nice observation, Herr Professor!" said one correspondent. "I doubt if many in this country would be capable of such insight concerning Germany's economic situation, or any European country's for that matter."

Below is a selection of observations and comments sent to SPIEGEL ONLINE in response to the article.

Dear Spiegel Online,

The understanding and characterization of what has constituted the American way to success is much too limited and primitive here -- the progressive era, any reading of John Dewey's liberalism, the real steps taken in the late 19th and 20th century to ameliorate the ravages of industrial capitalism on workers and communities is completely absent. This reads more like a fairytale version of American history than anything approaching reality.

What led to the financial and economic crisis was not government largesse in terms of public investments as with the Obama administration's stimulus -- you see the condition of its public services, these took decades to deteriorate! What led to the crisis was largely private but also public institutions throwing caution to the wind and allowing extremely high levels of debt-leveraging built on the faulty assumption that prices could only go up -- a kind of deadly serious music chairs. Not so much cheap money but money with no questions asked -- that had to come due eventually.

What catapulted America to the top in the past century was hardly economic individualism! Personal responsibility and self-determination are virtues that many cultures revere and no doubt assist in building wealth, but America's prosperity was built by great corporations with legions of productive workers, often unionized, and heavy capital investment, with an interventionist state that invested heavily in education and infrastructure -- before others.

This narrative, with its mythologizing of the uniquely anti-collectivist "American Way," accepts much too easily the partly inherited but assiduously manufactured anti-tax, anti-regulation and radical individualist culture that is in large part responsible for the fact that the US now resembles parts of the Third World. Thank you for giving succor to those so-called conservatives who would continue to "starve the beast" of state and condemn the country to an inferior status.

--Fabian Biancardi, Temecula, USA

Dear Spiegel Online,

Wanted to congratulate you on your article. You more clearly articulated what it means (or did mean) to be an American than any of the American journalists of late. I think your diagnosis of our problems is spot on. We have forgotten what personal responsibility and freedoms means. Too many, out of sheer laziness, want to sit back and let the government take care of them. It goes completely against what this country was founded on. I look at the USA as the "grand experiment" bringing together all nationalities and ethnicities in the celebration of freedom and personal opportunity. Obama's administration and the left in this country believe in a much more socialist, big government philosophy. In Obama's case, it is completely in keeping with his upbringing and ideology which the voters unfortunately paid little attention to. I agree completely with you that the answer to our dilemma, if there is a solution, is to return to the wisdom of our founding fathers focusing on individualism and excellence.

--Michael Wilmot, USA

Well-written commentary, artfully crafted and meant to inspire nostalgic patriotism. Unfortunately, it's as full of crap as America's corporate capitalist-owned media and politics. The author conveniently omitted the history of the last Great Depression, when a federal American government had to save capitalism from itself by spending government (taxpayer) money to put people to work, regulating banks, and otherwise acting "socialist." America today has outsourced its manufacturing and monopolized its commerce. It has created a society of great disparity between high and low incomes. It has intoxicated itself on Reagan's hallucinogenic market-knows-best cocktail. Obama's strategies are nothing more than a correction of the last eight years of Republican laissez-faire excess. Every time the Republicans take control of the government, the US needs the Dems to come back and clean up the mess.

--Kerry Gubits

Dear Spiegel Online,

Nice observation, Herr Professor! I doubt if many in this country would be capable of such insight concerning Germany's economic situation, or any European country's for that matter.

I invite you to research the possibility that the problematic high unemployment rate in the US may actually be incentivized by the extension of unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 99 weeks -- almost two full years. This move seems to be an example of the kind of European answer the current US administration is apt to seek, and in keeping with the observation you have made in your article: America has indeed become too European.

--Jefferson Arnold, USA

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• Next

• Part 1: 'Remaking the US into Europe Would Be a Disaster'
• Part 2: 'The John Wayne Image of the Lone Frontiersman Is Just an Image'
• Part 3: 'Attempting to Remake Ourselves into Europe Would Be a Disaster'
• Part 4: 'Socialism for the Rich and Capitalism for the Poor'