Book Review: The United States of Europe, by T.R. Reid

 Beware of Tight Pants, the Europeans are Coming!

I have often said that you when you start listening to talk radio you have officially become your father. In my opinion, cars were made for rockin' out and no time in a car should be wasted on politics, when there is so much music to be listened to.

Unfortunately, I have found that life sometimes sucks you in. It all starts with the nightly news. You start watching the news and then you might want to read the newspaper. You start reading the newspaper and then maybe it seems okay to start listening to NPR on the way to work, instead of "Radio From Hell." Before you know it, you're a regular news and politics junkie and you think the world is going down the drain and there is no hope because the world is run by idiots.

While I am in no way a news geek, I do make an attempt to kind of know what's going on around me. I have had an interest in Europe since living there and have recently been reading The United States of Europe by T.R. Reid hoping to find out why the euro has been pounding the dollar for the past two years.

The European Union has helped more than 20 countries to put aside their many, many differences in efforts to gain their one collective goal - to outdo the United States in every area: economics, social care, science, art, culture. Right now they're doing it.

The United States of Europe was written by an American - to show Americans - that the U.S. is no longer the World's only superpower and what that means to our country and economy. Reid discusses why Europe loves our Gap t-shirts, McDonald's hamburgers and Hollywood celebrities, but hates our government, our ego and our view toward the rest of the world.

To illustrate the shift in economic dominance, here are some of the "American" products owned by European companies:

Product	Owner Country
Dunkin' Donuts	United Kingdom
Jeep	Germany
L.A. Dodgers	United Kingdom
A&W Rootbeer	United Kingdom
Texaco	Netherlands
Power Bar	Switzerland
Holiday Inn	United Kingdom
Verizon	United Kingdom

Maybe we are fighting the wrong devils. Maybe we shouldn't be so worried about the Walmarts and Microsofts that are taking over and destroying America--hey, at least these are America companies determining America's fate. Maybe we should be a bit more worried about the fact that the new capital of the United States is in Brussels, Belgium--the head of the European Union.

Now, this book doesn't make me want to trade in my stars and stripes for a thick turtleneck and tight jeans, but it does make me think that it's time to look at what's going on here in the homeland. If we want to stay strong in the world economy, we need to be humble enough to recognize when other countries do things better than we do. If we continue to think that we're the best at everything we will never improve and we will be left behind.

The United States of Europe is an important read.