- With friends like these... The very institutions that
are supposed to make America great--from Big Business to the Oval Office
- are embarrassing the country.
-
- People tend to think highly of themselves, which makes
it hard for them to get a clear picture of what others really think. The
surge of patriotism since September 11 has made it even harder for most
American businesspeople to hear how their country is perceived on the world
stage, but I know the Herring's readers are made of the right stuff, so
here goes.
-
- It's not pretty. Plummeting share values, a grisly parade
of corporate scandals, and accounting fraud are making it a lot harder
to see the American pursuit of shareholder value through entrepreneurial
capitalism as the only way forward.
-
- America will always have its European critics, but they've
been marginalized over the past decade by the extraordinary performance
of the American economy. However, the shabby parade of corporate ugliness
at WorldCom, Qwest, Global Crossing, Enron, and now Tyco International
makes many people over here feel that they're not looking at a few bad
apples, but at fundamental problems with the way American business is organized.
-
- The book The State We're In, by British writer Will Hutton,
former editor of the UK's Observer newspaper, offers an intelligent version
of the case against American business. Mr. Hutton argues that Britain has
a pivotal role in helping the European Union to build an alternative business
culture as a humane counterweight to America's ruthless Wall Street casino.
Mr. Hutton pours cold water on pretty much everything that American corporations
have boasted about for the past ten years: the tech revolution (hype),
increased productivity (longer working hours), and U.S. corporate governance
(effectively a blank check for the CEO).
-
- Mr. Hutton comes on a bit strong, and it's hard to believe
his vision of a Europe, which is always so divided, that will somehow unite
in common cause. Yet after Arthur Andersen's role in the Enron collapse,
which calls into question the integrity of the very accounting standards
the U.S. insists its trading partners adopt, it's hard to wave away his
criticisms. After all, aren't dodgy crony capitalists in Asia and sleepy
state-run European businesses supposed to be the villains who cook the
books? America puts its faith in the score, the numbers, the bottom line,
from Variety's box-office data to the NFL's passion for statistics. What
happens when reputable agencies accuse company after company in the U.S.
of just making it up?
-
- When things are going badly, a little charm can often
cut the tension. Unfortunately America's current CEO, George W. Bush, seems
to lack the necessary diplomatic skills. Mr. Bush's gee-whiz hokum looks
spectacularly brash and uninformed when transplanted from Paris, Texas,
to Paris, France.
-
- A Financial Times column gives you the flavor. Gerard
Baker describes Mr. Bush's recent European trip as a "clownish performance"
in which the president fidgeted during a visit to the Hermitage and mocked
a U.S. reporter for asking Jacques Chirac a question in French.
-
- The truth is, many people here feel Mr. Bush has Ronald
Reagan's talent for gaffes without the Great Communicator's charm. A sign
held up by a demonstrator during Mr. Bush's recent tour sums up local feeling
about his intellectual powers: "If you can read this, you're not the
President." Whatever doubts people may have had about Bill Clinton's
integrity, I can't remember anyone ever questioning his literacy.
-
- The irony is that most European observers still see the
U.S. economy as the best engine to pull us out of global recession. The
unpalatable truth for America's harshest critics is that if they are right,
and America's magic engine for creating wealth is fundamentally broken,
then we will share something that transcends our differences--deep, deep
trouble.
-
- Experience tells me that I can now look forward to a
passionate assessment of America's overseas critics. After all, isn't that
what friends are for?
-
- Michael Parsons is contributing editor for the Red Herring,
based in London. He'd love to hear from you at michael@michaelparsons.co.uk.
-
-
- Copyright 2002 Red Herring Magazine
-
- http://www.redherring.com/columns/2002/thursday/overhere060602.html
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