The Mind and the Market shows that complaints about capitalism are older and more respectable than most of the antagonists in today's globalization debates realize.
For a decade, the United States has exported its gang problem, sending Central American-born criminals back to their homelands -- without warning local governments. The result has been an explosive rise of vicious, transnational gangs that now threaten the stability of the region's fragile democracies. As Washington fiddles, the gangs are growing, spreading north into Mexico and back to the United States.
European elites lambaste the United States for bad behavior at home and hegemonic hubris abroad. These Europeans see an ominous transatlantic "values gap" emerging over the death penalty, guns, "Frankenfoods," and unchecked capitalism. And Washington's unilateralist obstinance on issues such as missile defense, land mines, and global warming only makes matters worse. But a closer look shows that Europe and the United States are in fact converging culturally, economically, and even strategically. This phony crisis in relations only makes it more difficult to tap the full potential of the transatlantic partnership.
