Bawer is prone to exaggeration; his book on Islam in Europe, which I read, was a particularly bad example. But I think there is a lot to what he says, because in Scandinavia private consumption is discouraged for the sake of public services. And one of the things about airports is that air travel in the US got much cheaper after deregulation, so that flying became more succcessful. (As I understand it Ryan Air has recently had this effect in much of Europe.) The very poorest don’t fly much, but other than that those who fly are a pretty good cross-section of society, I suspect.
- I kind of get this impression too. It would be amusing watching a “documentary battle” between Bruce Bawer and Michael Moore consisting in Bawer trying to prove that Scandinavia/Norway is the worst place on Earth to live, while Michael Moore was trying to prove the same thing regarding the US.
“But I think there is a lot to what he says, because in Scandinavia private consumption is discouraged for the sake of public services.”
- I wouldn’t say it’s discouraged in general, at least not in all of the Scandinavian countries, but it’s true that car consumption is discouraged in Norway and also that fuel consumption is discouraged in most European countries.
Furthermore, Norwegians invest a lot of their oil incomes in sovereign wealth funds (see my first commentary to the article above), instead of using it for private consumption, therefore you could say private consumption is discouraged in Norway (but not so much in the rest of Scandinavia). However, it’s not for the sake of public services, instead they do this because they are afraid of the economy overheating. Many Norwegians, as well as others, would say BOTH private consumption and the quality of public services are far below the levels of what Norway, in theory, could afford. Norway is extremely rich, but a great deal of this wealth is tucked away in funds.
“And one of the things about airports is that air travel in the US got much cheaper after deregulation, so that flying became more successful. (As I understand it Ryan Air has recently had this effect in much of Europe.) The very poorest don’t fly much, but other than that those who fly are a pretty good cross-section of society, I suspect.”
- I agree that most people in Europe as well as in The US seem to have enough money to fly a lot. For instance, my former girlfriend from Italy and I could easily visit each other’s countries (I live in Sweden) as a flight between Gothenburg (where I live) and Rome (where she lived) costs appr $50, which is very affordable to an average Swede or an average Italian. I people who fly sometimes a year probably represent a cross-section.
Yet, I doubt the cars at the parking lot of Newark Airport represent a cross-section of the cars US Americans drive around in. To begin, with NYC inhabitants are considerably richer than the average American. Another thing is that Newark Airport (according to Wikipedia) “..is the fifth busiest international air gateway to the United States..” This means there are a lot of people who travel ABROAD from Newark on business trips and on fancy holidays to countries outside the US (and return from such trips). Many average Americans also travel abroad, but not as frequently as comparatively wealthy Amerians.
The problem with the way Bawer writes is that less aware people are led to believe that average Americans drive way better cars than Norwegians. The truth is, Americans probably drive better cars than Norwegians, but the average American car is not a vehicle that would seem like a luxury car to a Norwegian, which is indicated by the article.