The Lugano Report: On Preserving Capitalism in the Twenty-first Century [Paperback]

Susan George (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0745315321 | ISBN-13: 978-0745315324 | Publication Date: September 1, 1999

This report is not what is seems. It is written entirely by the leading development specialist Susan George. Although a spoof report, it is based on fact and illustrates the logical processes of the world economy as we approach the new century. Written from the perspective of one in broad support of the systems of global power, Susan George is in fact deeply critical of the state of the world. Through her unique style of approach to her subject, George paints a worrying picture of the world over the next 25 years. The book diagnoses the current state of the world and considers feasible alternative strategies and solutions to the world's most pressing problems. Prepared from a joint initiative by anonymous world leaders, it is presented as a confidential report. "Lugano" identifies the threats to the free market capitalist system, and the obstacles to its generalisation and preservation as we enter the millennium, and recommends strategies to maximise the probability that the free market globalised system will prevail. It warns of the imminent collapse of the world economic system and pinpoints precisely where the dangers lie, the impact of this on the "haves" - the people who hold power - and on the "have nots" -the poor and excluded.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"With acid wit and somber truths, Susan George brilliantly portrays through the eyes of imagined, but all too realistic planners, a world that may be heading for deep trouble." Noam Chomsky

About the Author

Susan George has written widely on development issues for three decades. She is an associate director of the Transnational Institute and a member of Jubilee 2000. She is the author of several classic works including How the Other Half Dies (Penguin), The Debt Boomerang (Pluto Press), Ill Fares the Land (Penguin) and, with Fabrizio Sabelli, Faith and Credit: The World Bank Secular Empire (Penguin).

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Pluto Press (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745315321
• ISBN-13: 978-0745315324
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,248,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A frightening look at the logic of capitalism., March 19, 2000

By 

Eric N. Romsted "romsted" (Highland Park, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lugano Report: On Preserving Capitalism in the Twenty-first Century (Paperback)

Susan George uses her impressize knowledge of global capitalism to and its effects on the many to look at the picture from the side of the few. The report presents a frightening look at what would be required to preserve the current capitalist order in the face of the increasing impoveritization of an increasingly populous and ecologically strained world.

The report was originally written as a hoax (she was not going to claim authorship), however, for reasons she declines to elaborate on she chose not go through with it. I actually wish she had released it as real, to see the reaction of the elite pundits and media who will now feel secure in ignoring the book.

Even so, it is a worthwile read, primarily as it helps us see what kind of reforms of the global economy would simply tame the excesses of capitalism and thereby make the system only stronger, and what reforms would truely challenge the powers that be.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best thing I've read this year, March 19, 2005

By 

William Michael Brown (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lugano Report: On Preserving Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century (Paperback)

Richard Morgan's booklist at the end of his SF romance, "Market Forces", got me reading this. To him, thanks for the goto. To you, I recommend both works.

Although the original edition of "Lugano Report" is six years old, I've not read anything this year that is more relevant to the situation in the USA in 2005. Nor could I have voiced my own opinion of that situation any better than George does in her introduction to the 2003 edition:

"I can think of only one historical parallel to the demented band of entrepreneurial thugs who have taken over in Washington, which is, of course, Hitler and the Nazis. In this book, distinctions are made between their kind of fascism and the 'Lugano'-type scenario now unfolding. If the latter succeeds, it will be a fascist regime minus the concentration camps and gas chambers but including the rule of mega-corporations; a pseudo-religious, all-embracing ideology drummed into the populace by a compliant media; mass surveillance; and a master race disposing as it pleases, through military force, economic coercion or cultural bribery, of the lesser, darker-skinned and infidel breeds, as well as the dissidents within its own ranks."

If you want some background on how we got here, and a preview of our Singapore-Model future, this is the place to start.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shockingly Real, May 16, 2002

By 

Oscar L. Vazquez "Oscar" (Chicago, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lugano Report: On Preserving Capitalism in the Twenty-first Century (Paperback)

This document, more that a "report" is a cold blood, cynical guide to enslave, decimate and exterminate the surplus or the human population using methods as birth control, contagious diseases, political, religious and ethnic conflicts and wars, famines, low salaries, etc. This "report" that may be see for many people as a science fiction novel or a Malthus write is a nowaday reality. If we pay attention to everyday news, we could see that most of the formulas mentioned in this "report" have being applied around the world in a systematic way as isolated cases successfully with none or few opposition by the victims. I strongly recommend this book to those people that in some way or another can do something to stop this systematic plan already running.