Customer Reviews

Turbo-Capitalism: Winners and Losers in the Global Economy

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

An illuminating discussion of modern global economics that is easily accessible to a non-economist. Any American who has been puzzled, thrilled, or appalled by the rapid changes in the business environment of the last decade, either here or abroad, will want to read this book. Its strategic approach puts the pieces that we read in the media together into an integrated picture. Even readers who do not agree with all that Luttwak postulates will find that this book provokes much thought and some great arguments with friends.

I knew that Luttwak is fluent in Italian for having seen him talking in several interviews on Italian TV so I was expecting from him a good insight of the Italian political situation.

What I did not expected was such an extremly good insight of the situation of Venezia, my hometown, which is usually not understand even from other Italian living nearby!! Luttwak really surprised me. I would like to know from other readers if his insight of Japan and Russia was good and reliable as the one of Italy (and Continental Europe in general).

One small defect of this book is that the bibliography is not really that satisfing, albeit the idea to give the url of the economical tables is great.

As a final point I have to say that I was strocken by the fact that Luttwak does not draw a clear conclusion about the fate of "turbo capitalism"; except for the statement that, as it happens to all human things, it will pass. Fact of which I am personally convinced too, point is how it will pass.

I hope the author will clarify his toughts about it in a future work which, hopefully, will contain a more extented bibliography.

Unlike some other reviewers, I find that Edward Luttwak's analysis of the new capitalism, or what he calls Turbo capitalism, was very well considered and presented. Luttwak knows europe very well, as he lives and teaches in Italy and speaks a number of languages fluently. The book is not a condmenation o cpaitalism; rather it shows how from the late seventies and after the fall of Soviet communism the Keynesian economic system that had been devised to produce a compromise between the aspirations of socialism and the practical realities of capitalism, which existed in much of the Western world has been dismantled. He notes that in order to reduce the appeal of socialism, which was gaining ground throughout Europe prior to the rise of fascism and after the Second World War, Western governments were almost forced into satisfying vast numbers of their populations by institutionalizing such benefits as free medical service and schooling. the equalizing policies help to soften demands for outright socilaism while allowing free enterprise to grow - albeit with some regulation. Luttwak then terms 'turbo capitalism' that transformation, which took place after the fall of the Berlin wall, characterized by the de-regualtion of free enterprise and the simultaneous retraction of the social welfare mechanisms that had been established in the post-war period.
Luttwak also looks at how certain market inefficiencies, like having too many employees, family businesses and fewer working hours actually helped make the 'capitalist' system more sustainable for the vast majority - or for what used to be the middle class until a decade ago. Turbo capitalism has accelerated and accentuated class divides, reducing the influence and size of the middle class. There are some cultural anecdotes involving work hours and differences in public morality between the United States and Europe mentioned here and there and they add an amusing effect. i found little to object in what he noted, as he remained fair and relevant. Overall this is an excellent book, which provides a great deal of insight into an the socio-economic processes that affecting the modern society.

I've made a habit of reading books on economics within the past year and this one is at the top of my recommendation list. Luttwak clearly describes the situation of capitalism worldwide, from the most regulated to the least restrictive economies, which he dubs turbo-capitalist (America and Britain.) He is clear that the tradeoff is security and broad wealth distribution versus efficiency and economic inequality. There is no resisting the move toward efficiency, because there is no way to compete with it. So, the whole world is inevitably moving in the turbo-capitalist direction. There are good and bad aspects of this which Luttwak discusses but regardless, we are going with the flow in which privatization and de-regulation are the driving forces, bringing rapid change, dislocation of labor, uncertainty of employment and anxiety about economic security. This book was educational for me on the topic of the establishment of the EU and the ECU (Euro.) I was particularly interested in his discussion of central banking, but found myself eagerly turning every page in expectation of what I'd find him explaining next. Luttwak is equally at home describing why Americans are such super-consumers, the Italian way of protecting jobs in a closed (but opening) economy, and the function of the Russian mafia in countering the economic power of the Russian state. An informative and entertaining read that is bound to add depth to the reader's understanding of current events.

I bought this book because I thought it would be interesting to see critical comments of an American author of what people usually call "globalization" or "new economy". None of these terms is well-defined and Luttwak adds another one to the list: "Turbo Capitalism". I admit that as a European I have a certain prejudice, namely that American authors generally don't understand too well what's going on outside of the US - and this book is no exception to the rule. To give just one example: Luttwak states that American executives usually work hard whereas European ones spend a lot of their time at the Riviera with their secretary-mistresses. No comment. Even where Luttwak knows a little bit more about what's going on outside the US, he oversimplifies things a little bit too much and he would have been well-advised to get rid off about 50% of the statistics and data and to dig deeper into the remaining 50%. However, the book offers some interesting views of today's "global economy" and, in particular, of what it lead(s) to in the US. Many of the comments he makes aren't too unfamiliar for a European reader. Europeans still stick to their way of dealing with social inequality because they are convinced that it is the duty of the society to support those who are counted amongst the losers of today's liberal economy. It is interesting to see how Luttwak tries to motivate this idea. So that'd be one of my stars. The second star Luttwak gets for pointing out some completely obvious points which nobody really seems to care for. For instance, people claim that in the US many more jobs are created than destroyed. While that is true, an implicit implication which is usually made is wrong: Contrary to naive beliefs of many people (and especially of European "New Labour/Third Way/Neue Mitte" social democrats), a worker who looses his job at, say, GM is NOT hired by, say, Microsoft. Rather, he is usually forced to accept another GM-like job for a lower salary. Luttwak gives some nice statistics which show this. I especially liked how he pointed out that white-collar workers earn less than blue-collar workers. You don't believe it? Have a look into the book!

I totally agree with Edward Luttwak's plain talk: today's capitalism with its managing for the short time, profits the happy few, but is a disaster for the many: abrupt mass firings, disruption of individual lives, of families, of communities and even of entire regions, insecurity of the middle classes.

Fortunately, he believes that turbo capitalism will pass, but, for me, not immediately.
For the reasons, read for instance the excellent books on US politics by Gore Vidal.

One of Luttwak's cures to reverse the actual situation is control by the government, but if the government is controlled by the few (private corporations and their main individual shareholders), the proceeds of capitalismn will continue to flow to the few.

As a matter of fact, he is severe for the actual governmental policies, like monetarism (it devalues labor rather than money); like the conversion of all institutions - hospitals etc. - into profit-maximizing corporations, or the hypocritical war on drugs.
I quote: "Even the fanciest illegal substances hardly make a dent in the budget of many users, some of whom are multi-millionaires ... The ruined drug addict on his way to a penniless death in a sordid alley is mostly myth: if it were not so ... Colombian drug lords would have to be content with tenements and bicycles instead of palatial mansions and executive jets." (p.210)

His conclusion is obvious: what is needed is a government that governs for the many and distributes more equally than now the proceeds of capitalism over the whole population, not only through wages, but also through better social welfare.
But this is only possible via the democratic process.

This book contains also excellent analyses of, among others, the causes of World War I, mercantilism or the situation in Russia after the fall of the Berlin wall.

An important work. Not to be missed.

What happens when the pursuit of wealth becomes such a dominant force in the world that all moral, ethical, and societal values become secondary? What happens when the bottom line is always...money?

Can you spell ENRON?

Most of the world is against globalization. But we are not sure why. We just feel that it is bad somehow. We see life becoming more uncertain, jobs being eliminated, families and societies being torn apart, and "job security" becoming a thing of the past. Meanwhile, the salaries of CEOs zoom into the stratosphere.

But it is difficult for the average person to verbalize exactly what is "wrong" with globalization and "free trade". We simply do not have the eagle eye view of the situation. But Mr. Luttwak does.

Mr. Luttwak is not against capitalism. But he lays a case that it is out of control and that the "free trade" agenda will only benefit the wealthy. He very eloquently lays out how the pursuit of wealth is now running rampant over borders, governments, cultures, and how wealth is accumulating at a faster pace into the hands of fewer and fewer people. And most important...the cost to all of us "losers" in this frantic "greed rush".

The WTO and G8 meetings are held in secret. Those who meet in secret NEVER have the common good at heart. If they did, they would welcome very bright lights so we could all appreciate their great philanthropy and goodness.

After reading this book, I know why they meet in secret. I now know who is pushing globalization and why they are doing it. The agenda of globalization is laid bare and yes, it is scary. Imagine one world governed by company interests whose only god is the dollar...that will be the ultimate result of turbo capitalism.

While this book is only a call to arms with no solution offered, it is excellent for no other reason than the way in which Mr. Luttwak so deftly lays out the problems.

Buy this book. You will not be disappointed.

what do the numbers mean? what are the realities and outcomes of aspiring for some numbers to go up and other numbers to go down? Here they are. You can rely on the author to be combine honesty with actual understanding of the world.

A book that goes nowhere!

It seems to me a book should have a point of view. This book has none. One cannot fathom the author's purpose other than to be an outlet for his thorough knowledge of economics and the current world economy. But knowledge and wisdom are two very different things. The author explains the pros and cons of capitalism over and over and always stops short of picking a side or point of view or reform. Generally he seems concerned about too much capitalism but you never know if this is real or just a necessary artifact to have something to imply beyond mere description. If you missed economics 101 in college or want a general review of the international economy maybe this book is for you. If you want a point of view on what's going in the world try MIlton Friedman's books for an explanation of free trade or Understanding The Difference Between Democrats And Republicans for a point of view on the politics of capitalism

While Edward Luttwak bemoans what he (correctly) sees as an onrushing train of "Turbo-Capitalism" - the worldwide trend toward unregulated markets, free flow of capital and decline of the importance of nation-state, - he completely fails to see the technological reasons for it. He dismisses such reasons by stating that "technology does not exist in vacuum" and "people made a decision to use it" in support of turbo-capitalism. That's as naïve as claiming that 15th century people "made a decision" to use gunpowder and manufacturing in order to destroy the feudal system of independent manors. For anyone interested in the analysis of why microprocessor is as dangerous to the nation-state as gunpowder was to feudal manor, I suggest "The Sovereign Individual" by Davidson and Rees-Mogg.

The above is the "wishful thinking" part. As for the left-leaning biases of Mr. Luttwak, they are almost too numerous to list, but the most glaring one is his claim that information technology is a net destroyer of jobs. He supports this claim by comparing the number of employees in the leaders of "old economy" (Ford, GM, Kodak, etc.) and the leaders in "new economy" (Microsoft, Apple, Netscape, etc.) and pointing out that the latter employ a small fraction of the former. First, in information economy high-tech jobs are spread among hundreds and thousands of small companies, rather than concentrated in a few giants (his "leaders of new economy" list should have had at least 200 names). But more importantly, Luttwak completely misses the fact that enormously greater productivity of information-based economy allows the relatively smaller number of people involved in the actual production to support a mass service sector impossible in the industrial economy. Travel agencies, spas, physical therapists, massage therapists, concierge services, specialized restaurants, beach resorts, beauty salons, pool and gardening services, and all sorts of professionally taught leisure activities - scuba diving, sky diving, mountain climbing, spelunking, deep-sea fishing, etc. - have proliferated in the numbers unthinkable just a few years ago. That's one of the beneficial results of microprocessor revolution, of which Luttwak's "turbo-capitalism" is but one aspect.