[lorenzo]

I just (re)discovered the acclaimed book The Lugano Report - On Preserving Capitalism in the 21st Century.
This is an absolute must read for all those who wonder what our future will look like, when transnational corporations take even more control. It's a cynical, but terrifying work of fiction. Forget our own "planning for the future". It will be useless if we don't know who the real enemy is.


A review:

Fictional experts recruited by world leaders to discuss the future of global capitalism provide their assessment of the dire state of the current economy and put forward new ideas for ensuring the survival of the system. But at what cost? Susan George provides a brilliant and chilling vision of the way the winners in the globalisation game profit from poverty and reveals, with relentless logic, the dark future that lies ahead under capitalism.
This new edition features a new introduction by the author.

What would you recommend if you wanted to preserve capitalism in the 21st century? A multidisciplinary Working Party convened by world leaders to consider the future of the world economy concludes that it is grossly undermanaged, gravely threatened by its own excesses, prone to ecological collapse and an unlikely candidate for long-term survival. How, then, can the winners in the globalisation game guarantee their own comfortable future? There is a way, but one which may be too awful to contemplate. The Lugano Report stakes out new territory and proceeds with relentless logic from uncompromising diagnosis to chilling cure.
If this is the future, you will be moved to seek out a different one. In her appendix and afterword, Susan George challenges the conclusions of the Working Party and offers alternative solutions.


An extraordinary, original book of exquisite irony, a kind of "Catch-22" of capitalism

John Pilger

In this satire, a summit on preserving the capitalist order comes to some disturbing conclusions as it follows the logic of capitalism and ad infinitum

Washington Post

With acid wit and sombre truths, "The Lugano Report" brilliantly portrays, through the eyes of its imagined but all too realistic planners, a world that may be heading for deep trouble

Noam Chomsky

A brilliant, terrifying book which should be on the bedside table of every policy-maker in the West

Victoria Brittain

In this book, at once funny and tragic, Susan George reveals the power of neo-liberal prophecy and the absurdity of the economic system it has in store for us

Pierre Bourideu

"The Lugano Report" is a brilliant and innovative means of exposing a world order that serves only the strongest. A compelling satire, packed with information, this is the work of an author in complete control of her subject

George Monbiot

Rigorous and innovative - Guaranteed to enthral the reader and galvanise us to challenge the received wisdom surrounding the globalised economic system

Glennys Kinnock, MEP

Susan George has crept into the mindset of global corporations and crept out with their script for a 21st century fit for corporate exploitation

Alan Simpson, MP

Susan George's intimate kmowledge of the bureaucratic mindset means that the book works superbly as a satire - following the example of Swift's "Modest Proposal" - but her greater aim is to show that there are viable alternatives to this nightmare

New Internationalist