The Lugano Report: On Preserving Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century

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.

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.

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.