Global Trap

Abstract

This book presents a most readable perspective on economic and social trends in the coming century. Though retaining a European focus throughout, the material spans the world and supports arguments that are of relevance to individuals in whichever continent they may live. The authors describe an incessant march toward globalization in finance and industry, a march that is forcing political change upon a Europe that is simply unprepared, a march toward the Global Trap. Opening the book, the reader finds himself in San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel, an oasis of luxury in a desert of mere wealth, where the world’s leading thinkers and elder statesmen have gathered to discuss the future of our planet for an appropriate fee. A most plausible economic horror story follows. In the not-toodistant future, machines will replace humans in so many spheres of industry that there will be sufficient work for only 20 percent of the developed world’s population. In this 2080 society the 20 percent shall surround themselves with electronic security and wire fences and the 80 percent will be doped with welfare payments, trivial game shows, and other such “tittytainment.” Amusing catchphrases spice Global Trap, trivializing yet somehow succeeding in summarizing a whole worldview. One immediately recognizes “MacWorld versus Jihad” as the much predicted confrontation between free market capitalism and Islam. The authors’ main concerns are expounded in a serious manner. They discuss the nature of the massive modem conglomerate whose control lies beyond the reach of national government. Moving their production to the least expensive locations, these seemingly anonymous entities by default produce their wares in those countries where environmental protection and employee rights are at a minimum. In another discussion, one’s attention is turned to the speculator whose activity impacts upon so many significant areas of modem life. Much attention is paid to the rapidly widening gap between the rich world and the poor world, a gap which threatens the survival of both. In a sobering portrayal of one possible European future, the barriers are raised against floods of cheap imports and of immigrants wishing’that they too could share the living standards of the rich world. But the immigrant finds himself in the midst of a different kind of economic nightmare, a world in which life on a human scale is no longer possible or profitable. in which the individual is enslaved in mortgage debt, works at maximum output, or, does not work at all. Feeling that they no longer have a voice in their own destiny, the indigenous population turns toward radical political solutions, toward the protectionist, the xenophobe, and the fascist Does any of this sound familiar? Of course, the genre of doom and gloom has a long pedigree, but this is not intellectual pornography for those awaiting the end of the world. There is little, if any, wild extrapolation of current trends in order to predict future despair. Instead, the authors present well-researched fact to support their forecast of what might be if solutions are not found in time ...