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Fiction
Title: EQUIBOOMICS Author: Luigi Pesce Rating:  Must Read!
Publisher: Luigi Pesce Web Page: www.equiboomics.com Publisher's E-mail: luigi@setimm.ch Reviewed by: M.K.Turner |
 
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Luigi Pesce, the Italian author of Equiboomics, has spent most of his life looking at balance sheets. In the introduction to his novel he notes that he is not a writer, or a politician or the sort of person who takes to the streets in protest, but that he is compelled to issue this cry of alarm at the inconceivably fatuous way our greed, our debt burden, our indifference toward the planet and our children's future is being addressed by those in power. So, how's the book? Aside from a stiltedness that impairs all translations, it is something of a grabber, built on the intriguing premise that the West (everywhere on the verge of bankruptcy) wakes up one morning in 2012 and finds that China (the only creditor nation) has withdrawn all her commercial vessels from foreign harbors. One moment it is business as usual; the next, silence. Then comes a command: All Western leaders are summoned to Beijing. The planes land; in less than an hour they are rolling down the runway on their way home -- with an Ultimatum. China will protect its own interests. The West has one year to change its economic and financial system; China will no longer subscribe to debt certificates. Rather, in the absence of a sustainable plan, it will seize all manufacturing facilities of foreign countries in China against the credits it holds. The US dollar is to be replaced by a basket of currencies jointly agreed upon. A supranational group known as the London Committee and comprised of experts (read: no politicians or bureaucrats) immediately sets to work preparing the new economic policy. Michele, an Italian from Verona and the narrator of the book, is selected to work with a subcommittee. He is greatly gratified when its conclusions are accepted by the Western democracies and stand the test of the world shattering upheaval that follows. To successfully garden, one must thin. It will be very interesting to see how Americans respond to Pesce's solutions to our present economic crisis. What might seem feasible to a member of the European Union -- loss of national autonomy; appointed, not elected, decision makers who do not seem to be answerable to the body politic; utilitarianism (greatest good for the greatest number) and its discontents -- would be very controversial in the US, yet none of these issues are really addressed at length in the book. Orwell's 1984 is introduced and then dismissed by the committee members. Still, Equiboomics is not a mere polemic; if you don't like the way the story ends, remember how invested you are in the way it begins. Luigi Pesce has an excellent web site -- www.equiboomics.com/ -- that we encourage you to visit and continue the dialogue. As for the book, bookreview.com rates it a must read!
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