agenda for fundamental changes, based on the premise that the primacy of private profit is no longer compatible with the priorities of modern democracies. Instead, we need to emphasize equity, cooperation and far more effective democratic accountability.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Harry Shutt is an independent economic consultant. He is the author of The Trouble with Capitalism (Zed Books, 1999) and A New Democracy: Alternatives to a Bankrupt World Order (Zed Books, 2001)

CONTENTS

1. The Long Road to Disaster Taming the business cycle Post-war delusions The return of the business cycle and the rejection of orthodoxy The cancer of 'moral hazard' Liberalisation and the 'race to the bottom' 1980-2000: the failure of neo-liberalism
2. The Deluge Postponed Distorting market forces Financial liberalisation Sustaining the return on investment The rise of the bubble economy Technology: the new enemy The search for new investment outlets
3. The Surfeit of Capital and its Consequences The plundering of the public sector The appetite for high risk High-tech fantasies
4. The Dishonesty of Desperation The limits of manipulation The culture of fraud Complicity of the state
5. A System Past Reforming An exercise in cosmetics Inescapable pressures of the market The price of accountability The stakeholder myth
6. No End to Denial Falsifying the numbers The response to the pensions crisis: a study in fantasy Compulsive optimism in the markets An admission of defeat? The triumph of mendacity over experience
7. Beyond the Cataclysm A new dispensation for enterprise Reordering economic priorities Averting total collapse Resistance and repression An age of unreason?