Futurecast

"Rob Shapiro's prescient and insightful book probes the confluence of challenges that society will face in the coming years. He argues that our world has become increasingly interdependent, and we must foster global cooperation to achieve a sustainable existence with equal opportunity for all. Futurecast is a vital resource for anyone seeking to understand the world our children will inherit."—President Bill Clinton

"A storm warning at a time when food shortages, higher energy prices and a credit crunch are forcing our heads out of the sand: if they turn to Futurecast, they will find an argument that gives us a measure of what we should expect from our political leaders—and from ourselves—if we are to continue our civilisation on the high plateau we have managed to reach."—The Financial Times

"Alarming but challenging. A dense yet well-written overview of the heavy factors that will remake the world. A thorough and gifted analysis."—Management Today

"A new world economy is emerging before our very eyes. Robert Shapiro not only understands the breadth and depth of these enormous changes but also is able to communicate them in a way that is clear, powerful and readily understandable. This is a brilliantly written book and a compelling analysis—that provides extremely valuable insights into the enormous and historic transitions now underway that will profoundly affect the world's major economies for decades to come."—Robert Hormats, Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs International

"In America today, we are sorely in need of the big ideas that will elevate our electoral and legislative processes above the level of fundraising and high stakes lobbying. In Futurecast, Robert Shapiro creates the fertile ground from which these big ideas will spring by accurately predicting how all our lives will be changed, in the near future, by aging populations, globalization and the rise and fall of the superpowers. This book is a must-read as we head into this first half of the twenty-first century."—Al From, CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council

"Robert Shapiro understands the world and all of its complexity from the rise and fall of nations to the problem of aging populations. No one is better equipped to tell us where we're headed in the not-so-distant future."—Rolf Ekeus, High Commissioner on National Minorities (UN), former Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq and former Swedish Ambassador to the United States

"In 1992 Rob Shapiro's analysis of the big changes in globalization became the intellectual framework for the Clinton campaign and Presidency. In this new book Rob returns to the subject and has written a book that is likely to do in 2008 what he did once before—offer the economic framework for the President and the nation. This book is a must read for anyone trying to make sense of how the global economy is changing in the early part of the 21st century."—Simon Rosenberg, chairman of the New Democrat Network

"What will the world look like in 2020? A former advisor to Bill Clinton presents his intriguing predictions. Shapiro, who now runs a private firm that advises governments, businesses and nonprofits here and abroad, deftly pulls together facts and figures to back up his statements. The vast swathes of ground he covers can be whittled down to four major areas that will mold our future. Three of these—political developments, globalization, broad changes in demographics—are joined by a relatively new concern: the wildly unpredictable changes in the environment and the alarming depletion of the Earth's natural energy sources. Shapiro drops in a mind-boggling array of statistical information as he maps out his ideas, and while some of the information may feel overly familiar—the rise of China as a major economic superpower, the fall of the Soviet Union, business outsourcing to India—it's presented in an entertaining and educational manner. The passages on demographics starkly highlight a comprehensive contrast between government benefits available to citizens of the United States and those offered in China and many of Europe's leading nations. The discussion on globalization illustrates interesting regional differences in the way McDonald's operates across the world (home delivery is available in Egypt and Turkey); it also leads to a lengthy chapter on how globalization will be shaped by China and the United States over the next decade or so. Shapiro closes with some insightful thoughts on how healthcare can be provided for an aging population and how much it will cost to halt the havoc that could be wreaked on the planet if global warming escalates. An illuminating, satisfying read."—Kirkus Reviews

"[Shapiro], a former undersecretary of commerce, now a private consultant to businesses and politicos (including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama), sets his sights on the near horizon and paints us a picture of our world a dozen years from now. Basing his insights on solid historical data as well as contemporary trends, Shapiro predicts, among other things, that we'll soon be buying our cars from Mexico and Turkey, that Europe will become less politically and economically relevant, and that China will emerge as a superpower rivaling the U.S. in its influence on the rest of the world . . . [Shapiro] effectively synthesizes current trends into a thought-provoking, well documented, persuasively argued treatise."—David Pitt, Booklist