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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
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Sales rank 1,279
Customers rating (based on 745 reviews)
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With new material from the author "Economic hit men," John Perkins writes," are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as Empire but one that has taken on terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization." John Perkins should know-he was an economic hit man for an international consulting firm that worked to convince developing countries to accept enormous loans and to funnel that money to U.S. corporations. Once these countries were saddled with huge debts, the American government and international aid agencies were able to request their "pound of flesh" in favors, including access to natural resources, military cooperation, and political support. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is the story of one man's experiences inside the intrigue, greed, corruption and little-known government and corporate activities that America has been involved in since World War II, and which have dire consequences for the future of democracy and the world.
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| Publisher | Plume | | Release date | 12/2005 | | Availability | Usually ships in 24 hours | | Edition | Paperback |
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 Modern US Imperialism
This is an excellent book about how the US corporate/government/banking complex plunders underdeveloped countries without firing a shot. Although some of the reviews challenge the author's lack of evidence, the details of the method is more than corroborated by many other books. Plus, his firsthand involvement is more than enough proof.
Perkins not only details specific projects he worked on but also describes how the indigenous people felt about what they knew he was doing. It's incredible that these so-called uneducated savages know more about how the world operates than we do.
The author seems intent on showing that this is not a conspiracy, since it happens under both Democrat and Republican administrations. That just seems to prove how insidious this conspiracy really is. It is a dream come true for the "one world order."
This book should be required reading for any person going into politics or Foreign Service.
 Interesting book - read it, but with a big grain of salt
An interesting read - Conservatives who are sure that it is nothing but lies should open their eyes a bit to the reality of America's perceived role in the world, but Liberals who think that every word is true should put down the bong and apply some critical reasoning.
His basic thesis is that America deliberately ruins developing countries by convincing them to sign up for massive loans for infrastructure projects that have no chance of improving the economy enough to pay for themselves, thereby putting those countries into America's debt and ultimately, under America's control. As a self-described "Economic Hit Man", his job was to write the economic projections that deluded the poor "natives."
The book is a weird mixture of probably-true but boring stuff about travelling around the world and writing economic predictions for proposed projects, and a James-Bond-meets-Woodward-and-Bernstein collection of shadowy characters who recruit him then train him to...what?
After all the superspy stuff about an NSA uncle, a hot babe agent who "instructs" him during long sessions in her apartment and apparently breaks up his marriage, and a mysterious contact who gets him a job as an economic analyst at one of the many beltway-bandit companies that specialize in analyzing developing economies, all he does is travel around and write economic projections. How exciting. He admits that he fraudulently inflated his projections so that his company's client would get a big consulting contract.
Oh - but his work was part of a massive business/government conspiracy to create an all-powerful global American empire, which only a sinister clique of insiders are aware of. Supposedly he would be killed if he revealed it or even tried to leave it. But his only proof is his own stories, which require significant suspension of disbelief.
Or maybe he just liked his job, his high standard of living, and his first-class perks when traveling on company business. Given his early Peace Corp service and his fairly-obvious political leanings, it would seem that writing this book was more of a cathartic apology for playing the game so long and so well. And he hasn't been killed yet.
As he himself explains, his publisher first suggested that he turn it into a novel rather than publish it as a non-fiction expose. In other words, it needed spicing up. My guess - the James Bond stuff was added after this initial rejection. As he mentions, some of the characters are "composites." He made them up.
And in the end, I find it hard to believe that the James Bond stuff is factual, nor do I believe in a vast American conspiracy as he describes. It just doesn't make sense, nor does it match historical reality. Which third-world country now dances to the American tune because they owe us some money? Where have we reaped a vast economic windfall because of some papers stored in a bank vault somewhere? Instead they repudiate their debt and/or inflate their currencies which is about the same thing, and they nationalize our companies' subsidiaries and abrogate the contracts they've signed. And maybe they should - that is for others to decide. Either way, our "debt leash" is pretty weak.
But, there is something here for all to consider, including Conservatives who've probably cheered my review so far. America does sometimes do more harm than good by "helping" developing countries. We do let our major corporations go out there and convince national leaders that if only they'd sign on the dotted line, everything would get better. And we do let "Economic Hit Men" offer projections about how great it is all going to be, but if it isn't, the poor countries are supposed to pay up anyway.
It isn't just America - most "first world" countries have their people out there trying to do the same thing in the "third world." France. England. Russia. Japan. Even China. It isn't necessarily bad, it's just good business. As long as it works as promised.
But then again, look at the incredible improvements in the standard of living of people in most of the world over the last 50 years. India. China. Latin America. Eastern Europe. The world-wide rise of the middle class, a truly new thing in the history of the world. A lot of it is due to dams, and power plants, and electrical grids, and water supplies, and ports, and airports - all the stuff the "hit men" push.
Yes, we should regulate our international companies and our global development agencies, making sure that they are not shoving dubious projects down the throats of nations that can't afford them in the end. But let's not imagine that they are evil monsters who've done nothing but bad. They are economic entities organized to make a profit for their shareholders, and most of the time that is done by creating and servicing a market. This improves us all, as long as coercive shortcuts aren't permitted.
One more thing that smells wrong about the book - a major problem in the developing world has always been corruption. Leaders steal. A huge fraction of the money loaned to needy nations winds up in their filthy fingers and in their overseas accounts. It is almost a cultural thing - why become a leader if you can't make yourself, your family, and your friends wealthy? The book acts as though every leader of every developing nation - especially those of socialistic leaning - was a virtual saint who only cared about his people until an evil America corrupted him or replaced him with a more-pliant stooge.
Sorry, but power has always attracted the people who love power and would enrich themselves given a chance. America didn't invent it. In fact, one of the reasons for our world economic leadership is that we've managed to reduce our own corruption to levels lower than ever seen in human history. I only wish that we could better export this precious commodity. We don't. That, I think, is the true tragedy of globalization.
EVERY U.S. CITIZEN SHOULD READ THIS BOOK
FOUR AND A HALF STARS. Okay, this book is not perfect. Perkins is not a professional writer, and his repetitive assessment of the immorality of his past professional work gets pretty mundane. Then again, he did entitle the book "Confessions." And the value of this book is quite significant. I am a U.S. citizen, and if you are also then you should be aware that our nation is basically enslaving the rest of the world through economic trickery. Perkins explains that, and explains it well. At the governmental level it is mentioned quite openly: Economic Hit Men are referred to as EHMs, and our government trains them to advance the domination of the United States over other nations. There was the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire, Hitler had his shot, the Soviets had theirs, and now we are carrying the torch. Perkins concludes our style and our empire are the most powerful in history, and it would be difficult to argue with him. READ THIS BOOK, PEOPLE! READ IT!
Informative book from an insider's perspective, highly recommended
This book illustrates many processes of economic and political globalization. Written from an insider's perspective, reader's learn a lot about what goes on behind closed doors in the corporate and political world. It is well written and easy to get through, very interesting.
A MUST read
Please read this book. It lends more understanding to the way things work at the highest levels. How the big corporations interact with the government.
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