BOOK CLUB April: "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man"

by John Perkins


I'm looking forward to this book, especially after last months dreary read! I know many of you have already read it or started it, so kick off this thread & tell us your thoughts.

Now I need to go get the book. :) I'm so glad ya'll are saying it's more interesting. Oh, and NOMINATED for more exposure!

And I gave it another nomination for the Greatest Page.

11:00 John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

John Perkins talks about some of the assignments he was given while working as an "economic hit man" for the U.S. government. Mr. Perkins says that since the 1950s the U.S. government has used a form of international loan-sharking to gain leverage over poor countries that it deems to be strategically important. He says that his role was to get countries to take on loans, via the World Bank and other institutions, in order to finance large engineering projects that are sold on false pretenses and ultimately end up bankrupting those countries. The talk was held at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida. Includes Q&A.

Author Bio: John Perkins is the founder of Dream Change Coalition (www.dreamchange.org ), an organization that promotes sustainable living. He is the author of several books, including "The World Is As You Dream It: Shamanic Teachings from the Amazon and Andes" and "Shapeshifting: Shamanic Techniques for Global and Personal Transformation."

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BOOK TV Schedule April 2-4
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should be part of every 8th grade civics class in this country.
i don't know if you can still get smedley butler's "war is a racket", and confess i have never read it. but from what i know about it, they would make perfect book-ends to the TRUE history of the 20th century.

edited to add that "war is a racket" is still available in paperback, and a few old copies of the hardback are around. one less now, cuz i hate paperbacks.

War is a Racket (Smedley Darlington Butler)

War is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes ...

More about General Butler in a book just finished; he had the major role in thwarting a plan to take over the WH - "The Plot to Seize the White House" by Jules Archer, 1971. OOP but on shelf in major libraries, also available used online (can be $$.) This was a plan to marginalize FDR for health reasons in '34-35 and install a sort of uber-manager to run things, the way Wall Street and several super-rich families and major corporations wanted.
There was a Senate hearing, but the investigation languished, very likely due to pressure from the instigators. A famliar ring?
This story resonates strongly today, especially in the bias of the press (newspapers, the prime media in those days, were 80% against FDR.)
What's interesting is the types who supported the rising fascist states - Germany, Italy, Spain. The book provides a compact overview of many facets of US politics in the 1930's, an era before we became deeply involved on a world-wide basis due to WWII.
The film "Seven Days in May" was undoubtedly inspired by the
conspiracy to take over our executive branch. What's happening now to our "former democracy" is so similar to "their" plan, that a similar hero/whistleblower is needed today. With an individual
unlikely to fulfill that role, I believe the responsibility will fall to a
huge, I mean HUGE, groundswell of grassroots citizen-patriots who will somehow take back this country. Get your marching shoes ready...

I got interested a while back on my union BBS, in that planned coup. One really STUPID response was "I feel that general was naive". "Naive" or not, the issue was his integrity ... ie: whether he was reporting what he saw and heard honestly. The answer was quite obvious. I started doing internet searches on that subject, and am still at it. I suggest everyone do likewise.

Here's another and more recent book about Smedley Butler: "Maverick Marine: General Smedley D. Butler and the Contradictions of American Military History". I have that one on my Amazon wish list also.

pnorman

So, for people dropping by who may not have been here before: you don't have to have read the book just yet. We'll be reading it all this month! I haven't even bought it yet, but I'm hoping to go get it today. And the Book Club guidelines are here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=209&topic_id=1152#1527

After hearing Perkins interviewed on Democracy Now. It's eye-opening, and a very good read. If you have DVR or VCR, you'll want to record the BookTV event. I still show it to a lot of people.

Great story and a simple read

I'm on the last chapter. It opened my eyes to the way global "business" is done and how big business and government collude to turn the odds against the third world countries and the US in the long run. It made me understand what the "real" reason for invading Iraq was and the reason we turn against so many leaders of smaller countries (Panama, Ecuador, Venezuela) when they aren't doing anything wrong except standing up to Big Oil. It is written by a former insider, which makes it unique. Everyone should read this.

He discusses that book in both of them. Not only are the scripts on that webpage (http://www.democracynow.org/search.pl?query=john+perkins) but the MP3 files are also available. I already have that book on my Amazon wish list.

pnorman

I even got through several chapters at the beach. It makes you feel scared how few people in this world control so much.

This should be required reading for every citizen in every country who has ever even heard of the United States.

...that the appointment of an individual like Paul Wolfowitz to head the World Bank should not only not be considered a surprise, it should be seen as the "par for the course" choice. Wolfowitz and the World Bank fit like together like gloves. They both exist to victimize and enslave Third World nations, while simultaneously speaking virtuously of compassion with no shame whatsoever. If people thought the idea of Bono as a candidate to take over the World Bank was a longshot, before, they need to read "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" to know just how profoudly impossible any such selection really would have been.

This book is a compelling read, but also quite depressing. It basically shows present-day America to be, all in all when everything is considered, a blight upon the world. When did America start doing more harm in the world than good? Perkins begins his analysis with Kermit Roosevelt's role in the US removal of Mosadeq in Iran and its installation of the Shah. This removal of a democratically elected leader and his replacement with a dictator--hated and not chosen by his own people but maintained in power by America for the dictator's compliance with US interests--became the model for the US's subsequent relationships with other nations of the Third/Developing World. Perkins was in a priviliged position in Omar Torrijos's Panama to see what can happen to those leaders who put the interests of their own people ahead of those of US elites. He had such a position in Equador, as well.

What can the American people themselves do to stop the things Perkins recounts from happening in the future? The first step is to search out, listen to, and learn the truth, rather than simply continuing to ignore those things one finds too unpleasant to contemplate and to parrot those fictions that the elite media want citizens to dull their wits with. After that...?

"what do to" with this information. So far the only things I'm doing are pretty modest:

1. Trying to spread the word - recommending this book and our Pacifica radio station to everyone; telling people a little bit of what's really going on. On that front, I appreciate that JP's book is a rolicking good read -- sometimes I read something I want people to KNOW about but am hestitant to recommend a book to people who don't read a lot, if I'm afraid they might find it "boring" or inaccessible. This book? Definitely not boring! TELL people that the Corporate Media is lying to them; give examples. Amy Goodman's book is good prep for this, but a little more uneven a read IMO. I'd lend out JP's book to a skeptic first, before Amy Goodman's book, as much as I love her and Democracy Now!

2. Being a more thoughtful consumer: trying to buy less and think about who I'm buying from (see Economic Activism and Progressive Living Forum here on DU), what sorts of world their policies create.

In the preface, JP alludes to the fact that one nation, the United States, is strong enough right now to put an end to the corporatocracy -- IF the people really knew what was going on, IF the institutions of a democracy were truly working here instead of being eroded as they are. This makes me think he belives, or wants to believe, that our democratic systems can work, that We The People can take the country back, as it were, and curb our own out-of-control empire from within. He either believes it, or knows that enough of us believe it for his book to sell. I can't think of a time this has ever happened in the history of Empire, but can we envision it? Can we make new history? Can we even imagine this scale of change happening in our lifetimes?

Have put myself on a cash budget and am trying to curtail spending. For this month, the toughest choice came down to either this book or entry fees for a second triathlon (which seems kind of obscene when you look at it: both are total luxuries), and the triathlon was gonna win... and then my HOUSE GUEST left me a Thank You Note with a 25 Dollar Gift Card to Barnes & Noble! :bounce:

So I will start posting re the book soon. :7

it's gripping - hard to put down.

JP is an interesting author. On page 1 of the preface (and elsewhere in his biographical material etc.) he outright admits that for nearly 20 years he took bribes in exchange for his silence, since 1982. During the whole time he works as an EHM, he perhaps a bit self-servingly describes himself as internally conflicted, a part of "both sides," -- yet he did what he did, and effectively, for over a decade. In a way I can't stand the guy... but then in a deeper way (and he seems to know this) I AM the guy. Any of us who are part of the professional class who kind of keep this whole thing floating are implicated, even if we don't do what JP did. We're bought with debt or numbed with bribes. In my case: student loand + nice house (bought, of course, with a generous mortgage) = peonage. Isn't it all the same dynamic on a smaller scale? Of course I'm conflicted. Of course I live on both sides. I can say, "well, what I do for a living isn't destructive like what he did," but I'm aware who makes money off the projects I'm involved with, and it's always the same story on albeit on a smaller scale: people with money make more money, people with no money get to eke by.

"Is anyone in the U.S. innocent?" and concludes "Does the excuse that most Americans are unaware of this constitute innocence? Uninformed and intentionally misinformed, yes - but innocent?"

Belief not just in our innocence, but in our positive virtue is so deep and taught so early that if I try to argue against it I am often made to feel like a flat earther or a vile and foolish heretic. Even Perkins later writes:

"... the distinction between the old American republic and the new global empire. The republic offered hope to the world. Its foundation was moral and philosophical rather than materialistic. It was based on the concepts of equality and justice for all ..." p. 127

So America was once innocent, back when half of it owned slaves and the other have engaged in slave trading and exporting of slave produced cotton and tobacco.

I am not sure if I feel that guilt since I gave up my rather lucrative job with DOD a long time ago, and have been struggling and agitating ever since, but I still live a quite privileged life.

husbands hands! Very surprising, cuz it's not at all the type of book he generally reads. He gives it 5 stars.

So I started it last night & am through Chapter 1. Having read just this little bit, I say, this should be required reading for ALL Americans so they can see exactly what our government has been doing in our name. Maybe a few people would even connect the dots & realize this is why so many people around the world hate our country, even while we strut around believing we are the greatest nation on the planet.

I would love to call in sick today & sit with my nose in this book!

It's about the best non-baseball related non-fiction book that I've read in the last year, and it was a bit slow out of the gate, despite the necessary information contained within.

Keep spreading the news. This is one "conspiracy" that's been blown open, and it's time for every US citizen to acknowledge its reality.

what evil things MAIN had planned for it :cry: i am about halfway through the read and will check back in when i have finished...it is a must read for everyone!


i hate corparate America,the World Bank and the IMF

I really want to like this book, but so far I do not. The preface says: "This book was written so that we may take heed and remold our story. I am certain that when enough of us become aware of how we are being exploited by the economic engine that creates and insatiable appetite for the world's resources, and results in systems that foster slavery, we will no longer tolerate it...We will commit ourselves to navigating a course toward compassion, democracy, and social justice for all."

I have to say "amen" to that, but that is a big task for any book, and I am not seeing this book up to the task. For one thing, he is attempting too much. I think that I would like to see more details and facts. I would prefer to read an entire book just on Indonesia. Show me the numbers on economic growth and how the poor have fared. Show me how US corporations have exacerbated things rather than helped.

Instead of facts and analysis, we seem to get tales of his youthful angst, and brief simplistic histories of events which he did not take part in. This Economic Hit Man (EHM) is supposed to give us inside dope, not compressed histories of Iran and Panama. Instead we seem to get socialist viewpoints coming from Indonesian students who also predict the fall of the USSR in the 1970s and the coming Islam vs. America struggle. It seems a little bit disingenuous to write about your prophecies after the facts.

Do not get me wrong. I fully agree with the socialist (or "help the poor") attitudes being expressed, but I do not think there are enough facts and details to convince a skeptic. The dream of Jesus may be a powerful symbol, but where is the tie in? Does he show how ordinary Americans benefit from this corporate behaviour?

Finally, does he show how we can do anything about it? The things he is writing about were happening through many administrations and Congresses from Eisenhauer through today. Although Bush and Congressional Republicans seem to be cranking it up a notch or two, returning those offices to Democrats ala 1977-1981 or 1993-95 or longer for Congressional control, does not seem to make too much difference.

Anyway, I am cynical about whether the majority of Americans can be pulled away from their remotes or steering wheels long enough to care about the plight of third world masses. As the protagonist of Daniel Quinn's "After Dachau" comes to see: "No one cares". After all, saving the world from fascism and communism means never having to say you're sorry.

But that's the reality, if you want to get people to read. The goal is to give a general overview of what is happening, of what has happened, and he does offer enough specifics that readers who desire to go further can go further in research.

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I don't get this line at all: "Show me how US corporations have exacerbated things rather than helped."

Where does the author do the opposite in this book?

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Your third and fourth paragraphs seem to offer selective criticism. Yeah, he mingles anecdotes in with the stories about the doings of Economic Hitmen. He's a story teller. However, the doings about Economic Hitmen have not been offered by an insider to the general public before. Further, he's sharing his experiences, not making prophecies. So I truly don't understand your criticism.

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As for your ending critiques, you're on page 75. One would think that you'd realize that you might have to read the entire book before assuming that one could make the critique that the author "offers no solutions." And, yeah, we all know that much of the US population is stuck in front of the tube. Does that mean everyone else should just give in?

It is 1971, he is in Indonesia. A beautiful English major says: "the US - is determined to take control of all the world, to become the greatest empire in history. It has already gotten very close to succeeding. The Soviet Union currently stands in its way, but the Soviets will not endure. Toynbee could see that. They have no religion, no faith, no substance behind their ideology. History demonstrates that faith - soul, a belief in higher powers - is essential. We Muslims have it. We have it more than anyone else in the world, even more than the Christians. So we wait. We grow strong.'
'We will take our time,' one of the men chimed in, 'and then like a snake we will strike.'"

How about that, they predicted the fall of the USSR and 911 back in 1971. Or so he says now that those events have happened. What does that do except paint him as the confidante of prophets or savants who understand how the world works? The story tells nothing about the doings of an economic hitman, just a bunch of college students bs-ing in a bar.

I am not sure why I should have to go further in research. He said that he studied Indonesia in depth and yet he shares little of what he learned. Supposedly Indonesia took on some debt and used it to build infrastructure with American contractors. Give me some more detail on before and after and how that affected the Indonesian masses. Instead he bops over to Panama where he has a private tete a tete with the President who was presumably assasinated later and replaced with whatshisname that Bush arrested (Noriega I remember now), but we do not learn what happened because he jumps to talking about McNamara and the Saudis, where he does not seem to have squat for "inside information" but he offers a simple polemical summary.

I just think he would do more justice to his story if he stuck with what he knows because he was there. Instead on page 81 he talks about Saudi Arabian history, on page 78 he talks about the Depression and the New Deal, chapter 12 is a story about Prostitutes and soldiers (okay he was there for that one, but the incident seems more like an aberration than SOP), on page 61 he talks about the Monroe doctrine, 58-59 he writes about the history of Panama, etc.

Overview is fine, and essential, but there seems to be more overview than inside dope. I remain, sadly, unimpressed.

Further, it's quite clear that you judged this book before you'd read most of it.

... but in the end, JP does not claim in this book to be either exhaustive or even very perscriptive, just "confessional."

Which is frustrating, I agree. As a reader, you're dealing more with this guy's angst (and ego, let's admit it) than you need, and less with the facts, numbers, details etc. that our brains want to fill out the stories.

HOWEVER, it's still an important book. It's a book that shows that more books need to be written, more discussions need to be had.

I finished it last night. In the last chapter, he harkens back to the revolotunaries who started this country by throwing off another Empire, and says that their power lay in their words and ideas. I still will urge people to read this book, and hope that it is just a step in a path to an increased consciousness of the world and our place in it. Maybe, must maybe, we will hit some "tipping point" where we will all wake up and stop the madness.

He says that the thing to do is to write. He says every progressive transition in the US -- the American revolution, end of slavery, and the acceptance of FDR's programs -- took place because enough people wrote what the believed and swayed a critical mass of people to the left.

What Perkins writes in the last chapter should be inspiration to every DU'er to keep engaging people on the internet and to keep writing.

will give copy to my daughter too.

lent it to someone from argentina...he said they knew this all along. one thing about this book that was a real eye opener: it's Americans who are in the dark about many things!

i look forward to hearing others' reactions to this book.

I remember hearing Arundati Roy (who lectures frequently against the American Empire) say that it is the citizens of an empire who are the last to know what it is doing.

my Argentinian friends ( now U.S. citizens ) sent me a review by Roger Ebert of a documentary called "The Take" ----- " A Canadian documentary by Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein, shot in Argentina, where a prosperous middle-class economy was destroyed during 10 years of IMF policies as enforced by President Carlos Menem ( 1989-1000)".

It is A First Fun Pictures release and for Los Angelenos opens today at the Laemmle's Music Hall, Beverly Hills.

Ebert laments 'corporate greed' in his review and gives this film three stars.

I'm ashamed to have been so ignorant all these years.

edited : don't know if still at Laemmle

The video of Van Halen's song, Right Now, was an eclectic collection of clips. My fave clip: Two stick figures. One stick figure rushes the other stick figure & shoves the other stick figure in the chest so hard, the other stick figure falls to the ground. The VanHalen text: Right Now your country is doing what you think only other countries do.

What is it going to take to wake up the sheeple? How cold & hungry do they have to be?


Totally off topic, my second fave clip: music cuts away to EVH's solo. VanHalen text: Right Now Ed's got his hands full.

I liked this not so much for how he reveals anything, most of what he wrote I had already encountered in other works by other authors.

I may not have known it was Kermit Roosevelt who engineered the overthrow of Massadegh in Iran, but I did know the US precipitated the event. As just one example.

What is important about the book is that he lays out the systemic push for empire cleanly and clearly all in one easy to read and understand narrative.

I've spent many years trying to piece together why there is such a disconnect between what I was told as a child about the US being a free land, home of the brave etc. and the reality I have long seen that is a not-so-free nation, sorely lacking in justice and equality of opportunity.

The book serves as a good primer for opening ones eyes; if you are interested in the things he touches on, but frustrated by his lack of detail, think of this book as a starting point and guide for self-teaching.

... friend from elem. school who has served twice in VN, didn't vote in last election, voted Repub because of Clinton scandal ( i gave earful on that subject too ). anyway, mentioned Perkins' book and gave him a short summary of it.... he gave audible gasp. so hopefully he will read this book to balance his Michael Savage reading matter.

I worry that most Americans, even progressives, do not fathom how corrupt & evil those in power are, both our elected officials & the corporate elite. They prefer their ignorance of just how vile 'the greatest nation on Earth' has conducted itself, because once you acknowledge the truth, you then have to deal with it on a personal level. You either maintain your current behavior & perpetuate the behemoth, or you modify your behavior & try to make change.

We must each come to terms with our personal complicity in the national behavior. Our very lifestyle is based on the abuse & oppression of millions of people. While I blithely go to the gas station, fill up, then drive 8 miles to a store to purchase a water filter, half a world away there are women who spend 4 hours a day collecting the household water. And along the route there sections where the risk of rape is very great.* Later, when I replace my filter, I notice that about a pint of water escapes down the drain in the process. I think of those women & the value that 16 ounces of water has to them & I cringe. And therein is part of the problem. The discord between the two existences is so vast.

on edit: * I read this in a WorldWatch magazine some time ago. Don't know which issue, though.

- have been wanting to get it in "circulation" - :bounce:

to my roommate's brother, who was VERY interested. They're Salvadorean. He said he'd be interested in a Spanish language version to share with friends. Checked JP's website, and the Spanish version is due for release in October. German is already available.

I loved the introduction and the premise, bas icily I thought the rest of the book was not worth the effort. Once Mr Perkins got through what he did and what it's affect were on the third worked nations he helped weaken, cow, impoverish? What ever word works. I thought why he did what he did of little consequence. It was slightly interesting as biography, I'm as voyeuristic as anyone else, but there was little substance from an economic point of view past the first chapter.

What do you think?

with each chapter I realized how pervasive our meddling in world affairs is. Also, it is the same old story over & over again with each place we 'invade': promise the moon, deliver crap. And much as I loathe our own corporate/government role in the deception, the leaders of the countries we go to, with very few exceptions, don't have any more concern for the indigenous people of these areas than the US interests do. Everyone is motivated by greed, including the author.

I do think his message is a good one, albiet one that most Americans don't want to hear, & that is, our government does things that we think only other governments do.

most of the economic meddling we have, and still do in other counties. I didn't feel it was not worthwhile at all, I just think it would have been much better with more detail.

However, the reports had not been put on display by someone who actually participated in the meddling. This is something that has allowed this book to get a bigger reading than many of those that revealed such information in the past. It would have been smart for the author to add an annotated bibliography to send readers toward more detail. However, the book served its purpose as a general, eye-witness by participation account that has been read by folks who previously took no note of these shenanigans. IMHO, that's huge.

He had me from the first page. I got to the part where the woman told him that the great clash of civilizations was coming;here I am practising democracy by showing up and voting at Town Meeting, trying to be a good citizen, but what is being done in my name around the world?

By ignoring or not being fully informed about foreign policy we are complicit in what what goes on. People need reminding that this is our gov't but we have abdicated responsibilty and given power to people and corporations that really do not serve the greater good of this nation.

I am not the slightest bit surprised that the rest of the world hates us

Well, a "beautiful blonde" "untraceable" has told him his job
(since he was recruited by the NSA) was to guarantee this
objective of putting 3rd world nations beholden to the US
through the World Bank, IMF and loans.

Hmmm...

I'm sorry, while I believe what he writes about is true,
I want the "inside scoop" and to me, I just get an overall gut
feeling that I'm reading a book by a global political activist, outside the convert system,
out to try to stop multinationals and their exploitative systems
and tools.

While this is a worthwhile goal, I just don't have enough evidence
in this book as well as some of the stories just seem too far fetched..
for example, the intro on how he was recruited to be an EHM just
seems truly not real.

I could see the CIA doing such a thing, not the NSA, but I would
see it much more as a political mantra on "how the world works,
stopping communism and so forth" than presented in the manner "the blonde" presented it with.

I'd much rather have a book with strong details, names, analysis,
statistics to back up such a claim...
to me the whole credibility is questionable.

Shoot me now but that's what I'm getting reading the book, although
once again, the major points I believe are both true and worthwhile.

by known facts on the ground. The book sounds both interesting (good) and sensational (potentially bad). I haven't seen any doscussion anywhere of how accurate or inaccurate his accounts are. Anyone have any idea?

he is not telling us very much that we cannot get from other sources. Except that he is putting himself in the story - like he is the Forrest Gump of American foreign policy.
He does finally give some statistics about Ecuador, but there is no causality to show that they are the result of American policies or businesses or if the businesses or policies were just unable to prevent economic calamities caused by other things, such as population growth or the cupidity of military juntas.
I really would like a much more focussed presentation.

i read this book about 6 months ago ... if i were to nit-pick, i really didn't like some of the personalized elements that focussed on women Perkins was dating, his marriage, etc ... it added a little of the feel that he was setting things up for "soon to be a major motion picture" ... the personalized touch cheapened the book just a little ...

but "SO WHAT" ... the inside look, and i thought it highly credible, at the process of empire-building and the implementing of foreign policy solely for corporate gain is critically important information for Americans to have ...

consider what's happening today in Iraq in the context of corporate manipulation of the US government's foreign policy ...

i've been referring to it in my GD posts as the "3 pegs" ... imagine the US government refusing to spend money that was allocated to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure ... the popular excuse given is that those pesky insurgents blow-up everything the US tries to rebuild ... the argument is that we are UNABLE to rebuild Iraq ... it's bullshit; it's just a justification for continued occupation until bush is able to gain greater control or the country ... the truth is that bush is UNWILLING to rebuild Iraq ...

here's how it works ... make food, water, utilities, gasoline in critically short supply ... bankrupt the country by not letting any rebuilding projects (jobs) or revenue-generating oil production go on ... there are no jobs; there is no national revenue ... and here's where the pegs come into play ... install Chalabi, the ultimate US puppet, at the Oil Ministry ... he's peg number one ... peg two: put Wolfowitz in charge of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ... but something went wrong with peg three ...

the plan had been to install Alawi, another US puppet, as Prime Minister ... but Sistani did not go along and Jafaari became the Prime Minister ... Jafaari "leans towards Iran" and he's totally unacceptable to bush and the neo-cons ... peg three will not yield to the "economic hit men" ...

so, what's happening now??? Iraq is being bankrupted and its people are being made to suffer ... Iraq is being destroyed by the US military ... the hope is that, when things get bad enough and Jafaari has no alternatives, he'll be forced to request massive loans from the IMF ... and, voila !! no problem ... as long as potential oil revenues can be documented, Iraq will get their loans to start rebuilding ... and who will be ever so helpful to help them turn on the oil spigots again??? the good old US of A and its ever so benevolent oil corporations ... of course, the IMF loan money will go directly to Halliburton and Bechtel ... sound familiar?? and the "spigots" will not be turned on (fictitious security concerns) until Iraq defaults on the loans ... and when Iraq can't repay the loans, additional pressures will be put on Iraq to allow more US control of the country ...

Jafaari, the third peg, will be forced to step down or he'll be assassinated by one of those pesky insurgents (acting on orders from the US) ...

so, Iraq is nothing new ... it's the same old game documented very nicely in "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" ... for those who think bush and the neo-cons are failing in Iraq because they've been unable to stabilize the "new democracy", think again ... if you believe the US is in Iraq for anything other than its own greedy, corporate interests, you're missing the point ... what's happening in Iraq, i.e. a never-ending insurgency, is exactly what bush wants until greater control can be achieved ... what's most disturbing about Iraq is the role so many leading Democrats have played ... either they are naive and really accept the "we're Americans; we're the good guys" or they are complicit in the building of the evil empire ... either way, those who see the US role in Iraq as empire-building are sorely lacking for good representation of their views and values ...

... and nothing in it regarding the corporatocracy, nor the actions of our government surprises me.

Disgusts me, but doesn't shock me.

However, I'm somewhat annoyed by the author's self-satisfied tone and his constant justification for his own actions at C.T. Main. Even though he professes that he was morally conflicted about being an EHM, the lure of the power and the money apparently were stronger than his convictions.

go to the bank! That half of the voting public cannot see this same hypocricy with the current administration simply stuns me. What I thought was equally sad was how corrupt the governments of so many of the developing nations are. And if the leaders are not, they are murdered. I believe greed may be the worst of the seven deadly sins. It certainly is rampant.

After reading this book you no longer wonder why the developing world hates America.

a review from the perspective of a person from the "Thirld World".

http://phanja.blogspot.com/2005/06/review-confessions-of-economic-hit-man.html

:hi:

You say:


I'll re-write your above statement from my perspective:

The guy made me so angry, so disgusted with his completely selfish and worthless personality, I almost hadn't enough energy left to be infuriated with global economics and exploitation of the disadvantaged throughout the world with the means of money and politics. Almost. Then I realized what this guy was talking about IS THAT THE FOUNDATION OF A HUGE PART OF MY DAILY LIFE IS BUILT ON THIS BEHEMOTH ABHORRENT POLICY.

...and it seems so much bigger than me, I feel overwhelmed. Read my post above about the water.

>>>>>>>



I couldn’t finish the book for many of the same reasons. His hypocrisy is almost as hard to swallow as the current administrations. I agree that the greed of the mega-corps is beyond imaginable, but I believe his account of the corruption of local governments is truthful. And especially that the ones who won’t play the game are ‘suicided.’ Sigh. It seems to be human nature that anyone attracted to any occupation that has any form of control over other segments of the population tend to abuse that power.

>>>>>>>



I don’t know. Maybe someone else has a suggestion?

We all get affected by it, though some of us more than the others.

Finish the book, if I may say so to you. The last part is not really worthwhile, it kind of made me giggle that after all he has seen, what he suggest us to do is... don't buy, write blogs. Well, you might have done something that would have more effect, like telling exactly the what/who/how; but you dare to suggest a course of action to others?

Okay, apparently I am still not done with being angry.

great write-up, Phanja !!!

i'm confident that Perkins either didn't have or wasn't willing to provide real details to support his accusations ... on the other hand, i know enough and have read enough to know that the essential allegations he makes are absolutely true ...

it's unfortunate that Perkins seemed to be hoping his book would be made into a Hollywood thriller (e.g. as you suggested, James Bond) ... i almost think that was his primary motivation ...

perhaps making the book more accessible to those who would never read a dry expose of the realities may, in the end, give the essential ideas a wider audience ... on the other hand, i agree that it detracted from his credibility for those seeking hard for the truth ...

i am currently reading an absolutely incredible book by Chalmers Johnson ... it's called "The Sorrows of Empire ... Militarism, Secrecy and the End of the Republic" ... this book does not have the same kind of first person narration that "Confessions" has ... it is dry, hard-hitting and insightful ... i highly recommend it ...

also on my reading list are:

Iraq, Inc.
Welcome to Terrorland
Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts From the Heart of America by Garrison Keillor (interesting article by Keillor: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0831-02.htm)

Both for the compliment and the suggestions. You might be right that writing the story in this way might have made it more accessible, but the credibility of it also suffers. And I really can't imagine that that was the author's main concern. Might be that I am being too harsh to him because of emotional reactions.

I will check out those books, thanks a lot for the suggestion. I am ready to read quantum mechanics if that would give me some real information and insight into all this. This book made me realize we knew all this all along, but we somehow don't get involved into the reality of it.

I read EHM about a year ago and tired to get him to come to our work place for an interview. He wasn't able to, but I did enjoy the book. However, you point out he seems to have written it so it will be made into a movie. I've noticed that seems to be the main thought with many American authors and their novels they beat out in a couple of months and face it, it's mostly TRASHY (same old story line, especially with mysteries, bad grammer, bad editing; a pet peeve of mine, and not worth the paper it's printed on.

Thank you for writing it, and for posting the link.

I shared your view of Perkins, more or less -- see my post #17 above. I agree that JP is self-serving and morally questionable, and also felt for the same reasons you did that people, particularly Americans in the "keeping-the-wheels-moving" class like me (attorney), need to read the book anyway. I could see how from Turkey's persective, or any other debt-ridden, poorer nation's persective, the book would elicit a more visceral disgust.

Thanks for sharing your review.

I read the book in 1 day, and i found it a partial apology, like sorta
sorta a confession without the punchline.

So is the solution to quit working in any real job, and get to vegetable
growing in our back gardens? Insomuch as the book is to raise awareness
of the systemic crimes of our society, i'm not quite clear on what
the EHM is suggesting... and i'm not so sure he's all the clear either.

I recomment Chalmer's johnson's sorrows of empire as a followon work.
It digs more in to the intellecual substrate of things that EHM
reports.

I have added "Sorrows of Empire" to my list of things to read. It may be a while, but i'll report here when i get to it.

-Sky in Houston

Chalmers Johnson, The Sorrows of Empire. Great book (but read it with all the house lights on, you'll see what I mean).

About 9 months ago, on CSPAN2 Book Club, CJ was saying something along the lines of "get out now, while you still can; buy that condo in Vancouver or villa in Costa Rica; apply for dual citizenship" -- because once the gates close we become unfree serfs to a pervasive military-industrial machine, some of us breeders of cannon fodder, some of us useless eaters left to die a slow death, while a thin sliver of well-off managers and magistrates serving the owning class enjoy their few crumbs.

Scary stuff. Around the same time I picked up Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival, equally chilling. I recommend this, too.


For any of you that have read Confessions of an Economic Hitman and also either Chalmers' or Chomsky's book (for that matter any book by Chomsky), should I pick up the former? I tend to go for insightful and annotated analyses, not the easy to read expose. Thoughts?

It's interesting to read DU's reaction to it -- all the same questions I had, as well as enthusiasm for the book overall.

Many DUers already know the reality outlined in this book, and probably have a deeper understanding than anyone will get from this one source.

But I think it is a great book for people who are just beginning to get the picture, or to understand how a lot of different things fit together. It's a book that might reach people who don't ordinarily think about these things.

There's something about the focus on a single career that seems to make the picture very clear. Both the picture of what our corporate-government-military system is doing to the world, and the picture of the personal responsibility of those who work for it.

I have read and heard numerous explanations, sermons, and rants about the evils of the world bank, etc., but nothing made it as crystal clear and simple as this book. There's nothing abstract about it.

I join with posters above in feeling ambivalent about the author's egotism and a sort of self-congratulation that goes along with the "confession," but I think it is out-weighed by the vividness. We need that vividness to get the message out. Also, it is just that sort of personality which is likely to get ahead in the world that he describes, so it actually adds to the sense of reality in the book.

his life and more about his work. But I think it's a must read for everyone.

CEHM changed the way I view U.S. foreign policy. Oddly I already knew many of the individual elements of history Perkins writes about, but Perkins puts it all together so clearly, and so devastatingly simply. This is a very important book that every American should read. Much of the rest of the world already knows how corrupt U.S. foreign policy is-- Americans need to know, too.

But do they want to know?

I don't think Americans want to know the truth about our government. That would make them complicit & it would tarnish the shining image they have of our country. They don't want to know that our country is as guilty of heinous crimes as many of the countries we admonish. They would have to face the truth that our 'moral superiority' is a lie & that the greatness of America was built on the exploitation of those less fortunate. Certainly the greatest nation on earth wouldn't do that!

I gave a copy of this book to my right-wing mother for xmas. According to my sister she has already tossed it in the trash. :eyes: I'm not completely surprised, but I had hoped that maybe she was ready to pull her head out of the dark place it has resided for 15 years. :banghead:

~~heavy sigh

People don't want to know that America's not considered the good guy anymore. They prefer to live with the post-WW2 images of American troops liberating Paris, etc.

Read Noam Chomsky's Deterring Democracy or Killing Hope by William Blum.

:thumbsup:

Great book but he didn't go far enough into detail.

Although he could've been fearing retribution, so that I understand.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
John Perkins
direct video link - http://www.booktv.org/ram/publiclives/0106/btv011506_2b.ram

From 1971 to 1981 John Perkins worked as a chief economist for Chas. T. Main, a Massachusetts-based international strategic consulting firm. During this time Mr. Perkins said his job was to trick developing countries into taking enormous loans from the World Bank in order to construct or repair their domestic infrastructure. These loans were given with the understanding that these countries would then use those loans to pay U.S. corporations to complete these constructing and engineering projects. The author writes that when these developing countries were eventually unable to pay off these sizable debts, the United States, World Bank, or IMF would step in and control the country's security arrangements and budgetary structure.

John Perkins is the author of six books including "The World Is As You Dream It" and "Psychonavigation." He is the founder of the non-profit organization Dream Change, a grass roots movement intent on raising consciousness and creating sustainable lifestyles throughout the world.

Publisher: PLUME 375 Hudson Street New York, NY 10014

This is a great book. I was always wondering the reason Latin America, with all its richness is so

poor and now I know why. I now understand why Chavez is hated by Neoconservatives and in my own ignorance

I had my share of mistrust for him. Maybe cause of the mass media portrayal of Chavez when in fact he

fights for the good of the people and not one party like * does. Although the book lacks historical

details, you get to understand why things work the way they are right now. You learn why everyone in the

world hates us.

They have very different opinions of America's century of imperialism.

Read the book;I was especially displeased at how the economists were used to hype building infrastructure to induce countries to take on debts they could only default on.
I am now reading how studies in the social sciences, especially psychology, have jelled into being used for torture. Specifically how the soviet science of the KGB has been refined by contracts to academics in the West.McCoy's book A Question of Torture 2006.

But I found the writing a bit tiresome, repetitive and a little boring at times....

But he does pull together a lot of stuff most people here on DU all ready knew or were suspicious about...

I would recommend this book to people on the fringe of politics but I would recommend other books for people more immersed...