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A Game as Old as Empire: The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption

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John Perkins' ground breaking expose' of the economic machinations and collusion of multinational corporations, high levels of government and the international banking institutions and their brutal exploitation of third world countries in his popular text Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, sent a ripple of concern through this highly corrupt elite community, however mainstream publishing and media chose to ignore these disturbing confessions, wanting proof other than Perkins text. As Perkins states in his introduction in this sobering and informative text, A Game as Old as Empire,

"Eventually a courageous independent publisher, Berrett-Koehler, took the book on. Confessions success among the public astounded me. During its first week in bookstores it went to number 4 on Amazon.com." (P.2)

Despite being on the New York Times best seller list for 25 weeks, The Times refused to review it. (Much later the book was featured in the Times Sunday Supplement) The fact that the book implicates the highest echelons of government and corporations, including the IMF, WTO, World Bank, U.S.A., Britain and the "G8" countries deeply involved in money laundering, tax evasion and environmental disasters that turns one's stomach, never mentioned in the main stream media, reveals the appalling extent of this corruption.

A Game as Old as Empire is a collection of essays by investigative journalists, EMH's, academics, practicing lawyers, scientists and writers exposing the extent of corruption in the exploitation of developing countries; for example lending billions of dollars, raising debt, knowing full well that particular regimes were pocketing the cash, opening off shore accounts, while the regime's country falls further into abject poverty, then to lend more money, raising debt further...

These essays are terribly disturbing as the greed, destruction and waste is so vast, crippling small countries, causing poverty to become more entrenched to fill the pockets of a Global elitist few and their cronies.

One would logically assume that because of the billions of dollars poured into some third world countries for their development, one would see the benefits of such huge investments. In actual fact, there has been no benefit, because in most cases, the poverty has worsened. Why? Money is loaned to known corrupt regimes that pocket the money and make the money clean through tax loopholes and off shore accounts.

Other reasons are presented such as the trade agreements of the World Trade Organization which makes it impossible for developing countries with debt to produce and export because developed countries, per the WTO agreements, import products into the local market underpricing them, thus making it impossible for the developing country to rise out of debt, let alone make a living.

In this review I've chosen not to write specific examples of this high level corruption as this format, does not allow the space. However, in order to understand the extent that these so-called elites go to... including genocide, crimes against humanity and all out war and occupation in order to ensure access to resources such as oil and other natural resources, read this text because it will make you wonder how and why it has gone on for so long.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man started the ball rolling in terms of more awareness of the waste and destruction that neo-liberalism and globalization has wrought on developing countries; A Game as Old as Empire is the confirmation and the quintessential wake up call to actually do something about it.

In the last chapter, Global Uprising: The Web of Resistance, Antonia Juhasz writes a compelling piece for all concerned individuals around the globe to do something about this entrenched elitist corruption. The bibliography is extensive and worthy, including a list of important web sites to enhance your knowledge.

Even if you haven't read "Confessions", A Game as Old as Empire will inform, disturb, shock and hopefully stir some of us into action before these elitist corporations, banks and exclusive, corrupt governments go too far...

Well, I certainly can't add more to the details of the book than what C. Middleton said, but I would like to say a few words comparing this to the first book, since in many ways it is the successor to John Perkins' entertaining first-person tale, "Economic Hitman".

"Old As Empire" is a collection of stories reporting on the global economic condition that are not far from the type of writing you might see read in Foreign Affairs magazine or Noam Chomsky's books. The tales, which are told in the third-person as often as the first, have little entertainment value; they're almost pure information, revelations of capitalist corruption and warlord dominance that are contemporary and all too relevant in exposing how the world actually works.

If "EHM" felt a bit light and historic, this collection of stories is weighty and newsworthy - but don't go looking for a spy angle on this one. If you're a serious foreign newshound, this is good stuff - but for all the talk of revealing personal stories about "other EHM's", there really aren't many - it's mostly about corruption at the company and government level, rather than a collection of James Bonds doing the bidding of their corporate masters like EHM was.

In CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN, John Perkins outlined his 20-year career as agent of the government and multinational corporations as they attempted to (and succeeded in) exploiting lesser-developed countries. That book, published by Berrett-Koehler in 2004, painted a rather gloomy picture of the dark side of globalization - in theory, a worthy endeavor.



A GAME AS OLD AS EMPIRE, edited by Steven Hiatt with an introduction by Mr. Perkins, continues the story of this exploitation, abuse, and waste in the name of "globalization." Let me say - as an aside - that I remain a proponent of globalization within the context of responsible stewardship. Removing barriers to trade, offering educational, vocational, and economic opportunities to men and women of all nations, is a good thing. Done properly, economic development and stewardship offers the possibility of true societal progress, ennobling humanity, enriching lives, nurturing the environment and increasing business activity and profits.



Unfortunately, the reality is far different from the ideal. The shortsightedness and greed of political and leaders - focused only on personal enrichment or the next quarter's operating results - leads to a culture of global exploitation. The pattern is familiar: special interests descend like locusts, consume everything in their path, and then move on, leaving a wake of destruction, degradation, and despair.



The book presents a compelling exploration of these economic and human abuses through other voices, most of those voices from men and women that participated for a time in the dance of exploitation for their temporal masters. The individual essays focus on a number of issues ranging from the stranglehold of foreign debt, the culture of ineptitude and corruption in many aspects of international banking, and the unconscionable extraction of natural resources (as in the Congo) at the high cost of human life and economic prosperity.



A GAME AS OLD AS EMPIRE is expectedly one-sided in that it shows only the abuse and corruption of international economics. There are many businesses that operate with high-principles and integrity (while maintaining high earnings for both its management as well as other constituents). However, the book serves an important purpose in that it shows that all is not sunshine and roses in the global economy. There is corruption, waste, incompetence, and short-sightedness that is unacceptable from not only a human standpoint, but from a business valuation perspective as well. I would recommend this book to anyone who seeks to undertake an intelligent study of the state of international economics in the real world.

As an ex-international banker who quit banking for the same reasons John Perkins quit being an Economic Hit Man, I can vouch for the truth of every essay in this fine book. The underlying truth is: the world is increasingly run by the corporatocracy, and it has negligible concern for either the poor countries it purports to help nor the environment in which it functions. The truth is the opposite of what we would like and pretend to be true. And the corporatocracy doesn't just behave as it does in foreign, underdeveloped countries, it behaves the exact same way here at home. The mortgage scandle is the same kind of hustle - selling bad debt to unsophisticated borrowers and investors. The only difference is that the poor people who default on their mortgages don't have natural resources the lenders can now take. Fascism redux.

This is a brilliant book. One can already see how the corporatocracy is ignoring it. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

This book completely documents how large multinational corporations together with the IMF, The World Bank, and the various "free trade" organizations, as well rule the world and effectively rob from the poor and middle class and increase the wealth of the already wealthy.

It dramatically underscores the fact that if we don't act, and act now, we will be facing a world of new "serfdom", if the world isn't destroyed altogether by the greed and connivery of the world's rich.

This book is a good read, but tends to be a bit dry for the average person. One would be better off tackling books such as John Perkins "Confessions of an Enonomic Hit Man" and "The Secret History of the American Empire" as well as John Howard Kunzler's "The Long Energency" before tackling this book.

I have read many books in my time and, every once in a while, a book comes along that really shines light on things. This is one of those books. The shocking evidence that comes from this book would make any stomach turn. This is a must read for anyone interested in power structures. For political junkies, it may be very interesting to read about the different power structures offered by political ideology (e.g. Marxism, liberalism, conservatism, etc). These different ideologies taught to us in higher education tell us about how power structures should be. But what this book offers is more. It explains how power structures are, not how they should be...

A GAME AS OLD AS EMPIRE: THE SECRET WORLD OF ECONOMIC HIT MEN AND THE WEB OF GLOBAL CORRUPTION comes from the author of the best-selling CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN and expands upon the prior book's theme. Where CONFESSIONS was fueled by the author's revelations of economic secrets, A GAME AS OLD AS EMPIRE is joined by other journalists and investigators who tell their own stories of a world-wide web of deliberate corruption, even narrowing topics down to specific countries and how they've been subverted. The result is a revealing survey which expands well upon the popular theme of CONFESSIONS and which deserves a spot in any academic or community library's business, economics, or social issues collection.

After reading this I can see why we are in such economic trouble. This will shine a light on the failure of our leaders and how the 700billion bailout will only keep everything "Business as usual" God help us all!

This book is a compilation from various authors and is a companion volume to A Game as Old as Empire: The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption.

The selection of topics centers around finances and global corporate power.

Some of the tools for corporate tax evasion are listed. "Transfer pricing" and "round-trips" are two of the more prominent vehicles.
Profit laundering through tax havens is another.

Chapter 4 "BCCI's Double Game" by Lucy Komisar alone makes this book a "must read". The names associated with that bank make for strange bedfellows to say the least!

Another current topic is the real motivation for invading Iraq. It has nothing to do with WMD's and it's a case of history repeating itself.

After reading about the exploitations related to institutions like the IMF, World Bank and other international entities, the reader is treated to some promising developments in the final chapter.
Individual community ordinances to regulate corporations on a local level and a call for corporate charters are two examples.

This is an excellent book for any reader interested in the financial and economic aspects of the American Empire.

greed will consume all and money is the root of all evil. the narratives in this book further highlight this basic fact and the human fallacy of being needy to the point of destruction. proves that economics is not really a zero sum game after all.