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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man Paperback – December 27, 2005
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With a presidential election around the corner, questions of America's military buildup, environmental impact, and foreign policy are on everyone's mind. Former Economic Hit Man John Perkins goes behind the scenes of the current geopolitical crisis and offers bold solutions to our most pressing problems. Drawing on interviews with other EHMs, jackals, CIA operatives, reporters, businessmen, and activists, Perkins reveals the secret history of events that have created the current American Empire, including:
- How the defeats in Vietnam and Iraq have benefited big business
- The role of Israel as Fortress America in the Middle East
- Tragic repercussions of the IMF's Asian Economic Collapse
- The current Latin American revolution and its lessons for democracy
- U.S. blunders in Tibet, Congo, Lebanon, and Venezuela
From the U.S. military in Iraq to infrastructure development in Indonesia, from Peace Corps volunteers in Africa to jackals in Venezuela, Perkins exposes a conspiracy of corruption that has fueled instability and anti-Americanism around the globe, with consequences reflected in our daily headlines. Having raised the alarm, Perkins passionately addresses how Americans can work to create a more peaceful and stable world for future generations.
- Print length303 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPlume
- Publication dateDecember 27, 2005
- Dimensions5.3 x 0.73 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100452287081
- ISBN-13978-0452287082
- Lexile measure1160L
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The riveting third edition of this New York Times bestselling title expands its focus to China, exposes corruption on an international scale, and offers much-needed solutions. Extensively updated, this edition features twelve new chapters, including a new introduction, preface, and study guide. The book brings the story of economic hit men (EHMs) up-to-date and focuses on China’s EHM strategy.
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| Customer Reviews |
4.6 out of 5 stars
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| Price | $20.66$20.66 | $17.97$17.97 |
| More from John Perkins | Transforming Fear into Action to Change Your Life and the World | Includes 12 explosive new chapters! |
John Perkins has written eleven books, including the first edition of Confessions of an Economic Hitman, which was on the New York Times bestseller list for more than seventy weeks and was translated into over thirty languages. As a former chief economist, he advised the World Bank, the United Nations, Fortune 500 corporations, and governments around the world.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Astonishing.” —Boston Herald
“This riveting look at a world of intrigue reads like a spy novel...Highly recommended.” —Library Journal
“Here are the real-life details—nasty, manipulative, plain evil—of international corporate skullduggery spun into a tale rivaling the darkest espionage thriller.” —Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
From the Back Cover
The Rocky Mountain News
"Astonishing."
Boston Herald
"This riveting look at a world of intrigue reads like a spy novel . . . Highly recommended."
Library Journal
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Plume (December 27, 2005)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 303 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0452287081
- ISBN-13 : 978-0452287082
- Lexile measure : 1160L
- Item Weight : 10.7 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.3 x 0.73 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #116,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #78 in International Economics (Books)
- #94 in Globalization & Politics
- #411 in Business Professional's Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author

John Perkins is an author and activist whose 10 books on global intrigue, shamanism, and transformation including "Touching the Jaguar," "Shapeshifting" and the classic "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" have been on the New York Times bestseller list for more than 70 weeks, sold over 2 million copies and are published in at least 35 languages.
As chief economist at a major consulting firm, John advised the World Bank, United Nations, Fortune 500 corporations, US and other governments. He regularly speaks at universities, economic forums, and shamanic gatherings around the world and is a founder and board member of the Pachamama Alliance and Dream Change, nonprofit organizations that partner with indigenous people to protect environments and that offer global programs to change the destructive ways of industrial societies.
John advises corporations, executives, and entrepreneurs on ways to make the transition from a Death Economy (exploiting resources that are declining at accelerating rates) to a Life Economy (cleaning up pollution, recycling, and other technologies that create regenerative life-styles and economies) -- a subject that is detailed in "Touching the Jaguar."
John has lived four lives: as an economic hit man (EHM); as the CEO of a successful alternative energy company, who was rewarded for not disclosing his EHM past; as an expert on indigenous cultures and shamanism, a teacher and writer who used this expertise to promote ecology and sustainability while continuing to honor his vow of silence about his life as an EHM; and as a writer who, in telling the real-life story about his extraordinary dealings as an EHM, has exposed the world of international intrigue and corruption that is turning the American republic into a global empire despised by increasing numbers of people around the planet.
John's Books:
Touching the Jaguar: Transforming Fear into Actions to Change Your Life and the World
The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Hoodwinked
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
The Secret History of the American Empire
Shapeshifting
The World Is As You Dream It
Psychonavigation
The Stress-Free Habit
Spirit of the Shuar
To learn more about John and his work and subscribe to his newsletter: www.johnperkins.org
Connect with him online at: facebook.com/johnperkinsauthor; at instagram.com/johnperkinsauthor; at twitter.com/economic_hitman
For further information about events where John Perkins is speaking or teaching visit: http://johnperkins.org/events
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As a fellow Returned Volunteer I saw another theme in this book - how his service as a Peace Corps Volunteer led him to be open to experiences with local people that ultimately caused him to have a change of heart on his profession.
So, what is an economic hitman? These were and are the men and women hired by private construction companies, including Bechtel, Halliburton et al. in collusion with government agencies like the National Security Agency, who in the 1960s and 1970s, and continuing to the present, PURPOSELY and CONSCIOUSLY overstated the potential economic growth rate of Third World Countries to get them to qualify for enormous loans that the US GOVERNMENT KNEW THEY WOULD NEVER, EVER be able to repay! Why do this? Well, these countries either have to agree to give us their natural resources for cheap (read here oil and such) or tow the line politically. If they do not, another set of characters steps in, the jackals (again not Perkins' word), who get uncooperative Presidents like Torrijos of Panama or Roldos of Ecuador killed. They tried more recently in the case of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela too, but it didn't work, for reasons you'll find out in the book, even thought it was orchestrated by an individual who is well known internationally for his evil deeds in Latin America and the Caribbean (and at home as well).
This connected the dots for me in a way that nobody who was not an insider could have. OUR government has been responsible for the suffering of millions of people on the planet, all in the name of empire, NOT FREEDOM and NOT democracy!!!! Perkins shows that this seemingly coincidental meeting of interests of oil revenues, international banks and governments was NOT a coincidence at all. He calls this collusion a corporatocracy, which is a great word. And this includes THE MEDIA.
You must read this book in order to understand what is behind the Iraq war (if the jackals fail, the soliders are called in), our support of Saudi Arabia, and the deaths of two presidents of Latin American countries. You will never see the Third World debt situation or World Bank and IMF actions the same way again. Perkins also points out that there are a honest people in those agencies who have been totally duped by us, that is U.S.
I found this book totally gripping. Please, please read it. You NEED to know this stuff about our government before believing one more thing that comes out of ANY government representative's mouth!
Over the years, the process has become corrupt, with both the IMF and World Bank becoming controlled by the multinational corporations and their banks. When President Nixon went off the gold standard in 1971, the IMF's reason for existence evaporated, because Bretton Woods and the fixed dollar went up in smoke. Now the problem for the big banks like Chase Manhattan, Citicorp and the Bank of America became two-fold:
1) As surplus dollars accumulated in their reserves and there were no credit-worthy Americans wanting to borrow, the banks had to think of ways to lend the money abroad or it would sit in their vaults earning zip, which means it really is losing money as the paper dollar - freed from its gold anchor - was inflating and losing purchasing power. Citigroup's Walter Wriston came up with the idea that the surplus should be loaned to poor countries, even though they had no collateral, because governments had to pay off their hard-currency loans or lose their international credit ratings.
2) If the countries that borrowed from Chase or Citicorp could not pay back interest or principle and did not worry about stiffing the private bankers, they would have to swallow the non-performing loans. The solution was to have the IMF, looking for something to justify its existence, step in to collect the debt. All it had to do was persuade the U.S. Congress to ante up billions of taxpayer dollars to fill their coffers. They could then go to the deadbeat country and say, "We will give you this money so you can pay Chase and Citicorp what you owe them, but you will have to raise taxes on your own people and devalue your currency as the conditions for the loan"
This book is an account by Mr. Perkins a foot soldier in these operations of the Evil Empire. In extension Mr. Perkins does identifies Bechtel Corporation and Halliburton as agents in this quiet conspiracy to make sure the good old USA flourishes, at the expense of relentless impoverishment of the poorest countries of the world. In his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man he describes how as a highly paid professional, he helped the U.S. cheat poor countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars by lending them more money than they could possibly repay and then taking over their economies.
The scam: Mr. Perkins worked for was a company named Chas. T. Main in Boston, Massachusetts. He was responsible for giving loans to other countries, much bigger than they could possibly repay. One of the conditions of the loan is that they would then have to give ninety percent of that loan back to a U.S. company, or U.S. companies, to build the infrastructure - a Halliburton or a Bechtel. These companies would then go in and build an electrical system or ports or highways, and these would basically serve just a few of the very wealthiest families in those countries. The poor people in those countries would be stuck ultimately with this amazing debt that they couldn't possibly repay. A country today like Ecuador owes over fifty percent of its national budget just to pay down its debt. And it really can't do it. So, we literally have them over a barrel. So, when we want more oil, we go to Ecuador and force them to provide us with access to our oil companies your Amazon rain forest, which are filled with oil. The entire loan with interest finds its way back into the Unites States indirectly, while the host country is left with the debt plus lots of interest, and they basically become our servants, our slaves.
Panama: In 1903 with the mammoth effort to build the Panama Canal underway; the United States under Theodore Roosevelt demanded Columbia to sign a treaty turning the isthmus over to a North American consortium. Columbia refused; Roosevelt sent in the marines; who removed a popular commander and declared Panama an independent nation. A puppet government was installed and the first canal treaty was signed; it established an American economic zone on both sides of the waterway. The country was ruled by an oligarchy of wealthy families with strong connections to Washington. A coup overthrew Arnulfo Arias; the last in the parade of puppet dictators and Omar Torrijos emerged as the head of the state. Torrijos was highly regarded by the Panamian middle and lower class as the champion for the people. His fate was an assassination at the hands of CIA.
Guatemala: The United Fruits Company had been Guatemala's political equivalent of the Panama Canal. Founded in the 1880s, United Fruit grew into one of the most powerful forces in Central America. During the 1950s, reform candidate Jacob Arbenz was elected president of Guatemala in an election hailed all over the hemisphere as a model of the democratic process. At the time less than 3% of Guatemalans owned 70% of the land. Arbenz promised to help the poor dig their way out of starvation, and after his election he implemented a comprehensive land reform program. The United Fruit Company opposed these measures; since they were the largest and the most oppressive land owners in the country. The company in retaliation launched a public relations campaign in the United States; aimed at convincing the American public and congress that Arbenz was part of a Communist plot and Guatemala had become a Soviet satellite. In 1954, the CIA orchestrated a coup; American pilots bombed Guatemala City and the democratically elected Arbenz was overthrown; replaced by Cornel Armas a ruthless ally of America.
Saudi Arabia: A deal was worked out with Saudi Arabia, whereby the Royal House of Saud agreed to send most of their petro-dollars back to the United States and invest them in U.S. government securities. The Treasury Department would use the interest from these securities to hire U.S. companies to build Saudi Arabia new cities, new infrastructure which we've done. And the House of Saud would agree to maintain the price of oil within acceptable limits to us, which they've done all of these years and in return the United States were the guarantors of power remaining in the House of Saud. And in Iraq we tried to implement the same policy that was so successful in Saudi Arabia, but Saddam Hussein didn't buy. When the economic hit men fail in this scenario, the jackals move in. Jackals are C.I.A.-sanctioned people that come in and try to foment a coup or revolution. If that doesn't work, they perform assassinations. Or try to. In the case of Iraq, they weren't able to get through to Saddam Hussein. So the third line of defense, if the economic hit men and the jackals fail, the next line of defense is to send in the marines to invade the country.
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This is not new, an unholy alliance of US regimes and corporations has been doing this throughout Latin America since the 19th century, and have spread their grasping tentacles throughout the world. The grotesque irony is the way they are now accusing the Chinese of doing the very same thing they themselves have done for so long. As yet though the Chinese have not resorted to staging coups, assassinating elected leaders, imposing tyrannical regimes to do their bidding, invading and illegally occupying countries, or simply reducing them to blood smeared rubble, all of which the US has done repeatedly.













