Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

[fishnmagician]

who has read it.....

 

TJ hooked me up with it,

and it is a VERY interesting book.....

[HatterasJack]

who has read it.....

 

TJ hooked me up with it,

and it is a VERY interesting book.....

 

 

so, how bout a synopsis plz?

[fishnmagician]

here ya go,

complete with a harsh review as well.....

though I am only about a third of the way thru, the nature of the review seems off base, as if the author of the review utterly lacks any awareness of the historical aspects of the events cited.

 

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

John Perkins started and stopped writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man four times over 20 years. He says he was threatened and bribed in an effort to kill the project, but after 9/11 he finally decided to go through with this expose of his former professional life. Perkins, a former chief economist at Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main, says he was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business. "Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars," Perkins writes. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is an extraordinary and gripping tale of intrigue and dark machinations. Think John Le Carré, except it's a true story. Perkins writes that his economic projections cooked the books Enron-style to convince foreign governments to accept billions of dollars of loans from the World Bank and other institutions to build dams, airports, electric grids, and other infrastructure he knew they couldn't afford. The loans were given on condition that construction and engineering contracts went to U.S. companies. Often, the money would simply be transferred from one bank account in Washington, D.C., to another one in New York or San Francisco. The deals were smoothed over with bribes for foreign officials, but it was the taxpayers in the foreign countries who had to pay back the loans. When their governments couldn't do so, as was often the case, the U.S. or its henchmen at the World Bank or International Monetary Fund would step in and essentially place the country in trusteeship, dictating everything from its spending budget to security agreements and even its United Nations votes. It was, Perkins writes, a clever way for the U.S. to expand its "empire" at the expense of Third World citizens. While at times he seems a little overly focused on conspiracies, perhaps that's not surprising considering the life he's led. --Alex Roslin --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

 

From Publishers Weekly

Perkins spent the 1970s working as an economic planner for an international consulting firm, a job that took him to exotic locales like Indonesia and Panama, helping wealthy corporations exploit developing nations as, he claims, a not entirely unwitting front for the National Security Agency. He says he was trained early in his career by a glamorous older woman as one of many "economic hit men" advancing the cause of corporate hegemony. He also says he has wanted to tell his story for the last two decades, but his shadowy masters have either bought him off or threatened him until now. The story as presented is implausible to say the least, offering so few details that Perkins often seems paranoid, and the simplistic political analysis doesn"™t enhance his credibility. Despite the claim that his work left him wracked with guilt, the artless prose is emotionally flat and generally comes across as a personal crisis of conscience blown up to monstrous proportions, casting Perkins as a victim not only of his own neuroses over class and money but of dark forces beyond his control. His claim to have assisted the House of Saud in strengthening its ties to American power brokers may be timely enough to attract some attention, but the yarn he spins is ultimately unconvincing, except perhaps to conspiracy buffs.

[HatterasJack]

that's good, but how bout your critique?

 

also, would you be a conspiracy buff?

[kip]

What is the premise?

 

I have been mulling over the concept of an economic coup d'etat that has been/ in the process of/ or could be perpetrated upon the United States.

 

Purposefully bankrupting the government in order to achieve a reduction in the size of the government and its ability to fund the types of social programs, something that the right has been unable to achieve directly. Look at the ongoing war expenses, not being figured into the budget, look at the social programs that Bush 43 has implemented (prescription drug) during his tenure, and the government propping up the economy, and the amount of debt being incurred. It makes you stop and think.....

[fishnmagician]

What is the premise?

 

 

Purposefully bankrupting the government in order to achieve a reduction in the size of the government and its ability to fund the types of social programs, something that the right has been unable to achieve directly. Look at the ongoing war expenses, not being figured into the budget, look at the social programs that Bush 43 has implemented (prescription drug) during his tenure, and the government propping up the economy, and the amount of debt being incurred. It makes you stop and think.....

 

 

well the "premise" if you can call it is just the author relating his actions with a Haliburton type company. The Symbiotic relationship of the US government, Corporations and International Banking....

 

His job was to draw up the plans for modernization of 3rd World nations to be presented to the World Bank to justify a loan. The work and maintenance would fall to US Corporations. The projections were intentionally overly optimistic, and the third world nations get saddled with debt and become endebted to the US.

 

and yes, reading how readily other nations were manipulated and destroyed by debt, I couldn't help but notice the similarities of what is happening to us today.

[mrl]

A good, if totally depressing read.

 

If you read the stories in the papers about "economic reforms" that developing world countries need to come up with in order to pay the debt service (let alone the debt itself), and realize what that means to the average citizen of those countries.........

 

But it's great for the corporate execs and stockholders here, and that's all that matters, right?

 

On a similar note, it ought to interesting to see how much of Iraq's oil pie is gonna go to the (non-Iraqi) oil companies once that bill passes parliament...

[KevinB]

I gleamed it at a friends house awhile back, got through a couple chapters, interesting stuff, can't tell what is true or not, but I am going to pick up a paperback copy for the next time I am on a train. Another version of the tale of the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag,War is a Racket.

I'm not into conspiracies but I did start to believe some of his book, after all Paul Wolfowitz is president of the World bank, I mean come one that is blatant and in your face, he was the main guy behind the Iraq war, said it would be easy and the revenue from the Oil would pay for the war. Also is the same guy Tom Clancy once questioned if he is even on our side.

I'm also starting to believe Bush is the Mexchurian candidate, it would explain his actions and his difficulty with the english language.

[fishnmagician]

start to believe some of his book, after all Paul Wolfowitz is president of the World bank, I mean come one that is blatant and in your face, he was the main guy behind the Iraq war, said it would be easy and the revenue from the Oil would pay for the war.

 

 

he was also on the Committee on the Present Danger,

hyping the threat of the Soviet Union in the Mid Seventies in order to justify increasing expenditures for the Military Industrial Complex. Two times he has been involved with stovepiping intelligence and been caught being wildly off the mark.