Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

This is a great book. Easy to read and Perkins really put things into perspective on how the whole economy works and is so corrupt. Makes you think twice

An expose of the United States foreign policy; on their unsavory methods to undermine other countries financially to attain leverage on them with duress. The means by which leverage is attained, lies with the two "international financial institutions" (IFI's). The institutions were founded in 1945 during the genesis of the United Nations as "do-good" enterprises. The IMF would assist countries trying to keep their currencies tied to the dollar under the terms of the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement. The World Bank would lend money at low interest rates gathered from the rich countries to help poor countries get off their backs.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.

Perkins' description of the exploitative actions undertaken by American multinational corporations and international banking houses operating in 2nd and 3rd world countries,often with the aid and support of corrupt African,Asian,and Latin American leaders ,is very similar to the exploitative actions undertaken by the various monopolies(for example,the British East Indies Company) set up by King George III to dominate and extract a trade surplus from the 13 colonies.This set off a 7 year civil war(the American Revolution)where 1/3 of the population supported the rebels,1/3 supported the King(loyalists),and 1/3 were fence sitters who were waiting to see which side would get the upper hand and win.The fence sitters joined the rebels openly only around 1780. An important intellectual source of support for the rebels (George Washington,Alexander Hamilton,Benedict Arnold)was the revolutionary book on political economy written by the great philosopher,Adam Smith,in 1776 called The Wealth of Nations.Perkins(and also President Chavez of Venezuela,for example) appears to be completely unaware that Smith provides a complete system for opposing precisely the same type of exploitative behavior faced by the American colonialists over 230 years ago.What are the policies that Smith would recommend,for instance,to President Chavez ? First,Smith would recommend that huge retaliatory and revenue tariffs be placed on all imported goods coming from countries that are heavily subsidizing products being produced by multinational corporations.Second,Smith would recommend that all monopolies be broken up.Third,Smith would recommend that the central bank of Venezuela impose a low,fixed rate of interest on all loans to all residents of Venezuela that would not be higher than the equivalent of the existing prime rate of interest in Venezuela now.Fourth,Smith would suggest that all loans to prodigals,projectors(Keynes's speculators),and imprudent risk takers be prevented.Fifth,Smith recognized that the capitalist system of wealth generation(The Invisible Hand of the Market process that starts with comparative advantage ,leading to the specialization of labor ,leading to the division of labor ,leading to the extension of the market ,leading to economic growth and ending with real free trade(both national and international),while powerful,generated very severe negative,undepletable externalities that would be detrimental to the entire work force.Smith made it clear that only government action and interference in this process could mitigate/reduce/eliminate these negative consequences of trade.Sixth,Smith would advocate that all public goods beneficial to the country of Venezuela as a whole be financed out of the general tax revenue.Finally,Smith would suggest that the tax system in Venezuela be a progressive one overall.This would entail that the rich and multinational corporations/international banks pay higher overall taxes.These policy recommendations can be found on the following pages of the Modern Library(Cannan)edition of the WN:pp.298-302,322-328,339-340,434-439,681-682,716-768,especially 734-735,777-780,and 794. Smith's economic policies would vastly improve the political,social,economic,and institutional aspects of life in Venezuela (or any other 2nd or 3rd world country when combined with Smith's dictum of the necessity of implementing the rule of law and eliminating economic and political corruption in the ruling party).There is no need to nationalize the oil companies,banks, or the private sector.This is a mistaken solution to a real problem. In summary,Perkins needs to rewrite his book.This can be done by adding an additional chapter that deals with Adam Smith's entire system of thought.It is apparent that Perkins was never exposed to the real Adam Smith in any of his economics classes.This is not surprising since there are no more than a couple of dozen economists currently living today in the world who have read The Wealth of Nations in its entirety.The vast majority of economists,if they read Smith at all,read pp.1-150 and 421-427 and call it a day.It is tragic that Smith's path breaking work is ignored by,for example, the economists at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund,all of whom Smith would fire for gross incompetence and negligence for failing to carry out his very clearly specified recommendations on pp.434-439.

Interessante

Muy ilustrativo y dinámico. No se hace nada pesado y relata de forma muy amena una situación muy compleja desde la experiencia en primera persona de su autor. Muy recomendable

John Perkins has written this book in a very candid manner. An honest, exciting and motivating journey which takes its' readers to explore the brutal truths of corporatocracy(the great corporations, governments and the powerful people who debt the nations rich in resources suitable to their needs to such an extent that they can't repay them back and have to serve their whims through letting its' resources at their disposal). John has, I believe, greatly persuaded people, if not all then at least me, to step towards making a positive change in the world by disseminating the truths about the voluptuous greed of corporatocracy which has broadened inequality and has left more and more people bereft of their true rights and resources and is continuing to do so.

J'ai lu ce livre dans sa traduction française et je l'ai trouvé si instructif que j'ai décidé de le commandé dans sa version d'origine pour le partager avec mes amis anglophones.La livraison - par bateau - a pris plus de temps que prévu mais lorsque j'ai contacté le vendeur pour lui faire part de mon étonnement, celui-ci s'est empressé de me répondre avec professionnalisme et courtoisie pour me rassurer. J'ai apprécié sa réactivité et l'intérêt qu'il porte à la demande d'un client même si en l’occurrence le prix de la commande ne dépassait pas 2,60 €.

This is a book everyone should read. Full of anecdotes and in plain language it explains how we have gotten to the point where the world is in a state of perpetual war, where people and their concerns for health and economic happiness are not on the agenda of those who make the decisions. It explains why it is that Islam is the most recent target for ensuring that war and a state of high security continue to consume our resources and our attention.