Confessions of an Economic Hitman
by John Perkins
Confessions of an Economi...
by
John Perkins
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| published
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2004
by Penguin Group
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| first published
| 2007 |
| isbn
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| date added
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02-26-07
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appropriately skeptical people; not Oliver Stone
if you are not familiar with this book, it is the memoir of a purported "economic hit man" (he says people of this profession call themselves that) who has seen the error of his ways and wants to alert the world to a vast corporate conspiracy that enslaves us in a vicious cycle of global economic hegemony, debt and warfare.
i should say that i think the basic structure of his observations is true - that is, i believe the events he describes, and more or less in his observations of c...more
if you are not familiar with this book, it is the memoir of a purported "economic hit man" (he says people of this profession call themselves that) who has seen the error of his ways and wants to alert the world to a vast corporate conspiracy that enslaves us in a vicious cycle of global economic hegemony, debt and warfare.
i should say that i think the basic structure of his observations is true - that is, i believe the events he describes, and more or less in his observations of chains of action. but it gets a little dicey once he tries to weave his experiences together into an encompassing narrative. this is primarily for two reasons: the author is a) a bit of an underdeveloped manchild whose favorite recollections are often of ogling exotic women, and b) a very mediocre writer.
the purported events of his own life suggest that he is highly intelligent. his interior narrative kind of doesn't. he has emotional/intellectual epiphanies that oddly don't match up with the trajectory his career is taking, and he also makes himself out to be too naïve when perhaps a less forgiving admission of his thoughts, motives, and actions lines up much better with the scene he is describing. (example: he falsifies data for economic reports not because it is simply the selfish and convenient thing to do, but because he has a confabulated notion that a scheme he already knows will be deleterious to a developing country is better than nothing, or some abstract alternative.)
nevertheless, i think this is a good book overall for a popular audience. i largely believe that he was in the places he said he was. it makes sense to me that someone with these kinds of quirks and delusions could actually be a successful consultant in developing countries. i know many people who are much smarter that do such work, but they also don't spend thirty years mucking up their lives in this shit before they go hippie, write books about the powers of lucid dreaming, and then cash in on a saucy tell-all volume.
i'll reiterate: i'm glad he wrote it, and i'm glad i'm reading it. where it goes astray is in his rationalizations of his own role, and his rationalizations of how the whole global economy works. i already discussed the former, so i'll just say a bit about the latter. in a phrase, he puts too much intentionality into it all. he believes that american corporations rule the world nearly absolutely, and that they intentionally structure the global political economy to work by coercing people into hiring them to do big contracting jobs in developing countries wherein debt spending in the developing country assures that government's pliability in years to come (this is the role of the hit man - to shill out these golden manacles around the world). the only exceptions come when a maverick national leader flouts this idea, whereupon the "jackals" (the cia, of course) will try to underhandedly assassinate the offending parties (cue the oliver stone director's credit). if this fails, then it is time to bring out the full military to invade the country.
these things do happen (more or less, in the broadest of strokes), but they are not nearly the whole story. there are far too many kinds of corporations, institutions, and economies for it to play out so neatly. a quick example: the companies he names who dictate the rules of this game are the contractors made famous by our current iraq debacle: halliburton, brown & root, etc. halliburton is the 100th largest corporation in the us, about 1/15 the size of wal-mart, which is #1 in terms of revenue. granted, halliburton is party to some nasty things (and so is wal-mart, though not so much regarding contracting third world infrastructure), but it seems manifest that only a simplistic mind would imagine a world in which a few guys could sit around in a room and scheme up what we see happening across the globe in about 200 countries. while he has quick and interesting accounts of u.s. fuckups like iran, they don't come close to doing justice to the kind of complexity we see out there. to perkins, things look the way they do because someone wanted them to. to me, they look the way they do because power has a way of finding the path of least resistance to its accumulation, and as such, people can have amazingly disproportionate power without holding a fucking clue as to what is going on, and odd, unscripted things happen much more often than perkins' james bond theory of global economic development allows.
i've now taken too long examining a somewhat facile argument. suffice to say, it's an interesting document, also with a lot of unintended humor. if anything, it just goes to show how fallible many of the people are who perform crucial work in structuring economies around the world.
note: i have only read a portion of this book. but i do feel qualified to comment. i will elaborate if i find anything else of note as i go along....less
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2008
Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
Anybody who thinks Capitalism is a good thing.
Here's what banks and international corporations, with the aid of governments do:
First, you take a resource rich country, and aside from maybe Tuvalu (an island nation that is about to disappear into the ocean), all countries are resource rich in one way or another. Next, you send a speculator, or, what this book refers to as an economic hitman, in to the country to resource the amount of economic growth the country can support. The economic hitman, or EHM, then creates a report with grossly...more
Here's what banks and international corporations, with the aid of governments do:
First, you take a resource rich country, and aside from maybe Tuvalu (an island nation that is about to disappear into the ocean), all countries are resource rich in one way or another. Next, you send a speculator, or, what this book refers to as an economic hitman, in to the country to resource the amount of economic growth the country can support. The economic hitman, or EHM, then creates a report with grossly inflated projections for what the country can handle. They then submit this report, with collusion from the government that runs the country in question, to an international lending institution like the World Bank, which bestows a loan that is far larger than needed. This is something like having a bank give you a loan for a Jaguar when all you really need is a Hyundai.
Naturally, banks treat countries much the same as they treat individuals. You will pay or you will, well, pay. The end result is that the country in question is now in a tremendous amount of debt to American banks who wait patiently, like Mafia dons, for that moment when they can call in a favor, say, when the price of oil goes to high and we need to somebody to sell it to us cheap. It transforms a country from a poor, underdeveloped nation into a poor, overdeveloped nation that is indebted, and therefore owned, by the United States. That's how they build empires in the 20th century.
And why? So that we can continue to have a consumer goods-based economy. So that executives can make extraordinary profits while people in poor countries all over the world starve to death or lack basic necessities because their governments have to devote 50% of their GNPs to paying interest. Because that's what keeps the economy going. The implication is that we're all guilty in some sense, even though I don't buy the charge of guilt since most people are so brainwashed by the media that they have no idea that globalization actually works this way.
Most people are decent and do not want to see others to suffer. There are justifications but most importantly there is just misinformation. Nobody knows until way after the fact most of the time that dictators in foreign countries are propped up by our government. Nobody knows these things because they are not told. Media outlets are owned by the same major corporations so it's no wonder people go along with the notion that globalization is helping the world become a better place. And then when people attack us, we are surprised and hurt and it makes it even easier to whip the public into a frenzy to go after the Taliban or whoever happens to be the villain of the month (or, more accurately, the government-sponsored tyrant that has either stopped cooperating or has out-grown his usefulness).
Empires always fail. Ours will. The Chinese, Singaporians, Japanese and Koreans are buying massive amounts of our debt to keep our economy afloat so that we can continue to buy their manufactured goods. One day, perhaps, they will call in their favors, and poof, there goes the American empire.
The best thing one can do is find the myriad of small ways to resist the behaviors encouraged by modern American capitalism. Buy less, eat less, read more, turn the tv off, think locally, etc. It's easier said than done as I discover day after day. Sometimes I forget because I have bills of my own to pay. Sometimes, there just aren't very many apparent options. Sometimes, I just get lazy and want to watch a baseball game or play X-Box. I'm no better. But I hope to be....less
Read in January, 2008
Certainly this is an important book, and more of its kind are really needed.
I recalled a good essay about America's missing literature of empire, which may be found here:
http://www.laweekly.com/la-vid...
"Few stories could be more compelling than that of Americans building an empire in the name of freedom, yet for every novel that tackles this subject — for instance, Henry Bromell's fine, un...more
Certainly this is an important book, and more of its kind are really needed.
I recalled a good essay about America's missing literature of empire, which may be found here:
http://www.laweekly.com/la-vid...
"Few stories could be more compelling than that of Americans building an empire in the name of freedom, yet for every novel that tackles this subject — for instance, Henry Bromell's fine, undervalued Little America, about a CIA brat's inquest into his father's role in the Middle East — we have hundreds of tired literary novels about suburban adultery, dysfunctional families or growing up zany in the South."
That essay was about our missing novels of empire, but something similar can be said of the missing non-fiction that would explain how our empire works and give a full accounting of the damage it has done. That's not really what John Perkins set out to do with "Confessions of an EHM". Instead, it's a personal history of how -- almost by accident -- John Perkins ended up inside the corporatocracy. It's a story about guilt.
Starting in 1971, Perkins jetted from one poor country to the next, working to justify big infrastructure projects that keep foreign countries under a mountain of debt, and thus easily controlled and manipulated. One consequence of this game is enriching powerful companies like Bechtel and KBR that are in the game of international development, and the oil companies and others who are in the game of international resource exploitation. Of course these companies are intimately connected to the levers of power (especially the Bush family).
I suppose that tales of fraud, assassinations, bribery, and of finding hot blondes for sex-addicted Saudi princes didn't really surprise me. Even the way that Perkins himself was recruited is straight out of a spy novel (they found an attractive woman who met with him in her apartment, and then she disappears like the wind). After Perkins quit the business in 1981 he was repeatedly bribed and threatened not to talk about what he had done. He went on to found a company that worked on alternative energy. It wasn't until the "war on terror" and the war against Iraq that he finally put his words to paper.
My main criticism of the book is the writing. Perkins isn't a great writer, and he repeats himself often. He expresses a lot of guilt and at times self-hatred -- almost like you're sitting in on a disorganized therapy session. He kept at the game for 10 years, but according to this book he had these doubts from day one. You almost feel sorry for him, and I think he would like you to feel sorry, except that would be forgetting the real victims.
In the aftermath of his book being published, it's not clear why the powers that be were so worried about John Perkins telling his story. It got some attention, which faded. I think Mr Perkins hoped the book would stop people from accepting simplistic answers about why "they" hate "us", and maybe get Americans to do something to change the system. But I think he mostly wrote this book to get the load of guilt off his chest. If there is anything that is missing more than our literature of empire, it's our collective conscience about it. Count John Perkins as one of the lonely -- but flawed -- voices of conscience....less
Read in May, 2008
A so-so, quick-to-read account of a recovering member of the murky, semi-visible world of "Economic Hit Men", by the author's own description a community of well-paid but morally bankrupt consultants working in the service of multinational corporations, global economic development institutions (basically IMF and the World Bank), and US interests.
The book provides a not-bad series of short, episodic chapters, but at the same time there's lack of arresting, thematic focus in the na...more
A so-so, quick-to-read account of a recovering member of the murky, semi-visible world of "Economic Hit Men", by the author's own description a community of well-paid but morally bankrupt consultants working in the service of multinational corporations, global economic development institutions (basically IMF and the World Bank), and US interests.
The book provides a not-bad series of short, episodic chapters, but at the same time there's lack of arresting, thematic focus in the narrative. Early on, John Perkins at first casts the book as a cathartic, repentant tell-all of his lifelong involvement in the EHM world--in his eyes, serving amoral corporate interests at the expense of everyday people developing countries. Perkins founds his professional motivations as an adult in class and sexual insecurities experienced as a youth. Following this psychological backdrop, the narrative attempts to establish a mood of sinister intrigue, probably at the behest of his publisher. His early professional development comprises a series of contacts with mysterious figures who seem to "have plans" for him--in particular, the femme fatale he calls "Claudine"--all the elements adumbrating a conspiracy one would find in a spy novel.
These narrative devices are more or less left in the dust in the middle of the book, and the story becomes a series of short, discrete chapters, almost like diary entries. The content of these episodes is admittedly intriguing-- apparently Perkins, in his role as an economist justifying energy infrastructure projects in developing countries had many chances to meet face-to-face with some major movers and shakers--including heads of state (most notably, Omar Torrijos of Panama, whom he suggests was assassinated by the powers that be). The vignettes usually include some illustrative anecdotes of the rottenness of living in a poor, exploited developing country, obligatory per-chapter condemnations of the global 'corporatocracy', and the occasional device of using conversations from his personal and professional relations to keep up the appearances of the confession genre. Unfortunately, Perkins did not succeed in developing a compelling story--the book is rather like a mosaic that fails to depict an identifiable or useful portrait--either of the man, or more importantly, of the corporatocracy he is purportedly exposing.
The book is not a complete dud--and in a way, it was useful to me in my exploration of the less-pretty parts of US foreign policy history (see my review of Stephen Kinzer's Overthrow). Because it's a really fast read (at a good pace one could read it in a day or two), it's probably worth it if you're interested in gaining a passing acquaintance with a contemporary delineation of that most ancient and basic of historical themes-- of the powerful fucking over the less powerful.
...less
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Read in March, 2007
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, while purportedly the author's memoir and hard-hitting expose of his work in the "corporatocracy", reads more like a flat and repetitive mass market thriller. In the 1970s, John Perkins began working for MAIN, an international consulting firm, as an economist who developed inflated projections of development in poor countries, so that they would then become dependent on richer countries like the United States. As Perkins explains, the "corporato...more
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, while purportedly the author's memoir and hard-hitting expose of his work in the "corporatocracy", reads more like a flat and repetitive mass market thriller. In the 1970s, John Perkins began working for MAIN, an international consulting firm, as an economist who developed inflated projections of development in poor countries, so that they would then become dependent on richer countries like the United States. As Perkins explains, the "corporatocracy" consists of international corporations, banks, and governments that utilize various financial and political resources to enforce and maintain the idea that all economic growth is beneficial, and futhermore, is most beneficial to those that instigate, while those who do not should be exploited. To illustrate this idea, Perkins explains his travels and work in countries such as Panama, Indonesia, and Ecuador. He also details his transition from economic hit man to concerned American citizen.
For all I know, Perkins' account may be one-hundred percent true, but there were several things which I did not find convincing. He presents the idea of the corporatocracy as a novel concept, whereas anyone paying the slightest attention to world politics and history over the past fifty years is most likely already aware of the trend of a few governments, banks and corporations controlling the global arena and the victimization of poorer populations. It is difficult to trust Perkins-the-narrator, especially since he tends toward cloak-and-dagger dramatizations and also because he made a living for many years from deception and exaggeration. He claims that he was intimately involved in events such as the Saudi Arabian Money-Laundering Affair, but many of these claims are not supported by outside evidence. I also did not find Perkins to be a very sympathetic character. He continually expresses his frustration with his job in one sentence and then justifies his choice to stick with it in the next by painting a picture of himself as a victim.
I don't find much of Perkins' account to be reliable, but as a semi-fictional account, more in the line of a mass-market thriller loosely based on reality, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man makes important points about the ways in which the corporatocracy works to uphold the status quo.
...less
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Read in January, 2006
This book probably would have enraged me if I hadn't already more or less known what it was talking about. As it was, I was resigned and depressed.
The book is a short autobiography of an Economic Hit Man (EHM) who saw the error of his ways. The idea of the EHM, as he describes it, is to manipulate the governments of developing nations to accept huge loans from the IMF and the World Bank based on inflated projections of future income, under the theory that they would experience huge economic ...more
This book probably would have enraged me if I hadn't already more or less known what it was talking about. As it was, I was resigned and depressed.
The book is a short autobiography of an Economic Hit Man (EHM) who saw the error of his ways. The idea of the EHM, as he describes it, is to manipulate the governments of developing nations to accept huge loans from the IMF and the World Bank based on inflated projections of future income, under the theory that they would experience huge economic gains from the projects - things like electrical grid upgrades, roads, dams and the like. These nations would them become indebted to the United States and forced to give business to US corporations, thereby effectively putting that nation under US control. He calls it the Corporatocracy, and he was a part of it. He traveled around the world to manipulate cash-strapped world leaders into signing their nations over to the control of us corporate interests.
He describes himself as one of the earliest generations of EHM, the ones who knew exactly what they were doing. People after him honestly believed that they were trying to help these beleaguered countries, but he knew better. He knew full well what he was doing, and after a while he got tired of it and quit the life. And, after much pondering, wrote the book.
It's considered the softest method of empire-building. Take a country that needs money to help its people, and arrange so that the government has to spend upwards of 50% of its GNP repaying loans. The people get nothing, a few rich leaders become richer, and US corporations spread further out into the world. All forwarding the cause of US economic interests. For Americans, it means cheaper gas, food and raw materials. For the corporations involved, it means higher and higher profits. For the people of the developing countries targeted, it means poverty and disenfranchisement.
The EHMs don't always succeed, though - remember Panama? We had the canal, and made lots of money off it. Until the leader of Panama, in the 70's, decided to take it back. He knew what the EHMs were up to, and wouldn't have any part of it. When the EHMs fail, the jackals come in and people start dying in "mysterious" plane crashes. General Omar Torrijos was replaced by Manuel Noriega, who was in our pocket, but not quite far enough. We made him up to be the Hitler of South America, invaded Panama without cause (see, Iraq is not a new thing) and took him back to the US. The result? The canal is effectively back under US control, and any advances that Torrijos might have made were gone.
This is not a happy book, and it's pretty likely to piss you off. It's not about the US government, mind you - it's about US corporations assisting the government in its imperial ambitions. It's about the marriage of economics and governance and its dark, dark offspring.......less
Read in January, 2006
"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins is a compelling first hand account of U.S. empire building over the past 40 years. Amazing stuff detailing a general strategy of convincing foreign governments to take on huge amounts of debt from the IMF and World Bank in order to fund massive electricity and infrastructure projects benefiting US Corporations such as Bechtel and Haliburton. The Economic Hit Men would use econometric witchcraft to justify ridiculously unrealistic gro...more
"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins is a compelling first hand account of U.S. empire building over the past 40 years. Amazing stuff detailing a general strategy of convincing foreign governments to take on huge amounts of debt from the IMF and World Bank in order to fund massive electricity and infrastructure projects benefiting US Corporations such as Bechtel and Haliburton. The Economic Hit Men would use econometric witchcraft to justify ridiculously unrealistic growth projections which were ultimately unrealized, leaving the debtor nations unable to pay off the debts. As a result, the US gov't would demand concessions such as access to natural resources, military cooperation and political support. Some nations had uncooperative leaders which resulted in a number of CIA assinations. Anyways, there's more to it but you get the idea. Overall a good read although I have to admit it ultimately only confirmed my prior suspicions. This book has, in turn, got me interested in Public Choice theory which basically goes like this :
The government is run by politicians who, like most people, pursue their self-interest (not always rationally). When benefits are concentrated (to those in power and/or their associates) and costs are spread thinly (over the taxpayers), there are incentives for politicians to seek transfers that benefit themselves directly. Moreover, the present structure of our democracy makes it such that the costs are often too high for the public to become informed enough to prevent such behavior. As a result the voter is rationally ignorant. All of this is compounded by the fact that government has a monopoly on force which often enables politicians to literally "get away with murder." For this reason, I think people like Perkins are either squashed before they can tell their story or couched as conspiracy theorists in an effort to discredit them.
Actually I went to a book signing with Perkins a few weeks back in the city. He gave a little talk and read some passages from the book. It was ok . . . the people in the Q&A were a bit ridiculous and Perkins himself was very preachy which was annoying. When I first started reading the book I was skeptical and resistant due to its generally anticapitalist overtones. However, setting that aside, I found that much of the book coincides with my understanding of economic theory (particularly international growth and development), political theory, public choice theory and history. But still, the book ends up muddled by his failure to properly identify causes and consequences. He seems to condemn all economic growth and capitalism in general which of course is wrong-headed. Hopefully you will see right through this nonsense so, in spite of its faults, the book is definitely worth reading and is generally enlightening....less
Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
ahren
the main point of the book is to describe the way the US uses its economic power to seduce developing countries into debt with promises of rapid growth, a debt it then uses for political leverage. the author rejects the notion of a hierarchical mass conspiracy, and instead describes the way those in power, whether economic or political, collude through a combination of relatively small decisions to perpetuate and enhance the power of American empire.
i have mixed feelings after reading this ...more
the main point of the book is to describe the way the US uses its economic power to seduce developing countries into debt with promises of rapid growth, a debt it then uses for political leverage. the author rejects the notion of a hierarchical mass conspiracy, and instead describes the way those in power, whether economic or political, collude through a combination of relatively small decisions to perpetuate and enhance the power of American empire.
i have mixed feelings after reading this book. on the one hand, i am impressed that at least someone in political power gives this much thought, however short-sighted, to using international institutions in order to establish American dominance in the world. on the other hand, i suppose i always wanted to believe that our dominance is at least partially unselfish, and that with the spread of liberalism, free markets, and trade around the world, the ability to abuse power would gradually diminish.
a credible argument can be made that, first and foremost, it is the state's responsibility towards its citizens to promote the country's interests around the world. this is similar to the way a CEO is responsible to the company's stockholders to increase the value of their shares. i think the model works, but only when the returns are calculated over the span of years and decades rather than the quarterly earnings that lead to short-term profit. does our system of government inherently limit the ability of leaders and goverments to act for the long-term?
the apparent heavy-handedness of the american approach, and the ruthlessness is precisely what creates such a backlash against us in the world. assassinating or deposing democratically-elected leaders in south america is a particularly abhorrent case (their communist tendencies notwithstanding).
i was expecting an anti-capitalist rant with some conspiracy theories thrown in, especially after the preface. however, the book feels like an honest account of the author's career and path to figuring out how to live. his regrets appear genuine. his aversion to the system of american empire is clear, but his case does not feel overstated, as it might be when presented by michael moore for example. aside from a few theatrics around his induction into the "economic hitmen" club, and the potential threats against him for writing this book, most of the stories simply describe american activity in developing countries which he was involved in.
in short i would recommend this book for a healthy dose of skepticism it provides about the notion that free trade is improving the lot of the underprivileged around the world. ...less
bookshelves:
politics
Saya lupa kapan saya pertama kali baca buku ini. Sebenarnya sebelum buku ini dipasarkan di Indonesia saya sudah sering baca review tentang buku ini dari beberapa orang di internet. Namun, hingga buku ini sudah dipasarkan di Indonesia, saya belum juga tertarik untuk membaca buku ini, karena saya pikir buku ini paling hanya sekedar buku yang ditulis oleh orang yang hanya ingin mencari sensasi dengan mengumbar berbagai macam hal yang menurutnya 'rahasia' kemajuan ekonomi Amerika (atau istilah penul...more
Saya lupa kapan saya pertama kali baca buku ini. Sebenarnya sebelum buku ini dipasarkan di Indonesia saya sudah sering baca review tentang buku ini dari beberapa orang di internet. Namun, hingga buku ini sudah dipasarkan di Indonesia, saya belum juga tertarik untuk membaca buku ini, karena saya pikir buku ini paling hanya sekedar buku yang ditulis oleh orang yang hanya ingin mencari sensasi dengan mengumbar berbagai macam hal yang menurutnya 'rahasia' kemajuan ekonomi Amerika (atau istilah penulis adalah corporatisms).
Ketertarikan saya muncul manakala pada suatu hari di bulan Ramadhan (di tahun yang sama buku ini diterbitkan), saya bertemu dengan Dr. Ahmad Riawan Amin (Dirut Bank Muamalat). Beliau merekomendasikan saya untuk mebaca buku ini. Pembicaraan kami saat itu sebenarnya berawal seputar perkembangan perbankan syariah di Indonesia dan juga menyentuh bagaimana Bank Muamalat bisa bangkit dan semakin tumbuh dan berkembang bahkan menjadi salah satu perbankan terbaik di tanah air setelah sebelumnya sempat terpuruk bahkan sampai pada tahap modal pun hampir habis. Beberapa hari setelah pertemuan itu saya memburu buku ini.
Yang saya dapatkan dari buku ini adalah, bagaimana bangunan ekonomi kapitalis sudah direncanakan dengan sangat matang bahkan (bayangkan) sebelum Jawa Barat memiliki jaringan listrik PLN. Dan perencanaan atas sistem itu terus berkembang dan berkembang bahkan pada tahap di mana orang-orang yang menjadi penyokong utama gerakan ini (istilah penulis Economic Hit Man (EHM)) tidak sadar bahwasanya mereka telah terekrut dan bergerak sesuai dengan perencanaan para generasi awal EHM. Mereka datang ke suatu negara berkembang dengan dalih membangun perekonomian negara itu namun sebenarnya mereka menjerat negara itu dalam jerat ekonomi yang tidak mungkin dilepas. Sehingga pada puncaknya negara berkembang tersebut dapat tunduk pada ambisi kepentingan global corporatisms meski harus mengorbankan rakyat mereka sendiri.
Dalam bab ini penulis juga sedikit membahas pengalaman penulis saat masuk ke Indonesia. Cukup menarik. Penulisan buku ini mungkin lebih mirip seperti catatan pribadi. Metode penulisannya cukup santai untuk membahas sebuah isu yang besar (bagi yang sadar kalau ini memang masalah yang besar)
Mampang, 30 Januari 2008...less
bookshelves:
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to David by:
Devon Brady
recommends it for:
conspiracy theorists
I listened to Confessions of an Economic Hit Man as an audiobook. The book is John Perkins' story of his rise through and eventual repudiation of the "corporatocracy" -- the American big-business collaboration between oil and engineering companies, the World Bank, IMF, and U.S. intelligence and military -- as an employee and eventual partner in the Chas. T. Main engineering and consulting firm. I felt like I should have liked this book more than I did.
Perkins tells his s...more
I listened to Confessions of an Economic Hit Man as an audiobook. The book is John Perkins' story of his rise through and eventual repudiation of the "corporatocracy" -- the American big-business collaboration between oil and engineering companies, the World Bank, IMF, and U.S. intelligence and military -- as an employee and eventual partner in the Chas. T. Main engineering and consulting firm. I felt like I should have liked this book more than I did.
Perkins tells his story chronologically, starting with his experiences as the child of teachers at an elite private school, going through his college bar fights, Peace Corps stint, and eventual hiring by Main and training as an Economic Hit Man (EHM). I had a hard time believing the part where he describes his initiation into the ranks of EHMs by a mysterious and beautiful teacher. If you don't believe that part, all you're really reading is the story of a guy who juked some economic forecasting reports so that his company would get bigger engineering contracts.
I guess what really hurt this book in my eyes is that I couldn't identify with Perkins. Outside of his own story, it was no big news to me that we'd cut a Faustian deal with the Saudis and screwed over the Indonesians, Panamanians, Ecuadorians, and Colombians. Perkins himself is supposedly tortured by the knowledge of his wrongdoing, but continues to do it for decades nonetheless. Poor guy. I felt like his embarrassingly earnest list of ways for us to "get involved" at the end of the book left out an explanation of how he was returning his ill-earned gains (and the revenue from this bestselling book) to the poor people of the world he'd exploited for most of his life.
If you're walking around blissfully unaware of the extent of the malfeasance that goes in the U.S. public and private institutions in the name of nothing more than filthy lucre, this book will blow your sweet little mind. If you've already read your Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Greg Palast, John Perkins won't have a lot more to tell you. ...less
bookshelves:
economics,
non-fiction
Read in January, 2006
I'd had high expectations of this book and was very disappointed--mostly because I wasn't able to get past the fact that Perkins is a chauvinistic pig who I hated from the beginning til the end. He must have thought the fact that he later wrote a "confessional" about being a chauvinistic pig would make his readers forgive him or feel sorry for him, but that definitely wasn't the case for me. Also, he writes like a horny 10th grader--very poorly, and in the middle of discussing serious...more
I'd had high expectations of this book and was very disappointed--mostly because I wasn't able to get past the fact that Perkins is a chauvinistic pig who I hated from the beginning til the end. He must have thought the fact that he later wrote a "confessional" about being a chauvinistic pig would make his readers forgive him or feel sorry for him, but that definitely wasn't the case for me. Also, he writes like a horny 10th grader--very poorly, and in the middle of discussing serious issues he feels the need to comment on the attractiveness of all the females in the room.
The book's saving grace is that the subject matter is interesting. It's about the many years Perkins spent working for a consulting firm (if I remember correctly), and his job was basically to approach the governments of poor countries and convince them to commit to building huge infrastructure projects that they couldn't afford, so they'd have to take out massive loans they wouldn't be able to pay. Essentially what he was doing was driving countries into debt for the benefit of the international banks and the US corporations that were funding the projects, and in this book he (kind of) explains how he and his cohorts were able to do it. Apparently there's some dispute about the author's credibility, but I found nothing unbelievable about it; I think it's probably an accurate representation of some of the ways poor countries get into debt.
The only reason I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 is because I found the topic very interesting and it's hard to find books written by people who actually participated in these activities. So, in spite of its significant flaws, I still feel it's worth reading. If it had been written by someone other than Perkins, it probably would've been great....less
bookshelves:
historyandrelevance
Read in April, 2006
recommends it for:
anyone
John Perkins should be questioned about his claim that he was actually employed to become an Economic Hit Man. Being a seasoned writer, John also has a keen way of telling a story. For the writing part in this book (http://www.economichitman.com/... he should get 5 stars, if not 6.
But, his story I find unconvincing, though highly interesting. If it was fiction, then it would've been just perfect. But since it had, what he claims, ...more
John Perkins should be questioned about his claim that he was actually employed to become an Economic Hit Man. Being a seasoned writer, John also has a keen way of telling a story. For the writing part in this book (http://www.economichitman.com/... he should get 5 stars, if not 6.
But, his story I find unconvincing, though highly interesting. If it was fiction, then it would've been just perfect. But since it had, what he claims, 100% weight of truth, I began to question many things.
Avoiding to be paranoid of finding another James Frey who pretty much confessed after series of scrutinies that he had hyperbolised his accounts, I have to admit it, I cant avoid that fear.
Yet, on a positive note, almost all of what Perkins wrote I can relate and agree. He practically took me back to my childhood years, when television news would lead me to ask geo-political questions like, where is iran/iraq, why are they fighting, and why is the US speaking on their behalf? [what did i know?]
My Indonesian father would tell me thats how the news network worked. My Soviet mother was telling me its all an exciting story to listen to, while my Soviet grandmother said many other things, mocking the US.
Grandmother's remarks drew me closer to Soviet news publishers, which in turn introduced me to the CCCP on the chest of Oleg Blokhin and Rinat Dassaev, ice hockey and world politics from the perspectives of journalists from communist blocks.
There were a few things I've learnt from them and is now being reiterated by Perkins in his book, is that the spirit of America is not the spirit of capitalism. If we study the background of the so called American Way, we too would see that there was a different 'Corporation' envisioned by their Founding Fathers. It was nothing close to Ayn Rand's Corporate America, which is how the US looks like now; unless i completely missed Rand, or the American history, which i know not much about....less
Read in December, 2007
Confession/Disclaimer: I dropped the book at page 101
I enjoyed sinking into this book - until Perkins became just a touch to self righteous. Throughout the book he seemed pretty honest with his presentation of his own understanding of international affairs (admitting naivety at times and identifying critical moments)... but he seemed a little too self oriented at right about Pg 57 with this share:
"On my last night in Indonesia, I awoke from a dream, sat up in bed and switched on...more
Confession/Disclaimer: I dropped the book at page 101
I enjoyed sinking into this book - until Perkins became just a touch to self righteous. Throughout the book he seemed pretty honest with his presentation of his own understanding of international affairs (admitting naivety at times and identifying critical moments)... but he seemed a little too self oriented at right about Pg 57 with this share:
"On my last night in Indonesia, I awoke from a dream, sat up in bed and switched on the light... I had seen Christ standing in front of me. He seemed like the same Jesus I had talked with every night when, as a young boy, I shared my thoughts with him after saying my formal prayers. Except that the Jesus of my childhood was fair-skinned and blond, while this one had curly black hair and a dark complexion. He bent down and heaved something up to his shoulder. I expected a cross. Instead, I saw the axle of a car with the attached wheel rim protruding above his head, forming a metallic halo... He straightened, peered into my eyes, and said, "If I were to come now, you would see me differently." I asked him why. "Because," he answered, "the world has changed.
This, following a trip to do economic forecasting for a major government contractor. A little wide-eyed and green for someone nearing 30, who had experience in the Peace Corps and a couple years working in development economics.
The first half of the book read as a bit sensationalist, an inflated sense of self-importance, for sure. Though, Perkins was meeting with Heads of State and similarly influential movers and shakers... so he does have good stories.
Actually, the accidental history that you pick up from this book it great. I may pick it up again - after all, the guy is from NH, and has an open obsession with "Tom" Paine. There must be something there, right? ...less
Read in August, 2007
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (EHM) is supposed to motivate us to recognize the dangers of wide open capitalism on the world economy. The author even includes his suggestions as to how to carry forward his ideas.
Perkins was once an EHM. He used his influence and his economic projections to convince developing countries to invest in huge development projects, built by US companies, of course, which would cause the country to go into debt. When the economic forcasts fall short, and repaym...more
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (EHM) is supposed to motivate us to recognize the dangers of wide open capitalism on the world economy. The author even includes his suggestions as to how to carry forward his ideas.
Perkins was once an EHM. He used his influence and his economic projections to convince developing countries to invest in huge development projects, built by US companies, of course, which would cause the country to go into debt. When the economic forcasts fall short, and repayment of the loans is not possible, the country is so deep in debt to the US that it has to do whatever we say, or face the consequences. He laces the economic story with CIA coups and military adventures from the invasion of Panama to Desert Storm. The writing is compelling, but a bit too personal sometimes, but, it is a confession, after all.
The story makes sense, and I believe that most of it is true. Maybe it is not quite as intentional as he makes it sound, but the system does seem to be set up to create work for American companies and thus billions of dollars for people like him. I don't know about the debt part. Or the invasion of Panama. Maybe. The US is in debt to China and Japan, does that mean we have to do what they want? Somehow I prefer to think that forces are more balanced than he makes them appear, less sinister and less Machiavellian. At least then we have a chance. Let's hope.
Of course, the corporatocracy won't stand for any real reform, according to Perkins. So, they'll have to get rid of anyone they don't like if she gets elected. Hope she picks a good VP. (Didn't they say Cheney was Bush's best guarantee after his election, or was that Dan Quayle?)
This book does stimulate lots of thought about the wolrld as it appears and our role in it. It's not something I ordinarily think much about. So, it make for a good read....less
Read in April, 2008
recommended to Gabriel by:
Michael Scott
This book's content and concept was interesting... the author participated in the USA's "march toward global empire" by shackling less developed countries with billions of dollars of debt. These billions of dollars are then funneled directly back into the American economy in the form of huge contracting deals to engineering corporations like Haliburton, Bechtel, and the once powerful MAIN. The debt (which the U.S. never really expects the LDC to repay) serves as a form of leverage fo...more
This book's content and concept was interesting... the author participated in the USA's "march toward global empire" by shackling less developed countries with billions of dollars of debt. These billions of dollars are then funneled directly back into the American economy in the form of huge contracting deals to engineering corporations like Haliburton, Bechtel, and the once powerful MAIN. The debt (which the U.S. never really expects the LDC to repay) serves as a form of leverage for future considerations (oil interests, etc.)
I liked this book - but honestly I expected it to be more of a thriller. I know these guys were/are called Economic Hit Men... so I expected a little more 007 in the plot. Granted, this is nonfiction, but I just expected it to be a little more gripping than it actually was.
However - what I enjoyed most were the tales of some of Central and South American rulers and influential leaders from an alternative view point. Perkins' recounts of his times with Panama's Omar Tirrijos was pretty cool. There is so much revisionist history that goes on that often times people are not privy to alternative perspectives like this one. If one were to only read this book - they would have a very different opinion on the legacy of Torrijos and Noriega than if you read a US history book published in the mid nineties.
More than anything else I suppose, after reading this book one comes away with a renewed understanding about just how important oil interests and military strategic interests are to the United States in terms of our world policies. This shouldn't necessarily be a major surprise for most informed citizens. According to this book, practically all of our military endeavors over the past thirty years are primarily (if not solely) focused on preserving our corporate/economic and military interests....less
Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
people who don't read
This is currently the worst book I have recently read. It really makes me really wish that A People's History of the US was the standard Public School history text book. If you have never read a newspaper, book, or left your house and never plan on doing the above mentioned activities, then maybe you should read this book, it really is a quick read (all you really need is the last 3 chapters, if that). Not only was it terribly written, the author focused way to much on his underdeveloped self...more
This is currently the worst book I have recently read. It really makes me really wish that A People's History of the US was the standard Public School history text book. If you have never read a newspaper, book, or left your house and never plan on doing the above mentioned activities, then maybe you should read this book, it really is a quick read (all you really need is the last 3 chapters, if that). Not only was it terribly written, the author focused way to much on his underdeveloped self-martyrdom (at the end the author suggests next steps people should take, one of which includes discussing his book with other people; and any criticism of his book is really just the critic projecting their own guilt on him). What really annoyed me was how in his conclusion he looks to the American Revolution as a great example of fighting an "empire" (im POSITIVE there are better moments in US history where people successfully took to the streets to fight "empire"); the one thing that I remember from my high school US history teacher was that the Revolutionary, it was fought because the British started to pay attention to the colonies and wanted to start charging taxes; he also praises the principles the US was founded on, never mentioning that the founding and success of this country rested on a long history of enslavement and the killing off of native populations. It was terrible. I would go into more detail but then I would be wasting even more time than one should ever on this book.
I should say that if the author was not a character in the book, then maybe it could have gotten 2 stars (bear in mind it should really get 0, so 2 would be a jump.)...less
Read in September, 2007
First, Perkins is a second-rate writer. Second, he's selling his interpretation after introducing himself (through a colleague's words) as someone who's "not afraid to stick his neck out without knowing all the facts", and he never presents any hard evidence of his claims. Third, he seems to think that writing these "Confessions" absolves him, and he comes off as moralistically self-serving and egotistical beyond what one would already expect from a memoirist.
Mitigating...more
First, Perkins is a second-rate writer. Second, he's selling his interpretation after introducing himself (through a colleague's words) as someone who's "not afraid to stick his neck out without knowing all the facts", and he never presents any hard evidence of his claims. Third, he seems to think that writing these "Confessions" absolves him, and he comes off as moralistically self-serving and egotistical beyond what one would already expect from a memoirist.
Mitigating these three criticisms: 1) His writing isn't bad, per se, it just leads to an average of one creaking groaner of a sentence per chapter. 2) Well, there's not much to mitigate the second criticism; he's selling the story in a practiced, polished, and professional way, but not in a way that ever makes the reader forget that he's being sold. 3.) His guilt seems genuine. While he lapses into thinking that merely leaving behind his career as an economic hit man makes him virtuous, he never seems to consider himself wholly free from sin therefore. Unfortunately, this makes him seem that much more self-involved.
The actual material of the book is entirely worth a read in its own right, and the perspective of someone who was actually in the middle of so many pivotal events is of value. Further, all of the books now on my "To Read shelf" come from the footnotes of "Confessions". However, it should be noted that none of his footnoted works are primary source material; evidence is not his strong suit, as noted above. So while the storytelling is not riveting, and the case not proven to any historical or legal standard, the events are so profoundly important that "Confessions" remains a serviceable primer for recent world economic history and current events. ...less
Read in March, 2005
recommends it for:
hippies, anti globalization folks, people curious about the controversy
This book is autobiographical by a former economist for the world bank. He describes how he undermined the economies and governments of third world countries by making wildly optimistic projections about their growth as to facilitate getting them into debt to first world countries. There is lots of personal cloak and dagger type anecdotes about how he was supposedly trained by the NSA.
This book is written simply and it reads quickly. The writing in simplistic and narrative. Although it i...more
This book is autobiographical by a former economist for the world bank. He describes how he undermined the economies and governments of third world countries by making wildly optimistic projections about their growth as to facilitate getting them into debt to first world countries. There is lots of personal cloak and dagger type anecdotes about how he was supposedly trained by the NSA.
This book is written simply and it reads quickly. The writing in simplistic and narrative. Although it is supposedly nonfiction, it lacks sufficient citations and background information. The most damning testimony that this book gives is given as personal experience and lacks any hard or verifiable evidence. As such, this book makes very harsh accusations and criticisms of The US Government, and the World Bank, but does not sufficiently back them up. Also, I got the feeling that there was a lot of untrue information being purported as fact in this book. Definitely a digression at the end of the book about the value of new age philosophies and transcendental meditation undermined the credibility of the author significantly.
The only redeeming quality about this book is that it gives some solid and reasonable explanation to the complaints about globalization voiced by the stinky hippies and ultra left in America. Basically, explaining that first world countries engage in predatory lending to developing nations. This is believable and makes some sense, although I doubt the reality is nearly as bad as the author makes it seem in this book.
I read this book because the description on the back looked really cool. I was disappointed.
...less
Read in August, 2005
Perkins claims to be part of a shadowy group of consultants called Economic Hit Men, who were supported by the U.S. government as a way of building the global empire. These consultants would go into third world countries and sell them on infrastructure improvements, and deliberately inflate economic growth predictions to justify their development. The World Bank, with U.S. backing, would approve massive loans that these countries had no chance of repaying. Saddled with debt, the countries would ...more
Perkins claims to be part of a shadowy group of consultants called Economic Hit Men, who were supported by the U.S. government as a way of building the global empire. These consultants would go into third world countries and sell them on infrastructure improvements, and deliberately inflate economic growth predictions to justify their development. The World Bank, with U.S. backing, would approve massive loans that these countries had no chance of repaying. Saddled with debt, the countries would become pawns under U.S. influence. Countries whose leaders would not play along would be removed by the "jackals" and U.S. friendly leaders would be installed. Thus, instead of using military might to gr 
