false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1191325349m/1982656.jpg 2159 32 John Perkins started and stopped writing <I>Confessions of an Economic Hit Man</I> 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. <I>Confessions of an Economic Hit Man</I> is an extraordinary and gripping tale of intrigue and dark machinations. Think John Le Carré, except it's a true story.<p> 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. <I>--Alex Roslin</I> 1734580 book 2004 Confessions of an Economic Hit Man total:5119|5:1229|4:1877|3:1410|2:467|1:136| 5119 18953 7371 1135 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 2 10 false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Apr 16 20:47:05 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 16 20:49:26 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 1 9 false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Nov 22 00:13:36 -0800 2007 Thu Nov 22 00:22:31 -0800 2007 more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 1 7 false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 24 01:39:40 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 03 07:47:09 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 3 3 false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Sep 09 06:50:18 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 09 06:52:52 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 5 4 false Thu Aug 21 05:49:03 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 21 05:57:44 -0700 2008 Three Days of the Condor the guy who is not Robert Redford, the guy who is the evil CIA operative who has been trying to ‘bring him home’ throughout the film - which we have guessed is a euphuism for ‘take him out’ - is talking about why the CIA does bad, manipulative things in...more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 2 2 false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Tue Jan 29 08:58:30 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 10 14:54:33 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 4 2 false Mon Aug 13 13:42:10 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 17 17:26:29 -0700 2007
Like a lot of other political books I've read of late, this one is made even more relevant by the events th...more...]]> 181814 161 37 3.70 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/181814.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hitman 2 2 false Thu Mar 15 05:17:06 -0700 2007 Wed Apr 11 14:33:42 -0700 2007
Although, he reaches a point by the en...more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 1 2 false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 23 16:32:45 -0700 2007 Tue Feb 10 10:50:58 -0800 2009 totally made up!]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 3 3 false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 01 03:48:45 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 01 04:08:06 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 4 1 false Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Fri Oct 24 02:37:00 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 24 02:42:53 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 3 2 false Thu Feb 07 12:08:14 -0800 2008 Mon Aug 11 07:59:47 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 1 1 false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu Nov 08 14:31:35 -0800 2007 Thu Nov 08 14:32:27 -0800 2007 more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 2 1 false Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Mon Aug 13 16:16:48 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 13 16:31:10 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 3 1 false Mon Jul 02 15:23:16 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 02 15:33:01 -0700 2007 more...]]> 514964 0045228708 49 9 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1211318439m/514964.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/514964.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hitman 4 1 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri May 25 03:58:09 -0700 2007 Fri May 25 04:12:09 -0700 2007
Here's why a lot of people will like this book: see above.

Perkins story about himself is not for everyone; I'll tell you that right now. The biggest reasons are...more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 4 1 false Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Mon Sep 17 06:51:11 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 17 06:51:11 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 5 1 false Sat Oct 11 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Dec 29 16:25:49 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 16:46:59 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 5 1 false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 12 13:13:42 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 08 08:41:42 -0700 2008 1

I appreciate that the author wrote this book and honestly detailed his role in the exploitation of less-developed countries. The author's company worked on the ass...more...]]> 2159 0452287081 9780452287082 4545 992 3.70 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1160592193m/2159.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2159.Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man 4 1 false Sat Mar 28 00:54:51 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 28 01:10:21 -0700 2009
My slightly longer explanation is this: Paradoxically, what makes the book more accessible is also what turns many people off to it. It takes a chunk of his...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1982656