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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
by: John Perkins

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.042092
EAN: 9780452287082
ISBN: 0452287081
Label: Plume
Manufacturer: Plume
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: December 27, 2005
Publisher: Plume
Sales Rank: 629
Studio: Plume

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Product Description:
The runaway bestseller that has generated a major movie deal—and an international dialogue—with over 170,000 copies sold in hardcover and seven weeks on the New York Times list

“Economic hit men,” John Perkins writes,” are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as Empire but one that has taken on terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.”

John Perkins should know—he was an economic hit man for an international consulting firm that worked to convince developing countries to accept enormous loans and to funnel that money to U.S.corporations. Once these countries were saddled with huge debts, the American government and international aid agencies were able to request their “pound of flesh” in favors, including access to natural resources, military cooperation, and political support.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is the story of one man’s experiences inside the intrigue, greed, corruption and little-known government and corporate activities that America has been involved in since World War II, and which have dire consequences for the future of democracy and the world.

“[A] gripping tell-all book.”—The Rocky Mountain News
“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

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

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- No economic info here
Nothing special about economic indicators, or how to observe the hitmens behavior in economics, but more so a life history of the authers growth in this craft. The book was entertaining, but I wanted information, about the imf, C-banks and so on. So if your looking for an informative educational book one star, if you want entertainment, and to learn about the author 5 stars. Good reading.

Rating:

- Unbridled Capitalism & Foreign Policy
The author gives us a rare insight into how the US conducts "foreign policy" that primarily benefits US corporate/conglomerate profit interests. Similar to the US "military-industrial complex" that President Eisenhower warned us about in 1961, the author sounds a warning about how narrow monied interests guide the conduct of foreign "assistance" and "relations" so that the public interests, in both the US and the "target" country are ill-served. This is a MUST READ for American voters and the new generation of elected decision-makers.

Rating:

- act out of your conscience or live the consequences
there are many great, kind and charitable americans. the presidents and the government represented american....

for years, as now everyone knows that there was no nuclear weapon found in iraq, haliburton is still making great money. people like bush family, dick cheney have a lot to do with this company. they made great money. they were the one declaring war. and they were the ones making friends with the dictators of the world. look where it has got america and the world. i hope McCain will not win. and obviously the lady running mate of his. with all due respect, someone who has little education, and pro-live and pro-gun. imagine the future of america and the world in the hands of these duo.

this book is an eye opener. the view it presented has tied in with the facts i have previously known.

american should care more about the rest of the world and the action of their leaders. ... Read More

Rating:

- Great Thesis - No Proof
Mr. Perkins has a great thesis and great angst about his role in the world. His thesis is simple - American engineering and oil companies go to third world countries and give hugely inflated estimates of growth potential. Using those inflated numbers, they induce the countries to get loans so they can hire the American companies to do the work. The country then is unable to repay the loan. The theory implicates American companies, the many politicians with ties to them and the World Bank, IMF and other financial institutions.

Unfortunately, Mr. Perkins fails to come up with the proofs. His outline appears feasible, but he never gives any instances of the loan and default portion of the thesis. There is nary a number or statistic to back him up. He does not cite a single defaulted loan.

Further, Mr. Perkins often draws parellels to the American Founders and our Revolution. His grasp of ... Read More

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