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Confessions of an Economic Hitman

Author: John Perkins
Category: Non-fiction

This is by far one of the most disturbing books which promises the break the enchantment of the American Dream, by opting to show the dark side of our nations Imperialistic ways, rubbing the make up off the face of our capitalist approach to show the darker visage beneath. The fact that it is told not by a scholar, not by a researcher but in fact by one of the very men that set the gears in motion, certainly makes this book that much more chilling.

In what turns out to be a page-turner of a book, similar to Robert Baer’ in style but closer to “The Looming Tower” in insight, John Perkins tells of his rise in the corporatocracy, which is what he sees as the driving force of the nation. He proceeds to explain how it is that corporations and handfuls of westernized organizations are the ones pulling the strings in a very complicated scheme that crosses international borders. The way things work are simple, organizations such as MAIN (the corporation for which he worked as an Economic Forecaster), Bechtel, Halliburton and others are sent abroad to countries in which the US (or other westernized nations, of which of course the US is the most powerful and influential) has interest. These Economic Hit Men (EHMs) are essentially charged with finding a way of cooking the numbers as best as possible to provide and argument for tremendous loans to be made for the country in question.

While masked as aid from organizations such as the International Monetary Fund or USAID, it is the job of the EHM’s to convince the heads of state to take on loans so large which their countries will never truly be able to pay off, but which promise to make a handful of powerful elite in their country rich, and which provide contracts with American companies that will in fact make the American’s more money while often destroying the regions, countries, cultures and peoples that they come in contact with. It is a vicious scheme, where a country will borrow money it will actually never really see, they agree to take out a loan which in actuality never leaves America but which the other countries will have to pay off themselves. Of course, this ensures not only the ability for the US to control that country’s resources, but also to draw necessary favors as needed, such as votes in the U.N.

Scarier yet, is the fact that this is only the first wave of a triple wave scheme. If the EHMs fail to do their job, the United States then employs CIA agents (what John Perkins refers to as jackals), who infiltrate the country with the objective of subversion and destabilization. If the U.S. finds itself at odds with a particular populist leader, such as Torrijos, Allende, or Sadam Hussein, the jackals are sent in to assassinate, or conveniently have them meet an unfortunate accident which will leave the path open for a U.S. backed government (often a dictatorship) to come to power. In exchange for looking the other way (as the U.S. did with Osama Bin Laden when providing them with weapons and finances to fight against the Soviets) the U.S. will have gained a government which will be far more willing to bend over backwards for them. Should the second wave, however, fail to work, as they failed in Panama (Manuel Noriega) and Iraq (Sadam Hussein), then the third wave is sent in which is essentially a military strike.

Given that the men behind these companies, the monetary funds and the U.S. government happen to be the same small group of people, one can see how this begins to look like a very frightening picture and the Imperialistic picture that the world has painted American in begins to look more and more real. By providing insight into the underhanded dealings that go on, the bribes, the schemes that take place, Perkins makes the argument that at the rate we are going, things will eventually turn against us, the way things turned against the British when the Americans finally rebelled. Ironic, it would seem that we went on to become exactly what we stood against as a nation.

Carefully straying away from partisan talk and making it clear that the U.S. is not the only player in this unbalanced game, the author puts on the table a chilling look that will change the way you look at world dealings, that clarifies the dangers of globalization and the risk that Free Trade Agreements run. While the common people like us are convinced that what we are doing is a favor and charity for another nation, John Perkins shows us that we have all been manipulated to see what the men in power have wanted us to see all along.

Often, after the event’s of 9/11 I heard people ask themselves, why is it that the world hates us so much? Is it their jealousy, their bitter anger? In part, I suppose that is true, but this book provides an argument that might just open your eyes to the fact that the U.S. may not necessarily be the saintly nation it has pretended to be all along.

It should be stated, as a final note that the author provides only his point of view for what he was, an EHM working for an American company. As such, he is only able to talk about the work he did, only on the projects he was involved with and only for the country he worked for. While it is clear that other companies and other nations are playing the same game, he only focuses on that which he actually experienced. The uber-patriotic and the hard line republicans are going to have a very difficult time facing up to the points this book so clearly outlines, but the author also points out that this is not a partisan manner, but rather a statement against the ideology that America has adopted as a whole. In the end, it does not matter if you are Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or any other party you can think off, the outcome is exactly the same.