Confessions of an Economic Hitman

[tex]

I've heard about this book for the last year or so, finally decided to read it. I know that the info presented by Perkins would be inflammatory to some on here, any thoughts?

Shit, forgot the link (http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-8340693-8291109?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175018015&sr=1-1).

[Casper]

I found it extremely interesting, but researching the sources and commentaries it sure looks like a lot of inflated ego.

There are some obvious truths though; The US government tends to promote IMF loans to countries so that US companies can in turn do the work and collect that money. The principle of global exploitation is nothing new. That is what the Monroe Doctrine was based on. And for the longest time it worked well, as there was not a Marxist country in South America until recently. But it also created some of the political problems which are at the root of the US' immigration problem.

[01WhiteCobra]

I read the book last year. A little sensationalist but overall I believe what he wrote.

I just started A Game As Old As The Empire: The Secret World Of Economic Hit Men and the Web Of Global Corruption.

Same type of stuff but we some more characters.

[AL P]

I don't think anything in the book would suprise me. But on the flip side what can anyone expect, are we just supposed to give money away with no strings attached??

[Andrew]

I don't think anything in the book would suprise me. But on the flip side what can anyone expect, are we just supposed to give money away with no strings attached??

It's not that there are no strings attached, it's that we are overloaning and overpromising proposed economic development HOPING that it won't occur so that we can extract our pound of flesh from the country in question WHEN (not if) it defaults on the loans.

I just finished reading this book myself.

[Casper]

That book is the Economics version of the Davinci Code.

Before anyone gets too carried away believing Perkins is really credible they should check out some of his earlier works:

Shapeshifting

Shamanic techniques for global and personal transformation. A captivating journey integrating modern and ancient techniques to bring about profound healing.

The World Is As You Dream It

Shamanic techniques from the Amazon and Andes. Revolutionary dream-changing concepts to access inner power for personal and communal healing.

Psychonavigation

First hand accounts of how diverse tribal cultures travel beyond time and space by means of visions and dream wanderings.

Sprit Of the Shuar

Wisdom from the last Unconquered People of the Amazon.


Yes, this is the same John Perkins at http://www.johnperkins.org/Books.htm

kookookookookookookookookookook....

[AL P]

It's not that there are no strings attached, it's that we are overloaning and overpromising proposed economic development HOPING that it won't occur so that we can extract our pound of flesh from the country in question WHEN (not if) it defaults on the loans.

I just finished reading this book myself.

And these countries are victims I guess? No one has a gun to their head when it comes to this stuff, they could easily say "no thank you". Instead their greedy ass politicians take the money and suddenly it is all our fault.

I don't say we are blameless but lets spread that blame around a little bit to all the people who deserve it. It's no different than other areas of our foreign policy, which coincidentally is not a whole lot different than the policies of other countries.

[tex]

It only took a year, but I finally got some responses.

[Andrew]

And these countries are victims I guess? No one has a gun to their head when it comes to this stuff, they could easily say "no thank you". Instead their greedy ass politicians take the money and suddenly it is all our fault.

I don't say we are blameless but lets spread that blame around a little bit to all the people who deserve it. It's no different than other areas of our foreign policy, which coincidentally is not a whole lot different than the policies of other countries.

The politicians and others in high positions of power win, but everyone else loses. I contend that yes, the countries are victims.

The US is not innocent. Read the book and then tell me what you think. I'll even let you borrow it if you like.

[Andrew]

It only took a year, but I finally got some responses.

I read slow! ;)

lol not really, just got the book a couple weeks ago.

[Casper]

The politicians and others in high positions of power win, but everyone else loses. I contend that yes, the countries are victims.


But they don't, and they aren't.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/26/AR2006022601265.html

Perkins is a kook pure and simple. His style is pretty cool, it does read well, but it isn't any great secret revelation suddenly made public.

...
Since the mid-1970s, when Perkins was touring the world as a hit man, fully half of the top 100 American industrial corporations have disappeared from that list. So what is this corporatocracy that Perkins fears? Is it the failing General Motors? Or vanished international banks such as S.G. Warburg? Or is it perhaps Chas. T. Main, Perkins's own employer in his hit-man days, which was swallowed up by a rival years ago?

[Andrew]

But they don't, and they aren't.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/26/AR2006022601265.html

Perkins is a kook pure and simple. His style is pretty cool, it does read well, but it isn't any great secret revelation suddenly made public.

You can spin it any way you want. The article that you posted has one man's opinion which is not backed up by (much) fact. I bet you think that Walmart is good for the world too, don't you?

[Casper]

You can spin it any way you want. The article that you posted has one man's opinion which is not backed up by (much) fact. I bet you think that Walmart is good for the world too, don't you?

I doubt if you would believe anything that didn't already fit your preconceived notions so go on and be a kook follower.

Every argument about how walmart was going to ruin the world was said before about Kmart, and you see how that worked out. Before that it was the big catalogue stores like Monkey Wards. And before that it was the factory outlets like Dexter. Even now walmart is having trouble with amazon, yahoo, ebay and other online merchants.

[AL P]

The politicians and others in high positions of power win, but everyone else loses. I contend that yes, the countries are victims.

The US is not innocent. Read the book and then tell me what you think. I'll even let you borrow it if you like.

I know enough about the book to know that greed is the real problem.

The problem I have is when people label certain things that our country does as "bad" when every other major power does the same thing or attempts to do the same thing. All of a sudden we are the bad guy for giving people loans that they take of their own free will? I don't think so.

[AL P]

I doubt if you would believe anything that didn't already fit your preconceived notions so go on and be a kook follower.

Every argument about how walmart was going to ruin the world was said before about Kmart, and you see how that worked out. Before that it was the big catalogue stores like Monkey Wards. And before that it was the factory outlets like Dexter. Even now walmart is having trouble with amazon, yahoo, ebay and other online merchants.

"Trouble" is a relative term in my opinion. The company is taking a shit and the executives will make a fortune and then declare bankruptcy. It will take years. I think it is all planned.

We refer to it as the life cycle of a company here at work and are particularly interested in it because when all these retail chains go under they usually get to tear up the lease to their buildings in bankruptcy court.

[Casper]

The contention in the book is that we somehow force other governments to take loans and award contracts, and if they refuse we send the CIA in to assassinate the leaders.

So why is Chavez still in power? Living proof that the theory is untrue.

Why is the G8 pressing to relieve 3rd world debt?

Must be some kind of conspiracy to make perkins look bad and discredit him. Yeah, that's it. The illuminati is worried about some kook who writes books on how to channel dead spirits.

:rolleyes:

[Casper]

"Trouble" is a relative term in my opinion. The company is taking a shit and the executives will make a fortune and then declare bankruptcy. It will take years. I think it is all planned.

We refer to it as the life cycle of a company here at work and are particularly interested in it because when all these retail chains go under they usually get to tear up the lease to their buildings in bankruptcy court.

Well yeah, the idea of the golden parachute goes back to the days of Moses and the Pharaoh :D

[AL P]

The contention in the book is that we somehow force other governments to take loans and award contracts, and if they refuse we send the CIA in to assassinate the leaders.

So why is Chavez still in power? Living proof that the theory is untrue.

Why is the G8 pressing to relieve 3rd world debt?

Must be some kind of conspiracy to make perkins look bad and discredit him. Yeah, that's it. The illuminati is worried about some kook who writes books on how to channel dead spirits.

:rolleyes:

Oh I see. If this was true why didn't we assasinate Saddam Hussein? Or the current president of Iran? It doesn't make much sense to me that we would do it for money but not to prevent a war that costs billions.

[AL P]

Well yeah, the idea of the golden parachute goes back to the days of Moses and the Pharaoh :D

Well parachute implies an emergency. I like to think of it as an intentional course of events.

[Casper]

Oh I see. If this was true why didn't we assasinate Saddam Hussein? Or the current president of Iran? It doesn't make much sense to me that we would do it for money but not to prevent a war that costs billions.

According to Perkins we were attempting to do just that since 1990. And we didn't have the resources to deal with Venezuela.

That kind of fell apart when saddam was captured, tried and executed.

Supposedly the resources were diverted to the tiny little island of Cuba to overthrow Castro.

Looks like Cancer took care of things there.

I'm sure the next excuse will involve the Olympics in Beijing or something. There are only a few CIA operatives capable of taking care of someone who gives speeches regularly out in the open, and who has enough political enemies to cover the blame.

Even his preface is silly on the surface; that he was interviewed by the NSA in order to get a job at Charles Main. If the NSA interviewed him clandestinely he would never have known about it. And the NSA is mostly codebreakers, not accountants.

[Andrew]

I doubt if you would believe anything that didn't already fit your preconceived notions so go on and be a kook follower.

Every argument about how walmart was going to ruin the world was said before about Kmart, and you see how that worked out. Before that it was the big catalogue stores like Monkey Wards. And before that it was the factory outlets like Dexter. Even now walmart is having trouble with amazon, yahoo, ebay and other online merchants.

I actually had no preconceived notions, and my opinion before reading the book was probably 180 degrees off from Perkins. There is a reason that other countries hate us and terrorists attack us. I don't think it's because we have done nothing and they are just sitting, jealous on the sidelines.

If you do a little more research you'll see that he's not the only one crying wolf here.

[AL P]

I actually had no preconceived notions, and my opinion before reading the book was probably 180 degrees off from Perkins. There is a reason that other countries hate us and terrorists attack us. I don't think it's because we have done nothing and they are just sitting, jealous on the sidelines.

If you do a little more research you'll see that he's not the only one crying wolf here.

Other countries have always hated us until there is something in it for them.

Wait, that sounds a lot like a good thing to keep in mind when formulating our foreign policy. I think we could be on to something.

[Casper]

I actually had no preconceived notions, and my opinion before reading the book was probably 180 degrees off from Perkins. There is a reason that other countries hate us and terrorists attack us. I don't think it's because we have done nothing and they are just sitting, jealous on the sidelines.

If you do a little more research you'll see that he's not the only one crying wolf here.

I have, and there is certainly enough shameful behavior to go around.

And I have seen first hand how large corporations often find themselves in bed with their enemies due to circumstances. Coopting agendas so to speak.

But Perkins is full of it. Like any good conspiracy writer, he draws the reader in with very believeable conjecture. But he makes himself larger than life. In reality, even if half of what he says is plausible, he did not play the huge earthshaking role that he implies. And there isn't a grand cabal of illuminati directing all the clandestined behavior. The actors involved would kick their own mother's dead carcass over just to stick a knife in her back. Look at the Hunt Brothers.

Which is Al's point; the world doesn't play nice, and we are part of that world.

[01WhiteCobra]

casper, like everything else in the world you need to take Perkins with a a grain of salt. I do believe his basic story is true with embellishments that any author will take.

[BadValveSeals]

Flipped through the book, a while back. Some of it was interesting, but it some of the stuff seems contrived, who knows. When it comes to tell-tale look into the conspiracy, no-one did it better than Professor Carrol Quigley, in his book "Tragedy and Hope" a history of the world in our time. Gary Allan used alot his research in "None Dare Call it Treason".

Yes, basically we are fighting Egalitarian Elitist, who think they are owed the world and want total state control. They have no respect for law, ie. National/State Sov., Constitutions, etc. They loath Common Man. It's nothing new, our fore-fathers understood, but we've been to busy chasing after the almighty worthless, fiat/inflated paper dollar. We've been fooled and had, by the onslaught of 20th century Statist propaganda in all forms. This ism, that ism, you name it we fell for it. Oh, look something new and progressive, that is really old and regressive, and ultimately deadly for the many. Gee, lets drink sianide too.

I don't see a conspiracy around ever corner, but who ever doubts conspiracy, please let me know when that day, when men stopped conspiring against one another, especially at the top echelons. No really.......I wanna know. Thats funny.

[Casper]

Yes, basically we are fighting Egalitarian Elitist, who think they are owed the world and want total state control. They have no respect for law, ie. National/State Sov., Constitutions, etc. They loath Common Man. It's nothing new, our fore-fathers understood, but we've been to busy chasing after the almighty worthless, fiat/inflated paper dollar.

And they were not elitists? Of course they didn't think so, because they were rebelling against a different set of elitists, just like the Anglican elitists were rebelling against a Catholic elite. Just like the almighty greek republic was all about the "common man", even though that did not include Helots.

Besides, wouldn't it be nice to be one of those elitists?

"Smithers, release the hounds..." :p

[Slowhand]

The politicians and others in high positions of power win, but everyone else loses. I contend that yes, the countries are victims.

The US is not innocent. Read the book and then tell me what you think. I'll even let you borrow it if you like.

he never said the US was innocent :confused:

and can you really contend that the countries are victims here? like Al P said, it's greed. they can easily just say no.

[BadValveSeals]

I haven't seen another set of so-called elitist, deliberate on a document between man and state since. If you know of any, pass it my way. Whatever their personal problems/faults, they made a damn good effort for a fair and just state. Ultimately it was written for Common Men, not the elite.

It's always good to be the King, Machevelli, but you better have the biggest gun and all the gold, and since you are posting on a babyshit thread interacting with common men, you probably ain't one of them.

These people don't give a fuck about religion (never have and regardless of which one), other than using it for an angle to more power. Control is their Creed! The world is now smaller, and their goals/desires are much easier to achieve.


The Hunts? Them boys are baby shit compared to the other ballers in world. Can you say johnny come latelys.