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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
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John Perkins Economic Hitman: Book 1

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (2004) (edit title/settings)

The Shocking Inside Story of How America Really Took Over the World

by John Perkins (Author), John Perkins (Author) (edit contributors)

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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man reveals a game that, according to John Perkins, is "as old as Empire" but has taken on new and terrifying dimensions in an era of globalization. Perkins should know. For many years he worked for an international consulting firm where his main job was to... read more

Summary edit see section history

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man reveals a game that, according to John Perkins, is "as old as Empire" but has taken on new and terrifying dimensions in an era of globalization. Perkins should know. For many years he worked for an international consulting firm where his main job was to... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man reveals a game that, according to John Perkins, is "as old as Empire" but has taken on new and terrifying dimensions in an era of globalization. Perkins should know. For many years he worked for an international consulting firm where his main job was to convince LDCs (less developed countries) around the world to accept multibillion-dollar loans for infrastructure projects and to see to it that most of this money ended up at Halliburton, Bechtel, Brown and Root, and other United States engineering and construction companies. This book, which many people warned Perkins not to write, is a blistering attack on a little-known phenomenon that has had dire consequences on both the victimized countries and the U.S.

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “I have found that people warm to you very quickly if you open your eyes, ears and hearts to their culture.”
  • “Democracy is based on an educated populace - not just one that is able to read and write but also people who constantly ask important questions.”
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • First, I was to justify huge international loans that would funnel money back to MAIN and other U.S. companies (such as Bechtel, Halliburton, Stone & Webster, and Brown & Root) through massive engineering and construction projects. Second, I would work to bankrupt the countries that received those loans (after they had paid MAIN and the other U.S. contractors, of course) so that they would be forever beholden to their creditors, and so they would present easy targets when we needed favors, including military bases, UN votes, or access to oil and other natural resources.
    Highlighted by 167 Kindle customers
  • If an EHM is completely successful, the loans are so large that the debtor is forced to default on its payments after a few years. When this happens, then like the Mafia we demand our pound of flesh. This often includes one or more of the following: control over United Nations votes, the installation of military bases, or access to precious resources such as oil or the Panama Canal. Of course, the debtor still owes us the money—and another country is added to our global empire.
    Highlighted by 153 Kindle customers
  • It is driven not by a small band of men but by a concept that has become accepted as gospel: the idea that all economic growth benefits humankind and that the greater the growth, the more widespread the benefits. This belief also has a corollary: that those people who excel at stoking the fires of economic growth should be exalted and rewarded, while those born at the fringes are available for exploitation.
    Highlighted by 148 Kindle customers
  • I have come to understand that life is composed of a series of coincidences. How we react to these—how we exercise what some refer to as free will—is everything; the choices we make within the boundaries of the twists of fate determine who we are.
    Highlighted by 148 Kindle customers
  • 'Arnold Toynbee said that?' I was stunned. 'Yes. Read Civilization on Trial and The World and the West.'
    Highlighted by 143 Kindle customers
  • The United States spends over $87 billion conducting a war in Iraq while the United Nations estimates that for less than half that amount we could provide clean water, adequate diets, sanitation services, and basic education to every person on the planet.4
    Highlighted by 130 Kindle customers
  • I also realized that my college professors had not understood the true nature of macroeconomics: that in many cases helping an economy grow only makes those few people who sit atop the pyramid even richer, while it does nothing for those at the bottom except to push them even lower. Indeed, promoting capitalism often results in a system that resembles medieval feudal societies.
    Highlighted by 128 Kindle customers
  • This imperialist drive has been and continues to be the cause of most wars, pollution, starvation, species extinctions, and genocides. And it has always taken a serious toll on the conscience and well-being of the citizens of those empires, contributing to social malaise and resulting in a situation where the wealthiest cultures in human history are plagued with the highest rates of suicide, drug abuse, and violence.
    Highlighted by 117 Kindle customers
  • Thanks to the biased 'sciences' of forecasting, econometrics, and statistics, if you bomb a city and then rebuild it, the data shows a huge spike in economic growth.
    Highlighted by 112 Kindle customers
  • When men and women are rewarded for greed, greed becomes a corrupting motivator. When we equate the gluttonous consumption of the earth's resources with a status approaching sainthood, when we teach our children to emulate people who live unbalanced lives, and when we define huge sections of the population as subservient to an elite minority, we ask for trouble. And we get it.
    Highlighted by 58 Kindle customers
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First Sentence edit see section history

Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the world out of trillions of dollars.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 1 of 3 in John Perkins Economic Hitman. (standard series)

Followed by The Secret History of the American Empire.

This book is in Oxford PPE UA Amp P Political Economy. (community list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. John Perkins (Author)
  2. John Perkins (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Brian Emerson (Narrator)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2004
ISBN: 1576753018
Page Count: 250

Classification edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • The Secret History of the American Empire
  • A Game as Old as Empire
  • The Ninth Orphan
  • Hoodwinked
  • The Shock Doctrine

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