http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...952351-6256033
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (Hardcover)
by John Perkins
Keywords: CAPs: Saudi Arabia, World Bank, Latin America, Middle East,
Peace Corps (more)
Editorial Reviews
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 Carre', 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
[ Audiobook : Confessions of an Economic Hit Man ]
