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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization
to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S.
Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions
We spend the hour with John Perkins, a former respected
member of the international banking community. In his book
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man he describes how as a highly
paid professional, he helped the U.S. cheat poor countries
around the globe out of trillions of dollars by lending them
more money than they could possibly repay and then take over
their economies
John Perkins describes himself as a former economic hit man
- a highly paid professional who cheated countries around
the globe out of trillions of dollars.
20 years ago Perkins began writing a book with the working
title, "Conscience of an Economic Hit Men."
Perkins writes, "The book was to be dedicated to the
presidents of two countries, men who had been his clients
whom I respected and thought of as kindred spirits - Jaime
Roldós, president of Ecuador, and Omar Torrijos, president
of Panama. Both had just died in fiery crashes. Their deaths
were not accidental. They were assassinated because they opposed
that fraternity of corporate, government, and banking heads
whose goal is global empire. We Economic Hit Men failed to
bring Roldós and Torrijos around, and the other type
of hit men, the CIA-sanctioned jackals who were always right
behind us, stepped in.
John Perkins goes on to write: "I was persuaded to stop
writing that book. I started it four more times during the
next twenty years. On each occasion, my decision to begin
again was influenced by current world events: the U.S. invasion
of Panama in 1980, the first Gulf War, Somalia, and the rise
of Osama bin Laden. However, threats or bribes always convinced
me to stop."
But now Perkins has finally published his story. The book
is titled Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. John Perkins
joins us again in our Firehouse studios for an extended discussion.
- John Perkins, from 1971 to 1981 he worked for the international
consulting firm of Chas T. Main where he was a self-described
"economic hit man." He is the author of the new
book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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