Target for Economic Hit Men?
January 9, 2010 by Johnperkins
Filed under Recent Posts
Was Iceland a Target for Economic Hit Men?
I confessed the sins of predatory politicians and analyzed the reasons for the current meltdown in my book Hoodwinked. I am a openly admit being a reformed economist. If we return to our “normal” blueprints for the global economy, it would prove disastrous! The steps to transform “the mutant form of capitalism” into a system based on sustainability and justice is our future. Please watch my video below from the Commonwealth Club
Very true.
Simple Example
While USA is pursuing that Indonesia and Malaysia are destroying forests to cultivate Palm Plantations, they have destroyed more of the Amazon forests to cultivate soyabean.
The model , although has worked in the past, it is facing death in the hands of Chinese, who extends Loans to the tune of billions to the african states in return for the minerals,,a barter trade that is not done on USD and could not be tracked by Washington.
I just finished reading the Confessions of an Economic Hitman and found it to be an excelent read with amazing insight into global politics and our current economy in the US.
Though I agree with John that we can’t blame consipiracies for all the wrong things in our world, does that mean that there are no conspiracies at all?
What are your views on the Lucis Trust?
BOOK REVIEW ON “CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HITMAN”
By John Perkins
The context of the book made by Mr. Perkin is actually a shocking confession considering that it somewhat demonize his chosen field- economic hit man. This is being exemplified by most of his reflections in such a way that it described the negative effects of the “corporatocracy” in which he, himself, built in different countries.
This 35-chapter book of Mr. Perkin is chronologically arranged in terms of his background and experience- the conscience and confession. The persuasiveness and artistry of his book coupled with outstanding in-depth analysis and the provocative information presented made this book a very interesting material for those readers who have concern for our planet. The difficulty of remembering bits of information and specific details about his life was not an impediment in writing this radical and self-exonerating book. For the reviewer, this adds flavour and substance in analyzing and digesting the articles presented by Mr. Perkin. For being realistic and relying to factual information boosts the fidelity and reliability of his confessions.
For Mr. Perkin, we can say that he is somewhat lucky because he was given the opportunity to become an economic personality (Chief Economist and Manager) despite of his “not so good” standing as a student and a son. Luck, opportunity, and cleverness can really make things possible. In the same point of view, we are also lucky that he was able to confess his contributions in the so-called “global empire.” With the important information and reliable facts recorded in the book, the readers can self-analyze the current situation of the world in terms of its economic and political fields and level it with the current situation of their own countries.
In general, the book summarized the contributions of the economic hit man in robbing the lives of the poor countries- most of which belongs to the Third World Countries like the Philippines. By creating false economic forecast, they would be able to convince banks and other financial agencies to finance countries aimed to be victimized. The so-called EHM (economic hit men) disguised in the cloth of growth and development in order to show that they are very altruistic in the discharge of their duties and responsibilities. They would try to build transportation system, electricity, dams, and communication facilities just like what they did in Ecuador, Panama, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia and portray that they are the bringers of economic development in the region. In reality, these countries were doomed because they will now form part of the so-called global empire. In the context of US global empire, target countries are victimized by ensuring that they will become so much dependent in the US economy and more importantly, to the different financial institutions.
Backed by global lending agencies such as the IMF, World Bank and ADB, countries were being manipulated by the EHM to succumb to the interest of the different corporations which are known today as transnational corporations (TNAs). The monetary agencies would lend the country the money in exchange for some conditionals. The money would be given to the different TNCs in order to build infrastructure projects for the region. In this event, exploitation begins. This can be in the form of environmental exploitation such as extracting oils and mines from the country and utilizing its environmental reserves for the benefit of some wealthy local families but mostly to the corporation.
Further, if the country cannot pay their debts, they can reciprocate by allowing the US to build military bases in their country, make them vote for something in the UN, by non-aligning themselves to the communist countries, or by offering their own environment to the corporations.
The book doesn’t only concern with the ways in which the US can control the economies of other countries. It also presented some methodologies that can be used in order to control a whole country. First is the use of EHM. Most of them are economist, engineers, and professionals dealing with the local populace in order to extract data needed in forecasting economic growth. Its role also is to assure the heads of the state that they will have a gain (materially) in the different projects that the corporations will offer. It is also the role of the EHM to persuade the leaders that the projects of the TNCs would be beneficial to the country especially for those who do not know the games of “debt-payback.” If in case, the EHM failed its mission such as what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan, the “jackals” will take over.
The jackals played the robe of a CIA agent. Its responsibilities are to ensure that the interest of the United States would be preserved by making a more direct confrontation with the leaders of the states. These can be exemplified by rigging elections, establishing a coup, and sometimes assassinating leaders just what happened in Ecuador and Panama, and to other states which do not succumb to the influence of the EHM.
If the jackals failed, then invasion begins. This happened in Panama after the US realized the importance of the Panama Canal to their economy in which Panama failed to give in. Although, different countries reacted furiously with this unilateral action, the US justified the invasion as a way of saving the Panama from its corrupt leader. The same happened in the Afghanistan and Iraq where both the EHM and jackals failed to its mission. The US tried to justify the invasion by means of aligning their leaders to some terrorist groups which for some time, the US also supported. These ways of controlling the economies of other countries for financial gain are intensified by the self-interest greed of the different TNCs and their cohorts in the US government.
Moreover, this book informed us of the true color of economic development. In the analysis of Perkin, he showed that by definition, the economic growth and development means the growth and development of the few rich families. Rich families get richer while poor families get even poorer. The growth of the country as well as the growth in the GNP can be deceptive in our eyes. Data can be manipulated so as to arrive in a conclusion that there is indeed development but in reality the profit goes only to the TNCs and to some loyal families benefiting from such exploitation. The poor people would have no place to go but to follow the standards set by the authors of the growth of GNP. In this case, the increase in GNP was perceived as a subterfuge in the looming poverty of a country.
With the pertinent information presented, we can also be informed of some model countries which became enlightened with the destructive nature of the TNCs. In this book, it presented Panama as a country asserting self-rule away from the destructive forces of the EHM. Recognized as the hero of modern Panama was Omar Torrijos. He was determined to raise his country from the pitfall of American imperialism. Accordingly, Torrijos believed in social reform and in helping those born in poverty while not advocating communism. He was determined to win freedom from the United States without forging alliances with the communists. This particular instance can better recognize Torrijos as an advocate of self-determination while being not a puppet of any foreign countries. But later, this assertion over Panama’s sovereign territory would be hampered by his death caused by the perceived assassination by the jackals.
Thinking most of the time that the US is really perpetuating crimes against the humanity just to protect its own interest, I tend to believe that the World Trade Attack last September 11, 2001 was one of the recent activities perpetuated by the jackals in order to justify invasion against Iraq and Afghanistan. As presented in the book, while there was a declared restriction in the air space just right after the World Trade attack, some Arab individuals and families closely connected with the Bush family were given a go signal to fly the US airspace going to Saudi Arabia. Further, families of Bin Laden, the perceived perpetuator of the 9/11 attack were also given boarding pass during the restriction period. Does it mean that there is collaboration between the government and the supposed terrorist group?
We know for a fact that Afghanistan and Iraq are countries rich in oil. Just right after the invasion, different corporations and oil companies picnicked in these territories in order to extract oil. With this as a factual information, one can say that the confession of Perkin is a true and a valid realization of what is really happening in our world- that the US along with the TNC just wanted oil from these countries and that the hunting of terrorist groups were just a subterfuge for their master plan.
INTEGRATION TO PHILIPPINE CONTEXT
The confessions made by John Perkin about the role of the IMF and WB are as much as old as what the communists and cause-oriented groups in the Philippines are explaining to the public. It was being said that the Philippines is a neo-colonial country since it isn’t free economically from the interventions of the US and TNCs. We know for a fact that the country has an outstanding debt in which it cannot repay absolutely. With this, we are expected to be exploited by the foreign TNCs in terms of our natural resources. The passage of the Mining Act of 1995 and Trade Liberalization are some of the indicators of these exploitations. Local politicians are crumbling just to preserve the same system that enables them to stay in power and to become richer. Privatization is very imminent as a way of following the instructions of the IMF and WB. The end result would be the increase in the cost of basic commodities and heavy dependence on foreign economies.
This is what happening right now. Unless we do something right, the exploitation and imperialism will continue to flourish in our country.
Hoodwinking , is pretty easy when all that one sees and hears comes
through the ilk of news corp and other payola soap boxes.
When everything is being “privatized” with the promise that
a corporation can pay costs of service plus share holder dividends for
less than a costs only government service, I can understand why
our educations systems are rigged to produce intellects that would buy into that.
In my mind the fact is that corporations will never reign in their desires
for grand profits and it is unreasonable to expect tigers and wolves to become
lambs. Whatever solutions we come up with must simply make doing “the right thing” profitable.
If of all the positive governmental changes possible I could but select one,
I think that would be disposing of all existing governmental income streams
and replacing them with a flat sales tax. This would at least be one instance
where we could then have greedy corporations, spend happy government and
the citizens pulling the cart in a common direction, uniting the people’s and governments desires to consume with the corporations desires to have consumption.
I readily admit that this is but a single idea, but it is one that fallows my
belief that solutions to problems should not be phrased as penalties , punishment and enforcement , but rather productive opportunities.
If we add regulations , corporations have demonstrated a distinct talent
in dancing around them, but opportunity is something corporations tend to line up for.
with a flat sales
The truth in your “economic hitman” book is self evident to anyone living in American with open eyes. I started it last night, am only about half way through but am wondering if this behaviour hasn’t already filtered down to every government body in America. The county I live is already owned by the corporations that preyed on our resources with great promises and left us nothing but unemployment and problems and are now preying on a neighboring county. They come bearing promises of economic growth with inflated projections of every kind. My question would be, do they compromise the county officials before they get their support, so they just can’t say no, or are they really that stupid. When we can’t seem to stop them at the grass root level in rural America, how can we stop them on an intertional level?
Thank you John, you remain human.