US economic model a failure?
February 12, 2010 by Johnperkins
Filed under Recent Posts
I hope you’ll click on the link below to the PDF file my editorial published this week in the Latin American newspaper CORREO DEL ORINOCO.
We’ve converted it to English for you and it is in PDF format so that you can download it, print it out, and share it with your friends as well via email.
The title of the editorial, “Is the U.S. Economic Model a Failure,” and here is an excerpt:
“The predatory capitalists have pillaged the most valuable resources of countries around the planet and exploited their people in the name of profit.”
Click this link here for downloadable PDF file – Perkins CORREO .
Again, please feel free to share it with your groups and friends. I’d love to hear your thoughts as always on the topic through the blog!
Many thanks!
John Perkins
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I just finished reading “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” and it was life-changing. Your book confirmed what I had suspected and was very difficult to read at times. Brutally honest, it forced me to look at myself and admit that I was a part of the problem. As consumers, most of us don’t think about how our goods are manufactured or the people that are exploited in the process. Those that do often don’t care. I’ve vowed to spread the word and enlighten others the way you have enlightened me. Thank you!!
The economic model of the USA has a major flaw because we reward rent seeking. The incentive to hoard land for speculative purposes undermines our economy. Land bubbles are perpetually created because we punish those who work and invest, but allow those who privatize our commonwealth reign free from taxation. The origination of our periodic recessions start with land speculation.
Shift taxes of human effort on to land value, air waves, and natural resources.
Reading Confession of EHT is like putting the pieces of puzzle together, now the picture is complete and thorough, I’ll keep telling people I know about it, but would you mind translating the book to other languages like Arabic ?!! Please reply.
JOHN SIR YOU ARE GREAT,YOU HAVE GREAT RANGE OF THOUGHTS AND I LIKE YOUR ECONOMIC THOUGHT. JOHN SIR I WANT TO KNOW THE LOGICS OF ECONOMIC CONCEPT.AND GUIDE ME HOW CAN I DEVELOP MY CAPACITY TO THINK LIKE YOU.
Thanks John for helping piece the puzzle together. Run for President.
The role Of Neo-Liberalism, in widening the income gap between the rich and the poor.
June 5, 2010 by politicalsnapshots.wordpress.com
The role of Neo-Liberalism, in widening the income gap between the rich and the poor.
“One of the most pronounced effects of Neo liberalism is to create wealth inequality within national borders and between states. Within a decade of adopting free market policies, the class divide in the US and UK became significant.” Professor G. William Domhoff. UC @ Santa Cruz.
It is just another indictment of Neo liberalism and its multi-faceted destructive policies encumbered upon people of the world. It is very fascinating to note, that the income gap between the poor and the rich has more pronouncedly been evident in the US and UK, the joint creators of Neo liberalism.
This enormous income gap between the rich and the poor in the US has concentrated more power in the hands of the rich and has created a feeling of helplessness on the majority of American citizens who have been marginalized by Neo liberal policies.
Consequently, sooner or later, the question will arise, whose country is it anyway? It is obvious that the widening of the income gap in the US is close to the breaking point. It is not if, but when it breaks, no one can forecast how it might end. It is just that the Corporations are blinded by greed, and our representatives are muzzled by big business.
Writing on the subject of Neo liberalism’s impact on social cohesion, David Coburn, from the University of Toronto writes: “While it has been asserted that neo-liberalism produces a lowered sense of community it might also be argued that the rise of neo-liberalism is itself a signifier of the decline of more widespread feelings of social solidarity. The political rise of neo-liberalism is freighted with a more individualistic view of society and, perhaps, itself reflects a decline in the notion of we are all in the same boat. Not only do neo-liberal policies undermine the social infrastructure underlying social cohesion but neo-liberal movements themselves are partial causes of the decline of a sense of social cohesion.”
It is absolutely frightening, what Neo liberalism is doing to societies. It is corroding the very fiber that societies are built upon. Neo liberalism is cancerous. It is undermining our Democratic system. When a government becomes a by stander when millions are practically becoming paupers, while the few are amassing billions, then, the people have no protector. Laws, Rules and Regulations are in the books only to protect the interest of the rich.
In a wonderful article entitled, “Skewed Wealth Distribution and the Roots of the Economic Crisis”, David Barber, a Professor at the University of Tennessee, wrote:
“And what is true in the United States of the unequal distribution of wealth, and of the consequences of that unequal distribution, is true again on a world scale. This super-poor mass of humanity, from whose soil is ripped vast amounts of mineral and agricultural wealth, and out of whose labor the world’s manufactured goods increasingly come, are almost wholly excluded from participating in the world’s market economy”. So, what is to be done?
While a number of social scientists have forwarded divergent solutions for anarcho-capitalism to save itself, Professor Michael Rustin at the University of East London suggests the following points are “made necessary by the implosion of the neo-liberal system in the current financial crisis, and are needed to construct a new post-neo-liberal phase of democratic capitalism”.
The five points he has put forward are the following:
(1) A more active role for governments in regulating markets, and especially global financial markets
(2) Constitutional reforms which enhance democratic processes and civil liberties, and create more representative and pluralist systems
(3) Policies, which reduce inequalities, and give greater weight to social justice and social inclusion.
(4) The enhancement of the capacities of international institutions, and especially the EU, to maintain economic stability and growth
(5) Programmes to address the problems of climate change.
Very sensible, are they not? But Wait!!! We have to see which governments have any backbones left in them to try and regulate the market, and do away with thirty years of destruction of the people that started with Reagan and Thatcher.
As I am ready to post this article, I hear a news story that stated that “Hungary might default on its debt”. What is the world coming to. Wasn’t Hungary the darling of the West? Didn’t it do everything that it was asked to? It privatized everything. It reduced government employment. It cut welfare as it was told to do by “free Market Reform” advisors. Hungary did everything a good and obedient follower of Neo liberalism is supposed to do. Yet, it is threatening to “default” on its debt in spite of a $24 billion IMF and EU loan few months back. This is the fruit of Neo Liberalism.
Do you wonder, which devoted and submissive follower of Neo liberalism will bite the dust, next?
Professor Mekonen Haddis.
Hey John and everyone
I just finished reading “Confessions of an economic hitman”. Very powerful, very to the point. It feels like it describes some of the destructive processes in the world that I have felt before, but couldn’t give word to.
However, I was listening to a few years old audio version of the book, while following the text in a later edition that I just bought on Amazon. And I realized that several things had been removed in the later edition. Several things about the Bush family and their connections with the Bin Ladens, stuff about the Rockefellers and stuff about religion, namely SILs methods in persuading the indigenous people of the Amazon to leave their lands.
Can you tell me why has this been removed?
saya sedih bahwa di indonesia kebanyakan orangnya tidak mau berfikir/ tidak menyadari bahwa sistim kapitalis ala amerika sudah mengancurkan dunia secara pisik maupun psikis, yang celakanya lagi tokoh elitmya juga sudah terbius oleh ajaran liberalisme/ kapitalisme.
salam.
Do you think that the current situation in Greece is also due to economic hitmans?
My origin is from Turkey . Turkey was/is also in dept a lot to the IMF etc. Did you or other hitmans also “work” in Turkey?
Sedat
In your book, you mention Indonesia as a victim of the Hitman.
Could you tell us how did the Hitman suffered Indonesian Economy and Foreign policy. As far as i know Indonesian Government plays “The Servant to the Master Relationship” to the US…
Mr Perkinks,
I think something has gone drastically wrong over the last several decades:
people became dumber rather than more intelligent.
reproduction is faulty rather than improved, with lots of health problems showing up.
primitive behavior is exacerbated rather under better control, as is the case when education and civility is assimilated for real.
Ability to focus on a task is at either extreme of what would be a normal spectrum, and that is being predated on.
ETC.
So, apply that to your economic theory, and factor in ‘environment’, which also means technology effect, and it should be a responsible and sustainable world, but no one cares or ask that question because communication is faulty TOO!.
I say is really time to act more than to talk, start with correcting the economy to a system that works.
Thank you for taking time to comment.
John
Dear John,
I totally agree with your view that greed is destroying our economies, our lives, and ultimately our planet. Profit-blinded men (and a few women) push us all faster and faster towards the cliff of no return. We desperately need a new (economic) world order.
But I fail to see an alternative. Many attempts hitherto to overturn a corrupt system have ended in equally corrupt and destructive structures used by one strong man for his own purposes (think Robespierre, Stalin, Mao, Mugabe, Putin, etc). True, there are successful examples; Gandhi, Mandela, Havel; but the democracies thus created are usually weak and vulnerable to be exploited by global profiteers.
We tried creating a supernational “impartial” organization, the UN, to ensure peace, stability, and health to all people; and look at what happened!
I believe that the lust for power and domination is so deeply rooted in our (male) genes that any attempt to bridle it will leave a vacuum, an opportunity for someone else to step in and take over. Sorry for being negative, but I think that if the USA backs down from its claim to lead the world, there will emerge a new world leader somewhere else. And the new leader will probably not be any nicer to us.
So, the best we can do is to clean things up a little; soften the hardest edges of greed and put the worst perpetrators in jail. The world needs tougher laws on corporate activity and more resources put into enforcing those laws. The UN needs a more secure funding to increase its power. And we need to teach our young to share rather than to hoard.
And maybe, we need more women at the top. What about a law that puts at least 50% women in boardrooms and as CEOs? Or even 100%? Women are (in my experience) less greedy and more caring than men. It’s worth a try.
Thank you for letting me know this. I will certainly check into it.
best,
John
Sir, your Confessions of an Economic Hitman might have been adapted as a play in Crete. Don’t know if you’re connected to it or not….
i have read you early works that have worked for me john there is a word they use in south america the spelling slips my brain means oneness with all may you refresh me please cosmic
Many thanks John, for taking the time to take a closer look into the coming shift.
We cannot put our faith in any institution that seeks to consolidate power and take choice (and accountability) away from individuals on any level. Whether it’s in the name of Global Warming, Social Entitlements, Religious Fundamentalism, or Homeland Security, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The leap of faith is that everyday people are empowered with a choice and given that opportunity will make correct decisions about how to best govern their lives. Spiritual/Social reform is the key factor to any lasting political, economic or material shift towards a future of liberty and associated prosperity.
If people choose to live in a manner that embraces mutual respect, free and fair competition and the spirit of an objective common good then we will have both the tools and resources to tackle tomorrow’s toughest challenges.
If on the other hand, greed and excess continue to govern the hearts and minds of many, other innocent bystanders including the natural environment will suffer to the point that it come to a grinding and devastating halt. Either way, natural order will have the final word.
The question is how do we choose to live our lives today to maximize our long-term happiness on every level?
It is not a question of rich versus poor, or vegetarians versus meat eaters, it is a question of fundamental happiness. Do we choose a life that embraces our long-term happiness and therefore enriches the lives of others or do we deceive our selves with excess or deficiencies and continue to miss the mark when it comes to our own happiness?
The riddle is that our long-term happiness is also aligned to the “common good” of others. From everything that we do as human beings from the moment of birth to the day we die our survival is not just a matter of instinct, rather it requires a series of choices and the necessary consequences that result. The more informed and freely these choices are made the happier we become as human beings.
As far as excessive consumption and unsustainable business practices are concerned, higher barriers to market entry and greater control from government tend to have a direct impact on both the quality, variety, and associated cost to the consumer.
I do not believe that taking away consumer choice provides any contribution towards the common good. To the contrary, it deprives others of a possible outlet of creativity, enjoyment and well-being. Let the consumers decide!
So called “environmental reforms” to reduce our “carbon footprint” are really back door mandates to keep industry incumbents in control and have led to the destruction of potentially viable alternatives not to mention a little healthy competition.
Here is one case study of government gone bad:
http://www.westword.com/2008-09-04/news/william-orr-invented-an-alternative-fuel-and-now-he-s-facing-prison-time/
Sadly, companies who have paved the way in infrastructure development and stand to loose control of even a fraction of their enormous market share, with the help of government, might decide to reinvent the rules of the game at any point if compelled to do so.
I believe that there are provable biological underpinnings that lead to certain states of mind. If we can just get people to see where they have adapted ineffectively to the true potential of life on Earth there will be a natural switch to a loving world-view. The greatest joy in life is giving and receiving without limit because it means we are in a state of wealth psychologically. It is a poverty mentality, an inherited consequence of this “mutant capitalism” that leads us to think we’ll get more out of serving ourselves first. Food is the only real issue. We aren’t just spreading a culture of poison economics, we’re spreading a poison diet and lifestyle. The human mind needs to adapt towards true happiness which will motivate all of the sacrifice and community action needed to reach the goals you’ve so eloquently established here.
anna, the answer to your question is to stop usury, as every major religion warns against. our economy is built on a fundamentally flawed inequality: P < P+I. as long as all the money in the system is a debt to bankers, which is a completely unconstitutional money system in the first place, then people, corporations, governments will desperately run the hamster wheel to payoff P+I. otherwise the system collapses. we need to build our society on an equality, not an unstable inequality that puts the world's population in debt to bankers.
Thank you Anna!
Excellent article, but sustainability is not possible unless we look higher up the pyramid to the real reason our economic model is a failure–the money and banking system. Corporations are simply offspring of that exponential system. Blaming Friedman and Reagan sure gives the Rockefellers and the older euro establishment, who created the idea of a corporation in the first place to conquer the world, a free pass–they didn’t need Friedman to tell them to conquer other nations with their oil and banking powers. Compassion, hope, sustainability sound great, but they’re no match for the power of the bond market, usury, and exponential debt growth which drives the corporate perpetual growth models.
Rally for PUBLIC (affordable,compassionate,effective,European style)HEALTH CAR SYSTEM is the answer!
For right now we could rally ALL the milions of American people that have been one way or the other cheated,denied coveraged,terminated,rejected,short changed by their dishonest fraudolent cheating Health Insurances.Rally them from every state when we organize local – city by city – HUNGER STRIKES.
Our banners should read PUBLIC(a.c.e.E.s.)HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IS A HUMAN RIGHT
We should respond to the inevitable aggressions(that naturally will take place manned by police)NON VIOLENTLY – therefore we have to train ourselves in.. AHIMSA,non-violence response
we can do it – in fatc we have to do it – in fact we have NO OTHER CHOICE if we are to be heard, if we are to beat the most elaborate sofisticated corrupt political ystem in the world.
And we have to hurry
John, I agree wholeheartedly with what you say here. I think the whole concept of democracy has been dissapated and no longer represents any stakeholders, other than those who are in power. I think Roz, you make an excellent point about no party politics at all, but proportional representation has been tried unsuccessfully in a couple of countries. People taking responsibility and holding those who represent their voice to delivering what they promised, is a possible shift to considering all parts of the whole. The question is: how can ego be managed, the earth considered, and a move away from focus on economic growth ?
I like what you say John. However on democracy I am convinced that all party politics is now a thing that needs to be rethought. Here in the UK I see so much time wasted by having different parties arguing. If one said something was black the other would say it was white.
I think it is time to move towards proportional representation with the best people for the right jobs and no party politics at all.
Time to chain ourselves to the railings again John.
I am the same age as you and all I have ever heard from whichever political party that has been in ‘power’ has been lies and hypocrisy…
Roz X