I wanted to share this review with you by the esteemed author Robert Baer. He posted it on Amazon, but I also wanted to post it here as well. I so appreciate all of the wonderful feedback I that “Hoodwinked” continues to inspire.
Amazon.com Review
Robert Baer is the author of two New York Times bestsellers: Sleeping with the Devil, about the Saudi royal family and its relationship with the United States; and See No Evil, which recounts Baer’s years as a top CIA operative. See No Evil was the basis for the acclaimed film Syriana, which earned George Clooney an Oscar for his portrayal of Baer. Baer has contributed to Vanity Fair, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. He is considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on the Middle East.
“I wasn’t twenty pages into Hoodwinked when I realized Perkins nailed it. What got us into the mess we’re in today, the worst recession since the Great Depression, is the same grotesque capitalism cum corruption we shoved down the throat of the Third World since the end of World War II. (Yes, the Third World’s elites were cheerfully corrupted.)
We, and the rest of the West, learned the trick of selling unneeded infrastructure, services, over-sophisticated weapons–stuff that could never benefit anyone other than the people who lined their pockets. And yes, Perkins is right, the international economists and press were handmaidens to the thievery.
It was all fairly routine until 9/11, when the real gorging started. Tell the people their roof is on fire and they’ll give you whatever you ask for. Between 2001 and 2009 the Department of Defense budget increased 74 percent, and that is not to mention the hundreds of billions of dollars in related contracts. Nigeria on the Potomac.
Perkins is quick to state he doesn’t believe in a grand conspiracy theory. Few of the people who call the shots have ever met each other. They don’t have a playbook other than a couple of fraudulent economists like Milton Friedman and the others who worship at the altar of deregulation. No, what they have in common is an obsession with the winner takes all.
Perkins’s message isn’t going to be popular. We’re a country invested in a system in which five percent of the world’s population consumes 25 percent of the world’s resources. It’s a system we’re trying to sell to the world, only we don’t mention that we’ll need five planets to sustain it.
Perkins isn’t the pessimist I am. He says we can save the world if we green it–and, of course, start telling the truth to each other. Otherwise we end up a banana republic like the ones we know so well how to despoil.” –Robert Baer
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I’m just finishing Perkins’ 2nd book on the American Empire. Eager to read “Confessions” and then “Hoodwinked”. What an eye opener! Sadly, I agree with Robert Baer’s pessimism. We’ve learned how to put a man on the moon, but have, yet, to actualize what it means to be human. How much longer and what catastrophe will it take before we learn? Still, I continue to hope for real change. I’ve always believed in my gut that this nation of ours isn’t the kindest and most gentle. We use, exploit, abuse and then play victim. I,too, worry for my 6 grandchildren and the legacy we’re leaving. Bless Perkins and Baer for shouting out the truth!
Though there have been many hit men and scandalous US Administrations, I just wish for once that I see some justice brought to the likes of Cheney and Bush for what they sowed and reaped. Cheney is the jackal of all jackals!
Thank you Joanne, am so glad to hear you’ve enjoyed the books.
John
Mr. Perkins,
I read Confessions and The Secret History of the American Empire last summer and really enjoyed your writing. I just purchased Hoodwinked and plan on starting it very soon. I know I will not be disappointed.
Please keep up your hard work and continue to pull back the facade for us! Your contribution goes deeper than you probably think.
If one looks hard at how money works off shore you will see a disturbing picture. First a nations currency moves off shore. Second the currency is followed by the nations flag. Third military forces arrive. It takes years for this cycle to play out. Here are some examples; Hati, Central America, Vietnam, Japan, Russia to name a few. US Aid must be scorned along with Free Trade Agreements which benefit mostly the corporations at the expense of the workers. NAFTA exports more Mexicans and drugs than before it was signed in 1993. The DEA and U.S. border patrol can testify to this. Think hard about old Zaire, Africa now called the Rep of Congo. It was brokers flown in by American Minning Ltd who were some of the first to make deals with the new Revolutionary government of Laurant Kabilla. Much talk about so called Democracy took place in public, while back room mineral right deals were worked out which benefited large companies and new ruling government.
Mr. Perkins: Thank you for all that you have done.
There is as you, i am sure know by now another way to kill an opponent,It is called the “Disinformation Bullett”. That was what went on / on coast to coast last night. With, what kind on name is “ian pummett”. Ill bet he had fun in the school playgroud. Eating dirt. Now with his limited educational background of this nation and it’s history he has a talk show. What an ASSHOLE he is.
The disinformationist were calling in and he was only putting them on. He sees the screen before him and selects based on the topic they must tell the screener about first.
We know what this country’s leaders have been doing for the last 60 years.
We know they killed John Kennedy as a choice to continue their plundering. Today it’s called Terrorism, We called it installing Democracy, What a joke.
Keep up the good work John. We here in Western Massachusetts are with you. Remember the first revolution began here. Right on General Knox trail thru rte. 23 in Blandford,Mass. The next one can also start here.
Your making a differance and that is why they are lying about your facts.
Good Luck, James R. Landers
You are a true patriot. Why dont you just come right out and tell the people its the zionist jews doing all this?…………..Bill
Dear John
The tragedy of your book is that we have seen it all before in Hollywood movies.Just like the falling bodies from the Twin Towers our minds have been programmed to absorb shock and move on. How then to get the traction and the message really and truly grounded in the minds of the many millions who can, through action, and the power of the internet, make the “leaders” change the path of history. After the debacle of Copenhagen I feel in my heart that it will take the effects of a massive calamity, experienced by all the citizens of the earth , to effect that change. Knowing makes no difference.
In South Africa we have a President corrupted (willingly) by the Arms dealers to buy weapons we cant use, cant maintain against a foe that does not exist . It cost us thousands of schools , hospitals and houses. Now we are about to witness another scam. The 2010 Soccer World Cup. I Live down the road from a multi billion Rand Stadium that will be used for two games and after that will remain for the most part empty thereafter. Certianly never to be filled to capacity.
Thank you for the book and the efforts to make known the corruption that hides behind democracy and this form of capitalism.
I will expound the wisdom of your books to all that I meet. I know I need to do more
Peter Womersley
Cape Town
South Africa
Hi John,
I’ve read two of your books and promote them via the attached flyer which I hand out to selected customers. I am contacting the authors of the six books on this list, and the attached email to author Bill Blum explains why. I would appreciate hearing from you.
Yours faithfully
Tony Hudson
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Hi Bill,
I read the February Anti-Empire report with interest. You are of course absolutely correct. Mainstream media owners are not going to cut their own financial throats by publishing the unbiased truth. Of course they hire journalists who are likely to be conformists and who are more concerned with keeping their job and paying their mortgages.
But the positive message I get from the list of 6 books I emailed you are these :
a) Authors like you and readers like me deplore our governments destabilizing other democratically elected governments around the world.
b) Mainstream media corporations feed us misinformation to protect [their] governments from what would otherwise be our informed opinions.
c) People who recognize the above are small in number and don’t represent anywhere near 50% of any electorate, so politically we don’t count.
d) But we can effect change via concerted action as consumers. (The boycott of GM food outlined in The Silent Takeover forced Monsanto to change)
I propose that the head of the “Snake” that maintains the status quo is the conglomerate of corporations controlling the mainstream media.
Though Australian, I propose a public boycott of “them” on “your” most symbolic day, The Fourth of July, “Independence Day.”
Imagine if nobody bought a cinema ticket or a newspaper on the fourth of July, would that message reverberate in boardrooms around America?
Independence Bill, it’s supposed to be America’s most cherished possession. It is certainly a powerful symbol upon which to focus a just cause.
Of course you’ll never get everybody to hoist the flag and march out to boycott the product of America’s mainstream media conglomerates.
But it wouldn’t matter anyway. Any measurable drop in revenue around the world on the “Fourth of July” would elicit interest and comment.
And I can think of no other mechanism equaling the “Fourth of July” for potential in co-opting publicity from the mainstream media’s own resources.
And, it’s a very simple slogan. If you’re sick of being treated like a mushroom and feed on bullshit, don’t buy a paper or a movie on the Fourth of July.
I really would appreciate your thoughts on this Bill. I’m 46 and have only been thinking this way for a decade or so. So I don’t have enough grey hair yet:)
Look forward to hearing from you.
Regards
Tony Hudson
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These books are available free of charge from the Cairns Library.
“There are some things the mainstream media will never publish.”
(For if people knew how the world really works, it would cost those in power more than money.)
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THE SILENT TAKEOVER
By Noreena Hertz
This book shines a light on global capitalisms political power, its domination over the governments of every nation across the globe, and the effective death of democracy that results. The book also showcases examples of how consumers have fought back and given the largest and most aggressive of corporate capitalists the right proper thrashing they so richly deserve.
ISBN-10: 006055973X ISBN-13: 978-0060559731
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CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN
By John Perkins
The inside story on the greed and predatory nature of some of America’s largest corporations.
First published by Brett-Koehler Publisher’s Inc 2004
ISBN 1-57675-301-8
BIG MEDIA, BIG MONEY
By Ronald V. Bettig and Jeanne Lynn Hall
An illuminating expose on the leading edge of the corporate knife in democracies back.
First Published by Rowman & Littlefield 2003
ISBN 0-7425-1130-8
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ROGUE STATE
By William Blum
A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower
A vivid and well-aimed critique of the evils and malignant intentions of US global interventionism and a superb antidote to officialdoms lies and propaganda.
First Published by Common Courage Press in 2000
ISBN 1-56751-194-5 (pbk)
EMPIRE OF DEBT
By William Bonner and Addison Wiggin
The Rise of an Epic Financial Crisis.
An in-depth look at how the American character has shifted to accommodate its new imperial role. The authors cast a wide angled lens through history and suggest that a great empire is to geopolitics what a bubble is to geo-economics; attractive at first, but bound to end in catastrophe.
First Published in 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc, Hoboken, New Jersey 2006.
ISBN-13: 978-0-471-73902-9 (cloth) ISBN-10: 0-471-73902-2 (cloth)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE
By John Perkins
Economic Hit Men, Jackals and the truth about Global Corruption.
First Published by Penguin Group 2007
ISBN 978-0-525-95015-8
If you have any suggestions, thoughts or comments, my email address is : sayo@westnet.com.au
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From: BBlum6@aol.com [mailto:BBlum6@aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2010 4:58 AM
To: bblum6@aol.com
Subject: Anti-Empire Report, February 6, 2010
Anti-Empire Report, February 6, 2010
http://www.killinghope.org/bblum6/aer78.html
I’m not exactly convinced in a GRAND conspiracy either but, I do know that many of these people who make up the corporatocracy do routinely meet. It seems cliche’ to mention but, the Trilateral Commission, CFR, Brookings Institute, and other groups appear to me to be not only at the core of the corporatocracy in our country but also the EU, Japan, India, China, and others. I do not accuse these groups of anything they don’t outright admit, I have a subscription to the CFR’s magazine Foreign Affairs and have read many of their members books, mostly Brzezinski. If you read this Mr. Perkins I would be very interested to know what you think about these institutions and others like them. ….as a little tidbit if you search the CFR’s website, under research projects, you’ll find that in 2005 Timothy Geithner chaired a study on currency consolidations of existing trade unions such as MERCOSUR and NAFTA. At the time he was running Fed Reserve of New York!
I am finishing Hoodwinked having read Confessions. I struggled through the intricacies of Robert Manning’s Credit Card Nation and Kevin Phillips’ numerous books with appreciation, but your Confessions and Hoodwinked are written with such clarity that anyone can get it. I have yet to read American Empire but I have it and am looking forward to reading it as well. The service you provided in writing these books is of inestimable value, if only more would read them.
What I find most oxymoronic is the union of conservative Christians (unwitting I am sure) with the supperrich at election time. As a conservative Christian, it is tough trying to get what you are writing about across to the brothers and sisters in my church. Your books provide ammo, and I’ve gotten two to read Confessions. They just shook their heads, unable to deny what they did not want to believe. Inertia of physical properties is potent; mental inertia is more so. A true optimist is a pessimist in motion.
Bob
Thank you so much for all you’re doing to change the world for better.
John