Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
by John Perkins

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
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Book Summary Information

Author: John Perkins
Narrator: Brian Emerson
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Format: Unabridged
Published: 2005-04
ISBN: 0786178957
Number of pages: 300
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks

Book Reviews of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Book Review: Unbridled Capitalism & Foreign Policy
Summary: 5 Stars

The author gives us a rare insight into how the US conducts "foreign policy" that primarily benefits US corporate/conglomerate profit interests. Similar to the US "military-industrial complex" that President Eisenhower warned us about in 1961, the author sounds a warning about how narrow monied interests guide the conduct of foreign "assistance" and "relations" so that the public interests, in both the US and the "target" country are ill-served. This is a MUST READ for American voters and the new generation of elected decision-makers.

Summary of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

John Perkins was an economic hit man. His job was to convince countries that are strategically important to the United States-from Indonesia to Panama-to accept enormous loans for infrastructure development and to make sure that the lucrative projects were contracted to U.S. corporations, such as Halliburton and Bechtel. Saddled with huge debts, these countries came under the control of the U.S. government, World Bank, and other U.S.-dominated aid agencies that acted like loan sharks, dictating repayment terms and bullying foreign governments into submission.

This extraordinary true story exposes international intrigue, corruption, and little-known government and corporate activities that have dire consequences for American democracy and the world.


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 Carr?, 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

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