| |  | Books : Confessions of an Economic Hit Man |  | | | | | | | | | |
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.042092
EAN: 9780452287082
ISBN: 0452287081
Label: Plume
Manufacturer: Plume
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: December 27, 2005
Publisher: Plume
Sales Rank: 692
Studio: Plume
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
The runaway bestseller that has generated a major movie deal—and an international dialogue—with over 170,000 copies sold in hardcover and seven weeks on the New York Times list
“Economic hit men,” John Perkins writes,” are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as Empire but one that has taken on terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.”
John Perkins should know—he was an economic hit manfor an international consulting firm that worked to convince developing countries to accept enormous loans and to funnel that money to U.S.corporations. Once these countries were saddled with huge debts, the American government and international aid agencies were able to request their “pound of flesh” in favors, including access to natural resources, military cooperation, and political support.
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is the story of one man’s experiences inside the intrigue, greed, corruption and little-known government and corporate activities that America has been involved in since World War II, and which have dire consequences for the future of democracy and the world.
“[A] gripping tell-all book.”—The Rocky Mountain News
“Astonishing.”—Boston Herald
“This riveting look at a world of intrigue reads like a spy novel . . . Highly recommended.”— Library Journal
“Here are the real-life details—nasty, manipulative, plain evil—of international corporate skullduggery spun into a tale rivaling the darkest espionage thriller.”—Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
Amazon.com:
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 Carré, 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
Customer Reviews Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Great Thesis - No Proof
Mr. Perkins has a great thesis and great angst about his role in the world.His thesis is simple - American engineering and oil companies go to third world countries and give hugely inflated estimates of growth potential.Using those inflated numbers, they induce the countries to get loans so they can hire the American companies to do the work.The country then is unable to repay the loan.The theory implicates American companies, the many politicians with ties to them and the World Bank, IMF ... Read More
Rating:  - credible
I started reading this with some skepticism but it all seemed to add up to me - - believe it or not - up to you, but I think an interesting read and for me, it was credible..
Rating:  - Great book to read
This book is everything I hoped for.Very informational and helpful in understanding how the U.S interferes with other countries and how they are able to do what they do.Even though this is an easy read you should be familiar with the IMF and World Bank to better understand the process.
Rating: - What's all the commotion about?
This is just a commentary on the reviews I'm seeing here. I'm really not sure why or how the one-star crowd finds this such a refutable narrative. If you know the very first thing about how the world bank, central banks in GENERAL and the quantum unit of central banking, being 'fractional reserve lending', then I cannot imagine how any of this seems debatable...! I mean - what exactly do you THINK the World Bank and IMF DO??
Rating: - You will be surprised how interesting this book is!
If you are interested in understanding how international politics and business go hand in hand through dirty deals, and read interesting real-life stories which proves the points and shows how history is made, then this is the book for you. Those who write that this book lacks credibility because it has few or "vague" facts are obviously just trying to smear it for personal political reasons. This book can easily be compared and ranked with other factual and interesting books like The best democracy ... Read More
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