John Perkins book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is the most terrifying book you will ever read. There is no serial killer, no mass murderer, no nuclear apocalypse and no rapists, in fact it is scarier than all those things. The book tells the story of the people who make this world a worse place to live. "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. After all the terrible things Perkins has done in his life he is now trying to inform people of the right way to look at the world and make it a better place.
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Daniel Robert Epstein: Your book is quite the revelation. Its terrifying.
John Perkins: Yeah, it terrifies me.
DRE: Did you have to write this book out of guilt?
JP: Well, its fairer to say I wrote it out of a feeling that it was a story that had to be told. Shortly after 9/11 I went to Ground Zero and while I was there, I realized that so many people in the United States have no idea of why there is so much fear and anger and hatred in the world directed at us. Its not in any way to condone mass murder or Osama Bin Laden but it is to say that most Americans think that foreign aid is altruistic. But almost none of it is altruistic so I thought I had to write the book to explain to Americans whats really going on. Its very important that we understand and that we demand change. We must make a better world and the only to make a better world is to realize that we have that opportunity to understand some of the problems that weve created in the past.
DRE: Does anyone at corporations and things of that nature have any feelings for people?
JP: Absolutely. All the executives that Ive known, including CEOs at some big corporations, are worried about the world. Most of them have children, they know about Osama Bin Laden, they know about whats going on in Latin America and theyre scared for the future of the world. But also they dont know what to do and they dont do the right thing because theyre afraid theyll be fired, unless we put pressure on them. When organizations and consumers and unions put pressure on corporations they usually bend. Weve seen this very much in the environmental area with organizations like Rainforest Action Network. Weve seen rivers cleaned up, weve seen aerosol cans that destroy the ozone layer dropped, weve seen endangered species come back into healthy existence, weve seen civil rights and gender rights issues addressed. When we really pressure these corporations to do the right thing, I think they usually do and I think many of the executives want to do the right thing but they need to have pressure from the people.
DRE: Im not saying this job of an economic hit man is the cause of everything thats bad in the world but it sounds like its responsible for a good chunk of it.
JP: I would agree with that. I think that this empire weve created, truly the worlds global empire, has to take responsibility for a great deal of the suffering thats going on in the world today and the fear and the anger. After all more than half the world population lives on less than two dollars a day. In many countries, that is less than what slaves on plantations in the United States made because those slaves didnt get paid money but they did get free room and board and whatever medical help was available in their community. Today many of the people work in sweat shops around the world so that you and I can buy a t-shirt for a dollar or two cheaper. Many of those people are being paid wages that do not allow them to provide room and board, housing and food for their families. Then when they get sick they get thrown out on the street, so in many respects weve created a type of slavery in the world that is worse than anything than happened here. That does not in any way negate the terrible suffering of the African Americans who were brought here as slaves but it is to say that today we are doing something that is very onerous in the world.
DRE: The job of an economic hit man sounds very evil. Who authorized the economic hit man into existence?
JP: In a way, we all do. What I call the corporate hypocrisy, which is the modern equivalent of the old time emperor. Instead of one person today we have a group of people that really run our larger corporation, and through them our government. But were all complicit in that to a certain degree, everybody that wants to save a couple dollars by buying a pair of shoes or running shorts that has been made in an overseas sweatshop and therefore are cheaper. Every time we drive in our cars needlessly or anytime we drive in our cars period, were contributing to this situation. We the people dont seem to objecting very strongly. For the most we live very well in the United States other than about a fifth of us who live below the poverty level but the rest of us live very good lives. We go about our daily business and we ignore the fact that 24,000 people starve to death every single day and we all have to take some responsibility for this.
DRE: But you said there are people in charge of corporations that are good people who just dont know what to do. There must be some who dont give a shit about anything else but the bottom line.
JP: Inevitably there are people like that but you never can generalize about individuals. A lot of them are caught up in what I would call the castle mentality. Back in feudal days whenever there was a threat from outside castle, the castle pulled up the drawbridges. Today we get a lot of people at the top of the heap who feel the castle is under attack and what they need to do to save themselves is make as much money as they possibly can, buy private airplanes and private armies and real estate and scatter it around the world. Then when things get really bad they can escape and protect themselves with their private armies. I dont think that will work but thats the mentality that some of these people have. But I also think that a huge number of people working in corporations at higher levels would really like to see change come.
DRE: Were you nervous at all about writing this book?
JP: Oh yes, it was the toughest book Ive ever written. Ive published five books before this but this one was very frightening for me. I knew as I wrote it that I was sticking my head in a noose and also it was very difficult to face this very dark side of myself. I knew that if and when it got out there, Id become a moving target and thats always a little scary. On the other hand, this is a time where we must all exhibit tremendous courage. Courage means that you have fear, so its not a question of going on about this without any fear, its a question of recognizing there is a danger and recognizing that we may have to make sacrifices.
DRE: Now that the book is out there, do you feel like you are in danger?
JP: I had to come to grips with the fact that I may be in danger. Once I made the decision to write the book I went to my daughter who is now 23 and told her I was sticking my head in a noose and her direct quote was Dad dont worry, if they come after you and get you, Ill step in and fill your shoes. That gave me great solace. I dont know whether Ive got another three days or another 30 years left of my life, but what I do know is that when Im on my deathbed I want to look back and say I spent the last days and years of my life doing the right thing, rectifying some of the wrongs that Id committed.
DRE: When did you realize that what you were doing was just wrong?
JP: I really knew it from the beginning. I was first recruited and trained by this woman Claudine who was my mentor. I was getting into a dirty business and I knew it all along but it was easier to justify it. I did that for ten years and when I saw that I was going to become very wealthy and I was going to be made a partner in a firm, I realized I had to get out of it soon before I got stuck.
DRE: Are these hit men still out there today?
JP: Certainly. In my day economic hit men were pretty generic, we arranged huge loans for organizations like the World Bank for third world countries and the money was used to hire any corporation to build construction projects in those countries. It would help the very rich in those countries and not help the poor and leave those countries holding a huge debt so at some time we would go back and ask for a favor like vote for our next United Nations vote or send troops in support of ours in some place like Iraq and it was pretty generic. Those guys are still around but theres also another brigade that work directly for these individual companies like Nike, General Motors, General Electric and Boeing. Theyre out there trying to use similar techniques to get work specifically for their company.
DRE: One of the scariest parts of the book is when you write that when all else fails including the economic hit men, they send in the military. Thats what were in right now.
JP: Thats what happened in Iraq exactly. The economic hit men failed in Iraq, the jackals were sent in to take Hussein out and they also failed. So we resorted to the last step which is sending in the military.
DRE: How often does that happen?
JP: It usually works. Weve really managed to build the worlds first truly global empire without the military. There are some instances where the economic hit men dont work. I wrote about my experiences with Omar Torrijos of Panama and also Jaime Roldos Aguilera of Ecuador and how they were committed to making their country a better place for their poor people. With somebody like Saddam Hussein, it seems as though it was possibly a question of sanity and he had a very large ego and just was determined to defy the United States for whatever reason. Most of them do go along with the system. They opt for becoming wealthy in the process rather than being overthrown or assassinated.
DRE: Does it make a difference with the hit men what party is in office?
JP: Not a significant one. This empire is built under Democratic presidents and Republican presidents because at the top is the corporate hypocrisy and those people stay the same throughout. They die off and a few new people come into the system but basically theyre running this whole show and actually they move back and forth between corporations and governments all the time so one year somebody will be CEO of a very large corporation and the next year theyre secretary of defense or secretary of state or even vice-president or president. Then after that it goes back into the corporate world. It doesnt really matter if you go Democrat or Republican. It does make a difference in terms of the composition of the Supreme Court and some other issues that are important, but not really dealing with this world empire building situation.
DRE: A lot of people are going to read this article and just think What can I do right now?
JP: Theres a laundry list in the book of things that people can personally do but when it comes right down to it, the most important thing is for us all to be educated and to be skeptical. When we read the news, when we hear it on the radio and television, you have to ask Whats really going on here? Why is the United States threatening Iran today? Is this really about nuclear energy, or is it really about the fact that Iran is threatening to sell oil for something other than dollars, the euro or the yen, which is very threatening to us? Asking those kinds of questions and getting educated is important but then you have to have an impact on the corporations and get involved with organizations that do make the corporations take responsibility.
DRE: Whos playing you in the movie?
JP: Thats to be announced. We know that Harrison Ford is involved in purchasing the option for the movie. Hes announced that hes involved in it but not necessarily that hell play me. I dont know whos going to play me. Well see if the movie even gets made. Im not holding my breath; Im writing and speaking out.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Buy Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Daniel Robert Epstein: Your book is quite the revelation. Its terrifying.
John Perkins: Yeah, it terrifies me.
DRE: Did you have to write this book out of guilt?
JP: Well, its fairer to say I wrote it out of a feeling that it was a story that had to be told. Shortly after 9/11 I went to Ground Zero and while I was there, I realized that so many people in the United States have no idea of why there is so much fear and anger and hatred in the world directed at us. Its not in any way to condone mass murder or Osama Bin Laden but it is to say that most Americans think that foreign aid is altruistic. But almost none of it is altruistic so I thought I had to write the book to explain to Americans whats really going on. Its very important that we understand and that we demand change. We must make a better world and the only to make a better world is to realize that we have that opportunity to understand some of the problems that weve created in the past.
DRE: Does anyone at corporations and things of that nature have any feelings for people?
JP: Absolutely. All the executives that Ive known, including CEOs at some big corporations, are worried about the world. Most of them have children, they know about Osama Bin Laden, they know about whats going on in Latin America and theyre scared for the future of the world. But also they dont know what to do and they dont do the right thing because theyre afraid theyll be fired, unless we put pressure on them. When organizations and consumers and unions put pressure on corporations they usually bend. Weve seen this very much in the environmental area with organizations like Rainforest Action Network. Weve seen rivers cleaned up, weve seen aerosol cans that destroy the ozone layer dropped, weve seen endangered species come back into healthy existence, weve seen civil rights and gender rights issues addressed. When we really pressure these corporations to do the right thing, I think they usually do and I think many of the executives want to do the right thing but they need to have pressure from the people.
DRE: Im not saying this job of an economic hit man is the cause of everything thats bad in the world but it sounds like its responsible for a good chunk of it.
JP: I would agree with that. I think that this empire weve created, truly the worlds global empire, has to take responsibility for a great deal of the suffering thats going on in the world today and the fear and the anger. After all more than half the world population lives on less than two dollars a day. In many countries, that is less than what slaves on plantations in the United States made because those slaves didnt get paid money but they did get free room and board and whatever medical help was available in their community. Today many of the people work in sweat shops around the world so that you and I can buy a t-shirt for a dollar or two cheaper. Many of those people are being paid wages that do not allow them to provide room and board, housing and food for their families. Then when they get sick they get thrown out on the street, so in many respects weve created a type of slavery in the world that is worse than anything than happened here. That does not in any way negate the terrible suffering of the African Americans who were brought here as slaves but it is to say that today we are doing something that is very onerous in the world.
DRE: The job of an economic hit man sounds very evil. Who authorized the economic hit man into existence?
JP: In a way, we all do. What I call the corporate hypocrisy, which is the modern equivalent of the old time emperor. Instead of one person today we have a group of people that really run our larger corporation, and through them our government. But were all complicit in that to a certain degree, everybody that wants to save a couple dollars by buying a pair of shoes or running shorts that has been made in an overseas sweatshop and therefore are cheaper. Every time we drive in our cars needlessly or anytime we drive in our cars period, were contributing to this situation. We the people dont seem to objecting very strongly. For the most we live very well in the United States other than about a fifth of us who live below the poverty level but the rest of us live very good lives. We go about our daily business and we ignore the fact that 24,000 people starve to death every single day and we all have to take some responsibility for this.
DRE: But you said there are people in charge of corporations that are good people who just dont know what to do. There must be some who dont give a shit about anything else but the bottom line.
JP: Inevitably there are people like that but you never can generalize about individuals. A lot of them are caught up in what I would call the castle mentality. Back in feudal days whenever there was a threat from outside castle, the castle pulled up the drawbridges. Today we get a lot of people at the top of the heap who feel the castle is under attack and what they need to do to save themselves is make as much money as they possibly can, buy private airplanes and private armies and real estate and scatter it around the world. Then when things get really bad they can escape and protect themselves with their private armies. I dont think that will work but thats the mentality that some of these people have. But I also think that a huge number of people working in corporations at higher levels would really like to see change come.
DRE: Were you nervous at all about writing this book?
JP: Oh yes, it was the toughest book Ive ever written. Ive published five books before this but this one was very frightening for me. I knew as I wrote it that I was sticking my head in a noose and also it was very difficult to face this very dark side of myself. I knew that if and when it got out there, Id become a moving target and thats always a little scary. On the other hand, this is a time where we must all exhibit tremendous courage. Courage means that you have fear, so its not a question of going on about this without any fear, its a question of recognizing there is a danger and recognizing that we may have to make sacrifices.
DRE: Now that the book is out there, do you feel like you are in danger?
JP: I had to come to grips with the fact that I may be in danger. Once I made the decision to write the book I went to my daughter who is now 23 and told her I was sticking my head in a noose and her direct quote was Dad dont worry, if they come after you and get you, Ill step in and fill your shoes. That gave me great solace. I dont know whether Ive got another three days or another 30 years left of my life, but what I do know is that when Im on my deathbed I want to look back and say I spent the last days and years of my life doing the right thing, rectifying some of the wrongs that Id committed.
DRE: When did you realize that what you were doing was just wrong?
JP: I really knew it from the beginning. I was first recruited and trained by this woman Claudine who was my mentor. I was getting into a dirty business and I knew it all along but it was easier to justify it. I did that for ten years and when I saw that I was going to become very wealthy and I was going to be made a partner in a firm, I realized I had to get out of it soon before I got stuck.
DRE: Are these hit men still out there today?
JP: Certainly. In my day economic hit men were pretty generic, we arranged huge loans for organizations like the World Bank for third world countries and the money was used to hire any corporation to build construction projects in those countries. It would help the very rich in those countries and not help the poor and leave those countries holding a huge debt so at some time we would go back and ask for a favor like vote for our next United Nations vote or send troops in support of ours in some place like Iraq and it was pretty generic. Those guys are still around but theres also another brigade that work directly for these individual companies like Nike, General Motors, General Electric and Boeing. Theyre out there trying to use similar techniques to get work specifically for their company.
DRE: One of the scariest parts of the book is when you write that when all else fails including the economic hit men, they send in the military. Thats what were in right now.
JP: Thats what happened in Iraq exactly. The economic hit men failed in Iraq, the jackals were sent in to take Hussein out and they also failed. So we resorted to the last step which is sending in the military.
DRE: How often does that happen?
JP: It usually works. Weve really managed to build the worlds first truly global empire without the military. There are some instances where the economic hit men dont work. I wrote about my experiences with Omar Torrijos of Panama and also Jaime Roldos Aguilera of Ecuador and how they were committed to making their country a better place for their poor people. With somebody like Saddam Hussein, it seems as though it was possibly a question of sanity and he had a very large ego and just was determined to defy the United States for whatever reason. Most of them do go along with the system. They opt for becoming wealthy in the process rather than being overthrown or assassinated.
DRE: Does it make a difference with the hit men what party is in office?
JP: Not a significant one. This empire is built under Democratic presidents and Republican presidents because at the top is the corporate hypocrisy and those people stay the same throughout. They die off and a few new people come into the system but basically theyre running this whole show and actually they move back and forth between corporations and governments all the time so one year somebody will be CEO of a very large corporation and the next year theyre secretary of defense or secretary of state or even vice-president or president. Then after that it goes back into the corporate world. It doesnt really matter if you go Democrat or Republican. It does make a difference in terms of the composition of the Supreme Court and some other issues that are important, but not really dealing with this world empire building situation.
DRE: A lot of people are going to read this article and just think What can I do right now?
JP: Theres a laundry list in the book of things that people can personally do but when it comes right down to it, the most important thing is for us all to be educated and to be skeptical. When we read the news, when we hear it on the radio and television, you have to ask Whats really going on here? Why is the United States threatening Iran today? Is this really about nuclear energy, or is it really about the fact that Iran is threatening to sell oil for something other than dollars, the euro or the yen, which is very threatening to us? Asking those kinds of questions and getting educated is important but then you have to have an impact on the corporations and get involved with organizations that do make the corporations take responsibility.
DRE: Whos playing you in the movie?
JP: Thats to be announced. We know that Harrison Ford is involved in purchasing the option for the movie. Hes announced that hes involved in it but not necessarily that hell play me. I dont know whos going to play me. Well see if the movie even gets made. Im not holding my breath; Im writing and speaking out.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
It was a very good book and I hope that the movie will enlight others to take action.