[EnviroEngr]

CONFESSIONS OF EMPIRE
How the Richest of the Rich Steal from the Poorest of the Poor

BY DAVID C. KORTEN

John Perkins was for 10 years a player in a high-stakes game of global empire. CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN (Berrett-Koehler, $25) is his very personal account of the events that forced him to choose between conscience and a glamorous life of power, luxury and beautiful women. It is also an adventure thriller worthy of Graham Green or John Le Carré that connects the dots between corporate globalization, American Empire, and the dynasty of the House of Bush.

During my own 30 years as a development worker in Africa, Latin America and Asia, I came to realize that the institutions of the aid system and the global economy persistently serve the interests of the rich at the expense of the poor. l sometimes wondered whether the outcome might have been orchestrated by some secret inner circle of power brokers who knew exactly what they were doing.

By Perkins' account, he was recruited and trained by just such a circle. He served their cause until he defected in a fit of conscience and, later, decided to spill the beans. Confessions tells stories of deals Perkins helped to broker with key oil exporting countries such as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia. Naming names, he explains in riveting detail exactly how the system works — and illuminates the reality behind the hostility of those the United States now condemns as terrorists.

Perkins' job as chief economist for Chas. T. Main, a secretive consulting firm with close ties to the U.S. intelligence and corporate communities, was much like that of an Enron accountant. He cooked the books in a gigantic international con game. More specifically, he produced and defended grossly inflated projections of economic growth that were then used to justify super-sized infrastructure projects financed with debts to foreign banks that could never be repaid.

Intentionally making unpayable loans to foreign governments may seem the work of fools, but the money flowed directly into the bottom lines of well-connected U.S. construction and energy companies like Bechtel and Halliburton, and the perpetual debts gave the U.S. government a stranglehold over the economic and political resources of the indebted nations. The ruling classes of the debtor nations who benefited rarely objected; the people the projects displaced had no voice.

Selling bogus projections was specialized work that required the social skills of a con man and the ethics of a hired killer. By Perkins' account, recruiters from the National Security Agency (NSA), one of the U.S. intelligence services, decided he fit the bill.

Of particular interest is Perkins' story of his role in the deal that tied Saudi Arabia to U.S. interests, created a financial and political alliance between the House of Saud and the House of Bush, and led to a partnership that channeled billions of dollars to Osama bin Laden. Under this agreement, the Saudis hold their oil earnings in U.S. Treasury bonds. The Treasury Department pays the interest on these bonds directly to favored U.S. corporations, with which it contracts to modernize Saudi Arabia's physical infrastructure. In return the U.S. government uses its political and military clout to keep the Saudi royal family in power.

According to Perkins, the Saudi agreement was to be a model for Iraq, but Saddam Hussein refused to play — which explains why George W. Bush was so intent on invading Iraq to remove him from office. The war was simply a different means to the same outcome. Effective control of Iraqi oil reserves was transferred to U.S. hands. Bechtel, Halliburton and other corporate Bush cronies received billions in new contracts.

Perhaps, as implied by Perkins' experience, the assault on the world's poor was orchestrated out of some super-secret NSA project office charged with recruiting and training economic hit men. Or perhaps it was the unintentional consequence of playing out elite interests. In the end, it makes little difference. The power brokers and their minions win, and hundreds of millions of losers are left to choose between death and slavery. Either way, it's important to address the deeper cultural and institutional causes of what is a spreading global disaster. It's here that Perkins misses a key point.

"The fault lies not in the institutions themselves, but in our perceptions of the manner in which they function and interact with one another, and of the role their managers play in that process ...," he writes. "Imagine if the Nike swoosh, McDonald's arches and Coca-Cola logo became symbols of companies whose primary goals were to clothe and feed the world's poor in environmentally beneficial ways."

Yes, the perceptions are important, but so are the institutions. Perkins should by now be aware of two historic truths: 1) Global for-profit corporations are legally bound to maximize returns to their shareholders without regard to social or environmental consequences; and 2) Any unaccountable concentration of institutional power is an invitation to the very corruption he so skillfully documents.


David C. Korten is the author of WHEN CORPORATIONS RULE THE WORLD and THE POST-CORPORATE WORLD: Life After Capitalism.

Both are published by Berrett-Koehler.

[EnviroEngr]

I'll review this after Odell's book.

[big_rc]

I am currently working my way through this book, and I must admit that it is a pretty good read so far. It is somewhat biographical in tone, but this guy has lead an interesting life so the reading so far is very compelling. I am through the first section where he describes how the game of "foreign aid" is played along with his role in past US dealings with Indonesia. Very, very interesting stuff for all of you people who like a bit of economics with your intrigue.

Let me state that so far this book is not the most US friendly read. In fact, many would think it is downright seditious. If you honestly believe that the US is a country destined by God to spread freedom and liberty, this is not the book for you because you will be pretty damn disillusioned after reading about US shenanigans throughout much of the developing world. I'll keep posting as I keep working my way through this book.

[big_rc]

Just finished this book last night. All in all, it was a very informative read although the author can get a bit too sentimental/overly emotional in his description of his journey from being an evil economic hit man to an all around good guy.

Anyway the crux of this book is that the US has lost its way big time and become a shell of its former self. It has become a ruthless empire only interested in domination and control of ever more resources. I'm not sure I agree that the US was this bengin country in the past that lost its way because domination and control are a very strong thread throughout American history from the beginning. Just look at the sad and tortured history of Native and African Americans to get a good sense of this.

He makes some very good points along the way and tells some very good anecdotes. For all of you who were unaware of the heaping piles of shit that the US dumped on Latin America, this book will definetly be an eye-opener. All in all, I recommend it but it's pretty short so I would try and borrow it if I could.

[threadbear]

Thanks so much for posting that EE. This is the kind of first hand account that gives life and substance to economic issues that usually appear in scholarly essays.

I've been following IMF and World Bank shenanigans for over a decade. Noam Chomsky has actually led the way on this issue. Perkin's personal account is completely consistent with Chomsky's understanding of the issue.

I would say the utter absense of information in the mainstream press and book publishing industtry, or complete lack of promotion of such material, indicates a complicity on the part of elites. Conspiracy? To operate unimpeded in an environment where people are discouraged from publishing first hand reports? I'd say, to some degree, there are conspiratorial elements here. Read "Into the Buzzsaw"

[threadbear]

Greg Palast:

How had Argentina arrived at such an impasse? In the 1990s the nation was the poster child for globalization, having followed without question the IMF and World Bank program. The "reform" plan for Argentina, as for every nation, has four steps. The first of these, capital market liberalization, was achieved by 1991's "Convertibility Plan," which pegged the Argentine peso in a one-to-one relationship with the U.S. dollar. This peg was designed both to keep inflation low and to make deficit spending difficult, in hopes of attracting and comforting foreign investors. Liberalized markets free capital to flow in and out across borders. But once Argentina's economy began to wobble, money simply flowed out....

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=192&row=1



Another whistle blower, and all around great man:

Joseph E. Stiglitz was Chief Economist at the World Bank from 1996 until 1999, during which time he became quite critical of World Bank policy. Under pressure to keep quiet, he resigned in protest.

The text below is excerpted from What I Learned At The World Economic Crisis

http://www.whirledbank.org/ourwords/stiglitz.html

[MoogSM]

Being someone involved in the 'anti-globalization' for a while, and thus being well aware of the actual role of foreign aid, development projects, and institutions like the World Bank and IMF, it was nice to know that I've been right along.
Apart from that cheap satisfaction, I thought this was a great book. It has little to do with oil, of course, but does talk a lot about energy projects such as hydroelectric dams and power plants. The writing style is not at all unique, and it's a pretty boring read, and most of all it's disturbing. It's chilling to read Perkins saying that the development industry generation that he was part of knew exactly what they were doing, the insidious project, the evil of it all; but that the next generation actually buys the bullshit, actually believes neo-liberalist philosophies about privatization and liberalization of economies.
This is distrubing because it is these people who are in charge. As most Peak Oil people talk about, it's going to be very hard for these people to understand limited resources and the fact that a political philosophy of endless growth simply is no longer possible. Will they finally see the light, or will they believe that we've simply got to go out and get whatever resources are left? These people are in charge of the future, and they're spreading like a disease all throughout the world.

[threadbear]

Moog, Well put. They are a disease, as is anyone who supports the idea of an infinite planet with infinite resources and a one size fits all form of highy centralized political/economic ideology.

[OilsNotWell]

Interesting interview on video here with John Perkins, author of "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" here:

Democracy Now

it includes some comments regarding how the US gained oil concessions from other countries.

[UIUCstudent01]

Yeah. I heart Amy Goodman. If only CNN stay its promise to deliver news!

Thanks for the link - I've seen it before, but now that you provided the link - I can use it to educate people!

Why do countries with natural resources so poor? What is the curse of oil? This is the answer. Listen to this guy!

[Colorado-Valley]

"Confessions of an Economic Hitman" was one of the most amazing books I've ever read.

Perkins is one of my heros, and I don't have that many heros.

[Carlhole]

I listened to the Matt Simmons and John "Economic Hit Man" Perkins audio today (news postings). And the Perkins interview seemed interersting so I browsed on over to Amazon. What I found there led me send off the following email to him:


Dear Mr. Perkins:

Normally, I'd be eager to read a book such as your
"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" and today I
nearly bought it. However, when I punched in your name
in Amazon, I found other books on Shapeshifting,
Shamanic techniques and whatnot also by a John Perkins.

(Certainly it must not be the same person...why...Yes
it is!)

I don't mind that you are an ex-spook, a writer and a
new age spiritualist but which one of you are we supposed
to believe?

And when you give interviews where the discussions
concerns IMF lending patterns, the American oligarchy
and their ulterior motives, etc., shouldn't you also
mention that you are a proponent and prolific writer
of new age spiritualism?

One persona seems to discredit the other in your case.

Unbelievable.

[UIUCstudent01]

He reveals it on his Site.
Hmm... maybe he looked for a spiritual path to the crap he did.

Or, he's really just a big fraud?

I think its the first, though...

Edit Add: He seems to advocate 'self-awareness' in his Dream Change Program and sustainability. Maybe this really is proof that he was seriously questioning what he did... he was trying to work against it in a way.

Or it could be just a cover... ?

[Carlhole]

In the interview, Perkins says that the NSA had administered a battery of personality tests and discovered his "character flaws". Perkins only says that people with flaws such as his can be easily enticed by "power, sex and money".

It just seems awfully damn absurd that somone with the personality traits of a sociopath would also have a long history of interest in tribal religious traditions. Such a dichotomy would need extensive explanation if Perkins ever wanted to be believed. I suppose dramatic transformations like that are possible but usually only in the movies.

I think he's got a writer's imagination.

[killJOY]

Careful, folks. You're guilty of ad hominem, like Rove.

Base your judgments on the evidence, not the personality.

Personally, I would have to hold back my gorge reading something by a confessed "shaman," but I would at least strive to look at the evidence he gives.

[EdF]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', 'I')n the interview, Perkins says that the NSA had administered a battery of personality tests and discovered his "character flaws". Perkins only says that people with flaws such as his can be easily enticed by "power, sex and money".

It just seems awfully damn absurd that somone with the personality traits of a sociopath would also have a long history of interest in tribal religious traditions. Such a dichotomy would need extensive explanation if Perkins ever wanted to be believed. I suppose dramatic transformations like that are possible but usually only in the movies.

I think he's got a writer's imagination.

[rowante]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')areful, folks. You're guilty of ad hominem, like Rove.

Base your judgments on the evidence, not the personality.

Personally, I would have to hold back my gorge reading something by a confessed "shaman," but I would at least strive to look at the evidence he gives.

[SinisterBlueCat]

I just started this book...anyone here already read it?

Here is a quote from the author that is on democracynow.com

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Well, Iraq followed Saudi Arabia. After our tremendous success in Saudi Arabia, we decided we should do the same thing in Iraq. And we figured that Saddam Hussein was corruptible. And, of course, we had been involved with Saddam Hussein anyway for some time. And so the economic hit men went in and tried to bring Saddam Hussein around, tried to get him to agree to a deal like the royal House of Saud had agreed to. And he didn't. So, we sent in the jackals to try to overthrow him or to assassinate him. They couldn't. His Republican Guard was too loyal and he had all these doubles. We couldn't do it. So, when the economic hit men and the jackals both failed, then the last line of defense that the United States, the empire, uses these days, is the military. We send in our young men and women to die and to kill, and we did that in Iraq in 1990. We thought Saddam Hussein at that point was sufficiently chastised that now he would come around, so the economic hit men went back in in the 1990s, failed once again. The jackals went back in, failed once again, and so once again the military went in -- the story we all know -- because we couldn't bring him around any other way. Iraq had become very, very important to us for many reasons. Its strategic location, the fact it controls a great deal of the water of the Middle East, the Tigris and Euphrates both flow through and out of Iraq and, of course, its oil. And now we're not so sure we can keep the House of Saud in control. It's become extremely unpopular amongst its own people. Over 100 assassinations this year. We've been recently reading about the U.S. Consulate being attacked in Saudi Arabia. The House of Saud is losing control. It's very unpopular, partly because it accepted this deal with the West. It did a lot like what the Shah of Iran has done. And Osama bin Laden, of course, is very against it. But so are a tremendous number of Muslims around the world. The seat of the Muslim faith, Mecca, is in Saudi Arabia, very upset with what the House of Saud has done. So we've been afraid that we're going to lose the grip on the House of Saud. One way to protect against that is by taking over Iraq oil fields, which may be larger than those in Saudi Arabia. We're not sure exactly how large they are.

[crow]

What are the credentials of this guy?

So far, the quote makes sense, but just about anyone could have blurred out something similar if you think about it.

[SinisterBlueCat]

JOHN PERKINS was recruited by the National Security Agency (NSA) during his last year at Boston University's School of Business Administration, 1968. He spent the next three years in the Peace Corps in South America and then in 1971 joined the international consulting firm of Chas. T. Main, a Boston-based company of 2000 employees that kept a very low profile. As Chief Economist and Director of Economics and Regional Planning at MAIN, his primary job was to convince Less Developed Countries (LDCs) around the world to accept multibillion dollar loans for infrastructure projects and to see to it that most of this money ended up at MAIN, Bechtel, Halliburton, Brown and Root, and other U.S. engineering/construction companies. The loans left the recipient countries wallowing in debt and highly vulnerable to outside political and commercial interests.

Perkins resigned his position at MAIN in 1981. He founded and became CEO of Independent Power Systems, pioneering technologies that promoted the use of "waste" power plant heat in hydroponic greenhouses and other cogeneration applications. In 1990, he sold IPS and founded a nonprofit organization, Dream Change Coalition (www.dreamchange.org), which works closely with Amazonian and other indigenous people to help preserve their environments and cultures.

http://www.economichitman.com/