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Page added on February 23, 2016
The Evil Empire Has The World In An Economic “Death Grip”
In my archives there is a column or two that introduces the reader to John Perkins’ important book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.
An EHM is an operative who sells the leadership of a developing country on an economic plan or massive development project. The Hit Man convinces a country’s government that borrowing large sums of money from US financial institutions in order to finance the project will raise the country’s living standards. The borrower is assured that the project will increase Gross Domestic Product and tax revenues and that these increases will allow the loan to be repaid.
However, the plan is designed to over-estimate the benefits so that the indebted country cannot pay the principal and interest. As Perkins’ puts it, the plans are based on “distorted financial analyses, inflated projections, and rigged accounting,” and if the deception doesn’t work, “threats and bribes” are used to close the deal.
The next step in the deception is the appearance of the International Monetary Fund. The IMF tells the indebted country that the IMF will save its credit rating by lending the money with which to repay the country’s creditors. The IMF loan is not a form of aid. It merely replaces the country’s indebtedness to banks with indebtedness to the IMF.
To repay the IMF, the country has to accept an austerity plan and agree to sell national assets to private investors. Austerity means cuts in social pensions, social services, employment and wages, and the budget savings are used to repay the IMF. Privatization means selling oil, mineral and public infrastructure in order to repay the IMF. The deal usually imposes an agreement to vote with the US in the UN and to accept US military bases.
Occasionally a country’s leader refuses the plan or the austerity and privatization. If bribes don’t work, the US sends in the jackals—assassins who remove the obstacle to the looting process.
Perkins’ book caused a sensation. It showed that the United States’ attitude of helpfulness toward poorer countries was only a pretext for schemes to loot the countries. Perkins’ book sold more than a million copies and stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 73 weeks.
Perkins shows that despite his revelations, the situation is worse than ever and has spread into the West itself. The populations of Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and the United States itself are now being looted by Hit Man activity.
Perkins’ book shows that the US is “exceptional” only in the unbridled violence it applies to others who get in its way. One of the new chapters tells the story of France-Albert Rene, president of Seychelles, who threatened to reveal the illegal and inhumane eviction of the residents of Diego Garcia by Britain and Washington so that the island could be converted into an air base from which Washington could bomb noncompliant countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Washington sent in a team of jackels to murder the president of Seychelles, but the assassins were foiled. All but one were captured, tried and sentenced to execution or prison, but a multi-million dollar bribe to Rene freed them. Rene got the message and became compliant.
In the original printing of his book, Perkins tells the stories of how jackals arranged airplane crashes to get rid of Panama’s non-compliant president, Omar Torrijos, and Ecuador’s non-compliant president, Jaime Roldos. When Rafael Correa became president of Ecuador, he refused to pay some of the illegitimate debts that had been piled on Ecuador, closed the United States’ largest military base in Latin America, forced the renegotiation of exploitative oil contracts, ordered the central bank to use funds deposited in US banks for domestic projects, and consistently opposed Washington’s hegemonic control over Latin America.
Correa had marked himself for overthrow or assassination. However, Washington had just overthrown in a military coup the democratically elected Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, whose policies favored the people of Honduras over those of foreign interests. Concerned that two military coups in succession against reformist presidents would be noticed, to get rid of Correa the CIA turned to the Ecuadoran police. Led by a graduate of Washington’s School of the Americas, the police moved to overthrow Correa but were overpowered by the Ecuadoran military. However, Correa got the message. He reversed his policies toward American oil companies and announced that he would auction off huge blocks of Eucador’s rain forests to the oil companies. He closed down, Fundacion Pachamama, an organization with which a reformed Perkins was associated that worked to preserve Ecuador’s rain forests and indigenous populations.
Western banks backed up by the World Bank are even worse looters than the oil and timber companies. Perkins writes:
“Over the past three decades, sixty of the world’s poorest countries have paid $550 billion in principal and interest on loans of $540 billion, yet they still owe a whopping $523 billion on those same loans. The cost of servicing that debt is more than these countries spend on health or education and is twenty times the amount they receive annually in foreign aid. In addition, World Bank projects have brought untold suffering to some of the planet’s poorest people. In the past ten years alone, such projects have forced an estimated 3.4 million people out of their homes; the governments in these countries have beaten, tortured, and killed opponents of World Bank projects.”
Perkins describes how Boeing plundered Washington state taxpayers. Using lobbyists, bribes, and blackmail threats to move production facilities to another state, Boeing succeeded in having the Washington state legislature give the corporation a tax break that diverted $8.7 billion into Boeings’ coffers from health care, education and other social services. The massive subsidies legislated for the benefit of corporations are another form of rent extraction and Hit Man activity.
Perkins has a guilty conscience and still suffers from his role as a Hit Man for the evil empire, which has now turned to the plunder of American citizens. He has done everything he can to make amends, but he reports that the system of exploitation has multiplied many times and is now so commonplace that it no longer has to be hidden. Perkins writes:
“A major change is that this EHM system, today, is also at work in the United States and other economically developed countries. It is everywhere. And there are many more variations on each of these tools. There are hundreds of thousands more EHMs spread around the world. They have created a truly global empire. They are working in the open as well as in the shadows. This system has become so widely and deeply entrenched that it is the normal way of doing business and therefore is not alarming to most people.”
People have been so badly plundered by jobs offshoring and indebtedness that consumer demand cannot support profits. Consequently, capitalism has turned to exploiting the West itself. Faced with rising resistance, the EHM system has armed itself with “the PATRIOT Act, the militarization of police forces, a vast array of new surveillance technologies, the infiltration and sabotage of the Occupy movement, and the dramatic expansion of privatized prisons.” The democratic process has been subverted by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling and other court decisions, by corporate-funded political action committees, and by organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council financed by the One Percent. Cadres of lawyers, lobbyists, and strategists are hired to legalize corruption, and presstitutes work overtime to convince gullible Americans that elections are real and represent the workings of democracy.
In a February 19, 2016 article in OpEdNews, Matt Peppe reports that the American colony of Puerto Rico is being driven into the ground in order to satisfy foreign creditors.
The airport has been privatized, and the main highways have been privatized in a 40-year lease owned by a consortium formed by a Goldman Sachs infrastructure investment fund. Puerto Ricans now pay private corporations for the use of infrastructure that tax dollars built. Recently Puerto Rico’s sales tax was raised 64% to 11.5%. A sales tax increase is equivalent to a rise in inflation and results in a decline in real incomes.
Today the only difference between capitalism and gangsterism is that capitalism has succeeded in legalizing its gangsterism and, thus, can strike a harder bargain than can the Mafia.
Perkins shows that the evil empire has the world in the grip of a “death economy.”
He concludes that “we need a revolution” in order “to bury the death economy and birth the life economy.” Don’t look to politicians, neoliberal economists, and presstitutes for any help.
18 Comments on "The Evil Empire Has The World In An Economic “Death Grip”"
rockman on Tue, 23rd Feb 2016 9:53 pm
Well, that finally explains PO. Mucho thanks!!!
Anonymous on Tue, 23rd Feb 2016 10:20 pm
Sarcasm aside, it is not difficult to draw a line between american imperialism and resource depletion. No, PO is not the topic or subject of the article above, but the uS drive to control and consume the resources at the expense of others, is a primary driver of PO, even if PCR would not necessarily put it in those terms.
Looking at the above article, one can debate whether PO is cause or symptom, or maybe even some of both.
ghung on Tue, 23rd Feb 2016 10:30 pm
“The democratic process has been subverted by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling and other court decisions, by corporate-funded political action committees, and by organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council financed by the One Percent. Cadres of lawyers, lobbyists, and strategists are hired to legalize corruption, and presstitutes work overtime to convince gullible Americans that elections are real and represent the workings of democracy.”
Wanna go down a rabbit hole? Dive into “ALEC”; the American Legislative Exchange Council. Those who don’t believe in conspiracy theories may want to pass.
What is ALEC?
“ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through the secretive meetings of the American Legislative Exchange Council, corporate lobbyists and state legislators vote as equals on ‘model bills’ to change our rights that often benefit the corporations’ bottom line at public expense. ALEC is a pay-to-play operation where corporations buy a seat and a vote on ‘task forces’ to advance their legislative wish lists and can get a tax break for donations, effectively passing these lobbying costs on to taxpayers…”
Do you really think legislators and their staff write all those bills when they have a one-stop-shop legislation factory for carefully-crafted legislation that supports their agendas? I doubt our elected assholes know what’s in these bills. Do you? A legislation factory funded by the likes of the Kochs, big energy,,,
Not A Liberal on Wed, 24th Feb 2016 12:26 am
“Perkins’ book caused a sensation. It showed that the United States’ attitude of helpfulness toward poorer countries was only a pretext for schemes to loot the countries.”
So?
“The democratic process has been subverted by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling and other court decisions, by corporate-funded political action committees, and by organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council financed by the One Percent. Cadres of lawyers, lobbyists, and strategists are hired to legalize corruption, and presstitutes work overtime to convince gullible Americans that elections are real and represent the workings of democracy.”
Nothing makes me laugh more than when a liberal talks about Citizen United. It’s just another talking point they can’t give up and refuse to look into anymore than the surface level. Citizen’s United is like the Michael Brown or Trayvon Martin of cases, any view beyond the cursory shows that the opposite of what liberals say is actually truth. Yet again.
“Today the only difference between capitalism and gangsterism is that capitalism has succeeded in legalizing its gangsterism and, thus, can strike a harder bargain than can the Mafia.”
Implying I give a shit
Apneaman on Wed, 24th Feb 2016 4:39 am
Not A Liberal, PCR was Reagan’s boy you fucking retard. Talk about someone parroting talking points. Robert’s doesn’t ascribe to todays Republican corporate ownership, so now he is a liberal?
JuanP on Wed, 24th Feb 2016 7:59 am
I am of the opinion that most members of the US Congress almost never read the legislation they vote on, forget writing it! That would require actual thinking, something I don’t think they are capable of.
The idea of American Democracy is nothing more than an American delusion. The USA is not a democratic republic as it pretends to be, I doubt if it ever was. The USA is a den of murderers, rapists, thieves, and liars.
JuanP on Wed, 24th Feb 2016 8:03 am
Not a liberal, To be proud of not being a liberal is a clear sign of ignorance and lack of intelligence. You must be another delusional and ignorant American fool like our board’s exceptionalist bully.
Apneaman on Wed, 24th Feb 2016 8:16 am
JuanP, Not a liberal is not a real conservative either. These neo liberal conservatards are just wearing the jersey. Same for real liberals – there are hardly any of them left and none of them would support any of the D cretins in office or running for it. Unthinking tribal monkeys are all these people are now. Unthinking by design. The American 1%er victory is complete. A total rout. A slaughter. Congratulations are in order, they are now the proud owners of the biggest ape cesspool in human history.
JuanP on Wed, 24th Feb 2016 8:48 am
Ap, I agree that there are very few real conservatives or liberals left. These are neocons and neolibs, a whole different class of people. I like real con servatives AND liberals, but I hate these neo shitheads.
penury on Wed, 24th Feb 2016 9:56 am
PCR may be correct in his writing,Apmeaman is correct, the political and judicial systems of this country are beyond corrupt, and during the next (and every) election cycle 95 per cent of incumbents, local and national will be re elected. With all of the information and facts available the majority of voters have less understanding of our government than ever before.
HARM on Wed, 24th Feb 2016 11:42 am
As eyebrow raising as Perkin’s book is, it’s hardly new. Over a century ago, the banks and military were doing precisely the same thing. See Smedley Butler and “War is a Racket” (1935) for more information:
“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism…”
The sad thing is, the truth has long been out there, but the American people never learn. Or never *want* to learn may be more accurate.
Apneaman on Wed, 24th Feb 2016 3:07 pm
I find this heart warming
This is the most depressing chart in the world
http://www.businessinsider.com/imf-global-economic-revisions-2016-2
Jerry McManus on Wed, 24th Feb 2016 3:39 pm
I’m with HARM, it’s hardly new.
The kind of corruption, cronyism, racketeering, and above all bloodthirsty greed found at the topmost levels of wealth and power in this world have been fixtures of the human experience for a very long time.
I’m not saying that I think it’s right, just that it seems to be an inevitable consequence of any human society larger or more complex than a clan or tribe.
Apneaman on Wed, 24th Feb 2016 3:41 pm
Bawhahaha
It Starts: Subprime Auto Loans Implode (in Your Bond Fund)
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/02/23/subprime-auto-loan-asset-backed-securities-come-home-to-roost-in-your-bond-fund/
The only place left to go is subprime Ramen noodle loans.
makati1 on Wed, 24th Feb 2016 4:32 pm
TPTB have run out of 3rd world countries to vampire, so they have turned on their own.
NIRP, banning cash, manipulating the markets and slowly erasing the freedoms we take for granted in the 1st world.
Creating chaos is the means to that final One World Government that they have dreamed about for centuries, but I think Mother Nature is going to foil their plans soon. She is letting loose her own chaos in the form of new diseases, climate change caused starvation, mega-disasters, and the tripping of runaway methane release, among other events.
The “Evil Empire” is dying. How quick it dies is the only question open to debate. Loss of financial dominance and a slow death or WW3 and a fast death? I see the odds at 30:70 at the moment. Only time will tell.
Apneaman on Wed, 24th Feb 2016 7:21 pm
Secular Cycles – Bringing back the social aspect
“Elite overproduction leads to the creation of counterelites, who are the failed aspirants to elite positions. These dissident elites desire nothing more than to bring down the system that has no place for them. This ties in with Colinvaux’s (and others) observation that revolutions come from the ranks of the disaffected upwardly mobile classes whose aspirations are thwarted, rather than from the bottom strata who are accustomed to lower living standards:
As a result, the elites tend to lose their unity and split along numerous fission lines: new elites versus old, one religious faction against the other, regional elites against the center, and so on. Because there are not enough resources for everybody, certain segments of elites, or groups aspiring to elite status, inevitably end up as the losers. We refer to them as the counterelites, or dissident elites. Usually, the counterelites do not constitute a true sociological group, because there is little that unifies them apart from hatred for the existing regime and a burning desire to bring it down. Incidentally, we are not implying here that the motivations of the counterelites are purely economical. The late stagflation phase…is typically characterized by a harsh oppression of the productive segments of the society and extreme social inequality, offering ample ideological justification for revolutionary action.”
More
http://hipcrime.blogspot.ca/2016/02/secular-cycles-bringing-back-social.html
Blame Rich, Overeducated Elites as Our Society Frays
“The roots of the current American predicament go back to the 1970s, when wages of workers stopped keeping pace with their productivity. The two curves diverged: Productivity continued to rise, as wages stagnated. The “great divergence” between the fortunes of the top 1 percent and the other 99 percent is much discussed, yet its implications for long-term political disorder are underappreciated.”
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2013-11-20/blame-rich-overeducated-elites-as-our-society-frays
onlooker on Thu, 25th Feb 2016 8:39 pm
“The American 1%er victory is complete. A total rout. A slaughter. Congratulations are in order, they are now the proud owners of the biggest ape cesspool in human history.” Yep,they have turned with a vengeance upon their own meaning us in the US. But guess what now that they have squeezed dry the American Middle class, they have no where to turn but on themselves. The Corporations, banks, politicians are now at each others throats trying to beat each other in a game that has no winners. They’re was never going to be any winners in such a natural world destroying game.
GregT on Thu, 25th Feb 2016 11:19 pm
The 1% will be squeezed dry by the .000001%. The only reason for the middle and upper classes to begin with, was cheap energy. The corporations, banks, and politicians, are mere peons to those who create money out of thin air.
“He who dies with the most toys wins.”
The same as it ever was, and ever will be, until we destroy our only planet and drive ourselves to extinction.
The only human trait stronger than denial, would be greed.