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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

john perkins

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"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.”

John Perkins should know—he was an economic hit man. His job was to convince countries that are strategically important to the U.S.—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. Saddled with huge debts, these countries came under the control of the United States 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 New York Times bestseller exposes international intrigue, corruption, and little-known government and corporate activities that have dire consequences for American democracy and the world. It is a compelling story that also offers hope and a vision for realizing the American dream of a just and compassionate world that will bring us greater security.

303 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,2004

This edition

Format
303 pages, Paperback
Published
December 27, 2005 by Plume
ISBN
9780452287082
ASIN
0452287081
Language
English

More editions

About the author

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john perkins

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John Perkins is an activist and author. As a former chief economist at Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main, Perkins says that he was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinational corporations cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business.

However, after several years struggling internally over the role he was playing in crippling foreign economies, he quit his consulting job. In the 1980s Perkins founded and directed a successful independent energy company, which he subsequently sold. Since then he has been heavily involved with non-profit organizations in Ecuador and around the world. He continues this work today, in addition to his writing.

His new book, Confessions of an Economic Hitman, 3rd Edition: China's EHM Strategy; Ways to Stop the Global Takeover, a follow-up to international best-seller Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, will be released on February 28th, 2023.

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Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 100 votes)
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Profile Image for Kimberly .
JordanDN
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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رائع
عن سرقة الثروات والشعوب وهوياتهم بحجج منمقة
الهيمنة الأمريكية ووجهها القبيح لم تكتفي فقط باحتلال عسكري ولكن ما فعلته قوتها الناعمة كان أشد قبحًا
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MyLittleOW
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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John Perkins nos cuenta cómo se convirtió en un gánster económico al servicio de organismos como el Banco Mundial, la Agencia de Desarrollo Internacional estadounidense, el FMI, bancos y grandes corporaciones que con la excusa de desarrollo internacional saquean y someten a los países a su interés.

La capacidad de Estados Unidos de imprimir billetes sin respaldo de ninguna reserva de oro, solamente respaldados en la confianza a nivel mundial en la capacidad de su economía y capacidad de garantizar un orden mundial, le ha conferido un poder inmenso, ya que se puede conceder créditos que no devolverá nunca y acumular un gran endeudamiento. La aparición de otras monedas que pudieran sustituir al dólar produciría la caída de la economía estadounidense y el tener que hacer frente a su gran deuda, por eso EEUU luchan encarnizadamente por mantener la fortaleza de su moneda en las transacciones internacionales
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Jakob1712
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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سرد الكاتب جورج بيركنز ، عن وظيفتة ( قاتل اقتصادي) في مؤسسة مالية إمبريالية ، حيث يسعى وفريق العمل لعمل دراسات وهمية والتكهن بنتائج مزيفة
، والحجة الدائمة هي نهضة البلدان المستهدفة ، ‏وغالبا ما تكون ذات ثروات طبيعية و حتى استراتيجية في يقومون بتطوير في تلك البلدان قروض مالية ضخمة لا تقوى على سدادها وعندها تبدأ حكومتهم إبتزاز هذه الدول لتحقيق مآربها وأطماعها الخاصة بالترهيب حيناً وبضغط أحيان أخرى يقدم الكاتب اعترافات على القيام وكالة الاستخبارات المركزية بتصفيات قادة وطني حين طالبوا باستعادة ثروات بلادهم المنهوبة ، وبين الكاتب بشكل واضح عن الاسباب الذاتية و الموضوعية لظاهرة الإرهاب ، هذه الأسباب التي يستر عليها عن قصد أو جهل الإعلام العالمي الراهن
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DMOTGK
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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Ülkemin şu an içinde bulunduğu durumu göz önüne almadan önce bile yeterince sarsıcı bir kitapken, ayın 15'inden sonra kesinlikle vurucu bir kitap oldu benim nazarımda. Zira darbe girişiminde küresel imparatorluğun parmağı olduğunu iddia eden bir yazının üzerine şu kitabı okuyor olmak beni gerçekten çok sarstı. Perkins'in deyimiyle "Şirketokrasi" kendi çıkarları için bütün zayıf ülkeleri -ve tabii bizi de- öğütüyor ve biz büyük ölçüde çaresizlik içinde kalmanın üzüntüsünü yaşıyoruz. Gerçekten bitirdiğim zaman, içimde büyük bir iç sıkıntısı miras bırakan az sayıda kitap var ve bu kitap onlardan birisi. Beni bu kadar üzense içindekilere gerçekten inanıyor oluşum galiba.

Bunlar dışında kitap son derece samimi ve anlaşılır bir dille yazılmış bence. Yazar o kadar açık bir şekilde anlatmış ki her şeyi, hiçbir iktisadi ya da yakın siyasi tarih bilginiz olmasa dahi yazarın size anlatmaya çalıştığı şeyleri çok net bir şekilde kavrayabiliyorsunuz. Fakat az da olsa son zamanlardaki olaylara aşina olmanız, anlatılanların kafanızda tam olarak oturması için fazlasıyla yararlı olabilir.

Bazı ufak tefek dizgi hataları var kitapta ancak kitabın içeriği düşünülecek olursa bunların önemli sayılabileceğini sanmıyorum.

Özetle, ben Perkins'in ve haliyle kitabın samimiyetine inandım. Ve kitabı, kendi sınıfı içinde son derece başarılı buldum. Bence beş yıldızı hak ediyor. Okumanızı tavsiye ederim.
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quartz_goblin
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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كتاب مثير,لو قال لى احدهم انك ممكن تقرا كتاب اقتصاد مثير
بالتاكيد كنت سوف اجيبه انك تبالغ
لكن تلك حقيقه ذلك الكتاب لجون بيركنز,هو كتاب قوى من حيث المحتوى
انه ليست مجرد كتاب يفضح الاميبراليه العالميه وسيطره الشركات الكبرى ,انه مثير من حيث الاعترفات واسلوبها والصراع النفسى الذى تعيشه مع الكاتب
اما عن محتوى الكتاب,فانه هناك معلومات يتداولها البعض ولكن عندما تتاكد من اصل تلك المعلومات وعندما تعرف تفاصيلها تعرف بشاعه الحقيقه مثل حقيقه التامر على رئيس بنما وحقيقه النهضه فى المملكه العربيه السعوديه وغسيل الاموال
كيف ان العراق انقذت فنزويلا
لكن اجمل ما اعجبنى بالكتاب هو وصفه ورؤيته لتلك القبائل التى يعتبرها البعض بدائيه ولكنها تتثقف وتقرا عن اخبار العراق حتى لو لم يجيدوا القراءه
انك تطوف فى عالم كامل من السرح والجمال والاثاره والبشاعه
استمتع بكتاب جون بيركنز
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MorgantheFae
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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There are so many excellent reviews of this book, and its sequel on GR, that I won't add more of the same.

I've read this book so long ago, must be three years, but never listed it as 'read' on GR. Mind-boggling, since it is one of the most riveting non-fictional novelistic thriller reads ever.

I also read the sequel, n   New Confessions of an Economic Hitmann, and did not add it to my GR Book shelves either. Perhaps I was reading too many books simultaneously or got tired of hunting down the genesis of all things wild and fabuliciously bad. :-) Besides, where other than GR will we share our thoughts on books like these. Nobody else will believe us anyway. Oy!

I am all for hiding our heads in the sand with our delightful Houdini-esque escapes into fiction, but sometimes we really need to come up for air and take on non-fictional books like these. Nonfiction is really my beat. I just love a good dollop of reality dished up by good researchers, journalists, scientists, and historians.

John Perkins, being THE economic hitman himself, exposed the capitalistic debt traps ruining desperate governments and economies around the world. He confessed before a similar strategy would later become known as China's Belt & Road Initiatives, which played the American corporatocracy, the World Bank, and the IMF at their own games. China is winning. Perhaps fewer people are getting murdered by the jackals in the process.

The jackals are those CIA operatives who murder leaders when they refuse to accept the plans. Precisely explained in the book. Who the leaders were and how the countries were affected when they refused the economic control of their assets and people.

Whether we want to know or not, this is our world today. And it got much worse since these books were published. At least Perkins left us with a better understanding of how it all happened/happens and how it affects us as the small plebs in the fight for survival. We cannot win.

Since China stole the American Deep State's ideas to conquer and rule, a vicious global war is raging for the final power grab and control of the world. Nowadays there are even new revelations of a globalist agenda, for those who acknowledge its existence. Was it George Bush senior who first spoke about 'a New World Order'? Then it got repeated by all US presidents, but nobody was listening.

Yanis Varoufakis: "When I read 'Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", I could not have known that, some years later, I would be on the receiving end of the type of 'economic hit' that Perkins so vividly narrated. This book resonates with my experience of the brutish methods and gross economic irrationality guiding powerful institutions in their bid to undermine democratic control over economic power. Perkins, once again, made a substantial contribution to a world that needs whistle-blowers to open its eyes to the true sources of political, social, and economic power."

Professor Varoufakis wrote a bookn  n    Adults In The Room - My Battle With Europe's Deep Establishmentn  n about his experiences. His actions as the short-lived minister of Economic Affairs in Greece sparked Brexit, and then Trumpism. It all resulted in a global stir or exposé of global deep state affairs. It seems as though Perkins' book got Varoufakis rolling and perhaps Klaus Schwab in a little bit of hot water.

His other book,  Hoodwinked: An Economic Hit Man Reveals Why the World Financial Markets Imploded & What We Need to Do to Remake Them relates the effects of these same methods applied to the American economy, as well as the devastating effect it had on the citizens of America.

Perkins has written several uplifting books too. I think I will read them as well. This author is worth a read.

Perkins' tales are corroborated by the former-CIA operative, John Stockwell, who wrote several books in this regard, including, n  The Praetorian Guard: THE U.S. ROLE IN THE NEW WORLD ORDERn;

n   In Search Of Enemies: A CIA Storyn;t

n  Red Sunsetn(a novel).

This is straightforward history in no uncertain terms.
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matchaladee
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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One of the dumbest lies our politicians ever say and our media gives credence to is that terrorists hate us because they hate our freedoms. Anyone who says that is begging not to be taken seriously. Terrorists hate us because the U.S. has overthrown their governments, thrown entire regions into turmoil, intentionally destroyed other countries economies, and plundered their natural resources.

This book does an excellent job of showing how the IMF and World Bank are used to entrap developing countries into a cycle of debt that drives millions into poverty while U.S. corporations take all of their natural resources. And when that fails the CIA's 'jackals' either enable a government overthrow or assassinate the country's leader. And if that fails our military goes in and destroys everything.

It's happened so many times over the decades that much of the rest of the world despises what the U.S. stands for. This is one of those books that isn't fun to read but is totally necessary for understanding current geopolitics and why much of the world is getting behind China rather than the U.S.
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Kaiomaar
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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آدم نمی‌دونه درباره این تیپ کتابها چی بگه. واقعیت‌های درستی که به بیانی سطحی‌ و داستان‌سرایانه بازگو شدن. بیشتر به یک‌جور رمان تحلیلی تاریخی علیه سرمایه داری شبیه بود تا یک روایت واقعی از یک کارشناس اقتصادی که تو سیستم سرمایه داری استخون خرد کرده.
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