Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign "aid" organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources. 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 new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.
I should know; I was an EHM.
John Perkins wrote that in 1982, as the beginning of a book with the working title, Conscience of an Economic Hit Man. The book was dedicated to the presidents of two countries, men who had been his clients, whom he respected and thought of as kindred spirits—Jaime Roldos, president of Ecuador, and Omar Torrijos, president of Panama. Both had just died in fiery crashes. Their deaths were not accidental. They were assassinated because they opposed that fraternity of corporate, government, and banking heads whose goal is global empire. The EHMs failed to bring Roldos and Torrijos around, and the other type of hit men, the CIA-sanctioned jackals who were always right behind us, stepped in.
Perkins was persuaded to stop writing that book. He says he started it four more times during the next twenty years. On each occasion, his decision to begin again was influenced by current world events: the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989, the first Gulf War, Somalia, the rise of Osama bin Laden. However, threats or bribes always convinced me to stop.
In 2003, the president of a major publishing house that is owned by a powerful international corporation read a draft of what had now become Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. The publisher described it as "a riveting story that needs to be told.” Then he smiled sadly, shook his head, and told Perkins that since the executives at world headquarters might object, he could not afford to risk publishing it. He advised Perkins to fictionalize it. “We could market you in the mold of a novelist like John Le Carre or Graham Greene.”
But this is not fiction. It is the true story of Perkins' life. A more courageous publisher, one not owned by an international corporation, has agreed to help Perkins tell it.
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John Perkins as an economic hit man for an international consulting firm, convinced developing countries to accept enormous loans and to funnel that money to U.S. corporations. The American government and international aid agencies then requested their “pound of flesh,” 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.
If you have read None Dare Call It Conspiracy, you will definitely need to read this book. NDCIC was written around the world events of the 19 and 20 centuries. At that time the New World Order centered around the British Empire. But the methods of the International Conspiracy have been modernized—and they are now American.
For six years now I have been watching the movement to get commuter rail into this area. And what fascinates me, is that, except for the jackals and the military, the methods are the same. Our governments and community leaders have bought into local EHMs the same way foreign countries do on an international basis, and for the same reasons.
The book is easy to read and is quite exciting.
If you have not read NDCIC, you might want to read that first; it really is Book One. But otherwise, get a copy of Confessions (Book Two) and go to it.
After reading it, you will understand better why we need to start our reform activities at the local level. It is a lot more than a few politicians in Washington DC that is causing the problems there. And when I see the same old names coming up now, Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, leading the “reform movement,“ I know nothing is going to change there any time soon, regardless of whether the Democrats or Republicans are in power.
And, as you will read in Confessions, the problem goes much deeper than political parties and ideology. There is a lot of money and power behind what is going on in Washington DC and it isn’t going to change at the ballot box in November when we elect a president.
You Ron Paul supporters will have a better understanding of why and how Ron Paul was shoved into the background and his movement quashed.
I don’t often recommend books to read, because I know you are all busy and we have a lot to do. But reading this book will save you a lot of time that you may otherwise waste chasing after hopes and dreams centered in Washington DC.
Reform won’t happen there. It will only start right here in the city or town where you live. Start there, work hard, and progress to rescuing one state. Then, as a mighty force, you will be able to successfully take on, and reform, Washington DC.
