Recently, I read Confessions of an Economic Hitman, by John Perkins, after having it on my radar for quite a while, and the entire time I was reading it I was excited and kept wondering if this was indeed the best book I’d ever read. Not just because it was well-written, or interesting, or informative – it was all of those things – but because I read it at the right time.
Economic Hit Men (EHM for short), in Perkins’ words, are “highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortions, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as Empire but one that has taken on a terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization”. What is so interesting to me is that Perkins started off as a young Peace Corps Volunteer. Smart, capable, interested in the world around him. Patriotic to the ideals of his country but opposed to its current direction. Eager to travel, experience a different culture, and challenge his notions of civilization. In other words, he started out as me.
Perkins spends little of the book discussing his Peace Corps experience, in fact, it is mainly brought up to introduce how he met the man who would eventually hire him and take him into the EHM fold. He spends much time explaining his rise as an international economic player and the incredible deals he made as such. The latter part of the book is an often gut-wrenching struggle with his own conscience, which parallels to the reader’s own soul-searching about his or her place in the ‘corporatocracy’, and my ongoing pondering of what, where, and how on Earth I will direct my energies when I finish my Peace Corps service. My mind currently swirls with possibilities and this book serves as both a cautionary and inspirational tale.
Sample quotes:
“People throughout the land understand that the real problem is a corporatocracy that has grown so selfish and greedy and so entrenched that it threatens the security of the United States and indeed the very survival of our species and many other life-forms.”
“I am certain that when enough of us become aware of how we are being exploited by the economic engine that creates an insatiable appetite for the world’s resources, and results in systems that foster slavery, we will no longer tolerate it. We will reassess our role in a world where a few swim in riches and the majority drown in poverty, pollution, and violence. We will commit ourselves to navigating a course toward compassion, democracy, and social justice for all.”
I highly, highly recommend this book, moreso than any book I have come across in a long time. It is at once a history lesson about the last 50 years, a whirlwind tour of the globe, a fascinating story, and a call to action. Read it.
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And if you want to take it a little farther, read Ishmael, Guns, Germs, and Steel, and Confessions of an Economic Hitman all in a row. Trust me, you’ll be in for an adventure, going through many fields of study, places on Earth, writing styles, topics, and things to think about, and when you come out of it you’ll have a much better understanding of the world around you and how it came to be this way – and hopefully a new motivation for making it better.
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Links to amazon.com do not constitute encouragement to buy your books from there, of course – you should always buy your books at Pilchuck Books in Everett, Washington, if at all possible =)
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