Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man  
Confessions of An Economic Hitman Cover.jpg
Author John Perkins
Publisher Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Publication date 2004
Pages 250p
ISBN 0-452-28708-1
OCLC Number 55138900

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is a book written by John Perkins and published in 2004. It provides Perkins' account of his career with consulting firm Chas. T. Main in Boston. Before employment with the firm, he interviewed for a job with the National Security Agency (NSA). Perkins claims that this interview effectively constituted an independent screening which led to his subsequent hiring by Einar Greve, a member of the firm (and alleged NSA liaison) to become a self-described "economic hit man". The book was allegedly referred to in an audio tape released by Osama Bin Laden in September 2009.[1]

Extrait de "Let's make money": http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x14jur_tchels0o_lets-make-moneyvostfr
John Perkins était un assassin financier (ou economic hitman), agent de la National Security Agency, travaillant dans une firme de conseil internationale. Les "assassins financiers" sont des professionnels grassement payés qui escroquent des milliards de dollars à divers pays du globe. Leurs armes principales : les rapports financiers frauduleux, les élections truquées, les pots-de-vin, l'extorsion, le sexe et le meurtre. L'auteur sait de quoi il parle, c'était son "métier". Il a exercé pour le compte des États-Unis et il confesse aujourd'hui ses terribles manipulations dans 2 livres:
http://www.amazon.fr/confessions-dun-assassin-financier-manipulation/dp/2896260013/ref=pd_bxgy_eb_img_c
http://www.amazon.fr/Lhistoire-secr%C3%A8te-lempire-am%C3%A9ricain-financiers/dp/2923640047/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

http://www.johnperkins.org

Contents

[hide]

[edit] Content

Perkins began writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man in the 1980s. In the book, he states that, "Threats or bribes always convinced me to stop". "Covertly recruited by the United States National Security Agency and on the payroll of an international consulting firm, he traveled the world—to Indonesia, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other strategically important countries…Perkins reveals the hidden mechanics of imperial control behind some of the most dramatic events in recent history, such as the fall of the Shah of Iran, the death of Panamanian president Omar Torrijos, and the U.S. invasions of Panama and Iraq."[2] According to his book, Perkins' function was to convince the political and financial leadership of underdeveloped countries to accept enormous development loans from institutions like the World Bank and USAID. Saddled with huge debts they could not hope to pay, these countries were forced to acquiesce to political pressure from the United States on a variety of issues. Perkins argues in his book that developing nationswealth gaps driven wider and economies crippled in the long run. In this capacity Perkins recounts his meetings with some prominent individuals, including Graham Greene and Omar Torrijos. Perkins describes the role of an EHM as follows: were effectively neutralized politically, had their

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 included 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.

The epilogue to the 2006 edition provides a rebuttal to the current move by the G8 nations to forgive Third World debt. Perkins charges that the proposed conditions for this debt forgiveness require countries to sell their health, education, electric, water and other public services to corporations. Those countries would also have to discontinue subsidies and trade restrictions that support local business, but accept the continued subsidization of certain G8 businesses by the US and other G8 countries, and the erection of trade barriers on imports that threaten G8 industries. In the book, Perkins repeatedly denies the existence of a "conspiracy." Instead, Perkins carefully discusses the role of corporatocracy.

"I was initially recruited while I was in business school back in the late sixties by the National Security Agency, the nation’s largest and least understood spy organization; but ultimately I worked for private corporations. The first real economic hit man was back in the early 1950s, Kermit Roosevelt, Jr., the grandson of Teddy, who overthrew the government of Iran, a democratically elected government, Mossadegh’s government who was Time’s magazine person of the year; and he was so successful at doing this without any bloodshed—well, there was a little bloodshed, but no military intervention, just spending millions of dollars and replaced Mossadegh with the Shah of Iran. At that point, we understood that this idea of economic hit man was an extremely good one. We didn’t have to worry about the threat of war with Russia when we did it this way. The problem with that was that Roosevelt was a C.I.A. agent. He was a government employee. Had he been caught, we would have been in a lot of trouble. It would have been very embarrassing. So, at that point, the decision was made to use organizations like the C.I.A. and the N.S.A. to recruit potential economic hit men like me and then send us to work for private consulting companies, engineering firms, construction companies, so that if we were caught, there would be no connection with the government.[3] – Nov 4 '04 interview

[edit] Controversy and criticism

Perkins's first boss at Chas. T. Main, Einar Greve, initially declared to journalists that "basically [Perkins's] story is true" and that "what John's book says is, there was a conspiracy to put all these countries on the hook, and that happened. Whether or not it was some sinister plot or not is up to interpretation…"[citation needed] Subsequently, he denied Perkins's allegation that he ever worked as a liaison with the NSA and contradicted other claims made in Perkins's book, stating that Perkins "has convinced himself that a lot of this stuff is true."[4] Perkins comments on Greve's change of heart in the epilogue of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. He points out that Greve initially supported the truth of the book, only to switch his opinion several months later. Perkins suggests that Greve was pressured by outside forces to denounce the book as false. Columnist Sebastian Mallaby disputes many of Perkins' arguments, including Perkins' claim that 51 of the world's 100 "largest economies" are companies, rather than countries; a value-added comparison done by the UN, he says, shows the number to be 29.[5] This comparison can be done oneself by looking at List of countries by GDP and List of companies by revenue which gives a rough answer of 46 for the year 2007 / 2008. If one looks at 2000, however, the number was 51.[6] Though in such a list, the corporations' revenue should subtract from countries' total revenue. Articles in the New York Times and Boston Magazine, as well as a press release issued by the United States Department of State, have referred to a lack of documentary or testimonial evidence to corroborate the claim that the NSA was involved in his hiring to Chas T. Main. In addition, the author of the State Department release states that the NSA "is a cryptological (codemaking and codebreaking) organization, not an economic organization" and that its missions do not involve "anything remotely resembling placing economists at private companies in order to increase the debt of foreign countries."[7]

[edit] Documentary Film

In 2009, the documentary film Confessions of an Economic Hit Man featuring interviews with Perkins, was shown at film festivals around the U.S. The film is a Greek– U.S. co-production directed by Stelios Kouloglou, and was filmed in 2007 and 2008.

[edit] References

[edit] Additional reading

[edit] External links

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Traduction »