I read this for our book group. Jade suggested it, she's an accountant. I have to admit I found it really easy to read, and not at all dry at all. I just didn't really believe the guy. I"m not sure why. But for some reason I just didn't believe his story.

Yes I believed that people did all this, but I'm not sure that it was recruited by the government. Still maybe it was. ( )

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - what can I say? I think it's a good book for mainstream culture to read. Not that the writing is great, but the message is a good one to hear.

John Perkins comes across as making himself sound like he's really tough without really backing up that posturing with stories that support. Obviously, there's a difference between a "traditional" hit man and an economic one. Yet, Perkins seems to feel he's just as tough. Beyond that, his sacrifices to push aside all the money he was making doesn't seem that severe when he was likely walking away with more money than the average citizen sees in their lifetimes. When you consider the state of the people he writes about, it's more than likely that whole towns don't see that type of money during a generation.

Anyway, even though the writing is a little rough and I thought his personality was a little grating, it could be worth a read to those not already aware of many of the atrocities are country perpetrates on others.

Still, Noam Chomsky or Howard Zinn do a better job of writing and educating. If you sincerely want to open your eyes, pick up something by one of them (I like Zinn better personally). ( )

http://pixxiefishbooks.blogspot.com/2...

John Perkins worked for over three decades at the heart of an international business consulting firm, and claims that the modern American political/economic system is founded on a system which exploits and neutralizes developing nations in ways that force them to remain acquiescent to American economic policies. It's almost a Forrest-Gump-like story - Perkins seems to have been fairly intimately involved with some of the more important political upheavals of contemporary times, including the deaths of Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos and Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós Aguilera in the early 1980s, and the (as an example of how the 'EHM system' occasionally failed) overthrow of the shah in Iran in the late 1970s.

This has been quite a popular book over the last few years, and I don't know how much to believe and how much to disbelieve. The events in this book are either largely and/or entirely true, in which case we should be worried about the sham called democracy in which we participate, or it is the product of a conspiratorial and overly-fertile imagination. While many people, well-educated and otherwise, would argue the latter proposition, I have to admit I tend, most days, toward the former. I think Perkins does have a tendency to dabble in conspiracy theory (especially in other contexts outside this book (just do a Google search for his name)); however, I also think this is definitely a case of 'where there's smoke, there's fire.'

At the very least, some of the response to this book has at least raised a bit of a debate about global finance and the development of the Third World, bringing these issues beyond the confines of APEC and G8 protests. It's an interesting read, even if you choose to disbelieve most of what he says, and it's well-written, unlike many other books in this genre. It occasionally smacks of conspiracy, but at the very least, it will get you thinking and being more aware.

I read this book just before With Malice And Forethought. I knew things like this happened in the world so for me it didn't really provide any new insights. I wish that Perkins had of actually provided real names, but I guess there are legal issues involved and the protagonists in his book would have probably seen their real names in a harsh and unkind light. Apart from no real names, the book is an exploratory examination of the career of someone who has been groomed into becoming a master manipulator. Of course that is what big corporate America and European interests want. The flow of money is highly interesting in that Corp A offers Country A infrastructure at some price plus interest rate. All the money goes back to Corp A through itself and its subs. Once the interest can't be paid on the loan, then Corp A lever Country A for natural resources, reductions in pricing, etc. to take a market advantage. Meanwhile, Country A starves itself into submission and the only winner is Corp A, because poor people can't buy cars to use on the roads or appliances to use electricity. We live in a pretty ugly world and this book explains some of its workings. ( )

Great read

A real eye opener! ( )