newcritics

It is often asked “why do they hate us?” or “why do they hate freedom?” when speaking of the gut level antipathy that many downtrodden foreigners have toward America. Countries where Levis and rock and roll are prized above most things are just as likely to harbor radical militant hatred of America and Americans. Pick your Middle Eastern dictatorship, or look toward Latin America and you will see what I mean. Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, Syria - the list goes on and on.

They hate democracy. They hate women’s rights. They hate capitalism. They hate secularism. All are answers we as Americans take comfort in. These are virtuous answers, and our medieval enemies despise such trappings of modern Western society. But they are not the answers to the basic question. The answer lies in America’s historical relationships with these countries; what we’ve done on behalf of America’s global corporations.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is an autobiographical tale by John Perkins, who was himself one of the tools used by the American government and big business to enter poor “third world” nations, trick them into borrowing massive sums of money from the World Bank or IMF with wildly inflated GDP projections if they’d just build out electrical grids in their jungles.
The growth projections, being false to begin with, would never materialize, the country would default on the debt, and the US Government would put the squeeze to the country on behalf of Big Oil, which would secure cheap exploration and drilling rights. They would create environmental havoc, keep the money and leave behind extreme poverty and death, while raking in billions of dollars in booty.

This scenario is played out over and over again in the book, which is a very fast page turner. The narration is excellent and compelling, most of the claims Perkins makes in the book are footnoted with sources or references, and you will put the book down with significantly greater insight into why the world is the way that it is.

You will understand why “they” hate us, and you will see they “why” side of history repeating itself right before your very eyes.

This book should be taught in every business school, along with the Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.