Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Book Review: Great Thesis - No Proof
Summary: 3 Stars
Mr. Perkins has a great thesis and great angst about his role in the world. His thesis is simple - American engineering and oil companies go to third world countries and give hugely inflated estimates of growth potential. Using those inflated numbers, they induce the countries to get loans so they can hire the American companies to do the work. The country then is unable to repay the loan. The theory implicates American companies, the many politicians with ties to them and the World Bank, IMF and other financial institutions.
Unfortunately, Mr. Perkins fails to come up with the proofs. His outline appears feasible, but he never gives any instances of the loan and default portion of the thesis. There is nary a number or statistic to back him up. He does not cite a single defaulted loan.
Further, Mr. Perkins often draws parellels to the American Founders and our Revolution. His grasp of American history is sophomoric at best. He uses a cartoonish image of 1776 that one would expect from an elementary school student, not someone indicting corporations, international banks and presidential administrations.
Mr. Perkins does have some sources and they are noted. Again, they occasionally show his sloppiness with the facts. In one instance, he states with firmness that the Reagan and Bush administrations had been proven to have dirtied their hands in this corporatocracy (his term) scheme. The text said this was proven by testimony. When one checks the note, the testimony was by John Dean in 1973 and 1974 - six and seven years before the Reagan and Bush administrations. Such errors in fact and use of bad history undermine the reader's confidence in the basic theory of the book.
That all having been said, the book does show how America's corporations have gone into Third World countries focused only on their own bottom line. Their is no altruism in the corporate world. This pure greed is aided and abetted by connected politicians.
Most interesting are his accounts of the American-Saudi relationship where the corporate scheme worked with oil money rather than World Bank funds. Although Perkins seemed to criticize the plan, it worked well for both sides. It was a true win-win. Somehow, the author tried to tie in the Saudis' support of terrorism with its modernization and westernization. The parallel did not work - especially since he had given Saudi Arabia's history of being founded by fundamentalist Islamists long before the corporations came in. Mr. Perkins then tried to draw another parallel to Iraq. Unfortunately, he could never explain why the system that worked so well for Saudi Arabia did not work for Iraq.
There are some alarming aspects of this book and it really does read, in parts, like a novel. Alarm is what Mr. Perkins expects to raise with his "Confession". There is a lot to look at behind his accounts. Sadly, Mr. Perkins just did not deliver the goods to prove his points.
Book Review: credible
Summary: 5 Stars
I started reading this with some skepticism but it all seemed to add up to me - - believe it or not - up to you, but I think an interesting read and for me, it was credible..Book Review: Great book to read
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is everything I hoped for. Very informational and helpful in understanding how the U.S interferes with other countries and how they are able to do what they do. Even though this is an easy read you should be familiar with the IMF and World Bank to better understand the process. Book Review: What's all the commotion about?
Summary: 4 Stars
This is just a commentary on the reviews I'm seeing here. I'm really not sure why or how the one-star crowd finds this such a refutable narrative. If you know the very first thing about how the world bank, central banks in GENERAL and the quantum unit of central banking, being 'fractional reserve lending', then I cannot imagine how any of this seems debatable...! I mean - what exactly do you THINK the World Bank and IMF DO??Book Review: You will be surprised how interesting this book is!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are interested in understanding how international politics and business go hand in hand through dirty deals, and read interesting real-life stories which proves the points and shows how history is made, then this is the book for you. Those who write that this book lacks credibility because it has few or "vague" facts are obviously just trying to smear it for personal political reasons. This book can easily be compared and ranked with other factual and interesting books like The best democracy money can buy, No Logo, Stupid White Men, Fast Food Nation, etc.