Reddit Reddit reviews Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

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129 Reddit comments about Confessions of an Economic Hit Man:

u/darealarms · 134 pointsr/LateStageCapitalism

Confessions of an Economic Hitman goes into great detail about the Bechtel Corporation. Very well written story about a guy who was unwarily caught up in instituting U.S. interests abroad.

u/EntropyFighter · 69 pointsr/Showerthoughts

This is how every generation feels. The Daily Show did a really good job of explaining this once (I couldn't find the video with a quick search) where they took Fox News comments about how bad things are now and how good they were in the past and they juxtaposed them with the problems that the world faced in every decade. Their point, which was powerful, was that the commentators were pining for the years when they were a kid and everything seemed easy and great.

But the truth is, the world always feels like it's on the brink. And the more you watch the news, the more you feel this way.

At which point would everything have been better?

  • The 2000s? Directly after 9/11?
  • The 1990s? There was a whole first Gulf War. Oklahoma City bombing.
  • The 1980s? The S&L scandal. Iran Contra. Crack and the drug war. Black Monday.
  • The 1970s? OPEC and the scarcity of oil. Nukes.
  • The 1960s? Civil rights. The fucking president was assassinated. Nukes.
  • The 1950s? This is pre-civil rights and pre-space travel and hardly a decade removed from WWII. (Edit: Also the Korean War.)
  • The 1940s? Hitler. WWII.
  • The 1930s? Dust bowl.
  • The 1920s? I mean, for real? How much do you like toilets and paved roads? And for that matter, depending on where you lived, electricity?
  • 1910s? WWI
  • 1900 or before? Please make a case that this is preferable to 2014.

    It goes on and on.

    What you're feeling is real, but every decade has seen major, major problems.

    What I believe is that everything is relative. (I believe Einstein would back me up.) Because you weren't alive during all of these other times. And we're including times where nuclear war seemed practically inevitable. Some party.

    You are comparing today to your previous experience. Your previous experience just happens to include when you were a kid. And when you are a kid, everything seems more simple. That's the point of The Daily Show bit.

    If you want to know more about the REAL party that WAS kicking for 40 years, read up on something that is now termed "The Washington Consensus". Read about it as a first hand account in the book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man".

    It describes how the US was able to get its way around the globe for the past 50+ years (essentially beginning with Kermit Roosevelt helping to overthrow the Shah in Iran in 1953) and going forward to a post 9/11 world. It explains how the US was able to rule the world. And it also explains why that influence is (and should be, at least how they're doing it) waning.

    TL:DR: You have a lack of historical perspective. Relax. If you want to feel better about things, watch this TED Talk by David Christian on Big History. It's one of my favorites.
u/shadowsweep · 30 pointsr/Sino

Yes, obviously. Perception IS reality in people's minds. And when people are acting on false and extremely negative information, it can lead to racial discrimination, attacks, fear, hate, and even war. Look at what lots of people believe.

Tibetan genocide

Uyghur cultural genocide

Eating dogs is widespread

Steals hundreds of billions in ip each year

China's state subsidies to companies are unfair [this is common among numerous Western nations]

T square massacre

OBOR Debt trap

China is a colonizer

China is just as bad as America [https://github.com/dessalines/essays/blob/master/us_atrocities.md]

Live organ harvesting

Huawei is a spying system

etc

On top of that

America is NOT an empire so we don't need to worry where it goes [http://www.amazon.com/Rogue-State-Guide-Worlds-Superpower/dp/1567513743/]

America cares about human rights so when a massacre is reported we brush it off as an isolated incident [http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Anything-That-Moves-American/dp/1250045061/]

America's debt are transparent and fair [http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081/]

American dream is alive and well [social mobility is one of the lowest of developed nations]

America does not conduct economic espionage. [yes, it does since at least 1990's]

None of these things are true yet are widely believed. They aren't believed by everyone but they are believed by enough people that it's massively harming China's reputation.

u/mactavish88 · 24 pointsr/southafrica

Exactly the same strategy as the other superpowers use to own other countries, a la Confessions of an Economic Hitman.

u/Drakeytown · 19 pointsr/FutureWhatIf

"Aid" to Africa and impoverished nations elsewhere is not an attempt to get them back on their feet in the first place:

http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

u/wootup · 17 pointsr/TrueReddit

> But if the World Bank (and let's throw in the IMF and WTO as well, if you like) never existed, global poverty would be mostly unchanged. I'm open to being wrong about this, but I haven't even seen anyone lay out the argument that these institutions are primarily responsible for the persistence of global poverty.

Well, from a geostrategic point of view, the structural purpose of the World Bank and IMF - and debatably the entire Bretton Woods economic system - was to facilitate the continuation of traditional international power inequities in the post-World War II world. For American planners at the close of World War II, their country had leapfrogged over the declining European powers to become, by far, the most wealthy and powerful country on Earth. Invariably, they wanted to supplant those traditional European powers in their respective colonies and spheres of influence to become the dominant actor themselves, but - as the American political tradition has largely frowned upon overt imperialism - they needed to do it in a way that meshed with the liberal political culture of their society, as well as with their liberal propaganda about democracy and "free" markets. Herein lies the strategic purpose of the World Bank and IMF, at least in terms of their predatory relationship to the former European colonies (what we might today call "the 3rd world"). You can get pretty specific overviews of World Bank/IMF structural adjustment programs, as well as their strategic purpose, by reading Dilemmas of Domination by Walden Bello, Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins, and Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky.

I hope I've helped illuminate this issue a bit, but really, nobody here should be surprised to learn about how this works; this is very basic realpolitik.

EDIT: I should note that in recent decades, the process of globalization has ushered in a remarkably different economic and political order from that of the Bretton Woods system, but that's a rather different discussion.

u/Cialis_In_Wonderland · 16 pointsr/worldnews

There are similarities between this and countless other international bailout and assistance programs, from the Irish Potato Famine to the Australian treatment of Aboriginal communities from 1994 to 2012. Charles Smith had a good article on it this week.

>Especially fascinating to learn that the English Government provided ‘relief’ loans to Ireland at market interest with a condition that they could not be used to do anything productive. Basically they set up a scheme to pay a small proportion of each community to build roads, but not a cent could be spent on developing alternate Irish-owned industries or businesses for fear it would upset the rich English industrialists.

>The English imported cheap American corn meal which everyone was forced to buy with the English Gov. financed wages (closing the loop of giving with one hand, taking with the other and adding in a profit to boot) after the Irish had to export all their own grain and livestock to England to pay the land rents.

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjan15/debt-serfdom1-15.html

Similar tactics are documented extensively in Confessions of an Economic Hitman. For example, instead of financing a war they might finance "infrastructure improvements." The IMF gives several billion to a dictator, the dictator steals a large portion, and the rest is (over)spent on Western equipment (turbines, cranes, wire, etc). The country remains on the hook, left with an asset worth a fraction of debt's value.

After the new regime took power, they squandered (some legitimate spending, the rest stolen or wasted) their foreign currency and gold reserves. Now, they are being financed by European and American banks with the "condition" that that money gets spent on weapons from these same European and American countries, "closing the loop of giving with one hand, taking with the other and adding in a profit to boot." It's a tried and true tactic. The end result is an impoverished vassal state, borrowing to survive.

u/shadowofashadow · 10 pointsr/conspiracy

http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426248828&sr=8-1&keywords=economic+hitman

>Perkins writes that his economic projections cooked the books Enron-style to convince foreign governments to accept billions of dollars of loans from the World Bank and other institutions to build dams, airports, electric grids, and other infrastructure he knew they couldn't afford. The loans were given on condition that construction and engineering contracts went to U.S. companies. Often, the money would simply be transferred from one bank account in Washington, D.C., to another one in New York or San Francisco. The deals were smoothed over with bribes for foreign officials, but it was the taxpayers in the foreign countries who had to pay back the loans. When their governments couldn't do so, as was often the case, the U.S. or its henchmen at the World Bank or International Monetary Fund would step in and essentially place the country in trusteeship, dictating everything from its spending budget to security agreements and even its United Nations votes. It was, Perkins writes, a clever way for the U.S. to expand its "empire" at the expense of Third World citizens.

I guess this is just a coincidence though.

u/Xelcho · 10 pointsr/worldnews

Yet another example of how to move money from the state to the private sector. Where are the magic economic forecasts that would make John Perkins blush?

>The website lists Capital City Partners, a private real estate investment fund by global investors focused on investment and development and led by Emirati Mr. Mohamed Alabbar.

u/Ethyl_Mercaptan · 10 pointsr/conspiracy

https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Chessboard-Dulles-Americas-Government/dp/0062276174

https://www.amazon.com/JFK-Unspeakable-Why-Died-Matters/dp/1439193886/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Secrets-Americas-Invisible-Government/dp/1608190064

https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

https://www.amazon.com/National-Security-Government-Michael-Glennon/dp/0190206446


Those are the books that you should read.

Here are also some good resources:

Paul Craig Roberts worked in the Reagan administration: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/

This is a good multi-part article excerpted from one of the books above: http://whowhatwhy.org/2013/09/16/part-1-mr-george-bush-of-the-central-intelligence-agency/

Michael Glennon’s abstract about his book: http://harvardnsj.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Glennon-Final.pdf

A PDF of the “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” book if you don’t want to buy it: http://resistir.info/livros/john_perkins_confessions_of_an_economic_hit_man.pdf

This is when the reporter asked Bill Clinton about Mena: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDMktUYvC7k

Article on the coup attempt in France: http://whowhatwhy.org/2015/10/20/jfk-assassination-plot-mirrored-in-1961-france-part-1/

All of whowhatwhy.org is very good. There is probably a lot of good information there most haven’t heard of. The main guy, Russ Baker, is a Pulitzer prize winning journalist.

Bet you didn’t know that Bob Woodward was a state intelligence asset/disinformationist? https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/710466456941686784

All part of the record…. Enjoy.

u/abednego8 · 9 pointsr/worldnews

Read this book, same shit:
Confessions of an Economic Hitman

u/STI-lish · 9 pointsr/The_Donald

USAID is a fallacy, its used to burden foreign governments with huge US dollar loans to provide leverage to the US government to controls said governments and keep their people poor. Check out Confessions of an Economic Hitman, chilling: https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485525402&sr=8-1&keywords=tales+of+an+economic+hitman

u/RocketMoonBoots · 9 pointsr/worldnews

Fair enough. What are the job prospects supposed to be from it - are there any numbers out from both "sides" that you know of?

Personally, I can empathize with the need for better immigration control and the like, but see building a huge wall as unnecessary and fairly archaic, kind of barbaric. As well, it strikes me right in the "why can't we all get along" zone which is admittedly somewhat naive, but I see construction of such a wall as sending the wrong message to the world and future. There are better ways to go about this, undoubtedly.

As an aside, have you heard of or ever read "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" by John Perkins before? It's really fascinating and informative.

Some of the critiques of it are a little dismissive, but there are just as many that corroborate it, along with historical accounts, as well as what we see today.

Basically, it talks about how we made purposefully un-pay-back-able loans to Mexico a few decades ago, when they really needed the help, with the express purpose of getting leverage on them politically, economically, and socially. Now, to be fair, many of the people associated with the loans on the Mexican side are guilty of knowing what was going on, while others that may not have known the full ramifications were of the corrupt type and ran away with a lot of the money that was to go into infrastructure, but that does not take away from the States' goal from the beginning and subsequent fallout. In summary, we're responsible for the problems in Mexico more than we realize. That is another reason I do not support the wall. All together, it's just a bad, bad idea; spiritually, economically, logistically, politically.

Edit:

u/Widerstand543 · 8 pointsr/China
u/mrsgarrison · 8 pointsr/politics

Yeah, this is very true. We've been blackmailing foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and giving contracts to American business for over a half-century. A really good read on how this topic: Confessions of an Economic Hitman - John Perkins.

u/kilna · 8 pointsr/C_S_T

Leadership is near-universally populated by wealthy ivy league oligarchs, who use the agency's power toward corporatist ends. This book is a good primer:

https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

u/asusc · 7 pointsr/worldnews

I highly recommend "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" by John Perkins if you're interested in learning more about how governments, NGOs, and businesses profit from developing countries.

"Perkins writes that his economic projections cooked the books Enron-style to convince foreign governments to accept billions of dollars of loans from the World Bank and other institutions to build dams, airports, electric grids, and other infrastructure he knew they couldn't afford. The loans were given on condition that construction and engineering contracts went to U.S. companies. Often, the money would simply be transferred from one bank account in Washington, D.C., to another one in New York or San Francisco. The deals were smoothed over with bribes for foreign officials, but it was the taxpayers in the foreign countries who had to pay back the loans. When their governments couldn't do so, as was often the case, the U.S. or its henchmen at the World Bank or International Monetary Fund would step in and essentially place the country in trusteeship, dictating everything from its spending budget to security agreements and even its United Nations votes. It was, Perkins writes, a clever way for the U.S. to expand its "empire" at the expense of Third World citizens. While at times he seems a little overly focused on conspiracies, perhaps that's not surprising considering the life he's led."

u/emr1028 · 7 pointsr/Economics

You know, a lot of this aid isn't good... much of it goes to buy weapons and power for extremely corrupt governments and helps to establish the power structures that keep people poor. Sure, in cases like Somalia it is only humane to provide food aid, but I think that we have to reassess our aid policies in a lot of these countries, not just in Africa but around the world.

I'm reading Confessions of an Economic Hitman right now and he makes a pretty good case for how a lot of the aid that we give helps to impoverish the people in those countries that we "aid." I recognize that the book talks mainly about loans, not aid, but the points about how aid increases income inequality remain solid.

u/ScorpM · 7 pointsr/worldpolitics

Read up on the "Project For a New American Century" (http://www.newamericancentury.org/) and the neo-con plan for the Middle East. Also, read "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" (http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081) specifically the section dealing with the Shah of Iran and how he was placed in power. I'm sure that Noam Chomsky could answer this better than most of us. http://chomsky.info/

That will get you started on the right direction as least.

u/whattodo-whattodo · 6 pointsr/changemyview

Well, Trump wants to bring back Reagan era policies. I'm not projecting to the future so much as I'm remembering the past. I get that you're upset by this - I am too. But my being upset doesn't change what he's saying.

Also, if you feel like reading from an authoritative, first hand source, I strongly suggest Confessions of an Economic Hitman. The ways in which we manipulated and stole from other countries makes this look like a small time smash & grab operation. Separately if you've never heard of a banana republic (not the brand) you should read about United fruit. In that case it wasn't about forcing people to buy at a given rate, it was about forcing people to sell to us at a given rate. But it's the same difference.

I'm not defending the horrific nature of the plan. I am only arguing the point that it works to create jobs. It creates lots of other things too, like war.

u/trustifarian · 6 pointsr/todayilearned
u/shiny_debris · 5 pointsr/EndlessWar

US economic warfare is well-documented. In another comment, I brought up the recent (1990s) US economic warfare on Iraq. Those brutal sanctions cost the lives of 1/2 million Iraqi children, with the US gov't diabolically saying that this was acceptable. And the entire basis for the sanctions were based on deliberate lies of the US gov't.

The article briefly mentions the US attack on Chile; that is surprisingly well documented now -- many books have been written on the topic.

As with many instances of US economic warfare and behind-the-scenes skulduggery, the facts do not come out until a couple of decades after the events.

But if you're wise, when you see these actions in country after country, decade after decade, any sane person is going to have a knee-jerk suspicion.

FWIW, on the general theme of US economic warfare and geo-political skulduggery, int'l banker and former NSA man John Perkins' famous book "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" is essential reading. (There are also copies of that book on audio and via BitTorrents.)

u/rayfosse · 5 pointsr/conspiracy

In every single protest instigated by the CIA and American NGO's, they say the same things. "The people are rising up against tyranny. They want freedom and economic opportunity. The government is inept."

There's always some truth to the poor economic issues, because of course part of the CIA playbook is to impose economic hardship on countries whose government they want to overturn. There are many ways they do this, but I would recommend you read this book if you're skeptical that this is a thing:

https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

u/ADMINlSTRAT0R · 5 pointsr/history

That video is just some excerpt of John Perkins' book, Confessions of an Economic Hitman.
I have read the book some long time ago, and whether you believe it or not, the techniques are plausible and the facts check out.

For instance, Indonesia is reeling from a dictatorship (1965-2008) installed by the CIA for fear that the former President was leaning towards Moscow, and thus communism. As part of that deal, Freeport-McMoran mining company of Texas got to exploit a huge swath of Eastern Indonesia for gold and nickel, for decades, with single-digit percentage for the Indonesian people.

The projected value of the mine Is MULTIPLE times the parent company net worth.

u/MAG7C · 5 pointsr/worldnews

This one, mentioned by LSDMDMA above...

u/indirect76 · 5 pointsr/worldnews

Read Confessions of an Economic Hitman for details

https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

u/dirtyfries · 4 pointsr/teslamotors

You should read this book if you get the chance.
https://smile.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

It's how we really run things and I often think of it when I look at events like this.

We're more than a military super power, we're also an economic and cultural one.

u/DisplayPigeon · 4 pointsr/CapitalismVSocialism

Yeah Wikipedia doesn't seem like the worst place. It really depends on what you enjoy! You can find a lot of free stuff on Youtube, just be really careful with what you watch.

The part of politics that interest me the most is Propaganda. If I can give you a little bit of caution before you dive to deep, I feel like I need to warn you: there are very powerful people that are trying to convince you to join their side. I've been studying how money comes into play with political ideologies...and it scares the shit out of me. Always keep in mind who is talking to you when you are learning. I, for instance, am somewhat of a Socialist-Libertarian. Keep that in mind as I recommend you resources. I learned so much about my own political beliefs by reading and watching stuff I disagreed with. For instance, I watch a ton of super hardcore alt right stuff because propaganda interests me. But even someone as far left as myself began to see my views of the world slowly change, and not in an intellectual way. The racism started to seep into me without me noticing. Some stuff out there downright is made to brainwash you (this sub is a good example). I am being 100% serious.

If you are interested in learning about who shapes political ideology, here are some recommendations.

Here's a short documentary about how the Koch brothers use their money to change ideology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nKgKVxFjSg (By Aljazeera, a highly respected international news outlet). It's inspired by an amazing book named Dark Money, the Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. There is also a documentary about it on Amazon Prime if you have it.

Another extremely interesting book is by John Perkins, named, Confessions of an Economic Hitman. The book is about a man who traveled the world for a company named MAIN, and made up bullshit statistics to convince developing nations to take out huge loans to hire US companies for infrastructure. The plan was to get these nations loaded with debt, making them beholden for the U.S.. If Perkin's failed, the CIA sent people into to organize a coup d'etat. Here's him explaining it in an interview

Another good book is called indivisible hands: businessmen's crusade against the new deal goes over how business interests got together and literally shaped modern political discourse around their own interests.

Noam Chomsky (perhaps the world's most respected living intelectual) goes over what he calls "The propaganda model, which I'll let him explain in an interview interview. If you like the interview, follow the rabbit hole down and see what else he has to say. It totally blew my mind some of the shit he talks about. He also has an excellent film named Requiem for the American Dream that will break down what he thinks the power structures are. Chomsky is an Anarchist BTW.

Another good resource is a website named History Commons. The website puts together newspaper articles and books in timelines that are easy to follow. Just be careful, it is amazing that they put together so much data, but some of it is kinda sloppy. Make sure you follow the links to make sure that they can back their claims up. That being said, they have timelines on all sorts of things, from terrorism to U.S. energy policy. The website is extremely critical of capitalism and U.S. imperialism BTW.

As you may be able to gather, I'm not a fan of capitalism. But the intellectual that has the best defense of capitalism, in my experience, is Steven Pinker. It's always good to get the other side.

If you want more traditional political readings, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has excellent academic articles on every political ideology you can imagine. It is a excellent way to get a good foundation on the terminology. Also, because it is academic, it will be less tainted by corporate biases.

If you want to learn about ethics, which is the basis of political philosophy, I highly recommend Michael Sandals Theory of Justice. It is full, 19 lecture course on what Justice is, by Harvard. Sandel is also a critic of unfettered capitalism btw.

I think that a mixture of History and Philosophy are the best ways to understand politics. It allows you to get an outside perspective on what is going on. The more directly political media gets, I find that it becomes less academic, and more propagandistic it becomes. If you go on Youtube and watch the first thing that pops up, you are playing Russian Roulette. You may get a good explanation, you may also get media designed to play to your hopes and fear, designed to suck you into an ideology that you never wanted. I purposely dove headfirst into Far Right Wing content on Youtube on purpose, and it made me more racist. This guy describes his indoctrination into far Right Ideology, and it is honestly reminiscent of a cult. It seems like you are more left leaning, but it is a good idea to familiarize yourself how ideology can suck you in. It happens with me and Anarchy: I became too attached to the idea of Anarchy and I stopped being critical with it. Whenever you base your identity on a political ideology, that is a huge red flag.

Good luck! If you want any more recommendations or have any questions I'm happy to help. There is so much more, but I don't want to throw too much at you. I want to teach politics one day so this shit is right up my ally.

u/ccc45p · 4 pointsr/geopolitics

Do you have an opinion on how China's actions compare to the actions described in the book https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081?

u/dutchguilder2 · 4 pointsr/videos

Here's a book written by a guy on the inside.
He has many video interviews (1 2 3) on youtube.

u/tremblethedevil2011 · 4 pointsr/IAmA

Nope, I imagine if there is any it's pretty well buried. Just about everything I read in Confessions of an Economic Hitman was news to me.

If that kind of thing does exist, it likely doesn't exist in any formal record and was probably hatched behind closed doors - more as a concept for policy than any concrete written policy itself.

u/Bernard_Woolley · 4 pointsr/india

I strongly recommend reading John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. It details the basic modus operandi of these chaps – convince/bribe third world nations to build expensive infrastructure that they really can't afford. Finance such projects with loans from the IMF, World Bank, etc. Give fat contracts to Western (mostly American) companies to design and execute these projects. When the projects fail to generate the projected RoI and the countries can't pay back the debt, step in and dictate policy terms to their governments. That includes rights for resource exploitation, security and military agreements, etc. Fun stuff.

Of course, it is one man's perspective, and you get the feeling that he's exaggerating at times, but it does have an element of truth in it.

u/RollX · 4 pointsr/worldnews

The good old IMF. Anyone interested in more info about the IMF and World Bank should check out:
http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

u/DAKINGINDAFLOOR · 3 pointsr/politics

Read Confessions of an Economic Hitman.

The game of Empire is alive and well.

u/poopyfarts · 3 pointsr/todayilearned

Read about United Fruit Co. They were the ones who initially lobbied for an invasion of the Guatemala after the democrats took over and didn't want them pimping their resources.

Literally the exact same situation in Iran when they kicked out the oil companies and didn't want Americans whoring out their land while keeping them in poverty. Gas/Oil companies went to the government and asked for military assistance.

Read more. Confessions Of An Economic Hitman touches things like this USA did all over the world http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

u/dhpye · 3 pointsr/politics

Confessions of an Economic Hitman is a great read on this topic, detailing how the Washington-based IMF and World Bank would entice countries to bankrupt themselves by pursuing development projects that had no chance of actually accomplishing anything, thereby creating dependent client states that had most of their financial sovereignty gutted.

u/[deleted] · 3 pointsr/politics

But where do the raw materials for goods made in China come from? The energy resources to keep that those factories and industries running? Certainly not China. This is actually why China was supportive of the US invasion of Iraq, they're extremely oil-hungry as well and had a gentleman's agreement. Same thing with the fancy electronics and cars Japan makes, all that rubber and rare earth mineral comes from Africa at rock-bottom prices.

Africa is holding a lot of the world's economy on its back, so is the middle east, and South Asia and parts of Latin America with their sweatshops.

If all US troops left their bases and came home probably the biggest immediate thing that would happen is that the US puppet government in Iraq would be either co-opted by pro-Iranian elements or overthrown completely, and the price of oil would skyrocket. That would immediately put the world economy in huge crisis.

In places like the Philippines or Colombia (Colombia supplies a huge amount of produce and coffee for cheap prices), revolutionary guerrilla elements that have been fighting for decades and hold territory like the New People's Army and FARC-EP would immediately kick their war into overdrive since the governments in power would no longer be supported/aided by the US military (US Marines were recently aiding Filipino Marines against the NPA and muslim insurgents).

In poor countries with center-left populist governments (Latin America), leaders would stop accepting austerity packages foisted on them by the IMF and World Bank and demand better wages and a big public sector for their worker's which would cause the 'price of doing business' in those countries to skyrocket.

If you're interested in the specifics of the current political and economic order of the world, here are two books I would recommend:

http://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Neoliberalism-David-Harvey/dp/0199283265

http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312565747&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Imperialism-Clarendon-Lectures-Geography-Environmental/dp/0199278083/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312566375&sr=1-1

Sometimes David Harvey is hard to find in public libraries but I've found Confessions of an Economic Hitman in most of them.

u/RDS · 3 pointsr/conspiracy

Ishmael (and the rest of the series) by Daniel Quinn opened my eyes in my senior year of high school.

It's about a Gorilla, who has lived beside man for a number of decades and teaches a pupil through stories and analogies about how we are already at the cusp of civilization collapse. It's about a lot more than just that, namely the relationship of humans, animals, the planet, and how humans have a unique, egotistical view of themselves where we deemed ourselves rulers of the planet.

Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins is an eye opener as well.

Other great reads:

Magicians of the Gods by Graham Hancock.

Necronomicon

UFO's by Leslie Keen

Siddhartha - Herman Hesse

I also really enjoyed the Myst series by Rand & Robin Miller (the books the game is based on). It's about worlds within worlds and an ancient race of authors creating worlds through magical ink and books (sci-fi/fantasy).

u/mike413 · 2 pointsr/talesfromtechsupport

Economists are, in fact, devils. It's possible you are too constructive for membership in the brotherhood of economists (who may actually run the world).

Source: confessions of an economic hitman by john perkins.

u/big_al11 · 2 pointsr/worldpolitics

A very long time ago Andre Gunder Frank and Sue Brandford and Bernardo Kucinski showed that barely 8% of the total of IMF and World Bank loans "given" to a country actually ever reach said country. The majority is never given out at all, but stays in the West to service odious "debts" that these countries supposedly owe. The rest of the money is then given to corrupt elites who share it among themselves.

These "debts" have usually been built up by Western countries giving loans to dictators they put in power, overthrowing democratically-elected politicians who tried to stand up to these banks. These dictators usually keep that loan money in Swiss bank accounts and spend it lavishly in the West. When they are overthrown themselves, the people they were oppressing are saddled with huge bills at exhorbitant interest rates.

Finally, former "economic hit man' John Perkins details that these infrastructure projects like damns and the like usually only benefit a small percentage at the top of society, were uneconomical to begin with, and were used as a trap to get poor countries indebted to rich ones so they lost their sovereignty.

u/dunSHATmySelf · 2 pointsr/technology

> Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

for the lazy - http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

u/k-dingo · 2 pointsr/news

John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

That said, I've heard the Kennedy / Federal Reserve / Executive order 11110 conspiracy. I'm unconvinced.

Pro.

Con.

u/a__b · 2 pointsr/ukraina

Just in case Confessions of an Economic Hit Man https://www.amazon.com/dp/0452287081

u/SomeRandomDude69 · 2 pointsr/Thailand

Yes, it's basically the plot behind the non-fiction book The Confessions of an Economic Hitman. Seems like it's not just the USA and western banks doing this now China is cashed-up. Predatory finance. It's a boring and dry topic, and happens in the shadows because people pay more attention to sports and Kardashian's tits.

u/wafflesareforever · 2 pointsr/AskReddit

We've fomented a ton of violence around the world, deliberately started wars, and killed elected leaders of other countries. Other countries have done and continue to do the same sorts of things, but we're far from the gleaming beacon of justice and goodwill toward men that we imagine ourselves as.

Check out Confessions of an Economic Hitman if you're curious about the darker side of American foreign policy.

u/Jaboaflame · 2 pointsr/suggestmeabook

Confessions of an Economic Hitman. It's a fast, simple read about a guy who deliberately sabotages the economies of second and third world countries in order to establish US economic domination.

u/koushik2506 · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

You might like this: http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081 If you haven't read already

u/Mister_DK · 2 pointsr/ChapoTrapHouse

Confessions of an Economic Hitman was probably my gateway drug (followed by Zinn) and is a fairly breezy read, though I know there are a lot of questions about the accuracy of it.

https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

u/ASCAdmin · 2 pointsr/conspiracy

>Countries willingly provide their resources and let American and European multinational corporate conglomerates pillage and rape their lands for pennies.

It is obvious that you are not objective, and it sounds like you are only half awake. US bombs everyone that says "no" to "pillage" and "rape" of their lands. US funds coups to support anyone that allows that.

Read a little, it's good for you.

Again, the point is none of them are killing globally like the Americans are killing non-Americans.

u/dpc59 · 2 pointsr/Quebec

politics as usual, vous devriez lire confessions of an economic hitman, ca parle de comment les corporations américaines forcent les pays à les laisser faire ce qu'elles veulent

u/kathleen65 · 2 pointsr/politics

Great book on this is Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. Written by John Perkins an ex-CIA agent who was involved. We have a lot of blood on our hands around the world and it is all for corporations. http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457702698&sr=8-1&keywords=confessions+of+an+economic+hitman

u/yitro · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

Read Confessions of an Economic Hitman, then The Secret History of the American Empire. These killings didn't just happen in the Middle East but in Asia, the Pacific and South America. Greedy and self-motivated behavior by the Corporatocracy.

u/saisumimen · 2 pointsr/videos

Read Confessions of an Economic Hitman

It talks about the stuff the US pulled in Iran (and in other countries).

He talks about "the process"; when a ruler like Mossadegh wants to nationalize a country's natural resource, the US will send in an "economic hitman" that will try to sweet-talk and bribe him into changing his mind. When that fails, they send in "the jackals", or CIA assassins who love to kill important people in plane crashes (they tried to kill Saddam Hussein, for example but failed because he was just so paranoid). If that fails, then they send in the military.

u/fulanomengano · 2 pointsr/argentina

Si, la rama que sobredimensiona la necesidad de infraestructura en los países para hacerles invertir en cosas que no necesitan y poder enchufarles créditos a altas tasas con la condición de que las obras las hagan con las empresas que ellos recomiendan. Fuente [Confessions of an Economic Hitman] (https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081/).

u/IntellectualWanderer · 2 pointsr/politics

So, while this book is controversial, I think it still worth the read, just with a grain of salt, because even if it's not true, it's still a nice reminder that the "truth" you're told isn't necessarily the real truth.

u/Stereoisomer · 2 pointsr/aznidentity


>>The Asian countries are largely undemocratic and uncosmopolitan and thus, I believe, more prone to divisiveness along racial boundaries.

No the source you gave me yourself says that China is less diverse than the US (3% vs 20%). Also you can't possibly think that China, Cambodia, Pakistan, and Burma are more democratic than any Western nation.


>Do you write speeches for the white house? This sounds like just total nonsense. http://www.amazon.com/Rogue-State-Guide-Worlds-Superpower/dp/1567513743/ and http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081/

Well that's just about one of the best compliments I've ever received haha. Also it's a well supported theory in international relations that nations with open trade are less likely to come into conflict.

>Racially charged crimes are a big problem in all these places with any sizable minority group.

Okay it was a bit hyperbolic of me top use"post-racial" but what i meant was that European countries largely don't come into conflict at all let alone on racial lines largely due to the moderating effect of the European Union

u/Berg426 · 2 pointsr/booksuggestions

Confessions of an Economic Hitman was a really great book

http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

u/goldman_ct · 2 pointsr/collapse

WHAT HAPPENED:

  • Argentina defaulted on their external debt in 2001. Argentina restructured their debt and worked out a settlement with 93% of bondholders swapping out the old issued bonds with the new restructured bonds , basically giving them 25 cents on the dollar.

  • 7% of the bondholders held out and refused to participate with the settlement, most notably a few poweful US hedge funds (aka the so-called "vulture capitalists").

  • These "vultures" just aren't acting in good faith like the rest of bonholders. They could accept 35 cents per dollar and still get 300% of profit. But they want to get paid the total value knowing that it's impossible for Argentina to pay that much.

  • Many of these hedge funds bought Argentina's debt after it had already defaulted for pennies on the dollar, thinking at the very least they could sue Argentina and win a court settlement that would net a hefty rate of return.

  • Right decision? That joke of a "judge" basically said "fuck you" to the 92% of the bond holders that accepted the restructuration of the debt either in 2005 or 2010 because of a ridiculous claim made by a group that bought those defaulted bonds at a extremely low price with the intention of getting a extraordinary profit in the courts.

  • Entities who borrow then they can't afford to pay back simply don't pay back. Do you know WHY bonds have interest on them? Because the investor is accepting the RISK of NEVER BEING PAYED BACK!

  • You either make money or you lose money. Suing them for money they don't have is a way to try to escape the risk you were being payed to shoulder.

  • A vulture fund is an financial organization that especializes on buying securities in distressed environments, such as high-yield bonds in or near default, or equities that are in or near bankruptcy. The idea behind a vulture fund is to buy securities at low prices and to earn an extraordinarily high return, even if it forces the debtor to do things against its best interest

  • Rewarding this kind of speculation of the lowest level isn't only bad for Argentina (and the bond holders), it's bad for the entire financial system as a whole, it's the same kind of bullshit that triggered the 2008 financial crisis.

    A lot of finance people who are talking about this feel entitled and butthurt. The owners of those firms became billionaires using third world dictatorships, heaven forbid they don't get extraordinary earnings by destroying a economy of 40 million people.

    Billions of suffering, in their pockets.

    "Wealth is not a zero sum game" my ass.

    All while the poor workers that are actually going to work everyday suffer

    Those so called "self made men" zionist bankers make millions of innocent people suffer and threaten nations, preying on the week.

    Every single one of them. They should be hanged.

    They should all be fucking hanged, there need to be blood. When people have nothing to lose, they will just take their fucking heads off.
u/ImpeachObomber · 1 pointr/politics

Sorry, you don't understand how all those are connected together? Ok, I will be more than glad to inform you.

First, imperialism and its relationship to our recent foreign policy disasters:

http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/18sirg/hubris_new_documentary_reexamines_the_iraq_war/c8hpd0t?context=3

Imperialism and its relation to Islamic terrorism:

http://www.independent.org/guncontrol/?s=twb

The economics of imperialism. What drives it, and its relation to neoliberalism:

http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0452287081

Please feel free to ask if you have any questions.

And I hope you don't go all like "WAAAaaah! Book learnin'? I don't need no stinkin' book learnin' Rachel MadCow and MSNBC tell me everything I need to know! WaaaaAAAh!" like so many of the BlackBushsheep are wont to do.

u/ideaman21 · 1 pointr/WikiLeaks

This isn't by chance and it's not just the CF. Sadly this is the way the rich have stolen everything from the poor countries and even bankrupted them while helping them.

Confessions of an Economic Hitman

https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1526955599&sr=8-2&keywords=confessions+of+an+economic+hitman

u/chefranden · 1 pointr/reddit.com

I fail to see where I suggested that socialism is "the answer". There is no "the answer". Any and all attempts to find and then impose "the answer" are doomed to produce more misery than they may alleviate.

>There is no possible way to have socialism and still continue your lifestyle, which is growing at a constant and steady rate.

I hope that you didn't get this piece of propaganda
from that nice history class. You might like to check out the standard of living in countries like Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Denmark before you pronounce such a remarkable faith in American brand Capitalism.

My reply above was intended to help you find out that there never has been this "golden American Age" that you lamented above. I'm impressed that your teacher was able to use Zinn even in part. Nevertheless I suggest that you read the whole of it.

u/shelly_gordon · 1 pointr/politics

Actually we probably agree on most things (except the rioting, my heroes have always been pacifists Frederick Douglas, Susan Anthony, Thoreau, Gandhi and King). I have ordered the Marjorie Kelly book you recommended. You might be interested in this podcast or this book. I was suggesting we write to our representatives as a small step but most people I know are too lazy or brainwashed to even attempt any action. Good luck with the unionizing - here's some inspiration

u/Slangin_paint · 1 pointr/The_Donald

Sounds like a good read. Thanks!

EDIT: Another GREAT read on how the CIA really operates as the muscle for the NWO everybody should ready Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins.

https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

u/ychromosome · 1 pointr/india

> I wouldn't fault the IMF. They can't force anything down a country's throat until the nation itself capitulates.

IMF and World Bank are actually the modern vehicles by which imperialistic capitalists loot developing countries. A few additional readings:

Confessions of an Economic Hitman Wiki

Confessions of an Economic Hitman Book

Confessions of an Economic Hitman video interview. This is just part 1; be sure to check out part 2 of the interview, link available on the same page.

u/LIGHTNlNG · 1 pointr/worldnews

Perhaps everyone should take a look at this book and then you won't be so surprised by these disclosures.

u/MrXfromPlanetX · 1 pointr/politics

Can we trust Eric Holder? Why did Obama appoint this guy as Attorney General?

“Most notorious was his role defending the food giant Chiquita Brands International, Inc., whose multimillionaire executives were facing potential charges of aiding terrorism because of their financing and arming of right-wing death squads in Colombia. Using his Justice Department connections—and taking advantage of the Bush administration's sympathy for the Colombian fascists

—Holder managed to get Chiquita off the hook with a small fine, despite overwhelming evidence that it had hired gunmen to kidnap, torture and murder Colombian workers, peasants and union officials.”

http://www.inteldaily.com/news/172/ARTICLE/9333/2009-01-20.html

According to John Perkins “Economic Hit Man” the Bush family owns a stake in Chiquita http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216085881&sr=1-1

This company used to be United Fruit who was responsible for the 1954 coup in Guatemala. The coup over threw Jacobo Arbenz Guzman. Arbenz nationalized the land in the country taking it away from United Fruit to giving it back to the poor.
http://mrxfromplanetx.com/secret-government (1987 Bill Moyers PBS Documentary)

Jesse Ventura: “Politics is like pro wrestling.” On the camera they pretend to hate each other, but when they're off the camera they're all best friends and go out to dinner together http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7bCkfXlXcM

u/genericusername12768 · 1 pointr/conspiracy

Welcome! Here are some resources I recommend:

Books

  • "Propaganda" by Edward Bernays; Wikipedia & Amazon - Classic book explaining the fundamentals of propaganda. Was later used by Nazis for inspiration
  • "Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media" by Noam Chomsky; Wikipedia & Amazon - examples of how mass media lie and deceive
  • "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins; Wikipedia & Amazon
  • "War Is a Racket" by US Marine Corps Major General and two time Medal of Honor recipient Smedley D. Butler; Wikipedia

    Films

  • "Inside Job" by Charles H. Ferguson; Wikipedia & Internet Archive - Fine documentary about 2008 economic trouble and how greed shaped it even at the highest levels
  • "9/11: Decade of Deception" by Ryan Dawson; Youtube - Scientifically based 9/11 documentary
  • "Dark Secrets : Inside Bohemian Grove Full Length" by Alex Jones; YouTube - A young AJ goes into the Bohemian Club
  • "The Order of Death" by Alex Jones; YouTube - Followup to previous Bohemian Club film

    Short videos

  • "American War Machine" by Joe Rogan; YouTube
  • "Bush admits that Iraq Had Nothing To Do With 9/11"; YouTube
  • "Israel Lobbyist suggests False Flag attack to start war with Iran"; YouTube
  • "Rahm Emanuel: You never want a serious crisis to go to waste"; YouTube
  • "How Ron Paul Was Cheated Out Of Presidency"; YouTube

    Subreddits

  • /r/moosearchive - extremely useful subreddit with many links concerning conspiracy-related topics

    Other

  • "Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment" by John P Holdren; Infowars article - Obama science czar wrote a book advocating depopulation methods including adding sterilants to drinking water and 'Planetary Regime' that controls optimum world population/resources

u/juliebeen · 1 pointr/books

Confessions of an Economic Hit man.

u/goddamnbatman617 · 1 pointr/business
u/CypressXM · 1 pointr/WhereIsAssange

I'm not aware of the exact details of this case, but this book is recommended reading for anyone interested in this type of Geo-Politics.

https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

u/CaptainKyloStark · 1 pointr/AdviceAnimals

For everyone that 'agrees' with the sentiment of this meme, I highly recommend the book "Confessions of an Economic Hitman". It is an amazing book, and truly eye opening.

> EDITORIAL REVIEWS
>
> Amazon.com Review
> John Perkins started and stopped writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man four times over 20 years. He says he was threatened and bribed in an effort to kill the project, but after 9/11 he finally decided to go through with this expose of his former professional life. Perkins, a former chief economist at Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main, says he was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business. "Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars," Perkins writes. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is an extraordinary and gripping tale of intrigue and dark machinations. Think John Le Carré, except it's a true story.
>
> Perkins writes that his economic projections cooked the books Enron-style to convince foreign governments to accept billions of dollars of loans from the World Bank and other institutions to build dams, airports, electric grids, and other infrastructure he knew they couldn't afford. The loans were given on condition that construction and engineering contracts went to U.S. companies. Often, the money would simply be transferred from one bank account in Washington, D.C., to another one in New York or San Francisco. The deals were smoothed over with bribes for foreign officials, but it was the taxpayers in the foreign countries who had to pay back the loans. When their governments couldn't do so, as was often the case, the U.S. or its henchmen at the World Bank or International Monetary Fund would step in and essentially place the country in trusteeship, dictating everything from its spending budget to security agreements and even its United Nations votes. It was, Perkins writes, a clever way for the U.S. to expand its "empire" at the expense of Third World citizens. While at times he seems a little overly focused on conspiracies, perhaps that's not surprising considering the life he's led. --Alex Roslin --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
>
> From Publishers Weekly
> Perkins spent the 1970s working as an economic planner for an international consulting firm, a job that took him to exotic locales like Indonesia and Panama, helping wealthy corporations exploit developing nations as, he claims, a not entirely unwitting front for the National Security Agency. He says he was trained early in his career by a glamorous older woman as one of many "economic hit men" advancing the cause of corporate hegemony. He also says he has wanted to tell his story for the last two decades, but his shadowy masters have either bought him off or threatened him until now. The story as presented is implausible to say the least, offering so few details that Perkins often seems paranoid, and the simplistic political analysis doesn’t enhance his credibility. Despite the claim that his work left him wracked with guilt, the artless prose is emotionally flat and generally comes across as a personal crisis of conscience blown up to monstrous proportions, casting Perkins as a victim not only of his own neuroses over class and money but of dark forces beyond his control. His claim to have assisted the House of Saud in strengthening its ties to American power brokers may be timely enough to attract some attention, but the yarn he spins is ultimately unconvincing, except perhaps to conspiracy buffs.

u/xXxBluElysiumxXx · 1 pointr/booksuggestions

Not exactly what you're looking for, but I'd like to recommend Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

Here is a short (2 min) cartoon video that covers the main theme of the book: The Economic Hitmen

I'd also recommend The Forever War.

u/Loud_Volume · 1 pointr/worldnews

You do realize the CIA does/has done this with great success many times in history...

https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

u/Grandest_Inquisitor · 1 pointr/conspiracy

The book is "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins.

It's a very good book.

And relevant to the post yesterday about Obama's work in the 1980s for Business International Corporation as the consulting BIC did (at least officially) may be somewhat similar to the consulting Perkins did.

u/andrewfree · 1 pointr/technology

"I care not what puppet is placed upon the throne of England to rule the Empire on which the sun never sets. The man who controls Britain's money supply controls the British Empire, and I control the British money supply." - Nathan Rothschild

The people breaking the banking/money laws are also associated with those making the laws, thus they never get in trouble. Look who is in jail for the 2008 financial crash. This kind of economic warfare is arguable more destructive. Haven't read this book myself but it gets mentioned a lot when talking about "economic warfare" http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

u/TurnsOutImAScientist · 1 pointr/TrueReddit
u/winstonsmithwatson · 1 pointr/uncensorednews

>The first link you posted is merely a PDF document from the CIA reporting on Syria.

Ha, I thought this was sarcasm, then you went on and made the most retarded argument about how official documents arent evidence because of their size (this document in particular is 28 pages). Good luck using that one in court.

What the fuck do you think intelligence agencies do? The Art of War is from 5th century BC. People have been mastering this craft for over a thousand years. Theres institutes dedicated only to writing up new ideas, from overthrowing governments to you-fucking-name-it, using memetics for population control

If a bank has been robbed, and in my bookcase, you find the plans to rob that bank in particular, no mather how old those plans are, or how thick the plan is, it is reason for suspicion to say the least. In the case of EU/USA deliberatly creating ISIS, not just this document but papertrails, pictures, emails have been released. You're just waiting for the unbiased truthspeakers CNN to cover it.

About books, here's one, go ahead and read up what the founding fathers wrote on criminal governments and militia. Or read this book about the CIA using 'Economic Hitmen'.

Or see what information has come up thanks to the Freedom of Information act..

u/Tb1969 · 1 pointr/energy
u/thelastknowngod · 1 pointr/videos

> It's the same thing the World Bank does..give poor countries too big a loan on purpose so Western companies can take over key resources when they default after failing to pay after a few years

Valid concern. Confessions of an Economic Hitman is a good read if you haven't checked it out yet.

u/StylesB21 · 1 pointr/The_Donald

The story of Pinoche and Chile is just one of many very important examples in history where the elites have run this EXACT same operation. Howard Zinn is a great historian at divulging many of these stories. They even made one into a graphic novel.

https://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-American-Empire-Adaptation/dp/0805087443

Also excellent first-hand account of this tactic is John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hitman

https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

These 2 alone will get you pointed in the right direction for learning the true history of US/western elites/corporatocracy impirialism. You will also see the correlation between these and what they are trying to pull here and now in the US.

u/PheryPhunny · 1 pointr/UkrainianConflict

> I mostly mean that I can go in public and say vile shit about our president, I can kiss a person of the same gender. I can also, as Steven Segal did, show obvious support for Putin and Russia. I can say obscenities, I can produce independent movies about our own country's war crimes.

That's because to those in power, gay marriage matters not. The locals can fight over it while those in power stay in power. However, you're really exaggerating gay rights in the US. There's still many states where you can get fired for being gay. And queer bashings still happen. And, just a fun fact, a higher percent of black men are in prison right now in the U.S. then during South African apartheid.

>systematic oppression of free speech, manipulation of public opinion, intentional data distortion that happens every day in Russia. Why, as an academic, would I want to be a coerced empty voice?

The media system is run by a group of 5 or 6 oligarchic companies. It's not state run like in Russia, but it's still pretty bad, IMO. Yes, you can make your own shitty blog, no you won't change the public opinion with it.

>There is a reason Russia's population has been sinking like the Titanic and their male life expectancy is pitiable. That isn't the West's fault!

Never said it is.

>Bear in mind also that Russian exploitation of Belarus and Ukraine led starving citizens to cannibalism and killed millions (~1933).

If I can bring up atrocities that the U.S. did back then... There's just so many. I'm going to ignore that and lead to the assumption that both governments have changed, and the cold war made both do some shady shit.

>They killed many more within their own borders. Again, can America be blamed for the parts they have inflicted on themselves?

Again, past. However, how many Natives has the U.S. killed? And put into reservations and then taken their resources after finding them in the tribal lands? This is all recent stuff.

>If Russia has tried to do what the US did during the Iraq War with misleading information, they have achieved only a piecemeal farce.

Maybe outside of Russia, yes. But inside? They are doing fine.

>The achilles heal of their previously-growing economy is exposed to the world.

Gas? It was not exposed, it was well known. And They are getting more and more connected to China.

>Also, don't forget how many of the internationally rich are indeed Russians themselves.

There's a few. However, the majority of them are bankers, politicians, and businessmen. And almost all are from the U.S. and Western Europe.

Want actual examples of what the U.S. does?

http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

Or go look up the Banana wars, Pinochet, Depleted Uranium in Iraq, the deals that the IMF and World Bank give nations that give it money in exchange for austerity measures that take away money from the people in governments. It doesn't matter to they whether or not gays can get married.

I'm not exactly pro-Russia. I'm Anti-U.S. And there is a long history of the U.S. forcing revolutions in regions it deems unfriendly, which is where Maiden started. And before you say I'm wrong, seriously, look up Pinochet. Look up the Bay of Pigs. Or here, just look through this list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_United_States_foreign_regime_change_actions

u/donh · 1 pointr/worldnews

who do you think you are kidding? The function of the World Bank
is to strip mine the world's poor countries of their resources, thru odious debt,
for their real clients: the West's largest banking, government
and industrial establishments, as they have managed to do now
throughout Africa and South America by making loans to assholes
who shaft their citizens on a regular basis.



http://almariam.com/2015/02/08/ethiopias-odious-debt-to-the-odious-world-bank/

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Bank#Criticism

https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081


Poor World Bank, so often disappointed in their corrupt third world
dictatorships. Thank god the World Bank solders on undeterred, looking
for that one corrupt third world dictator who won't impoverish and
enslave his subjects, sell off their physical birthrights, then take the money
and run off to Switzerland.

u/SerenasHairyBalls · 1 pointr/worldnews

No they won't. America is the boss. Anybody who tries to mess with American exports will get bounced out of office.

u/dajuice21122 · 1 pointr/politics

this sounds like something out of Confessions of an Economic Hitman

u/neocontrash · 1 pointr/politics

>I think madamebo3's comment was in reference to what you said regarding the relationship between the U.S. and China, not towards what you said about the IMF and third world nations. Those are two very distinct arguments.

NO, they are exactly the same argument. If you are indebted to another nation as extensively as we will be soon, you are enslaved. The creditors can, and will force austerity measures on the debtors and even go so far as creating a revolution if the government does not comply. We (the US) and the IMF have done that many times, and if the US continues on the path it is on then it WILL be subject to those same actions.

If you think the end result has to be "if you don't pay, we'll go over to freely rape, pillage and burn." then you need to sit down and read Perkins book "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" so you can learn how all that messy stuff has been sidestepped.

The video makes me fearful of what the idiots in Washington are doing - THEY are the ones who are selling us into slavery - and NOT fearful of the Chinese.

u/smokinbluebear · 1 pointr/TSBD

Confessions of an Economic Hitman is available for ONE CENT (used) on amazon...

...so is The Secret History of the American Empire

http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411930644&sr=1-3&keywords=john+perkins

u/Expected_to_Pass · 1 pointr/EndlessWar

> An empire is where the occupying force absorbs the country it has invaded,

Such a definition ignores over a century of real-life experience with and writing and theorizing about neo-colonialism.

For Americans, neo-colonialism is best illustrated by the Philippines. We supposedly gave the Philippines "independence" after WWII.

The reality is that we installed and supported a puppet dictator in the Philippines, giving him a cut of money for the trouble of ruling the country. Meanwhile, despite "independence" the US controlled the Filipino economy directly and indirectly pulled the strings in the country.

The US was a relative late-comer to neo-colonialism. The British Empire and others were using neo-colonial tactics long before WWII.

FWIW, the book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man may be an enlightened read for you...

u/JoeBriefcase · 1 pointr/books

Not directly related but eyeopening nonetheless... Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins

u/Domhnal · 1 pointr/politics

Kinda funny you mention that. For a overall left leaning place, reddit sure has its share of multiple personalities.

I think we retain our status mostly by this and something along these lines. We really don't seem to be that awesome anymore except maybe to the infantile countries who like grandpa's war stories but aren't old enough to understand that he lives mostly alone because he molested a few children. Or the ones we pay to say we're awesome like Saudi Arabia.

u/caviidae · 1 pointr/todayilearned
u/DiscordianAgent · 1 pointr/Jokes
u/magenta_placenta · 1 pointr/conspiracy
u/WaterNoGetEnemy · 1 pointr/politics

I think we've reached the point where we've each laid out what we have to say and gotten whatever clarification we can from one another. Thanks for the discussion and maybe we'll talk again.

Probably the one outstanding issue is you asked for a source to explain how the Oil Embargo (that extended to 1974, I just learned) was a major influence on US policy in the Middle East. My belief was formed by two books, Planet of Slums and Confessions of an Economic Hitman.

They're great books, and I totally recommend them, but they don't make for great proof (if that's what you're asking for) in an internet discussion. Let me know if you read either, because I'd really like to hear what you think!

Thanks again.

u/RestSnorlax · 0 pointsr/worldnews

This is precisely what the book, "Confessions of an Economic Hitman," is about. These American engineering firms are pseudo-govt agencies. They go into 3rd world countries promising to fix their infrastructure, build a dam, roads, etc. The price for these projects skyrocket beyond the estimation and these poor countries find themselves in debt to the USA. That debt can be leveraged into UN votes, political influence, and exploitation of the country's citizens by American companies.

In the book, the guy's job is to oversell the positives of letting American engineering companies come in and fix/build stuff. It's only later that these countries learn the true cost.

u/U_S_FUCKING_A · 0 pointsr/todayilearned

This is relevant.

u/Hide_Yo_Waffles · 0 pointsr/todayilearned
u/7thhokage · 0 pointsr/worldnews

The Germans ran an ad in the New Yorker telling people that the Lusitania would be sailing (and sunk) through german military controlled waters, the captain has nothing to do with the story either. the "Official story" at the time was it was just a civilian ship, but sadly it wasnt because in order for the germans to actually want to sink it, it had to be a military ship....and lo and behold it was loaded with hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition headed to support US allies in the war.....and what is a ammunition or any military supply carrying ship considered in wartime? a military vessel.


and as for the golf of tonkin incident, just read the wiki, but you shouldnt have to since you know more about american history than most americans right?

and as for Pearl Harbor there ya go that should get ya off the "conspiracy" denial train.

as for over throwing sovereign goverments Here ya go..... and you should read this book or find a cliff notes to see how we have even used economic espionage to achieve these goals.
not to mention all the proxy wars we have been involved in, but thats prolly too "conspiracy theory" for you. so how about the fact the US helped organize train and supply groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS (btw use google if my sources arent up to your standards.)

but i mean just only facts ever. NEVER would our government lie to us.

but please prove that none of it is true. again though prove it.

u/DrogoB · 0 pointsr/videos

In a similar modus operandi, there's this.

u/MJ_83 · 0 pointsr/todayilearned

I read this one in a college course, and I was enthralled. It is hard to believe that it is all real. Another book that you may enjoy, a little off topic, is Confessions of an Economic Hitman.

u/thebrightsideoflife · -1 pointsr/economy
u/Wood_Warden · -2 pointsr/gifs

I am born and raised in America.

>It's not offense on countries with resources we deem valuable that's just a stupid talking point that has no merit.

Has no merit? http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

>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.

>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.


Or how about this book? http://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Wars-The-World-Battlefield/dp/156858671X

>America's hand is exposed in this sprawling investigation of autonomous US military operations and the abuse of executive privilege that escalated global war. New York Times bestselling author Scahill (Blackwater) pulls no punches from right or left in his exposure of governments that passively authorized the use of torture in interrogation, marked an American citizen for death without due process, and empowered a military branch to conduct warfare on their terms, turning at least four countries into warzones. Interviews with U.S. army colonels, former CIA officers, Somali warlords, and a Yemeni sheik are only a few focal points in Scahill's narrative prism. Years of ground investigation are chronicled in stock terms, creating an accessible and shuddering effect: congress "asleep at the wheel;" an enemy of the state "on a collision course with history;" government officials who "cut their teeth" in the White House. Even in Scahill's most frustrated moments fact supplants editorial, adding valiancy and devastation to his brutal portrayals.


Your view of America is unrealistic.. or you haven't been paying attention.

u/The_Voice_of_Dog · -17 pointsr/worldnews

https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

Learn about your world, before spouting off retardation.

u/jakjacks · -25 pointsr/Philippines

Read up to know why they will sabotage your economy if you do not comply to all the big power's wishes.


https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081


John Perkins started and stopped writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man four times over 20 years. He says he was threatened and bribed in an effort to kill the project, but after 9/11 he finally decided to go through with this expose of his former professional life. Perkins, a former chief economist at Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main, says he was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business. "Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars," Perkins writes. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is an extraordinary and gripping tale of intrigue and dark machinations. Think John Le Carré, except it's a true story.


What John's book says is, there was a conspiracy to put all these countries on the hook, and that happened.

u/AssuredlyAThrowAway · -39 pointsr/PublicFreakout