John Perkins

John Perkins (b. January 28, 1945 in Hanover, New Hampshire) is an activist and author. His best known book is "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" (2004), an insider's account of the exploitation or neo-colonization of Third World countries by what Perkins portrays as a cabal of corporations, banks, and the United States government [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbXapNPm_xo&feature=related] . His 2007 book, "The Secret History of the American Empire", makes further claims about the negative impact of global corporations on the economies and ecologies of poor countries, as well as offering suggestions for making corporations behave more like good citizens.

Perkins has also written an introduction to the 2007 book "A Game as Old as Empire: the Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption" (edited by Steven Hiatt), a collection of accounts from investigators, journalists and self-proclaimed economic hitmen. The book tries to provide further proof for the existence of economic hit men and reply to some of the criticism that Perkin's book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" received.

Perkins attended Tilton School for high school, Middlebury College, and Boston University School of Management during the 1960s. He spent the 1970s working for the consulting firm Chas. T. Main, where he was employed after first being screened by the National Security Agency (NSA) and subsequently hired by Einar Greve, a member of the Firm (and alleged NSA liaison, a claim which Greve has denied). Perkins was trained early in his career by a beautiful, older woman who was armed with the psychological profile gathered about him by the NSA after many days of pre-employment screening, as one of many "economic hit men" advancing the cause of corporate hegemony.

As a former chief economist at Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main, Perkins says that he "was an 'economic hit man' for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinational corporations cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business.

However, after several years struggling internally over the role he was playing in crippling foreign economies, he quit his consulting job. In the 1980s Perkins founded and directed a successful independent energy company. In the book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", Perkins states that he suspects the success of his company was due to 'coincidences' orchestrated by those appreciative of his silence about the work he did as an economic hit man. He then sold the energy company in the late 1980s. Since then he has been heavily involved with non-profit organizations in Ecuador and around the world. He continues this work today, in addition to his writing. One of his organizations, [http://www.dreamchange.org/ Dream Change] , is dedicated to shifting consciousness and promoting sustainable lifestyles for the individual and global community.

Controversy

The U.S. State Department has posted a criticism of "Confessions", and of Perkins himself, on its "Identifying Misinformation" site [http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2006/Feb/02-767147.html] , calling his allegations "a total fabrication" and pointing out the "recent initiative to cancel the debt of many heavily indebted poor countries."

Perkins' response is that the NSA is extremely secretive, that in fact we know very little about what it really does, and that this has been confirmed recently by disclosures that it spies on U.S. citizens -- an activity that has nothing to do with its stated mission [unverified claim] .Fact|date=July 2008

Columnist [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/opinion/columns/mallabysebastian/ Sebastian Mallaby] of the "Washington Post" reacted sharply to Perkins' book [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/26/AR2006022601265.html The Facts Behind the 'Confessions'] by Sebastian Mallaby, Washington Post Op-Ed, 2006-02-26] : "...a vainglorious peddler of nonsense, and yet his book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", is a runaway bestseller." Mallaby, who spent 13 years writing for the London "Economist" and wrote a critically well-received biography of World Bank chief James Wolfensohn [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/opinion/columns/mallabysebastian/] , holds that Perkins' conception of international finance is "largely a dream" and that his "basic contentions are flat wrong." For instance Mallaby points out that Indonesia reduced its infant mortality and illiteracy rates by two-thirds after economists persuaded its leaders to borrow money in 1970.

Perkins' response is that Mallaby is an apologist for the system of exploitation and points out that in his "Secret History of the American Empire" he argues that Indonesia is significantly worse off economically and socially than it was in the 1970s.

Bibliography

* "The Secret History of the American Empire" (2007), ISBN 0-52595-015-X
* "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" (2004), ISBN 0-452-28708-1
* "A Game as Old as Empire: the Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption" (edited by Steven Hiatt, introduction by John Perkins) (2007) ISBN 978-1-57675-395-8Perkins has also written on indigenous cultures and shamanism. His books on these subjects include:
* "Psychonavigation: Techniques for Travel Beyond Time", ISBN 0-89281-800-X
* "Shapeshifting: Shamanic Techniques for Global and Personal Transformation", ISBN 0-89281-663-5
* "The World Is As You Dream It"
* "The Stress-Free Habit"
* "The Spirit of the Shuar"

Perkins is also the chair of the board of the Dream Change, "a world wide grass roots movement of people from diverse cultures and backgrounds dedicated to shifting consciousness and promoting sustainable lifestyles for the individual and global community." [http://www.dreamchange.org/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=3&MMN_position=4:4]

References

External links

* [http://www.JohnPerkins.org Perkins' web site]
* [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/05/149254 Audio interview June 5th, 07 (begins after news)]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0JCJ4pIFEw Video: Perkins talks about covert empire] , YouTube, August 13, 2007.
* [http://www.dreamchange.org/ Dream Change homepage]
* [http://www.economichitman.com/pix/veracitymemo.pdf Support and evidence for John Perkins' account of his life] from Steven Piersanti, President and Publisher, Berrett-Koehler Publishers "(PDF format)" [http://home.comcast.net/~dissyness/veracitymemo.pdf Mirror of this file here] ; the original link appears to be broken. PDF recovered from [http://web.archive.org The Wayback Machine]
* [http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2006/Feb/02-767147.html Criticism of John Perkins' account of his life] by the U.S. State Department
* [http://www.economichitman.com/pix/MAINdocuments.pdf Scanned documents] , purported to be from Chas. T Main, regarding John Perkins' activities "(PDF format)"; This document has been removed by the publisher (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.) in favor of content relating to Mr. Perkins' newest book "The Secret History of the American Empire", although they claim it will eventually be moved elsewhere.
* [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/31/1546207 How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions] , Democracy Now, December 31, 2004.
* [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/15/1436221 We Have Created the World’s First Truly Global Empire] , Democracy Now, February 15, 2006
*Thomas Kiely. [http://www.newtopiamagazine.net/archives/content/issue19/features/hitman.php The Missing Link: John Perkins’s "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man"] , "Newtopia Magazine", November 2004.
* [http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/johnperkins John Perkins COLLECTION at the Global Dialogue Center: personal blog, podcasts] , 2005 to present
* [http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=13&ItemID=13236 Article] by Greg Palast
* [http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/perkins.htm PBS NOW interview 3/04/05]