John Perkins

John Perkins        (activist, author, whistleblower)
In November 2009
Born	1945-01-28 Hanover, New Hampshire, United States
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Boston University
Children	Jessica
Spouse	Winifred Perkins
Exposed	“Debt crisis”
US economist turned whistleblower whose Confessions of an Economic Hit Man prompted an official denial by the US government.

John Perkins is a US economist turned whistleblower. His first book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, which he was prompted to write by the events of 9-11, prompted an official denial by the US government.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Full article: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Perkins wrote the extremely popular Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

"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.
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

“My job was to convince heads of state of countries with resources our corporations covet, like oil, to accept huge loans from the World Bank and its sister organizations. The stipulation was that these loans would be used to hire our engineering and construction companies, such as Bechtel, Halliburton, and Stone and Webster, to build electric power systems, ports, airports, highways and other infrastructure projects that would bring large profits to those companies and also benefit a few wealthy families in the country, the ones that owned the industries and commercial establishments. Everyone else in the country would suffer because funds were diverted from education, healthcare and other social services to pay interest on the debt. In the end, when the country could not buy down the principal, we would go back and, with the help of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), “restructure” the loans. This included demands that the country sell its resources cheap to our corporations with minimal environmental and social regulations and that it privatize its utility companies and other public service businesses and offer them to our companies at cut-rate prices.”
John Perkins

Everyone has skeletons in his closet

“I asked [Lula's emissary] whether Lula had been corrupted and for how long. It was obvious that this question made him extremely uncomfortable. After a long pause, he admitted that Lula was part of the system. "Otherwise, how could he have risen to such a position?" However, Jose also professed his admiration for Lula. "He's a realist. He understands that in order to help his people he has no choice ..." Then he shook his head. "I fear," he said, "that Washington will try to bring Lula down if he goes too far."

"How do you think they'd do it?"

"Everyone has—as you say—skeletons in his closet. Every politician has done things that can look bad, if brought into the light in a certain way. Lula has skeletons. If the powers that run your empire want to bring him down, they'll open the closet door."”
John Perkins (2007) 

 

Quotes by John Perkins

Page	Quote	Date	Source
Contadora Island	“Surely you've heard the rumors about why Noriega was taken down and today rots in a U.S. prison." "I've heard that he had cameras on Contadora Island." It was an infamous resort off Panama's coast, a "safe haven" where U.S. businessmen could treat politicians to every conceivable vice. I had visited—and used—Contadora several times during my EHM days. "You heard who got caught by those cameras?" "Rumors that George W. was photographed doing coke and having kinky sex during the time his father was president." There was a theory in Latin America that Noriega had used incriminating photos of the younger Bush and his cronies to convince the older Bush, the president, to side with the Panamanian administration on key issues. In retaliation, H. W. invaded Panama and hustled Noriega off to a Miami prison. The building housing Noriega's confidential files had been incinerated by bombs; as a side effect, more than two thousand innocent civilians were burned to death in Panama City that day in December 1989. Many people claimed that this theory offered the only logical explanation for violently attacking a nation without an army and that posed no threat to the United States. Jose nodded. "From where I sit, those rumors ring awfully true. I've experienced things that take them out of the realm of fantasy." He cocked his head. "So have you." He paused, looking around. "And it terrifies me." ”	2007	The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption; 131
Hoodwinked	“Panama's chief of government, Omar Torrijos, foresaw this meltdown and understood its implications back in 1978, when I was an economic hit man (EHM). He and I were standing on the deck of a sailing yacht docked at Contadora Island, a safe haven where U.S. politicians and corporate executives enjoyed sex and drugs away from the prying eyes of the international press. Omar told me that he was not about to be corrupted by me. He said that his goal was to set his people free from "Yankee shackles," to make sure his country controlled the canal, and to help Latin America liberate itself from the very thing I represented and he referred to as "predatory capitalism." "You know," he added, "what I'm suggesting will ultimately benefit your children too." He explained that the system I was promoting where a few exploited the many was doomed. "The same as the old Spanish Empire — it will implode." He took a drag off his Cuban cigar and exhaled the smoke slowly, like a man blowing a kiss. "Unless you and I and all our friends fight the predatory capitalists," he warned, "the global economy will go into shock." He glanced across the water and then back at me. "No permitas que te engañen," he said ("Don't allow yourself to be hoodwinked.") Three decades later, Omar is dead, likely assassinated because he refused to succumb to our attempts to bring him around, but his words ring true. For that reason I chose one of them as the title of my latest book, Hoodwinked.”	2009

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