Confessions of an Economic Hitman

Whenever a brave soul musters the courage and leverages the evidence to publicly incriminate government officials or CEOs of giant corporations, we ought to offer our attention and gratitude. John Perkins abandons any chance for a clean reputation when he testifies against himself and his former employer, Chas. T. MAIN, INC (MAIN) in his New York Times Bestseller, Confessions of an Economic Hitman (EHM). MAIN, his employer during the 70s and 80s, was an international consulting firm with a low profile in charge of studies to determine if World Bank should lend Ecuador and its neighboring countries (and others) billions of dollars to build hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure projects. Perkins' role as chief economist required him to forge economic forecasts 25 years into the future. Even though statistics are sardonically malleable when it comes to predictions, EHMs convince leaders they count as solid evidence for why a country should get itself hopelessly into debt. Besides that, in the book, The Best-Laid Plans, Randal O'Toole offers several reasons for why such forecasts are absurdly far-fetched and harmful for development.*
While working at MAIN, Perkins made a living swindling and deceiving foreign leaders of "third world" countries into accepting loans he and his colleagues knew could never be paid. This book reveals foreign aid as a scam that actually enslaves these smaller countries into eternal subservience, as puppets who must comply to military and political demands of the worlds' new and improved, industrial empire. Perkins believes this empire has progressed from the blatant, colonial, violent form to a more subtle, intelligent, but nonetheless evil form of today. He refers to the leaders of this imperial system as the "corporatocracy"--the greedy three headed monster comprised of the higher ups in government, international banks, and private engineering and business consulting firms e.g. Haliburton, MAIN, Bechtel... The firms in charge of these developments are almost all from the US, so revenue from these ENORMOUS projects leave the developing country with a giant bill, and of course ten years down the road the economic atmosphere is no where close to the pie in the sky predictions of the EHM, but by then he is long gone enjoying his retirement.
Finishing this book certainly gave me a new conception of "foreign aid," with so many strings attached you'd think the tables had turned in Gulliver's travels and a thousand giants were tying down a few tiny, helpless nations. In the same vein I'm looking forward to reading White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good by William Russell Easterly. After that, Dead Aid: Why Aid is not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa by Dambisa Moyo and Niall Ferguson



*O'Toole, Randal. The Best-laid Plans: How Government Planning Harms Your Quality of Life, Your Pocketbook, and Your Future. Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2007. Print.

dino with the black mags

The first purchase I made after getting paid:

Costing about 13% of my paycheck from the first month and a half, this bici rides over large rocks as well as holes in the road with jarring force. Despite its color, it is not on the dark side. My neighbor and friend, Brian, has already done some work to it: tightening the brake, breaking the chain to remove a few links, aligning the wheel. He also showed me a spot in town to get free air for the tires! My favorite attributes are: rear rack, curvy handlebars, low crossbar. Stay tuned for new pictures including DIABLOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (rear pegs)