I read it last year and its really hard not to believe him considering he is the direct source...Of course there is probably some misconstrued information but overall I think its relatively objective...

If you don't know about John Perkins, the author, his job as an "Economic Hitman" was essentially to convince foreign leaders with exploitable resources (geopolitical positions) to take out huge loans from specific companies (i.e. IMF and World Bank) as a result the leaders would become rich with the company and the people of the country would suffer....However, if a leader of one of these third world countries refused to surrender their resources over to the company and use them to help the country (see Panama) they either would be overthrown or killed by the CIA or a CIA backed coup and the new leader, learning from the last, would conform to the companies wishes...This isn't hidden information btw...Just spun differently...


I've never really talked to anyone about it before and if you look at what he says, do your own research its really hard not to believe him...His own boss even said this:

Perkins's first boss at Chas. T. Main, Einar Greve, initially declared to journalists that "basically [Perkins's] story is true" and that "what John's book says is, there was a conspiracy to put all these countries on the hook, and that happened. Whether or not it was some sinister plot or not is up to interpretation..." [1] Subsequently, he denied Perkins's allegation that he ever worked as a liaison with the NSA and contradicted other claims made in Perkins's book, stating that Perkins "has convinced himself that a lot of this stuff is true."[1] Perkins comments on Greve's change of heart in the "Epilogue" of "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man." He points out that Greve initially supported the truth of the book, only to switch his opinion several months later. Perkins suggests that Greve was pressured by outside forces to denounce the book as false.

So what does everyone think about this idea as true or false or somewhere in between? I would have to say its mostly true...He appears in the second Zeitgeist movie so I thought I would bring Perkins up on his own b.c. people (like myself) saw the last Zeitgeist (which was bullshit) and fail to realize the second one was mostly true....

I had read about Perkins before also. I find him believable, especially knowing how the IMF has preyed on 3rd world countries.

Here is an interview of Perkins. Very revealing and informative.

http://www.democracynow.org/2004/11/...onomic_hit_man

All leftists know about the IMF.

EDIT: How was Zeitgeist 2, btw?

I don't doubt there is a lot of truth behind it, but it's very likely the story has been jazzed up a lot to become a bestseller. After reading it I picked up a couple of books which he references but I still haven't read all of them yet. If you want a better idea, maybe try reading some of these books he references, it should at least give you some context. "Conversations with the General" by Graham Greene is a great book to read if you're interested in learning more about the Torrijos debacle. If you fancy a big read the Toynbee book he cites covers it pretty comprehensively, and is more about objective historical accuracy than tin pot conspiracy theories.

I was really suprised to find it mostly to be true....The only real problem I saw in it (other than a brief Bush did 9/11 thing which was literally just a 2 second voice over) was it was probably a little too idealistic...But then again so was Marx, so its without question worth watching....The ideas and solutions they propose are interesting, they put a spin on the monetary theory but it didn't detract anything from the validity...Plus the Perkins interview is excellent, sums up his book very nicely.

It's on youtube. Was released to the internet the same day that the 700 billion dollar bailout was passed.

In 13 parts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEr5L...0F89EC&index=0

It's also in one piece on googlevideo.

Never read the book, but have noticed that leaders of countries who don't agree to neoliberal reforms seem to have a nasty habit of waking up dead and smelling of CIA involvement.

i was researching john on the net when this first came out, and after about 20 mins or so i stumbled across this dinky, crudely constructed site that looked like it was made with a dreamcast or webtv lol.

it appeared to be a personal page of johns, and it listed him as being the author of several books, including confessions, dating back to 1983. i beleive one or more of them were shamanistic in nature.

i find it hard to beleive that a guy that was an author 25 years ago, was also an economic hitman, or whatever you want to call him.

i have the book, and am in the process of reading it. its a good read. but it has some elements that remind me of crossing the rubicon. seems like a spy novel, or something. something doesnt add up, to me.

anyone shed some light on this? perhaps ive somehow misconstrued things.