John Perkins: New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Cute: Thank you. It's arrived..

United Kingdom on Nov 15, 2023

D.A. NY: I am so sad I couldn't read this book even though I really wanted to. The print is so very small.
Sad that I had to return it.

Spain on Oct 08, 2023

norman rambow: This is the THE BOOK to read.. if you want to see how banking is done and in regards to governments roles are... Then YOU need to read this.. IT will Open your Eyes up ! Don't just take my word for it. Read it and see.

United States on Sep 14, 2023

Guapx: There is a lot to consider in this book, and the author makes an effort to provide a substantial list of sources to further explore the claims he makes.
The extent of corruption, selfishness and greed outlined in the authors account of EHMs is quite overwhelming, nevertheless, this is balanced with lots of practical steps we can make to see lasting transformation.
The writing quality is average and at times the author borders on hubris, but overall, his message and mandate is clear and compelling. Worth the read for sure.

United States on Jun 27, 2023

Nabeel: Good book.

Australia on Jun 05, 2023

Mister Zee: This is a heartwrenching tale of how America has destroyed country after country around the world for its own material gain. But what I found most irksome about the book was that America takes it upon itself to do that, and it takes another *American* to tell us all what horrific acts his country is up to - I mean do the countries themselves have any say at all in this regard? If you were American and you knew that your country is taking control of the entire world, there has to be *some* part of you that feels happy and proud, right? But no, this book would have you believe that an American is the good guy as well. It should be read by all to understand the sheer extent of the horrors that were perpetrated, and to reach a consensus as to what to do about it.

India on Nov 07, 2022

T.N.Satish: I would have liked "New Confessions of an Economic Hitman" more, if it was written from the view point of a capitalist rather than from a view point of a communist or socialist.

The summary of the book is, the big corporations, banks and US government are destroying many countries. IMF and world bank give loans to poor countries in the name of developing that country. They over estimate the growth and give more loans for projects that are not sustainable. The big corporations (mainly from US) get the projects to develop the infrastructure in that country. Essentially the entire loan money is going back to US. After that, the country is burdened with both principle and interest and eternally indebted to US for everything.

If any government does not accept, then US government brings CIA or others, and tries to topple the government or assassinates the head of the state and installs a puppet of CIA. The author gave many examples for this.

The part that I was not happy with the author is, he projected as if even giving loans and taking projects etc., is bad. He has shifted all the blame from the countries which are in poverty to the banks which gave...

India on May 14, 2021

Reg Nordman: If you don't read about the international crooks you will not recognize them at home.  The author worked many years as an EHM. He was trained to go into third world or struggling countries to inflate growth projections from large infrastructure projects  ( Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Panama etc). These projects would then be funded by the World Bank and others and the country would be loaded up with debt.  . The money lent would go to US firms to do the work (of course some $  would find its way into select in country pockets).  The US engineering/construction company owners would pocket huge profits. 

 The projects would under deliver and the country would not be able to pay even the interest on these huge loans.  The US would pressure the govts to take on more debt, vote certain ways at the UN , buy more US products and so on.. The peoples' lives would get worse not better. ( shades of the banana king and 1MDB )  If the govts did not play ball with US plans, regime change, assassination etc. would happen (Chile, Honduras, Ecuador, Panama.  Wrap a large disinformation campaign about this all.   You could not make this...

United States on Feb 13, 2019

Tom Connor: The book starts out slowly - becomes interesting in the middle WRT Saudi Arabia and Opec - perhaps because I was there flying and selling Awacs. Then it ends with preachy environmentalism.

I'm struck by the hypocrisy; Do as I say, not as I do, jetting around the world to preach environmentalism. John, meet Al Gore.

After John got his millions and wrought his environmental damage on a grand scale, he became an environmentalist. In the last two chapters, he preaches that the rest of us should eschew what made him rich and successful, using environmental and sustainable arguments. No surprise there. I guess that's the confessions part, and plays into the environmental wheelhouse. I'm guessing Sierra Club and NRDC et al promote this book.

An oddity is John's claim he was recruited by the NSA - an electronic surveillance agency - to work as a banker and promoter. I assume others smarter than I have researched the claim and found it true. But it's still unusual.

Some of the other 'facts, ' if true, are interesting and give insight into foreign relations, foreign aid, and banking.

Borrowing from a review of this book done by H. William Batt, Ph.D.:...

United States on Apr 29, 2017

TA: This was a very fascinating autobiography of Mr. Perkins career. Some of the stories may be over dramatized, but I find them largely believable. Full of dark conspiracies, sabotage, assasinations, corruption, and political names we all know it is a hard book to put down once you start reading.

I only gave four stars because the author gets obsessive on his leftist political propaganda, some of which makes no sense. He blames the free market with the evils of the IMF and World Bank. Somehow, he missed that free marketers have vehemently opposed the IMF and Worldbank's evils since they were created at Bretton Woods. Central banking was opposed by free marketers at least as far back as von Mises. True free marketers like Henry Hazlitt, Leonard Read, Ayn Rand and the Objectivist movement opposed Bretton Woods and the Worldbank/ IMF. Institutes like Cato and Heritage Foundation resist or outright oppose IMF today.

Because of this obsessive guilt and resulting political agenda, Perkins spends the second half of the book demonizing the very group that he should see as an ally for his very admirable moral concern.

United States on May 21, 2016