Many countries have witnessed the assassination of their leaders for political reasons, but one former American banker says he was an “economic hit man,” making sure that the leaders of poor countries remained beholden to the United States.
In his book, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man,” John Perkins detailed the pernicious and destructive economic strategies deployed by Global North powers, and the institutions that represent their interests, against countries in the Global South.
The term economic hit man is used to describe the role of individuals, like Perkins himself, whose assigned role is to produce, create or invent out of thin air the needed financial projections and plans to legitimize the rationale behind disastrous and destructive projects in countries in the Global South.
The intent behind the economic hit man activity is to sink countries in the Global South deeper into debt, dependency and foster the elite’s corruption then use international trade and legal institutions to claim their natural resources and funnel massive amounts of wealth to the Global North.
The mechanism for achieving this destructive outcome is a sophisticated well-stitched infrastructure of corporations, banks, foreign policy outfits, and international governmental and non-governmental agencies.
At the core is the following undisputed fact, the Global South is home to the overwhelming known world natural resources, and these have been siphoned, stolen, and pillaged to support the continued destructive live style of the Global North.
From the 16th to the 21st century, powers from the Global North have invaded, colonized, intervened, cheated, pillaged, destroyed, killed, cut-off limbs and committed multiple genocides against native populations in the Global South to unjustly lay claim to the natural resources.
During the “age of discovery” and “colonization” the stealing and robbing of the resources was direct with no need to rationalize the enterprise other than simply using racial superiority, manifest destiny and the industriousness of the European man opposite the Global South.
John Perkins was a highly paid consultant who worked for an American engineering company. In the course of his work in the 1970s and 1980s, he said his job was to convince the leaders of poor countries to borrow more money than they could possibly repay and then take over their economies.
Washington could also call upon these countries when favours were needed – military bases, UN votes, oil and other natural resources. Leaders who refused were bullied out of power, and even assassinated, Perkins wrote in his 2004 book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.
He has published a follow-up, The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption. Recently Hollywood actor Amr Waked investigated whether powerful nations and wealthy companies are strong-arming poor countries of their resources and political power. Check out the videos below.
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