Summary:
In Confession of an Economic Hit Man,
author John Perkins describes his experiences working for a company known as
Charles T. Main. Perkins began writing
his book in 1980 but was unable to publish until 2004 because of the multiple
treats he received.
In the first
chapter, Perkins begins by describing his early life. Perkins grew up attending
an all-boys school in New Hampshire where his father taught. He describes his
family as not poor but not wealthy enough to live comfortably. Attending the wealthy all-boys school made
Perkins feel out of place. Perkins
filled up his loneliness by succeeding. He was an honors student, editor of the
school newspaper and the captain of two varsity teams. His succession led to receiving a scholarship
to Middlebury. Once he reached college Perkins noticed a change in him self. In
college, Perkins met his first girlfriend Ann and his Iranian friend
Farhad. Farhad had a negative influence
on his life and persuaded Perkins to drop out of school.
Perkins then decided to join the peace core,
which took him on his first trip to the amazon. Perkins was unsure of this trip
but his uncle encouraged him to go, continuously mentioning “the company” and
the potential for the use of the oil that was there. This trip inspired him to
continue traveling. The next place Perkins traveled was Ecuador in 1968.
Perkins was drawn into this job as a consultant that would recommend that
Ecuador invest with the World Bank who would send billions of dollars to them
so that they could build hydroelectric plants. It was ironic, however, that the
job that was originally designed to help indigenous tribes ended up providing
the basis to exploit them.
In chapter two,
Perkins begins to talk about his first years at Chas. T Main. This company taught
Perkins to manipulate statistics to advance other countries interest in working
with them. Claudine, a consultant of the Charles T. Main Corporation, began
working with Perkins and would try to temp him with physical seduction and
verbal manipulation. She acted as his
mentor but would use these techniques to draw him in. Perkins main job as a
consultant for Charles T. Main was to forecast the effects of sending billions
into countries, predict economic growth, and compare benefits of investing
money in different places for different things. However, underneath Perkins job
description was a hidden agenda. Perkin’s charismatic attitude and people
skills were merely a tool for the company. He would help persuade other
countries to take loans from them and then make these countries forever in debt
to the U.S.
After making many
foreign friends and being promoted to status of partner, Perkins finally came
to the conclusion that he would quit the firm and create his own nonprofit to
assuage his guilt. The many years he worked for MAIN he was conflicted with his
involvement but didn’t know how to end this relationship. Perkins then
attempted to publish books about his experiences but was stopped each time
because of treats against him. Finally,
in 2004, Perkins was able to publish his most famous novel, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.
Analysis:
While reading this
book I was surprised by many things. Perkins, although professing a good
morality, cannot overcome his drive for material objects and prestige.
Throughout the book, Perkins explains that he is torn between promoting his
company’s interest and doing the work he committed to, and living a more
conscious and ethical life. However, it takes Perkins about 20 years to act
upon his moral misgivings.
This
book also surprised me because of the insight I gained into the way
corporations actually function. I
believe that it is astonishingly unfair that the general public has no
knowledge of what is being done with their tax dollars. Perkins gave a peek behind a black curtain
that would not have been disclosed without his book. The government is so
secretive, especially with respect to their involvement with large corporations
such as MAIN. It’s frightening to think about how much impact these
corporations have on major political designs and decisions that affect not only the United States, but
also every other country that has ever been involved with the U.S.
Before reading this book, I had never really even thought about the relationships between the government and corporations. I trusted that our elected officials were ethical and were doing what they believed was best for the people, not what would benefit the wealthy few. I feel like the media, such as MSNBC, CNN or Fox news, would never highlight on the perspective of books like these because they, themselves, are major corporations, owned by wealthy individuals or politicians. They are merely part of the system of corporatocracy.
