Summary of John Perkins' The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of John Perkins' The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: Former economic hit man John Perkins shares new details about the ways he and others cheated countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Then he reveals how the deadly EHM cancer he helped create has spread far more widely and deeply than ever in the US and everywhere else—to become the dominant system of business, government, and society today. Finally, he gives an insider view of what we each can do to change it.

Economic hit men are the shock troops of what Perkins calls the corporatocracy, a vast network of corporations, banks, colluding governments, and the rich and powerful people tied to them. If the EHMs can’t maintain the corrupt status quo through nonviolent coercion, the jackal assassins swoop in. The heart of this book is a completely new section, over 100 pages long, that exposes the fact that all the EHM and jackal tools—false economics, false promises, threats, bribes, extortion, debt, deception, coups, assassinations, unbridled military power—are used around the world today exponentially more than during the era Perkins exposed over a decade ago.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Dec 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9798350063202

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Summary of John Perkins’ The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Contents

Overview

The New Confessions

Dirty Business

An Economic Hit Man Is Born

Seduced and Manipulated

Inflating the Numbers

Opportunity of a Lifetime

Panama’s Hero

The Saudi Affair

The Graham Greene Connection

Iran’s Dark Side

Colombia and Paula

American Republic vs. Global Empire

Ecuador’s President Battles Big Oil

Two Presidential Deaths

New Beginnings

Taking a Bribe

The US Invades Panama

An EHM Failure in Iraq

September 11

Venezuela

Becoming Vigilant

Ecuador Rebels

Your Friendly Banker as EHM

More Travels and Insights

A Coup Against Fundación Pachamama

Another EHM Banking Scandal

Who Are Today’s EHMs?

Who Are Today’s Jackals?

Lessons for China

What You Can Do

About the Author

Overview

John Perkins used to cheat countries out of enormous sums of money on behalf of the US government. It was his job, and he was good at it, but its inherent immorality weighed heavily on him. The countries had to spend all their money on repayment, rather than helping their people, and they were firmly in US control. Although he was strongly discouraged from doing so, he published a best-selling expose, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, in 2004. As the same practices spread from government to business, he updated his revelations in The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (2016). It explains how the system works today, what a moral and honest replacement would look like, and how we could all make that happen.

The New Confessions

What Perkins did as an economic hit man (EHM) for the US government haunts him. He was required to use tools such as false economics, false promises, threats, bribes, extortion, debt, deception, coups, assassinations, and unrestrained military power. These tools continue to be employed around the world today.

An influential propaganda machine has persuaded society to adopt a system based on fear and debt that benefits the corporatocracy, which is made up of vast networks of corporations, banks, colluding governments, and the wealthy and influential individuals who are connected to them.

Dirty Business

Perkins and his wife, Ann, volunteered with the Peace Corps in 1968 when he was 23 years old. They were in Ecuador before being transferred to the high Andes. As he assisted a group