By John Perkins.
Review by Alagi Yorro Jallow.
“The New Confessions” delves into the sinister expansion of power by economic hit men and jackals, revealing their impact in the United States and globally. It’s a striking, courageous book that sheds light on current crises and provides strategies to confront them.
John Perkins explores the shadowy realms of global oligarchy, offering a beacon of hope. His narrative, akin to an engrossing novel, resonates with those who aspire to a better world for present and future generations.
John Perkins’ “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” chronicles his experiences as an economic hit man, detailing the use of deceitful financial reports, election tampering, bribes, coercion, seduction, and even murder to defraud nations of trillions. The expanded “The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” adds 15 chapters, updating the tale and discussing how these practices have infiltrated the US, shaping business, government, and society. The original book, a shocking exposé, remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 73 weeks, sold over 1.25 million copies, and has been translated into 32 languages.
Featuring 15 new explosive chapters, this expanded edition of Perkins’s classic bestseller updates the story of economic hit men (EHMs) and brings it alarmingly onto US soil. More than 40 percent of the book is fresh content, including chapters that identify today’s EHMs and a comprehensive chronology that documents EHM activities since the first edition’s release in 2004.
John Perkins, a former economic hit man, divulges fresh insights on how he and his colleagues swindled countries worldwide out of trillions of dollars. He then discloses how the lethal EHM system he contributed to has proliferated, more extensively and deeply than before, across the US and globally, becoming the prevailing model in business, government, and society. He also provides an insider’s perspective on actionable steps for change.
EHMs are described as the vanguard of what Perkins dubs the corporatocracy—a sprawling network of corporations, banks, colluding governments, and the affluent and influential individuals connected to them. Should EHMs fail to uphold the corrupt status quo via nonviolent coercion, jackal assassins are dispatched. At the core of this book is an entirely new section, spanning over 100 pages, revealing that the tools of EHMs and jackals—comprising false economics, empty promises, intimidation, bribes, extortion, debt, deceit, coups, assassinations, and unchecked military might—are employed globally today to an extent far surpassing that which Perkins unveiled more than a decade ago.
This new material covers a range of locales from the Seychelles to Honduras, Ecuador, Libya, Turkey, Western Europe, Vietnam, China, and most notably, the United States. Here, the modern EHMs—bankers, lobbyists, corporate executives, among others—manipulate governments and the public into accepting policies that enrich the wealthy at the expense of the poor.Despite the grim narrative, Perkins, now reformed, instills hope by offering an extensive list of concrete measures each individual can undertake to effect change.
The two volumes of this book are profoundly unsettling, and it is a must-read, particularly for Americans. John Perkins narrates his true experiences as an economic hit man. Essentially, he traveled to various countries, promising economic growth in exchange for hiring American engineers and laborers to build essential infrastructure like electricity and running water. To the governments, this seemed beneficial as it appeared to aid their people and improve the economy. However, ultimately, it led to a wider wealth gap, with the rich becoming richer and the poor, poorer. Additionally, it left the countries in debt to the corporations that installed the infrastructure, making them reliant on the United States. Although Perkins was not a government employee, his work closely aligned with governmental interests, reflecting the tight bond between the U.S. government and large corporations.
Perkins’s actions, which he later found repugnant and unethical, prompted him to write this book as a form of confession. It serves as an eye-opener, shedding light on why some countries harbor negative sentiments towards the U.S. He offers advice and steps we can take to address the chaos he contributed to, such as ceasing to support large corporations. The common belief is that big businesses are largely malevolent. The most detrimental action is to remain passive and ignorant. Even worse is to be aware and yet do nothing. Reading this book is a call to action: be informed, be appalled, and make a change
