The New York Times bestseller Confessions of an Economic Hitman(2004) by John Perkins is a confession of his time at a private US consulting group that deliberately raised the debt of third world countries. Translated into thirty-two languages, the book is similar to author Michael Lewis’s insider exposés on Wall Street.
In Boston, Perkins is recruited by Chas. T. Main, Inc. (referred to as MAIN for most of the book), an elite consultant group specializing in large scale engineering projects.
Though he has no training in economic forecast models, Perkins successfully bluffs his way through, appeasing his bosses and convincing representatives of poor countries to accept large loans they are unlikely to pay back.
Perkins travels to Kuwait and is trained by a woman to be, what he calls, an Economic Hit Man (EHM). He learns that his job as an economist will be to convince foreign governments to accept large, unfair loans for various construction projects. The sites include dams, power plants, airports, and highways. Once countries inevitably default on the loans, they come under the control of The World Bank or The International Monetary Fund. The creditors have substantial US ties, and when the US wants favorable treatment in certain areas, it can have its representatives deal (some would say exhort) favorable outcomes from these poor countries. According to Perkins, some of these past favors included a favorable UN vote, access to oil extraction, or an agreement to build a military base within the country’s borders. Along with a diplomatic advantage, the US gains an economic advantage because these less developed countries (LDC in the book) become beholden to US companies like Bechtel, Halliburton, and Boeing.
Perkins travels to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, for work. He is amazed by the gap between poor and rich and sees beautiful, well-dressed women walking down the same streets as beggars their own age. He learns that the policies he presents helps the local elite, but are not designed to help the poor at all.
He repeats the process he completed in Indonesia through dozens of other less developed countries, including Iran, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, and Panama.
Perkins comments on how often corporations and upper management relied on people with his temperament — kind and optimistic — to exploit for their more strategic, often nefarious goals.
To get through his participation in an unjust system, Perkins tells himself that he is very good at what he does, and he is not actually coercing these countries to accept these shady deals.
Perkins experiences a wide array of amoral and shocking things. He is encouraged to ask a friend to be a prostitute and hears Panamanian President Omar Torrijos’s fear of assassination first hand (a fear that would be realized).
Eventually, Perkins starts to feel more like a hit man against these poorer countries. Though employed by a private company, he feels that his true employer is the US government. In 1980, he quits.
Now the modern shades of EHM can be read in below article
Paul Singer of ‘Elliott’ did like same thing for personal benefits.
I will not disagree on that