John Perkins Former Chief Economist for Chas T. Main Author, Confessions of an Economic Hitman We economic hit men really have been the ones responsible for creating this first truly global empire, and we work many different ways. But perhaps the most common is that we will identify a country that has resources that our corporations covet, like oil, and then arrange a huge loan to that country from the World Bank or one of its sister organizations. But the money never actually goes to the country, instead it goes to our big corporations to build infrastructure projects in that country, power plants, industrial parks, ports, things that benefit a few rich people in that country, in addition to our corporations, but really dont help the majority of the people at all. However those people, the whole country, is left holding a huge debt. Its such a big debt that they cant repay it, and thats part of the plan, that they cant repay it. And so at some point we economic hit men go back to them and say listen, you owe us a lot of money, cant pay your debts, so, sell your oil real cheap to our oil companies. Allow us to build a military base in your country or, send troops in support of ours to someplace in the world, like Iraq, or vote with us on the next U.N. vote. To have their electric utility company privatized, and their water and sewage system privatized, and sold to US corporations or other multinational corporations. So there was a whole mushrooming thing, and its so typical of the way that the IMF and the World Bank work: they put a country in debt, in such a big debt it cant pay it, and then you offer to refinance that debt, and pay even more interest, and you demand this quid pro quo which you call a conditionality or good governance which means basically that theyve got to sell off their resources, including many of their social services; their utility companies; their school systems sometimes; their penal systems; their insurance systems, to foreign corporations. So its a double, triple, quadruple whammy. Iran, 1953 The precedent for economic hit men really began in the early fifties, when democratically elected Mossadeq, who was elected in Iran. He was considered to be the hope for democracy in the Middle East and around the world, he was Time Magazines Man of the Year. But, one of the things that hed run on and began to implement was the idea that foreign oil companies needed to pay the Iranian people a lot more for the oil that they were taking out of Iran, that the Iranian people should benefit from their own oil. Strange policy. We didnt like that of course. But we were afraid to do what we normally were doing, which was to send in the military. Instead we sent in one CIA agent, Kermit Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelts relative...and Kermit went in with a few million dollars and was very, very effective and efficient, and in a short amount of time he managed to get Mossadeq overthrown and brought in the Shah of Iran to replace him, who always was favorable to oil, and it was extremely effective. Mobs overflow Tehran. Army officers shout that Mossadeq has surrendered and his regime as virtual dictator of Iran is ended. Pictures of the Shah paraded through the streets as sentiment reverses. The Shah is welcomed home. So back here in the United States in Washington people looked around and said, wow, that was easy. And cheap. So this established a whole new way of manipulating countries, of creating empire. The only problem with Roosevelt was that he was a card carrying CIA agent, and had he been caught, the ramifications could have been pretty serious. So very quickly at that point the decision was made to use private consultants, to channel the money through the World Bank or the IMF or one of the other such agencies, to bring in people like me who work for private companies, so that if we got caught there would be no governmental ramifications. Guatemala 1954 When Arbenz became president of Guatemala, the country was very much under the thumbs of United Fruit Company, the big international corporations, and Arbenz ran on this ticket that says you know, we want to get the land back to the people, and once he took power he was implementing policies that would do exactly that, give land rights back to the people. United Fruit didnt like that very much, and so they hired a public relations firm, launched a huge campaign in the United States to convince the United States people, the citizens of the United States, and the press of the United States, and the congress of the United States that Arbenz was a Soviet puppet, and that if we allowed him to stay in power the Soviets would have a foothold in this hemisphere, and that at that point in time was a huge fear on everybodys mind, the red terror, the communist terror...and so to make a long story short, out of this public relations campaign came a commitment on the part of the CIA and the military to take this man out and in fact we did. we sent in planes, we sent in soldiers, we sent in jackals, we sent everything in to take him out, and did take him out. And as soon as he was removed from office, the new guy that took over after him basically reinstated everything to the big international corporations, including United Fruit. Ecuador 1981 Ecuador for many, many years had been ruled by pro-US dictators, often relatively brutal. Then it was decided that they were going to have a truly democratic election. Jaime Rold�s ran for office, and his main goal he said as president would be to make sure that Ecuadors resources were used to help the people. And he won, overwhelmingly, by more votes than anyone had ever won anything in Ecuador, and he began to implement these policies...to make sure that the profits from oil went to help the people. Well, we didnt like that in the United States. I was sat down as one of several economic hit men, to change Rold�s, to corrupt him, to bring him around. To let him know, you know, ok, you know, you can get very rich you and your family if you play our game, but if you continue to try to keep these policies youve promised, youre gonna go; he wouldnt listen. He was assassinated. As soon as the plane crashed, the whole area was cordoned off. The only people that were allowed in were US military from a nearby base, and some of the Ecuadorian military. When an investigation was launched, two of the key witnesses died in car accidents before they had a chance to testify. A lot of very, very strange things that went on around the assassination of Jaime Rold�s. I, like most people whove really looked at this case, have absolutely no doubt that it was an assassination, and of course in my position as an economic hit man I was always expecting something to happen to Jaime, weather it be a coup or an assassination I wasnt sure, but that he would be taken down because he was not being corrupted, he would not allow himself to be corrupted the way we wanted to corrupt him. Panama 1981 Omar Torrijos, president of Panama, was one of my favorite people, I really, really liked him, he was very charismatic, he was a guy who really wanted to help his country. When I tried to bribe him, or corrupt him he said, look John, he called me Juanito, he said, look Juanito, I dont need the money. What I really need is for my country to be treated fairly. I need for the United States to repay the debts that you owe my people for all the destruction youve done here. I need to be in a position where I can help other Latin American countries win their independence, and be free of this terrible presence from the north that you people are exploiting us so badly. I need to have the Panama canal back in the hands of the Panamanian people. Thats what I want. And so, leave me alone, dont try to bribe me. It was 1981, and in May Jaime Roldos was assassinated, and Omar was very aware of this. Torrijos got his family together and he said, Im probably next. But its okay, because Ive done what I came here to do. Ive renegotiated the canal, the canal will now be in our hands, hed just finished negotiating the treaty with Jimmy Carter. In June of that same year, just a couple of months later, he also went down in an airplane crash, which theres no question was executed by CIA sponsored jackals. Tremendous amount of evidence that one of Torrijos security guards handed him at the last moment as he was getting on the plane a tape recorder, a small tape recorder, that contained a bomb. Venezuela 2002 It is interesting to me how this system has continued pretty much the same way for years and years and years, except the economic hit men are getting better and better and better. Then we come up with, very recently, what happened in Venezuela. In 1998 Hugo Chavez gets elected president, following a long line of presidents whod been very corrupt, and basically destroyed the economy of the country...and Chavez was elected amidst all that. Chavez stood up to the United States, and he has done it primarily demanding that Venezuelan oil be used to help the Venezuelan people. Well, we didnt like that in the United States. So, in 2002 the coup was staged, which, theres no question in my mind and most other peoples minds that the CIA was behind that coup. The way that that coup was fomented was very reflective of what Kermit Roosevelt had done in Iran, of paying people to go out into the streets to riot, to protest, to say this Chavez is very unpopular. You know, if you can get a few thousand people to do that, television can make it look like its the whole country, and things start to mushroom. Except in the case of Chavez, he was smart enough and the people were so strongly behind him that they overcame it. Which was a phenomenal moment in the history of Latin America. Iraq 2003 Iraq actually is a perfect example of the way the whole system works. So, we economic hit men are the first line of defense, we go in, we try to corrupt governments and get them to accept these huge loans which we then use as leverage to basically own them. If we fail, as I failed in Panama with Omar Torrijos, or in Ecuador with Jaime Rold�s, men who refused to be corrupted, then the second line of defense is we send in the jackals. And the jackals either overthrow governments or they assassinate, and once that happens then a new government comes in and boy, its going to tow the line, because the new president knows what will happen if he doesnt. In the case of Iraq, both of those things failed. Economic hit men were not able to get through to Saddam Hussein, we tried very hard, we tried to get him to accept a deal very similar to what the house of Saud had accepted in Saudi Arabia, but he wouldnt accept it... ...and so the jackals went in to take him out, they couldnt do it, his security was very good...after all, he at one time worked for the CIA. Hed been hired to assassinate a former president if Iraq, and failed, but he knew the system. So in 91 we send in the troops, and we take out the Iraqi military. So we assume at that point that Saddam Hussein is going to come around. We could have taken him out, of course, at that point in time, but we didnt want to, hes the kind of strong man we like. He controls his people, we thought he could control the Kurds and keep the Iranians within their border, and keep pumping oil for us, and that once we took out his military, now hes going to come around. So the economic hit men go back in in the 90s, without success. If theyd had success, hed still be running the country. Wed be selling him all the fighter jets he wants, and everything else he wants... but they couldnt, they didnt have success. The Jackals couldnt take him out again. So we sent the military in once again, and this time we did the complete job and took him out, and in the process created for ourselves some very, very lucrative construction deals...we had to reconstruct a country that wed essentially destroyed, which is a pretty good deal if you own construction companies, big ones. So, Iraq shows the three stages; the economic hit men, failed there; the jackals, failed there; and as a final measure the military goes in. And in that way weve really created an empire, but weve done it very, very subtly, its clandestine. All of the empires of the past were built on the military. And everybody knew that they were building them. So that the British knew they were building them, the French, the Germans, the Romans, the Greeks and they were proud of it, and they always had some excuse like spreading civilization, spreading some religion, something like that, but they knew they were doing it...we dont. The majority of the people in the United States have no idea that were living off the benefits of a clandestine empire, that today theres more slavery in the world than ever before. And then you have to ask yourself, well if its an empire, then whos the emperor? Obviously, our presidents of the United States are not emperors, an emperor is someone whos not elected, doesnt serve a limited term, and doesnt report to anyone, essentially. So you cant classify a president that way. But we do have what I consider to be the equivalent of the emperor, and its what I call the corporatocracy. The corporatocracy is this group of individuals who run our biggest corporations and they really act as the emperor of this empire. They control our media, either through direct ownership or advertising, they control most of our politicians because they finance their campaigns, either through the corporations or through personal contributions that came out of the corporations. Theyre not elected, they dont serve a limited term, they dont report to anybody, and at the very top of the corporatocracy you really cant tell where the persons working for a private corporation or the government because theyre always moving back and forth, so, you know, youve got a guy who one moment is the president of a big construction company, like Halliburton, and the next moment hes vice president of the United States, or the president, who was in the oil business, and this is true weather youve got democrats or republicans in the office, you have them moving back and forth through the revolving door...and in a way, our government isnt visible a lot of the time and its policies are carried out by our corporations on one level or another, and then again, the policies of the government are basically forged by the corporatocracy, and then presented to the government and they become government policy. So its an incredibly cozy relationship. This isnt a conspiracy theory type of thing, these people dont have to get together and plot to do things, they all basically work under one primary assumption, and that is that they must maximize profits, regardless of the social and environmental cost. This process of manipulation by the corporatocracy through the use of debt, bribery and political overthrow is called globalization. Just as the Federal Reserve keeps the American public in a position of indentured servitude through perpetual debt, inflation and interest, the World Bank and IMF serve this role on a global scale. The basic scam is simple. Put a country in debt either by its own indiscretion or through corrupting the leader of that country, then impose conditionalities, or Structural Adjustment Policies, often consisting of the following: 1) Currency Devaluation. When the value of a currency drops, so does everything valued in it. This makes indigenous resources available to predator countries, at a fraction of their worth. 2) Large funding cuts for Social Programs. These usually include education and health care, compromising the well-being and integrity of the society, leaving the public vulnerable to exploitation. 3) Privatization of state-owned enterprises. This means that socially important systems can be purchased and regulated by foreign corporations, for profit. For example, in 1999, the World Bank insisted that the Bolivian government sell the public water system of its third largest city to a subsidy of the US corporation, Bechtel. As soon as this occurred, water bills for the already impoverish local residents skyrocketed. It wasnt until after a full blown revolt by the people that the Bechtel contract was nullified. 4) Then there is trade liberalization, or the opening up of the economy through removing any restrictions on foreign trade. This allows for a number of abusive economic manifestations, such as transnational corporations bringing in their own mass produced products, undercutting the indigenous production and ruining local economies. An example is Jamaica, which, after accepting loans and conditionalities from the World Bank, lost its largest cash crop markets due to competition with western imports. Today, countless farmers are out of work, for they are unable to compete with the large corporations. Another variation is the creation of numerous, seemingly unnoticed, unregulated, inhumane sweatshop factories, which take advantage of the imposed economic hardship. Additionally, due to production deregulation, environmental destruction is perpetual, as a countrys resources are often exploited by the indifferent corporations, while outputting large amounts of deliberate pollution. The largest environmental lawsuit in the history of the world today is being brought on behalf of 30,000 Ecuadorian Amazonian people, against Texaco, which is now owned by Chevron, so its against Chevron but for activities conducted by Texaco, they estimate it to be more than eighteen times what the Exxon Valdese dumped into the coast of Alaska. In the case of Ecuador it wasnt an accident, the oil companies did it intentionally, they knew they were doing it to save money out there rather than arranging for a proper disposal. Furthermore, a cursory glance at the performance record of the World Bank reveals that the institution, which publicly claims to help poor countries develop and alleviate poverty, has done nothing but increase poverty and the wealth gap, while corporate profits soar. In 1960 the income gap between the 5th of the worlds people in the richest countries, versus the 5th in the poorest countries was 30:1. By 1998, it was 74:1. While global GNP rose 40% between 1970 and 1985, those in poverty actually increased by 17% While from 1985 to 2000, those living on less than 1 dollar a day increased by 18%. Even the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress admitted that there is a mere 40% success rate of all World Bank projects. In the late 1960s, the World Bank intervened in Ecuador with large loans. During the next 30 years, poverty grew from 50% to 70%; under or unemployment grew from 15% to 70%; public debt increased from 240 million to 16 billion; while the share of resources allocated to the poor went from 20% to 6%. In fact, by the year 2000, 50% of Ecuadors national budget had to be allocated for paying its debts. It is important to understand, the World Bank is, in fact, a US bank, supporting US interests. For the United States holds veto power over decisions, as it is largest provider of capital. And where did it get this money? You guessed it. It made it out of thin air through the fractional reserve banking system. Of the worlds top 100 economies, as based on the annual GDP, 51 are corporations. And 47 of that 51 are US based. Wal-Mart, General Motors and Exxon are more economically powerful than Saudi Arabia, Poland, Norway, South Africa, Finland, Indonesia and many others. And, as protective trade barriers are broken down, currencies tossed together and manipulated in floating markets, and state economies overturned in favor of open competition and global capitalism, the empire expands. Taken cumulatively, the integration of the world as a whole, particularly in terms of economic globalization and the mythic qualities of free market capitalism, represents a veritable empire in its own right...Few have been able to escape the structural adjustments and conditionalities of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, or the arbitrations of the World Trade Organization, those international financial institutions that, however inadequate, still determine what economic globalization means... Such is the power of globalization that within our lifetime we are likely to see the integration, even if unevenly, of all national economies in the world into a single global, free market system. --Jim Garrison President, State of the World Forum The world is being taken over by a handful of business powers, who dominate the natural resources we need to live, while controlling the money we need to obtain these resources. The end result will be world monopoly, based not human life, but financial and corporate power. And, as the inequality grows, naturally more and more people are becoming desperate. So the establishment was forced to come up with a new way to deal with anyone who challenges the system. So they gave birth to the terrorist. The term terrorist is an empty distinction, designed for any person or group who chooses to challenge the establishment. his isnt to be confused with the fictional Al Qaeda, which was actually the name of a computer database for the US supported Mujahideen in the 1980s . The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al Qaida. And any informed intelligence officer knows this. But there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an identified entity...The country behind this propaganda is the US. - Pierre-Henry Bunel, former French military intelligence In 2007, the department of defense received 161.8 billion dollars for the so called global war on terrorism. According to the National Counter Terrorism Center, in 2004 roughly 2,000 people were killed internationally due to supposed terrorist acts. Of that number, 70 were American. Using this number as a general average, which is extremely generous, it is interesting to note that twice as many people die from peanut allergies a year, than from terrorist acts. Concurrently, the leading cause of death in America is coronary heart disease, killing roughly 450,000 each year. And, in 2007, the governments allocation of funds for research on this issue was about 3 billion dollars. This means that the US government in 2007 spent 54 times the amount for preventing terrorism than it spent for preventing a disease which kills 6,600 times more people annually than terrorism does. Yet, as the name terrorism and Al Qaeda are arbitrarily stamped on every news report relating to any action taken against US interests, the myth grows wider. In mid 2008, the US attorney general actually proposed that the US congress officially declare war against the fantasy. Not to mention as of July 2008, there are now over 1 million people currently on the US terrorist watch list. These so-called counter terrorism measures of course have nothing to do with social protection and everything to do with preserving the establishment amongst the growing anti-American sentiment both domestically and internationally, which is legitimately founded on the greed based corporate empire expansion that is exploiting the world. The true terrorists of our world do not meet at the docks at midnight or scream Allahu Akbar before some violent action. The true terrorists of our world wear $5,000 suits and work in highest positions of finance, government and business. So, what do we do? How do we stop a system of greed and corruption that has so much power and momentum? How do we stop this abhorrent group behavior which feels no compassion for, say, the millions slaughtered in Iraq and Afghanistan so the corporatocracy can control energy resources and opium production for Wall Street profit? Before 1980, Afghanistan produced 0% of the worlds opium; After the US/CIA backed Mujahideen won the Soviet/Afghan war, by 1986 they were producing 40% of the worlds heroin supply; By 1999, they were producing 80% of the total market supply; But then something unexpected happened. The Taliban rose to power and by 2000 they had destroyed most of the opium fields. Production dropped from 3,000+ tons to only 185 tons, a 94% reduction. On Sept. 9th 2001, the full Afghanistan invasion plans were on President Bushs desk. Two days later they had their excuse. Today, opium production in US controlled Afghanistan, which now provides more than 90 percent of the worlds heroin, breaks new production records nearly every year. How do we stop a system of greed and corruption that condemns poor populations to sweat shop slavery for the benefit of Madison Avenue? Or that engineers false flag terror attacks for the sake of manipulation? Or that generates built in modes of social operation which are inherently exploitative? Or that systematically reduces civil liberties, and violates human rights in order to protect itself from it own shortcomings. How do we deal with the numerous covert institutions such as the Council on Foreign Relations, The Trilateral Commission and the Bilderburg Group and other undemocratically elected groups which, behind closed doors, collude to control the political, financial, social and environmental elements of our lives? In order to find the answer, we must first find the true underlying cause. For the fact is, the selfish, corrupt, power and profit based groups are not the true source of the problem, they are symptoms. youtube/watch?v=aqIHKWd9rSc
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 02:54:49 +0000
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