Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

(Webcast de la Library of Congress)

CONFÉRENCIER: John Perkins
64 minutes

Author John Perkins discussed his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man in a program sponsored by the Science, Technology and Business Division.

In his book, Perkins describes his experiences as an economist of an international consulting firm whose job was to persuade strategically important developing countries, such as Panama and Indonesia, to accept enormous loans for infrastructure development and then to ensure that the lucrative projects were contracted out to U.S. corporations. According to Perkins, when it became impossible to repay these huge debts, the United States government, the World Bank or U.S.-influenced aid agencies would step in and place the countries in a trusteeship of sorts, dictating their spending budgets and other policies.